Jay


 * Filial Piety Response**

Although this probably had the most influence in Chinese culture, but we can also see it in Korean culture and Japanese culture. Respecting one's parents and being obedient was common in all East Asian cultures. Filial Piety was strongly promoted in China, and many aspects of Filial Piety lead to a lot of pressure on the sons, and oppression on daughters. In filial piety, the men are the most important aspect, and they are expected to have unquestionable loyalty and obedience towards their parents. They prioritize their parents over many things, to an extent that it almost seems as if their life was merely to please their parents. Since I am Korean, this does have some affect on me as well. I was also taught to obey and be loyal to my parents no matter what, but I think the level in which this is practiced today is nothing like it was in in the 14th century CE. However I still strongly believe that throughout my life I should respect and please my parents as well. I also see expressing my devotion through study like the Chinese was one of the ways of pleasing my parents. A western story that came up to mind while reading this was the story of //Hansel and Gretel// these two children were abandoned by their step mother so that she and her husband can survive. However, the two children found their way back to the house and so forth. I was thinking, what would a Chinese son have done if he were in this situation? Would he have obeyed his parents wishes and left the house so that his parents may live, or would he have done the same as Hansel? If he followed the Filial piety he should have been willing to leave the house so that his parents have food to survive, however the story does not end like this. This is probably he difference in Chinese and Western stories.

__**Western Intrusion**__

 * 8) 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 had been better off if it had “opened up to the west.”**

From the reading one can clearly notice that Korea did not open up to the west, and were constantly fighting to keep their culture. They went to extents as fighting and creating organizations to stop them etc. Keeping in mind what happened with Japan and China, by opening up to the west, Korea might be able to develop faster. Japan and China both developed technologically after contact with the westerners. Korea would probably have the same outcome, by opening up to the west, they will be able to advance technologically. However on the other hand, they could be completely dominated by the western nations like what occurred in China. If Korea was willing to push aside their pride and their culture in order to advance perhaps they could have been better off. This is the observations I came up with after reading the article.