Blog Assignment 6

The research paper I read is "Youth Voting" written by Jeffrey Bivin. It mainly talking about the position and the involvement of youth in democracy, which is obvious in the title. The claim of this reseach paper is the first sentence of second paragraph. The claim, in a summary, is to say that young citizen did not join the voting of government that much as there parents did.
The writer then seperates the whole paper into sections. He first introduce some facts and data to prove his claim is true. Then he analysis the reason of why youth "disconnect" from "political arena". He also gives some solution to this phenomenon. His reason to support his claim is located in the tree paragraphs down the claim. He use the data in 1998, 2008, 1972,1997 and 1995 to compare the percentage of youth voter among youth in order to show how it is rare to have a young man who really concerns on politics. The counterargument in here is do youth should have more opportunity and participation in to the political voting. The evidences he uses is all real data and quoting of political scientists. The essay is persuasive since it use examples exactly with his own analysis and other's analysis. He has many reason like lacking of involvement in to political life and less concern of public education system to support why the percentage of youth voting is so low.

Blog Assignment 6

I just read through "Radical But Right", a research paper on animal's right by Sarah Wells. She used a lot of research material to prove her idea that animals also have emotion and feeling, and it is cruel to harm them only because we want to.
One of the example she paraphases the resources is the one written by Barash called "Animal intelligence". It is about how intelligent animal can be that " a dog with a vocabulary of over 200 words and a parrot with the ability to combine and interpret the things" is meant to prove animal has intelligence to think. The writer use paraphrase to present this material because this case is easy to define and she can add her own thinking according to this resources. Based on the result in material the writter can prove why it is cruel to kill and eat animals since they are same as human in emotion and intelligence.
The quotation used from 'Food City" writen by Jeffries is also a good resource to support writer's idea. "people eat mainly'boneless, skinless, faceless cuts' so that they'candelude[themselves]that what [they] are eating has never died for [their] delectation." She use several quotation from original article since the original one uses exact words that writer think it is to express her idea, and it is hard to change it to another words. The writer use this quotation to argue that people just ignore what they eat used to be a living, minded life, but they cannot deny the reality that they are killing lifes.

Blog Assignment 5

Think of any instance you can of the winners writing the history. What would the same history look like if the losers wrote the history?

History is a media connecting ancient times with nowadays. Media itself is a controversial topic. It carries the writter's point of view through the information, and always has a purpose. Thus media always seen as an invisible weapon, so does history. History is considered as a required course before grade 9 in most of the country, but does not tell absolute truth. For an instance, the point of view from China and Japan towards WWII are totally different. In China, there are many museums about WWII. They include the unforgettable massacres such as Nanjing Massacre, also include how Chinese people come over the crisis and won the war. Oppositely, Japan's history text book concealed those facts but more focus on how brave japanese soldiers are. If to forget about Japan changed their text book about this period of history and pay homage to Yasukuni Shrine, I can quite understand why Japan has different version of history to China. Japan can not change the result of war but at least can avoid to talk about the crimes, and describe the soldier's bravery instead. Who wants the next generation live in the shadow of losing. The history is the things in past that people cannot judge what is true, what is wrong since no one can come back to the past.
The only thing we know is which tells more truth than the other.

Blog Assignment 4

Move to another place with other Chinese may be a good solution to release Liu's pressure. Although they are stranger, they have the same culture, habit, language and the most important to me is the food. The thing that could cause my homesick the most is my mom's cooking. That's is very important to most of Chinese I believe.
I have the similar feeling as Liu Zongren has sometimes. I'm confused of why I put so many efforts to come to here, which is a place that is not belongs to me. I cannot say people are unfriendly here, because people say Hi to me as I pass through the hall way in dorm. However, there is nothing in our conversation other than that. I used to be a forty girl when I'm in China and I feel like I was a quiet alien in this dorm.
Life has to continue though. I choose to be in here by myself, and I must be responsible to myself. Thanks god, I have a bunch of Chinese friend here. This is the only thing I feel I am better than Liu Zongren. I can not feel the loneliness when I'm with them. Many people sad the feeling of outsider is just a step. I hope the step won't take too long.

vocabulary:
shabbily: 1. so as to appear worn and threadbare or dilapidated.
2. in a mean and ungenerous manner.

rumble a loud low dull continuous noise.

bluntly: in a blunt direct manner

Blog Assignment 3

There are several differences between US and China in body languages. What imprinted me a lot is that Chinese are more sensitive at body touch and eye contact, but do not care more about body space than American.

In China, i do not shake hands oftenly when I met people at the first time. May be adults will shake hands during bussiness meeting, but between youth it is quiet strange to shake hand with others. It is like a simple of formal meeting. We do not hug or kiss others as american did as well. People only hug with family, boyfriend or girlfriend and bestfriend, and kiss, even is on face, is only for couples, and won't in front of others. My parents would kiss my face when I'm young, but not always now. More than that, Chinese will be sensitive to others' stare, and is defensive to eye contact with strangers. Perhaps Chinese are traditional and introverted compare to American.

Chinese do not care that much about body space, however. The distance between people are very small when you waiting in line or on a bus, that I don't know if people are lining up in US, when there is a huge distance between them. People do not feel uncomfortable when standing so close to each other because there are so many people in China. If you are in public you have to adapt the crowd.

Other than the differences there also has some similarites. Like the "OK" gesture or the meaning of winking mentioned in the reading, Chinese use that as well.

Blog Assignment 2

Option 2: We all have our public selves and our private selves, and our cultures play a role in determining how much of our private selves we will show in public. How open are people in your culture about showing their personal sorrows and joys? Do people from your culture show their emotions quickly and easily, or do they hide their emotions, especially negative emotions? Are people in your culture demonstrative of their affection for others in public? That is, do they kiss, hold hands, or hug in public?

Before arriving US, all my imprints of American come from the plays of America. I know there is a big difference between America and Chinese culture, that people here are very direct and sanguine. Instead, Chinese are introverted, especially when they meet others at first time.

In China, the American way of making friend will end in two results. They will become good friend because of the remarkable personality, or else the man will be put into the blacklist. People in China would rather have a official smile when they first meet. So it takes a longer time to make friend in China than in here.

Chinese don’t show there true feeling in normal. We do release our pressures, sorrows and express happiness to others. However, it only shows with closest friend or family. It is a shame to get angry or cry in front of others. We won’t do that unless we are out of control. We will hide all the feelings no matter we are joyful or mad. The famous Chinese Character “忍”that is always hanging on the Martial Club has showed the way Chinese treat change of motion. It is important to people who learn martial and include Chinese attitude towards difficulties in that single Character. It means “to endure”.

    The way Chinese show there affection do not as open mind as US either. You won’t see couple kiss on the street usually. More than that, you cannot see old couple holding hands together when they walk together. My grandpa always walks at the front and my grandma follows, so did my parents and other Chinese family. When I saw old couple holding their hand for a walk, I was so inspired by them. People in China lack of the courage to show their love.

Language

Language is the bridge of connection that includes not only the meaning, but also feeling, emotion and culture in it. The way I speak to my parents and friends are totally different since the generation gap and the proprieties to elders. 

There are many jargons in the conversations with my friends. My parents will never follow what we are talking about. Such as we use the popular words that we usually use on internet or the abbreviation that we created by ourselves. If one do not talking with us very often, it’s hard to get a clue what we are talking about sometimes. Of course, my parents try to learn those words that they never think they are at the age of out of fashion. They want to know more about me, know more about the world, and I was very touched by their understanding.

Furthermore, when I am talking with an elder, I will change my voice, tone, and even the form of sentences. I have to get used to the formality of the language, or else I will be considered as impolite girl. The most different between formal and informal language is formal one has to be in a full sentence. In usual, I will say “dumplings move down there” instead of “If you want some dumplings, move down there.” See, I do not even use subject. The use of formulae is another difference. I do not use “please” or “excuse me” when I am talking with my friends cause I don’t want to be an alien. However, if you make jokes and use slangs with teacher and do not show any respect, retaking the course would be possible. There are many ways to express a meaning in Chinese, as long as I use the right way to right person.