Asian Studies Commons^™

Book Review: A Critical Introduction To Mao, Brian J. Demare

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

At the outset of the final chapter of A Critical Introduction to Mao, Jiang Yihua, a senior Chinese scholar, suggests that it will still be many years before historians will be able to draw any definitive conclusions concerning Mao Zedong, revolutionary China’s most imposing figure. This inability to give a final and authoritative interpretation of Mao, Jiang suggests, is due to difficulties of archival access as well as the fact that Mao is still being recreated and reshaped by his ever loyal followers and his equally dedicated detractors. Jiang’s skeptical approach to the problem of knowing Mao, a problem rarely …

A View On Ai Weiwei’S Exit, Geremie R. Barme

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

A much shorter version of this essay was originally destined for a leading newspaper outlet. Unfortunately, so much editorial “back-filling” was required to transform it into something more accessible to even a relatively sophisticated readership, I decided that it would be best to pull it. Instead, I offer it here with considerable additional material to readers of China Beat.

Facebook And The People In The Iron House: 非死不可？, James A. Millard

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

“Maybe we will block content in some countries, but not others,” Adam Conner, a Facebook lobbyist, told the [Wall Street] Journal. “We are occasionally held in uncomfortable positions because now we’re allowing too much, maybe, free speech in countries that haven’t experienced it before,” he said.

China Beat Event: “Nationalism And Religion In Twentieth- Century Asia,” Friday 4/22

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

China Beat readers in Southern California are invited to join us this Friday at UC Irvine for a dialogue between James Carter of Saint Joseph’s University and UCI’s Vinayak Chaturvedi, who will be discussing the topic of “Nationalism and Religion in Twentieth-Century Asia.” Carter’s new book is Heart of Buddha, Heart of China: The Life of Tanxu, a Twentieth-Century Monk (read an excerpt here); Chaturvedi is author of Peasant Pasts: History and Memory in Western India.

Understanding China, Ron Javers

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Though the lyric was written for and recorded by Nina Simone in 1964, most Americans who remember it at all probably remember best the 1965 cover by Eric Burdon and the Animals, with its twangy guitar riffs and R&B-fired shriek of entreaty.

Ai Weiwei And Qingming, Lionel M. Jensen

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Ai Weiwei (as most readers of this blog will know), perhaps China’s best-known artist and provocateur, is missing. Like so many other people of conscience and voice in the past two years, he is gone. Swallowed by the insatiable fear of the state’s authoritarian belly. It has been more than four days since his apprehension and his wife, Lu Qing, who was also detained and questioned, has not heard from him; he is unreachable by phone.

Mourning The Soviet Union, Nicolai Volland

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Twenty years ago, on 23 August 1991, a grimlooking Boris Yeltsin shoved a sheet of paper in front of Mikhail Gorbachev with the words, “You read this now!” Gorbachev, who had just returned to Moscow after the abortive coup d’état led by KGB generals and hardliners in his own Party, appeared tense and insecure. In front of a stunned international TV audience (original footage here [at 01:25]), he did as he was told. Gorbachev’s decree was the first in a number of documents that led to the ban of the once mighty Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Dalian’S Past, Dalian’S Present, Part 3, Christian Hess

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The past week has seen Dalian become the focal point of significant global press coverage for two different reasons. The uptick in interest started with the maiden voyage of China’s first aircraft carrier, the former Soviet vessel Varyag, which set sail from Dalian’s harbour after years of not-so-secret rebuilding. More recently, the ongoing drama of citywide protests over the feared environmental impact caused by damage to one of the city’s major chemical plants has made the rounds of the international press.

Dalian’S Past, Dalian’S Present, Part 1, Meg Rithmire

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Where is Dalian, the city that has just made its way into international headlines due to largescale demonstrations in its central square? Ask this question in China and “Dongbei” is the one word answer you are likely to get. And you can’t argue with it. The term means simply “Northeast”—with the first character the same one that’s in the song “Dongfang Hong” (The East is Red) and the second the same one that’s in Beijing (literally: Northern Capital)—and on a map of the country, Dalian is right up there in the right hand corner (the red dot on the image …

Obama Should Buy Hu A Burger, Yong Chen

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Many people in both the U.S. and China were happy to hear that the Obamas were hosting a state dinner last night to welcome the visiting Chinese President, Mr. Hu Jintao. Finally, President Hu got the dinner that George W. Bush declined to offer him (substituting a less formal lunch instead); the last time a Chinese visitor was treated to a state dinner was 13 years ago. People see the Obama gesture, quite correctly, as a sign of respect and recognition of the importance of Sino-American relations. But the menu,which included meat, potatoes, apple pie, and ice cream, does not …

Swearing Down The Law – A Debate (Continued), Jerome Bourgon, Paul R. Katz

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

PK: The key difference in our views lies in the way we define the term “continuum”. This can be seen in the following two statements: a) “The term continuum causes us to believe that there is something like a continuity between earthly and underworld justice, or at least that both were included in a coherent framework”; b) “Continuum leads one to expect not mere coexistence but a real coherence or a continuous sequence in which adjacent elements are not perceptibly different from each other, although the extremes are quite distinct”. If I understand you correctly, you seem to be arguing …

China Beat Birthday: Now We Are Three

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

China Beat very quietly celebrated its third birthday last Friday, making the site now almost a senior citizen in the constantly enlarging arena of China blogs. While we’re very happy with the work we’ve been doing for the past three years—and we hope China Beat readers and contributors are equally pleased with our efforts—it’s always nice to shake things up a bit. For that reason, China Beat is now undertaking a collaborative venture with the journal Twentieth-Century China, a move that we hope will continue to bring together the worlds of online and print publishing.

Reading Round-Up, 2/27/2011

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

• Guest-blogging for James Fallows last week, Jeremiah Jenne devoted several of his posts to discussions of protests and the possibility of a “Jasmine Revolution” in China. His columns on this topic include “China: Not Quite a Revolution,” “After Protests, Beijing Cracks Down,” and “In China, Droughts Bring the Crazy.” Jenne also provided on-the-spot reporting today from Wangfujing in Beijing, the site of a planned protest that was primarily attended by security forces and foreign journalists.

From The Group Comes The Nation: China’S First Mass Political Organization, The Baohuanghui, Jane Leung Larson

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

We recently learned that the Chinese government has deemed the term “civil society” [gongmin shehui 公民社会] too sensitive to use in Chinese news reports. Apparently, even the mention of Chinese citizens voluntarily joining together for a common cause challenges the authority of China’s rulers, especially when that cause is political. Such aversion to autonomous organizations goes back to imperial China, and it was not until the last throes of the Qing dynasty that the first truly political Chinese organization emerged and grew. And that organization had no choice but to be based outside of China.

(Not Quite) Frivolous Friday: High Tea And The Opium War

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Have you ever wondered how you might have fared as an opium trader in the early decades of the nineteenth century? Maybe not . . . but now you can try your hand at the trade nevertheless. UC Irvine grad student Christopher Heselton alerted us to this opportunity by sending along a link to High Tea, available free online from Armor Games. Players are given a tea order that they have to meet by a certain deadline, but must first raise capital to buy the tea by joining the ranks of opium smugglers operating around the Pearl River Delta. Watch …

Not Drowning But Waving?, Tom Bannister

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

There are many migrant workers in China. Look from any urban window and you will doubtless see several hundred constructing the next high-rise apartment block in that city’s endless stream of development. The migrant worker is one of the most remarkable features of the reform era; with numbers in the range of 200 million, they represent around 3% of the world’s population and would form the world’s fifth most populous country. Together they have created the phenomenon of China’s ‘floating population’ (Liudong renkou, 流动人口), the largest peacetime movement of people in history. However, this is not the ordinary …

“Enemies Of Life In The Name Of Life”: Seed Patents, Gm Crops, And The Global South, Patricia Arenson

Anthropology Department Honors Papers

In the past few decades agribusiness in the global North has developed a booming industry in genetically modified (GM) crops; industry giants have secured patents and aggressively protected them to maximize profits. This new technology has been exported to the Global south, where its introduction has caused a cascade of horrific problems for farmers and non-­‐farmers alike. GM crops and seed patents have exacerbated poverty, accelerated the loss of indigenous knowledge, and threatened to destroy ecosystems through the loss of biodiversity. This honors thesis explores these issues with a focus on the situation in India, where Vandana Shiva has led …

Berita Spring 2011, Derek Heng

Berita

Table of Contents

Chair’s Address .…...2

Editor’s Foreword...3

Members’ Updates...4

Announcements ...6

The State of Malaysian Studies in Germany...7

Whither Identity Politics: The Rise of Multi-Ethnic Opposition in Malaysia...9

Singapore Revs up for Elections...13

Methodology and Fieldwork: A Guide to Research Fieldwork in Kelantan …..16

Microhistory, Legal Records and Minorities in Singapore and Malaysia .…..21

Swearing Down The Law – A Debate, Jerome Bourgon, Paul R. Katz

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The following debate between Jérôme Bourgon and Paul R. Katz treats one of the most important issues in the study of Chinese social history in general and Chinese legal culture in particular, namely the striking similarities, or correspondences, between litigation and judicial rituals performed to resolve disputes or even deal with plaints filed by the dead.

Misunderstanding A Nationalist Cause, Angilee Shah

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The plight of Uyghurs in China entered U.S. consciousness after 9/11. Since 2002, 22 migrant Uyghurs were detained at Guantánamo Bay after being turned over to the United States by bounty hunters in Pakistan. By 2008, the men were no longer considered enemy combatants. Seventeen of them have been released to Switzerland, Palau, Bermuda and Albania. The United States so far has not accepted any of the innocent detainees, nor is the State Department willing to send them back to China where they would likely be persecuted as separatists.

Reading Round-Up: February 8, 2011

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

• The Philadelphia leg of the “Secrets of the Silk Road” exhibit, which has already made stops in Orange County, CA and Houston, was abruptly canceled last week. Why? At Far West China, Josh Summers explores several theories regarding the reasons behind this decision.

What China Can Teach Us About Tucson, Peter Vernezze

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

From 2006-2008, I served as a Peace Corps volunteer in China, teaching oral English at Sichuan Normal University in Chengdu. During this time, I drew on my previous life experience as a philosophy professor to hold a regular philosophical discussion group with Chinese undergraduates. Twice a month we met for ninety minutes to debate the status of truth, the meaning of life, and the reality of fate, among other topics. I believe their deliberations on timeless topics contain a very timely message for America today in the wake of January’s tragedy in Tuscon.

More To Come, But For Now …

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

While we usually take off the last two weeks of December, we’re delaying our break a little bit due to the momentous events of the past week: recent protests in Wukan, the death of Václav Havel, and now the announcement that Kim Jong Il has also passed away.

How China Says No: Thoughts On Being Blacklisted By China, Dru C. Gladney

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

China can say no, as was once declared in the title of the popular 1990s Chinese book. A sovereign country, China has every right to admit or exclude those who seek permission to enter. That it has chosen to exclude a group of scholars who contributed to an edited volume on the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, now known as the “Xinjiang 13,” should not and will not elicit much concern in the wider academic world, despite a slew of recent articles in Bloomberg, the Washington Post, the New York Times, blog fora like China Beat, and on listservs such as …

The Prc And Pr: Baffling Messages In Times Square?, Christopher C. Heselton

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Amid all the fanfare and fear-mongering over President Hu Jintao’s visit to the United States last week, the Chinese government has also launched an advertising campaign to enhance its national image in America. The campaign includes a 60-second ad showing on a mega screen at Time Square, New York, a 30-second segment at Gallery Place, Washington DC (DC’s “Chinatown,” though it’s a rather small one), and a series of 15-second advertisements airing on several news networks over a multi-week period. A host of Chinese celebrities, models, entrepreneurs, astronauts, and other household names appear in these advertisements, standing and smiling at …

“The Rise Of The Hans”: A Critique, Thomas S. Mullaney

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

“Rise of the Hans,” by Joel Kotkin, is a troubling article to find published in a high-profile venue such as Foreign Policy. It reinforces misleading ideas about China and is problematic for a variety of specific reasons, the biggest of which has to do with Kotkin’s use of key terms.

Bangladesh, Megan Adamson Sijapati

Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Bangladesh (formally the People's Republic of Bangladesh) is a Muslim-majority parliamentary democracy located in South Asia. Originally called East Pakistan, it was created during the partition of India in 1947 as the eastern wing of the country of Pakistan. Its name was later changed to East Bengal and then to Bangladesh after its union with West Pakistan was broken following a bloody war of secession in 1971. [excerpt]

The Internet And China’S Response To The Japan Earthquake, Daniel Knorr

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

A few days after the Japan earthquake last month, the high school student I tutor asked if I had considered leaving Beijing with my wife. I had been keeping up with the news about the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant, and to the best of my knowledge there was no real threat to us in Beijing so I was a little surprised by his question. Even though I assumed the nuclear plant was the source of his concern, I asked what he was referring to. (Honestly, part of me was a little afraid that he knew something I didn’t.) …

Frivolous Friday: In Praise Of Jianbing 煎饼, Maura Elizabeth Cunningham

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Wednesday morning began like any other. I poured some cereal, made a pot of coffee, and flipped open my laptop to catch up on what had filled my Google Reader and Twitter feed overnight. One of the links I clicked on took me to Evan Osnos’s Condé Nast Traveler article about the ongoing “creative destruction” of Beijing, where my morning routine ended as soon as I read this paragraph:

A Quick Q & A With Tom Scocca–Author Ofbeijing Welcomes You, Jeffrey Wasserstrom

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Tom Scocca’s engaging new book, Beijing Welcomes You: Unveiling the Capital City of the Future, which explores his experiences in China during its pre-Olympic and Olympic moments, has been getting enthusiastic reviews, includingone by Jonathan Yardley of the Washington Post and one that yours truly did forTime. Seeing references online to the author giving talks about his book at various East Coast venues, I decided to send a few questions his way on topics ranging from the reaction he’s getting from audiences to how he keeps up with Chinese events now that he’s based back in the US. He readily …