Day: February 20, 2019

My name is Juliet Mathey and I am a first-year at North Central College. I am double majoring in Environmental Studies and Chinese with a minor in Global Leadership Studies. Before beginning my collegiate career, I took a gap year in which time I traveled to Asia for five months to expand my interests and participate in community projects along the way. Prior to this experience, I had some interest in Asian culture and wanted to go into social entrepreneurship. Obviously my plans changed and I am grateful they have. After having an glimpse into Asian culture, I became drawn to the idea of doing sustainability work in this region of the world.  

It is well known that sustainability is a white-person’s line of work, and my goal is to break that barrier. My goals for my professional career involve working collaboratively with American and Chinese corporations and governments to solve the ever-growing environmental issues our world faces. As two great superpowers, it is vital that these two countries take the lead in this effort. It is also well known that it is these two countries that continue to damage to the environment more than any other. I hope to find innovative ways to convince the larger populations of these cultures to understand the importance of sustaining and conserving the global environment.

Through this project, I plan to study the authoritative relationships within the Chinese culture through evaluating communication and schools of thought depicted in The Story of the Stone. Being as influential of a work as this one is, it is my hope that these depictions will also apply, whether unchanged or modified, to modern Chinese culture. This will prove to be important for my future career goals so that I may communicate effectively to a large population in the ever-shortening timeline we have to change our lifestyles and save the earth.

Thus far, I have read through Chapter Five of Story of the Stone. We have been introduced to many characters and the plot becomes more clear as our discussions progress. That being said, I have not found any standout moments that completely apply to my research in chapters three through five. However, I have been noticing the shift of tone in conversations and settings involving different characters.

The following questions are thoughts that I hope to expand upon and discover more deeply in future readings. If there are any other perspectives, please feel free to share!

1. In Chapter 3, there has been an emphasis to describe colors when introducing new settings or characters. What may these colors represent?Do certain colors represent authority? Are these representations still prevalent and as emphasized in China today?
2. How may perspective on authority figures change when described through the lense of Dai Yu, Bao Yu, and the narrator? Which of these lenses can we take to be more accurate? Or is each lense correct for differing scenarios?
3. In Chapter 4, it is mentioned that officials have lists of influential people and families. The law seems to bend for these families. Why is this? Is it still prevalent in China today? What school of thought does this fit under?