International and Area Studies Commons^™

More Links For Reading On The Earthquake

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

1. This BBC “Day in History” piece gives a feel for how the 1976 earthquake was covered.

2. Shanghaiist, which has had coherent as-it-happened coverage since Monday, has a feature of side-by-side Youtube clips of coverage from Al Jazeera, AP, and others. The Al Jazeera report, by Melissa Chan, receives a well-deserved nod fromShanghaiist. (You can view more of Chan’s reports for Al Jazeera here, here, andhere. They are filled with unique footage.)

3. Wieland Wagner’s opinion piece for Der Spiegel contrasts Wen Jiabao’s megaphone-amplified voice (the prime minister has been touring disaster areas to comfort victims) with the political …

A Look Back At The Tangshan Earthquake And The Montreal Olympics

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Like many of the audience in China watching the round-the-clock CCTV broadcasts about the terrible earthquake in Sichuan, I thought back to the deadliest earthquake of the 20th century, the Tangshan earthquake of 1976, which also registered 7.8 on the Richter scale, but which killed 240,000 people. It occurred during the Montreal Olympic Games, which China did not attend because the Sports Commission was still mired in the Cultural Revolution and could not respond to friendly overtures. China would not be re-admitted to the International Olympic Committee until 1979. A section of the biography of He Zhenliang, the International Olympic …

Earthquake Coverage, Possible Action

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

There is an enormous amount of worthy coverage of the earthquake. If you have suggestions for other recommended reading, please post a comment.

1. Some of the best coverage in the United States is coming from NPR, who had Melissa Block and Robert Siegel in Sichuan to cover other stories at the time of the quake. At NPR, you can see photos, listen to and read the coverage of rural areas, and even hear Melissa Block, who was mid-interview when the earthquake struck, narrating what she saw from the street.

2. Rebecca MacKinnon posted a short piece with links to …

The Sichuan Earthquake: View From Taiwan

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Here in Taiwan people are following the news of the horrific Sichuan earthquake with deep sympathy and concern. This is especially true for those of us who lived through the 921 earthquake nearly nine years ago (September 21, 1999), which was also an inland quake, albeit not nearly as devastating. Here are some thoughts being expressed at this time:

1. How are our fellow countrymen doing? As of this posting, two deaths among Taiwanese in Sichuan have been reported, and over one hundred more are still missing. Those who have reestablished contact with friends and loved ones are providing moving …

China Around The World: Japan, James Farrer

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

My knowledge of Japanese media coverage of China is largely limited to print media, and mostly as a regular consumer of the major liberal daily Asahi Shimbun. Despite this relatively narrow window, several features of Asahi‘s China coverage strike me as noteworthy.

One obvious difference with American newspaper reporting is a far greater focus on historical features. During the past year, Asahi ran an excellent series on turning points East Asian history, that included essays on Japan’s colonial expansion in Korea, Taiwan, China and other parts of Asia. One series of articles compared the way these events were described in …

All The Cheese In China

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

If you pay any attention to developments in Chinese publishing, even if only casually, you have probably come across one or more stories by now aboutcounterfeit sequels to and unauthorized spin-offs to the Harry Potter series. And as I mentioned in my recent post about Wolf Totem, that book, too, has inspiredfake Chinese sequels (Wolf King of the Plains, for example, and not just one but two books unoriginally called Wolf Totem 2, both allegedly but neither actually by Jiang Rong) and spin-offs (a series of novels about Tibetan Mastiffsthat have become best-sellers in their own right, plus non-fiction works …

Taelspin: The Spirit Of May Fourth

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

This past week marked the 89th anniversary of the May 4th demonstrations, the defining event of a decade of intellectual vitality and ideological debate as teachers, students, authors and scholars drew on a panoply of ideas to make sense of the world, their nation, and how best to build a strong and vital society.

At the heart of this movement was a true marketplace of ideas. Young intellectuals rushed to read the latest issues of their favorite journals, of which there were hundreds, pages brimming with the back-and-forth of open minds at work.

The question in the hearts of these …

The Fur Is Flying—Or, There’S More Than One Way To Skin A Wolf

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Every once in a while, a book linked to China comes along that garners such widely varying reviews that I begin to wonder if the reviewers all had the same text in front of them. I had this experience last with Mao: The Unknown Story, a book that I reviewed myself (hint as to my take: George W. Bush claimed to think the tome excellent; he and I rarely see things the same way; this instance was no exception). And now, along comes Wolf Totem. And, once again, disagreements are not just about one aspect of the book but about …

Reading Recommendations

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

A couple issues have been generating a great deal of media interest lately: continued coverage of the situation in Tibet, and the political views (and demonstrations) of Chinese students. Here are a few recommendations for further reading on those two topics:

1. We referenced this piece in an earlier posting, but just in case you didn’t make the jump that time, we wanted to urge you to do it again. China Digital Times hasthis fascinating translation of a Qinghua student’s description of what happened when several Public Security Bureau officers dropped by his group’s Carrefour protest planning meeting.

2. James …

Vietnam’S Youth Given A Rare Chance To Protest – Against China, Caroline Finlay

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Vietnam’s history has been intertwined with that of China for thousands of years, and it hasn’t all been pretty. Wave after wave of Chinese invaders have controlled Vietnam for more than half of the last two millennia, and the influence on Vietnamese language and culture has been stronger than that of any other neighbouring country. The Vietnamese follow Mahayana Buddhism, and Confucianism continues to influence the education system. The Mon-Khmer roots of the Vietnamese language are all but drowned under the pressure of a massive number of Chinese loan words, the adoption of Chinese tonal pronunciation, and until the Latin …

Top Five Language And Literature Sites:

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Two weeks ago, we published a list of websites that provide lesson plans and other resources for teaching on China. This week, we promised an equally solid list of links for Chinese language and literature resources. Chinese language learning has been increasing in the U.S. in recent years and websites that offer resources for Chinese language learning are also increasing, though American interest in Chinese does not yet match Chinese excitement for English-language learning.

1. Few websites have made Chinese-language learning as approachable (and palatable) as Chinesepod. Its “newbie” to “advanced” podcasts are available for free at its website or …

Torching The Relay, Geremie R. Barme

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

[The following remarks were written in response to a series of questions from writers at Woroni, the paper produced by students at The Australian National University. They were drafted on April 28 and revised on May 3, 2008. I would add that I was travelling in China during the Australian leg of the Olympic Torch Relay. My thanks to Tom Swann of Woroni for inviting me to respond to his questions, and to Jeffrey Wasserstrom for suggesting that China Beat post this material.—GRB]

Q: In general, the article will be asking: why was there such a powerful expression of Chinese …

Critical Han Studies Conference Report

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Last weekend (April 24-27), I and about 70 other students, scholars, and members of the public attended the Critical Han Studies conference held at Stanford University. Organized by Tom Mullaney of Stanford and China Beat, Jim Liebold of La Trobe University, Stéphane Gros of Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, and Stanford PhD student Eric Vanden Bussche, the conference drew scholars from around the world—China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, England, France, Belgium, Australia, Canada, and the U.S.—and from a wide variety of disciplines: history, anthropology, religious studies, literature, East Asian Studies, etc. Most importantly, it was a lot of fun. …

Beijing Olympic Faq#3: Which Olympic Games Is Most Useful For Understanding The Beijing Olympic Games?

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Due to other commitments I have had no time to blog since February, but I hope to be able to post with more regularity now.

FAQ#3: Which previous Olympic Games provides the most useful historical precedent for understanding the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games?

For multiple reasons, I do not subscribe to the current fad for drawing parallels between the 1936 “Hitler” Games and the 2008 Beijing Games. If one is looking for actual historical connections, then I would argue that the 104-year connection between the U.S. and China through Olympic sports, which dates back to the 1904 St. Louis Olympic …

Boycott Tidbits And Queries: Some News And Views That Didn’T Fit

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

1) Some Questions:

How do you say “I’m from Quebec” in Chinese?

When protesters gathered outside of Carrefour stores in China and sang songs (they must have sung something: one photograph shows someone with a guitar), were any of these reworked versions of “Frere Jacques”?

Why hasn’t anyone commenting on the boycotts of 2008 mentioned the one that took place one hundred years ago?

How can focusing on fried chicken alter our sense of the similarities and differences between the Chinese student protests of 1989, 1999, and 2008?

These are some questions that I either started pondering while I was …

Cowboys And Shoguns: The American Western, Japanese Jidaigeki, And Cross-Cultural Exchange, Kyle Keough

Senior Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Modern Leonidas: Spartan Military Culture In A Modern American Context, Samantha Henneberry

Senior Honors Projects

His tomb is pointed to with pride, and so are his children, and his children’s children, and afterward all the race that is his. His shining glory is never forgotten, his name is remembered, and he becomes an immortal, though he lies under the ground... (excerpt from Tyrtaeus 12) The Spartan national war-poet Tyrtaeus wrote the above hymn in the seventh century BC as a dedication to the brave hoplites who gave their lives for Sparta. Its words are startlingly relevant to a modern American society currently at war; a society full of families who take great pride in their …

La Violencia Íntima: International And Local Responses To Domestic Violence In Nicaragua, Katherine Mesner-Hage

International Studies Honors Projects

This paper looks at the legal and social advocacy dimensions of domestic violence in Nicaragua and internationally. The first chapter constructs a paradigm for conceptualizing domestic violence as an international human rights violation and then considers the Nicaraguan legal and judicial system according to that paradigm. The second chapter discusses international social advocacy networks that address violence against women and their relationship to feminist organizing against domestic violence in Nicaragua. Chapter three narrows in scope, presenting a case study of the Colectivo de Mujeres 8 de Marzo, a women's organization in Nicaragua. The final chapter explores the limitations of current …

Traditional Natural Resource Use And Development In Northeast Thailand, Christie Moulton

Senior Honors Projects

This paper explores the effects of development projects on traditional natural resource use in three communities in Northeast Thailand, a region known as Isan. I interviewed villagers in each community and asked them to describe their environmental perceptions, management practices and livelihood strategies. Participants described several subsistence livelihoods that have traditionally been present in Isan. These include rice farming, fishing, community forestry, and wetland use. Residents from the three communities all described various cultural activities, knowledge systems, and religious ceremonies that are closely tied to their local resources. Raising silk worms, making clay pots, and performing rituals for a spirit …

Geography, Poverty, And Development Policy In The New African Millennium: Monitoring The Millennium Development Goals Through Human Development, Joseph Tamba Koroma

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV I AIDS, ensure environmental sustainability, and develop a global partnership for development. The eighth goal (MDG 8), aims to develop and strengthen a global partnership for development between rich and poor countries. Three main components of the latter (MDG 8) aim to accelerate the infusion of official development aid (ODA), liberalize international trade, and introduce information and communication technologies (ICT) in the hope of creating a conducive …

Beijing's Olympics: Pride, Appearance And Human Rights, Thomas Beal

Human Rights & Human Welfare

One lazy summer evening in Beijing, about fifteen years ago, my wife and I were strolling down Jianguomenwai, the bustling street adjacent to our flat in the Qijiayuan Diplomatic Compound. The day had been sweltering, and as the sun began to set the sidewalks filled with pedestrians who, like us, had escaped their stuffy apartments to take in a cool, soothing breeze.

Orthodox Religiosity Among Elite University Students In Russia And Its Relationship To Their Political Views, Irina Papkova

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Elk Calf Survival And Mortality Following Wolf Restoration To Yellowstone National Park, Shannon M. Barber-Meyer, L. David Mech, P. J. White

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

We conducted a 3-year study (May 2003–Apr 2006) of mortality of northern Yellowstone elk (Cervus elaphus) calves to determine the cause for the recruitment decline (i.e., 33 calves to 13 calves/100 adult F) following the restoration of wolves (Canis lupus). We captured, fit with radiotransmitters, and evaluated blood characteristics and disease antibody seroprevalence in 151 calves ≤6 days old (68M:83F). Concentrations (x, SE) of potential condition indicators were as follows: thyroxine (T4; 13.8 μg/dL, 0.43), serum urea nitrogen (SUN; 17.4 mg/dL, 0.57), γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT; 66.4 IU/L, 4.36), gamma globulins (GG; 1.5 g/dL, 0.07), and insulin-like growth …

Internal Throes: Reexamining The Effect Of U.S. Immigration Policy And Transitional Realities For Immigrant Families, Faith S. Abubey

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

From the inception of this country, theUnited Statesgovernment has always declared this nation state as a land of immigrants. However, the impetus of immigration during the past three decades has created antipathy among Americans. These antipathy and xenophobic attitudes against immigrants have intensified especially since the events of September 11, 2001. The resentments, inter alia, have significantly influenced the way in which theUnited Statesgovernment facilitates and implements immigration policies.

In this research, I argue that regardless of definitional complexities and functional distinctions between refugees and voluntary immigrants with regard to benefits and legal protection underUnited Statespolicy and United Nations Conventions, …

Religious Education Initiatives In Russia: Update And Commentary, Dr. Joseph A. Loya O.S.A.

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

The Response Of The New Testament Church To Material Needs And Materialism, Pavel Hanes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The New Testament church responded to materialism both in philosophical and ethical ways, stressing the spiritual side of poverty or wealth. The answer she was giving to this problem was based on the Old Testament approach to the poor who were not only poor in property but were also poor before the Lord (i.e. humble, godly and obedient). In modern times it is important to reiterate this message because the modern church tends to be preoccupied with the material side of the problem while the core of the problem is spiritual.

“Has not God chosen those who are poor in …

The Beginning Of Bulgarian Printing (On The Occasion Of Its 500th Anniversary), Archimandrite Pavel Stefanov

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Book Notes (Short Book Reviews From Glaube In Der 2.Welt [Faith In The 2 World]), Walter Sawatsky

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Slovak Churches And Education After The Fall Of Communism, Dana Hanesova

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The author of the study focuses on the complexity of the education provided by churches in Slovakia. At first, she analyses the most important factors that have been influencing the present situation in this area (the historical, legal and educational background as well as the religious structure of the population). Then she presents the main residuals from the past that need to be sorted out with the help of the churches, including the progressive education of the younger generation. Some statistical information about church schools in Slovakia is provided. Special attention is paid to the evangelical churches and their Department …

Sport And Politics, Christine Bell

Human Rights & Human Welfare

I found the reflection interesting, but unsurprising. Protestors use the Olympic spotlight (or should we say torch?) to shine on China’s flaws, and China tries to re-direct or extinguish its beams.