Last week’s learning: China and Japan, and our current polar ice

It has been a very stimulating, thought provoking week.

Why do you find Song and Yuan Dynasty art and architecture in Japan rather than China, especially that of the Chan masters?

Seeded during my father’s sabbatical (9^th grade) was a lurking identity crisis that burgeoned during a summer sojourn (sophomore) in Kyoto JP.  Nurtured by traipsing around the many Zen temples with my parents, my friend Marie and by myself, I began to feel unexpectedly comfortable not only with my aesthetic environment … and my minority myself.  I didn’t understand why.  In unadorned terms it was the gentle sweep of thickly thatched temple roofs, the browned and greyed worn wooden walls, and the ‘naturally’ arranged rocks, combed gravel, verdant moss, gnarled trees and calming ponds.  This aesthetically and viscerally appealed to and calmed me in contradistinction to the gaudy yellow tiled roofs, blue, green, and gold details and red walls of the Manchu taste.  Upon my return to the U.S. I weathered a full blown existential mid-college crisis … for another discussion.

My father told me that visiting Kyoto was in effect being transplanted to Song (960-1279) Dynasty China.  I did not fully grasp this notion until yesterday.  Watching to James Cahill’s (an art historical colleague of my father’s) video and listening to Professor Wang yesterday, the cultural flow across the Sea of Japan of Japanese monks to Chinese Chan temples and the return of Song Chan (Zen) scrolls to Japan led to an infusion of one genre that inspired Japanese art and architecture to the present.  Specifically, the axe cut angular landscape strokes of Ma Yuan, the soft power of Mu Xi’s Six Persimmons and the sketchily spontaneous Chan Two disciples (one a tiger) are recognizably ‘Japanese’ instead of the complex landscapes of the Chinese literati (intellectuals).  Simply, the paintings that could be taken to Japan were those of ‘untrained’ idiosyncratic freewheeling Chan monks whereas those of the master painters could not be removed from literati or royal collections.  Once Japan closed its ports, this flow stopped and those artifacts became iconic in Japanese culture preserved and refined.

Ying Wang, Chinese Painting Course, UW-Milwaukee and James Cahill Video on Chan and Japanese Painting

Why is China building artificial islands in the South China Seas and trying to grab the Senkaku Islands?

What is China’s endgame, safeguarding its shores, protecting its passageways to the Pacific, gaining access to continental hydrocarbons, or domination of Asia, or beyond …?  French traces the current aggressiveness to three concepts.  First is the dynastic Sinocentric view of tian xia (everything under the heavens) with China at the very center and all empires either conquered states or tribute-paying vassals.  Second is 21^st China’s rising reaction to the horrific century of humiliation from 1840-1945 spanning the Opium War, international spheres of influence/concessions, sack of Beijing, and Japanese occupation (Nanjing massacre).  Three is countering militarily and surpassing economically the U.S.’s Asian presence by both hard military and soft economic power.  Militarily, they manufactured an island outpost atop submerged Paracel (Fiery Cross) Reefs, repeatedly invaded the 12 mile limits of Senkaku Islands (and stoking anti-Japanese nationalism), unilaterally explored for oil in Vietnamese waters while developing the largest nuclear submarine fleet.  Economically, they are pouring resources into the Maritime Silk Road (Malacca Straits) and One Belt, One Road (OBOR) infrastructure and trade development from China to Europe over the former Silk Road and Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Will this pattern continue inexorably, and China eradicate U.S. influence in Asia?  Possibly yes, probably no.  As China continues to expose its sharp elbows, resistance by the ASEAN coalition and new bedfellows Vietnam, Philippines and India mounts.  The cost of naval military buildup is likely to exceed their inflation rate, hardware innovation further increases cost and scaled production may not occur in the dearth of China’s alliance partners.  Lastly, the growing elderly population (330 million by 2050 and lowest ratio of working/military eligible to elders) and predicted decline to under 1 billion (US 450 million) will exacerbate the military support.  So, perhaps this is Xi Jinping’s brief window of opportunity to reef and island grab, and to expand the military.  So yes, there will be a rebalancing but not complete dominance.  Interesting!

Everything Under the Heavens:  How the past helps shape China’s push for global power by Howard W. French

Why is the current state of affairs in so many countries, toxic and polarized?

It’s the tribal instinct says the author of the Tiger Mother.  She analyzes the U.S. military failures of the Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq wars through the prism of long standing internecine tribal conflicts.  These were not appreciated by US policy or military leaders.  In Vietnam it was between the 1% elite Chinese-Vietnamese who controlled 80% of the economy (market-dominant minorities) and the Vietnamese.  In Afghanistan, it was between the Pashtun elite vs. the Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras.  In Iraq, it was between the Sunni minority elite vs. the Shia and Kurd majority, respectively.  In other words, democracy was a predictable failed exercise and the ‘democractic’ sharing of Afghan power alienated the Pashtuns and directly furthered the rise of the Taliban from amongst their ranks.  All missed opportunities that should have begun with a deep understanding of the tribal milieu.  Hindsight is 20/20. 

She turns to the U.S. and the same tribal model can be applied to the current divide.  The alt right tribe takes Trump seriously but not literally as he represents the symbolic values.  The left takes Trump literally but not seriously in their world view.  And the two sides are not interacting, and the we-they divide expands.  She cites research than indicates how intra-tribal loyalties influence perception of facts and and out-groups, and how these allegiances can be manipulated!  Of concern, poor whites appear to have limited upward social mobility, and perhaps due to lack of attention, are even more underrepresented than minorities in the elite colleges.  At the end, she is sees some crossing of the demilitarized zone and glimmers of hope.  

Political Tribes:  Group instinct and the fate of nations. Amy Chua (author of Tiger Mother)