Low 1 Melanie Low Prof.

Meusing English 1102-029 26 February 2014 Research Reflective Journal on Travel Topic Guowen, Li. "China Is Making Significant Progress Toward Improving Human Rights." Human Rights. Ed. David M. Haugen and Susan Musser. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "New Developments in China's Human Rights." China Today 60.9 (Sept. 2011). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 25 Feb. 2014. I learned that the GDP of China has significantly increased over the past few years. More jobs were being created and individuals residing in rural areas were receiving pay increases. People of different minorities have been protected through bilingual teaching and interaction with those specific environments. Even child protection was looked into. The government took steps to prevent delinquency. Overall, they were trying to improve society and prevent crime from happening. Real world examples are missing in this article. The article stated everything that was improved but did not relate it back to examples such as local schools and jails. Names of organizations like Third Conference of the States Parties (CoSP) and UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) were provided so the article does have sources to back up the changes. Another opposing viewpoint article about human rights would be nice to compare and contrast with this article. It would show how examples given are different and how society has agreed or disagreed with these changes to human rights. The author, Li Guowen, writes for China Today, which has up to date information on international news. This article did not really speak much about the author and her background. The statistics and knowledge presented in this article make it appear credible. If the information went into detail a little bit more than I would definitely believe this article and its credibility. "Fresh Faces." Medicine, Health, and Bioethics: Essential Primary Sources. Ed. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 408-411. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. I learned that there are two different types of surgery to improve the body. One is therapeutic which helps a part of the body function at a higher level than before. Another is aesthetic plastic surgery which enhances the looks on a persons body. I agree that therapeutic surgery should be used, but aesthetic plastic surgery is unnecessary. Everyone should be happy the way they look, but instead they want to change their appearance. Therapeutic surgery can give opportunities to someone that never thought they would be able to do. It is actually used to change lives for the better. Aesthetic surgery uses up peoples money and other individuals could care less what changes occur to that persons body. I can relate this article to something in my life. I have watched ad least two TV shows where people got more than ten surgeries to increase their beauty. The costs can total

Low 2 up to a new car or a four year college education which are ridiculous to spend on one section of the body when the money could be going to improve someones education. Plastic surgery is based on personal opinion though. The article is informative and gives real world examples. One example given was a girl who wanted to improve the structure of her nose at the age of fourteen. Surgeons told her she had to wait year. She ended up getting her surgery and loved her new nose. This article lets you decide whether or not you agree with either of these types of surgery. It weighs the pros and cons which make it a great article to read. Unfortunately, when I read this article I picture individuals with tight and strange looking faces. Botox use is talked about a lot and that just makes me think of people with tight skin and how odd is must look when you see a person with Botox on a daily basis. "One-Child Policy in China." Family in Society: Essential Primary Sources. Ed. K. Lee Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, and Adrienne Wilmoth Lerner. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 310-315. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. I learned that having two children, both a female and a male in a family can be very good. Once they grow up they will look after different family members. [T]radition in China dictates that the son must support his parents and grandparents, leaving one man to support up to six elders, and one woman (as an only child) to support her parents and grandparents as well (par. 1). I personally feel like this is better because the cost to raise a child is very high. The fewer children the better is how I view it. If one or two people can take care of their elders than why have a bunch of children who will get off task and annoy rather than help. After reading this article, I think about why the United States doesnt have this policy. Although some people might be very against it, it would greatly improve society and hardworking individuals. Disciplining of a child would be different because they would not be allowed to screw up. They would have to represent their family name and better the community. Jobs would also be a whole lot easier to find if there werent so many families with three or more children that grow up and look for employment. I would want to use this article in a paper because China is known for limiting the amount of children in one family. It would be useful in proving different arguments about the quality of life and how society in China is very different from other places in the world. The statistics on contraceptives is also very convincing in a paper. Contraception is widely available in China, and official statistics place contraception use at approximately 83%, more than double the consistent rate of contraception use in the U.S. by women of childbearing age (par. 3). Clearly, preventative measures are being used to make sure this policy stays true. The United States isnt even close to the amount of males and females that are sterilized in China. "Tiananmen Square Protest." Human and Civil Rights: Essential Primary Sources. Ed. Adrienne Wilmoth Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, and K. Lee Lerner. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 360-362. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. This article makes me think about Wars and how special forces were used to contain people and prevent them from being harmful to society. About 40,000 soldiers from the Peoples Liberation Army descended upon the thousands of protesters, and their use of tanks, other weapons of warfare, and tear gas brought the protest movement to a

Low 3 moment of chaos (par. 1). This reminds me of Wars in Germany where American soldiers were fighting for their lives in the streets of Germany. German tanks were blasting buildings and tanks with machine guns were shooting live fire at our soldiers. Tiananmen Square was described as being able to hold enough people to have the Olympics at. I this find interesting because the 2008 Summer Olympics were held in Beijing. This article is not based on the authors opinion. Instead a description of what happened at Tiananmen Square is given. History and dates are given to more accurately describe the event. By no means is it biased. I cannot relate this to my own experiences. Although I have seen clips of Asians being lit on fire in the middle of a giant square which makes me realize how America is more civilized. Every place will have its crazy people and ones who will sacrifice their lives to blow up something they or their organization are against. I want to learn more about why Tiananmen Square is monitored so heavily. There are cameras in the light poles. the video surveillance enabled the Chinese government to convict and suppress many protesters once the hostilities ended (par. 2). Many protestors didnt realize that there were surveillance cameras which hindered them after the protest ended. Some got charged a life sentence for destroying posters of the current leader. The government took those damages very seriously and did not give any of the individuals slack when determining punishment. "We, On Death Row." Human and Civil Rights: Essential Primary Sources. Ed. Adrienne Wilmoth Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, and K. Lee Lerner. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 176-179. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 25 Feb. 2014. I need to learn more about why capital punishment is so popular compared to a firing squad. It would cost a lot less to shoot a person than it would to give them a lethal injection or electrocution. The rates of capital punishment are very high in four countries, one of which is China. I do not agree with capital punishment. Although the individuals sentenced with capital punishment did something very wrong, they could just rot in jail instead of being killed in an unorthodox way. I personally think that if someone had to spend the rest of their life in jail that would be much more of a punishment than arranging a date for them to be killed. They arent learning anything if they just get to have their life ended. If they rot in jail then they have plenty of time to reflect on what they have done and go insane not being able to get out. I could use another opposing viewpoint to compare to this article. One that is against capital punishment would contrast well. This article only talks about how capital punishment improves society and gets rid of all bad people. I agree with this article when it said that people unfairly imprisoned are receiving the death punishment. Capital Punishment is getting rid of good and bad people. We should be keeping people that can contribute to society. I can relate this to a real world experience. I recently watched a movie called Lockout, which had prisoners in maximum security in space. One of the main characters went up to MS One, the maximum security prison in space to find his friend that knew where a brief case was that could prove he was innocent. Unfortunately, prisoners are frozen and this caused his friend to suffer from Dementia so he wasnt able to get much information out of him. Luckily the phrases his friend kept repeating allowed him to find the brief

Low 4 case and clear his name. So I think of freezing prisoners as unnecessary because they are just taking up space when they could be dead.