Peter Hessler At Uci,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Peter Hessler At Uci
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
A few images from today’s “conversation” between Peter Hessler (currently on tour to promote his newest book, Country Driving) and Ken Pomeranz at the University of California, Irvine, with almost 100 in attendance.
Continuing Coverage Of Country Driving,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Continuing Coverage Of Country Driving
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
We’ve reviewed Country Driving, and have been reading what others think of the book as well. Reviews are appearing in a variety of places: just a few we’ve seen are at Urbanatomy, The Boston Globe, and the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune.
Rebuilding,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Rebuilding, Paul Katz
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
Just over five months have passed since the devastation wrought by Typhoon Morakot, and the survivors of the Siaolin Village 小林村 tragedy are coping as best they can with a lot of help from their friends, charitable organizations, and the government. However, the effects of the disaster still linger. Over 400 bodies of victims buried or washed away in the mudslide that followed hours of torrential rains will never be recovered, and there is not a large enough tract of arable land in the unscathed portions of Siaolin, or even all of Chia-hsien Township 甲仙鄉, to rebuild a community sufficient …
Another Side Of The Shanghai World Expo: Forum On Ict And Urban Development,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Another Side Of The Shanghai World Expo: Forum On Ict And Urban Development, Susan Brownell
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
This posting marks my return to blogging after a break following my participation in the founding of The China Beat in 2008 with my postings from Beijing leading up to the Olympics. Contacts I made during the Olympics led to an invitation to do some informal work for the Forum Department of the Expo Organizing Bureau, and so I am now in Shanghai and blogging about China’s second mega-event.
Not Aesopian Enough: A Chinese Publishing Fable,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Not Aesopian Enough: A Chinese Publishing Fable, James W. Loewen
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
In April 2008, Ma Wanli, a professor of American history at Nanchang Hangkong University in Nanchang, China, emailed me to introduce himself as the translator of the Chinese version of my U.S. best seller, Lies My Teacher Told Me. He also invited me to write a preface for this new edition. I agreed.
The New Red Guards,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
The New Red Guards
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
“Far out to the East of Beijing, past the city’s fifth ringroad, the Cultural Revolution isn’t over yet.
Notes On The Shanghai Expo,
2010
Hopkins-Nanjing Center
Notes On The Shanghai Expo, Jonathan Hwang
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
1. One of my Chinese classmates mentioned that what really mattered for Chinese visitors were the big exhibitions: Japan, China, Europe, and the US. While still interested in the big exhibits, most Westerners were also astounded by the fact that North Korea and Iran were among the countries with pavilions at the Expo. The pavilions, although far from spectacular, showed a side of the “rogue” nations that is impossible to see in Western media, which often focuses on the proliferation of nuclear weapons and anti-US sentiment. The North Korean Pavilion showed video clips of the Mass Games and random shots …
What Does China Imagine?,
2010
University of California, Los Angeles
What Does China Imagine?, Guangyi Li
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
One day when I was four, I found an interesting book on the shelf, called A Strange Patient. This anthology starts with an impressive piece of science fiction,Miracle on the World’s Highest Peak by Ye Yonglie. The story describes an investigation of Mount Everest, where, with some Tibetans’ help, scientists find a precious dinosaur egg embedded in amber and preserved intact over time. Unlike their counterparts in Jurassic Park, however, the Chinese scientists don’t extract dinosaur genes and clone this extinguished species. Instead, they hatch a baby dinosaur!
Wang Hui, Plagiarism, And The Great Bourgeois Academic Cultural Revolution,
2010
University of Notre Dame
Wang Hui, Plagiarism, And The Great Bourgeois Academic Cultural Revolution, Susan D. Blum
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
Another revolution is afoot in China, and it might even be considered cultural. But this one is about academic culture, as China’s slow-moving iceberg floats up against the glacial mass of “international” (read: Western) principles. The fallout is fascinating for observers, though in some cases tragic for the participants.
We’Re Back!,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
We’Re Back!
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
We’re returning from a two-week hiatus just in time to call your attention to the final event in a series of author talks that China Beat has produced in cooperation with several other UC Irvine organizations during the 2009-2010 academic year. Tomorrow’s dialogue at UCI, featuring Ian Johnson and Angilee Shah, is free and open to the public (details here).
Questioning The “Chinese Model Of Development”,
2010
University of British Columbia
Questioning The “Chinese Model Of Development”, Zhansui Yu
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
Chinese, following Chairman Mao’s famous phrase, tend to use the expression “like a fire burning in the wilderness” [燎原之火 liaoyuan zhi huo] to describe the unexpected rise and popularity of something marginalized or rebellious. Since the literary explosion in the years immediately after Mao’s death, mainland Chinese literary circles have rarely witnessed such a “wild fire.” Recently, however, a fierce literary “fire” suddenly broke out and shocked the entire Chinese intellectual world. The spark that ignited this fire is Chan Koon-chung’s 陈冠中 political novel Shengshi: Zhongguo 2013 [盛世：中国 2013]. [1]
More Questions Than Answers,
2010
University of California, Davis
More Questions Than Answers, Michelle Yeh
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
Earlier this month, we ran an opinion piece by Peter Zarrow concerning the plagiarism accusations against Tsinghua University Professor Wang Hui, in which Dr. Zarrow explained why he had signed a letter of support organized by international scholars and sent to Tsinghua’s president. The essay was picked up and circulated by the MCLC listserv, where it generated a number of comments. One of the responses came from Michelle Yeh of UC Davis, and we asked Dr. Yeh if she would expand her remarks and share them with China Beat readers. She has done so in the essay below, and also …
R.I.P. China Blogs?,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
R.I.P. China Blogs?
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
We were amused to see that the most recent Sinica podcast was ominously titled “Death of the China Blog,” since here at China Beat we feel very much alive. To our relief, however, the discussion (among host Kaiser Kuo, Imagethief’s Will Moss, and Danwei’s Jeremy Goldkorn — who was good enough to do an interview with us last month) ended with the happy conclusion that while the China blogosphere has changed quite a bit in the past few years, it’s still going strong. We heartily agree.
Musings On A Museum: A Trip To Xibaipo,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Musings On A Museum: A Trip To Xibaipo, Kenneth Pomeranz
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
A short trip to China earlier this month took me to Beijing to give a talk, to Shijiazhuang for a conference, and, briefly, to the Hebei countryside — my first time in quite a while in rural North China. And it once again proved that every trip teaches you something, but often not on the expected topics. (One little detail that I found telling: most of the Beijing-based academics who were at the Shijiazhuang conference told me it was their first time there. True, Shijiazhuang is not a tourist hot spot, but it is a provincial capital, with over 2 …
Jia Zhangke Does Shanghai…And Other Notes From The Field,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Jia Zhangke Does Shanghai…And Other Notes From The Field
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
In addition to checking out the Expo (something I’ve blogged about before and will blog about again) and hosting a series of dialogs at M on the Bund’s Glamour Bar (the last of which takes place this Sunday at 2:30 and will find me in conversation about writing for the web and for print with Evan Osnos of the New Yorker magazine and the excellent “Letter from China” blog), I’ve been trying to take advantage of any opportunities that come along in terms of local cultural events. On the whole, I think I’ve been very lucky with my timing.
Reading Round-Up: China And India,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Reading Round-Up: China And India
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
• At the Wall Street Journal, Shefali Anand explains why India’s stock market is currently outperforming China’s:
Joan Hinton (1921-2010),
2010
Northwestern University
Joan Hinton (1921-2010), Charles W. Hayford
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
Joan Hinton died last month in a Beijing hospital at the age of 88. It was surprising that so many mainstream American newspapers ran detailed obituaries. Hinton had lived in China since 1948, mostly running dairy farms, and she didn’t go out of her way to address Americans, as did her brother, William, author of the classic Fanshen: A Documentary of Revolution in a Chinese Village (1967). She did publicly attack American imperialism — in 2006, she displayed a T shirt reading “F—k Bush” in Chinese.
Two Pku Professors On China’S Youth,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Two Pku Professors On China’S Youth, Alec Ash
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
In late May and early June, I interviewed professors Zhang Weiying and Pan Wei of Peking University (known as ‘Beida’). I wanted to know what the generation who grew up in the Cultural Revolution thought of the generation who grew up in the Consumer Revolution – and who could be leading China in thirty years. Here’s what they said.
Me, Wang Hui, And Liberal Wishy-Washy-Ness,
2010
nstitute of Modern History, Academia Sinica.
Me, Wang Hui, And Liberal Wishy-Washy-Ness, Peter Zarrow
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
Wang Hui is a cultural historian and critic, and professor at Qinghua University in Beijing. He was for several years editor of Dushu, a serious general interest magazine perhaps roughly — very roughly — equivalent to the Atlantic monthly in the US. He is also known as a leader of the so-called “New Left” intellectuals, who highlight the costs of economic liberalization, global capitalism, and rigid Western-style modernization policies. Early this year, charges of plagiarism began to appear concerning some of some of Wang Hui’s work. He has since been subject to numerous attacks, including ad hominen blog attacks.
World Cup, World Expo, And “Third World” Links,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
World Cup, World Expo, And “Third World” Links
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
This is shaping up to be a big year for cities of the Global South (or what in the past was more often called the “Third World”) to serve as first-time hosts for mega-events, whether of the top-tier variety (defined here as those, like the Olympics, that involve or at least could involve more than a hundred countries) or of the second-tier type (those like, say, the Pan-American Games, that draw in nations belonging to just one region or having something else specific in common). Starting with a pair of second-tier but still major sporting events, October will find New …
