Bill And Warren’S Excellent (Chinese) Adventure,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Bill And Warren’S Excellent (Chinese) Adventure, Caroline Reeves
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are throwing a charity banquet in Beijing. On September 29th, the two American tycoons will host a dinner for China’s wealthiest magnates to convince them to give their monies away to charity. This event has caused a stir in the Chinese world. Everyone from movie stars to industry moguls is involved. Doonesbury is talking about it. Some billionaires have publicly declined to dine with the dynamic duo, wondering aloud if the event was planned to publicly part them from their new fortunes. Their response has called into question China’s “charitable impulse” and given rise to …
A Bitter Pill For Prime Minister Kan,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
A Bitter Pill For Prime Minister Kan, James Farrer
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
It was a bitter pill for the Democratic Party of Japan, no matter how they swallowed it. By releasing a Chinese fishing boat captain detained by Japan without a trial, Prime Minster Kan Naoto was clearly bowing under Chinese pressure. The captain had been arrested by the Japanese coast guard for allegedly ramming his boat into Japanese coast guard vessels while in territorial waters claimed both by China and Japan. The Japanese government appeared to buckle and released the captain to China on Saturday. According to an unnamed official in the prime minister’s office quoted in the Asahi Shinbun on …
Anhui’S Barefoot Aids Doctors,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Anhui’S Barefoot Aids Doctors, Annie Ye Ren
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
For the past four years, I have periodically worked with a Chinese grassroots HIV/AIDS non-governmental organization (NGO) that serves children in Fuyang Prefecture, Anhui Province. The Fuyang AIDS Orphan Salvation Association (AOS)gives aid directly to local communities, addressing local needs that are often overlooked or underfunded by large-scale government projects.
What I Read On My Summer Vacation (Part Iii),
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
What I Read On My Summer Vacation (Part Iii), Jeffrey Wasserstrom
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
I’ll get to books I actually read over the summer (or in one case, am part of the way through as I write), as opposed to simply ones I dipped into, learned about, wrote about, or thought about, in a minute. First, though, I want to mention briefly a trio of book-related summertime activities of mine that don’t quite fit into the format of this series.
In Case You Missed It: An Introduction To Chinese Philosophy,
2010
University of California, Irvine
In Case You Missed It: An Introduction To Chinese Philosophy, Miri Kim
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
In this well written and organized book, Karyn L. Lai lays out the founding personalities, texts, and interventions in the early history of Chinese philosophy. What could easily have been a tortuous path through centuries’ worth of extant materials and a plenitude of voices devoted to their understanding is, rather, a brisk and focused guided tour that covers major developments in Chinese philosophy without eschewing its lesser known – but still important – aspects. An Introduction to Chinese Philosophy does exactly what it promises to do: provide a clear introduction, neither too truncated nor too bogged down in detail, that …
Lantern Festival,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Lantern Festival
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
“To the unceasing banging of fireworks, and in the last snow of winter, a child and her grandfather light a sparkler to celebrate lantern festival, or yuanxiaojie.
A Q-And-A With Jeremy Goldkorn Of Danwei.Org,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
A Q-And-A With Jeremy Goldkorn Of Danwei.Org
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
Maura Elizabeth Cunningham: How did Danwei get started, and what is its primary mission? Has this changed over time?
Readings Around The Web: Fun In The Sun Edition,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Readings Around The Web: Fun In The Sun Edition
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
• Heading for the beach and looking for the perfect book to toss in your tote bag? At Five Books, authors are interviewed and asked to recommend five books on a specific topic. Though the site covers far more than China, several of the features are China-focused and worth a look; check out Rod MacFarquhar on the Cultural Revolution, Isabel Hilton on China’s environmental crisis, and Richard McGregor on the Chinese Communist Party.
An Interview With Richard Mcgregor, Author Of The Party,
2010
National Committee on U.S.-China Relations
An Interview With Richard Mcgregor, Author Of The Party, Maura Elizabeth Cunningham
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
Richard McGregor is the former Beijing bureau chief for the Financial Times and author of the newly released The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers. I recently conducted the interview below with McGregor via e-mail; you can read excerpts from the book here and here and also find a “Why I Write” profile of McGregor at the Urbanatomy site.
Treat Human Beings As Humans,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Treat Human Beings As Humans, Zhang Lijia
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
The suicides among workers at Foxconn and the ongoing strikes at Honda and other foreign-owned factories are cries for help. Within its Shenzhen plant, Foxconn seems to provide everything its 400,000 workers can hope for: canteens, clinics, a library, entertainment and sports facilities.
Special Report: Thirty Years Of The One-Child Policy,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Special Report: Thirty Years Of The One-Child Policy
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
Scott Tong of Marketplace is concluding his three years as the program’s Shanghai bureau chief by taking an in-depth look at the One-Child Policy as it approaches its 30-year anniversary.
Recent And Upcoming Conversations In China,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Recent And Upcoming Conversations In China
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
This post follows up on previous ones, such as those found here and here, that have focused on the way that public conversations about China can complement other kinds of methods for communicating ideas and information about the country, from lectures given by one person to written works ranging from essays to books. One thing that has inspired me to revisit this subject is that I’ve become addicted (and this certainly qualifies as a “positive addiction”) to the Sinica podcasts hosted by Kaiser Kuo.
Expo Watch 2010,
2010
Princeton University
Expo Watch 2010, Shellen Xiao Wu
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
In Shanghai these days it is impossible to avoid the World Expo. Hotels are packed with domestic tourists and school groups; subway and bus televisions show a constant news loop about events at the Expo; and Haibao, the rectangular, blue mascot of the Expo, graces numerous government offices, posters, and official merchandise stalls. To ensure the target of 70 million visitors is met and exceeded for the duration of the Expo from the beginning of May to the end of October, various government offices in Shanghai have handed out Expo “gift packs” of one free ticket per Shanghai resident family. …
Beijing Bibliophile, Part Ii: Market Change And New Technology,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Beijing Bibliophile, Part Ii: Market Change And New Technology, Eric Setzekorn
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
Dozens of bookstores continue to dot Beijing but recent developments are changing the landscape for readers and publishers by forcing many smaller stores out of the market. Part of this trend is due to advances in public transportation, particularly the enlarged subway system, that make it possible to travel across town for a larger selection and lower prices, leading to a decline in neighborhood bookstores. A less positive part of the bookstore consolidation is the increasing leverage state sector bookstores such as Xinhua can exert on private booksellers using market and political forces. A mixed element in the dynamic Beijing …
Confessions Of A Lifelong China Watcher,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Confessions Of A Lifelong China Watcher, Angilee Shah
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
Looking back on China’s dramatic recent history, from the devastation of the Great Leap Forward to today’s exuberant “socialism with Chinese characteristics,” is a fascinating exercise. China Watcher offers the rare opportunity to learn this history as author Richard Baum did — from the front row.
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Chinese-Language Preface,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Chinese-Language Preface
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
Earlier this week, we published an English translation of the preface that James W. Loewen penned for the Chinese edition of his bestselling book
A New Book On Mao: A Quick Q & A With Author Rebecca Karl,
2010
New York University
A New Book On Mao: A Quick Q & A With Author Rebecca Karl, Rebecca Karl
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
Rebecca Karl, who teaches at New York University and is known in Chinese studies circles as the author of important studies of nationalism during the final years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) and the development of Marxist thought between the 1920s and the present, has a new book coming out soon. Titled Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World: A Concise History, it’s being published (simultaneously in paperback and hardback editions) by Duke University Press. The publisher promises that it will provide readers with a “lively and concise historical account of Mao Zedong’s life and thought,” and it comes …
Notes On A Conversation: Ian Johnson And Angilee Shah,
2010
UC Irvine
Notes On A Conversation: Ian Johnson And Angilee Shah, Miri Kim
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
Earlier this week, we held the final event of this year’s “China Lecture Series” at UC Irvine, featuring a dialogue between Ian Johnson and Angilee Shah. Johnson, formerly of the Wall Street Journal, is author of Wild Grass: Three Stories of Change in Modern China and A Mosque in Munich: Nazis, the CIA, and the Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in the West. Shah is a freelance writer and blogger; her work has appeared at the Far Eastern Economic Review, Global Voices Online, Zócalo Public Square, and The China Beat. Below, a summary of the conversation between Johnson and Shah.
Review: China’S Megatrends: The Eight Pillars Of A New Society,
2010
University of Manchester
Review: China’S Megatrends: The Eight Pillars Of A New Society, William A. Callahan
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
The future is a hot topic in China; bookstores are full of tomes asserting the 21st century as China’s century: Liu Mingfu’s The China Dream(2010) and Chan Koon-chung’s The Gilded Era: China 2013 (2009) are but two of the most recent books that describe how China is destined to become the number one country in the world.
A Coming Sino-U.S. Currency Battle? Obama Speaks Out About The Renminbi,
2010
National Committee on U.S.-China Relations
A Coming Sino-U.S. Currency Battle? Obama Speaks Out About The Renminbi, Maura Elizabeth Cunningham
The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012
On November 19, 2009, I posted a story here at China Beat that I titled “The Good, the Bad, and the Boring.” The article was a review of Barack Obama’s first presidential visit to China, during which he held a somewhat bland town hall meeting in Shanghai, performed the de rigueur tours of the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, and met with Hu Jintao and other Chinese leaders behind closed doors. All in all, Obama’s trip seemed to be little more than an icebreaker, a quick and innocuous introduction to one of America’s most important strategic partners. But that …
