Emily+Kim's+reflection

Western Incursions Reading Discussion Question #8

Question: Write a short reflection of what you learned from these readings. With the benefit of hind site and knowledge of China and Japan, would Korea have been better off if it had “opened up to the west?”

Response: Although the question is very vague in terms of what exactly “better off” refers to, in my opinion – and through my definition of “better off” – I believe that Korea’s decision not to open up to the west was for the better. Through blocking western ideas, although it may have cost the lack of technology at first, Korea was able to keep its cultural identity. If Korea had welcomed and accepted the western ideas then, barely any traces of the original Korean values and traditions would have remained until today. Even though price was paid through the brutal persecution of Christianity, thanks to those efforts, we now have a nation whose people hold natural and basic Confucian beliefs and traditions, regardless of the religion they may hold. Besides, even though Korea may have been falling behind in terms of technology and economy back in the time, it is inevitable that now it has become one of the top ranking countries in terms of both economy and technology – the massive development during the past decades allowed them to flourish greatly.

Reflection on The Rape of Nanking Introduction

I was never aware of the massive and tragic scale of the Rape of Nanking, not to mention that I had not heard of the event until my high school career. And the introduction explains why. It is amazing how the Japanese have been denying and continue to deny a history so evident and so full of proof. The author tells of the seriousness of suppressing the past stories and the significance of accepting and learning from mistakes. I thought it was interesting how she makes connections with the Germans and the Holocaust, about how Germans acknowledged the Holocaust and continued to make apologies, while the Japanese exclude the gruesome event from the history textbooks and lie about their past. I thought it was also interesting how the Holocaust, a massacre that occurred during the World War II as well, became so publicly known, while people remain uneducated about the Rape of Nanking. The author presents several reasons for this, such as the quiet and timid reactions of the Chinese victims and the other countries who remained still for reasons of their own nation’s interest and benefits. Perhaps luckily for the Japanese, the Cold War providing tension and competition among nations reduced – or perhaps stopped – the consequences Japan deserved for its actions.