Watching Long Bow Films' - Morning Sun and The Gate of Heavenly Peace -
More reflections on my China trip -
As I continue to sort out my thoughts on the challenges of China's massive school system, the impact of corporate globalization on the Chinese people, and folks in the US, and my personal feelings of going to China for the first time - I have been reviewing current documentaries on China's politcal and economic development.
Discovery/Times, Canandian Broadcasting's 2006 series China Rises and Hao Wu's Beijing or Bust were useful, but the most insightful documentaries were Carma Hinton's moving and constructively critical Morning Sun [2003 - on the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution 1964-76 and the potenial of China's youth] and The Gate of Heavenly Peace [1995 - on the 7-week long Tiananmen Square protests of April-June 4, 1989 and the brutal government crackdown]. I rewatched Heavenly Peace last night, all 3 hours of it. It is gut wrenching but gives a very insightful understanding of the complexity of the struggle for people's democracy and development in China and the mistakes of the party and the student and worker and intellectual leaders of the time. The companion websites for both documentaries are incredible educational resources as well.

I have also found a few blogs helpful in understanding how others view China today.
Mike Downs - China and Beyond offers a refreshing view of the school system in China and how the government is trying to work with schools, especially private schools to promote exchange programs. Downs is the Principal of a private school in St. Paul, MN. Apparently, before our delegation of mostly public school folks, HANBAN had sponsored a trip of private school educators in the US in what they called the China Connection project, a partnership between NAIS [the US association of private schools] and HANBAN, a non-governmental organization (NGO) funded by the Chinese government, with a goal of advancing the teaching of the Mandarin language in schools in the United States.

Wang, Dinghua, PhD of the Basic Education Department, Ministry of Education, PRC is telling us a story. "My daughter's math teacher told her that the new textbook is terrible. 'Don't use this awful new book,' he said, 'I will tell you which book to buy in the store.'"
...Wang is a key player in designing and implementing major reforms in China's education policy. He is in the midst of a presentation to us that describes in detail the problems with the Chinese system and how the new reforms are being modeled on the American system.
One of his slides reads in bold letters, WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM AMERICAN EDUCATION? Another reads simply, STUDENT LEARNING: active learning, interactive ability, hands-on ability, how to fish instead of giving fish. The last one refers, of course, to the adage "give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Put another way, "we don't teach students what to think, we teach them how." ..

But perhaps an equally important strength of the system is revealed in the very existence of this reform process, and that the ministry, at least according to Wang, is implementing reforms based on a critical self-examination.

Our Chinese hosts in Jinan and in Beijing, like the HANBAN officials, Vice-Chair Prof. Xu Jialu, and others gave a similar perspective to our delegation as well. Before our trip though, Consul-General Peng Keyu and his chief education advisor, an official from the PRC's ministry of education invited our SF delegation to the Chinese Consulate in SF. They were very open with us about the huge challenges of the Chinese education system and the millions of people that are being displaced by the modernization efforts and the growing inequalities in not just between rural and urban, but also in the cities themselves. They were also very frank about the growing privatization too in their public education system there.

In retrospect, I am understanding better now that I am back how our trip, and others funded by HANBAN, fits into China President Hu's 6 goals for stronger US/China cooperation laid out in his April 21 speech to Yale University:

Fifth, Hu said the two nations should draw on each other's strengths, and strengthen friendly exchanges between the two peoples.
"China and the United States both have cultures that we take pride in and they have both made contribution to the human civilization and progress of mankind," Hu said.
"Therefore, China and the United States should step up cooperation in science and technology, culture and education, increase exchanges between our youths, media and think tanks and expand friendly exchanges between our provinces and cities," the president said.
Sixth, Hu said, the two sides should respect each other, treat each other as equals and view differences in a proper context and manage them properly.
China, in line with its national conditions, will continue to reform its political structure, develop socialist democracy, expand citizens' orderly participation in political affairs and ensure that people exercise democratic election, democratic decision making, democratic management and democratic monitoring in accordance with the law, the president said.
China takes human rights seriously, he stressed. The country respects and upholds human rights and this has been written into China's Constitution.
China will keep advancing human rights in the course of its social development. ...
"Due to different national conditions, it is normal for China and the United States to disagree on some issues," President Hu said. "We should seek common ground while shelving differences, conduct consultation on an equal footing and promote mutual progress through exchanges," he said.