Reflection

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.