Memories Of Hyperdevelopment: Chongqing Trip Report,
2011
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Memories Of Hyperdevelopment: Chongqing Trip Report, Jacob Dreyer
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Like any good Shanghai resident, I am more or less terrified by the China that exists outside of metro line 3. However, I had been obsessing for months about the municipality of Chongqing, a radically unusual city even by the standards of contemporary China. When I found that I had a spare weekend, I finally took a trip there to explore. Instead of describing my trip, or offering a journalistic take on the city à la Christina Larson, whose piece in Foreign Policy does that more competently than I could hope to, what follows is a series of meditations on …
Shanghai Spaces And Histories: Thoughts On Reading Qiu Xiaolong’S Years Of Red Dust,
2011
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Shanghai Spaces And Histories: Thoughts On Reading Qiu Xiaolong’S Years Of Red Dust, Daisy Yan Du
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
In Shanghai Modern, Leo Lee, a prominent specialist in Chinese literary studies, focuses much of his attention on urban space as a marker of modernity in Republican Shanghai (1912-1949). His mappings of the city include places that are located mostly in the concessions, where Western (and later Japanese) influences dominated: the high-rise buildings in the Bund, the department stores located on or near Nanjing Road, and the cafes in the French Concession, as well as dance halls, public parks, race clubs, and cinemas. Lee also touches upon the lanes populated by native Chinese, but his main focus is on …
Asia’S Disappearing Daughters,
2011
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Asia’S Disappearing Daughters, Jeffrey Wasserstrom
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Last week witnessed the publication of Mara Hvistendahl’s Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men (Public Affairs, 2011), and over the weekend my take on the book appeared online at the recently relaunched Asian Review of Books. That review is reposted here with the kind permission of the ARB, almost exactly as it ran there. Those who are interested in learning more about Hvistendahl’s arguments after reading my essay can, of course, buy the book, but U.S.-based followers of the blog have another option as well: catch one of the public events …
Humiliation And Normalization: A Tale Of Two New China
Books,
2011
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Humiliation And Normalization: A Tale Of Two New China Books, Jeffrey Wasserstrom
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Henry Kissinger and Robert Bickers don’t have much in common. One is a U.S.-based octogenarian; the other a U.K.-based scholar roughly half as old. Only one, Kissinger, has been characterized by Christopher Hitchens (among others) as a perpetrator of war crimes. And only one, ironically Kissinger again, has won a Nobel Peace Prize. Kissinger spent some time as a professor, but then went on to work as a diplomat and business consultant. Bickers, however, while writing about diplomats and entrepreneurs (along with policemen and other kinds of people), has made his career solely within the academy. This list could be …
New Media And Old Dilemmas: Online Protest And Cyber
Repression In Asia Panel Report,
2011
National Committee on U.S.-China Relations
New Media And Old Dilemmas: Online Protest And Cyber Repression In Asia Panel Report, Maura Elizabeth Cunningham
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
As I noted in an article I wrote for the Dissent website earlier this week, one of the major China-related stories of 2011 has been the government’s ever-increasing crackdown on public expression. What started subtly back in January—a slowdown in internet service here and there, more websites (including this one) being blocked—became a full-blown international issue on April 3, when artist and activist Ai Weiwei was detained at the Beijing airport. Ai’s disappearance has sparked a flood of analysis and commentaries: Colin Jones discusses “The Purge of Ai Weiwei” at Dissent, Evan Osnos at the New Yorkerhas written a series …
Factories Without Smoke,
2011
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Factories Without Smoke, Chris Cherry
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
They are China’s most precious economic asset: migrant workers. Each year, millions upon millions untie themselves from the rhythms of rural life to chase down a future in the prestige cities and sudden boomtowns of the eastern and southern coasts. In doing so, they begin a dramatic journey from farmer to worker; one marked by a profound shift from cultivating land they own, to producing goods they don’t. But few will be allowed to transform completely. Oft belittled for their unsophisticated ways, to urbanites they are forever “waidiren” — outside people. Most will be marked by their speech the moment …
We Chinese,
2011
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
We Chinese, M. Scott Brauer
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
“We Chinese” grew out of a curiosity to find out what Chinese people think about their country and their future. Media coverage of the country and its development often raises questions about the direction of the government in Beijing on the world stage. Few reports take into account the feelings of the Chinese people, instead making reference to the country as a monolithic actor without constituent parts. A country’s trajectory through history cannot be mapped without careful consideration of the people. This project aims, in a small way, to develop a portrait of the country by looking at the individual …
Pre-Summit Positioning,
2011
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Pre-Summit Positioning, Scott Kennedy
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Preparations for Wednesday’s state visit by Hu Jintao have been underway for several months. Most of that time was spent negotiating over what deals would be reached, whether there would be a joint statement, and what food would be served. I’m particularly interested to see: 1) Whether Chinese first lady Liu Yongqing will eat the standard fare put on the table as everyone else. She typically travels with her own chef and food; and 2) Whether the American media will get a good photo of the back of Hu Jintao’s head to determine once and for all if he has …
On The Joys Of Online Book Shopping,
2011
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
On The Joys Of Online Book Shopping, Maggie Greene
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
In the fall of 2010, I advanced to candidacy at the University of California, San Diego, and bearing the new title of PhD candidate in modern Chinese history, I set off for that great and time-honored pilgrimage to the People’s Republic of China to start researching my dissertation. I’ve been here four months, and while the process of researching Chinese opera (particularly kun opera and ghost plays) in the PRC has not been as smooth as I would have hoped, there is one thing that’s been going swimmingly: book shopping. More precisely, shopping online for books related to my dissertation.
Reading Round-Up, 2/20/11,
2011
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Reading Round-Up, 2/20/11
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
• If you’re looking for a few China book recommendations, check out these two recent interviews at The Browser’s “Five Books” feature: the New Yorker’s Evan Osnos suggests five books that first-time visitors to China should read before they go, and Victor Shih of Northwestern University shares his favorite titles dealing with the Chinese economy.
Book Review: Embattled Glory,
2011
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Book Review: Embattled Glory
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Will virulent nationalism make China a threat to the international order? This is the question that Neil J. Diamant sets out to address in Embattled Glory. A number of academics as well as the mass media have argued that after 1989 the Chinese Communist Party purposely fostered a wide-spread and strongly-felt popular nationalism, and that this sense of nationalism pushes Chinese foreign policy toward more hard-line positions that could lead to diplomatic or even military conflict between China, its neighbors, and even the United States. Diamant points specifically to Peter Gries’ China’s New Nationalism: Pride, Politics and Diplomacy as an …
Bay Area Readers: See Datong: The Great Society,
2011
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Bay Area Readers: See Datong: The Great Society
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Our readers in the Bay Area who enjoyed learning about the new Kang Youwei docu-drama Datong: The Great Society earlier this week have an upcoming opportunity to see the movie, which will be screened at UC Berkeley on December 13. Filmmaker Evans Chan will be on hand for a Q&A after the film.
China’S Empty Apartments,
2011
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
China’S Empty Apartments, Michael Gsovski
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Southeast of Kunming, a new city has risen from the earth, so new that it is literally called the “Chenggong New Area.” Giant complexes of towering, modern apartment buildings line the wide, recently built streets, broken every few kilometers by parks as large and as well designed as any in Kunming proper. Every block of apartment buildings has a police substation, and some have functioning schools. Along the recently constructed highways linking the new city to the old, it seems as if farmland has been transformed into a high-rise commuter suburb like those on the outskirts of Hong Kong and …
Thoughts On River Elegy, June 1988-June 2011,
2011
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Thoughts On River Elegy, June 1988-June 2011, David Moser
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
I remember watching the legendary six-part CCTV miniseries River Elegy in my dorm room at Peking University in June of 1988—the last June in the Chinese historical calendar that would not have its 4th day permanently stained red. At the time I could not understand much of the stentorian voice-over (I was only a couple of years into my lifelong struggle with Chinese), but during the week the show was broadcast it became clear that the documentary had hit academic circles like an atomic bomb. The series’ content—a sweeping, brutally painful critique of the deep structure of Chinese culture—was the …
Beijing Subway’S “Great Leap Forward” Provokes
Resistance,
2011
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Beijing Subway’S “Great Leap Forward” Provokes Resistance, Jared Hall
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
An elderly couple camped outside as most of the city took shelter from the winter chill. They were doused in gasoline, flanked by a box of matches and a coffin. A small crowd looked on solemnly as the pair read posters recounting their story. These were Wang Shibo’s grandparents, whose store on the southern end of the popular Nanluoguxiang (南鼓巷) shopping street had been slated for demolition to make way for a new station along Beijing Subway’s newly-extended Line Eight.
Q&A: Yi-Li Wu, Author Of Reproducing Women,
2011
National Committee on U.S.-China Relations
Q&A: Yi-Li Wu, Author Of Reproducing Women, Maura Elizabeth Cunningham
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
MEC: Your book examines “medicine for women” (科 fuke) in Qing China. How did the practice of fuke then differ from present-day obstetrics and gynecology? What has changed in the Chinese understanding of women’s medicine?
China Beat On Break,
2011
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
China Beat On Break
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
We’re going to put China Beat on hiatus from now until early July so I can get settled in Shanghai (where I’ll be based for the next couple of months) and all of our consulting editors and contributors can enjoy some summer vacation.
Ai Weiwei At The Venice Biennale,
2011
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Ai Weiwei At The Venice Biennale, Jon Wiener
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
At the world’s biggest art event this summer, the Venice Biennale, the world’s most famous imprisoned artist, Ai Weiwei, was not exactly neglected—but his case received virtually no official acknowledgment.
Q&A: Robert Bickers, Author Of The Scramble For China,
2011
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Q&A: Robert Bickers, Author Of The Scramble For China, Jeffrey Wasserstrom
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Several months ago, I was lucky enough to get my hands on an advance copy of The Scramble for China: Foreign Devils in the Qing Empire, 1832-1914, Robert Bickers’ fascinating new book. Published in the United Kingdom and most other parts of the world in February, this work will be released in the United States later this month. In anticipation, I caught up with Robert (an old friend and sometime co-author of mine, as well as a past contributor to China Beat) and asked him some questions about the book. A stylishly written and carefully researched work, it contains everything …
Jose Rizal In Filipino Literature And History,
2011
Ateneo de Manila University
Jose Rizal In Filipino Literature And History, Ambeth R. Ocampo
History Department Faculty Publications
Filipinos in the twenty-first century are separated from their past by the language they speak. While it is true that Jose Rizal, National Hero of the Philippines, wrote a great deal for a nation that cannot read him in the original Spanish, nevertheless his vast and excellent opus guarantees his place in Filipino letters. These include, of course, his two major novels, Noli me tangere, published in 1887, and El filibusterismo, published in 1891, and an annotated edition of Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas that Rizal completed and published in 1890. Despite the fact that today Rizal’s …
