Thoughts on my Thesis

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While I have been China I have been thinking about my East Asian Studies thesis. My first topic choice was skin in China. Fair, unblemished skin has consistently been the preference throughout history... I should actually do some research to make sure of that... Now, women use skin products containing bleach, burn freckles off with vinegar, use umbrellas anytime it is sunny... However, I would have to do more of an emphasis on the fine art/ literature part of that, since that is my focus. So I would have to find poetry, and literature, and representations of women in art. This might be too unwieldy a topic. Theses are always so specific, and I like to look at the big picture. The history of it, the effect on women's self-confidence, how this affects how people in China look at people of other nationalities. Chinese women idealize Korean women for their white skin. The Tibetan people have darker skin, and they are oppressed... There are so many places to go with this, all mostly having to do with the social aspect. This is also a problem, due to my focus. Hopefully my school isn't too picky about that.

Then, the other day I found an article about Chinese people getting tattoos. Tattoos are on the rise in popularity, and the most popular tattoos are in English. Well, I don't know if you have noticed, but I have... American people love to have Chinese characters tattooed on their bodies. Half of the time they don't even know what it says, they don't have any connection to Chinese, they haven't studied Chinese, they have never been to China, but they like the way the characters look.

A thesis about the exchange between English and Chinese would be equally interesting to me, but also too broad. I would want to write about words that have taken from the other language (such as kafei in Chinese, translating to coffee in English). And a mutual fascination with the other peoples' language. Engrish tshirts in China. Sayings such as "hao jiu bu jian" vs. See you soon... Maybe I don't have enough to go on here. I would have to do more research. But I have always been interested in language, and the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, etc. And it would actually have something to do with my focus: fine art, language and literature.

Anyway, I don't really know at this point. It has just been on my mind. I should be studying for my Chinese midterm, but I needed a break and decided to write my thoughts down. If you have any opinions, let me know. Or ideas for sources?? A good portion of them have to be in Chinese.

Currently chilling at Lazybones hostel for the second day in a row. (I recommend it for anyone traveling in Chengdu, China. It is right across from a subway station and the best noodle restaurant ever. And the rooms are really cheap and very clean.) Maria made friends with the employees while she was staying here, and now we like to come to get good food, use the wifi, and bother them for help with our homework. I hope they don't get tired of us. They are really awesome people, speak great English, like to teach us Chinese slang, and play pool in their free time, which they have a lot of during the day, so they are really pretty good. That was a terrible run on sentence. Sorry. My English grammar is deteriorating these days. My favorite ill-composed sentence from last week: "I can't believe how many not people are in class today."

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