Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Lijia Zhang: Virtually And In Person

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Last Thursday, Lijia Zhang gave a talk at the University of California, Irvine campus to a packed room. In addition to discussing her book, Socialism is Great!, Zhang also discussed her experiences as a writer in China.

Currently in residence as a fellow at the University of Iowa’s International Writer’s Program (for Iowa Citians, Zhang will be giving a reading at Prairie Lights todayat 4 p.m.), Zhang has also been hosting a talk show in China. Click here to see her interview with the Australian ambassador to China, Dr. Geoff Raby; you can find more videos at Blue Ocean Network’s …

Double Take

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

I took this photograph in Hanoi last summer, during my first trip to Vietnam, a brief but memorable one, the main purpose of which was to give lectures about the Journal of Asian Studies and the nature of scholarly publishing in the West. Many things I saw there made me think of China (either as it is today or as it was a decade or two ago), including this store. When I first took the photograph, I was reminded of a Danwei post I had seen a few months earlier that featured a May 4th commemorative graphic (from the Chinese …

Dirty Innards, Paul Katz

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Taiwan has recently been upset by the news that imports of American beef will soon resume, including internal organs. The resulting upheaval has featured more hysteria than science, but has nonetheless had an impact on the current government’s popularity, with President Ma’s approval rating plummeting by 14%. In the midst of the discomfort about potentially contaminated beef, however, concerns are also being raised about other forms of filth at the political and social levels:

1. Yet another KMT legislator is facing the end of his political career, with the Taiwan High Court yesterday upholding a lower court ruling annulling his …

Peter Hessler: Readings On The Web

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Peter Hessler will be speaking about his new book at the University of California, Irvine on February 16 (mark your calendars, Southern Californians!). Hessler will be in the midst of a tour for the book, Country Driving. We noticed a few readings by and about Hessler this week, and thought, in honor of his upcoming visit, to share them with you.

1. This week’s New Yorker features a piece by Hessler on Lishui, a Chinese city that has a booming business in export artwork. Click here for a slide show narrated by Hessler. (For another take on Chinese copies/forgeries in …

In Case You Missed It: Repeat After Me

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

In 2005, when Rachel DeWoskin published her memoir of living in Beijing during the 1990s, I was so excited that I immediately bought the first copy I saw in a Hong Kong bookstore. Foreign Babes in Beijing represents a rare female voice among the expats-in-China genre of books, and DeWoskin’s tales of working in public relations and acting in a Chinese soap opera are deftly and humorously written. It’s a book that I still recommend to people who want to know more about living in China, and I’m looking forward to seeing the film version that’s currently in development.

After …

Party Girl

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

“Taken in a packed Christian service I attended out of curiosity at a wannabe mega-church in Beijing. While the passionately Christian Chinese acquaintance I went with stood reverent and modest by my side, this girl happened to step into my shot.”

–Alec Ash

The Curious Case Of Jia Junpeng, Or The Power Of Symbolic Appropriation In Chinese Cyberspace, Guobing Yang

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

An Uncanny Story[1]

On July 16, 2009, an anonymous internet user in a popular Baidu discussion forum posted a message titled “Jia Junpeng, your mother wants you to go home to eat.” The message has only twelve Chinese characters in its title and has no other content. Yet it got 3,000 responses within five hours, responses that range from the routine socializing type (“Support!” “Interesting!”) to the funny and sarcastic (“I am not going to eat at home today. I’m eating in the Internet bar. Please pass on my message to my mom.”). Within one day, it received seven million …

10/19 Reader

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

1. This is a rather belated link, but in case you missed it at China Digital Times, you might be interested to read their translation of a piece on “‘The Wall’ and ‘Climbing Over the Wall’” by Tu Zifang from Southern Metropolis Weekly.

For so many years, the busiest people on the Chinese internet are those who make the Wall software and the “Climbing the Wall” software. It has been said that those people all have something in common: 1. They are all Chinese, 2. They all made a fortune, 3. They all have studied in the US. The only …

Response To “Islamic Fundamentalism: An Ignored Specter In The Xinjiang Riot”, Mark Elliott

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

China Beat has run several pieces recently on the Xinjiang riots. On October 2, we featured Rian Thum’s “The Ethnicization of Discontent in Xinjiang,” which argued that the riots had raised ethnic tensions in the region. A few days later, we published “Islamic Fundamentalism: An Ignored Specter in the Xinjiang Riot,” written by Liang Zheng. Zheng argued that the foreign media had ignored indications that the riots were instigated by fundamentalists from southern Xinjiang, an argument that preserves the notion of ethnic harmony in Urumqi itself.

Today we run a response to Zheng’s argument from Mark Elliott, Professor of Chinese …

Yes, You Too Can “Win In China”: An Interview With Filmmaker Ole Schell, Dustin Wright

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

There has understandably been no shortage of commentary on China’s rapid economic development. Much like Japan’s economic “miracle” of the last century, this other industrialization in East Asia has generated considerable discussion, both in academia and popular media. No doubt, much of the discussion rests on a healthy crop of skepticism regarding the actual sustainability of China’s growth. However, though export growth has slowed since the boom apex in 2007, the country’s economy is nonetheless continuing to grow and many observers maintain that China is surviving the global recession better than any other major economy.

But as both domestic and …

Talks By Jeff Wasserstrom In Heidelberg

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Jeff Wasserstrom will be giving several talks at the University of Heidelberg over the next few days in the series “China Beat–Mega-Events and Recent Trends in Transcultural China”:

Thursday, October 15

“New Possibilities and Old Patterns in Publishing in and about China,” with a response by poet Bei Ling

Friday, October 16

“Mega-Events and the Rise of Global Cities: The Shanghai World Expo in Historical and Comparative Perspective”

Monday, October 19

“Chatter about China in the Global Public Sphere: From the Boxer Crisis to the Beijing Games and Beyond”

Details about these events are available here.

Long Live The Nation

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

“祖国万岁. Long Live the Nation.” The main pavilion of the Expo looks like a cross between a UFO and the hull of a ship. I spoke with some bystanders who turned out to be residents of the area. The old couple comes out everyday at night to marvel at the dramatic displays on the Expo pavilion. It seems that there isn’t enough to warrant a lawn chair but they beg to differ. It’s their city.

Photo by Grace Park, caption by Jonathan Hwang. Both are students at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies.

Learning From Lai Changxing?, Jeremy Brown, Xian Wang

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Last year, Angilee Shah wrote a review at China Beat of Oliver August’s Inside the Red Mansion. The review inspired Simon Fraser University Professor Jeremy Brown to assign the text to a class and he recently invited the book’s protaganist, Lai Changxing, to join his class for a day. Brown and one of his students provide an account of the day’s visit below (for a write-up in Chinese, see this report at The Global Chinese Press).

A few days before National Day, Lai Changxing joined our fourth-year Chinese history class at Simon Fraser University. For almost three hours China’s most …

Chinese History Readings

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

A hodgepodge of historically or (historian-) relevant readings from the last few weeks…

1. Of greatest interest to the historians around here (particularly those of us who don’t make it to Cambridge regularly), Harvard and the National Library of China have signed a deal to digitize Harvard’s collection of 51,000 rare Chinese books:

Once completed, these images dating as far back as the Song ynasty in 960 AD, will be publicly available for free on the Web to scholars in China and elsewhere.

“We need to change the mindset that rare materials must be kept behind closed doors,’’ said James …

The Great Wall Parade, Alex Pasternack

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

My second day back in Beijing, and I was already under house arrest.

It was a sensitive time — the day before China’s 60th birthday — and I found myself stuck inside the gates of the city’s oldest diplomatic compound, where many foreign newspapers and television stations now have their offices.

Granted, this was partially of my own accord. The compound sits near the eastern end of the parade route, on the city’s legendary Chang’an Jie (Avenue of Eternal Peace), and a friend’s balcony offered a good vantage point. But because of high security, I had been told that if …

Patriotism

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Peking University students queue to see the jingoistic new film ‘The Founding of a Republic’. In the screening, the young audience seemed more interested in the Chinese movie stars who appear in the film than they were in the historical content itself. Real footage of Chairman Mao in 1949, however, drew enthusiastic applause. Peking University students queue to see the jingoistic new film ‘The Founding of a Republic’. In the screening, the young audience seemed more interested in the Chinese movie stars who appear in the film than they were in the historical content itself. Real footage of Chairman Mao …

Around The Web: China’S National Day Celebration

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Now that the celebration is over and China has celebrated its 60th anniversary, we thought we would point out some of the National Day media coverage that caught our eye:

1. China Digital Times directed us to The Guardian, which posted this wonderful time-lapse video of the parade in Beijing; watch the day’s highlights in under four minutes!

2. Yale University’s Kang Zhengguo wrote this piece for the New York Times op-ed page, in which he reflects on his own National Day experiences over the span of five decades. While Kang marched as a Young Pioneer in the 1959 National …

Islamic Fundamentalism: An Ignored Specter In The Xinjiang Riot, Liang Zheng

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

It’s been three months since the city of Urumqi was plunged into chaos and terror by the deadliest ethnic bloodletting in the history of the People’s Republic. The riot on July 5th this summer erupted right after a mostly peaceful demonstration organized by Uyghur youths in Urumqi called to demand the government thoroughly investigate a brawl in southern China, which had left two Uyghur workers dead and dozens more injured. At that point, no one anticipated the demonstration would be followed by a horrible massacre in Urumqi that took at least 197 innocent lives, most of them members of the …

The Future Of Japanese-Chinese Relations Under Japan’S New Government: An Expert Weighs In, Elizabeth M. Lynch

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The United States was not the only country that voted for change this past year. On August 30, 2009, after fifty-four years of essentially one-party rule, the Japanese people voted overwhelmingly to usher in a completely new government and a new way of thinking. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which ruled Japan since 1955, was completely rejected. Obtaining only 119 out of 480 seats of the House of Representatives (the lower Diet), the LDP took a second seat to the younger and fresher Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). The DPJ won 308 seats in the House, ensuring that their leader, …

The Ethnicization Of Discontent In Xinjiang, Rian Thum

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

One of many disturbing long-term effects of the recent violence in Urumqi is an increased ethnicization of anger on all sides. Ethnic tensions are of course nothing new in Xinjiang, and ethnically targeted state policies have long made it difficult to distinguish between anti-government and ethnic discontent, but until now Uyghur resistance has been aimed at the state. The recent Urumqi uprisings represent a significant redirection of anger along more clearly ethnic lines.

The interactions between Uyghur and Han citizens vary with the uneven demography of Xinjiang. In the provincial capital, Urumqi, Uyghurs are a minority. This means that Urumqi …

Contributors Around The Web, Ii

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

1. Leslie T. Chang has been recognized by PEN with a 2009 Literary Award for research nonfiction for her book, Factory Girls.

2. Jeffrey Wasserstrom has a new piece at Foreign Policy, “The Autocrats’ Learning Curve“:

It’s impossible to pinpoint when, exactly, the CCP went from looking like it was on its last legs to looming as a global force majeure. But in fact, the mistaken predictions of my generation may have had much to do with it — and with events in Berlin as well.

I learned why a decade ago, at a Budapest conference devoted to revisiting the …

Rocker

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

eijing’s new generation of rockers is beginning to attract

international notice. At a much hyped rock gig at the venue

Yugongyishan, lead singer of student band ‘Mr Graceless’ bawls

gracefully, while just in front of him is an all-Chinese mosh pit.

Rocker

Beijing’s new generation of rockers is beginning to attract international notice. At a much hyped rock gig at the venue Yugongyishan, lead singer of student band ‘Mr Graceless’ bawls gracefully, while just in front of him is an all-Chinese mosh pit.

–Alec Ash

Super-Size Me: More National Day News

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Regular China Beat readers might have noticed that our posts suggesting articles and links to check out online generally take the form of a feature we call “The Five-List Plan.” Today, in recognition of the massive coverage of the PRC’s National Day and 60th anniversary celebration, we’ve decided to super-size this post. There are simply so many wonderful and fascinating things being written, spoken, photographed, and filmed in connection with the October 1 extravaganza that we couldn’t stop at five. Below, ten items worth checking out as the festivities get underway:

1. One of the persistent myths surrounding October 1, …

From The Invisible Commemoration Of Tiananmen To China’S Festive 60th Birthday, François Lachapelle

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

This essay originally appeared on David Ownby’s blog, China at Our Gates, in June. It is reposted in full here with the permission of that site.

2009 is no piece of cake for Chinese officialdom. Having survived the invisible torment of the twentieth anniversary of Tiananmen they turn now to the preparation for the 60th birthday of the People’s Republic. Despite daily high temperatures in the 30s in North China, one wonders if Peking bureaucrats might be suffering from cold sweats.

Certain early indicators indicate that the event is being taken seriously. Visas are being restricted, as they were in …

Around The Web: China’S National Day Preparations

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

With the PRC’s massive National Day and 60th anniversary celebration now just days away, we wanted to spotlight some of the major stories — as well as a few interesting images — that have been circulating recently. Here are several fascinating links that have caught our eye in the past few weeks as preparations for October 1 reached a fever pitch:

1. Fans of the Jackie Chan song “Country” (国家) and its music video should check out a new amateur version that went viral soon after its posting online (hat tip toShanghaiist for the video link). The video features a …

Wolf Totem’S “Rational Exploration” Of Civilization And Barbarians, William A. Callahan

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

China Beat has examined the bestselling novel Wolf Totem (Lang tuteng) from a number of different angles, including reviews (by Nicole Barnes and Timothy Weston) as well as several cultural critiques of the book and its media coverage (by Jeffrey Wasserstrom and Haiyan Lee). Now, on the eve of China’s big anniversary, and in a moment, simultaneously, when ethnicity is a crucial flashpoint in the PRC, William Callahan reflects on what the book tells us about China’s nation-building ideology.

The fantastic success of Jiang Rong’s Lang tuteng [Wolf Totem] shows how notions of Chinese identity and culture are moving in …

The Frankfurt Book Mess, Nicolai Volland

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The Frankfurt Book Fair (Frankfurter Buchmesse), the largest trade show of its kind, turned messy this year before it had even started. At the center of the brouhaha: China, the official guest of honor of the book fair 2009. Or, to be more precise, the row over the revoked invitation of two Chinese “dissidents,” Dai Qing and Bei Ling, to a symposium in the run-up to the Book Fair. The incident had an air of tragicomedy, and turned into a public relations disaster for the organizers as well as an embarrassment for about all those involved. In a larger sense, …

Contributors Around The Web

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

A few pieces that have appeared recently that feature the work of China Beatcontributors…

1. Ken Pomeranz was interviewed earlier this month for this NPR Planet Money feature on medieval China (jump to about minute 4 for the beginning of the interview).

2. Xujun Eberlein’s book, Apologies Forthcoming (which Jeff Wasserstrom mentioned in this review essay), was reviewed at China Geeks. Charles Custer writes, “Apologies Forthcoming is not perfect, but parts of it are. Florid praise draped over the back cover as it is, I think I shall put it more simply: it is a book you should read. Eberlein …

Events: Bay Area

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

We noticed several Bay Area events involving China Beat-related folks in the coming days and weeks, and wanted to alert readers to them.

1. The Center for Asian Studies at Stanford will be hosting the first “Sino-US Literature Forum” beginning tomorrow. The event is open to the public and will be mainly conducted in Chinese. Haiyan Lee and Jeff Wasserstrom will both be presenting at the conference.

2. Jeff Wasserstrom will be giving a talk on “China’s Mania for Mega-Events: Thinking About the Beijing Games and the Shanghai World Expo” at Stanford on September 28 at noon.

3. A conference …

Ode To The Communist Song, Zhang Lijia

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The massive museum, a modern structure of grey bricks and white-painted cement, stands a little abruptly, halfway up Xiayun Mountain, in Fangshang County, in western skirts of Beijing. It is the ‘Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China Museum’, dedicated entirely to this revolutionary song.

On a recent sunny afternoon, when a friend and I descended – or should I say ascended as the mountain, at 2161 meter above sea level, is known as ‘the roof of Beijing’ – we found ourselves the only visitors. The spacious car park was empty. Yiaotangshang, a quiet mountain village, isn’t …