The extent of this psychological manipulation, leading to people turning against their own friends for the sake of power and security, is shocking and horrifying. China never technically tortured any of its prisoners of war, but… this might be worse, messing with their minds to the point of them essentially killing each other.
Wow, this was a really interesting exploration pack! I like how you explained it then you went into detail on what you found interesting and add in your own thoughts !
Seeing that the Chinese used this same rhetoric gave me the chance to step back and realize that all propaganda and justifications for political actions are the same, just reworded or drawn to suit whatever power is in charge.
I liked this blog post a lot and I enjoyed how you really analyzed it and put in your own thoughts. i think this has shown has that propaganda is very powerful for this time.
It always makes me laugh when people claim that things like raising the minimum wage is “socialism”,
I don't think people are saying its socialism but rather raising minimum wage comes at a cost. There are pros AND cons and there is differing opinions is the cons out way the pros and vice versa.
Propaganda
I think this was a really big time for propaganda all over that world and we could really see the influence it had on people in the works.
, the people had nothing and they were really struggling with massive amounts of poverty, I question why they thought Government control would help them acquire more capital and/or financial freedom.
This is a really good point. I think they thought the government would rescue them but it did not help them.
Maybe it is because as they say, “hindsight is always 20/20”.
This was a great blog post. you did a great job summing up the control the communist government had at the time.
They also form a hero narrative for those in China who took part in the volunteer effort to go to Korea. Fresh and eager U.S. Marine troops, newly-arrived at the vital southern supply port of Pusan, are shown prior to moving up to the front lines. August 1950. INP. (USIA) “Korean War – HD-SN-99-03045” by U.S. Army Korea (Historical Image Archive) is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. Picture format changed, but otherwise, no changes made. 1.“Chapter 4″ Winning Captive Hearts”. In McKnight, Brian Dallas. We Fight for Peace : Twenty-Three American Soldiers, Prisoners of War, and “Turncoats” in the Korean War. INSERT-MISSING-SERVICE-NAME. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2014. 73. 2. “Idem”. 3. “Idem”. 4.“Chapter 4″ Winning Captive Hearts”. In McKnight, Brian Dallas. We Fight for Peace : Twenty-Three American Soldiers, Prisoners of War, and “Turncoats” in the Korean War.74. 5. “Idem”. 6. “Idem”. 7. “idem”. 8. “Idem”. 9. “Chapter 4″ Winning Captive Hearts”. In McKnight, Brian Dallas. We Fight for Peace : Twenty-Three American Soldiers, Prisoners of War, and “Turncoats” in the Korean War. 75. 10. “Idem”. 11. “Idem” 12. Newsclip April 13, 1953: An exchange of prisoners at the end of the war 13. Posters on the Korean war (link) Categorieshst271 TagsCommunism, Korean war, Mao Zedong, POW Leave a Reply Cancel replyYour email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment Notify me of followup comments via e-mail Name * Email * Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Post navigation Previous PostPrevious Show and Tell Project 3: Farewell My Concubine Search for: Search Recent Posts Week 10 Post: Psycological Warfare Show and Tell Project 3: Farewell My Concubine Week 9 Post: Wartime Tactics Week 8 Blog Post: How To Get Someone’s Attention (Abduct Them) Week 7 Post: Modernizing Shanghai Recent CommentsGiselle Gil on Week 6: The Rise Of Nationalism In ChinaColeman Smith on Week 5: NationalismJack Taub on Week 4: Opium WarGiselle Gil on Week 3 Blog: Europe and ConfucianismColeman Smith on Week 3 Blog: Europe and Confucianism Archives October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 Categories hst271 Uncategorized Meta Log in Entries feed Comments feed WordPress.org Proudly powered by WordPress
This was a great blog post! it was very interesting reading about what the prisoners went through and the psychological part of the torture's and conversion.
As mentioned in the readings, the military’s definition of torture, the inflection of pain so extreme that the captive loses control of his will and or faints from the pain, was apparently rarely used or at least experienced by the prisoners of war.3
This breaks my heart, it is so sad the pain people went through.
t feels like there shouldn’t have even been anymore conflict between the Guomindang and CCP after that.
Overall, this was a very nice blog post about the war in China and how they were affected. I feel like you can add some more details.
Modern History it said that before the United States getting involved in the war China had no support against Japan
The US has a history of getting involved in wars the don't directly affect them.
about World War II, most of the attention is spent on the European Theater and the home front. Obviously learning about the home front makes sense but there is so much we learn about the various situations of European countries leading up to and during WWII but we learn so little about the Pacific Theater. Without the readings from this week, I would’ve never known as much about the Rape of Nanjing or the controversy around it from some Japanese historians.
This is so true! I learned a lot about WW2 and what was going on in the US and Europe but not a lot about what was going on in china at the time.
These two huge wars were defining moments in China’s history and relations, solidifying anti-Japanese nationalism and tension with the US due to conflicting ideals. China under communist control would begin a new era.
This was a great blog post and does a good job summing up was going on in China at the time. I would have liked a bit more details but it was really good and interesting.
This retreat was followed by the rape of Nanjing, one of the worst displays of cruelty — not even under guise of warfare — in history. Women were raped and died, fugitive soldiers were killed, and innocent civilians were murdered. The Japanese then continued their westward march, taking Kaifeng and Wuhan. By 1938, the Qing had fallen into 10 major fragments, which the Japanese planned to exploit as puppet regimes for resources.
This is so sad to read about. It is tragic what Japan did to china!
Toshiaki Muaki and Tsuyoshi Noda, who had challenged one another in a race to see who could slaughter 100 people with their swords first.” (Mark Oliver) The Japanese soldiers did not see the Chinese as humans
that is so so sad! I'm glad you are sharing more about this tragedy we should never forget!
Everyone knows about the holocaust and other similar events, but I doubt many knew about the Japanese attacks that were equally as brutal and devastating.
This is true I never really knew about these devastating attacks. This was very informative yet so sad. Overall this was a great post!
Both also got their supplies from European nations. For the CCP it was the USSR and for the US it was any country that disliked the UK. It’s kind of weird that these two events in history share many similar traits.
This was a great post! I like how you talked about the Chinese military's and critiqued it well! It is fascinating to read about war but China's military's was just not ready to face Japans.
The Chinese air force bombed their own city after missing their original target of a Japanese fleet, which shows an amazing amount of ineptitude from people who should be well versed in these actions. I do not think China actually had any big or even small military victories over the Japanese. Their war plan was really more of a series of delaying actions to try and contain the Japanese since they obviously could not defeat them
Yes this is a good point! I agree though, China did not want to fight Japan and did as much as they could to avoid it.
What seemingly large, momentous events that are occurring will end up being nothing but a blip of history, having no sway on anything domestic or international? Can that even happen anymore, what with the internet and the amount of global connectivity that it allows? I suppose that only time will tell! E
This was a great response paper! I found all of those point very interesting and it was interesting how important religion was in those rebellions. but you always wonder what night be left out.
It also caused Yung to earn the respect of those in his community for his unwillingness to be disrespected by those around him.
Yes, I think his reputation was very important this gave him a new one rather than everyone just remembering him for being the man who studied in the US.
The first thing that stood out to me in the reading for My Life in China and America was the connection between Wing Yung’s experiences and the racism that Chinese Americans experienced during this time.
I read the book as well and I would agree. There was a lot of racism that the American Chinese were faced with.
This is important to remember for a few reasons. For one, the “Asian Prostitute” stereotype, later codified during American wars against Korea and Vietnam, probably has its origins here. But more importantly, it teaches a lesson about looking for the implications of certain laws and issues. The Page Act claimed to shut down contract laborers, but what it did in practice was stop Chinese women from coming into the country. This has happened countless times since, where normal sounding laws wind up having racist intents and effects, as spelled out oh-so-eloquently by Lee Atwater.
Wow this really puts into perspective how harsh we were. I think this blog post was very well written and kept me engaged! I would have like some sort of conclusion to sum up all of these ideas but great job overall!
e conditions inside the building were… absolutely terrible, to put it lightly. Chinese people wrote poems on the walls of their prison expressing their anguish at what had happened to them. One poem, written not on the walls but by someone who escaped for a Chinese newspaper, warned Chinese people of the conditions of the prison. He describes the inadequate food, the “hundred ailments” they faced, and, perhaps most disturbingly, the dirty water that “makes many cough,” noted by the footnotes to contain “traces of fecal contamination” (Yung, Lai, Chang, 120-121). This is just a taste of the disgraceful treatment of the prisoners received on Angel Island
Extremely said how we treated people who just wanted to come into the US!
nti-Chinese racism was legally enforced for more than half a century, and there are people alive today who lived through that time period. This isn’t just recent history; this is recent history. This kind of stuff doesn’t just disappear when the base laws are repealed, it continues to influence and affect how we see Chinese American people subconsciously.
It is definitely an issue in the United States and the Chinese American have been treated poorly for too long.
America doesn’t have the frame of reference to compare modern racism to past events. Many American children learn about Ruby Bridges, but never about Marmie Tape. So, join me today for a quick look at certain facets of the time period that codified American racism against Chinese people: the era in which the Chinese Exclusion Acts were in full force.
This is a great point and a really good start to your blog post!
How did they ever come up with that! Okay okay I’m done. Some how they survived. To me this is the perfect illustration of the Chinese Communist Party, they will always survive. No matter the odds they will somehow beat them, even if they have to kill a couple million people along the way.
Great conclusion, and I loved this post it was funny and clear. I like how well you add in your opinion and yore on perspective on the matter!
Strangely enough Mao was a supporter of woman’s rights (and genocide, everyone was equally worthless). He eliminated arranged marriages, which was a huuuuge reform.
Ok I did not know about him being a supporter of genocide however, It was Strange her felt so strongly for women's rights. But defiantly a good thing !
Lets just get this out of the way, 479 million is a lot of people. And that’s how many people lived in China at this time. And! I’d be willing to bet that 99.99% of these people have next to no money. Seems to sound like a certain country we know… really could be a ton of countries at this point. But, like I pointed out in my other blog posts, a revolution seemed to be imminent. Things were so bad that many families had to sell their own children to make money (I hope that doesn’t happen here, I could probably get a lot of money…).
Honestly, the best intro I have read! But yes there was an absurd amount of poverty at this time!
The weapons used, such as grenades, also helped solidify to me that this didn’t occur a very long time ago even though sometimes it can feel that way.
This was a great blog I like how you touched on a lot of key readings. THe tale of the Luding Bridge was really interesting and does help show how the people brought more unification to China.
What I found very interesting from this chapter was Mao Zedong’s acknowledgment of sexual inequalities and his efforts to change it. In the U.S., it was mostly women who acted against gender inequalities to gain the right to vote among other things so it was surprising to me to read about a man acknowledge the difficulties women faced in his society. Especially when he described men as a whole category of oppression women in poverty faced on top of the typical oppression faced by men in the same poverty.
I actually thought that was very interesting. Because he just helped women right significantly in china like it was no big deal. However, in the US women had to really fight to gain those rights. I would say that is defiantly my favorite thing he accomplished as a leader.
Others questioned exactly how far exactly did the CCP troops travel. The CCP claimed that they had traveled over 12,000 km, whereas recent studies have showed that they traveled only about 6000 km
Wow I did not know that. I think it is very important to try to get that information accurate and to know the ful story. I like how well you explained the march and the strong leadership Mao had.
The
This was also a time where people were fighting for power and every country wanted to be the most "powerful"
This week looks at perhaps the messiest time of the recent Chinese history – multiple factions controlled different parts of China and each of them wanted to expand their territory.
I would agree. It was very interesting but a messy time for China.
. Overall, with the lower class starting to suffer, and The CCP declaring war on Japan, Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party slowly started to gain support from citizens all over the country.
This was a really good post ! You did a great job summing up the chapter in a clear and cohesive way.
This definitely sounds like a good thing for citizens to gain work, but it actually destroyed the lower class in China…. The lower class worked, on average, about 9 to 13 hours a day while getting paid minimum wage. The basic household spending exceeded the average monthly income by about 11 percent, which is crazy, and shows how many low class citizens started to live in poverty.
I read about this too and thought it was shocking. However, I do remember similar lifestyles occurred in the US during the industrial revolution.
gh, with resources like schools and hospitals being expanded. Additionally, many of the policies that they attempted to have in place were well intentioned, with things like focus on decreasing mother/infant mortality and focusing on Chinese culture and literature.
See there was a lot of benefits to this new type of government control. Nationalism is very important especially during this time as long as it does not go to the extreme. But for China this was a big change and you are right it really is not see in other times in history.
One problem was that many of the people that were for communism didn’t always agree on what exactly that meant.
I think the communist leader were very charismatic as well! but it did help some aspects in China.
The first thing that I noticed was the increasing levels of secrecy and privacy in things like secret police and bunkers/hideouts for rebel figures.
this started because of the rise of communism.
Not only was their a massive improvement in medicine, we saw a substantial increase in the advancement of education taking on a western ideas on making interactive college campuses. It is clear that this new government was committed in some ways to advancing society.
That is true! These changes are helping the people of China. I think as technology improves it brings more awareness to the strength and power it has and every country wants that leverage.
Another thing that I found very interesting was that are similarities between the labor protests at this time in China and the ones that we saw in America (1877). Comparing the two, they both used the same strategies to attempt to gain more rights and gain higher wages. Furthermore, railroad workers started both. In both cases, some deaths also came as a result.
This is a really good comparison. I feel like a lot of protests at the time people were very passionate about.
Therefore, Shek’s wish to restore that element of Shanghai while also retaining its modern reputation was (although daunting) quite admirab
So I did not do this exploration pack but you did a great job explaining it. I wish Shanghai preserved more tradition and culture rather than trying to change so much. China has a very rich history though that I think is unforgettable.
Sun Yat-Sen
It is very interesting that you focused on Sun Yat-Sen! This was during the rise in communism and Sun Yat-Sen played a large role in that and was able to bring in some allies. I did not do this exploration pack so this was very informative!
arxism appealed to more and more people in China.
The formation of the Chinese Alliance is a very interesting topic to me. It is very promising when different groups come together as one in order to promote a more ideal society. I am wondering if the Chinese Alliance had any association with the Chinese government, though.
However, I could have misunderstood the text, as I was only able to read the marked sections.
uilding on your “Diary of a Madman” analysis, it is certainly essential to be skeptical of sources that seem to overexaggerate things. By comparing Chinese society to cannibals, it is evident that the author has his own, biased views on Chinese society.
believe that the values emphasized in the call still resonate today.
Taking Chinese and Japanese history into account, it is interesting to think that Japan sees themselves as superior to China considering Japanese culture is completely derived from Chinese culture. In the early history of Japan, took cultural and technological ideas from China, which is largely what helped Japan develop into their own nation. It is definitely fascinating to see how the tables have turned.
Mao Ze Dong referred to this movement as a critical day to the start of the Communist revolution in China.
The May Fourth Movement exemplifies the power of the youth. Workers, businessmen, and merchants most likely backed the movement because they knew that this was the next generation, and it was up to them to build the ideal society that they want to live in.
These are two books telling parallel stories, one of a young boy who grows to lead a group of Boxers and the other of a girl who converts to Christianity. I’ll admit I took an extended break while writing this post because I got sucked back in to reading them. This part of Chinese history absolutely fascinates me; the fact that a group can be such a dominating force that there are treaties and laws made about them without even having a leader figure is phenomenally impressive. I do not know how or why they were so successful, but I have a few theories. Firstly, nationalism is always a frighteningly strong persuader (look no further than modern day America). The Boxers had seen their country seemingly ruined by the British and their culture, so any of it being accepted into the country would be taken as a direct threat to their way of life. The other is that they needed no leader because they all knew exactly what they were fighting for. Thinking about modern day America, threats to our society are countless in terms of systemic racism, political corruption, and police brutality that it can be hard to find a place to start being active. For the Boxer rebellion, the goal was clear: there was to be no Christianity in China, no matter the cost.
This was very interesting! This has made me want to watching Silence and read those books. I think it is fascinated learning about religion how different cultures are affected by it!
As for the artwork itself. I think the most important lesson that can be drawn is that the Japanese army was in a western style uniform and equipped with advanced weapons. The Chinese, on the other hand, used much more outdated equipments. This shows that China was really lagging behind in terms of technological advancement. Of course, being an art piece, things might have been somewhat exaggerated, but the idea is there. However, one thing that China have is vast manpower, and as we have seen from earlier chapters, thousands of Chinese people traveled all over the world and although they most worked as cheap labour, this shows an entrepreneurial but also hard working side of the Chinese.
I think it was very interesting all the changes in china due to the influence of western civilization. Especially was read about a lot of changes in the art in China. It has defiantly been interesting the ways other cultures have influenced China.
Worse yet, global demand for Chinese commodities such as tea, porcelain and silk had created trade deficits all over Europe.” In other words, Europe was being beaten by a country it presumed and thought as weaker.
It seems China became developing stronger economic power at this time that was regrettably overlooked.
One thing that was astonishing to me was how Europe saw China as a nation. Like in the U.S. today, Europe back in the 18th century saw China as a weaker nation. Europe saw itself as the most powerful, and was woken up by China’s presents.
That really is shocking because now China is very powerful country but at the time they were consider weak and many countries did not take them seriously.
Being a Peranakan led to a life often of luxuries and privileges. Knowing that they essentially started from nothing, and became powerful through trade is astonishing in a country that was against outside trading. It reminds me of the owners of modern day companies that started with almost nothing, and now are massive corporations.
Peranakans were a very interesting and powerful group of people and had a large influence on China.
It is kind of funny that in a way Britain fought two wars over tea.
Haha Britain loved their tea! This was a great blog post! I like that you talked about how manipulative Britain was in this war which I did not think about as much. China was definitely at a disadvantage and should have tried to avoid this war but I guess they didn't want more of there people dying from opium addiction.
This all changed when the British decided that they did not want to use silver to pay for there precious tea anymore and decided to trade opium instead of silver for tea
I think they issue was more that China insisted Britain paid them in silver for the tea and Britain was literally running out of sliver because they wanted so much tea. So Britain's idea was to trade the tea with opium which the people of china was very addicted to and really wanted.
I took from it was that the Chinese government was losing power.
I think China's government was losing power but I think it was there own self destruction. They were starting war when they were in the wrong and it could have been avoided so they suffered a massive loss.
The argument got out of hand and led to the Chinese burning down a Muslim village and killing innocent families. The Muslims retaliated by laying siege on Tongzhou and Xi’an. To me, it is crazy to think China has had so many wars over such odd things. Some are understandable, such as with the taxes. Others, such as a disagreement over the price of bamboo, seem a bit out of place. I guess in a way, China’s history was filled with wars. Wars against drugs, wars against unfairness, and ultimately wars against each other when situations get taken too far.
That is very insightful. It is really sad what how china treated the Muslims. I think a lot of the war in china were very silly and unnecessary. It is actually sad how many people died over a disagreement and China being stubborn.
He also tried to get people to hand over their pips used to smoke the drug. He was not too successful due to their being no compensation for handing over their pipes. Due to this, not many people handed over their pipes, and simply continued using the drug. Drug use was not the only problem brewing.
I read about that! I thought it was funny that China was trying so hard to enforce there law but the people just weren't listening. The people of china were very addicted to the drug so they really wanted it from Britain.
wo that particularly stood out to me was the opium problem, and the Muslim revolt
intriguing! I am excited to read more. I did not do a lot of reading on the Muslim revolt so I look forward to reading
Was any war worth the deaths it caused? I would argue it was a case by case basis. However the only war I can think of that was justified WW2, but even that is difficult to say.
I loved this blog post! You kept it very entertaining while also informative! You did a great job adding in your own analysis. Like I mentioned, I did not do this exploration pack so I am glad I read this. I cannot believe how tragic that war was.
At the end of this period some say that between 10 million and 20 million had died
Wow. That is shocking.
I’m not going to lie to you, this is depressing. I don’t know how the jokes are going to work or if they will even land. So just to let you know, I will try to keep the lightheartedness of my blog posts in without being disrespectful.
I am already intrigued! I also did not do this exploration pack so I look forward to reading this blog post!
While the war likely still would have happened regardless of the proposal’s acceptance, it’s interesting and sad that the emperor chose to be harsher to the forces that led to the end of his country as he knew it.
Yes! That is a good point. I think this war could have been avoided. It was really started by china but also hurt china the most. This was a very good blog post you summed up the events in the opium war well and highlighting interesting facts I didn't think much about. Like about Almacks experience and impression of the Chinese.