Extra Credit Responses
Please
write a two-paragraph response to any of the extra credit events that
you went to throughout the semester. Summarize the content of the event
in the first paragraph from you point of view and write a reflection of
your experience in relation to our class in the second paragraph. Post
your response as a comment to my post here. I hope to read many of your
reflective responses throughout the semester!
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I am a violinist in the UK symphony orchestra and I had the opportunity to perform with Lang Lang. I first heard about Lang Lang from a friend of mine a year ago and I saw some of his performances on youtube and I became a big fan, so I was really excited when I found out that we’d be playing with him this concert season. On the day of the concert we had our first rehearsal with Lang Lang and I got a video of him practicing! It was such an amazing experience to play with such a talented musician. He had so much energy and passion when he played and I felt that he inspired the rest of the orchestra to play more passionately. I almost missed some of my entrances because I was so entranced by his playing. He played an encore that I wasn’t expecting and he played so beautifully I almost cried. He is a very friendly person and pretty funny too. The concert was certainly one of the best experiences I’ve had.
ReplyDeleteIn relation to class, I feel that music is a very important element to popular culture and world relations. We may not speak the same language but music is something we can all understand and enjoy. It can be used to bridge political boundaries separating countries and people. We saw this a few weeks ago with the performances on the New Year’s program with a Taiwanese man singing with a Korean pop star and a Chinese celebrity singing with a French woman. Earlier on in our concert season we performed with students from a university in Inner Mongolia and I had the opportunity to experience and play Mongolian music, which I had never been exposed to. Even though we couldn’t communicate verbally with the sihu player, the horsehead fiddle player, or the throat singers, we could still come together to create art.
Thank you for sharing, Taylor! I was there listening to him in person for a second time. So proud of you and the whole UK symphony orchestra. Loved "Pictures at an Exhibition"! Thank you for your reflection on music in popular culture and international relations. I was at the Mongolian concert too. Truly wonderful that you have experienced a wide variety of music from different traditions. Hope you can incorporate this experience in your midterm and final projects!
ReplyDeleteI attended the event where Gov. John Huntsman spoke about China and US relations. Much of the speech was devoted to Gov. Huntsman's views about the state of US politics and highlighted his pet project of No Labels. Then he spoke of the emergence of China as a powerful actor on the world stage and he likened the US Chinese relationship to a marriage, where each side must make compromises. With regards to Chinese society, Gov. Huntsman spoke of the current political trends taking course. These trends include: the rise of the 5th Generation of leaders, the expanding role of social media and the internet in increasing democracy, central bank reform and independence, urbanization and the problems surrounding migration, and the role of state owned enterprises in the future of the Chinese economy.
ReplyDeleteThe most important of the trends with regard to the class is definitely the use of social media to expose corruption and publish popular discontent. Official corruption is a glaring problem and it remains to be seen if the Party executives will take strong action against corruption. Also, the rising inequality amongst the urban versus rural population of China may fuel popular discontent. In the mean time, citizens can use social networking sites to unmask corruption and spur local officials to act against inequality. This particular theme of Gov. Huntsman's talk of improving technology and the consequences of social networking, reminded me of the PBS documentary "High Tech, Low Life" in which two bloggers use social media against the state sponsored News. The younger blogger reports on injustice in the rape and murder of a young girl by the son of an official. The older blogger tries to fight corruption by helping rural farmers take action against pollution sanctioned by the local government. This model of free speech is hard to counter and poses a real problem for the Chinese government censorship.
When John Huntsman came to talk I knew the theme was on China. Before I delve into the talk on China I had a few criticisms that I wanted to make about the general presentation. He seemed to talk mostly about his stories outside of China. He seemed like he was going to wrap it up several times and to me it seemed like he mostly touched on China in the end. With that being said, a lot of the things that he mentioned were very interesting about China.
ReplyDeleteHe had a vast amount of knowledge and previous experience in dealings over there. He has a lot of experience in the political field and seems to be a phenomenal representative because of this in China. He mentioned a story about being there “the first time we got involved with China”, as a kid. This was obviously a joke but it was a good insight into just how much and for how long he has been involved. He has had a lot of experience in dealing with Hu Jintao, the former leader of China. He really was not all too thrilled about the job that Jintao did while in power. He made him out to be a bit of a passive leader who really was just a figurehead and not much of a man who took large steps to integrate China and carry out reforms.
John Huntsman does, however, think highly of Xi Jinping and seems very optimistic about the future of China and their involvement with both the United States and the rest of the world. He does have a lot of obstacles to overcome both internally and through the cooperation with the rest of the world.
Internally he has problems such as maintaining/restructuring the economy to keep China as a leader in that regard. There is also the problem of the different ethnic groups within China and trying to keep any uprisings or social movements from occurring that could overthrow the government’s power. A key aspect of maintaining order is going to be the rising wages and how that could affect people of all different classes. Then there is the problem that most people are aware about which is the pollution in China, and particularly in Beijing. Smog is a world problem and not something that China has to face alone. He mentioned that the cooperation of China and the United States, as the world’s two hegemonic states, is going to be crucial especially if they want other countries to follow suit. They have to work together to solve global problems like the environmental ones that we face. Finally, as we talked about in class, there is the possibility that China could be moving to a form of “democracy”, what that may be though is still to be determined. He did not really speak on this matter and from what I took away from his talk; he does not necessarily think that this is a problem. He seemed to think that problems both foreign and domestic could be solved without a regime change. Had he felt strongly about this possibility I feel that he would have mentioned it. There is also the possibility that he does not mention it because he is a politician and does not want to stir up and trouble in this regard.
I thought his overall insight and experience made for a great talk on politics regarding China. His insight into problems that China has been facing and will be facing was very good and it was nice to get a first hand account from someone who is so heavily involved with both the United States and China.
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ReplyDeleteAfter hearing Dr. Alexa’s talk over Ophelia and East Asian Sensibilities, I’ve decided that I like the Asian version of Ophelia better than the Western one. I really liked the focus being on the beauty and innocence of the character instead of placing the significance on the death. I also enjoyed the ingenuity of the incorporation of local values to not only surpass the Victorian version, but to also critique it. I thought it was really interesting that, while Ophelia was sexually objectified to some degree –it was done in a manner that portrayed Asian view of femininity.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Dr. Alexa, Ophelia has become more than a character in Asia, she has become the ideal lover, a river goddess, and a mediator between the human and spiritual worlds. Instead of being confined to a two dimensional character in a Victorian play, Ophelia has been brought to life and flourished in Asian culture. While I believe that the “Victorian legacy” was useful in creating a foundation for the modern Asian Ophelia, what she has become now is a much more meaningful and three dimensional character that I feel will continue to grow with East Asia.
I also went to Donna L. Kwon’s talk over Asserting Cultural Continuity and Performative Hybridity in Korean Hip-hop and Rap. What interested me the most was learning about the difficulty of molding the Korean language into a hip-hop or rap format. The language’s natural flow directly inhibits it from being spoken in forms found in rap and hip-hop. The way artists have found a way around this is fascinating—changing the flow of the language in a way that is still understandable to a native speaker while also successfully incorporating it into a hip-hop/rap format.
ReplyDeleteNot only do these artists have to struggle with changing their language, they also must alter any traditional Korean music they want to incorporate into hip-hop/rap. Traditional Korean music, as well as the language, has a time signature that does not naturally work in a hip-hop/rap setting. I think this is why Kpop has become so globally popular—the resulting music created from altering an entire language and also altering traditional cultural music is something that has not been achieved by any other country. The result is that Kpop is a truly unique creation that cannot be recreated by most other nations.
Professor Alexa Huang gave us a lecture “Fair Ophelia” in Victorian and East Asian Visual Cultures, mainly discussing about the relations between Ophelia and East Asian women. The Victorian legacy has served as an iconic reference point for later actresses and writers to shape Ophelia, but the East Asian Ophelias are different from the West. In the lecture, she compared the west Ophelia to the East Asian Ophelia, and said that Ophelia has reimagined as a filial daughter, river goddess and an ideal lover in Asian culture. For the East Asia Ophelia, she mentioned the Japanese, Korean and Chinese edition, such as the Ophelia role relates to Japanese kabuki. In the Japanese edition, Ophelia is very central to the anxiety of modernity that she remains a focal point on the Japanese stage. In the Chinese edition, Sherwood Hu’s Prince of the Himalayas, shot in Tibet with all Tibetan cast. In the Prince of the Himalayas, it offers a visual of the drowning Ophelia, and it relates to the Millais’s Ophelia, but the main difference is Ophelia is associated with water throughout the film. I also like Alexa Huang’s example about Qing Nu in film The Banquet which directed by Feng Xiaogang.
ReplyDeleteI like the East Asian Ophelia better than the West one, because the East Asian Ophelia emphasizes more about the local context. The later editors and directors in East Asia used their local values to engage with the Victorian edition. Especially in the Sherwood Hu’s film Prince of the Himalayas, it adapts Ophelia with East Asian femininity, but also has the Victorian interpretation’s sexuality part. We also can get some information about the relations between East Asian Ophelia and Victorian Legacy from the poster, like the East Asian Ophelia (Tibetan edition) in floral wreath hat and wearing a white garment, and she lies down and float on the water.
Through this meeting, I learned a lot about ZiZhiTongJian. The instructor told the story of Han Yu. The poem demoted arrives said at Lan Ting. Also the instructor told us the story about Han Hsiang.there was an event: bone of Buddha; the instructor told us Xian Zong fears of death and want to kill Han YU.the instructor also told about other things: YouYangZaZu; the mountain route; the death route; TaiPingGuangJi.
ReplyDeleteThrough this meeting, I learned a lot about the party line knowledge. The instructor talked about the dominant paradigm, narrative of closure, and the culture and cultural fields (William). Also the instructor talked about the structural positions: dominant, the mainstream. I learned the Bulletin board systems (BBS) and the blogosphere. The instructor also talked about the Taboo breaking, fun seeking, and faille trailblazers. The instructor told us the structural transformation of the cultural field since the 1990s. The taboo breaking: Han Han. I learned the Han Feng incident. Also I learned the atypical style
ReplyDeleteIn this meeting, the instructor told us the western Ophelia, and the moral agency. Also the instructor compare to the Asian Ophelia. She told us the John Everett Millais and the Evelyn Waugh May 1930. Also, I learned the Prince of Himala, the Ye yan, and the Fair Ophelia. There are three faces phases: fascination, voiceless a voice, objectified and sexual. Also she showed us some Ophelia in painting.
ReplyDelete