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:
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.
Could you give a title for the map on the second link of section 3? I was directed to the same page as the first link of section three. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your class,
B. Murphy
In "Falun Gong" from the encyclopedia, the author talks about how the Chinese government wants to ban "mixin" or superstition. I wonder how far the extent of this ban goes. Are people not allowed to be superstitious about the numbers 4 and 8? This seems to contradict the Chinese government's policy of having the Beijing Olympics held on August 8, 2008 at 8 o'clock.
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