The sociolinguistics of Hong Kong and the space for Hong Kong English

The sociolinguistics of Hong Kong and the space for Hong Kong English

 

Group 3: 

 

Course: Sociolinguistics

 

October 18, 2010

 

Introduction: Sociolinguistic reality in Asia

There are four sociolinguistic realities in Asia which we should know before talking about the sociolinguistic of Hong Kong and the space for Hong Kong English.

First sociolinguistic reality is that there is a paradigm shift to the World Englishes. It had been said that English belonged to the U.S. and UK. In these days, however, it is not true. There are many Englishes and English has even the status of a second language in some Asian societies such as India, Malaysia and Singapore as we learned in World Englishes by Braj B. Kachru.

              Second one is that in Asia people who have different mother tongues communicate with each other through English. As a result, English has acculturated in Asian societies where there is no shared Judeo-Christian or European cultural heritage.

             Third one is that English is the most demand for acquisition of bilingualism/multilingualism in Asia. In 1997, there were already 350 million people who used English and India is the third largest English-using nation after U.S. and UK.

Moreover, in some Asian societies, English is assuming the role of first language.

              Fourth one is that English could be a liberating language. According to the article, ‘once a language establishes its autonomy, it is actually liberated, and its “liberated” uses and functions have to be separated from its non-liberated uses.’ So in the case of Hong Kong English, we know that it comes from British English because of the colonization by England. Now it has its autonomy, which means it is free from the British English structure. Also it has its own characteristics which original British English doesn’t have. So we can say that Hong Kong English is the liberated English.

              In the later sections of this paper, we can see how Hong Kong English is liberated from the British English structure in terms of statistics, history, linguistic issues and criteria of World Englishes.

Monolingual Myth

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most of the linguists in Hong Kong were quite reluctant to be cognizant of some forms that multilingualism takes in the Hong Kong society. Instead, they focused on researching about the dominance of Cantonese in a variety of domains in Hong Kong. The primary reason why they were insisting on the monolingualism in Hong Kong was that they persistently had stuck to the fact that approximately 98 % of the total population was Cantonese-speaking Chinese. Hence, they considered English was not so much a second language as a foreign language, as the majority of the people there did not need to speak English in their daily communication.

A variety of survey and census conducted during 1980s and 1990s indicate that the total population of the English speakers in Hong Kong expanded drastically in a decade. In 1983, the total number of English speakers in Hong Kong was no more than 6.6%, however after the educational reform at the secondary level of education in 1970s, and the same reform at the university level of education in 1980s and 1990s, the number of the English speakers expanded up to 33.7% in 1993.

The result of the survey conducted by Bacon Shone and Bolton in 1993 indicates that 54% of the people in Hong Kong use English when they do any writing activities at work, and that 59% of the people normally read materials in English at work.

As far as the print media is concerned, the dominance of Chinese language is quite clear. There are 52 news papers published in Hong Kong, and the 50 of them are written in Chinese language, and only 2 are written in English. However, in the private domain of Hong Kong families, English is becoming more and more used in a wide range of varieties. Bacon and Bolton’s survey also show that many of the Hong Kong families have proximity with English language in their everyday lives.

Bacon Shone and Bolton affirm that Hong Kong society is far from monolingual after a series of surveys they had conducted. In Hong Kong, 98% of the people use Cantonese in their daily communication, and 33.7% of the people have a knowledge of English language which is indispensable when people do business, and receive education, and the number of Putonghua speakers is also increasing with the advent of Chinese economic super power. Furthermore, there are also minority languages in Hong Kong such as Malay Tagalog, as many people outside of Hong Kong have immigrated into Hong Kong over years. By far the largest of all groups is Filipinos. They are generally hired as a maid in Hong Kong families. The number of Filipinos has increased from 72,000 in 1991 to 170,000 in 1999. They make a contribution not only to the development of the Hong Kong economy, but also to improving children’s English conversation skills, as they have to speak English when communicating with these Filipino maids.

As we have gone through, there are so many factors that deny the idea of monolingualism in the Hong Kong society. Hong Kong society where various kinds of ethnic groups are in an existence should in no way be called monolingual. It is the society where a variety of languages are general used; multilingual.

History

              The history of Hong Kong was very important to understand how English was introduced to Hong Kong and how the language policies had been developed. From 18^th to 19^th, distinct variety of Chinese pidgin English emerged in Canton and Macau because of the development of the Canton trade. After the First Opium War between Britain and China, Hong Kong was annexed in 1842. The annexation brought many mission schools in Hong Kong, and people received English-medium education. However, Chinese language and literature were also taught in schools. In 1920s and 1930s, there was increasing number of Chinese-medium schools as well. In 1960s, there was the rise in the movement to Chinese language; Chinese-language university institution was established. There was Chinese language campaign in 1970s, and Chinese became a co-official language in 1974. Since then, education reforms were carried out, and compulsory primary and secondary schooling began. Hong Kong itself had been developed in this period: the growth of the city, and the population expansion caused by a lot of refugees.
              In 1980s, amendments to the Official Language Ordinance made the use of spoken Chinese extended into the higher courts. In 1986, the written laws of Hong Kong were translated into Chinese by “Bilingual Laws Project”. Many Hong Kong businessmen moved into China trade and there was the growth of a new middle class in 1980s. In 1992, the basic law of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Article 9 said that Chinese language and English are to be used as an official language. In 1995, Hong Kong government announced the new language policy that is “to develop a civil service which is biliterate in English and Chinese and trilingual in English, Cantonese and Putonghua.” Finally Hong Kong was handed over to People’s Republic of China in 1997.
              From 1960s to 1990s was the period of the late British Colonialism, and it created “modern Hong Kong”. After the annexation in 1842, education was conducted first in English, but gradually the use of Chinese language has been extended with the development of education, economy and society.

HK Issue

              As it is now clear that English had been used as an official language and educational medium in Hong Kong because of the British colonial rule which had lasted about one hundred years, “handover” to People’s Republic of China (PRC) greatly changed the situation.  That is, as it is mentioned in history part, PRC announced Article 9, Basic Law of the HKSAR which authorized Putonghua. This law was quite crucial in terms of replacing language position in Hong Kong, thus Putonghua suddenly came to the first place, and English and Cantonese had been placed aside. Such PRC’s position inevitably called confrontation versus Cantonese. As for the side of Hong Kong, they maintained that Cantonese language had a solid position in the Hong Kong society. TV, pop songs, magazine, newspaper and even the government were all using it. Clearly Cantonese was much more than vernacular for people residing in Hong Kong, and they strongly denied the policy. Contrary to such an objection, PRC insisted their language reform policy and Cantonese should be recognized as a regional dialect such as Shanghainese. This claim was based on the fact that Hong Kong was a part of PRC, so official language in Hong Kong naturally should be the same as that of PRC, thus Putonghua, so-called Mandarin Chinese.

              The issue here is not only about the battle between Cantonese and Putonghua, but also the choice, Cantonese or English. Since English has been used in Hong Kong for decades of years, both languages became teaching mediums at schools. Prestigious secondary schools were English-medium, and the door was allowed only for wealthy people. For the lowest rank of schools, on the contrary, Cantonese was used as a teaching medium, and schools in between offered classes in both English and Cantonese. Facing at such an educational disparity, local parents and communities strongly demanded for English-medium schools. This was because Universities in Hong Kong had adopted English as their teaching medium, so it was quite hard for children learning at the lowest rank of schools to pass the entrance exam. Responding to this kind of demands, by 1994, over ninety percent of all secondary schools were English medium. Worried at the risk of linguistic and cultural imperialism, however, Hong Kong government was a little reluctant to spread English-medium education. As the evidence of this hesitance, in 1997, the colonial Hong Kong government which was about to leave the island suddenly announced its encouragement of Cantonese as a teaching medium. Thus, throughout the history of Hong Kong, it was really wavering and undecided about their language policy, and that brought linguistic confusion or more positively, variety over Hong Kong as it can be still observed today.

5 Criteria for World Englishes

              As the group one presented already before, there is a concept: World Englishes in the world. English is not the inner circle countries’ dominant language anymore. In Hong Kong which belongs to the outer circle, people use their own English which is liberated from the structure of the English which is used in countries in the inner circle. There is a linguist whose name is Bulter. He proposed the 5 Criteria for World Englishes: 1). Accent which is “standard and recognizable pattern of pronunciation handed down from one generation to another”, 2). Vocabulary which is “particular words and phrases which spring up usually to express key features of the physical and social environment and which are regarded as peculiar to the variety” 3). A history which is “a sense that this variety of English is the way it is because of the history of the language community.”  4). Literary creativity which is “a literature written without apology in that variety of English.” and 5). Reference works which is “dictionaries and style guides which show that people in that language community look to themselves, not some outside authority, to decide what is right and wrong in terms of how they speak and write in their English”.   In this section, I would like to support the idea of “Hong Kong English” as one of the world Englishes using these 5 criteria.

              First, when I look at the Hong Kong accent, there are a number of localized features in Hong Kong English. According to the research by Bolton and Kwok, local speakers could recognize a Hong Kong accent relatively easily but they had difficulty in labeling other accents of English such as US accent or British accent. A substantial number of people stated a preference for that accent of English associated with “Hong Kong bilinguals”. Hong Kong English has unique accent on its own.

              Second, as for Hong Kong vocabulary, I could see a lot of interesting lexical borrowing from Chinese, in this case mainly from Cantonese, into English. I picked up some examples from the reading material: “ABC” stands for American or Australian Born Chinese, “banana” describes a westernized Chinese, “black society” means a Chinese secret society or triad and “astronaut” is used as a word for a person whose family has emigrated abroad, but who remained working in Hong Kong, and then spends a great deal of time flying between his or her family and Hong Kong. Those are all influenced by Chinese and used in Asian context, therefore different from other Englishes.

              Third, Hong Kong has a long history of linguistic contact with English that dates back to the 17th century. Furthermore, through the history from the late 1960s to the 1990s especially, people in Hong Kong saw the recognition of a distinct “Hong Kong identity” and the transformation of a colonial city to a global city. Thus, English in Hong Kong got its prestige in Hong Kong society. In Hong Kong, if you could speak English, you would be regarded as a “Hong Kong Man” who is “go-getting and highly competitive, tough for survival, quick-thinking and flexible”.  Throughout the history, Hong Kong English is one of the keys of new identifications of the “cosmopolitan” Hong Kong.

              Fourth, Even though a linguist Chan’s pessimistic idea against the literary creativity in English in Hong Kong, there are actually a significant number of creative works published by local writers in recent years.

              Last one is reference works. When I look at other countries in the outer circle such as Singapore, India, and Philippines, there are some dictionaries or style guides of their local variety of English. In Hong Kong actually also there are some companies or linguists who are working on making a dictionary of variety of  English in Hong Kong, or compiling a database of around one million words of English there as a part of the worldwide ICE project.

              Varieties of English are not only created from above, but also bubble up from below too. For example, the language of ICQ which is one of the computer communication tools as well as MSN messenger or Skype chatting, is English, sometimes it is possible to see a distinct code-mixing and hybrid variety. Please refer to the attached material as an example. Hence, these 5 criteria are sufficiently persuasive or powerful concept to support the idea of “Hong Kong English”.

Conclusion

              Through this paper, we understand 3 points. One is that Hong Kong is not a monolingual but a multilingual country.  They speak English, Cantonese, and Chinese. And their English, which is Hong Kong English, is one of the World Englishes as we examined in 5 criteria of World Englishes. Second point is that Hong Kong’s policies were changed along the history. People in Hong Kong used to speak Cantonese. However, after the annexation, they started to use English especially in education field. Then, since 1960’s some governmental policies and movements made people use Chinese as well. So, the current linguistic situation in Hong Kong is complicated. Third point is 2 linguistic battles in Hong Kong. In our paper, we paid attention to the battle between English and Cantonese. However, English has the higher status than Cantonese and Chinese now, because English used to be the only one official language from the annexation to 1974. So rather than the battle between English and Cantonese, the linguistic battle between Cantonese and Chinese is more heated in Hong Kong now. This is because of the different opinions about Cantonese and different opinions about writing system between Hong Kong and People’s Republic of China. Throughout this research, we think that Hong Kong might be a good model when we think about Japan as a cosmopolitan from the sociolinguistic point of view in the future.

My perspective about future energy resources

My perspective about future energy resources

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              Global warming is a serious problem nowadays. According to Al Gore’s movie The Inconvenient Truth, most of the scientists in the world agree with this idea. At the same time, we are facing the energy crisis. Therefore it is important for us to think about how to sustain our planet with clean renewable energy. Through the field trip to the Rokkasho Next Generation Energy Park, I could learn a lot of complicated but interesting and useful information to solve this one of the serious global environmental issue even though some of them are still problematic and very controversial. In this paper, I would like to organize what I learned in the Rokkasho Village, and to look at the merit and demerit of the each energy recourse: 1) Fossil Fuel, 2) Wind Power, 3) Nuclear Power, and 4) Fusion Energy respectively and then consider about the direction that we should take toward the future from my point of view. 

Fossil Fuel

First of all, it is obvious that our life and our economy are depending on fossil fuel which is a precious natural resource very much now.  About 50~60% of Japanese electricity comes from thermal power system which uses fossil fuel but Japan imports almost all of the fossil fuel from other countries. Through the oil crisis, triggered by the Middle East War in 1973, Japan Noticed that depending energy resources on importing is quite unstable and risky for national security and decided to stockpile petroleum in the Mutsu-Ogawara National Petroleum Stockpiling Base and other 9 National Petroleum Stockpiling Bases to take all measures necessary for release of oil in emergency. According to Miss. Ogase in the base, we can get 12 days necessary oil for entire Japan from this base. On the 2,400,000-square-meter site, there are the 51 storage tanks. Those tanks were very large and each one of them had almost as tall as a 4-story building.

Each country is struggling to find more stable resources in the world. Many countries are now trying to get more oil by drilling offshore. However, the problem is that fossil fuel is running out. We are under the extreme pressure of shortage of energy recourse. Even bigger problem of using fossil fuel is of course CO2 emission. This green house gas brings the global warming forward rapidly and causes other global issues such as loss of the land area as sea levels rise, change of ecosystem, deforestation, and desertification and so on. Thus I believe that we should stop using fossil fuel as soon as possible and look for renewable energy for our future. 

Wind Power

Wind power is one of the widely watched renewable energy resources. When I visited the Mutsu-Ogawara wind farm, I saw many wind turbines there. Those white, tall, and huge wind turbines were left with overwhelming impression on me. I thought the view which those white towers standing on the grassland, was so beautiful. I have seen those wind turbines before in my home prefecture; Yamagata. However this was my first time to look at the whole of them and study about it precisely. They are all much taller than I expected and much heavier for its looks. Their blades are imported from Denmark, and they are made by fiberglass therefore it must be lighter. It was very amazing that they will stop the rotor if the wind speed became slower than 3km/s and also they can adjust their directions depending on the wind.

There were 21 wind turbines in the farm and each one of them generates 1,500kW which would cover about 750 to 800 household. In this wind farm, they generate approximately 5,800,000 kWH electricity which might cut about 43,000T/yr CO2 off. I have been thinking if we could get energy from nature without exhaling any green house gasses, it would be fantastic and we don't have to worry about energy shortage anymore. Then what is the problem of this technology? The answer is that this technology wouldn't be out of proportion to the benefit. When it comes to value for money, they cannot generate enough energy. That is why even though wind power is a remarkable renewable energy resource, they cannot replace the thermal power system.

Nuclear Power

Nuclear Power Plant and other related facilities are the one which have gotten a lot of attention recently because this is also one of the renewable energy resource and controversial technology. Nuclear power plant occupies 30% of the Japan’s electricity generation now. My image about the Nuclear Power Plant was that it does not generate CO2 but once some accidents happened, it will kill a lot of people, and damage huge area.

The whole process of generating electricity using nuclear power was not easy. There are many steps to produce electricity and recycle it again. First, they convert uranium into uranium hexafluoride (UF6), then in uranium concentration plant they enrich uranium from 0.7% to 3~5%. After this, they make nuclear fuel assembly called pellet which is a black, 1cm high column-shaped thing. In the nuclear power plant they generate electric energy from this pellet. One pellet can generate about 8 months’ electricity per one family which consist of 4 members. After 3~5 years of use, they will be sent to the reprocessing plant. 97% of them would be recycled. The reprocessing plant has an ability to deal with about 800t of the used pellets.

Nuclear fuel reprocessing is under the research in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities in Rokkasho village. They take out plutonium or uranium from the nuclear fuel which was already used in the Nuclear power generating station and make it into MOX fuel (Mixed Oxide Fuel), then use it again as a fuel. There are two types of natural uranium, which does nuclear fission; Uranium 235 and which doesn’t fission; Uranium 238, and only 0.7% of them is the Uranium 235. However, Uranium 238 can be changed into plutonium 239 reacting neutron in the atomic pile. After that, they put it into fast breeder:FBR and burn it. At this point, if they put Uranium 238 around the Plutonium together, they would be able to change the Uranium 238 into new plutonium at the same time, and produce more plutonium.

Since this reprocessing would be able to reduce the radioactivity of the waste Japanese government is making efforts to promote the research. Furthermore, the political situation of the countries which have a lot of uranium are relatively stable, therefore the security risks are low. Now, the Rokkasho village is taking care of the low level radio-active waste. Japanese government and Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan (NUMO)  now is looking for local governments which can allow having dumping grounds for radioactive wastes. They are aiming to decide some places by 2040. Since this is a big issue for all of us, each of us has to take this issue seriously and take some part of responsibilities. The advantage and risk of nuclear power are opposite side of the same coin. In the Rokkasho Visitors Center, they are making a lot of effort to let people know more about what the nuclear power is in detail. I think that the nuclear power plants are going to become the major source of electricity in next 50 years until the nuclear fusion power plant would be established. Until then, we have to learn about nuclear fission and radiation more, and support our energy supply.

Fusion Energy

To tell the truth, I didn’t know about the nuclear fusion at all until this field trip. I can say that this would be a dream energy resource for human beings in the future if they could generate electricity from this technology successfully. The process and the technology are very complicated and difficult to understand for me. My brief interpretation of this technology is that making small sun on the earth and getting energy from it. Nuclear fusion doesn’t emit radial ray or CO2 either. We can get the resources from the ocean. I think that the success of this project would be the key of solving the energy problem especially in Japan. Japan is surrounded by ocean and we don’t have many natural resources in country, therefore if we could use this technology in the future, we don’t have to suffer from the energy shortage anymore.  

Many countries such as EU, the US, Japan, Russia, China, Korea, and India are now working on this biggest scientific project in the world together. This means that more than 80% of the world population is supporting this project. I like this concept that many countries work hard on the global issue hand in hand. Europe is taking care of 20% of the major components of ITER, and 10% for other each country. I’m proud of that Japan is playing an important role in this project using well developed engineering and physics. Thanks to the detailed handout and well-organized presentation by two professors, I could roughly understand what is going on in the research center now and how to get energy from nuclear fusion. The only problems are that it costs a lot and takes decades to establish the DEMO reactor. I don’t know how much money they need exactly but I guess it would be hundreds of millions. I think this is the valuable principal investment but we always have to think about the balance of present life and the future life.

Conclusion

              In this paper, I briefly organized what I have learned in the Rokkasho Village, and discussed about the merit and demerit of the each energy recourse: 1) Fossil Fuel, 2) Wind Power, 3) Nuclear Power, and 4) Fusion Energy respectively.  As my conclusion, I would like to consider about the direction that we should take toward the future from my point of view.  As I already mentioned above, when we talk about this energy issue, we always should think about the balance of now and future. Fossil fuel is running out. Global warming is going on and the earth is jeopardized. These are the unchangeable facts.  I think that especially in next 50 years, we have to work on shifting energy resources into renewable energy resource and use the nuclear power plants and other technology with well balance. However, when it comes to the nuclear power, I still cannot fully agree with using this technology. Even though we can recycle the uranium, we still have to manage the wastes which would be really harmful if they leaked out.

              I mostly talked about how to get safer and more efficient energy until here, but I think we have to think about resolving underlying discrepancy. I mean only focusing on how to generate more energy and how about how reduce the carbon dioxide emission by CCS cannot solve the problem at the root. Therefore, we have to think about how to use energy less and how to cut CO2 emission off. Using more “eco-products”, trying to divide garbage then recycle things more, turning off electricity when it is not necessary and so on would be the effective way to face to the issue, for example. Even though each effort is small and seems useless, but I am sure that these kind of “acting locally” will help to solve the global issue eventually.

 

BIO150-3 / Report Lab 2: Microscopy and Cell Structure

Lab 2: Microscopy and Cell Structure

 Aim:To observe some different cell types and the organelles they contain. To see firsthand the major differences between plant and animal cells which I will learn about in the BIO 100 lecture course next week. 

Purpose:To become familiar with the use of both compound and dissecting microscopes and to use them to observe cells and biological matter at both the microscopic and macroscopic level. All organisms consist of one or more cells and specific stains an be used to highlight some of the organelles and structures they contain. 

Materials: 

Plant cell materials (onion/potato/weeds from teacher’s garden)

Animal cell materials (cured fish eggs)

Plastic micro-centrifuge tube in which has water fleas in.

Stains (solutions of Iodine/ Methylene blue/ Safranin/ EosinY/ Phenol red)

Salt and water

Tools:

Compound microscope (single eyepiece)

Dissecting microscope (stereo eyepiece)

Side glass and cover glass for my own sample preparation

A pair of scissors for chopping

Electric scale

A small case to measure the salt and water.

Dissecting kit

Dropper pipette

Tweezers

Lamp

Camera station that is attached to either the light or dissecting microscope

 Procedure: 

1. Rescued the microscopes from inside or under their own box or cover. 

2. Set the lights into the compound microscope, adjusted its focus using the practice slides and saw how it looks like.         

3. Cut the onion into a little piece, and stripped a thin inside skin off.       

4. Put the skin on the slide, dropped 1 or 2 drops of water on it, and covered it by a cover glass.      

5. First just looked at it using the compound microscope without staining it. Tried different objective lenses in this process. 

6.  When I could find the cell walls and nucleus in each one of them, then I took pictures of them using the computer.      

7.      I stained the onion cell with the Methylene blue using the Dropper pipette and observed how it looks like.    

8.      Then next, I cut the sliced potato into very thin, made the slide with it, and observed the slide with the Compound microscope.

9.      I added the EosinY in it, and abserved it again.

10.   I cought water fleas from the plastic micro-centrifuge and made a slide with it carefully putting a cover glass on it.     

11.  Observed the slide with the Compound microscope and took its picture using the computer. 

12.  Observed the fish egg using the Dissecting microscope, and saw how it looks like.      

 

13.  Observed the dragon fly using the Dissecting microscope, and saw how it looks like.

 

14.  Made the onion slide again, observed it without stain it. Then I added the salt water (salt: water= 1:6 g) slowly with the dropper pipette and observed how it changes. 

Results: 

Sample Slide: When I looked at the sample slide, I could see small letter “e” on it.

 

Onion Cell: When I looked at the slide on which I put the onion inner skin, even though I didn't stained it, but I could see its cell walls and nucleus in each one of them.

When I stained the onion cell with the Methylene blue using the Dropper pipette and observed it, I could see the nucleus in each one of the cell walls. 

Potato Cell:  I observed the potapo cell with the Compound microscope, and then I noticed that it looks quite different from the onion cell, because there were a lot of bubbles on or in the each cell wall. 

After this, I added the EosinY on it, and observed it again.

Then I could see the bubbles and cell walls more clearly.

 

Water Fleas: I made a slide with some water fleas and observed how they look like. It looked very much different from plant cells. They didn’t have cell walls, and I could see many small yellowish round things in it. I also could see it’s moving because it was still alive.     

 

Fish Egg: When I observed the fish egg using the Dissecting microscope, I only could see big shiny red fish egg. I couldn’t really see any cells in it.

Dragon Fly: I observed the dragon fly using the Dissecting microscope, and noticed that it is coved by small thin hairs all over its body. I could see the very detail but cell using the dissecting microscope.

 

Plasmolysis: I added the salt water (salt: water= 1:6 g) slowly into the onion slide with the dropper pipette without staining. As soon as I added the saltwater, I could see the change of the plasma membranes. They shrunk very rapidly separating from their cell walls. This change happened within about 20 -30 seconds. I took its video.

Control(Before adding the salt water) 

The result of the plasmolysis (after adding the salt water)  

Conclusions: I could observe many plants and some organic cells using the both compound and dissecting microscopes. I think I could observe cells and biological matter at both the microscopic and macroscopic level. I also could observe some different cell types and the organelles they contain. I could see firsthand the major differences between plant and animal cells. All organisms consist of one or more cells and I used some specific stains to highlight some of the organelles and structures they contain, such as Nucleusｓ. .

Comments/ Discussion: When I looked at the fish egg using the dissecting microscope, I could see the shiny red stuff in it. I remember some students tried to put fish egg into the salt water, I wonder what happened to them after that. I guess that it might be shrunk because of the osmotic pressure.

I have studies about the plasmolysis before at my high school, but I don't remember if once the plasmolysis happened, there is any ways to make it back to the original place or not.

 Answer to Questions: 

1)      If you increase the magnification, what happens to your field of view?

-If I increase the magnification, the field of view decreases.

 

2)      What is the difference between the conventional microscope and the dissecting microscope? Why did you choose the microscope you did for the samples you looked at?

-A dissecting microscope has a lower magnification than a compound microscope. A dissecting microscope has a bigger work area so you can use it to magnify and still move around what ever you’re looking at. A compound microscope would be used to look at cells that you could not see with out intense magnification you would have to use a microscope slide for whatever you wanted to look at.

àExample: A dissecting microscope would be used to figure out the sex of the dragon flies. While a compound would be used if wanted to see the cells of its eye.

3)      What was the most obvious difference between animal cells and plant cells?

Animal cells don't have the cell wall, vacuole and chloroplast but plant cells have all of them.

4)      How and why does plasmolysis occur? What does this have to do with wilting?

   -Plasmolysis is when a cell shrinks due to water leaving. It happens when the

    pressure decreases to the point where the protoplasm of the cell peels away from

       the cell wall, leaving gaps between the cell wall and the membrane.

       When plant lost their water, the cells would also lose their turgidity; therefore the

       plants would wilt in this process. 

 

 

BIO150-3 / Report Lab 1: DNA Extraction

Lab 1: DNA Extraction

 Aim:To isolate DNA from Kiwi fruit and to observe how it looks like. 

 Purpose:To see DNA with my own eyes and understand that it exists in all cells even though it is plant or food. DNA is a major topic in the introduction to Biology lecture course (BIO 100), so being familiar with this molecule is very important. 

Materials: 

¼ Kiwi fruit

2.5g washing up liquid

1g salt

50mL tap water

Ice cold alcohol; isopropanol（put in freezer for at least 30 mins）

Tools:

Knife to cut a kiwi in to ¼

Zip-lock bag for mashing a kiwi in

A pair of scissors for chopping

Major

Pen to label mu name on the bag

A small case to put the materials of extraction buffer and mix them in

Beaker

Centrifuge

Filter paper

Funnel and funnel stand

Bunsen burner

A long glass hook

Clean glass test tube

pH paper

Plastic micro-centrifuge tube

Blue pipetman

Procedure: 

1. Peel the kiwi fruit into 1/4 and chop it into small chunks using scissors.

 

2. Put the chunks in a zip-lock bag and mash the kiwi to break up some of the cells and provide a large surface e area over which to extract the DNA.

 

3. Make the extraction buffer by mixing together the washing up liquid, the salt and the tap water. Stir slowly until the salt has dissolved, not making bubbles.

4. Add the extraction buffer to the mashed up kiwi and mash more to get out DNA at the end.

 

5. Label the bag with my name and incubate the kiwi and extraction buffer mixture at 60 Celsius for 15 min in the water baths. Incubation helps to break up the cells further and starts to degrade some of the cell’s proteins. This is because Kiwi, like some other tropical fruits have special enzymes called proteases which are proteins which cut up or digest other proteins.

 

6. Remove my bag from the water bath and filter the kiwi mixture into a beaker using filter paper, a funnel and a funnel stand. Filtration removes all the unwanted lumps and bits of kiwi fruit ad should leave you with a salty and soapy green liquid: extract which contains the kiwi fruit DNA.
7. Pour some of this extract into a large glass tube and carefully add an equal volume of cold isopropanol from a tube in the freezer by poring it slowly down the side of the jar. The alcohol forms a layer on top of the kiwi extract because it has a lower density. Between the two layers of liquid, there is a white jelly-like substance forming, this is DNA. Then, mix the liquids to make your DNA stick together.

 

8. Make a long glass hook by carefully heating a glass Pasteur pipette in the flame of the Bunsen burner. Then, reach down this hook inside and gently fish out some of the kiwi DNA which is very long and fragile. 

9. One way to show that what you have isolated is DNA, is by checking its pH when dissolved in water.

 

10. Transfer thee fished DNA into a labeled plastic micro-centrifuge tub and pour in some of your unfinished liquid until the rube is almost full. Centrifuging this material for 2 minutes to cause the heavy aggregates of DNA to form a “pellet” in the bottom of the tube. When I put it in the centrifuge, I should balance the tube with another off the same volume to prevent that the centrifuge doesn’t suffer.

 

11. Remove the liquid above the pellet using a pipetman and a blue tip.

 

12. Resuspend the pellet using 1mL of distilled water and a new blue tip.

 

13. Check and record the pH off the DNA solution using Hp paper. Also measure the pH of an appropriate “control”.

 

Results:  Until before I incubate the kiwi and extraction buffer mixture at 60 Celsius for 15 min in the water baths, I couldn’t see any specific changes in the zip-lock bag. After the incubation, I could see the color change. It was light green before but it became yellowish green after the incubation. Therefore after I filtered the kiwi and extraction buffer mixture, I got a clear yellow liquid as I showed below.

 

When I added an equal volume of cold isopropanol into the tube which the filtered the kiwi and extraction buffer mixture in, I quickly could see some changes in it. As I wrote above in the procedure section, the alcohol forms a layer on top of the kiwi extract. Between the two layers of liquid, there is a white jelly-like and tiny bubble-like substance forming,

 

When I fished the DNA using the glass hook, I could feel that the DNA is really like a jelly, sticky and very condensed. After I centrifuged the DNA, it precipitated on the bottom of the micro-centrifuge tube and formed “pellet” there. It didn’t move even though I shook it hard.

 

After I poured the distilled water in the micro-centrifuge tube, the pellet was dissolved. Then, I measured its pH, it was pH 4, means it acid. I also measured the pH of an appropriate control which is the distilled water, it was neutral. Therefore, I can say DNA is acid.  

 

Conclusions: I could actually take DNA out from foods through this process, could see it with my own eyes clearly and understand that it exists in all cells even though it is plant or food.  According to the name of DNA which stands for Deoxyribonucleic acid, it should be acid, in this experiment, I could proof that DNA is acid indeed.  

 

Comments/ Discussion: I could see some differences between my result and some other classmates’ one after the filtering and also after adding the isopropanol. I got clear yellowish liquid after filtering but some others got milky yellowish liquid on the other hand. That was maybe why they couldn’t get the jelly-like DNA. I wonder where these differences came from.

When I measure the extraction buffer by mixing together the washing up liquid, the salt and the tap water, I measured them very carefully and I followed the instruction step by step. Did this make some differences?

 

After we take the DNA out, is there any ways to see the famous spiral form of DNA using the normal microscope somehow?  Since I know that as DNA is so thin, I wouldn’t be able to see it without an incredibly powerful microscope usually, so I wonder if I can see it or not.

 

Answer to Questions:

1), why did we use kiwi as our sample today?

To see DNA with my own eyes and understand that it exists in all cells even though it is plant or food. And also kiwi is soft to mash, and it is a fruit which we all are familiar with.

 

2). what was the washing up liquid for?

It dissolves the fatty cell membranes.

 

3). what did you use for your pH measurement control?

I used the same distilled water which I put into the plastic micro-centrifuge tube with pellet in.

 

4). what happens to the DNA that you eat and does eating modified DNA pose any danger to you?

GM foods are produced by artificially introducing new genes (DNA) into the cells of the organism to be modified. This is often done by a process called transformation in which "naked" DNA is added to cells and the DNA is assimilated by the transformed cells and incorporated into their chromosomes.

Eating modified DNA would pose some dangers to us. Manipulating genes is still under the research and even scientists are not crystal clear about its consequences. It is said that it might generate some unknown allergen or unexpected toxins. Therefore eating the genetically modified food is risky.

 

References:

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/mole00/mole00606.htm

http://www.smalltown.ne.jp/~usata/memo/gmo.shtml#food

http://www.seedsofdeception.com/GMFree/GMODangers/DangersofGMFoods/index.cfm

 

5). What does the term GMO mean?

It means the genetically-modified organisms.

References: http://www.raw-wisdom.com/50harmful.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9921-instant-expert-gm-organisms.html

http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/gmfood.shtml

 

Piano Lesson was Life Lesson

Playing the piano gave me a lot of things, such as good friends, good teachers, perfect pitch and it even taught me that practice really makes progress. I started taking piano lessons when I was three years old. I actually have been hated going to the lessons since learning how to play the piano was not my will. It was just one of something very boring which my super strict mother forced me to learn how to play the piano. I was always thinking how I can escape from the boring lessons every week. I once tried to say “I want to give up the piano lessons.” to my mother hoping she would understand my pain that I had to feel every time I go to the lessons, but she just gave me a cold glance at me and said “No”. She burst the bubble of my hope at once. Therefore, even though I made a nice brave try, I wasn't able to quit the piano lessons. However, now I actually appreciate my mom for not allowing me to quit it at that time and “let” me continue going to the lessons for more than 15 years in total, which is more than half of my life.

I had piano lessons twice a week. One was a group lesson and the other one was a private one. It made me feel worse because I had tons of homework from both of them. Sometimes I had to compose music by myself from nothing. What was worse, all the students in my piano school had to take a piano test which was called the “grading test” including improvisation, listen-and-copy, and arrangement. I especially didn't like the private lessons. That is because I had to show how bad I am at playing the piano to my teacher one on one. My teacher often said “Do practice more!!” Sometimes I had to cry and say “I am sorry, but I really don’t have talent to play it” in small voices. She said I shouldn’t give up without any trials. One day, one thing happened and it changed my mind and attitude toward practicing piano. Our teacher gave me and one of my group mates a music score which was made for four hands. It was for a big contest and it was very difficult. At first, we were almost giving up but that was the last contest for my partner because she was going to quit taking lessons after the contest.

It was really hard for me to push myself to sit down in front of my Piano at home at least for two hours. My partner and other group mates in my group lesson encouraged me all the time. Because my friends and my teacher believed me that I can do it even though I couldn't believe myself, I could hold on. We practiced a lot together, and we found that we improved a lot. Even though on the contest we couldn't get any prizes but we were satisfied with our performance because we did our best and of course we enjoyed playing a lot. After that I tried to practice the piano much more. Even though I was still a bad player, but I started to love to play it surprisingly. I learned that the more I do my best, the more I would be able to improve my piano playing skills. 

Now I’m in Taiwan and there are fewer opportunities to play the piano here but I still miss playing the piano. Through this experience, I learned that I should not give up things easily and shouldn't underestimate myself. Even though I had a hard time at first in Taiwan because I didn't understand Chinese at all, but I didn't give up. The perfect pitch which I got from the piano lessons actually helped a lot to learn Chinese. I really want to appreciate everyone who supported me at that time. That piano lesson was just like a life lesson for me.

 

Scientific Taiwan paper; Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing

Since we learned about solar power, bio-energy, and diesel energy in the class, I would like to talk about the Nuclear energy here. Nuclear power is a very controversial topic lately in Japan. It does not generate CO2 but once some accidents happened, it will kill a lot of people, and damage huge area.

Now, nuclear fuel reprocessing is under the research in Japan. They take out plutonium or uranium from the nuclear fuel which was already used in the Nuclear power generating station, and use it again as a fuel. There are two types of natural uranium, which does nuclear fission; Uranium 235 and which doesn’t fission; Uranium 238, and only 0.7% of them is the Uranium 235. However, Uranium 238 can be changed into plutonium 239 reacting neutron in the atomic pile. After that, they put it into fast breeder:FBR and burn it. At this point, if they put Uranium 238 around the Plutonium together, they would be able to change the Uranium 238 into new plutonium at the same time, and produce more plutonium.

Since this reprocessing would be able to reduce the radioactivity of the waste Japanese government is making efforts to promote the research. Furthermore, the political situation of the countries which have a lot of uranium are relatively stable, therefore the security risks are low. Yet, as I mentioned above, its advantage and risk are opposite side of the same coin. They have to consider about this plan very carefully.

Scientific Taiwan Paper; Research on Earthquake Engineering.

On May 4, we went to the NCREE, National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering. It was very interesting for me to know what kind of research they are doing, what kind of technology they use to reduce the damage by the earth quake. I think earth quake is one of the scariest natural disasters because we cannot predict exactly when it comes and also how big it will be.

When I saw the liquefaction phenomenon of the ground, I got goose bumps. It was obvious that if they didn’t use the special construction for buildings, or if they didn’t think about the shape or structure of buildings, it would be easier to be destroyed by the earth quake.

My country, Japan also has had a lot of earth quakes. Some of them were huge and killed many people in the past. Therefore, Japan also has invested a lot of time, energy and money for researching earth quakes. On June in 2008 which was right before I came to Taiwan, there was a big earth quake in Tohoku district which is my hometown. Actually the earth quake was almost same size as the one attacked Sichuan in main land China right before it happened in Japan. Even though the one in Japan was also huge, the damage was really small compare to Sichuan. The reason why there are such big differences is that Japan was well-prepared.

In Japan, “earthquake-proof construction” is regarded as a very important thing for all the buildings. Since earthquake shakes the ground not only horizontally, but also vertically too. Therefore those structures should be able to stand both shocks. There are even laws to punish if they didn’t follow the regulations.

According to the Earthquake Disaster Prevention Research Group, Earthquake Engineering Research Team in Japan, they are researching like estimation method for seismic damage using advanced sensor, Urgent repair methods for bridges that damaged during earthquake, High earthquake resistant structure system, Impact study and disaster mitigation on large-scale earthquake and so forth. Thus, Japan putting their effort not only for predicting earthquake, but also taking precautions and how to fix stuff damaged by earthquakes. There are more and more damages by terrible earthquakes in the world. Even though I cannot do anything directly, but I hope that those researches would be able to help the world. 

Music Change and its influence in Taiwan during the Japanese Colonial Period

Instructor: Yamauchi Fumitaka
Course: 144 U0960
Japanese and Korean Musical Cultures from Their perspectives
January, 12, 2010

Music Change and its influence in Taiwan during the Japanese Colonial Period

Introduction

The reason why I chose this topic is that I believe it has meaning that I who is Japanese research and study about this period. There are many problems in Asia especially in the relationship among Mainland China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan. These days there are more and more mainlanders are coming to Taiwan, therefore the relationship between mainland China and Taiwan is changing gradually in civil level. Moreover, there are less and less Pro-Japanese people in the government official level because more and more Taiwanese people have been to western countries to study abroad nowadays. I insist that we are on the point to think about the relationship between Taiwan and Japan more seriously. I think it is important to know and understand what happened in the past more.  

History of Taiwan and Background of This Study

In order to clarify the complicated background of Taiwan, I firstly would like to talk about History of Taiwan in around 19C to 20C briefly. Taiwan was under Japanese colonization between 1895 and 1945. The expansion into Taiwan was a part of Japan's general policy of southward expansion during the late 19th century. After the Meiji restoration, Japan firstly tried to colonize Taiwan as a new territory. In those days Taiwan was a part of Qing dynasty but they didn’t focus on governing Taiwan because of conflicts with western countries. Therefore, as a result of the Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895) which marked the defeat of the Manchu empire in the first Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) Taiwan, Pongfu Islands and Liaodong peninsula were ceded to Japan in perpetuity on May 8, 1895. In 1951, Japan lost its sovereignty over Taiwan because of the San Francisco treaty. Therefore, on Aug 15, 1945 Japan surrendered unconditionally, and the 2nd world war was finished. Taiwan was governed by ROC after that. Thus, Taiwan was under Japanese jurisdiction for 50 years in the past so that Taiwanese older generation received Japanese education during the period.  

After I came to Taiwan, since I have lived by myself in off campus, I have had a lot of opportunity to talk with local Taiwanese people. Especially when I was in Sanchong city in Taipei County, I have had some chances to talk with some old people there. I have heard that there were a lot of songs which was sung in Taiwanese language and also Japanese language during the Japanese colonial period. I believe that Music is culture and it has power to remain people’s minds for a long time. Therefore, I assumed that Music influenced to Taiwanese people’s identity during that time. Also, it could be used as propaganda by Japanese military government during the Second World War in order to control Taiwanese people’s minds. I would like to research what kind of songs and lyrics were sung those days and what kind of significances in that music, and also what kind of influence Taiwanese people got from them. Thus, I would like to study about the Japanese Colonial Period from musicological perspective mostly focusing on music education during that period in this research paper.  

  According Liao Ping-hui, there are four stages of Japanese colonialism in Taiwan based on political analysis. As a Japanese colony Taiwan is arguably distinct in several ways. First of all, Taiwan was the first and also the last of Japan’s colonies. It underwent at least four stages of colonialism under Japanese rule; 1.) assimilation as the main policy from 1895 to 1919, 2.) integration from 1919 to 1930, 3.) differential incorporation and coercion from 1930 to 1937, and 4.) The subjugation (kominka, literally meaning “Japanization” or “imperial subjectification”) and mobilization of “imperial subjects” to participate in the “holy” war in Asia from 1937 to 1945 (Liao Ping-hui, 1993). However, in my research, I divide the fifty years into three stages; 1). From later Meiji era to early Taisho era. 2). From Later Taisho era to Showa era, and 3). From Showa era to the end of the Second World War.  

Stage 1

 This stage can be called as “seeking period in the field of music education and colonization for Japanese government”. From the early Mejia era, Japan started to accept western music (Okabe, 2007). According to Okabe, in 1881 (Meiji 14), Elementary school curriculum platform was enacted in Japan. Some songs were started to teach at elementary school from then on. In 1896 (Meiji 29), Japanese colonial government introduced music education to elementary schools in Taiwan. During that time, some songs were from western countries even though they were translated into Japanese, for example Hotaru no Hikari, Chouchou, and Niwa no Chigusa and so on. Other Japanese songs are like these; Kimigayo (Japanese national anthem), MikotoHoutou, Kazaguruma, ad Shiki no Tsuki etc. In 1914 (Taisho 4), First music text book was published in Taiwan (Okabe, 2007). During this stage, Music at school was deeply connected to “Japanese language education” in Taiwan. In other words, it was used as a tool to teach Japanese language to Taiwanese students. Okabe mentioned that it was used to train Taiwanese people’s Japanese language pronunciations which are easily mistaken; Da, Ra, Na lines, Ha, Ka lines and A, Wa, Ya lines.  

 Looking at lyrics, many of them seems like they are singing nature or seasons. However, they were mostly in the lower grade student’s text book and Moral and lessons are mostly in the middle and higher grade student’s text book. Loyalty, Patriotism and Praise to Constitution and Imperial House were for all the students (Okabe, 2007). From this trend, we can see the Japanese government’s intention of infusion of the “Japanese Sprit”.  

 Here, I have to mention about important and interesting characteristics of Japanese colonial government. What developed under Japanese rule was not a simple relationship of oppressive subjugator and the resisting subjugated, but rather a struggle by the Taiwanese people to form a Taiwanese identity while intentionally assimilating the Japanese ideology imposed upon the,. “Intentional assimilation” rather than a simplistic view of “oppression and resistance” (Fuji Shozo, 2006). Fujii's research indicates that by 1860 the nativization was well established in Taiwan. The Japanese government replaced the relatively thin veneer of classical Chinese education with a mass-based educational curriculum; by 1930, the Taiwanese had the second highest literacy rate in Asia, after Japan. Out of the active assimilation of the cultural policies imported from these successive foreign regimes, the Taiwanese people created a unique identity and a democratic nation-state (Liao Ping-hui, 2006). Thus, Japanese way to occupy Taiwan was different from other western countries. There were considerations for Taiwanese people. For example, according to Okabe, a lyric of songs which was used in Taiwan was easier than them used in Japan. Furthermore, Japanese colonial government eliminated Shintoistic colors from some songs intentionally to avoid Taiwanese people’s resistance.  

 Thus, during stage 1, Japanese colonial government tried to find the better way to colonize Taiwan and maybe other colonies. Music had a function and played an important role to colonize those places. 

Stage 2

This stage can be called as “the golden age of Music in Taiwan”. From this stage, education level became higher in Taiwan (Okabe, 2007). Some Taiwanese Characteristics were put into lyrics from then on. That is, Japanese colonial government tried to promote to understand Taiwanese culture more than before. For example, there was a song; “Peh-Thau-khok” which was sung by Taiwanese people in elementary school in Taiwan. According to Maeda, “Peh-Thau-khok” is a small bird’s name in Taiwanese language, which exists mostly in Taiwan, A Light-vented Bulbul in English. This is a picture of the bird.  

  (Picture 1)

 During this stage, transition of music style was also occurred. It can be called westernization of music, in other words, music style was changed from Meiji style to western style. Western music was new for Japanese and also Taiwanese people those days. It was a symbol of Modern civilization (Okabe, 2007). Western music’s characteristic is diatonic scale, Auftakt, 3/4time and 6/8time and so on. When I look at the lyrics of Peh-thau-khok, it was more Mother Goose rhyme using some onomatopoeia in it, so that we can see the music became “Art” rather than “tool” in this period. 

 There are more examples of “the golden age of Music in Taiwan”. I watched a documentary movie; #Viva Tonal [The Dance Age] (Chien Wei-ssu [Jian Weisi] and Kuo Chen-ti [Guo Zhendi], 2003, 104’) which was about the Taiwanese pops during this stage. According to this film, in 1928, Japanese pops came into Taiwan. In 1929, Taiwanese Pops came out and then in 1933, the Colombia Record company was established in Taiwan. From then on, the Golden age of Taiwanese Pops started. Since not only music but also society were also westernized in this stage, there are big change of people’s way of thinking. We can see it from the lyrics of those days.  

Here, I would like to take two songs as examples. First one is “The Dance Age”, and the other one is “The Embracing the Spring Breese”. This is the lyrics of “The Dance Age”; I’m a cultured woman, traveling freely about footloose and fancy free. I’m happy to be on my own. I’m not up on the affairs of the world. I’m only known that in the age of civilization. Social life should be open. Couples are together. Cued in lines. I’m a fool for the foxtrot. Old styles or new styles, I can’t be bothered. I just know that free flowers. Must bear free blossoms. What’s in store for the future. Happily obvious. Neither cares nor troubles. The fox-trotting life is for me… (#Viva Tonal [The Dance Age], 2003). They are both sung in Taiwanese language but both lyrics are about “restoration of the world and freedom of Love”. It refers to the progressiveness of the Taiwanese society those days. There are some Chinese old traditions or antiquated practices in Taiwan such as Pig tales and foot bindings until then. According to Okabe, there were a lot of Taiwanese students had been to Japan to study music but no one had been to Europe in this stage. That is, Japan was a bridge to the Western music or westernization for Taiwanese people at that time.  

Stage 3

 In this stage, everything was for “Kominka”. Kominka: the subjugation (kominka, literally meaning “Japanization” or “imperial subjectification”) and mobilization of “imperial subjects” to participate in the “holy” war in Asia from 1937 to 1945. (by Liao Ping-hui, 2007).

There is a word which was said by Koike Tetsutarou during the period; “In contemporary society, creation of New Japanese culture plays a role when establish a High level secure country.” Thus, Kominka had a big influence to people’s life those days. Education system was renewed for Kominka also. Music also became quite different from previous two stages. According to a Taiwanese movie; The Puppetmaster, three years after the Japanese military government appointed a new Governor on the island, all outdoor performances of plays were banned and thousands of puppeteers lose their livelihood. Times were hard and commodities were rationed for the Taiwanese. A man; Li Tien-lu who was a puppet master was forced by economic realities to put on puppet shows for a Japanese propaganda troupe in Taipei. Since Taiwanese Puppet was a part of important Taiwanese culture, and there were some Taiwanese traditional songs in the puppet theater. We could see Taiwanese people who have lost their own ways and are seeking to regain their cultural identity. Through Japanese government’s oppression to Taiwanese language especially during the third stage, Taiwan has inherited a legacy of influences from Japanese culture.  

 Here are more examples of influence of Kominka; When I look at the lyrics of songs those days, we can see Japanese imperial government’s intention for Kominka in them, like there were no foreign songs was sung, Japanese traditional style was used in music more than before, and some songs were used as a political propaganda (Okabe. 2007). As examples of the political propaganda, I pick up a very famous Japanese song;” Momotaro” here.  

Here is my translation of its lyrics; 

1. Momotaro Momotaro, please give me one of the millet dumplings you have. 2. Of course give you, if you would come to defeat the demons with me.  
3. I sure go with you anywhere you go, I will be your follower.  
4. Go, go, attack at once and crush the demons’ island.  
5. It’s so much fun, we kill them all, take plunders back to our village.  

6. Hurray! Hurray! Dog monkey and pheasant, they push the car which filled with plunders strongly. 

 When I did some interviews to old Taiwanese people who are around 70~80 years old, all of them answered that they remember this song since the period. I assume that demons are the US and England, and Momotaro stands for Japanese armies. Thus, this song actually had the function to justify the Japanese troops depicting the Allied Forces as demons. I even can say music was used to brainwash people. This is my questionnaire. 

訪問(Interview)
1.請問您小時候，受到日本的教育嗎？
(When you were little, have you taken Japanese education in Taiwan？)
2.您還記得在學校唱過什麽樣的歌嗎？歌名是什麽？
(Do you still remember what kind of songs did you sing in school? Can you tell me the title?)
3.如果您記得歌詞的話，請您把它寫下來。
(If you still remember the lyrics, please write them down.)
4.在日本統治時代，您在家，或是跟朋友玩的時候常常唱歌是什麽？
(During the Japanese colonial period, what kind of songs did you sing outside of school?)
5.在日本統治時代，您們可以講臺語嗎？
(During the Japanese colonial period, have you been allowed to speak in Taiwanese language?)
6.如果在外面，或是在學校說台語的話，有什麽問題嗎？ 
(If you talked in Taiwanese in public like school, have you had any problems?)
7.您小時候，如果要聼音樂怎麽聼呢？
(When you were a child, how did you listen to music?)
8.家裏有沒有留聲機還是電唱機？
(Did your family have phonograph or record player at home?)
9. 如果您家裏有那種機器，請問那是大家都有的東西嗎？
(Was it normal to have those machines those days?)
10. 您在日本統治時代，學過什麽樂器嗎？
(Have you learned to play any musical instruments during the Japanese occupation?)
11. 請問，那時代，您對日本這個國家有什麽感覺或是想法？
(During the Japanese occupation, how did you feel or think about “Japan”?)
12.您現在對日本有什麽樣的看法？
(How do you think about Japan now?)

 I will put their answers as a reference at the end of this essay. 

However, I could only find three Taiwanese old people, who answer my questionnaire, and two of them didn’t really take the Japanese education during the period. Now, I guess that most of the old people’s impression to Japan is based on things happened in this third stage. I believe that Music has a power and connects to people’s memories easily because when we listen or sing a song in a particular mood or period repeatedly or even several times, it reminds us the feeling or what happened at that time. Therefore, it was quite interesting that all of them have positive impression to Japan at that time and also still now.  

In the third stage, the “Perfect Pitch” and “Chord Sense” was also trained (Okabe, 2007). According to Mochizuki Soutaro, Music and National defense is closely related. That is, if you had the perfect pitch and good chord sense, you would be able to notice some little troubles of airplane or submarine (Okabe, 2007). Thus, Music was functionalized as well as the first stage in this stage too, but its function was quite different from the first stage. It was all for Kominka during this period.  

Conclusion

Through this study, I can say music during the Japanese colonial period influenced to Taiwanese people’s identity defiantly. Also, it was used as propaganda by Japanese military government during the Second World War in order to control people’s minds. I divided the period into three stages; 1). “Seeking period in the field of music education and colonization for Japanese government”. In this stage, music was used as a tool to teach Japanese language to Taiwanese people. 2). “the golden age of Music in Taiwan”. In this stage, society was modernized and people were influenced by western cultures through Japan. 3). in this stage, everything was changed to do “Kominka”. Music was functionalized and it became a tool to brainwash people and justify the Japanese military government during this period.  

It was quite interesting that Taiwanese people’s attitude toward “assimilation” during the colonial period was relatively positive. We can see the Taiwanese people’s trial to accept modernity from Japan those days. In this research paper, I looked at the change of music mostly from the elementary school education. However, through the interview, I noticed that taking education was not normal thing as well as in contemporary Taiwan Society. Many of Taiwanese people had to work since they were very young those days.  

Trough this research, I noticed that it is hard to study this period from colonist’s position. However, I really interested in this period, so I have more assignments for myself, such as the education system at and society in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period, interview more Taiwanese people and research more about influences to Taiwanese people’s identity, study the period more from various kinds of perspectives. Okabe said that in the Post Colonial Period, Taiwan adopted western music and developed them on their own way but still got a lot of influence from Japan (Okabe, 2007).  

I have attended a Japan-Taiwan meeting in Zhengzhi University and had a chance to listen to Li-Denghui; previous Taiwanese president, these days. As I already mentioned in the introduction part, I insist that we are on the point to think about the relationship between Taiwan and Japan more seriously. I believe that this research helped me to understand Taiwan –Japan relationship more deeply. 

Answers of my interview as references

訪問1

1.請問您小時候，受到日本的教育嗎？
有，但是因為家裡小時候務農，所以只讀兩年沒有繼續就讀了。
2.您還記得在學校唱過什麽樣的歌嗎？歌名是什麽？
歌名已經不太記得了，亨的時候也聽不太懂。
3.如果您記得歌詞的話，請您把它寫下來。
No answer here. 
4.在日本統治時代，您在家，或是跟朋友玩的時候常常唱歌是什麽？
桃太郎
5.在日本統治時代，您們可以講臺語嗎？
不行
6.如果在外面，或是在學校說台語的話，有什麽問題嗎？ 
有時候會說，但是有時候因為政策的關係不能說
7.您小時候，如果要聼音樂怎麽聼呢？
廣播較多
8.家裏有沒有留聲機還是電唱機？
沒有
9. 如果您家裏有那種機器，請問那是大家都有的東西嗎？
不是大家都有的，至少我沒有
10. 您在日本統治時代，學過什麽樂器嗎？
沒有
11. 請問，那時代，您對日本這個國家有什麽感覺或是想法？
沒什麼想法，能過日子就好了。
12.您現在對日本有什麽樣的看法？
聽到日本語會想起小時候的時光。

訪問2

1.請問您小時候，受到日本的教育嗎？
我阿公是去桃園的公學堂，但是他只去了大概1學期，台灣就光復了。其實台灣在日據時期能夠受教育上學堂的台灣人很少，大部分的人都幫忙家裡工作沒去學校，或是只能偷偷跑去學堂旁聽人家上課。
2.您還記得在學校唱過什麽樣的歌嗎？歌名是什麽？
他是說升旗的時候是唱''紅紅的太陽''(他是用台語說的)，日文歌名並不清楚，但很可能是日本軍歌改編的。歌詞我阿公忘了，哼的也不太清楚，所以...(囧)
3.如果您記得歌詞的話，請您把它寫下來。
No answers here. 
4.在日本統治時代，您在家，或是跟朋友玩的時候常常唱歌是什麽？
兒歌的話，像是”桃太郎”、”大象”大家都耳熟能詳。
5.在日本統治時代，您們可以講臺語嗎？
No answers here. 
6.如果在外面，或是在學校說台語的話，有什麽問題嗎？ 
基本上公共場所都是不能說台語的，可是禁說台語的政策每個階段實施的標準都不一致，有時候管的嚴，到抗戰後期其實都不太管了。當然，私底下在家或是跟朋友還是會說台語。
7.您小時候，如果要聼音樂怎麽聼呢？
很多音樂多半是口耳相傳的，到抗戰的中後期才有收音機可以聽。
8.家裏有沒有留聲機還是電唱機?
No answers here. 
9. 如果您家裏有那種機器，請問那是大家都有的東西嗎？
留聲機和唱盤要到台灣光復、民國40.50年代才有喔，日治時期還是靠收音機，而且收音機並不是家家戶戶都有，畢竟是從日本傳過來的，有收音機的大部分是有錢人。
10. 您在日本統治時代，學過什麽樂器嗎？
口琴
11. 請問，那時代，您對日本這個國家有什麽感覺或是想法？
其實他那個時候年紀還小，記憶也不太清楚，不過當時的台灣人大部分都忙著賺錢餬口，我阿公小時候也一直打工。教育對當時的台灣人而言，真的是很奢侈的東西，所以大部分的人也沒去上學，有能力上課的都不是很認真，可能念一兩學期就休學的大有人在。
12.您現在對日本有什麽樣的看法？
基本上老人家對於"日本"的感覺，常常拿來和早期的國民黨政府比較。他們覺得雖然日本人把台灣當成次等公民，但是還是很用心在經營台灣，像環保啦鐵路啦水壩啦，甚至連現在的財產登記制都是沿用日治時期的，好像真的把台灣當國土的延伸。相較之下，國民政府剛來台灣感覺反而很隨便，好像台灣有或沒有都沒差，外省人也自以為比較高尚。人的心態都是愛比較的，相對之下，當然是比較親日本。
P.s.我阿公是深綠的，而且超愛李登輝(李登輝超級親日)，所以他雖然只受過短暫的日本教育，但其他的日文都是自學的。此外，我阿公的媽媽(我阿祖)以前是在新竹州桃園部的總督府，幫忙煮菜，基本上我阿公一家都還蠻親日的。
日治時期的台灣人，其實日文並沒有想像中的好喔，大部分是聽得懂日常會話，口說只會基本的寒暄，精通日語的人畢竟還是少數，因為能受教育的人很有限。
還有阿，我外婆的爸爸(外曾祖父)在日治時期也常去一些聲色場所，像是”藝閣”(聽說裡頭會有藝妓)，裡頭也會表演一些日本的段子、曲子。

訪問3

1.請問您小時候，受到日本的教育嗎？
是的，有受過日本教育。
2.您還記得在學校唱過什麽樣的歌嗎？歌名是什麽？
在學校有唱過日本軍歌，愛國行政歌，桃太郎等
3.如果您記得歌詞的話，請您把它寫下來。
記得怎麼哼，但歌詞忘記了。
(可以去找桃太郎的歌詞寫進去XD)
4.在日本統治時代，您在家，或是跟朋友玩的時候常常唱歌是什麽？
桃太郎、鳥仔歌(看著許多小鳥一起玩的時候唱)
5.在日本統治時代，您們可以講臺語嗎？
不可以
6.如果在外面，或是在學校說台語的話，有什麽問題嗎？ 
在學校被老師聽到會被訓話。
外面的話，會被大人訓。
7.您小時候，如果要聼音樂怎麽聼呢？
Radio(日文？)
8.家裏有沒有留聲機還是電唱機？
有電唱機，有唱盤，但現在都沒有了。
9. 如果您家裏有那種機器，請問那是大家都有的東西嗎？
不是，要有電的地方才有，而且需要家庭小康才會有。
10. 您在日本統治時代，學過什麽樂器嗎？
吹鎖吶、二胡，但都是玩玩而己、多在幫忙家裡種田工作，沒時間學才藝。
11. 請問，那時代，您對日本這個國家有什麽感覺或是想法？
日據時代，鄉鎮的治安很好，可以夜不閉戶，但念書很嚴格。
12.您現在對日本有什麽樣的看法？
現在的科技進步，街道很乾淨，民族意識很強、合群。
時代變遷，日據時代有腳踏車就是很有錢的人，現在到處都是車了。

References

Leo T. S. Ching., (2001). Becoming “Japanese”: Colonial Taiwan and the Politics of Identity Formation, University of California Press, Retrieved December 22, 2009, from,
http://www.jaas.or.jp/pdf/53-2/p95-99.pdf

Fei yu yun bao music group., (unknown). Taiwan indigenous people’s music. Retrieved December 22, 2009, from,
http://eastasia.cside.ne.jp/concert_tobiuo.htm

Unknown., (2007). Police songs in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period. Retrieved December 22, 2009, from,
http://home.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/tatyoshi/renshusho001.pdf

Memory of old melody. Retrieved December 23, 2009, from,
http://www.geocities.jp/abm168/index.html

Old Japanese songs. Retrieved December 24, 2009, from,
http://www.mahoroba.ne.jp/~gonbe007/hog/shouka/00_songs.html

Osaka-c education., (unknown). Change of elementary school curriculum in Japan. Retrieved December 24, 2009, from,  
http://www.osaka-c.ed.jp/kak/karikenweb/webpdf/webcur/wc05onga/wc0502.pdf

Mizuhara., (unknown). Modern Japan’s school curriculum. Retrieved December 25, 2009, from,
http://www.sed.tohoku.ac.jp/~mizuhara/kindai-keturon.htm

Okabe, Y., (2007). Music education in elementary school in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period. Akashi Books Co, Inc. 

Maeda, H., (unkown). Taiwanese Language in the text books under the Japanese jurisdiction in Taiwan. Retrieved December 25, 2009, from, 
http://www.ntcu.edu.tw/taiwanese/ogawa100/a/tsuliau/16.前田均-講義.pdf

Chiang, W., (2007). The King of Taiwanese Puppet Theater: Huang Hai-tai. Retrieved January 3, 2010, from,
http://www.culture.tw/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=323&Itemid=157

Liao, B., & Wang, D., (2006). Taiwan under Japanese colonial rule, 1895-1945: history, culture, memory. Retrieved January 4, 2010, from, 
http://books.google.com/books?id=i3acYUmOW-oC&pg=PA37&lpg=PA37&dq=Liao+and+wang+eds.,+The+japanese+Colonial+State+and+Its+Form+of+Konwledge+in+Taiwan&source=bl&ots=NN2JGKb9Bc&sig=w3HzTBrpWEpNxTw0kG_mnFe9hgc&hl=ja&ei=dbFES9PvLMuHkQWEnon1Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CA4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Kumamoto., (unknown). Change of Japanese music after Meiji era. Retrieved January 6, 2010, from, 
http://page.freett.com/alfuuhp/3-1.htm

Peh-thau-khok picture and song. Retrieved January 7, 2010, from, 
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.geocities.jp/abm168/Doyo/Doyo_IMG/petako_1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.geocities.jp/abm168/Doyo/petako.html&h=372&w=411&sz=16&tbnid=dkgbgq9M62oo7M:&tbnh=113&tbnw=125&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpetako&usg=__8UHstZyidx3fbpFbN6Y2nV6XZnw=&ei=FBtGS9mKE9GIkAWw-PyCAw&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=4&ct=image&ved=0CBIQ9QEwAw
  
Movie;
#Viva Tonal [The Dance Age] (Chien wei-ssu[Jian Weisi] and Kuo Chen-ti[Guo Zhendi], 2003,104’)

The Puppetmaster (Hou Hsiao-hsien[Hou Xiaoxian],1993,142’)