Arts and Humanities Commons^™

China’S Promise, Geremie R. Barme

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The year 2009 was marked by a series of important anniversaries in the history of the People’s Republic of China. Some of these were commemorated with due pomp and circumstance in the official media and dissected at length during learned gatherings and discussions. Others, those events that I think of as ‘dark anniversaries’, passed by in an atmosphere of heightened alertness, surveillance and official anxiety. Dark anniversaries are the signposts of quelled protests, social unrest and state violence, events such as the 1959 rebellion in Lhasa, the shutting down of the Xidan Democracy Wall in Beijing in 1979, the tragedy …

Behind The Wheel, About To Snap, Peter Hessler

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

. . . A photo, that is. Below, Peter Hessler shares some of the photographs he took while traveling across China doing research for his latest book, Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory. Read our review of Country Drivinghere; for other takes on the book, check out Jonathan Yardley’s review at theWashington Post, and Adam Daniel Mezei’s write-up at his blog.

Readings Around The Web: Fun In The Sun Edition

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

• Heading for the beach and looking for the perfect book to toss in your tote bag? At Five Books, authors are interviewed and asked to recommend five books on a specific topic. Though the site covers far more than China, several of the features are China-focused and worth a look; check out Rod MacFarquhar on the Cultural Revolution, Isabel Hilton on China’s environmental crisis, and Richard McGregor on the Chinese Communist Party.

Expo Watch 2010, Shellen Xiao Wu

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

In Shanghai these days it is impossible to avoid the World Expo. Hotels are packed with domestic tourists and school groups; subway and bus televisions show a constant news loop about events at the Expo; and Haibao, the rectangular, blue mascot of the Expo, graces numerous government offices, posters, and official merchandise stalls. To ensure the target of 70 million visitors is met and exceeded for the duration of the Expo from the beginning of May to the end of October, various government offices in Shanghai have handed out Expo “gift packs” of one free ticket per Shanghai resident family. …

Beijing Bibliophile, Part Ii: Market Change And New Technology, Eric Setzekorn

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Dozens of bookstores continue to dot Beijing but recent developments are changing the landscape for readers and publishers by forcing many smaller stores out of the market. Part of this trend is due to advances in public transportation, particularly the enlarged subway system, that make it possible to travel across town for a larger selection and lower prices, leading to a decline in neighborhood bookstores. A less positive part of the bookstore consolidation is the increasing leverage state sector bookstores such as Xinhua can exert on private booksellers using market and political forces. A mixed element in the dynamic Beijing …

Review: China’S Megatrends: The Eight Pillars Of A New Society, William A. Callahan

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The future is a hot topic in China; bookstores are full of tomes asserting the 21st century as China’s century: Liu Mingfu’s The China Dream(2010) and Chan Koon-chung’s The Gilded Era: China 2013 (2009) are but two of the most recent books that describe how China is destined to become the number one country in the world.

New Release: Coming To Terms With The Nation

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

On Monday, China’s decennial census began, sending six million census workers door-to-door in a quest to record and count the country’s population over the course of only ten days. A key issue in this census, according to some observers, will be placing China’s population in terms of place of residence. One thing analysts are waiting to find out, for example, is how many citizens of the PRC are described as living in cities rather than villages, as this census, which comes after a period of massive rural-to-urban migration, is supposed to describe where people physically live and work, not their …

As China Goes, So Goes The World

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Karl Gerth is a tutor and fellow at Merton College and a historian of modern China at Oxford University. His new book is As China Goes, So Goes the World: How Chinese Consumers are Transforming Everything (Hill & Wang, 2010). (See this review by Christina Larson at the Washington Monthly and this oneat Kirkus Reviews for more on Gerth’s book.) Below, an excerpt from chapter 1 of As China Goes, which takes a look at one of the most notable phenomena of 21st-century Chinese life: the sudden boom in car ownership and its far-reaching consequences.

China Beat Is Heading To The Beach . . .

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

. . . well, not exactly. But we are taking a short vacation, to focus on wrapping up the academic year here at UC Irvine. We’ll be back online June 6 (though we will keep up our Twitter feed during the break, so follow us today!). Before we go, a few links we’d like to share:

“A Wildly Weird And Wonderful Event”

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

For updates and insights on the 2010 Expo, one of the first places we turn isShanghai Scrap, where Shanghai-based writer Adam Minter has been following the story for almost two years. Minter’s Expo posts cover topics such as the emergence of Haibao (September 2008), the renovation of the Bund (December 2009) and demolition of neighborhoods (October 2009), and an ongoing in-depth investigation of the twisted saga of the U.S. pavilion (most recent posthere; full archive here). Minter also has an article and slideshow about the Expo atThe Atlantic. In the wake of last Saturday’s opening ceremony, we posed a few …

Bloggers’ Breakfast At Aas

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

It’s become a tradition for China Beat contributors and friends of the blog to assemble at the Association for Asian Studies annual meeting (as well as at the American Historical Association’s meeting) for a “bloggers’ breakfast” that provides China Beatniks the chance to get together and meet face-to-face — often for the first time, since so much of our business is conducted via e-mail. Last Saturday morning, we gathered at a Starbucks near the AAS conference site and talked about China, writing, and many other topics over coffee and pastries. A couple of photos from the AAS 2010 bloggers’ breakfast:

What I Read On My Summer Vacation (Part Ii), Kate Merkel-Hess

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Moving across the country (from Irvine, California to State College, Pennsylvania) meant that most of my books—even the new ones—spent the summer packed in boxes. But alongside a rapid inhalation of all three Stieg Larsson novels, I still did a little China reading. Here, a few recommendations.

China’S Communist Party: Two Glimpses Inside, Thomas Kellogg

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

On August 16, 2010, China reached yet another milestone in its decades-long breakneck run of economic development: it became the world’s second largest economy. According to official economic data, China surpassed a still-struggling Japan, leaving it behind only the United States in terms of overall economic size. Some analysts predicted that China could pass the US to become the world’s largest economy as early as 2030.

Jean-Philippe Béja On Liu Xiaobo

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

In only a few hours, word will come from Oslo and the world will know whether or not this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner is Chinese activist and author Liu Xiaobo, currently serving an eleven-year prison sentence for “subverting state authority.”Speculation about Liu’s odds has been running at a fever pitch this week, so much so that Irish bookmaker Paddy Power made an early payout to those who had put money on Liu by Tuesday. Authorities in Beijing, however, have made it clear that this is one international prize that China doesn’t want to win.

Book Review: Shanghai World Expo Guide 2010, Adam D. Frank

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

On first blush, one would think that reviewing Nick Land’s Shanghai World Expo Guidebook 2010 would be an exercise akin to reviewing a movie poster for Avatar—a kind of 2-D portrait of a 3-D experience.

Affirmative Judgments: The Sabbath Of Deconstruction, Roland K. Végső

Department of English: Faculty Publications

For reasons that are equally strategic and philosophical, we need to understand that the correct answer to the question ‘What is deconstruction?’ is that deconstruction is the unconditional affirmation of the undeconstructible. Calling upon Derrida, Kant, and Hegel, Végső posits that the fact that we have almost completely lost sight of this dimension of deconstructive thought accounts for much of the confusion surrounding its ethical and political force. In order to clarify some of these points, an explanation of the nature of this unconditional affirmation is needed. Végső puts forth the proposition that the truth of deconstruction is aptly encapsulated …

The Mother Tongues Of Modernity: Modernism, Transnationalism, Translation, Roland K. Végső

Department of English: Faculty Publications

The relation of modernism to immigrant literatures should not be conceived in terms of an opposition between universalistic and particularistic discourses. Rather, we should explore what can be called a modernist transnationalism based on a general universalist argument. Two examples of this transnationalism are explored side by side: Ezra Pound’s and Anzia Yezierska’s definitions of the aesthetic act in terms of translation. The readings show that the critical discourses of these two authors are structured by a belief in universalism while showing opposite possibilities, both generated by modernist transnationalism. The essay concludes that we now need to interpret the cultures …

Edith Lewis As Editor, Every Week Magazine, And The Contexts Of Cather's Fiction, Melissa J. Homestead

Department of English: Faculty Publications

On 26 August 1915 the New York Times reported the spectacle of two "Women Editors" who became "Lost in Colorado Canon" as a "Result of Trip with Inexperienced Guide." "Miss Willa Sibert Cather, a former editor of McClure's Magazine, and Miss Edith Lewis, assistant editor at Every Week, had a nerve-racking experience in the Mesa Verde wilds," they reported, giving Lewis and Cather roughly equivalent status as magazine professionals and comic fodder ("Lost"). The war in Europe was still far away for most Americans that August, although the sinking of the Lusitania in May had inched the conflict closer. In …

Susanna Rowson’S Transatlantic Career, Melissa J. Homestead, Camryn Hansen

Department of English: Faculty Publications

The contention that Charlotte is best understood as part of Rowson’s career, a career that spanned a period of years and the Atlantic Ocean, is central to our analysis and to the recovery of Rowson’s authorial agency. In Women and Authorship in Revolutionary America, Angela Vietto argues for the importance of the “literary career” as a category of analysis for women, of “examinin[g] the course writers followed in their pursuit of writing as a vocation—their progress in a variety of kinds of projects, both in their texts and in their performances as authors” (91). Although we leave the work …

Great Plains Region From Encyclopedia Of Religion In America, Volume 2, Robert H. Stoddard

Geography Program: Faculty Publications

To understand the religions of a region, it is helpful to examine its environmental characteristics and the history of human occupation of that land because interpretations and forms of worship often reflect the environment with which believers cope. Although characteristics of the natural environment are intricately incorporated into most ancient religions, this relationship may be less obvious in religions with creeds and set of beliefs enunciated by historic figures. Here focus is on how the religious history of the Great Plains distinguishes it from other parts of America.

Parallel Starts Outsider Art Inside Collections, Sharon L. Kennedy

Sheldon Museum of Art: Catalogs and Publications

As the term implies, "outsider" artists tend to work in isolation with little interest in other artists' styles or methods. Such independence from the social and cultural norms that have shaped art history provides scholars with few clues from which to proceed.

Norman Geske, Sheldon Director Emeritus and exhibition curator, defines outsider art as follows:

Essentially, outsider art is the art that derives from the creative instinct, which is inherent in human beings who are entirely independent of any of the conventions of traditional art history. In these, works, subject matter, method, and technique are subsumed in the intrinsic impulse …

Structure And Properties Of Cocoons And Silk Fibers Produced By Hyalophora Cecropia, Narendra Reddy, Yiqi Yang

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Faculty Publications

This paper shows that silk fibers produced by cecropia (Hyalophora cecropia) have similar tensile properties but different amino acid composition than that of mulberry (Bombyx mori) silk. The cecropia fibers are also much finer and have better strength and modulus than tasar silk, the most common non-mulberry silk. Cecropia is one of the largest silk producing moths and has similar lifecycle to that of mulberry silk but is easier to grow and produces larger cocoons than mulberry silk. In this study, we have characterized the composition, morphology, physical and tensile properties, and thermal behavior of the …

Developing Water Stable Gliadin Films Without Using Crosslinking Agents, Narendra Reddy, Yiqi Yang

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Faculty Publications

Abstract For the first time, gliadin films with excellent strength and water stability have been developed without using any crosslinking agents. So far, it has not been possible to obtain water stable gliadin films even after crosslinking. In this research, a novel method of using aqueous urea and ethanol has been developed to obtain highly water stable gliadin films without using crosslinking chemicals. The effects of concentrations of gliadin, urea and ethanol on the strength of the films and the stability of the films in water at high temperatures and various pH conditions has been studied. Gliadin films developed in …

An American Abroad: The Life And Career Of Robert Owens, Jamie M. Reimer

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

The life and career of African-American composer Robert Owens are a result of perseverance, creativity, and accidental opportunity. From his roots in Texas to his travels in France and his eventual settlement in Germany, Owens proves that if one believes in himself and his abilities, nearly any obstacle can be overcome. ... Owens' accomplishments as a composer have gained considerable recognition in the last five years, including the "Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, Rosa Parks Visiting Professorship" at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2004) and The International Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Negro Musicians (2008). …

12th Biennial Symposium Program, Part 2: Concurrent Local Exhibitions At Participating Museums And Galleries

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

• Cooper Gallery at Morrill Hall -- A Turning Point: Navajo Weaving in the Late Twentieth Century  http://www-museum.unl.edu
• Eisentrager-Howard Gallery -- Binary Fiction: Digital Weaving 2010  http://www.unl.edu/art/facilities_eisentrager-howard.shtml
• Lentz Center for Asian Culture -- Color and Pattern: Tribal and Contemporary Ikats of India and Laos   http://www.unl.edu/lentz
• Nebraska History Museum -- Willa Cather: A Matter of Appearances  http://www.nebraskahistory.org
• Rotunda Gallery -- Fiber, Textiles, and Clothing: UNL Graduate Students in Textiles, Clothing, and Design   http://union.unl.edu/city/rotunda_gallery.php
• Sheldon Museum of Art -- New Material World: Rethreading Technology  http://www.sheldonartgallery.org
• International Quilt Study Center & Museum http://www.quiltstudy.org  -- South Asian Seams: Quilts from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
• International …

Promoting The Tactile In A Virtual World: An Overview Of Fiberscene.Com, Susan Taber Avila, Myra Block Kaiser

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

After ten years of public service, FiberScene.com, will go offline in Spring 2011. This website, co-founded by Susan Taber Avila and Myra Block Kaiser, played a significant role in promoting fine art with a textile sensibility. Prior to creating this site, there was nothing in cyberspace devoted to Fiber Art.

FiberScene’s initial goal was to enhance visibility for fiber artists, especially those who lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, once a Mecca for fiber art. The website contained individual pages of local artists, a resource page, an event calendar, and a virtual gallery. The gallery provided a comprehensive overview …

Of Gods And Gangs: Indigo As A New Educational Model, Jenny Balfour Paul

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In late August 2009, a multi-year educational initiative called Silk Road Connect was launched in five pilot schools in underserved neighbourhoods of New York City as part of its Department of Education’s Campaign for Middle School Success. The brainchild of cellist Yo Yo Ma and his Silk Road Project, Silk Road Connect ‘inspires passion-driven learning by empowering students and educators to seek connections across all areas of study and to follow their interests from the familiar to the foreign. In a spirit of playfulness and investigation, collaboration and creativity, this program invites students to experience learning as a continual process …

Choreographed Cartography: Translation, Feminized Labor, And Digital Literacy In Half/Angel’S The Knitting Map, Deborah Barkun, Jools Gilson

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The Knitting Map was a large-scale, durational textile installation by the Irish-based performance production company half/angel that took place during Cork’s year as European Capital of Culture (2005). Bringing a decade of experience with emergent technologies and art practice, half/angel developed technologies to connect the physical busy-ness of Cork City (captured via a series of CCTV cameras) with correspondingly complex knitting stitches (stitches became more complex when the city was busy), and Cork weather (captured by a weather station) to yarn color. The resulting textile was an abstract documentation of a year in the life of an Irish city, in …

Conversation With Nature, Kyoung Ae Cho

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

I am engaged in a conversation with nature. Each work produced is the result of an intimate dialogue between artist and materials. The conversation may begin as I gather recycled organic matter and collect man-made objects of little value, or it may commence with a sudden discovery: of the beauty in a corn leaf, for example. Leaves and flowers that have fallen to earth are dried, ironed, flattened and stitched: processes that I view as ceremonial transitions from one stage of being to another. Through preparing the materials, I am attentive to the ways they reveal, through shape, pattern, color, …

The Fiber Of Our Lives: A Conceptual Framework For Looking At Textiles’ Meanings, Beverly Gordon

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Based on the model explicated in my forthcoming (Thames & Hudson, Fall 2010) book, The Fiber of Our Lives: Why Textiles Matter, I will present a holistic framework that can be used to articulate and compare the meanings of textiles of any given culture or historic period. The framework considers the range of human activities and concerns, including meeting practical survival needs and securing physical, psychological and psychic protection; social interactions; the propensity to seek and wield power; the communication of ideas and aesthetic expression; and activities geared to transcending the limits of human experience—i.e., the spiritual realm. This approach …