Panoptical Power in China

The Cultural Revolution was a time of much confusion in china. The memoir Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang illustrates the chaos of that time. Ji-li’s experiences during this time period led to her point of view changing. Ji-li starts the Cultural Revolution full of progressive thoughts, but this quickly turns to confusion, and leads to an important choice, something that impacts the rest of her life.

Like Beccaria, he heavily disagreed with capital punishment and focused more on the Utilitarianism theory. This theory focuses on the happiness of greater society and for this reason, focuses on the idea that every crime is harmful towards society and every punishment should be equal depending on the criminal offence. Bentham strongly advocated the idea that every criminal should be punished with imprisonment. In doing so, he structure ‘The Panopticon’, a form of prison cell, this design was to make sure every offender, placed in a room without being able to see outside. Once the criminal is imprisoned, security guards will watch every single movement they make, without their knowledge. Although his exact vision and usage of ‘The Panopticon’ was not built, the ideology of imprisonment and being watched is used in present day society. This can be shown in Victoria, Australia’s Serious Sex Offenders (Detention and Supervision) Act 2009 (Vic), where sex offenders are placed in a prison cell away from other offenders and will be under constant super vision. This idea of imprisoning criminals, have successful rates in reducing crime and prove the intent of acting out the crime, however the police focuses more on those offenders who are likely and have committed crime multiple times, leaving newly offenders to get away with

According to the Online Dictionary, the “Chinese Cultural Revolution” is defined as “a movement in China, beginning in the year 1966 and led by Mao Zedong, to restore the vitality of communism in China.” To begin, the Chinese Cultural Revolution performed a significant role in establishing the setting and conflicts in the novel of “Red Scarf Girl”. The setting of the story took place in the city of Shanghai, specifically throughout the course of two and a half years from the year 1966 to 1969. The protagonist and narrator of the story, Ji Li Jiang, was a 12-year-old Chinese girl who lived as a wealthy resident in the brownstone apartments of Shanghai. As the story progressed, Ji Li developed alterations in her relationships with her peers at school, the perception of her goals and responsibilities in life, and knowledge of her family history in relation to her class-status in the community. Therefore, throughout the course of the story, it was evident that significant changes and development of the relationships, perceptions, and knowledge of Ji Li Jiang occurred as a result of the events that she experienced.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, power is the ability or right to control people or things. This definition is apparent throughout the history of China and through historical figures. Confucius is one of the most influential historical figures of Chinese history. In Confucius’s mind, the government should retain power, however, not to the extent that they do today. According to The Confucian Ethic and More About Confucius, “the government’s most important job was to inspire people [...] to feed and protect the people and gain their admiration” (The Confucian Ethic 13) . Confucius’ beliefs differ from what is going on now because he is calling for the government to treat the people with respect and take care of them. This may exist somewhat in China today, but China is known for killing political prisoners and silencing people who disagree with them. Mao Zedong, another historical

The Panopticon was designed to be a circular building with a tower in the very center. The tower had big windows in order for the guard to be able to see everything that the inmates were doing. The cells were similar to a dungeon. They were very small and isolated. There was no communication between each other nor could the inmates see or communicate with the guard. As Foucault asserted,” Bentham laid down the principle that power should be visible and

In the memoir “Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution” written by Ji-Li Jiang and forwarded by David Henry Hwang, it follows the experiences of Ji-Li Jiang during the onset of Chairman Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution of China while living in Shanghai, China, 1966. In the memoir, Ji-Li at only the age of 13 experiences first hand the many effects of the revolution which are shown in many ways. These effects include her peers attitudes, her family and classmates relations, as well as personal feelings of the overall event.

Zhang Yimou’s To Live is a powerful indictment of communist authoritarian rule and blind patriotism. The film places the viewer in the position of an insider as the Communist Revolution alters the political and social landscape of China. By using dramatic irony, Zhang Yimou appraises communist collectivist culture, class structure and power in revolutionary China, and the Cultural Revolution. In addition, by using shadow puppetry as a symbol of indoctrination, Zhang Yimou examines the link between political change, personal tragedy, and bureaucratic incompetence.

1. Why are the centuries of the Tang and song dynasties in China sometimes referred to as a “golden age”?

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

Michel Foucault was a French philosopher and one of the most influential social theorists of the second half of the twentieth century. He was born on the 15th of October 1936 and passed away on the 25th June 1984. His theories addressed the relationship between power and knowledge, and how they are used as a form of social control. His analysis breaks the concept of power apart, and his theory explains differences in various modes of power. In his study the History of Sexuality, he explores in the firth volume called Right of Death and Power over Life the triangle of power: (I) sovereign power; (II) disciplinary power; and (III) biopower. In this essay I will describe the relationship between each power and apply the concept of biopower to China’s one child Policy.

A third narrative thread is created by stringing together the stories of young Chinese students, both men and women. Their optimistic visions of the future contrast poignantly with the stories of Chen Mengjia and Polat, who expose more of the dark side of China especially the Cultural Revolution. Chen Mengjia committed suicide during the Cultural Revolution. Hessler (2006) interviews an old man about the issue of personal responsibility and political activism and reveals the deeply conflicted nature

ETS 142 Panopticism: As applied to Dracula and Ain't I a Woman? Utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham was the first to detail the idea of the Panopticon—a circular disciplinary building with a tower at the center, which would allow the authority in charge to to see every prisoner's cell, thereby allowing said authority to keep all of them under constant surveillance. In each cell, by contrast, the prisoners are all utterly isolated. They are unable to communicate with each other, or the prison guards. Though the prisoners can see the wardens in the tower, they have no connection with one-another and

The author of the essay “Panopticism”, Michel Foucault gives his opinion on power and discipline in Panopticism. He describes Jeremy Bentham’s “Panopticon”, a tower in the centre of a room which has vision to every cell, generalized for prisoners. In simple words, it functioned in maintaining discipline throughout the jail. It’s most distinctive feature was that; prisoners could be seen without ever seeing. Prisoners would never really know when they are watched and when not. They are always under the impression that someone is keeping an eye on them continuously and if anything goes wrong, or they make mistake, they would be punished severely. Since, a prisoner would never know when he/she is watched, they have to be at their best. In a

Originally derived from the measures to control “abnormal beings” against the spreading of a plague, the Panopticon is an architecture designed to induce power with a permanent sense of visibility. With a tower in the center, surrounded by cells, the prisoners can be monitored and watched at any given time from the central tower. The goal of this architectural plan was to strip away any privacy and therefore create fear induced self-regulation amongst the prisoners, with an unverifiable gaze - The prisoners can never

A Panopticon is a cylindrical prison where all prisoners’ cells face a central watchtower with the intention of instilling the idea of constant surveillance in prisoners. Panopticism stems from the same model which refers to the idea of constant surveillance in any setting especially in today’s world of technological pervasiveness. The panopticon represents the double edged sword that is present to society as authorities want to exert more control on the individuals. Between giving up privacy for safety and private lives that endanger all, the need for regulation of behavior gets stuck in the middle of it all. The movie Citizen Four (Poitras, 2014) highlights that any shred of privacy that we thought we had has been lost in the “shadowy labyrinths