On October 1, 2019, China celebrated its 70th birthday of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). In Bejing’s Tiananmen Square, celebrations for the founding of the People’s Republic of China occurred that were “open to officials, select members and foreign dignitaries only, but [the festivities] will be watched by hundreds of millions …
Monthly Archives: October 2019
A Bad Joke (Oct. 8 Class)
The story, “A Bad Joke” in Ha Jin’s The Bridegroom is a classic example of censorship and the lack of freedom of speech that plagues China. In the story, a man makes a joke that is at first innocent with no namedropping, but through the grapevine it gets twisted into using the name of the Chairman, …
Gender Roles in China (Oct. 1 Class)
While watching the documentary over the weekend, I found the women’s viewpoints on gender roles interesting. I already knew that culturally, Chinese parents preferred to have a son, because that way the family name could be carried on and any possessions, such as land, could be passed on to the son once the father got …
Tik Tok and Censorship in China
I know I am incredibly talented when it comes to wasting my own time. The recent emergence and popularity surge of Tik Tok has made it even easier for me to do so. Speaking of Tik Tok, I recently read an article about how certain content on the Tik Tok platform is being censored in …
Letter About Divorce
I thought that the letter from the man divorcing his wife was very interesting. I think that Professor McGrath brought up an idea that definitely didn’t cross my mind when I read this piece the first time around when he said the wife could have had depression. There were many expectations of women during this …
IMA Experience
Last week I went to the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields. Surprisingly, this was my first time attending the museum even though I am in my Junior year. I would have to say I enjoyed my experience especially the ancient Chinese artifacts they had which relates to class. I was not aware of the …
Visiting the IMA
Last Thursday, I went to the IMA with Benny, Hanako Gavia, and Will as part of my ICR. During our trip, we were able to look at many of the exhibits and collections at the IMA. This was the first time I had ever been there and I was thoroughly impressed by the museum and …
China’s One-Child Policy
While reading Ha Jin’s short story, “The Woman from New York”, I began to question when this story was taking place. I have always been aware that China had a one-child limit to help slow the population growth and it had continued for decades and was only recently lifted. According to this article from 2015, …
We can’t blame History
In today’s class discussion there seemed to be an underlying tone regarding the letter by the man getting ready to divorce his wife. People look at figures in history and judge them by today’s societal norms too often. I’ve always believed it a foolish practice. We cannot look at a person from the past and …
Role of Government
I was intrigued by the debate about the role of government in the lives of the people in Ancient China, I find it interesting how after thousands of years we still haven’t been able to close the debate. If Anything our view of the role of government has been coming even more sharply dividing than …