#ruochenwang

[gwanth1002]

In Miller’s textbook, the key concept “invention” is defined as “the discovery of something new” (Miller, p. 362). I linked the pizza shaped seedcake with this key concept because it is not really a pizza or a traditional seedcake. It tastes like the traditional seedcake in China, which is fried and crispy. However, it has the shape of a pizza. And It is cut in small pieces like a pizza usually does. Like inventing a new recipe, it is something invented by the Chinese-American cooks here in the United States and it was given its own name by the restaurant. The original seedcake in China was smaller than this one on the picture and is usually thicker. We usually directly grab it by our hands and take a bite. Since this eating way does not match Westerners eating habits, the new version was invented.

The textbook defines the key concept “diffusion” as “the spread of culture through contact” (Miller, 262). The second picture I took is the restaurant where I ordered this seedcake. It is a restaurant called Shanghai Lounge and it is located in Georgetown. I considered it as “spread of culture” since food can also be seen as a kind of culture. Different place around the world have different eating habits, but through the spread of culture, people can find different cuisines in places where the certain kind of cuisine did not belong. For example, I can have Chinese food in here, Washington, D.C, I also can buy hamburgers and sandwiches back in China. As the article “How sushi went global” in C&C indicates, foods are globalizing.

If I am able to do research, I would want to know that also food is globalizing, why they can not keep exactly how they were and have to make some change in order to be accepted.

[gwanth1002]

Theater is somewhere we usually see live performers in and in the textbook, the key concept theater is defined as “a form of enactment, related to other forms such as dance, music, parades, competitive games and sports, and verbal art, that seeks to entertain through acting, movement, and sound” and “exist among myth, ritual, and performance.”(Miller, P.224). As the picture shows, this is a ticket of a famous musical “Phantom of Opera”. As a musical, the show includes acting, dancing and singing on the stage. The story was inspired by the event happened in Paris Opera in the 19th century. It was originally a novel but it was turned into both a film and a musical. The musical version is performed on Broadway and sometimes goes on a world tour.

Miller defines the key concept art as “the application of imagination, skill, and style to matter, movement, and sound that goes beyond what is purely practical” (Miller, P.219) However, in the category of “art”, there are many different types arts. The musical Phantom of the Opera can actually be defined as a kind of “fine art”. “Fine art” has many features, and the first one is “the product is created by a formally schooled artist”. Although it was originally a French novel, the musical version was rewritten by musicians and scholars who are formally schooled. It is performed in Broadway and “it is made for sale on the market”. Also, “it is clearly associated with a particular artist.” The actor of the protagonist plays a really important role in the musical, the show is based on the leading characters.

[gwanth1002]

The key concept “logographs” is defined in the textbook as “signs that indicate a word, syllable, or sound.”(Miller, P.186). The picture is taken from my friend’s Japanese book (it’s the textbook of JAPN1002). Japanese characters “Kanji” are mostly from traditional Chinese characters “Hanzi” while many Chinese characters were originally created by how a certain thing or an item looks like. For example, the word “field” in Chinese/Japanese is written as “田”, the four squares just look like the fields where farmers work on. However, the textbook also indicates: “Over time, some logographs retained their original meaning; others were kept but given more abstract meaning, and nonlogographic symbols were added.”(Miller, P.186). There are also characters built up by combing several symbols. As the picture shows, the Kanji “時” means “time” in English. It is built up by the words “日” (the sun) and “寺”(temple). Because in ancient times when clocks were not invented, people could only know the time through the sundials in temples during the daytime.

I also linked this picture with the key concept “pidgin”. “pidgin” is defined as “a language that blends elements of at least two parent languages and that emerges when two different cultures with different languages come in contact and must communicate.” (Miller, P187). Japanese is a complicated language which has many borrowed words and consists of three languages, original Japanese, traditional Chinese and English. Firstly, the original Japanese did not have a written form. They started to borrow Chinese characters “kanji” to indicate their oral language around year 220-280 due to the development of trade relationships between China and Japan. They also directly use Chinese to indicate the words they did not have in their own language. The development of modern Japanese starts around year 700-800 when Japanese created their own written characters “Kana” while keeping the Chinese words. There are two different types of Kana, “Hiragana” and “Katakana”. When indicating a certain character, they read the same but are wrote in different ways. (For example, “a” in Hiragana writes as “あ”, in Katakana writes as “ア”). “Hiragana” are used for the original Japanese words; “Katakana” are used for “loanwords” from Chinese and English. (For example, according to the photo, the word “time” in Japanese is written as “時” while can be read in three ways. “toki" for original Japanese, “ji” for loanword “shi” from Chinese, and “taimu”, which is basically the same pronunciation as “time”, for English-Japanese.) Modern Japanese merge the languages together and formed their new language. They keep their grammars the same while replacing and adding many nouns from Chinese and English. Modern Japanese includes 36.7% of traditional Japanese, 47.5% of Chinese, and 10% of English.

[gwanth1002]

The photo is taken on our first club meeting of DC Hanfu Club. Hanfu is actually a kind of traditional Chinese Custom (as everyone was wearing). I related this photo to the key concept “civil society” since Miller defines Civil society as “consists of the social domain of diverse interest groups that function outside the government to organize economic, political, and other aspects of life.” Hanfu Club is a student organization founded in Washington, D.C. by Chinese college students. Every college students in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland that are interested in Chinese culture can join this club. Club members are all linked by common interests. We held activities on Chinese traditional festivals such as the Mid-Autumn Festival on September 24 this year. The club is a non-government organization and was founded by the aspect of not forgetting our own culture while studying abroad.

 I also related this photo to the key concept “primary group”. it is defined as “a social group in which members meet on a face-to-face basis.” (Miller, P.132). Primary group is a kind of social group, which people need to meet each other to maintain the relationship. In our club, every club member knows each other well, and every club meetings are not a online activity. On our first club meeting, we had several activities that made us know each other very well. And a very important factor that made us get familiar really fast was during the club meetings and activities, mobile phones and laptops were not recommended (unless something emergency happens). We put our phones away so that everyone can focus on the people standing in front of us instead of our old friends who are “inside the phone”. We believe a relationship that built up face-to-face is stronger, so we always hold activities and discuss things in a common room and we always put away our phones during the meetings.

[gwanth1002]

Archaeology is defined as “study of the old” in the textbook. (Miller, P.3) I took the picture this summer holiday in Xuzhou – my hometown. Xuzhou is an old city with a long history. It is not only the birthplace of the first emperor of Han dynasty but also the birthplace of Chinese culture. The picture was taken in a Terracotta Army museum. Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies as a burial in an emperor’s tomb. The owner of this tomb was Liu Wu, who failed and committed a suicide after the “Rebellion of the Seven States” in 154 BC. Back into ancient times, people were willing to spend a lot more on a coffin than on the place they were living in when they were still alive. They thought life is short but people will become immortal after they go to another world. Emperors started to build their tombs the day they inherited the throne and this project continued until the day the emperor passed away. The famous Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor took 39 years to complete. Every emperor tried their best to put as much as they could into their tomb. By visiting the museum, I felt that the Terracotta Army actually symbolizes an emperor’s power and status and I learned ancient people’s view of death.

I also linked this photo to the key concept “symbol”. Miller defines the word symbol as “an object, word, or action with a culturally defined meaning that stands for something else with which it has no necessary or natural relationship” in the textbook. (Miller, P.14). The terracotta warriors army can be seen as a symbol of power for the ancient Chinese emperor. Due to the background of Chinese mystery, people believed they will become immortal after going to “the other world”. People also believed what they put inside the tomb will go along with them to “the other world”. Emperors tried so hard to keep their power after death and built the army of stones and potteries. The owner of the tomb showed on the picture, wasn’t the only emperor that owned a terracotta warrior army. However, only the emperors of the dynasty could own a terracotta army while any other people were not allowed to. Terracotta warriors actually symbol the successful life an emperor had with his real armies and the wars he attended. Also, the scale of the tomb symbols how powerful an emperor was before he passed away. For example, the biggest and finest terracotta army was owned by the First Qin Emperor, who was one of the most famous emperors in Chinese history.