Month: April 2020

As many of you may know, this week started the Muslim holy moth of Ramadan. It is a time of reflection and self-improvement for devout Muslims. It also calls for fasting and focus on one’s community. I found a piece from Kitchn, a daily web magazine focused on home cooking and kitchen design, that breaks down Muslim fasting traditions during Ramadan. The article says that “the fast is strictly observed, even in higher latitudes, by all adult Muslims.” The elderly and the sick are exempt from the fasting. Muslims are able to eat after sunset and those meals include “fresh fruit, vegetables, halal meats, breads, cheeses, and sweets.”

The article also covers several traditional Muslim meals during Ramadan including Dahi vadey, a popular dish in India. The dish features “lentil dumplings that are soaked in a spicy yogurt sauce.” My personal favorite that I would like to eventually try from their list is Konafah which is a pastry made with phyllo dough and cheese.

I did some further digging following my earlier post about the affect that COVID-19 has had on the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and I found this jarring image if the Grand Mosque from Reuters that I wanted to share with everyone. It shows the Grand Mosque virtually empty during the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course this is a site that would be packed during a more traditional. Ramadan. Here is the photo: 

For perspective, I also found an image of the Grand Mosque during a previous Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Here is that picture: 

It is truly bizzare the impact that this virus has had everyone. Very few corners of the world, if any, have been able to escape the affects COVID-19 and the Muslim faith is no different. 

COVID-19 has left no doubt in its effects on almost every aspect of human life. Christians in America and around the world saw their Easter celebrations altered due to the spread of the virus. The Muslim holy month of Ramadan started just last Thursday but has already seen COVID-19 alter traditions. I found an NPR article that discusses Muslims who are facing “a different kind of Ramadan” this year due to the virus.

Traditionally mosques are “brimming with the faithful” during this Muslim holy month. COVID-19 has obviously forced the closure of mosques around the world. That includes those in Saudi Arabia, which is home to the holiest cities in Islam – Mecca and Medina. The article covers a multitude of countries who’s Ramadan traditions will be affected by COVID-19 including Indonesia, where the Muslim population is the largest in the world. The piece says that “mainstream Islamic organizations have issued religious pronouncements asking Muslims not to hold mass prayers or to have communal dinners known as iftar to end daily fasts at sunset.”

Recently, in the television program Rupaul’s drag race, a Muslim contestant was questioned for their use of a Hijab in their drag appearance. While many people were offended by the judge’s comments about Islamic culture, this raised many questions for me as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. What is appropriate representation? What is the difference between celebrating one’s own culture and being offensive? And a question for myself, a privileged white male; how do minorities within the LGBTQ+ community find acceptance within themselves and their communities?

While the contestant was indeed Muslim, the judge stated that they were representing an anti-gay culture. While this may be true for traditional Islam, it was incredibly insensitive for the contestant. Growing up gay, or especially Trans (which many drag queens are) within religious/cultural communities that do not accept your lifestyle can be incredibly challenging—and these people are constantly fighting to live a normal life. Just because a religious group, whether it be Christianity or Islam, etc, may have traditionally heteronormative views does not mean that individuals should be shamed for not being heterosexual. It is up to the individual how they interpret their own beliefs within their religion, and ultimately, how they choose to express that. Especially for the drag community, which isn’t even fully accepted within the gay community, this sort of moral questioning is highly inappropriate. I do believe it is insensitive, but coming from a place of ignorance, not hate. At the end of the day, however, the intentions behind any sort of cultural, sexual, or lifestyle shaming are unjustified in my eyes.

I would like to open this topic up to the class for discussion, and see what my classmates think considering the topic of LGBTQ+ individuals within cultural and religious minorities that are seen as “oppressive” towards their sexuality. What do you guys think is appropriate and inappropriate for representation in this case—or in any others?

*****link to article for more info*****

https://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanschocket2/jeff-goldbum-asked-a-drag-queen-about-their-hijab

Traditionally people are supposed to eat dumplings for every meal, every day, but most people don’t do that. Some eat dumplings during the New Year’s Eve dinner, while others eat them for the first breakfast. Though dumplings aren’t popular everywhere in China, contrary to popular belief. In the South many people would rather eat spring rolls and balls of glutinous rice in soup called tangyuan. Dumplings are more popular in the north. Here are images and descriptions of these Chinese New Year dishes and more. 

For desert, many Chinese New Year’s desserts have symbolic meaning in the name. An example is the desert tangyuan, meaning “soup balls” but sounding like tuanyuan, which means reunion. Another example is Nian gao, which is a type of rice cake that symbolizes success. Fa gao, is a third dessert that is a sponge cake muffin hybrid. It’s often dyed festival colors! The fa in the name fa gao, is the same as in fa cai, which means “to get right”. Here are some pictures and more information! All three of these deserts have a special meaning and connection to the holiday season. 

There are also special wines for the Spring Festival. Many Chinese people love drinking, and have wine for every ceremony, festival, or important dinner. With China having such a rich wine culture, it’s no surprise that there’s a bunch of drinking games played during the Spring Festival. But there are also strict toasting etiquette rules to know and follow when dining with someone older like at New Year’s dinner. There are lots of details to know about the order of the toasts, seating, how to hold the wine glass, and others. 

Decorations for Chinese New Year are all red! Families will cover their homes in the color red. In the story about Nian, the color red also scared the monster away as well as the firecrackers. Red is an invaluable weapon and used in almost all Chinese New Year decorations. The Chinese will hang up red lanterns, strings up chili peppers, and paste red paper on their doors and windows. People often buy new red clothes to add to their Spring Festival wardrobe to bring good luck and start over fresh. 

Chinese New Year ends on the first full moon of the lunar year. This night is the Yuanxiao Festival or Lantern Festival. Family is still important, but this night of the holiday is for partying and freedom. In ancient times girls were not allowed to walk around outside by themselves, except on this night. Girls would walk around to moon-gaze and look at the beautiful lanterns and because of this, it’s also known as Valentine’s Day in China. 

Xin nian kuai le, is the Chinese New Year greeting, meaning literally Happy New Year! But in Hong Kong and other Cantonese-speaking regions it’s more common to say, gong hei fat choy, or in Mandarin Chinese it’s, gong xi fa cai, which means congratulations on the fortune. 

Resource: https://chinesenewyear.net/21-things-you-didnt-know-about-chinese-new-year/

The Spring Festival is the longest Chinese holiday being technically 15 days long, but celebration begins on New Year’s Eve so it’s really celebrated for 16 days. Traditionally people over the holiday spend time with family and can only go out after the 5th day. Since it’s a national holiday most stores are closed, so people stock up for the Chinese new year holiday the month prior by buying cooking supplies, snacks, gifts, new clothes, as well as other things.

Family is the most important part of Chinese New year. On New Year’s Eve family’s have a reunion dinner that brings everyone together. In modern China, the Spring Festival causes the largest human migration in the world. Since many elderly parents live in rural villages and their children work in the cities they must travel home to vacation. In 2015, statistics showed the train stations sold 1,000 tickets per second during chuyun or Spring Migration. An important part of Chinese culture is having children and passing down the family legacy. Some desperate singles hire a fake boyfriend or girlfriend to take home to meet the family during Spring migration.

On New year’s day there is no showering because people don’t want to wash away the good luck! People also are expected to not sweep, throw garbage out, get a haircut, use sharp things, argue, swear, say unlucky words, or break things during Chinese New Year. But there is a whole day dedicated to cleaning before the Spring Festival to sweep the bad luck away and make room for the good. 

Gifts are exchanged during the Spring Festival, like other cultures, but Chinese children also receive lucky money in red envelopes. They are also called red packets or pockets that include money to help transfer fortune from the elders to the kids. Red envelopes can also be given to someone’s boss, employ, co-worker, or friend. In current times with technology, people like to send digital red pockets.

https://chinesenewyear.net/21-things-you-didnt-know-about-chinese-new-year/

More than 20% of the world celebrates Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival. It’s the most important holiday in China and to Chinese people all over. Chinese New Year is also called the Spring Festival because it marks the end of the coldest day, so people can welcome spring. It can also be called the Lunar New Year since it’s celebrated in countries like North and South Korea and Vietnam as well. Chinese New Year goes according to the lunar calendar so there is not one set date. The holiday ranges from January 21 to February 20. In 2019 the holiday occurred on February 5th, this year it took place on January 25. Although China follows the Gregorian calendar like the rest of the world, the lunar calendar is still important and what all traditional holidays are celebrated according to, like the Winter Solstice. 

Originally, the Spring Festival was a day to pray to gods for the spring, which includes the planting and harvest season. The harvest was very important to the agrarian society. People also prayed to their ancestors during the holiday. Legend says that a monster named Nian would come about every New Year’s Eve. While most people would hide safe in their homes, a brave boy fought him off with firecrackers. The following day, people set off even more firecrackers to celebrate their survival. This practice of setting off firecrackers became a crucial part of Chinese New Year. Setting off firecrackers is supposed to scare off monsters and bad luck like in the legend about Nian. So people often stay up on Chinese New Year’s Eve and set off firecrackers at midnight, and again in the morning to welcome the new year and good luck. Due to concerns for air pollution and safety, many Chinese cities have banned fireworks or have restrictions. But people often set them off anyways. Thanks to an angry public, Beijing lifted the ban on fireworks in 2006 after 13 years. Some families also burn fake paper money and printed gold bars to honor their deceased loved ones, because they believe the offerings will bring fortune and good luck to their ancestors in the afterlife.  This tradition is similar to the Korean Chuseok holiday or the Mexican Day of the Dead. 

https://chinesenewyear.net/21-things-you-didnt-know-about-chinese-new-year/

Recently for my class over the history of ancient philosophy I have started writing my final paper, which focuses on stoicism and stoic ethics. As I have been studying materials and writings from people like Seneca and Epictetus on stoicism I have noticed some similarities between stoicism and parts of Confucianism that we have gone over this semester. For example one of the main areas of stoicism is focusing oneself and bettering yourself through means like education. In many of the Confucian dialects we have read this semester I feel like there has been a big focus on education. One quote that stood out to me was, “I was not born with wisdom. I love the ancient teachings and have worked hard to attain to their level.” I think this is very similar the views of a stoic, and is similar to some of Seneca’s letters in which he speaks on education not just being means to an end, but something that should be done for its own sake. Another quote that connected more with this writings of Epictetus was this, “There were four things the master had eliminated from himself: imposing his will, arbitrariness, stubbornness and egotism.” Epictetus speaks a lot on stubbornness and egotism, as he says that we shouldn’t be stubborn and waste out time on things we can’t control, and we shouldn’t take pride in anything besides our own virtue. Although Stoicism and Confucianism have some obvious differences between them, I just thought that these little similarities would be interesting to blog about and this would give me a break from my big final paper.

China’s continuous progression in economics and business development requires an educational system that provides opportunities for children to thrive in the future. But there is a wide range of school quality among urban and rural areas. Often major metropolises offer great quality education, while schools in rural areas are far less developed. Rural schools typically struggle with being understaffed, and the student’s educational opportunities and environment are much different than in the city.

The Chinese education system requires kids to complete five years of primary school and the first three years of middle school. There are three optional years of kindergarten before primary school. The required first three years of middle school is considered junior middle school and the final three years are called senior middle school. Following middle school students often take several years of higher education. Primary school and junior middle school are mostly funded by the government since they are mandatory, but schools may still charge for each semester or add charges for food or extra curricular activities.

Children in China attend school five days a week. The school day typically begins at 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning and ends at 17:00 or is 5:00pm in the evening, but hours may differ depending on the grade and location of the school. The beginning of the school year is in September and ends in late June or July. Chinese school systems not only have longer school days but also go for more months than most schools in the United States. One key difference between public and private schools in China is that private schools tend to use bilingual teachings.

Kindergarten or daycare is considered pre-primary education in China, so they provide various educational classes that are designed for young children to get a head start in preparing for their academic careers. Childcare is considered an essential part of a child’s overall education even though it is not mandatory. All nurseries, kindergartens, and pre-schools require tuition. This cost can vary greatly depending on the school, but many parents in China plan to invest lots of money in their child’s education. Even in kindergarten, the Chinese approach to education is strict and values discipline highly.

Education in primary school allocates 60% of it’s time on “The Big Two”, math and Chinese. The other 40% of the time is filled with classes on music, art, morals and society, and nature. Some schools begin teaching foreign languages towards the end of primary school. Students also have extracurriculars on top of school. The competitiveness of China’s educational system starts early causing parents to often sign kids up for a large variety of extracurricular activities with hopes they will have better prospects in the future. After primary school the students must take exams that test their knowledge of Chinese and math.

Following primary school students go to middle school. Junior middle school is required, so after completing these three years students can choose to attend a regular senior middle school, a vocational school, or a professional school. Many students struggle to afford higher education. Although the cost of junior middle school is typically minimal the cost for later education increases significantly. Financing their next level of education is not all the students have to worry about. Students must take Zhongkao, the senior high school entrance examination. The score they receive determines their options for what institutions to apply to.

Senior middle schools or high schools aim to prepare their students for higher education. These students are under lots of pressure to not only excel in their regular workload but to prepare for the Gaokao, the National Higher Education Entrance Examination. The Gaokao exam is the basis for recruiting students for college and the quality of the high school is often measured by the number of students they send to college, putting even more pressure on the students. The Gaokao exam is 9 hours long and taken over 3 days. The exam tests the students’ knowledge in Chinese, math, a foreign language, and a few other optional subjects. Only 40% of students pass the challenging exam on the first try.


Resource: https://www.internations.org/go/moving-to-china/education

While many, such as myself, have been fretting over the lost of celebrations during the time of March and April I questioned how others have been impacted across the world. Personally, my study abroad, formal, family holiday Easter celebration, and concerts were canceled for the rest of the semester and summer.

I read an article that interviewed a women about her life changes and cancelations due to COVID-19. The virus directly conflicted with Chunyun, the beginning travel period for the Chinese New Year. Typically this is a huge migration of people that could not practice their celebration due to the virus.

As most American’s have been concerned with canceled events, schooling, and work, China and other Eastern countries have taken more extreme measures. The interviewee in China claimed that her and her family. had to apply for residential ID cards. These cards limited the number of people able to live in households. Some households were only allowed to hold three people maximum, causing distress in the country.

As things have settled down in China, the interviewee said life has started to return to normal, but will take time to become the same once again.