The Political Economy Of Avatar’S Chinese Adventure,
2010
University of Southern California
The Political Economy Of Avatar’S Chinese Adventure, Stanley Rosen
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
There’s been a lot of discussion of the political meanings that can be read intoAvatar and how this might relate to it being pulled from or simply ending its run in some Chinese theaters. As a political scientist with a long-term interest in the Chinese film industry, and the fate of Hollywood movies in China, and someone who is interested in the working of SARFT (the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television), here are four things worth keeping in mind when considering the situation:
Lu Xun, Mao Zedong, Perhaps A Badger,
2010
University of Florida
Lu Xun, Mao Zedong, Perhaps A Badger, Sean Macdonald
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Urbanatomy has been running a series called “Why I Write” for the past several months, and we’ve noticed that when asked for their favorite Chinese author, many interviewees name Lu Xun (though Ian Johnson is a vocal dissenter). It’s likely that Lu Xun’s work will be known to even more non-Chinese speakers in the future, since Julia Lovell’s new translation of his complete fiction has hit bookshelves — read an excerpt from her introduction here, and see Jeff Wasserstrom’s review of the book here. So many decades after his death, why does Lu Xun remain one of China’s best-known authors, …
In Search Of Remembrance: Jia Zhangke’S I Wish I Knew,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
In Search Of Remembrance: Jia Zhangke’S I Wish I Knew, Ken Kwan Ming Hao
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
In his new film I Wish I Knew, a documentary on Shanghai, Jia Zhangke recreates once again, after a detour of sorts with Useless and24 City, that wonderful tension between the biographical and the historical, the primal impetus of his art, that had made Platform,The World, and Still Life, his best films, so memorable. Jia is different from all other well-known mainland Chinese directors, be they of the 5th or 6th generation — his is a singular sensibility that is aware of but not chained to the social-political, which to him are meaningful only to the extent that they are …
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:
蜚語 (第二期),
2010
Lingnan University
蜚語 (第三期),
2010
Lingnan University
From Parody To Simulacrum: Japanese Sf, Regionalism, And The Inauthentic In The Early Works Of Komatsu Sakyô And Tsutsui Yasutaka,
2010
Swarthmore College
From Parody To Simulacrum: Japanese Sf, Regionalism, And The Inauthentic In The Early Works Of Komatsu Sakyô And Tsutsui Yasutaka, William O. Gardner
Japanese Faculty Works
No abstract provided.
The Pure Land Of Assisi: Anesaki Masaharu In Italy,
2010
University at Albany, State University of New York
The Pure Land Of Assisi: Anesaki Masaharu In Italy, Susanna Fessler Phd
East Asian Studies Faculty Scholarship
A study of Anesaki Masaharu and his travelogue of Italy published in 1909
“Life, It’S Been Said, Is One Big Book…”: One Hundred Years Of Qian Zhongshu,
2010
University of British Columbia
“Life, It’S Been Said, Is One Big Book…”: One Hundred Years Of Qian Zhongshu, Christopher Rea
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Headlines about China have been looking the same for some time now. “The China story” always seems to be political: labor riots and their suppression; sabre-rattling over Taiwan and cultural erasure in Tibet; catastrophic earthquakes and official ineptitude; internet censorship and jailed dissidents (the latest being Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo). Even ostensibly good news, such as the Chinese government’s investment in wind power, becomes yet another story about how China is going to eat our lunch.
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 …
Night At The Museum,
2010
Georgetown University
Night At The Museum, Kelly Hammond
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
When I was approached to help National Geographic with their ongoing exhibit of the Terra Cotta Warriors at their museum in Washington, D.C., I thought to myself: “Really? Me? But I work on Islam in late imperial China! I’m one of those scholars who mistakenly types Qing anytime I write about the Qin simply out of finger muscle memory! What could I possibly know about China’s first emperor, Qin Shihuang?”
China Books To Check Out,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
China Books To Check Out
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
If your New Year’s resolution is to read more, or if cold winter weather has chased you inside, pour yourself a hot drink, settle into a comfortable chair, and enjoy one (or more) of these books:
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 …
Critical Masses, Commerce, And Shifting State-Society Relations In China,
2010
University of New York, College of Staten Island
Critical Masses, Commerce, And Shifting State-Society Relations In China, Ying Zhu
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
This essay is based on the script of a talk Ying Zhu gave at Google’s New York offices on February 12, 2010. Sections in bold were not part of the original talk, but have been added by the authors to tease out some of the issues that were left without further elaboration due to time constraints.
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
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.
World Cup, World Expo, And “Third World” Links,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
World Cup, World Expo, And “Third World” Links
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 …
Where To Begin: New Perspectives On Chinese Labor,
2010
University of Oklahoma
Where To Begin: New Perspectives On Chinese Labor, Mark W. Frazier
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Studies of labor in China have taken an exciting turn in recent years with the publication of numerous rich and revealing portraits of workers, their jobs, and their place in Chinese politics and in the global economy. As thousands of migrant workers employed in auto parts suppliers for Toyota and Honda went on strike in May and June of 2010, some headlines heralded a political coming of age for China’s migrant workers. While it’s too early to assess the impact of these strikes, it is clear that migrant workers have gained a level of organizational sophistication and political awareness to …
One Day, Two Birthdays,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
One Day, Two Birthdays
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Most of the people in Philadelphia this holiday weekend have come for the Fourth of July festivities, such as readings of the Declaration of Independence and tours of Independence Hall. This year, however, a special event was part of the city’s eleven-day “Welcome America!” celebration: on Saturday, July 3, a street fair in Philadelphia’s Chinatown marked not only the 234th birthday of the United States, but also the 140th birthday of the Chinatown neighborhood itself (the district’s founding is dated to the establishment of a laundry at 9th and Race Streets in 1870). The afternoon was filled with musical performances, …
A Transcendent Moment In The Land Of Haibao,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
A Transcendent Moment In The Land Of Haibao
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
I’m finally in Shanghai, where the Gumby-like Haibao is amazingly even more omnipresent than the last time I was through (and then he seemed to be everywhere). I’ve come to check out the Expo, see some new sites, catch up with some old friends, do a bit of traveling, and, as I noted in an earlier post, take part in a dialog on World’s Fairs past and present with Nick Land (that took place a few days ago) and host a weekly series of “Cosmopolitan Conversations” with assorted writers at the Glamour Bar at M on the Bund (those are …
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 …
