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Lesson # 3 Modern Chinese Family Values
Estimated Teaching Time = Eight 45 minute periods
Introduce the post-Mao
period and Deng Xiaoping's reforms, including the move to privatization and
economic liberalism, but without the accompanying political liberties. Also the government's continuing
control over the family, namely the one-child-per-family campaign.
Objectives
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Students will read
̉The Chinese Family Today" to continue to trace the political, economic, and
cultural changes within China in the twentieth century on an illustrated
timeline (from 1976 to the present) and describe the preferences for spouses in
modern China. (All readings are fully sourced below.)
¤
Students will
identify and describe the economic changes in China, including the responsibility
system, internal migration, and"socialism with Chinese characteristics" by
reading selections from The New York
Times and Newsweek and viewing
excerpts from China Now.
¤
Students will
identify the challenges of China's population pressures on its food supply,
natural resources, and state services and assess the merits of the
one-child-per-family campaign by reading Chapter 8 (Where Have All the Babies
Gone?) in China Wakes.
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Students will
analyze the events leading up to and following the demonstrations in Tiananmen
Square by viewing photographs and reading Chapter 3 (Ghosts) and Chapter 9
(Castrating the Thinkers) in China Wakes.
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Students will
continue a written reflection journal, taking particular note of change and
continuity in ritual behaviors at marriages, births, and deaths within Chinese
families.
Activities
1.
LINGUISTIC/LOGICAL/SPATIAL
- Distribute copies of"The Chinese Family
Today." (pp 219-227 in Sizer, Nancy. China: Transition and Change.
NY: Longman, 1991.). Students
should skim through the author's introductory remarks as both a review of
previous events in twentieth century Chinese history and to add to their
illustrated timelines to bring them up to the present day.
- Have students read"Selecting a Spouse" (at
the end of the previous reading) and create a perspective drawing in
accordance with the Perspective Drawing Directions (see below) that
reflects the preferences of the two interviewed men.
2.
LINGUISTIC/INTERPERSONAL
- Introduce the changing nature of the Chinese
system with the political cartoon comparing Mao and Deng (reprinted in China
Today. Newsweek Education Program, 1996.), and Deng Xiaoping's quotes
"It does not matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches
mice" and "To get rich is
glorious." Ask students to
consider the impact of these new ideological perspectives.
- Conduct a jigsaw research and discussion
activity. Divide students in
to three groups. Distribute
one of the following articles to each member of one group:"A Teenager's
Journey Mirrors Inner Migration That's Changing China." (Wall Street Journal, 29 October
1996. Reprinted in Megacities in the Asia/Pacific Region. SPICE.),
"Nature and Economic Boom devouring China's Farmland" (Tyler, Patrick. New York Times 27 March 1994.
Reprinted in China Today Newsweek Educational Program. 1996.) and
"Nightmare Cities." (Newsweek 26
December 1994/ 2 January 1995. Reprinted in China Today Newsweek
Education Program 1996).
Have
students in each group generate a list of potential benefits and problems
caused by changes in economic policies.
Have each group report while the whole class adds to a master list of
benefits and problems. Discussion
should include increased personal wealth for rural migrants, increased
industrialization, decreased agricultural output lost to erosion and
development, urban overpopulation, crime, and social unrest.
3.
LINGUISTIC/SPATIAL
- View three excerpts from the video China Now (Produced by Susan Larson
of China Television Ventures with WLRN Public Television, Miami, 1995.)
Students should list elements of the responsibility system and new
"socialism with Chinese characteristics" emerging in China. They should pay particular
attention to the relationships within the three families interviewed and
note them in their reflection journals.
4.
LINGUISTIC/INTRAPERSONAL/LOGICAL/SPATIAL
- Assign"Where Have All the Babies Gone?"
(Chapter 8 in Kristof, Nicolas and Sheryl Wudunn. China Wakes: The
Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power. NY: Times Books, 1994**)
reading and writing assignments in reflection journal. (See Lesson 1 for Reflection
Journal worksheet.) Alternate or additional reading assignment could be
"Quality Not Quantity" (Newsweek
28 November 1994. Reprinted in China Today, Newsweek Education
Program, 1996.)
- Students should create a T chart or other
graphic organizer to generate merits and problems with the one-child
campaign.
5.
SPATIAL
/INTERPERSONAL/LINGUISTIC/INTRAPERSONAL
- Assign the second part to Chapter 3"Ghosts"
(in China Wakes**) reading and have students write a eulogy for a
known or anonymous protester in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. Eulogies should offer a considered
judgment on the deeds of an individual. Debrief students on the events leading up to and during
the demonstration.
- Assign Chapter 9"Castrating the Thinkers"
reading and writing assignments in reflection journal (in China Wakes**).
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Have students
speculate on the role of family members of dissidents and compare them to the
family members in To Live and Wild
Swans. (See Lesson #2 for activities for these sources.)
6.
LINGUISTIC/SPATIAL
- Before moving on to the performance
assessment, check for student understanding of the modern values of
Chinese families. This can be
done orally or in writing or by asking students to draw a representation
of each aspect and displaying these on a bulletin board under a banner
heading,"Modern Chinese Family Values."
** Available in Primary
Source library
Lesson Three Assignments and Worksheets
