Essay on Anaylysis of Journey to the West

As a Chinese scholar, he was probably looking for an end to suffering when China was invaded by nomads. His point of view is significant because he implies that Buddhism gives a chance for everyone to reach nirvana. In a state of political chaos, this greatly comforted and hugely appealed to the Chinese. An additional document by a Chinese Buddhist follower during the nomadic invasions would be helpful because it would show how Buddhism provided a distraction and relief in political disunity.

The question of Hu, by Jonathan D. Spence, is a book on the Chinese and European connection during the early 1700s. The historical novel portrays a story of two people, John Hu, and Jean-François Foucquet. John Hu is a Chinese man that is literate but not educated. He was the keeper of the gate in the Catholic Church of Canton. Jean-François Foucquet is a French Jesuit, who was appointed to China and spread Catholicism in the Far East, but also to gain knowledge on the writing and ideas of the Chinese culture. During his mission, Fouquet is called back to France and he is eager to return. Over twenty-five years Fouquet has been in China, he has gathered many books to study once he returns to Europe. Many of these texts need to be transcribed

In the “Autobiography of a Chinese immigrant” written in 1903 by Lee Chew, dialogues about his point of view

It is interesting to see that in the bulk of varying cultural identities, the archetype meant to find meaning is transformed into a journey in which experience slowly shapes ignorance into enlightenment. Thus, it is clear that the journey is important in the path to meaning. Through the journey small lessons are individually learned, and then collectively combined to create a more united whole vision of the world that was previously fragmented and lost in misunderstanding before the individual embarked on the quest. And so, the quest is a dominant archetype in numerous cultures. This creates a larger conception of the journey as the path to enlightenment in a way that can transcend beyond other more mundane cultural boundaries. Truth cannot be understood all at once, and thus it is through the quest that we slowly learn the whole truth of the external world piece by piece.

I chose William Zinsser’s “Shanghai”. In this essay Zinsser gives a firsthand account of two of his favorite jazz musicians. Zinsser starts his essay off setting the scene by letting us, the reader know the story take place in China. He tells the story of Willie Ruff and Dwike Mitchell a Duet that traveled the country playing their brand of jazz. In his story he gives the reader the impression he has a great passion for what the two men has accomplished with their musical talents. Zinsser himself a musician speaks highly of the two. Most noticeable was Zinsser’s admiration for Ruff’s ease to learn the language of other cultures. Further analyzing of the essay leads the reader to know Zinsser praises the two for their ability to bridge the gap

Jonathan Spence’s novel The Question of Hu covers mid-eighteenth century travels from China to the western world of a Jesuit missionary, Father Jean-Francois Foucquet, and a Chinese scribe, John Hu. The interactions that occur consist of the cultural differences between Chinese and European customs. Hu’s personality becomes a large question Spence raises not only with the title but also throughout the story when Spence talks about Hu’s way of thinking. John Hu’s personality is described by both Father Jean-Francois Foucquet and the narrator as being both insane and oppressed, respectively. The reader is led to have a sympathetic view of Hu, even though the narrator does not come out and explain exactly how the reader should feel,

Who were you inspired by to write this book? I was inspired by the chinese and american culture and I wanted to include some differents about those 2 cultures.

Chang strategically divided the book into three parts to show the progression of race, land, nationhood, and politics. The author then further divided the book into chapters that contribute to providing an answer to his initial research question.

In William Kinmond’s “What a newsman found who got into red China” and Mark Salzman’s Iron and Silk, the reader experiences a mental ride of China. Both Salzman and Kinmond use subtlety and skill to write about what they found in Red China. The texts’ have somewhat different subject matters because each writer visited China with different motives and at different time periods. As the title suggests, Kinmond who goes to China in 1957 is there to report for the Canadian newspaper ‘The Globe and Mail’. On the other hand, Salzman goes to China in 1982 to teach English. Nonetheless, both writers’ construction of Red China and its

The Sun of the Revolution by Liang Heng, is intriguing and vivid, and gives us a complex and compelling perspective on Chines culture during a confusing time period. We get the opportunity to learn the story of a young man with a promising future, but an unpleasant childhood. Liang Heng was exposed to every aspect of the Cultural Revolution in China, and shares his experiences with us, since the book is written from Liang perspective, we do not have a biased opinion from an elite member in the Chinese society nor the poor we get an honest opinion from the People’s Republic of China. Liang only had the fortunate opportunity of expressing these events due his relationship with his wife, An American woman whom helps him write the book. When

Reid, T. R. Confucius Lives Next Door: What Leaving In The East Teaches Us About Living In the West. United States: Random House Publishing Group, 1999. Print.

Pilgrimages have changed over time due to the constant growth of technology which contributes towards travel as well as medicine, those people which chose to travel back in the early years of pilgrimages had to travel tens even hundreds of kilometres to be able to

Another section in the book that reflects the topics we have discussed during the semester is Foucquet’s The book of Changes. On page 15, Spence states that Foucquet was not allowed to employ any more Chinese to transcribe his work, ultimately resulting it being more difficult for him to bring his work to fruition. Foucquet’s work is described as his passion, which is “to unravel the hidden meanings in the Chinese past”. Because this takes place during the rule of the Qing dynasty, which is known for not wanting anything to do with Europeans, Chinese rulers may not want Foucquet to show Europeans China’s past. Furthermore, on page 16, Spence writes, “Western missionaries in China may leave only if the Emperor consents,” which further substantiates this theory. A third moment that clearly reflects a topic that we covered is when Hu snatches a letter that Foucquet writes about his behavior from Father Gramain and shreds the letter to pieces. In a way, Foucquet is John Hu’s “master”. Earlier in the text, Spence states that Hu is Foucquet’s assistant, which proves this

Mark Twain and Maxine Hong Kingston are both influential writers when it comes to the history of the Chinese Immigrants. Bother of them showed a great amount of detail on their journey to America. Mark Twain actually pities the “friendless Mongol,” there were many superficial stereotypes of the Chinese immigrants (Ou 33). Twain ridicules the American’s racist attitudes against the Chinese. For example, in Roughing It, he wrote,

Ji-li Jiang during China’s cultural resolution. During this time, Ji-li was humiliated, bullied and witnessed people very close to her heart, suffered horrible atrocities. Both book’s share a fascinating story, where socialist governments inflict such grief and lack of freedom upon the people. In some ways, I can infer similarities of both these phenomenal-books within certain aspects of my own life. As well as, to the current social and governmental trends of the world and most of all I can relate both books together!