Suggested Activites -- Asian and Western Values

ASIAN AND WESTERN VALUES

CANADIAN EH........
Question issues for the students to address:

In groups, discuss what you think/ feel are Canadian values. Do these values come from your family, friends, teachers, TV, movies, music? How different are the values just within your group..? Canada is a very culturally diverse country, how do you think this affects our values system? What are the implications for your generation? How do you think your values compare to those of your parents? How do you think they compare to those of your friends?

Once the students have an outline of what defines their values, work together to create a web page or a guide book to familiarize youth in Asia with a Canada beyond snow, counties and maple syrup.

Values to think about........
national identity
when do you start dating?
do you date?
at what age do you leave home?
marriage?
value of family, extended family...
freedom of speech
democracy
respect for yourself/ other
trust
friendship
role models
heroes
views on government fairness
education
religion
personal distance

The Healing Question:

In Canada, most people are very comfortable going to the hospital or doctor. Yet we only tend to go once we are already sick. Generally, the doctor runs some tests, discovers what ails you and writes a prescription. Asian medicine is more focused on preventative medicine and healing the whole body and mind, believing more strongly that these two are linked. The practise of Yoga and TaiChi, for example, incorporate an element of body awareness using the mind to heal. Acupuncture has become a popular treatment for a variety of ailments. More and more Canadians, and not just those of Asian descent, are turning to ancient Chinese and other Asian medicine as an alternative or supplement to Western medicine. Yet, even with their long established history and recent rise in popularity, Asian practises are still not fully embraced by the mainstream medical communities in Canada.

Activity: In your class or at home try these activities

Yoga...5 intro poses

1. Sun salutations
2. The mountain

Taichi...5 intro movements
Shiatsu....10 pressure points and what they cure

FENGSHUI (Fung- schway)

What is Fengshui?

First pose the question to the group and have them write for one minute what they think fengshui is. Go around the class and see what kind of definitions the students imagined. Have fun with this and see if anyone comes close to the real meaning. If someone in your class knows, have them explain to the rest of the class.

To define....Fengshui philosophy is very important in Chinese culture. Fengshui is about balances, harmony and `chi` ( life energies). The Chinese are very conscious of good luck and bad luck ambience. Fengshui consultants or diviners are consulted regularly to determine good luck days to open a new business, get married, make an important business deal.

Beyond the Monster home...

The direction a house faces and the placement of all the furniture, doorways and windows is crucial to whether a home has good fengshui or not. Many times the reason your Asian neighbour rebuilds a house is to have good fengshui in their house. We may see in Canada, Vancouver and Markham in particular, many new Asian neighbours who come and build new houses. These houses are sometimes referred to as `Monster Homes` because they tend to be large homes.

Discuss in the class how you would feel if people called your home a Monster home. How can we work on changing this perception and learning more about neighbours from Hong Kong or China?

Fengshui link: http://www.cwo.com/%7Eashlin/homepage.html

Work with your classroom...does it have good fengshui...why or why not? Go back to your own house, apartment and evaluate if your house has good fengshui. Try moving your stuff around for a better flow.

Culture and Personality

Discussion:

Do you think that your personality is defined by your culture and its values? What happens when you move from one culture to another...do you think your personality will change? What do you think are the characteristics of Western/ Asian personalities...can we generalize? Define your own personality....then compare with your friends...are there some common elements or are you all totally different? Where does your personality come from? family? living in small town big town? What made you who you are?

Try to find some Asian youth and do the same exercise with them...see what is similar and what is different. Much of Asian culture is focused on collective society whereas North America is very individualistic...what differences do you think this bears on personality and how we interact with each other and the world around us? For many Canadian of Asian decent, the Asian and Western values may both be part of their upbringing. Culturally, Asian Canadians may feel torn between their parent's values and the values of their community, school, and friends.

Think about some of these questions and have a follow up discussion after the movie.

Activity....movie:

Double Happiness. A Canadian Film!!! The story of a young woman who is of Asian descent but who grew up Canadian. It is a love story centred around the values of both Asian and Western culture.

Aside: the lead actress grew up in Canada with English as her first language. She was asked to speak some Chinese in the film and she had to call her mother to ask how to pronounce some of the words.

Module resources:

Video: Double Happiness.

Article: Speaker challenges ideas of Asian Values. (http://www.yale.edu/ydn/paper/9.28/9.28.95storyno.EA.html)

Publication: Asia Pacific Foundation, with support of Canadian Heritage: Canada's "Hidden Advantage" Asian Canadians

Wing-tsit, trans., A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy.

Marsella, DeVos & Hu, Culture and Self: Asian and Western perpsectives, 1985.

asia@tgmag.ca