Mao Fever And The Story Of A Mao Book,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Mao Fever And The Story Of A Mao Book, Ross Terrill
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
No abstract provided.
The Dalai Lama’S Visit To D.C.: A Short Interview With A. Tom Grunfeld,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
The Dalai Lama’S Visit To D.C.: A Short Interview With A. Tom Grunfeld, Jeffrey Wasserstrom
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
The lead-up to the Dalia Lama’s meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House last week received a great deal of attention from the press, and there was also a considerable amount of after the fact assessment of the event. In order to place what happened into a broad historical perspective, I put a few questions to A. Tom Grunfeld, who is a past contributor to “China Beat” and the author ofThe Making of Modern Tibet. Here are the results of our interview via e-mail, and if you live in New York and want to hear him talk about …
As China Beat Heads Into Its Third Year…,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
As China Beat Heads Into Its Third Year…, Kate Merkel-Hess
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
In January, we marked the end of our second year online. China Beat has changed a lot during that time, and will be changing more in the coming weeks and months as China Beat’s new editor, Maura Cunningham, takes the helm. It’s been my pleasure to have been founding editor of China Beat, and as I transition to a new role at the blog (I will now join the ranks of the blog’s consulting editors), I wanted to look back at how China Beat has developed since January 2008—for new readers and for readers who have been with us since …
Behind The Headline: Water, Water Everywhere…,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Behind The Headline: Water, Water Everywhere…, Ken Pomeranz
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
In mid-December, Financial Times published a piece about China’s south-north water diversion project. Writer Jamil Anderlini begins the article with a brief description of the project:
A Seventh Take On Jacques,
2010
University of Oslo
A Seventh Take On Jacques, Harald Bockman
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Since Jeff Wasserstrom posted a round-up of reviews of Martin Jacques’ When China Rules the World, pieces that reference the book have continued to be published, including a column by Robert Samuelson at the Wall Street Journalthat calls Jacques’ book ”masterful.” Jacques, meanwhile, published another op-ed on China and the US last week titled ”Crouching Dragon, Weakened Eagle” in the International Herald Tribune. Below, Harald Bockman raises his concerns about the on-going attention Jacques’ book is receiving, and points out—despite that attention—the weakness in the book that most reviewers are still missing.
Reading Round-Up: Barack Obama And The Dalai Lama,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Reading Round-Up: Barack Obama And The Dalai Lama
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
There have been plenty of news stories recently about today’s meeting between Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama. Here are some suggestions for further reading (and viewing):
China Tweetniks,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
China Tweetniks
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Those who follow China Beat on Twitter might have noticed that our long-neglected feed has shown signs of awakening lately.
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
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.
Continuing Coverage Of Country Driving,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Continuing Coverage Of Country Driving
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.
Peter Hessler At Uci,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Peter Hessler At Uci
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.
Rebuilding,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Rebuilding, Paul Katz
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 …
What Does China Imagine?,
2010
University of California, Los Angeles
What Does China Imagine?, Guangyi Li
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!
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
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.
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
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.
Joan Hinton (1921-2010),
2010
Northwestern University
Joan Hinton (1921-2010), Charles W. Hayford
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.
Musings On A Museum: A Trip To Xibaipo,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Musings On A Museum: A Trip To Xibaipo, Kenneth Pomeranz
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 …
Reading Round-Up, 1/31/2010,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Reading Round-Up, 1/31/2010
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
1. While quite a few writers have discussed the Avatar-versus-Confucius battle currently going on in Chinese cinemas (China Beat posts on the subject can be found here and here), the December 2009 issue of China Heritage Quarterlyincludes a piece by Gloria Davies and M.E. Davies on another attention-getting film, The Founding of a Republic. The authors point out that the movie, released to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the PRC’s founding, is notable for setting forth a new narrative about the events leading up to October 1, 1949:
Google And China: The Analysis Continues,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Google And China: The Analysis Continues
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Almost three weeks have passed since Google’s January 12 announcement that it would be reconsidering its Chinese operations, and although the company has not yet indicated a final decision about its future in China, the issues raised by this matter have sparked a number of thoughtful analyses. Yesterday, China Beatfeatured a piece by Geremie Barmé on “The Harmonious Evolution of Information in China”; below, some more recent commentaries on the Google and China story that have gotten our attention:
The Tao Of Avatar — And Why This Sort Of Movie Cannot Be Made In The Prc At This Point In Time…,
2010
Williams College
The Tao Of Avatar — And Why This Sort Of Movie Cannot Be Made In The Prc At This Point In Time…, Sam Crane
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
We saw Avatar last night (I know, I’ve been on a movie kick of late…). It was visually stunning. The story was unremarkable: a melodramatic morality tale (the good guy wins in the end!). But it did have a couple of Taoist elements, which were no doubt quite consciously incorporated into the story.
Over Exposure,
2010
University of Haifa
Over Exposure, Lisa Movius, Shakhar Rahav
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
“The Expo story that couldn’t be printed.” That’s what editors at Shanghai’s City Weekend magazine found they had on their hands several weeks ago, when Chinese censors deemed the story below “too negative” to run. A revised version was subsequently submitted, approved by the censors, and printed in the January 20, 2010 issue. City Weekend decided not to post the original story on its website as planned, as they were told it was inadvisable due to an official caution against publishing media reports critical of the Expo. Here, we are pleased to share with China Beat readers the full, uncensored …
