Thursday, February 18, 2010

WH II Honors: 19 February 2010

Prayer:
Current Events:
According to the AP (Associated Press): "Quietly and Carefully, Obama Welcomes Dalai Lama"

Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama (L) walks out the doors of the Palm Room of the White House past the trash bags, February 18, 2010, after meeting with Obama. The visit drew angry protests from China. Graphic credit: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

Obama privately visited with the Dalai Lama but the get-together was kept low-key, the AP's Mark Smith says, to avoid inflaming tensions with China. (Feb. 18)





Chapter 15 East Asia Under Challenge 1800-1914




Section 1 The Decline of the Qing Dynasty

Causes of Decline
By the 1800s, the Qing dynasty was in decline. Irrigation systems and canals were poorly maintained, leading to massive flooding of the Huang valley. The population explosion that had begun a century earlier created hardship for China’s peasants. An extravagant imperial court, tax evasion by the rich, and widespread official corruption added to the peasants’ burden. As poverty and misery increased, peasants rebelled. The Taiping Rebellion (ty ping), which lasted from 1850 to 1864, was probably the most devastating peasant revolt in history. The leader, Hong Xiuquan (hong shyoo chwahn), called for an end to the hated Qing dynasty. The Taiping rebels won control of large parts of China and held out for 14 years. However, with the help of loyal regional governors and generals, the government crushed the rebellion.

Reading Check

Examining

What factors led to the decline of the Qing dynasty?

The Opium War

Reading Check

Summarizing

What did the British do to adjust their trade imbalance with China?

The Tai Ping Rebellion

The Taiping Rebellion almost toppled the Qing dynasty. It is estimated to have caused the deaths of between 20 million and 30 million Chinese. The Qing government survived, but it had to share power with regional commanders. During the rebellion, Europeans kept up pressure on China, and Russia seized lands in the north.

Reading Check

Summarizing

What social reforms did the Tai Ping Rebellion demand?

Imperialism in China

For: Audio Guided Tour
Visit: PHSchool.com
Web Code: nap-2451

Cf. http://www.phschool.com/atschool/dsp_swf.cfm?pathname=/atschool/worldhistory/audio_guided_tours/&filename=WH07A00774.swf&w=760&h=460
Efforts at Reform
By the mid-1800s, educated Chinese were divided over the need to adopt Western ways. Most saw no reason for new industries because China’s wealth and taxes came from land. Although Chinese merchants were allowed to do business, they were not seen as a source of prosperity.

Scholar-officials also disapproved of the ideas of Western missionaries, whose emphasis on individual choice challenged the Confucian order. They saw Western technology as dangerous, too, because it threatened Confucian ways that had served China successfully for so long.

By the late 1800s, the empress Ci Xi (tsih shih) had gained power. A strong-willed ruler, she surrounded herself with advisors who were deeply committed to Confucian traditions.

Reading Check

Explaining

What was China's policy of "self-strengthening?"?

In the 1860s, reformers launched the “self-strengthening movement.” They imported Western technology, setting up factories to make modern weapons. They developed shipyards, railroads, mining, and light industry. The Chinese translated Western works on science, government, and the economy. However, the movement made limited progress because the government did not rally behind it.

The Advance of Imperialism

Mounting Pressures

Internal Crisis

Reading Check

Identifying

What countries claimed Chinese lands between 1880 and 1900?1880 and 1900? Cf. Browse a photo archive of China during the 1890s.

Opening the Door to China

Meanwhile, the Western powers and nearby Japan moved rapidly ahead. Japan began to modernize after 1868. It then joined the Western imperialists in the competition for a global empire.

In 1894, Japanese pressure on China led to the Sino-Japanese War. It ended in disaster for China, with Japan gaining the island of Taiwan.

Carving Spheres of Influence

The crushing defeat revealed China’s weakness. Western powers moved swiftly to carve out spheres of influence along the Chinese coast. The British took the Chang River valley. The French acquired the territory near their colony of Indochina. Germany and Russia gained territory in northern China.

The United States, a longtime trader with the Chinese, did not take part in the carving up of China. It feared that European powers might shut out American merchants. A few years later, in 1899, it called for a policy to keep Chinese trade open to everyone on an equal basis. The imperial powers accepted the idea of an Open Door Policy, as it came to be called. No one, however, consulted the Chinese.

Reading Check

Analyzing

Why did the United States want an Open Door policy in China?

The Boxer Rebellion

Anti-foreign feeling finally exploded in the Boxer Uprising. In 1899, a group of Chinese had formed a secret society, the Righteous Harmonious Fists. Westerners watching them train in the martial arts dubbed them Boxers. Their goal was to drive out the “foreign devils” who were polluting the land with their un-Chinese ways, strange buildings, machines, and telegraph lines.

In 1900, the Boxers attacked foreigners across China. In response, the Western powers and Japan organized a multinational force. This force crushed the Boxers and rescued foreigners besieged in Beijing. The empress Ci Xi (tsih shih) had at first supported the Boxers but reversed her policy as they retreated.

Reading Check

Explaining

How did the Boxers get their name?
Section 2 Revolution in China

The Fall of the Qing

The Rise of Sun Yat-sen
Although the Boxer Uprising failed, the flames of Chinese nationalism spread. Reformers wanted to strengthen China’s government. By the early 1900s, they had introduced a constitutional monarchy. Some reformers called for a republic.

A passionate spokesman for a Chinese republic was Sun Yixian (soon yee shyahn), also known as Sun Yat-sen. In the early 1900s, he organized the Revolutionary Alliance to rebuild China on “Three Principles of the People.” The first principle was nationalism, or freeing China from foreign domination. The second was democracy, or representative government. The third was livelihood, or economic security for all Chinese.

The Revolution of 1911

When Ci Xi (tsih shih) died in 1908 and a two-year-old boy inherited the throne, China slipped into chaos.

The Last Emperor - Trailer

In 1911, uprisings in the provinces swiftly spread. Peasants, students, local warlords, and even court politicians helped topple the Qing dynasty.

In December 1911, Sun Yixian (Sun Yat-sen) was named president of the new Chinese republic. The republic faced overwhelming problems and was almost constantly at war with itself or foreign invaders.

Reading Check

Evaluating

What changes did the Revolution of 1911 actually produce in China?

An Era of Civil War

Reading Check

Explaining

Why were there rebellions in China after General Yuan Shigai became president?

Chinese Society in Transition

Reading Check

Evaluating

How did the arrival of Westerners affect China?

China's Changing Culture

Reading Check

Describing

What effects did Western culture have on China?

Section 3 Rise of Modern Japan

Brady, Mathew
Portrait of Perry (detail)
ca. 1854 Graphic source: Library of Congress

Very common views of Perry were prints and paintings that rendered Perry and his fellow Americans conspicuously hirsute. In several such portraits, we find him paired with Commander Henry A. Adams, his second-in-command.

Adams (left) and Perry

Graphic source: Ryosenji Treasure Museum

Examine samurai objects

Black Ships and Samurai. Comodore Perry and the Opening of Japan

Take a tour of the Japanese city of Edo

Interactive tour of Osaka Castle

Zoom in on a painting of the siege of the castle

Find out more about Hideyoshi.

Timeline of Japanese history
This is the trailer for what is acclaimed as one of the greatest films ever made, Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. Warning: Language, do not view if you are offended by a bit more than PG-13 language.



Kurosawa's film was the inspiration for a classic Western: "The Magnificent 7" (1960), 3:10.

Film trailer for this classic Western starring Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Charles Bronson, Horst Buchholz, Brad Dexter and Eli Wallach.


These scenes from a History Channel documentary provides basic information on Japanese history and culture, particularly the importance of bushido, 7:21.

An End to Isolation

Reading Check

Identifying

What benefits did the Treaty of Kanagawa grant the United States?

Resistance to the New Order

Reading Check

Identifying

What events led to the collapse of the shogunate system in Japan?

The Meiji Restoration

Transformation of Japanese Politics

Meiji Economics

Building a Modern Social Structure

Daily Life and Women's Rights

Reading Check

Explaining

How was Japan's government structured under the Meiji constitution?

Joining the Imperialist Nations

Beginnings of Expansion

War with Russia

U.S. Relations

Reading Check

Explaining

Why did Japan turn itself into an imperialist power?

Culture in an Era of Transition

Reading Check

Describing

What effect did Japanese culture have on other nations?




Ch. 14 Resources

Examine samurai objects

Black Ships and Samurai. Commodore Perry and the Opening of Japan

Take a virtual tour of the Forbidden City.

Fascinating facts about the Forbidden City.

Timeline of China's dynasties.

Timeline of Chinese dynasties.
Interactive time line of 20th century China

Examine samurai objects
Take a tour of the Japanese city of Edo

Interactive tour of Osaka Castle

Zoom in on a painting of the siege of the castle

Find out more about Hideyoshi.

Timeline of Japanese history
The Clash, performing their song, "The Magnificent Seven," live on the Tom Synder Show 1981; this is the first public performance of the song, 5:00.

"The Magnificent Seven" is a song and single by the English punk rock band The Clash. It was the third single from their fourth album Sandinista!. It reached number 34 on the UK singles chart.

The song was inspired by raps by old school hip hop acts from New York City, like the Sugarhill Gang and Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five. Rap was still a new and emerging music genre at the time and the band, especially Mick Jones, was very impressed with it, so much so that Jones took to carrying a boombox around and got the nickname 'Whack Attack'. The song was recorded in April 1980 at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, built around a bass loop played by Norman Watt-Roy of the Blockheads. Joe Strummer wrote the words on the spot, a technique that was also used to create Sandinista!'s other rap track, "Lightning Strikes (Not Once But Twice)". "The Magnificent Seven" represents the first attempt by a rock band to write and perform original rap music, and one of the earliest examples of hip hop records with political and social content. It is the first major white rap record, predating the recording of Blondie's "Rapture" by six months.

The song is viewed as a critique of excessive consumption which includes a nod to the inexpensive goods produced in Asia.

Thematically, "The Magnificent Seven" is somewhat similar to the punkier "Career Opportunities", in that it takes the drudgery of the working life as its starting point. Unlike "Career Opportunities", however, in stream of consciousness fashion it also deals with consumerism, popular media, historical figures, and addresses these subjects with great exuberance and humor. The first verses of "The Magnificent Seven" follow a nameless worker (narrated in the second person) as he wakes up and goes to work, not for personal advancement but to buy his girlfriend consumer goods:

Working for a rise to better my station / Take my baby to sophistication / She's seen the ads, she thinks it's nice / Better work hard, I seen the price

The nameless worker then goes off for a cheeseburger lunch-break, and the lyrics devolve into a blur of fleeting images from television, movies and advertising:

Italian mobster shoots a lobster / Seafood restaurant gets out of hand / A car in the fridge or a fridge in the car? / Like cowboys do in TV land!

Finally, the song takes historical figures, including Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Richard Nixon and Socrates, and places them in modern America, before asking sarcastically whether "Plato the Greek" or Rin Tin Tin is more famous to the masses.

An exclaimed "newsflash" near the end of the song, "Vacuum Cleaner Sucks Up Budgie!", was in fact a headline in the News of the World newspaper at the time of the song's mixing in England, according to Joe Strummer.

Gimme Honda, Gimme Sony
So cheap and real phony
Hong Kong dollars and Indian cents
English pounds and Eskimo pence. . . .
Karlo Marx and Friedrich Engels
Came to the checkout at the 7-11
Marx was skint - but he had sense
Engels lent him the necessary pence

What have we got? Yeh-o, magnificence!!

Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi
Went to the park to check on the game
But they was murdered by the other team
Who went on to win 50-nil
You can be true, you can be false
You be given the same reward
Socrates and Milhous Nixon
Both went the same way - through the kitchen
Plato the Greek or Rin Tin Tin
Who's more famous to the billion millions?
News Flash: Vacuum Cleaner Sucks Up Budgie
Lyrics reproduced here for educational purposes only; copyright remains in the hands of the copyright holder.



HW email to gmsmith@shanahan.org

1. p. 452, Questions, #4-6, 8.

AP Economics: 19 February 2010

Prayer (alphabetical):

Current Events:

Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration is marking the one-year anniversary of the economic stimulus legislation with efforts to show the measure sparked U.S. growth and curbed rising unemployment. Bloomberg's Julianna Goldman reports. (Source: Bloomberg)




We will pick up where we left off: Ch. 18 Keynesian Macroeconomics

Ch. 18 Keynesian Macroeconomics

Chapter Outline 18 Keynesian Macroeconomics

The construction of this chapter takes students from aggregate expenditures and its components (and the determinants for each), through a simple Keynesian model and the multiplier, and then completes the model adding government and the foreign sector. At this point recessionary and inflationary gaps are examined. It is worth noting that the extension of the simple Keynesian model to the complete model (i.e., the addition of government and net exports) is illustrated using the Savings and Investment graph, while the illustration of the recessionary and inflationary gaps employ the complete aggregate expenditure figures (similar to those used earlier in the chapter). The chapter concludes with a section on the Great Depression and Keynesian analysis.

The Balanced Budget Multiplier, p. 490, 10:39

Balance budget multiplier in Germany discussing Keynes.

This film examines the multiplier effects of balanced budget expenditure in Germany, where the government has increased taxes in the West to fund development of the East.


Adding Net Exports, p. 490

Recessionary and Inflationary Gaps, p. 491

Recessionary Gap, p. 491

Inflationary Gap, p. 492

Checkpoint: The Full Keynesian Model, p. 493

The Great Depression and Keynesian Analysis, p. 493

Chapter Checkpoints
Aggregate Expenditures, p. 494

Question: Figure 3 earlier illustrated that investment spending is much more
volatile than consumption spending. Why is this?

The point is to check that students can: apply their knowledge of the determinants of consumption spending and investment to help evaluate the relative volatility of each component of aggregate expenditures.

The Simple Keynesian Model, p. 495

Question: Business journalists, pundits, economists, and policymakers all pay
attention to the results of the Conference Board’s monthly survey of 5,000 households called the Consumer Confidence Index.

When the index is rising, this is good news for the economy and when it is falling concerns are often heard that it portends a recession. Why is this survey important as a tool in forecasting where the economy is headed in the near future?

The point is to check that students can: synthesize their knowledge of the multiplier effect of a decrease in consumer spending with the importance of consumer spending as the major portion of aggregate expenditures in order to see the potential for a decrease in consumer spending to provide impetus for a recession.

The Full Keynesian Model, p. 495

Question: If the government is considering reducing taxes to stimulate the economy
does it matter if the MPS is .25 or .33?

The point is to check that students can: understand how changes in the size of the MPS affect the value of the multiplier and so influence the impact of a policy change. By extension, students should appreciate that the government needs to estimate factors such as the multiplier in planning policy changes.

Extended Examples in the Chapter

The Great Depression and the Keynesian Analysis

This section provides data that can help capture the magnitude of the Great
Depression: the stock market lost 90% of its value compared to the beginning of the 1930s, unemployment soared from 3.2% in 1929 to nearly 25%. Moreover, the Great Depression lasted for roughly a decade. The Keynesian model can be used to illustrate the situation of the time and to explain Keynes’s reasoning that an “injection” of government spending was needed.

For more about the Great Depression, including a timeline and some photos, see the PBS Web site at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rails/timeline/.

Important points to note: the distrust of the government and banks, the resentment of foreign workers, the persistence of the belief in the classical model (as illustrated in President Herbert Hoover’s remarks at the beginning of the period), the need to banish fear as expressed by President Franklin Roosevelt (another term for a severe lack of consumer confidence).

Examples Used in the End--of--Chapter Questions

For Further Analysis

Illustrating the Keynesian Model

This example can be used as an in-class small group exercise or as an individual in-class exercise. It is designed to complement the text’s material on the Keynesian model by requiring students to draw the graphs that illustrate the analysis. The student handout provides graphical illustration of the analysis behind the answers to end-of-chapter Questions and Problems 8, 12, and 14.

Web-Based Exercise

Keynesian Policy in Japan

This example can be used as a small group exercise or as an individual exercise.
The exercise provides an opportunity to see the Keynesian model and policies
applied to a recent example, Japan since the 1990s. This overcomes a student’s tendency to view this material as irrelevant because it is discussed in terms of the 1930s. Requiring additional research can turn this exercise into a more extensive assignment.

Read the essay “Explaining Japan’s Recession,” by Benjamin Powell (posted on
11/19/2002 on the Web site of the Ludwig von Mises Institute: http://www.mises.org) and answer the following:

1) What is the Keynesian explanation for the economic downturn in Japan?

2) What Keynesian policies have been tried? How successful have they been?

3) What does the author suggest should be done in Japan?

Tips:
One challenge in this topic is to separate business investment in real plant and
equipment from people’s financial investment in stocks, bonds, etc. Students will
likely be able to grasp the importance of consumer confidence, understanding what
amounts to a “self-fulfilling prophecy;” that is, if consumers are fearful of a recession and don’t spend then that (multiplied) decrease in spending can cause a recession.

A good analogy for the Keynesian view is to liken the economy to a car with a
low battery that needs a boost to get running again.

HANDOUT 18



Resources

Average Propensities to Consume and Save, p. 477, 11:37

An interview with John Quelch, Professor, Harvard Business School. In a tough economy, companies can succeed if they understand their customers' evolving consumption patterns and fine-tune their marketing strategies accordingly.


William Baumol. - Air date: 06-12-99

William Jack Baumol (born February 26, 1922) is a New York University economics professor (although he is also affiliated with Princeton University) who has written extensively about labor market and other economic factors that affect the economy. He also made valuable contributions to the history of economic thought. He is among the 500 best economists in the world according to IDEAS/RePEc.
Among his better-known contributions are the theory of contestable markets, the Baumol-Tobin model of transactions demand for money, Baumol's cost disease, which discusses the rising costs associated with service industries, and Pigou taxes.[1]
The 2006 Annual Meetings of the American Economic Association held a special session in his name, and honoring his many years of work, where 12 papers on entrepreneurship were presented. http://www.aeaweb.org/annual_mtg_pape...
The British magazine, The Economist published an article about William Baumol and his lifelong work to develop a place in economic theory for the entrepreneur (March 11, 2006, pp 68), much of which owes its genesis to Joseph Schumpeter. They note that traditional microeconomic theory holds a place for 'prices' and 'firms' but not for that (seemingly) important engine of innovation, the entrepreneur. Baumol is given credit for helping to remedy this shortcoming: "Thanks to Mr. Baumol's own painstaking efforts, economists now have a bit more room for entrepreneurs in their theories."

Baumol is a trustee of the Economists for Peace and Security.


Email HW to gmsmith@shanahan.org.

1. Be sure to study for subsequent Ch. 16 (Quizzes and Test, TBA).

2. Read Ch. 17 (we will have Quizzes and a Test on Ch. 17, TBA).

3. I intended that these parts of the assignment is simply to review the older material for the Test; you do not need to re-write the answers as part of the HW: Ch. 15 Questions and Problems, p. 423, #11-15.

4. This material, in contrast to the older material, is new and you should write it out as part of your HW. Ch. 18: Extended Examples in the Chapter.

The Great Depression and the Keynesian Analysis

This section provides data that can help capture the magnitude of the Great
Depression: the stock market lost 90% of its value compared to the beginning of the 1930s, unemployment soared from 3.2% in 1929 to nearly 25%. Moreover, the Great Depression lasted for roughly a decade. The Keynesian model can be used to illustrate the situation of the time and to explain Keynes’s reasoning that an “injection” of government spending was needed.

For more about the Great Depression, including a timeline and some photos, see the PBS Web site at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rails/timeline/.

Important points to note: how would you characterize how people felt about the government of the time and what they felt about banks? Did people resent foreign workers? Did they seem to belief in the classical model of economics? Note: President Herbert Hoover’s remarks at the beginning of the period). What did President Franklin Roosevelt seek to banish? Do you think there was a lack of consumer confidence? Why or why not?