Chinese Studies Commons^™

Beijing Olympic Faq #1: Politics And The Olympics

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Last year the International Olympic Committee (IOC) invited me to write an essay on the Beijing Olympics, and “The Beijing Effect” was published in the July-September 2006 issue of The Olympic Review. At the end of that essay I wrote, “China hopes that it will change the Olympic Games, but is the West really open to that possibility? Are we truly ready for ‘One World, One Dream’?” Since that article appeared in the official magazine of the IOC, it is not implausible that Beijing decided to answer my question. On August 8, 2007, Beijing marked the one-year countdown to the …

This Day: The Nanjing Massacre, Kate Merkel-Hess

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

On January 25, 1938, The New York Times ran a single piece about the on-going occupation of the Guomindang capital, Nanjing, by Japanese troops. Hallett Abend wrote for the Times:

“Stripping away all the Japanese excuses about military necessity…the stark fact remains that the conditions in Nanking one month and ten days after the victorious Japanese Army crashed the gates of China’s former capital are so lawless and so scandalous that Japanese authorities continue to refuse permission to any foreigners except diplomatic officials to visit the city…Again on Jan. 7 Japanese authorities apologetically admitted to the writer that conditions in …

Daily Reads—The Sequel: Five Valuable More-Than-Just-China Asia Sites

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Last week, our blog-list focused on sites specifically devoted to the PRC or Taiwan, but astute commentaries on and information related to China Beattopics sometimes shows up other kinds of places on the web. With this in mind, we’ll be doing at least two sequels—this one on sites we value that have an Asian focus but are not China-specific, then another later on that deals with sites that have a global purview (but periodically have insightful things to say about Chinese themes).

1. Japan Focus

Since this site’s editor, Mark Selden, is the author or co-author of several important books …

5 Good Short Reads On China Beat Topics–All By People Who Aren’T China Specialists

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Academics focusing on China, like other area specialists, tend to place a high value on formal training in the language and culture of the place we’ve devoted ourselves to teaching and writing about. We think (and I’m no exception) that most of the best scholarly work on Chinese issues has been done by people with this kind of training. And the people outside of the academy that we pay the closest attention to—journalists, free-lance writers, business commentators, policy analysts, etc.—tend to be those who have had some training in Chinese studies, or know the language and have demonstrated a primary …

Taelspin For Monday, January 21, 2008

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

This past Christmas, AIDS activist and new daddy Hu Jia was arrested by Chinese authorities. He is currently in detention and his lawyers have been denied access, while his wife and newborn son remain under house arrest with extremely tight security. This month a You Tube video appeared, filmed by Hu and his wife last year, that can only be described as “Reality TV for Those Under Government Surveillance.” Rebecca MacKinnon, one of the best bloggers on the media and China today, gives a searing analysis of the situation. For more on Hu Jia, the blog Black and White Cat …

Taelspin For Sunday, January 20, 2008

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Taelspin will glean the best of the China blogosphere for your reading enjoyment. Suggestions and comments on blogs or posts we missed are always greatly appreciated.

This has been rumored for awhile here in Beijing, but the Angry Chinese Blogger gives the lowdown on the decision by some of the top Olympic teams to avoid staying in Beijing during the games. Reportedly, teams from Europe and America are making arrangements to stay and train in (and this is sure to be particularly galling to the Chinese) Japan out of concerns for pollution, food safety, and other issues. No idea how …

Following A Recipe: When Op-Ed Pieces On China Go Wrong

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is visiting Beijing and the Daily Telegraph has a dour op-ed piece written by Bruce Anderson in today’s edition. Anderson argues that China’s reemergence as a great power is not nearly as worrisome as the prospect of China’s failure.

“If China succeeds, there will be a price. The West would lose power. But Chinese success is much the lesser evil. Imagine what would happen if that huge and powerfully armed nation became a failed state.”

Fair as it goes. China is a large, powerful, and nuclear-armed nation. A collapse of the Chinese state would likely …

Why China’S Dollar Pile Has To Shrink (Relatively Soon)

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

James Fallows has a piece in the February, 2008 Atlantic on what he calls “The $1.4 Trillion Question” – why China continues to accumulate $1 billion a day in relatively low-return American assets (mostly Treasury bills), why this can’t go on forever, and what it could mean if this pattern of investment ends abruptly rather than slowly. On the whole, it’s a good introduction, with some useful background on the people responsible for making the central government’s investment decisions. (The point that one of the two key figures, unlike his counterparts almost anywhere else, has never invested for himself, or …

Self-Promotion Saturday: China’S Brave New World

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

My latest book—and my first that is virtually free of footnotes, includes lots of first-person anecdotes, and has some chapters that combine equal parts historically informed analysis and playful musings—went into production a year ago. At the time, I didn’t realize quite how much of a “best of times, worst of times” year 2007 would turn out to be for the appearance of a work like China’s Brave New World—And Other Tales for Global Times, which strives to offer an alternately serious and whimsical look at ways the PRC and the world at large have been changing.

On the plus …

Frivolous Friday

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Rachel DeWoskin’s Babes in Beijing is only one example of an increasingly frank discussion over the past few years of the experiences of foreign women in China. Anna Sophie Loewenberg, a journalist and filmmaker, has been making videos about her life in China (with particular focus on love) for the past year or so under the title Sexy Beijing. You can find more, including contemporary news briefs, at the Sexy Beijing YouTube page or homepage.

The popular American television show, America’s Next Top Model (hosted by Tyra Banks), took its final episodes to Shanghai and then Beijing last fall. Below, …

Our Daily Reads: Best Of China Blogs

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The contributors at The China Beat read a lot of China blogs. Here is a primer of a few of our collective favorites. We welcome you to add your own must-reads (or plug your own blog) in the comments section.

Best One-Stop Source of Information: China Digital Times

Best Media Blog: A tie between Danwei and China Media Project

Best Industry Blog: China Law Blog

Best News Blog: Beijing Newspeak – Written by Chris O’Brien, a language polisher/rewrite artist for Xinhua, a fascinating and frequently hilarious look behind the scenes of Chinese media.

Best Issue Blog: China …

In Case You Missed It: They Chose China

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

In the opening scenes of Shuibo Wang’s 2005 documentary, “They Chose China,” American soldiers dressed in the long, padded winter coats of the Chinese military cluster around a microphone to explain the international threat posed by McCarthy’s witch hunts and U.S. intolerance for freedom and democracy. The documentary tells the story of these twenty-one American soldiers, held as POWs by the Chinese during the Korean War, who refused repatriation after the 1953 armistice.

Through a mix of archival footage, Chinese and American TV clips, and contemporary interviews with one of the few surviving defectors, Wang tries to unearth why the …

Five Good Short Books On China: A Guide For Readers With Limited Attention Spans

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

This list is for an imaginary couple who are about to take their first trip to China and have made it clear to me that they only have a limited amount of time to spend reading up on the country in advance. Or, perhaps better yet, they’ve been honest enough to tell me that they won’t start to read up on China until their plane actually takes off, and they want some ideas of what to cram into the limited space of their carry-on bags. Though busy, these imaginary friends (I do have real ones, but none that have asked …

On The China Beat

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

China has been looming ever larger in the global economy and the global imagination in recent years, and the international chatter about the country hit a crescendo last year with reports about things like lead paint, moon shots, an architectural face-lift in the capital in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games, high growth rates, a rising middle class, and ever sharper divides between haves and have-nots. As China draws more attention from the Western media and its readership, the need for storytellers and interpreters of China has also grown. As China scholars and writers who are concerned about the way …

After The Avalanche

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Most Taiwan observers expected a convincing KMT victory in last Saturday’s Legislative Yuan elections, perhaps even a landslide. What we got was an avalanche, with the KMT garnering 81 of 113 seats (71.68%), as opposed to a paltry 27 for the DPP. The scale of the rout was unprecedented, especially since the KMT ended up with just over 51% of the popular vote, as opposed to approximately 37% for the DPP, numbers that do not differ that dramatically from those of past elections.

A wide range of factors contributed to the DPP debacle, including profound concerns with the slow pace …

Anniversaries: The Rise And Fall Of Wang Mang

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

We subscribe to an online encyclopedia to help one of my sons with homework, and because I placed the order, their “This Day in History” feature comes to my inbox. China rarely figures, which isn’t that surprising. After all, they need brief, punchy items that will catch readers’ attention, and that means items familiar enough to a general audience that a five word title is understandable, and that only three sentences are needed to remind us of what happened and why we should care. So I’m not crusading for “1644: Manchus enter Beijing with the help of Wu Sangui” to …

The Building Of The Shenyang Jianzhu University 1998-2007: A Case Study Of The Role Of Professor Fuchang Zhang And His Communist Party Network, William D. Blizzard, Jr.

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine how the building of Shenyang Jianzhu University’s new campus was accomplished under the leadership of Professor Fuchang Zhang, Secretary General of the Chinese Communist Party for the university, using his Communist Party network. This study was conducted in the city of Shenyang, Liaoning Province, Peoples Republic of China, using interviews with Professor Zhang, his peers, government officials, and other university presidents. Archival data is also included. There were limitations in the study that included personal and professional friendships, student recruiting issues, as well as methodological limitations because all interviews had to be …

Hao Bu Hao: A Survival Guide For Zhejiang University, Jenna N. D’Amico

Senior Honors Projects

In an ever-expanding global society, we must learn to embrace other cultures much different from our own. The University of Rhode Island’s International Engineering Program has opened several opportunities for students to work and live in an environment much different from that in Kingston, the most recent one being at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. The first group was sent to Hangzhou during the summer of 2006 for seven weeks to learn Mandarin and learn about the Far East. The fourteen of us lived in a dorm, studied Mandarin Chinese, visited cultural and historical sites, and took in all …

Some Thoughts On China's Sexual Revolution: Sexuality And Social Change In Contemporary China, Sun Zhongxin

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

The last two years saw several changes in the public discourse around sex and sexuality in China. So what are some of the most controversial sex-related topics to be raised in China recently?

This Time He Moves! The Deeper Significance Of Hou Hsiao-Hsien's Radical Break In Good Men, Good Women, James N. Udden

Interdisciplinary Studies Faculty Publications

Following the recent success of Taiwanese film directors, such as Hou Hsiao-hsien, Edward Yang, Ang Lee and Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwanese film is raising its profile in contemporary cinema. This collection presents an exciting and ambitious foray into the cultural politics of contemporary Taiwan film that goes beyond the auterist mode, the nation-state argument and vestiges of the New Cinema.

Cinema Taiwan considers the complex problems of popularity, conflicts between transnational capital and local practice, non-fiction and independent filmmaking as emerging modes of address, and new possibilities of forging vibrant film cultures embedded in national (identity) politics, gender/sexuality and community activism. …

Gender And Hiv Risk Behavior In China, Yelan Guo

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Gender differences in prevalence of HIV risk behaviors are well established. Gender differences in major causes leading to HN risk behaviors are much less researched in China. Using data from a large and population-based survey conducted in 2003, in southwestern China, this paper examined gender-specific correlates of HIV risky drug using and sexual behaviors in the general population. Both bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted for males and females separately. The results suggest that men are more likely to inject drugs and share needles than women while women are more likely to exhibit RN risk sexual behaviors than men. Socio-economic …

About Chinese Names, Sheau-Yueh J. Chao

Publications and Research

In traditional Chinese society, the family (Chia) and the clan (tsu) play an indispensable role in establishing and sustaining the prevailing value system, in molding the life of individuals and in shaping a community's social relations into an orderly and stable pattern. This article includes the study of several important topics about the Chinese names. It details the significance of Chinese names and introduces the types of Chinese names and their meanings, followed by the historical development of surnames, clan names, and generation names. The article concludes with a statistical analysis of Chinese surname rankings and population in the United …

Population Mobility High-Risk Environments And The Diffusion Of Hiv/Stds: A Community Based Study In Southwest China, Hongyun Fu

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Globally, population migration has been associated with the spread ofHIV/STDs in many countries. A similar trend has been observed in China from the very beginning of the HIV epidemic, but empirical research is very limited. Furthermore, the previous studies mainly focused on the micro impact of migration on individual migrant's risky behaviors. The impact of population mobility on the general population, especially on non-migrant residents, has been ignored. Using data collected from a specially designed community level survey, which was conducted in a province in the Southwest of China, this study examines the macro-level association between temporary migration and the …

Researching Your Asian Roots For Chinese Americans, Sheau-Yueh J. Chao

Publications and Research

This article was revised from the author's invited lecture presented at the American Librarians Association Annual Conference of the Reference and User Services (RUSA) Meeting in the Local History Section in San Francisco, June 2001. It includes an introduction to the history of Chinese surnames, types and functions of Chinese genealogical records, problems in Chinese genealogical research, and how to conduct a typical Chinese-American genealogical research with examples for further research.

Reconstructing The Chinese American Experience In Lowell, Massachusetts, 1870s–1970s, Shehong Chen

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

This is a study of the Chinese American experience in Lowell, Massachusetts, over the century from the 1870s through the 1970s. I have selected this period for study because the 1870s witnessed the first appearance of Chinese laundries in Lowell, and the 1970s, the disappearance of Chinese laundries in Lowell. Notably, this study attempts to fill in two existing gaps in historical scholarship. First, the experiences of many of Lowell’s ethnic groups have been documented or studied, but the experience of the Chinese has been ignored. Secondly, the history of Chinese Americans in New England cities and towns has generally …

Sistem Fonetik Bahasa Mandarin : Satu Kajian Ke Atas Konsonan Initial Yang Dituturkan Di Kuching, Sarawak, Sheau Ping Wee

Student Works (2000-2009)

This study attempts to investigate the variety of Huayu which exists in a certain group of Chinese speakers in Kuching, Sarawak. In this study, the researcher examined the production of some initial consonants in a variety of Huayu which are different from the initial consonants in Standard Huayu. The present data was obtained through questionnaires, reading tests and literature references. Utterances were recorded in the fonn of continuous text and single syllables in order to identify the pronunciation consistency of the subjects between the two fonns. In this study, a substantial number of utterances were found to differ from that …

Kajian Imej Etnik Lain Dalam Cerpen-Cerpen Mahua (1970an-1990an), Kok Keong Ng

Student Works (2000-2009)

Sastera Mahua adalah sastera yang unik. Keunikan bukanlah sahaja terletak pada fungsinya sebagal penyampai dan cermin hasrat serta fikiran masyarakat, sebaliknya ia mempamerkan pelbagal cirl-clrl yang lstimewa berbandlng dengan sastera China. Salah satu faktor perlu dltegas, ialah tempat kelahirannya yang berlatarkan struktur masyarakat majmuk dengan bahasa, budaya serta agama sesama etnik berbeza, secara semula jadi telah menyediakan sumber-sumber penulisan yang subur bagi penulls Cina di Malaysia. Apabila suatu fenomena hendak dipapar ataupun perasaan hendak diluah, mahupun mesej hendak disampai oleh karyawan Cina, secara tidak langsung sudah pasti mereka tldak dapat lari dari realltl masyarakat Malaysia yang merangkuml semua perbezaan ahli …

Penyesuaian Imigran Dalam Masyarakat Majmuk : Satu Kajian Ke Atas Peradaban Orang Cina Dalam Era Kemerdekaan Malaya, Jin Yih Ching

Student Works (2000-2009)

This dissertation aims to study about the civilizational adaptation of the Chinese immigrants from China to Malaya during the era of independence in Malaya. After migrating to Malaya between the late 19th century and early 20th century, the Chinese as the " torch-bearers" or inheritors of Chinese civilization were put in direct encounter with the indigenous people in Malaya. Thus, in orders to survive, the Chinese had to adjust themselves so as to be able to adapt to the new environment and adopt local lifestyles in solving their everyday problems of livelihood. The resulting of civilizational adaptation of the Chinese …

A Bibliographic Survey On Baba Literature Focus On Chinese Literary Translated Works Into Baba Malay, Suan Kui Yoong

Student Works (2000-2009)

This study analyses the Baba translated works between 1889-1950, focusing on 68 unique titles identified from six libraries: University of Malaya Library, and the libraries at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, University Science of Malaysia, National Library of Singapore, National University of Singapore and the British Library. The Baba translated works indicated three periods of publication productivity between 1889-1909 (the embryonic period), which produced 18 publications, between 1910- 1929 (the stagnant period) with IO titles and between 1930-1939 (the revival period) with 39 titles. One title was published in 1950. The main focus of the study is on the translator. Between …

Kegiatan Kongsi Gelap Di Sungai Ujong, Negeri Sembilan (1800-1900), Saw Yee Ang

Student Works (2000-2009)

This dissertation as suggested by its title, which translated become "The Chinese Secret Societies in Sungai Ujong, Negeri Sembilan (1800-1900)" is a discussion, mainly focusing on the development and activities of the Chinese secret societies in the area since it came into being until the early part of the 20th century. There are few issues in the development of the Chinese Secret Societies that will be given emphasis on, covering from the political aspect to both the economics and social aspects. One of them is the involvement of the Chinese secret societies in the feuds between the Malay chiefs in …