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Mr Watts World History 2B 26 May 2009**  =__ **Loung Ung 1st They Killed My Father** __=
 * Devan C


 // "From 1975 to 1979 through execution, starvation, disease, and forced labor the Khmer Rouge systematically killed an estimated two million Cambodians, almost a fourth of the country's population. This is a story of survival: my own and my family's. Though these events constitute my own experience, my story mirrors that of millions of Cambodians. If you had been living in Cambodia during this period, this would be your story too." // //([|Loung Ung]). Loung Ung is a Cambodian American Human Rights activist. She was born in 1970 in Phnom Penh, to a fairly large family. Her Chinese mother and father were both ranked very highly. She is the sixth of seven children. She escaped and is a survivor of what is known as the “Killing Fields” in Cambodia. She is a lecteurer and a national spokesperson for campaigns for a Land mine Free world. She is a very intelligent and gifted young women. She has made a lot of success with her two books and her motivational speaking through out the world. She has a good story to tell, you’ll want to listen.//


 //Born into a perfect little middle class family, Loung Ung was only a little girl, when it all began. Her family moved to Cambodia when they were little kids. They lived in bad conditions, in bad times. Her motivation started when she was five. The day her father came home and told their family that they would all be fleeing to another country, they had to fit as much stuff as possible in a bag that they would carry on their backs the whole trip. This was when the This made her books so realistic. She actually experienced all of this. The younger kids at this age struggled with the same problems. She was a very motivated person. After everything she went through she wanted to be able to relate to people that may have been through the same thing and she then became involved in the project upon returning to Cambodia and seeing many people suffering from amputations, resulting in having stepped on land mines, a plague which her country still continues to suffer. I think one of the biggest things about her that should motivate anyone, is when she was only five years old she was trained to be a child soldier in a camp for orphans. Everything was fine, until the Khmer Rouge was destroyed. Her personal motivation was knowing that once everything was done and over with that hopefully she would find her family. And all the obstacles they faced through out this journey to the other country would make them stronger people. Emotionally and physically. She can relate to many different kinds of people that suffered any third world country trauma. The poverty, punishment, and very rough day to day lives.//




 //In 1st They Killed My Father, it represents one of the struggles our history has experienced. When they embarked ona killing frenzy that decimated nearly half of the country;s population, destroyed its infrastructure and laid waste to a wonderful heritage. In the 1970's Cambodia was in the presence of a Civil War. Between both North Vietnamese and Viet Cong l they were fighting over Cambodian territory. Supplies were being sent to communist troops, to help out. Sihanouk was the leader at this time. Sihanouk also lost the support of the rightists by his failure to come to grips with the deteriorating economic situation in the country. Things were just not stable in this part of the country.There was a clash of interests among Phnom Penh's politicized elite, social tensions also were creating a favorable environment for the growth of a domestic communist insurgency in the rural areas. They focused on tax collections and the decision of the government to expropriate land to build a sugar refinery near Samlot. And insurrection broke out all over, trying its best to fix what mess it had started. The insurgency was not suppressed completely. It spread rapidly from Batdambang to the southern and to the southwestern provinces of Pouthisat, Kampong Chhnang Kampong Cham, Kampong Spoe, Kampot, and the central province of Kampong Thum. In 1968, unrest was reported in eleven of the country's eighteen provinces. The Khmer Loeu regions of Mondol Kiri Province and Rotanokiri Province f ell almost entirely under KCP control by the end of the decade. Later on, January 1968, the communists established the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea. Hoping things with Kampuchea would work out, that failed and they were dragged into a Civil War. During this time, they renamed the Cambodian People's National Liberation Armed Forces (CPNLAF). They tried to do what they could to help their country with what little they had to work with. Loung Ung describes in 1st They Killed My Father, the way they were dragged out of their villages and homes. They were packed up with everything they owned. Not sure of what was going to happen, or where they were gonna end up. But they faced these problems all the time. The government was falling apart and the country didn't have a grip on what was going on. When Loung Ung was five years old, her and her six other brothers and sisters started out. Almost dying of starvation, physical abuse and death surrounded them everywhere.They had it rough, no where to go, not sure what was going to happen. She got split up from her family, and did all of this on her own. She knew she couldn't give up or else she would die. Vietnamese eventually entered Cambodia and smuggled some of the surviving refugees.//


 //The Vietnamese culture is very strongly represented in this book. Although the culture was destroyed. Cambodia's long history, a major source of inspiration was from religion. The battles between the Khmer Rouge and the US-sponsored Khmer Republic, plagued the country from 1970 until 1975. The whole idea of their culture was communistic, egalitarian, agrarian society in which the wealth of the country would come from the production of food, and on the backs of the people. Education was seen as a threat, to their country. They lacked it. Buddhism was outlawed, and God was dead. The children here were to report any infraction there parents made and they were rewarded for doing so. The children were trained to do the bidding of parties. Prisoners were shipped off to camps, and tortured, and often killed as enemies of the state. Almost everybody else were placed in what amounted to concentration camps. It all comes down to the enforcers, they were the original Khmer Rouge soldiers; young, rural, uneducated, impoverished farmers. The Civil War that swept through Cambodia in the 1970's left two million of its inhabitants dead and half a million scattered into exile in foreign countries. Some of the people that lived through this, and were still liberated would say the culture never changed. Some changes were ephemeral, and some are more permanent. Although they still keep their traditions and culture, as well put together as possible.//


// The relationship between Cambodia and China, is somewhat understandable.They date back to ancient times when Chinese diplomat under the Temur Kahn was present (1296-1297. The relationship between these two places has improved, at the time Enlai befriended Shanouk at Bandung Conference in Indonesia. They're political views began to increase as the relationship between the Chinese grew stronger. On July 19, 1958 when the government of Prince Norodom Sihanouk recognized the People's Republic of China, it had been established into what is now today, Chinese and Cambodian relations. They're was a break, an isolation in this time, In the 1960's the Chinese leaders were still insight of Sihanouk's help to break China's isolation between the two of them. The Chinese Embassy was the real force behind Khmer Rouges, and he was a communist that helped the insurgency in Cambodia. Although China continued to support Pol Pot and Khmer Rough through insurgency, conquest, genocide, defeat and peace. //


//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The Cambodian people account for the vast majority of people in Southeast Asia. The ethnic minorities in Cambodia consist of Chinese, Vietnamese, Muslim Cham- Malays, Laotians, and various indigenous people. The culture over centuries has moved southward before 200 BC into the fertile surroundings, of what is now Thailand. They were exposed and taught the culture of Indian influence.Cambodia before 1975, the Chinese were the most important, for they controlled the country’s economic life. The Vietnamese minority occupied a lower status than Chinese, and most of them repatriated to Vietnam after 1970. The most important minority group is Cham- Malay, they're known as Khmer Islam or Wester Cham. They maintain a high degree of ethnic homogeneity. One of the major tongues of Mon- Khmer is the Austroasiatic language family spoken by nearly all people in Cambodia. Most ethnic20Khmer are Buddhists. Until 1975 all religious practices were forbidden. The pro-Vietnamese communist party ruled that Cambodia in the 1980's could go about Buddhism, in a small way. Cambodia is still a large amount of land, with mostly villages taking place. Only a small fraction of the total population has ever lived in a town of more than 10,000 inhabitants. Like about four-fifths of it's population still live in rural areas. Cambodia’s first national census as an independent country, was taken in 1962. //

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> //This was a great book, and I truly recommend it to anybody who is willing to and wants to learn and have a better understanding behind the Cambodian life. It teaches you, and expresses to you the day to day struggles that each and every person went through in the 1970's. It's actually very sad. Their country suffered a large loss, that will never be the same. From this book, I took little bits and pieces of information on what I knew about the country and combined that to see what the significant elements this country faced. The war and social revolution in the 1970's were both political and an economic disruption. I learned that Loung Ung's family and many more suffered a terrible life. Being split up, being trained and forced to do work, they had no means of anything except for what they still had left to carry on their backs. Their chances to live, and to die were slim. It makes me appreciate what I have a whole lot more after reading this book. I understand now that the Chinese, and Cambodia had a tight relationship. They practiced Buddhism, and also a little bit of Indian culture had an influence on them. At a certain point in time, Cambodia was growing strong. When the Cambodian Communist Army came and tried to take over, is where it fell apart.A big part of their long history, a major source of inspiration was from religion. I learned that they didn't really practice Buddhism, until later on when Khmer allowed it to be practiced openly. Life was very difficult for most. The poverty, punishment was also a big part of this story. It just shows, it was a Genocidal nightmare. I learned about Loung Ung and her family. She was the sixth child of seven children, she never did find some of her siblings and her parents were lost as well. I learned that motivation can go along way. The problems and suffering her and many others faced, was just chapter in they're lives. A hard time indeed, but they pulled through. They're country was just a very poor, suffering country that got wound up in political and economic hardship. Loung Ung is a lecteurer and a national spokesperson for campaigns for a Land mine Free world. She has done a lot for the survivors of this 1970's outrage. Families everywhere and somehow remaining to find each other again. The survivors of the land mines and the refugee camps still have hope.//

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