I have learned a lot about China, from its censorship policies to human rights issues. I have asked myself, how do all of the issues connect. I have found that it isn't the issues that connect, but the way people deal with them. It appears that people who are featured on the news tend to stand up for what they believe in. Some do it violently, like the protesters at the plastic plant, and some do it non-violently, like Ai Weiwei or Tank Man. There is injustice everywhere in the world, but it seems that it is more concentrated in China than most places. I am sure there are good things about China, but we never hear about them.
The book The Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang was interesting, however, it ended fairly abruptly. despite the poor conclusion, the book was very educational about the Cultural Revolution. I learned all of the individual pieces, but the book connected all of the pieces. After I read the book, I understood how the Red Guards tied into Mao's Cultural Revolution.
The three essential questions, What is power and how do people use it, How does identity affect how we interact with humans, and What is our responsibility as human beings, play huge roles in history, but I think they are more relevant now than before. There are more people in this world, therefore, the questions have a larger relevance to society. I think the answers to these questions have changed over time in some places like the U.S., but for most of the world I think these answers have stayed the same for hundreds of years.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
70% of Taiwan People want cross-strait pact
A public survey in Taipei shows that 70.4% of Taiwan people want to review the controversial cross-Strait service trade pact clause by clause. In this survey published by Taiwan's mainland affairs department, about 42.5 percent supported the pact, and about 40.1 percent were against it. The service trade pact (signed in June 2013) liberalizes and normalizes service trade between China and Taiwan and even opens up mutual markets. The agreement was that the main land will open 80 service sectors to Taiwan and Taiwan will open 64 sectors to the mainland. In mid march, hundreds of students protested against the pact because they saw it as “undemocratic”, and the protest was over by April 10. The island administrator has agreed to review the pact once more and submit a draft involving the people's concerns on the cross-strait agreement. It will take some time for everyone to sign an agreed version. About 58.8 percent of people considered the cross-strait consultation as a benefit for the region's stability.
Reaction to the book
I thought the book Red Scarf Girl was an ok book. I personally thought that it was a little boring and left the reader very confused many times. I learned a lot from this book. This was a life story of an actual person so I could really understand how it was for the people in China. While I was reading this I thought about what I would have done if I was in the situation Ji-Li. Many of the things that were done seemed a little bit crazy. I honestly did not enjoy this book. Even though I learned a decent amount I felt like it was a burden to read. It was very slow and described many things that were not something that needed a lot of descriptions. There were many other things that needed a lot more description and that is why it was confusing in many places. Some parts of the book also did not seem realistic. At some points in the book I felt like I was reading a fiction book. I would not recommend this book unless you are just reading it for the historical information or the understanding of how people lived back then. From this project I learned that in order to really learn something you need to do continuos research and not only on the history but also on current events. The broader the research is the more information you will find and the more you will learn.
Muslim extremists even in China?
Muslim extremists are even going crazy in china today as they killed over 30 people and injured dozens with various bombs, and running them over in a marketplace. there was even a citizen interviewed that reported the cars had to stop a couple times, because of the piled up bodies stopping them from moving forward. These extremists were using huge fear tactics against the other people in china located in Urumqi where these Muslim extremists were terrorizing people. The official Xinhua News Agency said several people were rushed to hospital and flames and heavy smoke were seen at the scene, which was cordoned off.No other details were given and it wasn't clear if anyone had been killed in the early morning blast in the city of Urumqi. A spokeswoman for the Xinjiang regional police department would only say that more information would be forthcoming."I heard four or five explosions. I was very scared. I saw three or four people lying on the ground," said Fang Shaoying, the owner of a small supermarket located near the scene of the blast. China is refusing to let people near it who are going to take pictures and are even refusing to let people do their jobs by having them delete images and various other recordings of the information. The Muslim extremists may have gone too far even if they wish to overthrow an oppressive horrible and disgusting government this isn't the way to do it.
Witnesses describe terror attack in Urumqi
In the China news, this happened today in Urumqi. Explosions at am open-air market in Urumqi, in capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, on Thursday morning, have left 31 people dead and more than 90 others injured. China's Ministry of Public Security called the blasts "a serious violent terrorist incident", and a witness who was buying groceries at the market and he saw vehicles plough into the people and also explosions thrown out of the vehicles. "I heard a series of large explosions and the vehicles were soon on fire, with flames rising so high they could reach the second floor of a building," the witness said. Another witness, a man surnamed Wang, cried as he described the scene. "I started to run as soon as I heard the explosions and one blast was quite close to me," Wang said, adding he has never felt so scared in all his life. Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to severely punish terrorists and spare no efforts in maintaining stability in response to Thursday morning's fatal explosions in Urumqi. Two vehicles without license plates drove through roadside fences and plowed into people at an open air market at Gongyuanbei Street near Renmin Park at 7:50 a.m. and set off explosive devices, killing at least 31 people. More than 90 others were injured. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, meanwhile, called on authorities to step up safety measures and eliminate weak points in public security, to protect people's lives and properties. So far all injured people have been sent to hospitals and police are pushing through the investigation, authorities said. In the book, "Red Scarf Girl," by Ji-Li Jiang, she is willing to live through the Culture Revolution. This reminds me of the book because the terrorist attack is more of how Ji-Li Jiang lives in China and how Chairman Mao is taking over all of China's powers and strength. For example, Ji-Li Jiang needs to take care of her family in order to survive the Culture Revolution. More on how the terrorist attack describes more on how China had a lot of difficulties, including, bombs, attacks, shooting, weapons, exe. I thought the book was a good book to me because it talks about how China itself was a country that had a bunch of problems in life. I like how I learned that Ji-Li Jiang was a brave girl who reacted of standing up to Chairman Mao and her classmates in the book, "Red Scarf Girl." I would recommend this book to who ever is interested in learning about China's history and background.
Human Rights in China
Human Rights in China
1) Freedom of Expression:
The Government restricts on journalist,bloggers, and an estimated of 538 million internet users continued to violate domestic and international legal guarantees and the freedom press and expression and these are some social media that are blocked in china Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook are blocked because they don’t want people to know what's happening in china and they only allow up to 300 million subscribers space to express their opinions and discontent to an extent previously unavailable. 2)Freedom of Religion
The Chinese government restricts religious practices to be performed at mosques, churches, temples, and monasteries. Also spiritual groups such as protestant “house churches “ are consider unlawful and the government subjects their members to fines and prosecution. The government continue to restrict religious activities at are named security in ethnic minority areas. 4)Women’s Rights
5)Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
In June, more than 80 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender activists gathered in Beijing China for their first conference. The activist have been harassed by police raids on popular gay venues. Also china's laws based on sexual orientation do not recognize the same sex relationships or adoption rights to couples that are the same sex.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
North Korea Nuclear Test
North Korea has been testing nuclear weapons and wants to conduct another test. They have already done three tests but want to do another. China has used diplomatic channels to warn them not to do it. North Koreas testing of the nuclear weapons has put the rest of the world into a bit of a panic. The U.S. had renewed its threat of counter-measures after the third nuclear test. North Korea regularly Threatens the south and the United States with destruction. The U.N. has tried to pressure North korea into abandoning its missile and nuclear programs in 2006, but they did not listen. North Korea's only ally, China has told them that there is no justification for another nuclear test and that they should not do it. Even though North Korea has put a ton of stress on their relationship with China, China has not threatened the North with explicit consequences. This is like a parent not being strict enough with their child, if they aren't strict and punish the wrongdoings then those doings will continue and they will not know how wrong it is to do what they are doing. The U.S. is hoping that China will get the North to abandon the banned nuclear weapon program. The U.N. is also trying to get China to get the North to stop with their nuclear activity, also unsuccessful. The relationships with China are starting to fall apart because China is not taking control of its ally which is threatening the world and the safety for mankind. Japan is also trying to talk North Korea out of the test. In the future they will hold high level governmental talks with North Korea to try and get them to stop. The stubbornness of North Korea is awful, it could lead to another big war because it is not cooperating and putting the rest of the world in danger.
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