Digital Commons Network^™

Coming Distractions: Two Kinds Of Time, Robert A. Kapp

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The first big crush of incipient China specialists after World War II marched into America’s graduate schools in the early and mid-1960s, particularly after the enactment of the National Defense Education Act made large amounts of federal money available for “Foreign Area Studies” and “Critical Language Studies.”

I was one of the marchers. Having finished college, with virtually no exposure to anything Asian, in the spring of 1964, I began six long years of graduate study that fall. The new life began at 8 a.m. on, I think, September 22, in my first language class: Chinese I. It was a …

Ashes Of Time Redux, Matthew David Johnson

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Six years before Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Wo long cang hu, 2000), Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai was a pioneer in the genre of stylish, star-loaded, and festival-ready wuxia filmmaking. His Ashes of Time (Dung che sai duk / Dong xie xi du, 1994) reinterpreted martial arts fiction for a generation more accustomed to motion pictures and television serials than novels, at a time when Hong Kong’s economy was riding a crest of growth triggered by the opening of adjacent Guangdong to direct investment. Ashes represented a major investment for its producers, with a reputed budget of HK$40 million. Despite …

Obama Elected, China Reacts

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Chinese reactions to Obama’s election range broadly, as exemplified in this morning’s news coverage. Dominant themes include racial equality, financial security, a changing international profile for the U.S., and trade implications. [Please let us know if you find outstanding coverage elsewhere that you feel should be flagged–either by submitting a comment or by sending an email [email protected].]

From Jim Yardley’s piece (it is the last piece before the comments section begins) on Chinese reaction to Obama’s election, at The New York Times:

…Mr. Tang, 23, admitted that the American election had been a serious distraction during his Wednesday morning classes. …

"Our Woman In China": Louisa Lim, Angilee Shah

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Louisa Lim’s life as National Public Radio’s Shanghai correspondent is characterized by extreme variety. Much like China itself, Lim takes on many roles: hard-hitting investigative reporter, insightful trend spotter, art connoisseur, mother and even restaurateur. It turns out, she’s an excellent email-writer as well.

In a wide-ranging Web 2.0 interview, in between covering the Beijing Olympics and the ever-growing melamine disaster, she described her experiences in her three years as the Beijing correspondent for the BBC and then two with National Public Radio. She talked about the challenges of breaking news but still providing depth of coverage, the West’s growing …

Islamic Religious Curricula And Terrorism: A Case Study Of The Azherite Schools In Egypt, Babikir F. Babikir

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the connection between Islamic religious education and terrorism. It looks at the curricula of the Azherite religious schools in Egypt. It examines how the curricula view the three themes of Jihad which are offensive Jihad, defensive Jihad, and Jihad for the purification of the soul in addition to the relations of Muslims with non-Muslims. Books which are used by violent jihadist groups for membership acquisition and cadre training are also studied for Jihad themes and relations with non-Muslims.

The analysis shows that the curricula are, generally speaking, a peaceful one in its principal direction, since it obviously …

Advocate, November 2008, Vol. [20], No. [3], Advocate

The Advocate

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

From the Editor's Desk: The Road Ahead (p. 2)

Political Analysis: The Other November Election, Michael Busch (p. 3)

CUNY News in Brief (p. 3)

Adjuncting: Adjunct Project Wants You to Have More Money!, Renee McGarry and Jesse Goldstein (p. 5)

Grad Life: The Long View from the Ivory Tower, Alison Powell (p. 6)

What’s So Democratic about American Democracy?, Advocate Staff (p. 7)

Forgetting Iraq and the Discourse of Responsibility, Steven Pludwin (p. 9)

What’s Happening to America?, Chalmers Johnson, Bill Ayers, and Amiri Baraka (p. 11)

Book Review: Democracy’s Demons: Inside the Mind of the …

Critical Junctures? Privatization Policy In Brazil And Argentina At The Start Of The Century, John Hogan

Articles

This paper uses the critical junctures framework developed by Hogan and Doyle (2007) to determine if there were critical junctures in privatization policy in Brazil and Argentina at the start of the 21st century. The framework constitutes a rigorous approach to the identification of crisis, ideational change, and policy change. It is used to examine the economic disasters in Brazil in 1999 and Argentina in 2001. Previously, we would have had to wait decades before making such an assessment, as there were few tools with which to identify critical junctures, and these were usually only effective long after the event.

The Best Reporting On The Sichuan Earthquake You’Ll Never See, Angilee Shah

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Busan, Korea – Pan Jianlin’s documentary about the earthquake that struck Sichuan province on May 12 made a quiet debut on a Sunday morning, at 10 a.m., the third day of this year’s Pusan International Film Festival.

With its not-so-great timing and grim title, Who Killed Our Children was a blip on the festival calendar’s 315 films and 85 world premieres. And if you happened to miss the documentary in Korea, it’s possible you will not have an opportunity to see it again.

Pan’s film’s subject is as simple as its title, examining the collapse of one of the many …

Painted Skin: To Scare Or Not To Scare?, Haiyan Lee

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

It may come as a surprise that movies about ghosts and monsters are strictly speaking illegal in China, a land that has given us such an enchanting array of supernatural figures as the White Serpent Lady, the Weaving Girl, the three-headed Nuozha, and, of course, the delightful trickster Monkey. Gods and ghosts do show up on the Chinese screen, but they have to be framed as “characters” of folklore or fanciful creations of the “primitive” mind, something of ethnographic interest but no longer relevant to our sense of self and world. However, if they end up unsettling our secular confidence …

Missed Opportunities For Children?:An Exploration Of The Impact Of New Funding Mechanisms For Early Childhood Education And Care (Ecec) In Ireland, Bernie O'Donoghue Hynes, Noirin Hayes, Siobhan Bradley

Articles

This presentation begins with a review of the overall funding structure for early childhood education and care in Ireland. It moves on to look in detail at the impact of the changes to the social inclusion funding measures. It concludes with a review of the reaction of various Irish stakeholders to these changes that have resulted in a 'missed opportunities for children'.

Part Ii, Improving Wikipedia: Technique And Strategy For China Folk, Charles W. Hayford

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

How do we improve the coverage, reliability, and balance for China? With all the objections listed in my previous post, in the end, clearly we can’t achieve perfection, only make improvements. If you are already participating, you have doubtless come to terms with the culture of the natives; if you now join, remember to respect our perhaps outlandish ways. Like members of any other cult(ure), we have to live with each other. Some Wikipedians are nuts, some are smart and generous, most are trying to be useful, some are all of the above. Wikipedia enthusiasts simply accept that the project …

Living With Wikipedia: It’S Here To Stay, Charles W. Hayford

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

My name is Charles and I’m a Wikipedia addict.

I can’t help myself, but then, neither can 75,000 other “active contributors.” We don’t just look things up: we create articles, correct and introduce mistakes, send each other notes, and fuss over issues great and obscure. Anonymity lends a carnival air of freedom and community since, as the famous New Yorker cartoon had it, “on the Internet nobody knows you’re a dog” (and yes, the link is to a Wikipedia article).

Wikipedia is an internet galactic cloud of information. Nicholson Baker, who once crankily lamented the end of the library card …

The Liberation Hypothesis And Racial And Ethnic Disparities In The Application Of California’S Three Strikes Law, Elsa Y. Chen

Political Science

This paper examines the extent to which racial and ethnic disparities exist in the implementation of California's “Three Strikes and You're Out” law and whether racial and ethnic disparities vary by type of offense. Logistic regression analysis of individual-level data on over 171,000 California prison inmates indicates that African-Americans are more likely than whites and Latinos to receive third-strike sentences, even when legally relevant variables are controlled. The analysis also finds that Latino defendants are significantly less likely to receive third-strike sentences. The results also indicate that the black-white gap is greater for offenses known as “wobblers,” which can be …

Turkish – Eu Relations: Let’S Just Say, It’S Complicated, Cora Allie Treske

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Turkey’s goal of being accepted by the West began with the “westernization” of its culture in the 1830’s under the Ottoman Empire’s sultanates. Turkey’s application to the EU is the newest aspect of Turkey’s westernization project, and its potential membership represents a complete acceptance of its modern, secular identity, both as a people and as a state. The decision of membership is not only important for Turkey’s evolution, but also the European Union’s. The identities of both are at stake; the evolution of each will depend greatly on the course taken by the other. This paper argues that it is …

Vol. 3 No. 1, Moynihan European Research Centers, Fall 2008, Moynihan European Research Centers

Newsletters from Moynihan European Research Centers

EU Graduate seminar on EU immigration --"Notes from Alabama" by Megan Grimm -- "When entering the EU" Croatia and Europe -- New 'Europe' Faculty faculty at Maxwell -- Global Europe 2008 --FLAS Fellowship recipients

Advocate, October 2008, Vol. [20], No. [2], Advocate

The Advocate

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

From the Editor's Desk: Shocking Wall Street: Disaster Capitalism and the Promise of Progressive Reform (p. 2)

Political Analysis: Three Days in the West Bank, Nirit Ben-Ari (p. 3)

Dispatches from the Front: Teaching Writing Intensively (and Often), James Hoff (p. 4)

Adjuncting: Graduate Student Health Insurance Is on Its Way — But Not For All, Renee McGarry and Jessie Goldstein (p. 5)

CUNY News in Brief (p. 5)

Grad Life: The Battle of St. Paul, Abe Walker (p. 6)

The Nurse Practitioner Will See You Now, Roisin O'Connor-McGinn (p. 8)

Profiteers, Union-Busters, Witch Hunters... Look Who’s …

The 2008 Municipal Elections According To Nicaraguan Women: Nihilism, Hope, And Pragmatism, Teresa Cheng

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

Political Science Fall 2008, Dan Sabia

Political Science Newsletter Fall 2008

No abstract provided.

No. 6 - 30th Anniversary Issue, Henry Kissinger, James Baker, Warren Christopher, Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, Lee Hamilton, Daniel R. Fung, Diana Wallis

Occasional Papers Series

With this issue of the Occasional Papers, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Dean Rusk Center, which bears the name of the late School of Law faculty member who served as secretary of state under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 until 1969.

Our purpose in hosting the conference and lectures published in this volume was to provide a forum for developing the comprehensive new focus necessary to met the American foreign policy demands of the 21st century. In so doing, it is our intent that the advice and counsel of the …

October Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“Making Intervention Work.” by Morton Abramowitz and Thomas Pickering. Foreign Affairs. September/October 2008.

Meeting Minutes, Wku Student Government Association

Student Government Association

Meeting to discuss SGA week, homecoming and campus cleanup day.

China Annals: Interview With Antonia Finnane

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Antonia Finnane is Professor of Chinese History at the University of Melbourne, co-editor (with Anne McLaren) of Dress, Sex and Text in Chinese Culture (1999), and author of three books: Far From Where? Jewish Journeys from Shanghai to Australia (1999); Speaking of Yangzhou: A Chinese City, 1550-1850 (2004); andChanging Clothes in China: Fashion, History, Nation (2008). Read on for an interview with this prolific scholar and a review of her latest book.

Nicole Barnes: What first drew you to China studies?

Antonia Finnane: It’s hard to say, but the Cold War and the Vietnam War were probably factors. When I …

Coal Miner’S Daughter

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

One of the most recent targets of China’s self-appointed net detectives—practitioners of the pernicious phenomenon known as the “human flesh search” (ren rou sou sou)—is not an unfaithful husband, a kitten killer, or a Tibet-friendly Chinese student. Instead she is someone who is, supposedly, a comely young woman whose father owns a coal mine and who recently immigrated to Seattle, cash, flashy cars, and Louis Vuitton luggage in hand. Definitely not from Butcher Holler. And, as it turns out, a fake.

The human flesh searchers, who mete out internet justice and facilitate the harassment of those who fail their moral …

Coming Distractions: Speaking To History

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Paul A. Cohen, professor of history emeritus at Wellesley College and also an associate at the Harvard Fairbank Center, has long been interested in not justwhat happened but also how historians tell the stories of the past. As one of the strongest advocates for China-centered historical work, Cohen has explored this tension between history and its telling in works that sometimes reveal unknown stories and sometimes confound the traditional tellings of well-known historical events. These earlier works include China Unbound: Evolving Perspectives on the Chinese Past, History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth,China and Christianity, and …

Meeting Minutes, Wku Student Government Association

Student Government Association

Meeting to discuss Nappy Roots concert, campus safety walk, retreat, buy-a-book, Western Wednesdays, appointments and legislation.

World Piece Discusses The Presidential Election, Heather Lindquist ’09

News and Events (Discontinued Series)

No abstract provided.

What Did The Cultural Revolution Look Like?

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Many people outside of China get their first ideas about the Cultural Revolution from reading memoirs or works of fiction that deal with the years 1966-1969 or the final decade of the Maoist era (1966-1976). It is also possible, though, to start to grapple with the meaning of that complex and traumatic period via its visual culture, and finding out about a new exhibit and a new online collection (new to me at least) has inspired this Top Five List. It includes some sites that have been mentioned before at China Beat, but seem worth referring to again.

1. The …

To Grill Or Not To Grill?

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Enough of politics! The Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節; also known as the Moon Festival) is this Sunday, so let’s break out a case of Taiwan Beer, and slap some squid and pork patties on the barby. Well, maybe not…

You see, the government, led by the Environmental Protection Agency (環保署), is encouraging people to refrain from a favorite evening activity, namely the family (or community barbeque. According to agency estimates, this could help reduce the island’s carbon footprint, as over 6,000 tons of CO2 would be produced if even one-third of the nation’s residents fired up their grills. Subsequently, numerous city …

In Case You Missed It: Fragile Superpower

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

I was in the Chicago O’Hare Airport a few weeks ago and noticed that a re-release of Peter Navarro’s The Coming China Wars: Where They Will Be Fought and How They Can Be Won had made it onto that prized bit of airport-bookstore real estate, the shelf directly below the cash register. Anyone who has followed news on China in the past decade is familiar with the narrative Navarro, a professor of business, spins out here in hyperbolic boldface. His view, as one reviewer put it, is that “the Chinese will eat us for lunch” by building a massive military, …

The Great Diversion

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Allegations about money-laundering by former President Chen Shui-bian, his relatives, and his acquaintances have been front page news for three weeks, and, on some TV stations, occupy the first 30-40 minutes of the news hour. As might be imagined, this is also a hot topic on the political talk shows, day after day after day. New reports continue to surface about alleged improprieties, ranging from misusing government funds, to opening shady accounts in Swiss banks and tax havens like Liechtenstein and Aruba, to buying mansions and other properties in the U.S. The media hounds are now hot on the chase …