Lusting For Old Shanghai: Andrew Field And Tess Johnston @ Silf 2010,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Lusting For Old Shanghai: Andrew Field And Tess Johnston @ Silf 2010, Marta Cooper
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Shanghai is a city where one has to work particularly hard to find simple, unadulterated culture. So, when the blue moon opportunity comes to bask in it for two weeks, I do just that. Most recently, that’s meant heading to the sophisticated Glamour Bar, overlooking the curve of the Bund and the sci-fi lights of Pudong, which has been hosting the 2010 Shanghai International Literary Festival (SILF)this month. The venue has been brimming with excitement, with authors from County Cork to Manila sharing their work with the spoiled audience.
Analysis Of The Recent Made-In-China Campaign,
2010
University of Pennsylvaina
Analysis Of The Recent Made-In-China Campaign, Hongmei Li
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
China has recently launched its first global advertising campaign about products made in China. A 30-second television commercial, sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce of China and four Chinese trade associations, has been running on CNN, the Headline News and International Asia TV channels in the United States since November 23, 2009. Costing tens of millions of Yuan, the commercial was scheduled to run for six weeks. The commercial also started to run in some parts of Asia starting in December 2009.
In Case You Missed It: An Introduction To Chinese Philosophy,
2010
University of California, Irvine
In Case You Missed It: An Introduction To Chinese Philosophy, Miri Kim
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
In this well written and organized book, Karyn L. Lai lays out the founding personalities, texts, and interventions in the early history of Chinese philosophy. What could easily have been a tortuous path through centuries’ worth of extant materials and a plenitude of voices devoted to their understanding is, rather, a brisk and focused guided tour that covers major developments in Chinese philosophy without eschewing its lesser known – but still important – aspects. An Introduction to Chinese Philosophy does exactly what it promises to do: provide a clear introduction, neither too truncated nor too bogged down in detail, that …
Lu Xun, Mao Zedong, Perhaps A Badger,
2010
University of Florida
Lu Xun, Mao Zedong, Perhaps A Badger, Sean Macdonald
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Urbanatomy has been running a series called “Why I Write” for the past several months, and we’ve noticed that when asked for their favorite Chinese author, many interviewees name Lu Xun (though Ian Johnson is a vocal dissenter). It’s likely that Lu Xun’s work will be known to even more non-Chinese speakers in the future, since Julia Lovell’s new translation of his complete fiction has hit bookshelves — read an excerpt from her introduction here, and see Jeff Wasserstrom’s review of the book here. So many decades after his death, why does Lu Xun remain one of China’s best-known authors, …
Expo Watch 2010,
2010
Princeton University
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. …
Confessions Of A Lifelong China Watcher,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Confessions Of A Lifelong China Watcher, Angilee Shah
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Looking back on China’s dramatic recent history, from the devastation of the Great Leap Forward to today’s exuberant “socialism with Chinese characteristics,” is a fascinating exercise. China Watcher offers the rare opportunity to learn this history as author Richard Baum did — from the front row.
Buying American,
2010
Ron Javers Worldwide
Buying American, Ron Javers
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
When New York rumors began flying about fresh talks between Newsweek and The Daily Beast over Tina Brown’s taking over the editorship of the venerable but now reeling newsweekly I found myself wondering what Xiang Xi in Guangzhou thought of all that.
Looking At China From Across The Pacific And Across The Himalayas,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Looking At China From Across The Pacific And Across The Himalayas, Jeffrey Wasserstrom
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
“Wouldn’t it make more sense to focus on Japan?”
A New Book On Mao: A Quick Q & A With Author Rebecca Karl,
2010
New York University
A New Book On Mao: A Quick Q & A With Author Rebecca Karl, Rebecca Karl
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Rebecca Karl, who teaches at New York University and is known in Chinese studies circles as the author of important studies of nationalism during the final years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) and the development of Marxist thought between the 1920s and the present, has a new book coming out soon. Titled Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World: A Concise History, it’s being published (simultaneously in paperback and hardback editions) by Duke University Press. The publisher promises that it will provide readers with a “lively and concise historical account of Mao Zedong’s life and thought,” and it comes …
In Case You Missed It: Dreaming In Chinese,
2010
National Committee on U.S.-China Relations
In Case You Missed It: Dreaming In Chinese, Maura Elizabeth Cunningham
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Each time my three Chinese I classmates and I complained that we had chosen a language that was simply too hard to learn, our professor had an answer at the ready.
Liu Xiaobo And The Nobel Peace Prize: More Readings,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Liu Xiaobo And The Nobel Peace Prize: More Readings
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
It has now been a little more than one month since the announcement of Liu Xiaobo’s Nobel Peace Prize win, with the December 10 award ceremony a bit less than a month away. Here are a few links we’ve come across recently in our search for updates on the story:
Touring With A Book (Vs. Touring With A Band),
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Touring With A Book (Vs. Touring With A Band)
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
My “book tour,” which has had me adding a lot of miles to my frequent flyer account,has finally started winding down. I’ve got some things still to come, including an upcoming event in this area with Ian Johnson in June and then during the summer some book-related talks across the Pacific, including several Shanghai gigs (details to follow in a future post) and a July 24 presentation at the Suzhou branch of the Bookworm bookstore, and so on. Still, the pace has slowed down, which put me in a reflective mood and gave me time to finish writing a piece …
New Release: Coming To Terms With The Nation,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
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,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
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.
You Can’T Make An Omelette With Only One Egg,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
You Can’T Make An Omelette With Only One Egg, Vignesh Pillai
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
In her book Egg on Mao, Denise Chong chronicles the life of Lu Decheng, a seemingly ordinary man who committed the very extraordinary act of vandalizing Mao Zedong’s portrait during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. At the heart of the book is an exploration of morality under Communist rule in the Hunanese village of Liuyang, beginning with the lead-up to Lu’s birth in 1963, his formative years, his involvement in the 1989 protests, and his incarceration. Chong draws her narrative both from interviews with Lu, who now lives in Canada, and from interviews she conducted in China in April and …
Why I Support Liu Xiaobo’S Nobel Peace Prize,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Why I Support Liu Xiaobo’S Nobel Peace Prize, Wang Chaohua
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
What does a Nobel Peace Prize stand for politically? We probably can’t take the written words of Alfred Nobel himself and of the awarding committee at face value. In the past century, the prize has stirred up numerous controversies. For example, a war-mongering, coup-conspiring politician like Henry Kissinger was chosen to be honored, leaving the rest of the world with jaws dropped and the winner himself reluctant to revisit the moment in public. After all, the prize was decided and awarded by a committee of five retired politicians. In addition, no matter how politically balanced each of the actual committee …
A House Museum Café: Part 2,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
A House Museum Café: Part 2, Leksa Chmielewski
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
As I chat with the librarian-cum-barista, a Shanghainese family comes in and starts looking over the menu. They order three different kinds of imported coffee and as the librarian lights the flame percolator, I ask her whether there are differences between Shanghainese visitors and those from other areas of China.
Links, Links, And More Links,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Links, Links, And More Links
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
• The Economic Observer has started a new column that provides a roundup of the commentary and op-ed pieces contained in each week’s newspaper and also a few of the opinion pieces that appear on the EO‘s website. The most recent column can be found here. The EO has also begun providing abstracts of its monthly Book Review; check out September’s lineup here.
Symbols: Liu Xiaobo’S Nobel Peace Prize,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Symbols: Liu Xiaobo’S Nobel Peace Prize, Paulina Hartono
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Liu Xiaobo is, and now is probably much more so after Friday’s announcement, one of China’s most well-known dissidents—or activists, depending on the term you prefer. Most people who have heard of him know about his hand in penning part of Charter 08, a manifesto based on Charter 77, which advocates broad democratic political reform and human rights protections in China. Those who are more familiar with Liu’s name know of him for his hunger strike in Tian’anmen, or his prolific number of essays published in print and on the Internet.
Planning To Write A China Book? Just Say No,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Planning To Write A China Book? Just Say No, Jonathan Watts
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
We wrote to Jonathan Watts to ask him to write a commentary on the book tour he’s been on to promote When a Billion Chinese Jump, which included a stop at UC Irvine, but he said he was too busy being whisked from champagne receptions to meetings with Hollywood directors seeking to buy the film rights to the book to craft something suitable. Watts was, however, good enough to offer us permission to run (in slightly trimmed-down form) a piece he wrote—with tongue firmly in cheek—for a 2009 issue of the newsletter of the Beijing Foreign Correspondents’ Club. Composed while …
