“The answer” is a trenchant denouncement in reply to the communist regime’s inhumane treatment to the Chinese citizens. Throughout “The Answer”, there has been a subtle motif of escapism portrayed to shed light onto the communist regime’s oppressive nature. Bei dao focuses on superstition, a form of escapism, to envision a brighter future, yet metaphorically evoke the repressed mind of Chinese citizens during the Cultural Revolution from the Communist regime despite the possible sense of hope.
Bei Dao clearly portrays the oppression of the communist regime throughout the poem by using carefully chosen diction, such as, “base” and “debasement”; Bei Dao refers to the citizens of China as the “base”, evoking that the citizen is the most critical part of China as they are what the nation relies on like a structure’s “base”. However, as a contrast, “debasement”
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Such “debasement” of the “base” will inevitably will cause imminent chaos and instability of the authorities, suggesting not only a destruction of the civilians of CHina but also the collapse of the country. The use of color, gold from “gilded”, possibly insinuates that the poet views the sky as a heavenly place, in association with color, however, describe as “covered”, portrays the world is oppressed by the communist regime by a larger force than even the sky. This is where Bei dao first introduces his superstitions, such as, believing in life after death, as he glorifies the sky as a haven where dead people should rest after death. However, in contrary to his belief, he claims there are “drifting twisted shadows of the dead”; “Drifted” paints a picture of loss of direction and random movement as if the dead souls cannot find rest in heaven where they should be. This further paints a canvas of the communist's suppressive nature which hyperbolically suggests that the communist regime does not only affect citizens when they are alive but even when they are dead as they are still
“The Death of Woman Wang”, written by Chinese historian Jonathan Spence, is a book recounting the harsh realities facing citizens of Tancheng country, Shandong Province, Qing controlled China in the late 17th century. Using various primary sources, Spence describes some of the hardships and sorrow that the people of Tancheng faced. From natural disasters, poor leadership, banditry, and invasions, the citizens of Tancheng struggled to survive in a devastated and changing world around them. On its own, “Woman Wang” is an insightful snapshot of one of the worst-off counties in imperial Qing China, however when taking a step back and weaving in an understanding of long held Chinese traditions, there is a greater understanding what happened in
The Cultural Revolution in China was led by Mao Zedong, due to this Liang and many others faced overwhelming obstacles in many aspects of their life such as work, family and everyday encounters, if affected everyone’s families life and education, Liang lets us experience his everyday struggles during this era, where the government determined almost every aspect of life. The beginning of the book starts out with Liang’s typical life, which seems normal, he has a family which consists of three children, two older sisters and him the youngest, his two sister’s reside in Changsha 1. his father has an everyday occupation working as a journalist at a local newspaper. Things start to take a turn early in life for Liang Heng, his family politics were always questioned, the mistake made by one of his family members would impact his entire family and it would be something they would have to suffer through, it was impossible for them to live down such a sin.... ...
Through the use of complementary colors, she achieves great contrast. Contrasting hues develop a theme of light vs. dark, or in Liu’s case, expectations vs. reality. Dark colors are used to suggest the harsh, chaotic conditions experienced by the workers; while light, less saturated colors illustrate the calm passivity of traditional Chinese customs and ideas. The sky surrounding the stylized women contrasts greatly with the surroundings of the exhausted men. The dark hues establish heavy visual weight below the figures and the light tones of the sky create a sensation of weightlessness and help to further distinguish the fantasy like qualities. Liu also includes the application of analogous colors, primarily to make the traditional figures less dramatic and to help unify the surrounding
The article that I will be summarizing is “Half of Teens Think They’re Addicted to Their Smartphones” written by Kelly Wallace. This article is about how teens are addicted to their smartphones and how it is becoming a problem. The text is stating facts about how many teens and adults use their smartphones. Teens depend on their phone greatly which can make it hard to get off of it. This does worry people. Teens also say they check their phone hourly, so they also feel that they need to respond to texts and social networking messages immediately. Teens are not the only ones that are addicted though. Even parents have trouble getting off the phone to enjoy life. If you have this trouble and feel like you want to get on
In his poem, “Notes from the City of the Sun”, Bei Dao utilizes obscure imagery consistent with the Misty Poets and veiled political references to illustrate the struggles in Chinese society during the Cultural Revolution. The poem is sectioned into fourteen short stanzas containing imagery that are symbolic of the cultural hegemony in China under the rule of Mao Zedong. Bei Dao, born Zhao Zhen-kai, is an anti-revolutionary poet and one of the founders of a group known as the Misty Poets. The Misty Poets wrote poems that protested the Cultural Revolution led by Mao Zedong. Therefore, a lot of Bei Dao’s poems speak out against the Cultural Revolution and the restrictions that it placed on any form of art. Bei Dao’s poetry is categorized as “misty” because of the ambiguity in its references to Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution. An obscure imagery that occurs twice in “Notes” is the sun imagery. Another imagery that depicts the injustice of the Cultural Revolution is the description of freedom as scraps of paper. In the poem, Bei Dao also equates faith to sheep falling into a ditch; this is a depiction blind faith during the Cultural Revolution. The purpose of this essay is to analyze how Bei Dao’s use of the Misty Poet’s ambiguous imagery and implicit political context in the poem “Notes from the City of the Sun” to illustrate the cultural hegemony in China under Mao.
There is no better way to learn about China's communist revolution than to live it through the eyes of an innocent child whose experiences were based on the author's first-hand experience. Readers learn how every aspect of an individual's life was changed, mostly for the worst during this time. You will also learn why and how Chairman Mao launched the revolution initially, to maintain the communist system he worked hard to create in the 1950's. As the story of Ling unfolded, I realized how it boiled down to people's struggle for existence and survival during Mao's reign, and how lucky we are to have freedom and justice in the United States; values no one should ever take for
...non-conformist attitudes, and in The King of Chess the chess fool defeating the old chess master symbolizes the act of the old culture being defeated by the new. The King of Trees depicts how the belief systems in revolutionary China enforced new social norms on the population. Understanding the power of the social norms that were imposed in China at this time helps the reader understand how individuality in the citizens might have been expressed as well as why the government felt threatened by such behavior. One theme in The King of Trees is that individuality is persistent despite what is socially acceptable, and understanding the concept of social norms allows one to appreciate both sides of the difficulty conforming to social norms.
In a village left behind as the rest of the China is progressing, the fate of women remains in the hands of men. Old customs and traditions reign supreme, not because it is believed such ways of life are best, but rather because they have worked for many years despite harsh conditions. In response to Brother Gu’s suggestion of joining communist South China’s progress, Cuiqiao’s widower father put it best: “Farmer’s have their own rules.”
The story is set in the 1920ies in what has been termed The Jazz Age in which individualism was on the rise. The time period was also characterised by a post-war emptiness and cynicism. As such, the story deals with loss of meaningful life, with the sterility and vacuity of the modern world and with the crucial necessity of taking responsibility for the quality of one's own life (Yanling, p 108). The nature of the story’s dialogue tangibly represents the above mentioned time period emptiness and
While providing vivid background information, the narrator explains that he “had not enjoyed the privilege of studying at an institution for advanced education. When we were sent off to the mountains as young intellectuals we had only the statutory three years of lower middle school (7)”. During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the Communist Party and People’s Republic of China created “re-educated camps”, which were ‘prisons’ where civilians with jobs (mostly teachers, doctors, and writers) were forced into other labor—their views were seen as “counter-revolutionary” and denounced by members of the Red Guard, a group supporting the People’s Republic of China (“China’s Re-Education Camps”). The camps decreased China’s literacy rate substantially, as people lost access to education and freedom of speech and thought. In addition, the narrator encounters his friend’s mother and describes his discovery of Western books.
The Chinese people experienced rapid changes, in government and their own culture in the 20th century. In the book, Wild Swans, by Jung Chang, she depicts the experiences of not only oppression and suffering, but the development of the communist revolution, under Mao. Also, to show how the Chinese people, women in particular, fought against impossible odds by interweaving historical and personal stories from the twentieth century China.
One morning Confucius felt the approach of death. He walked about the courtyard, humming the words: “The great mountain must collapse, the mighty beam must break and the wise man wither like a plant.” When an alarmed pupil said...
...dice that the Chinese encountered as immigrants in America. Although the Chinese resented the fact that they were being discriminated against, they continued to immigrate because they felt that their opportunities in the United States of America were still better than in China. Together they endured poor treatment because they knew they had nothing if they went back home to China. The Chinese resisted such horrible conditions by sticking together as a community and establishing their own businesses and towns such as Chinatown, in San Francisco. After studying the Chinese we can draw the conclusion that many Chinese made the journey to America in search for freedom and for a better life, but instead were detained and treated poorly. Together the Chinese community made their voice heard by challenging laws, starting their own businesses, and becoming self-sufficient.
He expresses the relationship between images and affection as well as his inner feeling with the environment at the time in his poem. A Song of My cares When Going from the Capital to Feng-Xian,” translated by Stephen Owen. Du Fu shows his emotional tone as he leaves the capital to visit his family. Throughout this poem, he evokes a doomed mood. We can perceive it as Du Fu experience of a mid-life crisis. Du Fu use of word choice conveys his feelings of his displeasure, rejection, and sorrow and reflects his frequent anxiety, and depressing atmosphere. By using natural imagery such as, “all plants were dying, sunken in shadow, a cold sky, and empty space” gives off a sense of loneliness. In addition, Du Fu expresses a point of bitter self-mockery attitude that he is “too large to be useful” (5). Yet, endure hardship to pursuit his goals “when the coffin closes, all will be settled; / yet these goals ever look for fulfillment” (7-8). At the same time, we can feel the grief the poet had toward his failure in the civil service exam. The civil service exam draws the line between a man dream and reality. The imperial exam “could mark a man’s personality for the rest of his life” (Hsieh 3). Conversely, with the shock and disappointment from his fail to pass the civil service exam, Du Fu did not let himself succumbing to failure. Therefore, Du Fu uses his poetic abilities to overcome
?Sheet after sheet, article after article, each da-zi-bao was a bitter accusation. One was titled, ?Teacher Li, Abuser of the Young.? The student had failed to hand in her homework on time, and Teacher Li had told her to copy the assignment over five times as punishment. Another student said his teacher had deliberately ruined his students? eyesight by making them read a lot, so they could not join the Liberation Army. Still another accused Teacher Wang of attempting to corrupt a young revolutionary by buying her some bread when he learned that she had not eaten lunch.? (42)