Topic 1 The corona virus---why the west got it wrong

After this lecture, you should be able to answer the following questions
1) What was happening in the west when COVID 19 started?
2) How long did it take to get to the west? Why did they not act immediately?
3) How is COVID a test of good governance (how countries are managed)?
4) How does the western mindset hinder/prevent effective COVID prevention measures?
5) How does the western political system make them unprepared for disasters like COVID?
6) How can we argue that COVID19 is evidence of how technologically advanced a country is?

How does the western political system make them unprepared for disasters like COVID?
- System is based on elections
- The system produces very incompetent leaders.
= most leaders in western countries are unfit to rule. Who gets elected? Politicians (political
science/law/arts = public administration)
- Democrats followed the science, Republicans choose to attack the science - believe in conspiracies
(tell Americans that the government should not tell them what to do)
- Contradictory ideas - political ideologies fight against each other
Good speaker-power to convince people
Incompetence
- Trump handling of COVID was horrible. Trumps action was based ONLY one on thing- HIS RE-
ELECTION.
- He lied that it was not in America
- Oh it will disappear miraculously
- He blamed the governors
- to wait till November 2070

What was happening in the west when COVID 19 started?

Dec. 28, 2019- I left Shanghai for Ottawa, Canada.
When the reports started coming out of Wuhan:
1) People paid little attention - no urgency
2) It was on TV- but it sounded so far away.
3) They did think it will come to them.
SARS- people thought it was another SARS, H1N1 - It's their stuff/not our stuff.
Mindset= person before society, so people did not see directly connected.

How long did it take to get to the west? Why did they not act immediately?
It took months to get to the west.
What the west would have done?
Reduce ANXIETY
- Reduced the number of flights from China.
- Seek to know more about the virus.
- Engage with Chinese authorities to find a solution.
- Let foreigners who were in China at the time, stay in China.
- Educate the population and prepare them for any eventuality

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- Prepared personal protective equipment (masks, ventilators, etc.)

- None of our business - they were hoping that it won't get to the West.
- In Canada, winter is depressing period that contributed to the slowness
- Western countries sent planes to pick up their citizens in Wuhan (popular
opinion to bring back citizens from Wuhan) They were quarantined upon arrival - 14 days - 7 people
had COVID19 in that village
Politicians- want VOTES
- Politicians only did the things that would make them get votes in the next election.

How does the ween mindset hinder/prevent efective COVID prevention measures:
1. Freedom-the government should not tell them what to do (Trump supporters)
2. Independence/Individualism-making decisions on themselves
3. Rights-they believe they can do whatever they want
4. The mindset is not the mindset everyone should take during a pandemic

How can we argue that COVID19 is evidence of how technologically advanced a country is?
• Tracking the spread
• Monitoring temperature etc.
• It is not possible in China to exist with the virus
• They believe technology monitors their private lives - and they don't want that.

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Topic 2 Western languages
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to answer the following questions:
1) Tell the main western language families
2) Tell where they spread to
3) Whether other languages existed in areas where they spread to
4) The situation of the western languages today
5) Eastern languages - basic differences
6) What the Chinese could do to make Chinese more visible in the world

Main Families
• Language of Europe
• Families of Europe
• Their spread

Celtic language
• Ireland
• Wales
• Scotland
• Native English language
• The language used before the invaders took over England
• Scandinavians
• (Germanic Languages)

Germanic languages
• German
• Dutch – spread to – Afrikaans (South Africa）
• English
• Norwegian
• Danish
• Swedish
• Parts of Switzerland

Romance languages
• French
• Italian
• Spanish
• Portuguese
• Romanian

Baltic languages
• Latvia and Lithuania

Finno-Samic languages
• Finland

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• Estonia

Slavic languages
• Russian
• Poland
• Czech
• Slovenia
• Belarusian

Serbo-Croatian
• Serbia
• Croatia
• Bulgaria
• Bosnia
• Herzegovina

Hellenic languages
• Greek
• Hebrew
• Albanian
• Macedonian

What happened to these languages during the Roman Empire period?

• The Romans occupied almost every country, but the Roman citizens did not physically move
to those countries.
• The Roman language was only the language of official business.

English

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• North America
• South America (Guyana - speaks English)
• The Caribbeans Islands
• Africa
• Asia
• Australia/New Zealand
• NOT IN EUROPE

Dutch
• South Africa
• Portuguese
• Brazil/Mozambique
• Spanish
• Latin America
• Equatorial Guinea

French
• Africa – lots of African territory
• Asia – Vietnam
• Parts of the Middle East
• The Caribbean’s Island - Martinique/Haiti
• Every country that the French colonized is in trouble - is a mess!
• Not to Latin America

Germans
Africa
- Togo (French)
- Kameron (English/French took over)
The only colonial structures in Cameroon where built by Germans - 1919

Where there other languages where they spread to

• Yes of course
• There were even written languages
• So, the idea that people were not educated until the arrival of Europeans and their languages,
is BS.

In Canada
• Top five languages
• English – 98% (English/French or both)
• French
• Mandarin – 6.2%
• Cantonese
• Punjabi

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Situation of western languages today
• Western languages remain popular
• They are the language of the Internet + media
• They are the most studied languages in the world
• Shangwai - 29 languages
BUT
• Minority languages are beginning to be recognized
• There is a tendency to encourage academic publication in minority languages
• In Canada, for instance, native Canadians are encouraged and funded to revive their languages.
• Western languages, today, find themselves mixing more, find themselves in a battle with oher
minority language. (in certain regions)

How can we make Chinese more visible in the world?

1) Increase international cooperation – through meetings/conferences/sports events/seminars
through which they expose Chinese
2) Chinese may need to increase the number of foreign friends-speak to them in Chinese
3) Confucius Institutes around the world…increase the number - grants scholarships to foreign
students

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Topic 3 The renaissance
After this lecture, you should be able to answer the following questions
1) What is the Renaissance?
2) What was the period before the Renaissance?
3) Where did it start and how did it spread?
4) Who are some of the main actors/characters of the Renaissance movement?
5) How did the Renaissance manifest in art, architecture, science, exploration, and religion?
6) What led to the death of the Renaissance?

Naître – born/give birth to

• Naissance – noun form
• Renaitre – born again/ reawakening
• Rebirth of learning
• Je suis ne en 1920

The renaissance followed the Dark Ages

Fall of the Roman Empire (476 A.D.) - Dark ages - 14th Century
B.C Before Christ
A.D after the death of Christ
The dark ages: Dark ages – Ignorance – Famine – Pandemics – The Black Death

Messina – port city in

• Black spots on their body
• Filled with pus
• 20 million people
• 1/3 of the population
• A new intellectual movement – a new perspective of seeing the human being by the 14th
century

From the 14th century, everything changes!

Humanism = a cultural movement that began to gain momentum in Italy.
Man is the center of his own universe.

Jesus Christ is the direct son of GOD

Jesus and there were 12 apostles – followed him, listened to him, and when he died, continued to
preached what they had heard from him.
Peter was the leader of the apostles
Peter was the first Pople

Humanism – mental freedom

• Humans believed they were in control
• That unleashed the power of creation in them
• Inventions that changed things

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Inventions
1450 John Gutenburg invented the printing press – improved communication in Europe
- Printing of ancient texts – rebirth of knowledge
- Improvements in trade and international finance had an impact in Europe…it was time for
humans to explode
The printing press
• It was no possible to print past literatures/knowledge (Greek/Roman Empire) and distribute –
spread of knowledge
• Rebirth of knowledge
• Easier to spread new knowledge
• Increased communication in Europe
• Trade
• New languages were formed…French/German/Spanish- and so the printing press helped these
languages to take shape – languages were standardized.
The pressed helped to foster translations
• The Bible was also translated

Florence was crucial in the birth of the renaissance

• It was inhabited by wealthy people who could support emerging artists
• Example: The Medici Family, ruled Florence for 60 years favored the movement.

Either is a popular movement = led by the masses

Or it is sponsored by government/wealthy people = PR (public relations)

It was a conscious movement

Italian writers, artists, politicians declared that they were turning over the page from the Dark Ages.

The movement spread

Florence – Venice – Milan – Bologna – Ferrara – Rome
(15th Century) France – Spain – Europe

What was the world at this time?

Central Europe and parts of North Africa
Mediterranean Sea
The world was considered flat

Main actors- Painters

Leonardo Da Vinci
Michelangelo – painter/sculptor/painter
He carved “David” and painted The Sistine Chapel in Rome
Erasmus – Intellectual
From Holland
The father of Humanism – Translated the New Testament into Greek
• Bible

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• Old Testament – Stories before Christ
• New Testament – The teachings of Christ
Rene Descartes – French Philosopher and Mathematician
Author of the famous saying “I think, therefore, I am.”
Existentialism
Galileo – Italian Astronomer, physicist and engineer Invented the Telescope
He could describe the moons of Jupiter, rings of Saturn
Was arrested and placed under house arrest
Nicolaus Copernicus – Mathematician and astronomer
Made the first scientific argument for the concept of a heliocentric solar system.
He argued that the sun, not the moon was the Earth was the center of the universe
Geoffrey Chaucer – Poet and author
Author of “The Canterbury Tales”

1) A central authority that developed the rules, vocabulary, grammar- phonetics of the language
– l’Academie francaise
2) NO central authority, an let the language just grow on its own… authors –
3) Shakespeare
In France = l’Academie Française
• The French Academy = made the rule of the French language

Renaissance art
It was humanistic
- Body portraits
- Nudity
- Recreation of the human body
NOTE: It was the first time that art, architecture, and science merged.

Renaissance and exploration

• There was an unprecedented desire to explore – to find new universes
• New routes were found to the Americas, India, Far East, Africa, etc.
Ferdinand Magellan – West Indies (The first to sail round the earth – Killed in the Philippines –
1519-1522
Christopher Columbus – Went to Americas
Amerigo Vespucci (from whom America is named – found that Brazil was not part of Europe)
Marco Polo – The Silk Road - Asia
Vasco Nunez de Balboa – Crossed Panama, therefore, from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean
Hernando De Soto – Explored the interior of America/down to Peru, etc.

Renaissance and Religion

• This was the most explosive area
• Humans began to question the role of the Roman Catholic Church
• The Bible was translated, leading to questions about the role of the church
• Martin Luther, a German Monk, split from the Catholic Church to create the protestant church

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– Protestantism

Gospel truth = you listen, you don’t challenge

• Gospel is preaching in church

Why the Renaissance ended

1) By the end of the 15th Century, wars plagued the Italian peninsula. Spanish, French, and
German invaders disrupted stability in the region.
2) There was economic decline that made it impossible for wealthy people to spend less
3) The rise of a movement known as Counter-Reformation, the catholic church censored artists
and writers who favored the Protestant Reformation.
4) In 1545, the Council of Trent established the Roman Inquisition – this made humanism and
any views that challenged the Catholic church an act of heresy punishable by death.
By the 17th century, the Renaissance movement was dead…given way to the Age of Enlightenment

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Topic 4 Food and table manners
Origins – French cuisine – Who was Auguste Escoffier's

The King chef

Passion
Develop the art of cooking into a science
Chef... began taking into consideration the sources of food, their importance,
different culinary combinations - turned cooking into a science
- Unique dishes - exotic dishes
- Opened a culinary school - to train chefs
- Students came from every where in Europe
- Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts
- Recipes - developed recipe (method to cook)

Food combination/Plating
Starters – Main dish/side dish – Protein/starchy food – dessert

The food spread to other part of Europe and as it spread, it took upon the local colors of the
regions
• pizza
• Pasta
Switzerland - fondue
Currywurst in Germany
Fish and Chips in the UK
Potica in Slovenia
Moussaka in Greece
Haggis in Scotland

The spread
• Some of Escoffier's dishes/recipes spread to Europe but what needs to be retained is that-
• Europeans began to take food sources seriously
• Develop recipes based on the food sources they had
• saw the importance of food
• Recognized that food was a part of their culture - important - It is the
• identity of a people

Definition of western cuisine

• It's food types that originated from Europe, and spread to the rest of the colonies and eventually
to the rest of the world.
• Food is not just what is eaten, but the habits that come with it. This includes, the way the table
is laid, the recipes, the manners/etiquette
• Western good should also be understood as changes that have occurred to the food as it has
crossed oceans and mountains. This is because the food is still predominantly western-based.
• Western food can also be defined by the fact that it has integrated foods from other parts of the

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world. Tikka Masala = which is British food but it is of Indian descent - it is an appropriated food.

North America
• Poutine
• Chicken wings
• Biscuit and gravy
• Hamburger
• Beavertail

The food spread to North America

• North America was not inhabited by people from the same country
• In Canada - British/French
• America - there were Europeans from everywhere.
• There was no dominant food -
• Because of the many backgrounds, there was a need to harmonize the food. which produced
something new - new tastes, new sources of food, new realities,
• Pizza - Italian food.. Pizza Hut/ Boston Pizza
• BBQ

Australia
• There were Europeans of different origins
• The food sources were different
• Local realities had to shape the dishes
• Food - Meat pies/ Kangaroo meat/ Tim tams/ Fish & Chips/ Chicken
• parmigiana/ abundance of meat= sausages/BBQ

What is the symbolism of food?

Yorkshire pudding
Symbolism of western food western mean/stand
• Food is the symbol of the culture
• A cultural identity of the people
• It is inseparable from the people
• It is inextricably linked to the people
• Handed down from generation to generation

Food is cultural accommodation/appropriation

• Through food, we see how cultures mix
• British colonization and especially, the fact that British didn't only sell their culture, they also
brought back other cultures to England
• Colonization, was, to a certain extent, a two-way traffic

Food becomes power – uneven power structure

• KFC
• McDonald’s

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• Pizza Hut
• Burger King
• Subway
• Starbucks
• Hamburgers (the most unhealthy)

Australia remnants of colonial influence

• Barbecued sausages
• Burger
• Lamingtons

Lamington symbolizes western colonization and domination

The food was named after the British governor of Australia around the
1900. especially designed for the governor by a French chef
Through the food, we get reminded of British colonization of Australia

Native Canadian food

• Nobody mentions native Canadian food
• They tried to wipe out native Canadians - mass graves
• Tried drugs on them
• Kill their culture by taking away their children from them.
• The absence of Canadian food, demonstrates the dark history of Canada

What does western food tell us about western history?

- It tells us about colonization - Canadian food (bad side)
- The food demonstrates how colonization was a two way traffic
- The food is also a map of colonization - the food went where colonizer went - food serves as
the footprint of colonization.
- It also tells us how the colonial mentality changed over the years. (Maori Hangi- New Zealand)
Why is it that in North America, there is no native food, but in New Zealand, there is Maori Hangi.
The colonial mentality changed over time... from not wanting natives, trying to kill them....... to
associating with them.

There was a softening of attitude toward natives by the time New Zealand was colonized
• The natives were involved in the negotiation with colonizers
• New English has lots and lots of Maori words
• The first colonizers even learned Maori language to communicate with natives

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Topic 5 Western Music
At the end of this lecture today, you should be able to tell:
1) What is western music?
2) Genres of music - and popular musicians of the genre
3) The localization of Western music
4) Why is western music popular?
5) Influential musicians
6) Copyrights issues - Western vs Eastern

What is western music?

• Europe - was the center of western civilization
- Music was a regional entity - music was traditional/regional/localized
- Music had local colorations (That was when western music was western music)
- Played by occasion - music to celebrate a birth/day/church music
- The church had the only popular music at the time...
- Once there was colonization, the concept of western music began to change...
- Slavery - is very important = the slaves that left Africa to America, brought a lot of their music
with them.
- The black people and black tribes are founded on music - bottle dance

Native aboriginal music/music of native Americans/Australians and NZ

The music existed before colonization
- The coming of Europeans, and their music only contributed to merging different musical forms.
- Europeans/Africans/Native Americans/Latin America = a whole different musical landscape.
Pure western music existed before colonization- Western music after colonization is a combination
of music from various parts of the world, composed by westerners/people living in western countries,
and mostly song in English. and to a little extent, other western languages.

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Traditional western music
• Not popular in the media
• Native American music - not mainstream
• Traditional and regional music
• Ritual music
• Not mixed/it's pure
• Significantly linked to the culture of the people
• Instruments are simple/traditional

Pop music
• Pop = popular
• 1950s ..came off jazz
• Afrobeats - origin - back to Africa

Rap
• Mcing (developed from people playing the role of MC)
• Vocal - talking with music
• Developed by DJs...
• Developed in the black communities
• Street music

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• Ghetto music
• Spontaneous/sporadic/ foul language

Gospel music
• Church music
• Religious - God
• Church ---- accepted Latin
• Gave up Latin - translation of the bible
• The church continued to only accept western names
• Sing in Latin ...
• Music from other parts of the world
• Gospel music

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Topic 6 Sport
After this lecture, you will be able to answer the following questions:
- What are the most popular sports in western countries?
- What are the general characteristics of these sports?
- How are sports encouraged in western countries?
- Why do westerners like violent sports?
- How do people keep fit?
- Why doesn't sport solve the problem of obesity in western countries?

Popular sports in western countries

The popularity of a sport depends on:
- The country/continents
Europe – soccer [football – France/Spain/England/Italy ....) - Spain
Northern Europe – It's cold/icy – soccer – hockey
England = Rugby
Australia/New Zealand/South Africa = rugby

North America = Football [American football]/basketball/hockey/kayaking (canoe)/athletics |

- The geography of the country |
- Age group
- Gender

Soccer/football/American football
• Europe = football is football = (kick the ball)
• America – soccer = (kick the ball)
• America = football (we play with the hands)
• Europe= American football (play with the hands)

Geography and sports

Naturally, people do sports based on their environment
Hot places, favor outdoor sports
Cold places, favor of indoor sports

Canada – hockey winter sports – ice skating/ice fishing/skiing

North Europe
Russian
USA
Australia – water sports – swimming/ surfing

Age group sports

Young people
- Mixed marshal art (MMA) people with young people
- UFC= very popular in western countries (violent sport)
Old people

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Boxing
Boxing used to be the world most popular sport – for a long time
Unlike soccer boxing was an individual sport and so the best boxer represented the sport the
heavyweight champion of the world - The baddest man on earth
Today boxing is no longer the most popular sports because there are other better fighting sports –
MMA/UFC (multiple skills - Kungfu/taekwondo/ju jitsu/boxing)

Gender
Females
Non-violent sports
• Tennis
• Soccer (game is slow, not many goals, physical enough, long and boring to watch)
• Players pretend to be hurt …
Male
Violent sports – aggressive – exciting
• Hockey (fast, furious, aggressive, many, its' 20 minutes per session)
• Fighting is allowed in hockey

Characteristics
• Some of the sports are violent
• Some are exciting to watch
• The sessions are short - hockey - 20mins/ boxing 3mins/ UFC 5 mins
Short sessions means people don't need to stretch their attention span
Some of the sports have performances in between sessions
• Some of the sports are expensive --- hockey is expensive (the gear is expensive- the equipment
men) on average ---$380, 000 in their kids training before they get to professional level. Almost
200,0000RMB
• The day they sign the professional contract in the NHL (National Hockey League)- they get
$500,000 as signing bonus

How sports is encouraged in western countries

Parents
Mayweather - most successive
Serena Williams and Venus Williams
Tiger Woods
Basketball players
Schools - sports is a source of money/income
It is beneficial for the students and the school
It is very useful for students from poor backgrounds
Offers them scholarships - stipend
State – the country – the state tries to encourage kids to take up sports
Sports and showbiz – show business
Superbowl finals – finals of the Football season – half time – performance – mascots
TVs are involved – games are covered live on TV

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Why westerners love violent sports
• GO back to western history
• Roman empire – gladiators – fighting with dangerous in a ring – people watched sports that
was accompanied by blood and death
• Wild, dangerous, bloody, nerve-wrecking sports…hard to watch
• Boxing - violent - rules/protection
• They like seeing people get hurt
• UFC
• MMA
• Hockey - fights
Exciting to watch/history of the fighters- where they came from/how they got where they are.

How do people keep fit in western countries

Very cold countries
Summer - walk, job, bike riding, hiking, kayaking, fishing, hunting, gym
Winter - 6 months of cold - gym, skiing, skating, swimming, ice fishing
That makes people to put on weight

Obesity
• Is linked to what people eat, and their general habits rather just sports.
• Sometimes it is linked to the genes of individuals

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Topic 7 How western countries maintain their dominance over the world
- Western culture, globalization and the future of mankind
After this lecture, you should be able to answer the following questions
• What do the top western "democracies" all have in common? Which are these countries?
• How do they forcefully keep their dominance over the world?
• Why do they do this?
• How has China been the only country to "defeat" western imperialism?
• Why is the world having a hard time adopting the Chinese ideology of a peaceful world
• for all?
• What role do you play as the next generation of Chinese?
• What is the future for mankind?

What do they have in common:

1) The belief that their system of government is
better -founded on “human rights/elections/freedom of expression.”
2) The strong belief that other systems are bad and they are too arrogant to learn and understand
other systems.
3) The belief that the white race is better than any other race. (That explains slavery, apartheid,
Donald Trump, the Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow Laws)

How they keep their dominance

1) Western Movies
2) The media/Internet
3) Colonization
4) "Special links" to colonized countries and regional Associations
5) International organizations - UN/World Bank
6) Regime change
7) Civil wars and outright wars
8) Opening up their countries to foreigners

• The Commonwealth - for countries that England colonized

• Francophone - organization for countries that France colonized.

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Media
• Outright lies
• Exaggeration

USSR
• Laurent Desire Kabila
• CNN

Covering stories that are of their interest

（配图新闻的标题）Why the wealth of Africa does not make Africans wealthy

Regime Change

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Iraq-Killed

Congo-Brazzaville
Pascal Lissouba – ousted
Too pro – Chinese

Cote d‘lvoire

Bob Denaud

What has China done that others have not done?

1) They have not adopted western democracy
2) Have not depended on western countries for help
3) Have educated their population on the concept of patriotism
4) Believed in itself
5) Studied the situation, and learned from the example of other countries
6) Have a different mindset - history... which they have kept and are proud of.
7) The country is led by much smarter people
8) Have avoided the use of force - in favor of peace
9) Has kept a much better control over its media - this is where all other countries have failed

How can the next generation of Chinese preserve Chinese culture and traditions?
1) Understand that western countries are “not happy” with China's development and process
2) Ensure that western culture does not replace Chinese culture - they should co-exist
3) Respect the country/culture/and be proud of it
4) Keep developing the country…learning and improving the situation of Chinese people
5) Avoid the use of force- they will take advantage
6) Avoid provocation……keep the soft diplomacy
7) Avoid "western-type" career politicians - they tear down a country
8) Keep

The future for mankind

Western culture/civilization will be here forever…however, once the rest of the world begins to
learn from the Chinese example, that is when things will change

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