User:Qchen

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Contents 1 What No One Can See 2 Citation Exercise 3 Prelude sentence 4 One Child Policy 5 First Reflection Letter 6 Second Reflection Letter 7 Interacting with Art Object 8 Third Reflection Letter 9 Final Reflection Letter 10 feedback 11 Queen Qing 12 Ever hopeful

[edit] What No One Can See

“…and Pat interview Qing.” I hate ice breakers was the first thing that I thought when the teacher announced that we were to interview a person in the class that we were not already familiar with. I was to interview a cute Asian girl in our class. She seemed nice enough when she gave me her number but that is not always what a person needs to base a whole paper off of. We both seemed a little bit shy but that is part of it I guess, we are strangers I suppose. We planned to meet on Sunday night to make sure that I would be fully recovered from the night before. I was late to no surprise and she was waiting for me, in a part of the library I never knew about so it took a while to find. When I got there she was chatting with a friend from class and a few other classmates of ours were there. I was worried that she would be annoyed with my tardiness but even more afraid that my overbearing loud self would scare her off. Both fears were silly because she was not at all shy like I had expected in fact we hit it off right away, I guess she seemed more timid in class. Qing Chen turned out to be a really unique person and I enjoyed learning about her.

Because I am extremely awkward by nature the first thing I asked Qing was something similar to “So are you single?” real smooth right? But she was cool about it and to my surprise answered without getting embarrassed. I’ll let you guys ask her, for the sake of curiosity kept not lost. I found out that Qing was born in a different country, which I found intriguing. In fact she was born in China and moved to America when she was twelve. We hardly talked at all about the transition from country to country but she did say that she likes living in America more. I was most impressed by how she learned English I know a lot of people who are bilingual but it always seizes to amaze me. On another note the city her family moved to is close to mine within ten minutes from my house and most of my fathers side still lives there today. About Qing’s family, she has a younger brother, Yao Ming, not the NBA star, but instead the high schooler, an older sister who attends Bentley College, and a mother and father who work at a restaurant. She really did not elaborate much about her family but then again it is more about her. Qing wants to become a Hotel Management major here at UMASS, which I found interesting because I do not know any people in that field. It seems like a good deal of work but she sounded excited and did tell me that she was doing well in school, or at least that she was a good student. I asked Qing where her favorite place to go was once I started to struggle on what to ask her next, she responded Martha’s Vineyard. I’ve never been, but she loves it there, apparently she was a waitress on Martha’s Vineyard over the summer and she fell in love with the Cape Island. It was good to hear about home and that we both loved the area people who live on the coast tend to miss it after a while.

Qing was not what I expected; instead she was just like most other college girls I have met. Sure she is from halfway around the world but she likes to party, and hang out with friends she likes all the same music my friends listen to. I went into this project with a bad attitude and found myself pretty happy with its ending. I met a really interesting person and you should all get to know her now that you know she wont go running away if you approach her. Gphelan 16:00, 25 September 2007 (EDT)

[edit] Citation Exercise

Responding to Quote 2

In this quote, i was little confused about if immigrant wants to turn it to citizenship, it cause economy decrese or increase? "ith this policy, the United States will create a permanently disadvantaged category of guest workers and further reduce the competitiveness of low-skilled minimum wage American workers" so that means American will reduce the minimum wage, to how much? Those new comers are obligating to pay taxes, but why reduce the minimum wage. But which i agreed with if you want to become a citizen, you have to follow the U.S law. Qchen 17:06, 8 November 2007 (EST)

“…But we’d surely be many notches down in science had our borders been

closed to arrivals from abroad.”

Weissman, Gerald. "Immigration reform: not needed in science." FASEB Journal Aug. 2006: 1575+. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. W.E.B. Dubois Library, Amherst, MA. 1 November 2007. <http://silk.library.umass.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=22168960&site=ehost-live&scope=site>.

“The massive immigration reform bill being debated in the U.S. Senate would

create a new merit-based system of granting permanent residency to immigrants that would strongly favor young workers with advanced degrees in science and engineering fields.”

Bhattacharjee, Yudhijit. "U.S. Immigration Bill Would Extend Warmer Welcome to Highly Skilled." Science 316.5829 (01 June 2007): 1268-1268. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. W.E.B. Dubois Library, Amherst, MA. 1 November 2007.

[edit] Prelude sentence

" Not the External of look, but the Internal of personality."

[edit] One Child Policy

One Child Policy China is a place with over population, does it means a bad thing of a place is being over populated? During mid-1970, the nation’s population exploded. The one child policy wasn’t adopted by China until 1979, since the introduction of the one-child policy in 1979, there has been no large drop in fertility. Later one child-policy has adopted and successful during mid-1970. But at same time there are more than 500,000 “missing” girl phenomenon is caused by infanticide. From the explanation is that Chinese couples systematically fail to report the birth of girls. So should we change the future to end one child policy?

Blue Hat: China’s one child policy has been described as [arguably greatest bioethical atrocity on the globe] (Balkin 160). The Chinese Government introduced this policy in 1979. Adoptions rose sharply in the 1980s. “In an average month during that time of period, some three hundred fifty children are flown across the Pacific Ocean to begin new lives in United States, more than eighteen thousand were born in China” (Evans 2). Since the culture’s traditional reliance on sons, “nearly all of them are girls, have been carried out of Chinese orphanage” (3).

White Hat: China is a developing country with the largest population in the world. “A sample survey shows that China’s population had reached 1.126 billion by the end of 1999, accounting for about 21% of the world total” (Balkin 153). The population of China is 1.3 billion at that time, growing by 10 million every year -placing a huge strain on its environment, economy and society. The government tackled the problem of massive population growth with greater determination. Since 1970, especially since the initiation of the reform and opening-up drive, “China has formulated a basic state policy to promote family planning in an all-around ways so as to slow down the population growth and improve population quality in terms of health and education” (Balkin 154). The government expected after using this policy for couple decades, the population-changing rate would drop down to zero. This policy is known as one-child policy. It states that parents in urban settings are limited to only one child. Parents in rural areas are allowed to have two children provided the first is a girl. Couples that have extra children can be punished with high fines, loss of residency rights and even by hanging their homes bulldozed.

Yellow Hat: The government determined that the policy should be continued. “China’s one-child policy has proven to be a successful method of population control for the past thirty years” (Balkin 152). With the help of one-child policy, “China's total fertility rate plunged from 4.8 children per woman during 1970-1975 to below replacement level (less than 2 children per woman) today” (Livernash 6). A few other key factors of China’s development have been improved after enforcing the policy, these aspects include: economic growth, health, politics and society, geography and environment. The Chinese State council office maintains, “one-child policy meets the unique needs of the nation, which has a huge population and low levels of scientific and economic development” (Balkin152).

Black Hat: Now look at the behind scenes of the China’s one child policy. Boys are highly valued in Chinese culture, and this value especially applies in to rural areas. In the countryside, if one couple knew their first birth was female, they would not like to keep her. Plus “the untold hard ships and emotionally wrenching circumstances known only to a birth mother—will have forced little girls from their families” (Evans 4). All of the sudden you can find the baby girls all over the place, front door of the orphanage, railroads, popular streets, riverbanks during 1980s. In addition, girls in China, like girls in much of the developing world, receive far less attention and resources than boys. This low comparation suggests that girls receive less care and attention than boys in many Chinese homes, reducing the chance of survival of girls beyond their first birthday. Most importantly, this gender discrimination affects girls most adversely in the poorest areas.

The People's Republic of China's trade surplus with the United States approached $100 billion in fiscal year 2002. But the most significant and permanent Chinese export to the United States is not counted in dollars: Over the last decade, more than 30,000 Chinese children, the vast majority of them girls, have been adopted by American parents. (Connelly online) Women suffer the most under China's one-child policy. “In 1983, a massive campaign of compulsory birth control surgeries was carried out, which reportedly produced 14 million abortions” (Balkin 161). Abortion is popular used and not illegal in China.

With harsh competition for a spot at the best universities, Chinese college students today face conflicting and stressful demands. “Products of China's one child policy, they are often pampered and protected at home, only to face appalling living conditions — unheated dormitories, poor food, inadequate washing facilities — on campus” (Mooney online). Some parents over-indulge their only child since they were young. The media called the indulged children in one-child-policy family as “little emperors.” Since the 1990s, some people worry this will result in a higher tendency toward poor social communication and cooperation skills among the new generation. Also, a major concern remains that “as the birth rate drops, a smaller pool of young workers will be left to support a large population of retires” (Menlenberg 31). These in one-child generation also could struggle to support their retired parents, “10 active workers supported every Chinese person living on pension” (Wiseman 10D).

Green Hat: The one-child policy was strongly resisted by people, especially couples living in rural regions. Various surveys suggested that the desire to have at least two children remained strong among Chinese couples. Family planning is necessary, population control is necessary, but it does not mean the one child policy is necessary. In another word, some comprehensive family planning program should replace the one-child policy. The government should make some contracts so when a couple is getting married, they can start to predict their future family size. The marriage agency should review their profile and base on each case to allow the couple to have a reasonable number of children. This can help on lowering the abortion rate and the missing children rate. It also gives the parents more freedom and they will be more responsible for what they have chosen by their own. A law should be brought in to against abusing abortion. Those who do not see birth so seriously should be punished.

Red Hat: The first generation of only children in China is approaching parenthood accustomed to a level of economic wealth and spending power--and thus often to lifestyles--that previous generations could not even have imagined. However, China also faces a rapidly aging population. In the larger scheme of things, this may be the true test of the government's ability to provide for its citizens. “The fate of China's family planning strategy--in a context in which family members no longer provide social security alone but by a network of government and/or private services--may be decided by the tension between the cost of children and the cost of the elderly” (Menlenberg 32). There seems little doubt, however, that family planning will be a key element of Chinese policymaking for many years to come.

All of this information and research, we all know that one-child policy in China designed to limit population growth by Deng Xiaoping in 1979. In this couple past years, China has proclaimed that it will continue its one child policy, which limits couples to having one child, through the 2006-2010 five year planning period. Which I was quite disagreed with that when it compares past and present, one child policy shouldn’t be planning anymore. Now people are more understanding about Planned Parenthood, they also cared about child health, treatment and pregnancy testing.

Bibliography

Connelly, Brian. "The Problem Behind CHINESE ADOPTIONS." American Enterprise Vol. 15 Issue 1 Jan/Feb 2004 42-43. <http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,cpid&custid=wbl&db=f5h&an=11911794&scope=site>.

Balkin, Karen F., ed. Population. Detroit: Thomason Corporation, 2005.

Evans, Karin. The Lost Daughters of China. New York: Penguin Putnam Inc, 2000.

Livernash, Robert. "The future of populous economies: China and India shape their destinies." Cover Story 17 July 1995: 6.

Menlenberg, Claudia. "A Generation Comes of Age under China's One-Child Policy." World Watch Sep/Oct: 31.

Mooney, Paul. "Campus Life Proves Difficult for China's 'Little Emperors'." Chronicle of Higher Education Vol. 52 Issue 14 25 Nov 2005 A46-A49. <http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,cpid&custid=wbl&db=f5h&an=19034254&scope=site>.

Wiseman, Paul. "China's little emperors." USA Today 23 Feb 2000: 1

[edit] First Reflection Letter

I never considered myself as a good writer. I am not like those students who works so hard, read thousand of books and absorbed not only the stories, but the sentence structures, punctuation, etc. English is not my first language; I came here since I was twelve years old. It was so hard for me to adapt new language and to write 250 or 750 words of essay. In Chinese, I can write an essay with 250 or 750. So now, I am little about to get into know how to write an essay in English way, what the teacher expect to look forward on your essay. I know the writer may interview someone. Writers write something, and then they change it. Then they change it again. They keep changing it until they feel they get it right. The essay I wrote about “Christine Lee” I used normal paragraph format, the introduction, body paragraphs and the conclusion. It was three pages long, so we have to keep criticized our own essay until we feel that sentence works.

[edit] Second Reflection Letter

As I continue writing my reflection letter, I realized that I should work harder and criticized my essays over and over again. It’s a good way to improve my work. For example my essay “Art Objects”, I should always point out the strategy of agreement in my paper. Also I have to analyze my ideas and make the connections between own thought and Winterson’s. If I want the reader to continually reading my papers, I should make a really good connection why they want to read my paper. Reading this essay, it had brought me back first time I came to this country, I know nothing, not even letters, now I am creating my own thought, It is more important to show it how I am improving my English writing skill, like what I am thinking, I agree or disagree. It was something that was so foreign to me that have to write three pages and more since English wasn’t my first language, it feels like I am learning new experiences every year, it takes patience and practice to reach the goal. Also I think my own encourage has improving now, at least I know how to express myself and own thought in the essays. I shouldn’t leave out my thought in any essays, and the reader may get interesting of my thoughts. In the essay, I also used some quotes from her book to support my own ideas which I really think it helps. It was good if we find more research about author and the books related to author. Research papers are helpful to improve writing, no wonder our professor wants us to write the research papers. Everything is good to try in a paper, the structure, the outline and rhetorical situation will make me to build a more strong paper. But as I said in my first reflection, writers write something, and then they change it. Then they change it again. They keep changing it until they feel they get it right, because we will learn from the mistakes and develop better ideas. I will always stick in this point, it really helps. Steph gave me a comment that I should find someone who is a native English speaker read my paper before I hang it in.

[edit] Interacting with Art Object

Winterson’s Art Objects affected me that she tells how impressive that she saw the art of Flaneur. Later on she explained that she saw so many arts, but this one intensed her the most. Her explanation of arts, and how viewer looking forward to view those arts, in order to argue her point she must found more of artist’s feeling, what was the meaning of this art. The research she has to do is to explain the art of Flaneur, where does it comes from and why that named Flaneur. The stimulation that she gave me was she described herself really into a art, she was feeling much more confident because she was truly engaging with the picture.

[edit] Third Reflection Letter

Finally this letter comes to our last reflection letter, as we wrote so many essays and we also wrote a research paper for more than weeks to finish up! In this research paper, it was more than 5 pages; it takes more than one time to finish this paper. The first time, not good… and I criticized my papers second time, and it still didn’t work well. So I started to draft my papers over and over again. All those historical information, I have to go web by web or book by book or maybe my own knowledge and write it down. It’s also a good way to practice our thinking. Then I started to analyze my idea paragraph by paragraph or make the connection with those history and strategy to connect my idea together. Sometimes I have to think hard enough to make my strategy to connect with my history or history connect with my strategy, I have to go back and forth to analyze which way it fits my essay better. Also I have to create my own thought toward this research paper. Why is one child policy important during mid 1970s, what about present, are they still planning of one child policy? The thoughts are really important to me for interesting the readers. Once readers get interesting on my essay, they will feel curious and they will keep reading it. It is a good practice to improve my English writing skill to write a long research papers. We also know that practice makes perfect! Even though this reflection letter is the last one, but I still have to remember that writers write something, and then they change it. Then they change it again. They keep changing it until they feel they get it right, because we will learn from the mistakes and develop better ideas. This point really helps me to think my papers should criticize all the time.

[edit] Final Reflection Letter

Finally it comes to our last reflection letter of the year. Overall we wrote so many essays and a long research paper. We also learned the methods of writing. In the first couple essays, that I used normal methods to write my essay, the introduction, body paragraph and the conclusion. After I stared with my research paper, I realized that normal paragraph is not enough, sometimes we had to add extra paragraph or quotes to explain why this why that! We always don’t forget to explain our own ideas and make great connections between our own thoughts in any essays. Readers always want to know what we are thinking about the papers. We never leave out our own thinking in any essay. It is also very important that we need to set up the paper in the first paragraph and develop a thesis statement that outlines the paper. This will let the reader know what the paper is about and it will make the paper flow much better. But in the research paper, it was quite different; we have to explain everything by specific information. Like what I said in my third reflection letter, that we have to go web by web or book by book or maybe own knowledge and write it down. Then we have to analyze ideas paragraph by paragraph and make a good connection with those history and strategy to connect the idea together. We always have to go back and forth to analyze which way it fits my essay better. By improving my writing skill, I know that practice makes perfect also we know a good writer write something, and then they change it, then they change it again. They keep changing it until they feel they get it right, and a good writer always criticized their essays all the time! That is a good writer should always keep it in mind!

[edit] feedback

[edit] feedback: Gphelan introduces Qchen

Gphelan: you get two? Why did you end up writing about my introduction by Pasta Sauce? (By the way since he chose to use an alias you really ought to go edit your work and remove his other moniker.) Was that post only so you could create an introductory teaser because no one had yet written their introduction of You? Yes, I believe I remember now, that is the way It All Came About.

On to this one. Wow. I admit to a mix of responses. There is more of you than Qchen in this piece, which on the one hand is problematic. On the other hand, your integrity in owning up to your own stereotypes is valuable...but then again, the format of the assignment does not allow the biographer to overshadow the subject to such an extent. Does it? I cannot tell which (if any) of the official formats you chose to follow. Your style is incredibly informal. Again, for a peer introducing a peer, this could be ok. But then you titled the piece Queen Qing, giving a sense of dignity, formality....yikes. Is there another stereotype at work in your choice of title or were you trying to convey a sense of how you experienced Qchen's responses to your questions? If the latter, the casual writing style misrepresents her. If the former, you've got a bit more work to do!

Steph(talk) 22:18, 29 September 2007 (EDT) {Note: feedback is not grading!}

[edit] Queen Qing

I have to admit I did not know what to expect when I was paired up with Qing Chen, I mean I haven’t known many Asian people, but that was about to change.

When I was on my way to meet Qing I was nervous that she would be to shy and that for some odd reason I’d scare her off, so much for my usually overbearing self-confidence. Anyways we met and I had no problem talking to her about all sorts of things, of course awkward me one of the first things I brought up was her love life and of that matter her current status, by the way she’s single! {You expected her to be married?! Or does the exclamation point indicate your excitement that dating might be a possibility?! Those are the only two reasons I can imagine for an exclamation point after that statement....perhaps my imagination is limited...} We talked quite a bit about a bunch of different subjects from her family to her upbringing {comma} what she likes to do {comma} what she’s studying and what I found is that she is just like everyone else I know but with some really distinctive differences that make her unique, well to me. {Do you ever say what any of these "distinctive differences" are?}

Qing Chen is what she would call “ your traditional Chinese girl”, unfortunately I don’t know a thing about traditional Chinese anything, but like Tom Callahan’s father Big Tom Callahan once said, “ You can get a good look at a T-bone steak by sticking your head up a bull’s ass but I’d rather take the butcher’s word for it.” {Two points: the first statement concerning your state of knowledge is more about you than about Qing; the second statement, is a joke, I know, but you have to think through the parallel and in this case it is not pleasant and could actually be taken as quite offensive. If not by Qing herself then by others, which - in this case - includes me.} What I’ve acquired {interesting diction, I can imagine it - almost. For "acquired" to work, though, I think you need to specify what you've acquired, otherwise you need a different word} from Qing is that she is a somewhat shy, reserved, nice young Chinese girl who certainly is not going to run in fear of you unless you truly are terrifying. {Paragraph break? I've also been searching for a unifying theme about Qing herself....can you see her as herself, "outside" (so to speak) of your lens?}

Something I found fascinating about Qing is that she was born and raised in Sujian, China {period. Why is her birthplace fascinating?} she didn’t even move to the States until she was twelve {comma? period?} this was exciting for me because I didn’t leave here until after my eighteenth birthday and I only went to Mexico. {I am not saying you cannot do any comparison, the differences in travel between the two of you might allow you to comment in a more general way about, for instance, her ability to cope with you in contrast with your practice at interacting with people of a different culture, heritage, ethnicity, or nationality.} Much to my surprise when I asked her which place she liked more she said America without hesitance I guess I found it weird because I thought all people from different countries favored their homelands most. Another tid-bit of her life that I found peculiar was that she knew no English prior to her arrival in the United States. {"tidbit"? First, I think this is a word, no hyphen, but it also is a bit minimizing, isn't it? Is the feat of learning a second language - and writing academic papers in it! - so "small"?} I thought every country learned English along with their own languages, nevertheless I thought it was awful impressive for her to learn English so fast after all four years of Latin almost left me with nothing to show for it other than “semper ubi sub ubi” not important. {Did you learn the mistranslation or the real one?!}

Like I said I had no idea what to expect for my interview with Qing before we spoke {period} however {comma} a stereotype that I grew up with seemed to fit, although for one reason or another I didn’t apply it to her, maybe because we’re so far from home. {If you did not apply it, why is it in the story?} Qing and her family live in Waliston, one of the more Asian populated sections of the city of Quincy, a place that I happened to be extremely familiar with as its where my father and his whole family grew up and most of them still live. By the way if you didn’t catch the stereotype it was that because she’s Asian she’s probably from Waliston, you might have to be from Quincy to get it. By the way I’m not proud of my stereotyping. {See, this is the element in your writing that makes your insertion of yourself almost worth it. However, an ievitable effect is that Qing's self is less revealed. It is almost as if she is masked or hidden by the power of your own self-revelations. This kind of growth - for you - is awesome, but it carries a "cost" to Qing.}

When I asked Qing where her favorite place to go in the world is she responded with an answer I didn’t expect at all, I mean I would have guessed it was in China or somewhere China related but I suppose that would be lame of me to assume, anyways Qing’s Favorite place is Martha’s Vineyard. I’ve never been but she loves it and spends her summers there working as a waitress. {Does she love the waitressing?}

When it comes to school Qing does pretty well for herself {period} I mean not living in Southwest is a pretty good indication of that. Finding out that she was from Northeast gave me that impression fairly quickly. Something else I figured because of this fact was that she didn’t like to go out and have fun on the weekends. I was way off I mean she’s no party animal but she defiantly doesn’t hide in her room from Friday till Monday slaving away over her schoolwork which I thought she did because being from Southwest we’re pretty sure the rest of campus sleeps while we have fun. {bit of a long-winded sentence with multiple ideas...} Qing Chen’s family, well {?} family that lives in Waliston, is a lot smaller than what I expected mainly due to stereotypes. {I've stopped marking all the places where you insert yourself. Again, the contrast might serve to make Qing more accessible to other young Americans with similar (lack of) experience or exposure - so the transparency of your lens is valuable, yet - here we are, back up against the task of this assignment. Does it serve Qing best to educate her audience about their potential stereotypes or could the same purpose be served by presenting her "just like" you would present someone from your same culture? I do not have a standard, right/wrong answer for this...} She has an older sister who attends Bentley College and a younger brother who goes to North Quincy High, where my Dad graduated, and a mother and father who work at a restaurant. A pretty normal family if you ask me.

It is embarrassing how much of what I thought was totally phony {I could imagine you beginning the introduction with this statement or something like it, more refined, encapsulating the contrast between your "knowledge" going into the interview with Qing and your new knowledge afterwards.} I guess I’m not nearly as open-minded as I thought, there were a lot of things that I falsely assumed about Qing on first glance {Don't contradict yourself or undercut your argument! What you show is how open-minded you are through your willingness to recognize and admit to the stereotypes and erroneous assumptions.} but I genuinely enjoyed getting to know her and having all the assumptions I had of her and Asian people in general put to rest. What I learned and will take away from this exercise is to not judge people to quickly and perhaps not to be so timid around people I don’t know. {Good lessons, but how do they reflect on Qing? What I mean is, how did she help you learn these lessons? How can you make this intro more about her and less about you, without losing the value and liveliness of all the learning you experienced in this process?} Gphelan 16:00, 25 September 2007 (EDT)

[edit] Ever hopeful

Reading this entry, Israeli-Palestinian and regional peace agreement, even from the way day talk everything is peaceful. But from the shed prejudice ethic, it has affected to Palestinian. I was little confusing that Bush wants the labor to put in place why involve to palestinian. Unfortunately i did not know anything about palestinian side, but they always keep it peaceful, but if they do not take the perfect timing to act anything from now on. From the Isreael's aggressive development of settlement of Palestinian land, they would lose the land easily. That's the basically summary that i understood from this essay. One more thing, don't ever pass a good timing on anything. When right time comes, its the right time to do the best thing.