Thoughts for the Weekend

To this juncture we have read a diverse assortment of material on China--culture, history, geography, language, politics, and religion and listened to a little too much wayward commentary by Dr. J. on issues tangential to our proper course subject. Still, from your reading and from our discussions so far you should have a few emerging judgments and perhaps quite a few questions. In this first installment of the class webblog, permit yourself to record the state of your thinking to date. What have you learned so far and what has surprised you? Is there a recurring theme (or themes) that you can identify in our course work to this point? Is what you have learned so far suggest that China is genuinely unique in its contemporary complex of problems or does it resemble other newly industrializing economies (NIEs) or developing countries with which you might be familiar?

CSEM 23101-21 Pre-Class Assignments

Here's your first assignment in the week or weekend before class.  For the first day of class we will discuss our inquiries into the following areas of investigation:

1) Webwork—becoming familiar with Falun Gong. Peruse any or all of the sites below to obtain a sense of the current status of the movement and its particular difficulties with the Chinese state:

                                    www.clearwisdom.net

                                    www.faluninfo.net

                                    www.Falundafa.org

                                    www.minghui.org

                                    www.theepochtimes.com

 2) Read: *Liu Binyan, “How Much of China is Ruled by Beijing,” Blum and Jensen, China off Center, 25-30. This may be found at:

https://www.library.nd.edu/eresources/ereserves//course.cgi?course=2009F_CSEM_23101_21

3) Carefully examine a contemporary map of The People’s Republic of China (中華人民共和國). A useful one can be found at:

http://geography.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/china.html

Also have a look at this particular map:

http://geography.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/china.html

 To your eye, what are the salient features of the physical and political geography of China? 

Overall, what has such investigation taught you about geography, politics, and religion in contemporary China?

Dr. J.

Welcome to Religion in China!

I write to welcome you to our blogsite for this fall semester. This is where you will post your reactions to class and to readings and to exchange ideas about our many encounters with religions and cults in China and beyond. Once you have created a free account and logged on you will be able to access all information posted on this site. Here is the place to post your meandering thoughts at 2 or 3 in the morning and also to share anything new you discover about Chinese religion and about cults. I will be giving you specific assignments in which you are to post your answers on this site, so get used to turning to it on a regular basis as part of your class work.

In the first week or so we will just be getting used to the idea of blogging here, but after that I expect to see posts from everyone.

See you in class.

Dr. J.