The Ming and Qing Dynasty: The Interesting Dilemma of Today- Part 1

The other day while I was waiting for a meeting for work, I sat in the library for a good hour watching a lecture about the rise of the Qing Dynasty.

Quite impressive, I must add. However, I did not get through the entire series. However, it brings up some concerns. I know a lot of Chinese people like to brag about their ancestry. However, there's also the matter of Taiwan.

It's somewhat hard to explain right away, but the Ming dynasty was technically the last "Chinese" Chinese dynasty. The Qing Dynasty was actually more of a like a rag tag team assembled to create a purer nation (Qing means pure). They were from outside of the boarders of the Chinese at the time and rivaled the Ming dynasty. When they finally conquered the capital, Beijing, the Ming dynasty had to flee and many loyalists left for Taiwan. ( I know I am leaving a lot of details out of this- but I want to just reach the point that I am trying to make.)

Taiwan at the time was... well more like how the Caribbeans were for the British colonies. Filled with pirates and some useful resources. Loyalists and these pirates teamed up to bring down as many Qing militants as possible. Ultimately, however, they were defeated.

Now I'm going to have to leave off right here because I have to grab my late dinner, but to be continued....

Asia's view on Obama coming back

With the re-election of Barrack Obama, there will be quite a shift in power on the foreign side of the United States. The position of Secretary of State will be up for grabs soon. Asian countries are having mixed feelings, but overall a sigh of relief with the return of this President.

 "Mr. Obama is the lesser of two evils," said Shi Yinhong, an expert on U.S.-China relations at Renmin University in Beijing. Obama wishes to have more negotiations with China about outsourcing, trade, and the environment. Yet, China loves the special connection that it holds with the United States and would fight for as much wiggle room that it can get. However, changes in the Secretary of State and foreign policy leaders would also mean that both sides, China and the US, would have to get to know each other from square one again. With this Chinese officials said that they have no time to play politic games.

Japan, however, prefers the headstrong negotiation style of Hilary Clinton, but if Clinton resigns, China and other Asian countries might face a softer hand from either of the possible Secretary of State candidates John Kerry and Susan Rice, which would not play well for the Japanese. 
South Korea is also giving a sigh of relief with the re-election of Obama. Fear rose in S.Korea with the possible chance that Romney would get elected and engage North Korea in combat. 

The only country with a frown on its face for the most part is India. India has been growing prosperously for quite sometime. Not with the rigor of China, but fairly well. However, now outsourcing IT jobs to India is up for questioning. With unemployment in the U.S. over 7.2%  this may result in a fight to get jobs that were outsourced to India back in the states, not just to drop the unemployment rate, but to encourage growth in the American IT field. Personally, the United States has to cut India off. India has benefited some what on globalization, but its own internal growth rate and development is quite slow. India has the ability to upgrade, but it doesn't. It's education sector is also not evolving  as it should as well. If the United States continues to enable this country, both countries will continue to show no growth.

There is speculation that Obama might appoint a republican for the Secretary of State position which would be interesting and smart in terms of gluing the United States back together.  Nevertheless, I believe that we need strong leadership much like Clinton's style. Yet, much like Clinton's style, this style needs to show a balance.The connections to Asian countries are absolutely vital to the United States and there is a delicate string that needs to be protected. So if the leadership is too rough it would hit the United States critically. 


Resources:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323894704578104141204920404.html
CNN

First Post

Hi Everyone,

This blog is my public journal about my findings and research of East Asia. I am very fascinated in the Asian culture and I really want to master my research projects in the future. However, I am very much in a rookie state of mine of what the object of my study should consist of, so for that reason I will be doing a lot of work to look as much as I can to look deep into this topic. I hope all of you enjoy my discoveries and take as much pleasure as I do in uncovering this field as I do.

This blog will consist of various works: academic papers reviews, book reviews, commentary on Asian bloggers, and more. I am currently interested in national identity issues so I will hopeful get around to that.