GHS208-01 Spring 2020 China and the Islamic Middle East

When I was reading “The Heritage of Chinese Civilization,” I was surprised to learn that human sacrifice was a big part of the Shang dynasty (1766-1050 BC), specifically as it relates to servitude. It was said that after a king died, his servants would be killed and buried with him, in order to continue serving him in the afterlife. While these servants probably did not all do so gladly, it was considered a big step in fulfilling their honor. This section immediately brought to mind “The Biography of Yu Jang,” which took place sometime in the Warring States period (475-221 BC). In the short story, Yu Jang repeatedly puts his life in danger in order to avenge his former master. By attempting to kill the Lord, he knew he was going to die, regardless of whether he succeeded or not. Nevertheless, he was convinced this act would bring him honor, and ultimately allow him to face his master in the afterlife. This mindset was very interesting to me, because it reflects how traditional ways of thinking can be carried on through many centuries.

It is easy to be critical of the extreme way in which honor was granted in that time. In the US, we try to honor those who have passed in how we continue to live our lives… but in other areas, how many of our history’s ideals are too ingrained for us to see past the misconstrued reasoning?

An interesting aspect of these readings was the idea of honor and bravery. This is a concept that is present in each reading. In “A Tiger-Fighter Is Hard to Find,” Huping is willing to risk his life to fight a tiger, but when he fails to bravely attack the tiger for the next take, he has a breakdown. He cannot get past the fact that he failed to “kill” the tiger. He violently attacks the man in the tiger suit the next time to avenge his cowardice and restore the honor he felt by “killing a tiger.”

The idea of honor is also present in “The Biography of Yu Jang.” In this story, the servant is willing to risk death multiple times to avenge the honor of his master. This concept is respected by his master’s killer, and he allows the servant to go free. He states, “’The earl of Chih died with no heir, and yet this subordinate of his wanted to avenge him. He is truly one of the world’s worthy men’” (41).  However, the servant cannot achieve true honor until he avenges his master’s death, so he attempts to kill his master’s killer once again. He loses and then falls on his sword to maintain his honor and bravery. This story and the idea of avenging honor is praised in this culture. This idea of bravery and getting honor from defending yourself and your master might come from a period in Chinese history that was characterized by war. In The Heritage of Chinese Civilization, the Warring States period is described as large territories formed and vied to unite China (Craig 11). These ideas of honor may come from the need to form close groups with those in one’s territory and fight to keep one’s territory in power.

Most of what we think of culture is based in what bind us into groups of people. What we will primarily learn about is the cultural differences between us, the american culture, and the rest of the world, specifically China and the Islamic Middle East. When we think of these places culturally we think of the mainly food and relations with the United States. In terms of China we think of manufacturing and trade. In the Middle east us, as Americans, often think of armed conflict. We often neglect the other aspects of their culture such as music and how they govern. I expect to learn a great deal about these cultures in this course.

Whilst reading the “Tiger Fighter” piece by Ha Jin it was hard not to quickly catch on to the problem at stake here, which is a world wide message. Whilst taking a course on romantics, morals and religion there were many points in time where we spoke on the topic of morality. In Ha Jin’s ‘Tiger Fighter’ piece there is a problem at stake which is that these people are trying to recreate a book through film, in which there is a scene where a man must fight a tiger and defeat it. Already in the time that this story takes place there is no such thing as CGI, or computer generated interfaces, so this means somebody would have to fight the tiger. Where morals come into question is when this director allows somebody to do this, by tranquilizing the tiger.

Throughout this story the main character slowly falls into a bad mental state, it’s said that he had schizophrenia but I think if you look further into the text this fight with the tiger caused whatever mental state was triggered during the fight, not schizophrenia. I don’t believe a doctor at this time could diagnose something along the lines of PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Along with this the director also knows that he is putting people in danger, and still lets this man acting as a tiger fighter to try again and humiliate himself in front of his peers.

Morally, to me this is all wrong, and eventually this director decides to kill the tiger for its fur to fake the scene, in a safe way. In doing this, however, and allowing the man who he’s made mentally ill by having him fight tigers karma struck back and the mentally ill actor almost killed the man inside of the tiger fur. After all of this they got the scene “right”

To me the story has a hidden message of doing things ethically or morally incorrect can get you what you want. There’s no hiding that in life, it would be a lie to say that you couldn’t get something that you want the incorrect way. However look at all the repercussions this director now must face. A tigers life on his hands, one man not the same man as he was, and another concussed as well as almost killed. These all fall down to this directors poor decision making skills. Ha Jin seems to be saying, “you can get what you want by doing it wrong, but can you face what you may end up doing to those around you?” Let me know if you agree or disagree, I’d love to discuss.

China has recently been in the news due to the tense trading situation between China and the United States. Last Wednesday, President Trump signed a trade deal with China in an attempt to ease the tension between the two countries. Both China and the United States’ economies are some of the world’s largest. In the agreement, China agreed to buy an extra $200 billion of American goods by 2021 and ease up on the tariffs on American goods. However, the United States will still keep tariffs on Chinese goods. President Trump hopes to do further dealings with China to remove all tariffs.

This trade issue reminded me of the short story, “After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town.” This story follows the struggles and realizations of Chinese workers employed at an American restaurant. The story details many ways that dealings in China and America are done differently. It also emphasizes how the economies are intertwined. On page 185, a cultural clash between business proceedings in the U.S. and China occurs, “We didn’t need a cheap customer like this one and should throw him out. Mr. Sharpiro said we ought to follow the American way of doing business- you must try to satisfy your customers” (Ha Jin). Another passage that illustrates how the two countries work with each other is on page 187, “It used Chinese produce, and labor and made money out of Chinese customers, then shipped its profits back to the U.S.” (Ha Jin). This line shows how this business was exploiting China to gain profits in the U.S. and help its economy.

Nevertheless, the employees being paid spend money in China which stimulates their economy and creates a relationship between both countries. In “An Entrepreneur’s Story,” there are less obvious connections to the trade war, but there are still connections between people’s reactions to money. In this story, a young man creates a successful business, and it changes the attitudes of the people around him, “Money is a funny thing. It can change your personality. No, not that you actually change inside, but the people around you change their attitudes about you” (Ha Jin 120). The view of money and success going hand in hand is a concept that is also seen in America. There is a deep respect in America for entrepreneurs and people who have created businesses from the ground up. The attitudes in this story remind me of attitudes in America when it comes to money. Overall, there are many links between America and China when it comes to money. These connections can be seen in the news and in these stories.

Welcome to Blogs @ Butler. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!