Back To The Future: Going To The World’S Fair!,
2010
Princeton University
Back To The Future: Going To The World’S Fair!, Shellen Xiao Wu
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Once upon a time, world’s fairs displayed the glory, wealth, and reach of European empires and those who wished to emulate them. Countries from Asia, Africa, and South America set up booths presenting ”native” products, alongside the latest steam engines, repeating rifles and other technological wonders of the “advanced” nations. The first World’s Fair in London in 1851 brought the translucent Crystal Palace; the Eiffel Tower served as the entrance arch to the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1889; in 1893 the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago symbolized America’s entry into the ranks of powers.
In ten days, the Shanghai Expo …
Event Reminder: China Dialogue At Uc Irvine, 4/23,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Event Reminder: China Dialogue At Uc Irvine, 4/23
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
A reminder for our readers in Southern California that China Beat is co-sponsoring an event at UC Irvine on Friday afternoon. Jeff Wasserstrom will be in dialogue with journalist Mara Hvistendahl, discussing “The Challenge of Writing about a Fast-Changing China: Notes from the Borderland Between Scholarship and Journalism.” The talk will also serve as a book launch for China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know, Wasserstrom’s new release from Oxford University Press.
The event will be held in Humanities Gateway, room 1030, from 1:00-2:30 p.m.
Reading Round-Up: China In The World,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Reading Round-Up: China In The World
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
A grab bag of readings around the web that we wanted to share — loosely connected by a “China in the world” theme that the site editors have been thinking about a lot lately, as we’ve begun discussing the possibility of a secondChina Beat book to follow up China in 2008: A Year of Great Significance. Though it’s presently more an idea than a plan, now it seems that everywhere we look, we see China Beatniks being talked about in different parts of the world, connecting China with different parts of the world, and simply moving from writing about China …
Qinghai Earthquake Stories In Translation,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Qinghai Earthquake Stories In Translation
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
•At his blog, Bruce Humes compares a Newsweek story on the earthquake’s aftermath, “A Sympathetic Hearing,” with its Chinese translation appearing inCankao Xiaoxi (参考消息), finding that quite a bit got edited out and altered. Highlights of the Cankao Xiaoxi version, summarized by Humes:
•Quotes from China social commentator Yang Hengjun are cut to ribbons and then spliced, partly to remove references to anti-Tibetan prejudice among Han, arguably fostered by China’s own media coverage (“It’s very hard to see real Tibetans…on TV, they’re dancing all the time, shaking hands with leaders, celebrating, or shown as troublemakers.”)
•Chinese people don’t “Tweet” (even …
Robert Barnett On The Qinghai Earthquake,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Robert Barnett On The Qinghai Earthquake
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
In the aftermath of last week’s earthquake in Qinghai, Brice Pedroletti of Le Mondeinterviewed (via e-mail) Robert Barnett, director of the Modern Tibetan Studies Program at Columbia University. (Read the interview, and a related story, at Le Monde’s website.) Below, an unedited English version of their interview, which is posted here with permission of both Brice Pedroletti and Robert Barnett.
Interview with Robert Barnett on Yushu’s earthquake political implications (April 16th)
Brice Pedroletti: What can we expect the political mood to be in the Tibetan population as well as among the monks, towards the Chinese authorities, over one year after …
Updates On The Qinghai Earthquake,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Updates On The Qinghai Earthquake
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
1. Evan Osnos has a “Letter from China” at his New Yorker blog that addresses the earthquake as “a test of openness,” as rumors spread throughout the country worry that the government is hiding predictions of another quake that will supposedly hit Beijing and Tianjin in the coming weeks. Osnos also links to this page at the Huffington Post, which lists organizations accepting donations to aid in earthquake relief.
2. China Digital Times has centralized its news about the earthquake at this page.
3. Danwei’s “Front Page of the Day” looks at how various Chinese newspapers covered the earthquake.
4. …
Dancing Is My Hobby,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Dancing Is My Hobby
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
“In Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia, a 76-year-old former PLA soldier and amateur calligrapher from Shanghai dances away another Tuesday morning. Underneath his footwork, he has written in almost as flawless spelling, ‘Dancing is my hoby’.”
— Alec Ash, Six
Asia, Faraway Or Next Door?,
2010
University of Manchester
Asia, Faraway Or Next Door?, Samuel Y. Liang
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
On my way from England to AAS 2010, I stopped in New York for two nights and visited the Chinatown in Manhattan. This prosperous area sprawls beyond the boundary shown in the tourist map towards the shoreline of the East River; it also encroaches on neighboring Little Italy, which is increasingly like an island in a sea of Chinese shops and restaurants. The density of the shops and their gaudy commercialism, it seems to me, exceed those in Chinese cities and are quite similar to those in Won Kok, Hong Kong.
In a buffet-style restaurant, I got to know two …
Qinghai Earthquake Readings,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Qinghai Earthquake Readings
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Quite a bit is being written today about Wednesday’s earthquake in Qinghai, and we expect many more stories in the coming days. Here, a survey of what we’ve found online so far:
1. The Guardian has put together an interactive map of the quake region, as well as a powerful photo series.
2. Danwei has translated a commentary by Wang Jian of China National Radio, which focuses on the difficulties of relief and rescue efforts:
At this time, we do not have enough tents to shield the victims from the cold, and we do not have enough blankets to warm …
Expo Readings Around The Web,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Expo Readings Around The Web
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
With the Shanghai World Expo opening in just a few short weeks, it’s now showing up in news stories on a daily basis. A few links to check out:
1. The team at Shanghaiist got to take a tour of the still-under-construction Expo grounds last week, and have posted quite a number of pictures from their visit; check out their galleries of Zone A, Zone B, and Zone C. Over at Shanghai Scrap, Adam Minter documents his look inside the U.S. Expo pavilion (and his underwhelmed reaction) in a story here.
2. Also at Shanghaiist, Elaine Chow has conducted a …
Before China Beat, There Was China Beyond The Headlines,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Before China Beat, There Was China Beyond The Headlines, Timothy B. Weston
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
For several years now there has been a close connection between China Beat and China beyond the Headlines. The latter, a series of essay collections edited by myself and Lionel M. Jensen, is designed for a general and classroom audience (Volume One was published in 2000; Volume Two, China’s Transformations, was released in 2007). In addition to some common players who have been involved with both, such as Geremie Barmé, Tim Cheek, Tim Oakes, Jeff Wasserstrom and myself, China Beat and China beyond the Headlines are fortunate to share Susan McEachern of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers as an editor. Each …
Book Talk(S),
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Book Talk(S)
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Finishing up work on China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know, which is due out in a few days from Oxford University Press, and then more recently preparing for a series of public events that are linked in some way to its publication, set me thinking about the varied ways that books incorporate things that have gone before them. The many kinds of building blocks, from tales told to things written down, that authors use to create something new.
I’ve never written a novel, but I’ve heard that these can easily grow out of a tale told …
Socialist Cosmopolitanism: China Beat Event,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Socialist Cosmopolitanism: China Beat Event
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
On Wednesday, April 7, the China Beat was pleased to co-host (with the Humanities Collective) a talk at UCI by Nicolai Volland, who teaches Chinese Studies at National University of Singapore. Volland spoke on “Socialist Cosmopolitanism: China’s Other ‘Age of Openness’ in the 1950s.” ReferencingFrank Dikötter‘s recent book on Republican China, The Age of Openness: China Before Mao, Volland argued that 1950s China can also be seen as “open,” if not to the U.S. and Western Europe. Volland explored cultural exchanges within the socialist world to provide evidence of China’s continued international engagement during the early Mao years. Interested readers …
Though I Am Gone,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Though I Am Gone
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
In his review of Andrew Walder’s Fractured Rebellion: The Beijing Red Guard Movement, John Gittings discusses the July 1966 murder of Bian Zhongyun, deputy principal of the Beijing Normal Girls’ High School. Gittings mentions that Bian’s story has been told in a moving documentary that features interviews with her husband, who shares photographs that he took at the time of her death. The entire movie, Wo sui siqu (我虽死去 Though I Am Gone), is available on YouTube; below, we’ve embedded the first section of the film (in Mandarin with English subtitles).
Listen At Home To Peter Hessler And Ken Pomeranz,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Listen At Home To Peter Hessler And Ken Pomeranz
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Earlier this year, UC Irvine hosted a conversation between Peter Hessler and Ken Pomeranz, centering on a discussion of Hessler’s new book, Country Driving. A podcast of that event is now available, jointly produced by The China Beat andMaking History Podcast (a site run by Jana Remy, a UCI History graduate student and friend of the blog). Check it out at the MHP website, or on iTunes.
Just One Child Wins Post-1900 Levenson Prize,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Just One Child Wins Post-1900 Levenson Prize
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Though China Beat contributors come from around the globe, the blog’s editorial team is based at UC Irvine. For that reason, we take special pride in announcing that at last month’s Association for Asian Studies annual meeting, UCI Professor of Anthropology Susan Greenhalgh won the Joseph Levenson Prize for Best Book on China Post-1900. Professor Greenhalgh’s book, Just One Child: Science and Policy in Deng’s China, was published by the University of California Press in 2008, and attempts to answer several questions that have permeated her work as a population specialist during the era of the one-child policy:
Why? Why …
In Case You Missed It: China Dream,
2010
London School of Economics and Political Science
In Case You Missed It: China Dream, Christopher R. Hughes
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Liu Mingfu 刘明福, China Dream: The Great Power Thinking and Strategic Positioning of China in the Post-American Age (Zhongguo meng: hou meiguo shidai de daguo siwei zhanlue dingwei). (Beijing: Zhongguo youyi chuban gongsi, 2010).
China Dream, by Colonel Liu Mingfu, a professor at Beijing’s National Defense University, is the latest of several books to speculate on how China can displace the leadership of the United States after the global economic crisis. Understandably, Liu’s military background has led to conjecture over whether his views reflect the ambitions of the PLA or even China’s leaders. Yet China Dream is most interesting not …
Missing Footage At The Aas,
2010
University of British Columbia
Missing Footage At The Aas, Timothy Cheek
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
The Roundtable session at this year’s annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) in Philadelphia was titled “Against Amnesia: History, Memory and the Role of Public Intellectuals in 21st Century China.” A mix of scholars from China and North America were scheduled to report and discuss, but at the last minute our featured speaker, Ms. Cui Weiping (崔卫平) of the Beijing Film Academy, could not attend. She was prevented from leaving China for the roundtable even though she had been specially invited by the AAS and had her passport, US visa, and air tickets in hand. She was …
Google Bus,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Google Bus
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Amid uncertainty regarding Google’s future in China, on March 10, 2010, a line 319 bus near the East Gate of Beijing University is wrapped in an advertisement for the company. The URL on the back of the bus still works, though it’s now being routed through Hong Kong.
—Photo by Sara Kile
Sara Kile is a PhD candidate in premodern Chinese literature at Columbia University. She is currently in Nanjing conducting research for her dissertation, “Experimenting in the Limelight: Cultural Entrepreneurship in Early Qing China.”
Coming Distractions: China Watcher,
2010
University of California, Los Angeles
Coming Distractions: China Watcher, Richard Baum
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
In the winter of 1994 I moved to Yokohama, Japan, to direct a semester-long U.C. Education Abroad Program (EAP) curriculum on Peace and Development Studies at Meiji Gakuin University. Because all electronic communications in Japan were controlled by the government’s telecomm monopoly, NHK, Internet access was extremely expensive, and my Compuserve subscription was costing me a small fortune —over US$250 each month — in connection charges. Since I was in more-or-less regular e-mail contact with a number of other China scholars in various countries, I decided to economize on my on-line connection charges by periodically sending group e-mailings to several …
