In Jan Wong’s entrancing expose Red China Blues, she details her plight to take part in a system of “harmony and perfection” (12) that was Maoist China. Wong discloses her trials and tribulations over a course of three decades that sees her searching for her roots and her transformation of ideologies that span over two distinctive forms of Communist governments. This tale is so enticing in due part to the events the author encountered that radically changed her very existence and more importantly, her personal quest for self-discovery.…
The respondents came from various walks of life and different places in China, and the result is a book that goes into the lives and experiences of Chinese people ranging from artists to businesspeople, former Red Guards to rural migrants, prostitutes to Olympic athletes. However, for this assignment, it was asked to only read the interviews of a wealthy business man, a worker, and a Red Guard. I have heard about China Candid before and that’s why I know a lot about it. Sang Ye shows great interest in the personal experiences of his informants and they were presented not as representative of their occupation or class, but as interesting individuals with rich stories to tell. But with the context being modern China, political considerations affected the lives of all three people with whom he had conversations with. How the political expression was managed differed with every person. Some went along with the party line such as the Red Guard, while others distanced themselves from the authorities or make local officials a part of their schemes. Together, the personal stories told in this collection open a window onto what life is really like for both the Mao and post-Mao generations of…
In Richard Rodriguez's "The Achievement of Desire" he talks about the issues he faced a "scholarship boy." Rodriguez was constantly caught between his two lives: school and home. As he got older, Rodriguez had become embarrassed with his parents education and broke away from his home life to focus on his school life, which was more important. Eager to learn more "anything to fill the hollow within me and make me feel educated." (202)…
We are full around with the people who just like the characters in ‘The Great Gatsby’. Everyone in China wants to improve their own social status and have a share of the economic benefits. But everyone’s method is different. Some are illegal, some need other’s help to achieve their goal. Anyway after 10 years or 50 years, there will be no more ‘Gatsby’, ‘Daisy’, ‘Myrtle’, ‘Tom’ in China. Our society will be fairer than the current situation. Everyone can improve their social status by their own…
In his essay, “The Achievement of Desire,” Richard Rodriguez informs readers that he was a scholarship boy throughout his educational career. He uses his own personal experiences, as well as Richard Hoggart’s definition of the “scholarship boy,” to describe himself as someone who constantly struggles with balancing his life between family and education, and ends up on the side of education. In recognizing himself as a “scholarship boy,” he shows that he has gained what sociologist C. Wright Mills terms the “sociological imagination,” which “enables its possessor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals” (Mills 8). Rodriguez’s writing style switches back and forth, between his biography, which is mainly focused on himself, and the definition of the “scholarship boy,” based on Hoggart’s definition. We as readers are easily able to see that Rodriguez is not the only person who has struggled with loss, confusion, loneliness, and nostalgia, but is actually just one boy in a sea of many “scholarship boys.”…
The rapid growth of the western Chinese city of Xi 'an can accredit much of its success to the “Great Opening of the West” policy initiated in 2000, yet the policy may have never met fruition without the intricate rural-urban dynamic in place in Xi 'an (Loyalka, 2012, p. 5). Loyalka 's book Eating Bitterness examines eight Chinese families affected by growth of Xi 'an and Xi 'an 's High-Tech Zone, providing insight into the diverse daily lives of the families as well as the constantly evolving codependent relationship between the city and countryside. The city and the countryside are connected by the movement of people, space, money and culture, but Chinese families remain the strongest link as they enable these transfers. This heavy traffic between the the rural and urban cause a strain on the rural Chinese family, yet it is because of these hardworking, persevering families that the city manages to evolve in a transforming China. The new shift in focus to oneself and materialism has created many job opportunities in Xi 'an for both men and women. In this decade, Chinese women visit beauty parlors to improve their health and their appearance. With urban populations now having disposable income and companies such as M. Perfumine hiring young women from the countryside, luxuries such as beauty and cosmetics are becoming available to the middle class (p. 69-70). Teenage girls such as Jia Huan, who have only reached a junior high school education level, find few job opportunities in the city. Jia Huan 's mother believes “[the] beauty industry is good for Jia Huan. As a girl, what else is she going to do? She has no skills” (p. 83). These teenagers have a small chance at surviving in any other “career” where higher education and a wider skill-set are…
China is a political oddity, as it is one of the very few surviving Communist states and arguably the only truly successful one; but it is not exclusively this political identity and structure that have made it an emerging superpower but rather the government’s pragmatism. The modern Communist Party of China is above all pragmatic, so much so that the base pillars of communism have essentially been abandoned. They are willing to compromise their ideology to accommodate the demands of a globalized world and to some extent the demands of their people. The events of 1989 are a prime example, following the bloody Tiananmen Square protests, which called for social and political reform; an informal agreement called the Beijing consensus was made…
7.Engendering China: women, culture, and the state. (eds. Gilmartin, Christina K.; Hershatter, Gail; Rofel, Lisa; White, Tyrene). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994.…
In his defense for the role of China in the world and society, the author reveals China’s success through its path of isolation. Specifically in lines 25-29, the author refers to China’s refusal to be involved in trade with Britain, France, and Holland. As China is “enclosed in the isolation of superiority,” China is independent and does not need their “worthless articles for exchange.” The author discusses the significance of religious tradition and how that can greatly increase a country’s success. Abiding by old tradition solidifies and strengthens the country’s economic and social standing in the world. “China’s greatness was owed to principles of social order over a harmonious whole” The author implies that the social order in China consists…
Recent travels to China have opened my eyes to both the flaws and the valuable parts of Chinese society and government. Much can be learned from the mistakes and successes of the Chinese society and government. The confucian ideals which started in China teach us the importance of respecting specific relationships, such as the priceless relationship between a subject and his ruler. From the Confucian time we also understand the importance of educational standards and morals, while the legalist ideals from ancient China show us the value in balance of punishment and reward. Furthermore, from Chinese government we can learn the significance of motivation to lead in a just, sensible, and ethical manner.…
Chinese history has been guided to the global economic power player that it has become today, based largely on its nationalism. A strong sense of national pride and subsequent perceived competition with the rest of the world for superiority has given birth to a ‘technological revolution’ in more recent years. One of the fundamental principles inherent of a nationalistic society is the shared sense of “all for one, one for all”, which in turn creates an ‘us versus them’ philosophy, and has been present in Chinese history for hundreds of years. Thus one can deduce that nationalism has greatly driven Chinese history.…
In The Achievement of Desire, Richard Rodriguez talks about his experiences from when he was a young boy until he becomes an adult who have realized his life goals. As a boy, Rodriguez describes himself as a “good student” and a “troubled son” (Rodriguez 565) at the same time. In his essay, Rodriguez tells his readers how education can alienate students from their parents, culture, class, as well as from their past. The essay also reflects the situation that many accomplished scholars and professionals experience—how education has inevitably changed their minds, relationships, and lives in general. The essay concludes in irony, wherein Rodriguez realizes that education, which is the very thing that distanced him from his past, was also the very thing that made him aware of how lonely he had become. In this paper, I demonstrate how Rodriguez’s story is universal by citing instances from my own life experiences.…
[ 13 ]. Diamond, Jared M.. "China, Lurching Giant." Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed. New York: Viking, 2005. 373. Print.…
Gaining entrepreneurship skills can transform a dreamer into a innovator, since these skills give a person a blueprint or platform to start creating their business plans. Since the “didactic and uplifting ambitions of the show [is viewed] classically Chinese...from the Analects of Confucius to the sayings of Chairman Mao” at the same time the goals could be symbols of America such as “the Horatio Alger novels of young, muscular America” (Fallows 102). Fallows suggests the Chinese are fighting for democratic values to replace the authoritarian rules in China. The strategy of social activism gives a platform for Chinese people to push away from traditional Chinese values to become truly free and achieve their dreams without government interference. The actuality of what viewers see on reality show is not always the same as how it goes down in the real life situation. Bremmer would support the show’s western and entrepreneurship values; however, disagree with the “traditional Chinese values” still incorporated in “Win in China”. Through social activism, more entrepreneurs will be able to unite and work toward their business models, which can lead to a business empire in the long run. Furthermore, Bremmer shows how social activism can prevent negative competition in the sense of trying to invoke Chinese authoritarian values onto a community of Chinese people who are striving for more democratic values. Since in China, technological advancements such as the Internet is censored, so “the average Chinese Web surfer cannot be sure that every idea or opinion he encounters in cyberspace genuinely reflects the views of its author” because the government created the 50 Cent Party, which are a group of paid online commentators to write supportive posts on Chinese…
Kung, J. K.-S., & Chen, S. (2011). The Tragedy of the Nomenklatura: Career Incentives and Political Radicalism during China’s Great Leap Famine. American Political Science Review, 105(1), 27–45. doi:10.1017/S0003055410000626…