The Dalai Lama’S Visit To D.C.: A Short Interview With A. Tom Grunfeld,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
The Dalai Lama’S Visit To D.C.: A Short Interview With A. Tom Grunfeld, Jeffrey Wasserstrom
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
The lead-up to the Dalia Lama’s meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House last week received a great deal of attention from the press, and there was also a considerable amount of after the fact assessment of the event. In order to place what happened into a broad historical perspective, I put a few questions to A. Tom Grunfeld, who is a past contributor to “China Beat” and the author ofThe Making of Modern Tibet. Here are the results of our interview via e-mail, and if you live in New York and want to hear him talk about …
Critical Masses, Commerce, And Shifting State-Society Relations In China,
2010
University of New York, College of Staten Island
Critical Masses, Commerce, And Shifting State-Society Relations In China, Ying Zhu
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
This essay is based on the script of a talk Ying Zhu gave at Google’s New York offices on February 12, 2010. Sections in bold were not part of the original talk, but have been added by the authors to tease out some of the issues that were left without further elaboration due to time constraints.
Wang Hui, Plagiarism, And The Great Bourgeois Academic Cultural Revolution,
2010
University of Notre Dame
Wang Hui, Plagiarism, And The Great Bourgeois Academic Cultural Revolution, Susan D. Blum
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Another revolution is afoot in China, and it might even be considered cultural. But this one is about academic culture, as China’s slow-moving iceberg floats up against the glacial mass of “international” (read: Western) principles. The fallout is fascinating for observers, though in some cases tragic for the participants.
World Cup, World Expo, And “Third World” Links,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
World Cup, World Expo, And “Third World” Links
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
This is shaping up to be a big year for cities of the Global South (or what in the past was more often called the “Third World”) to serve as first-time hosts for mega-events, whether of the top-tier variety (defined here as those, like the Olympics, that involve or at least could involve more than a hundred countries) or of the second-tier type (those like, say, the Pan-American Games, that draw in nations belonging to just one region or having something else specific in common). Starting with a pair of second-tier but still major sporting events, October will find New …
Where To Begin: New Perspectives On Chinese Labor,
2010
University of Oklahoma
Where To Begin: New Perspectives On Chinese Labor, Mark W. Frazier
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Studies of labor in China have taken an exciting turn in recent years with the publication of numerous rich and revealing portraits of workers, their jobs, and their place in Chinese politics and in the global economy. As thousands of migrant workers employed in auto parts suppliers for Toyota and Honda went on strike in May and June of 2010, some headlines heralded a political coming of age for China’s migrant workers. While it’s too early to assess the impact of these strikes, it is clear that migrant workers have gained a level of organizational sophistication and political awareness to …
One Day, Two Birthdays,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
One Day, Two Birthdays
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Most of the people in Philadelphia this holiday weekend have come for the Fourth of July festivities, such as readings of the Declaration of Independence and tours of Independence Hall. This year, however, a special event was part of the city’s eleven-day “Welcome America!” celebration: on Saturday, July 3, a street fair in Philadelphia’s Chinatown marked not only the 234th birthday of the United States, but also the 140th birthday of the Chinatown neighborhood itself (the district’s founding is dated to the establishment of a laundry at 9th and Race Streets in 1870). The afternoon was filled with musical performances, …
A Transcendent Moment In The Land Of Haibao,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
A Transcendent Moment In The Land Of Haibao
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
I’m finally in Shanghai, where the Gumby-like Haibao is amazingly even more omnipresent than the last time I was through (and then he seemed to be everywhere). I’ve come to check out the Expo, see some new sites, catch up with some old friends, do a bit of traveling, and, as I noted in an earlier post, take part in a dialog on World’s Fairs past and present with Nick Land (that took place a few days ago) and host a weekly series of “Cosmopolitan Conversations” with assorted writers at the Glamour Bar at M on the Bund (those are …
Over Exposure,
2010
University of Haifa
Over Exposure, Lisa Movius, Shakhar Rahav
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
“The Expo story that couldn’t be printed.” That’s what editors at Shanghai’s City Weekend magazine found they had on their hands several weeks ago, when Chinese censors deemed the story below “too negative” to run. A revised version was subsequently submitted, approved by the censors, and printed in the January 20, 2010 issue. City Weekend decided not to post the original story on its website as planned, as they were told it was inadvisable due to an official caution against publishing media reports critical of the Expo. Here, we are pleased to share with China Beat readers the full, uncensored …
China Learns From The Soviet Union: An Interview With Thomas P. Bernstein,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
China Learns From The Soviet Union: An Interview With Thomas P. Bernstein
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Thomas Bernstein, professor emeritus of Government at Columbia University, has recently edited a new book with Hua-yu Li, China Learns from the Soviet Union, 1949-present (Lexington Books, 2010). Below, an interview we conducted with Professor Bernstein via e-mail, exploring the volume’s scope and how it came into being.
Yo! Aas Is Coming To The City Of Brotherly Love,
2010
National Committee on U.S.-China Relations
Yo! Aas Is Coming To The City Of Brotherly Love, Maura Elizabeth Cunningham
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
I’d very much like to be in China this month, as several cities are hosting big literary events that feature many authors I’ve followed for the past several years, and whose names are probably familiar to regular China Beat readers. In Beijing, the Bookworm International Literary Festival is welcoming Graham Earnshaw (The Great Walk of China, March 6), Jonathan Tel (The Beijing of Possibilities, March 8; two excerpts are here and here), and Jeremy Goldkorn (Danwei, March 18). The Shanghai International Literary Festival is also boasting a program chock-full of talks I’d love to hear, such as Hyejin Kim on …
An Interview With Richard Mcgregor, Author Of The Party,
2010
National Committee on U.S.-China Relations
An Interview With Richard Mcgregor, Author Of The Party, Maura Elizabeth Cunningham
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Richard McGregor is the former Beijing bureau chief for the Financial Times and author of the newly released The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers. I recently conducted the interview below with McGregor via e-mail; you can read excerpts from the book here and here and also find a “Why I Write” profile of McGregor at the Urbanatomy site.
Special Report: Thirty Years Of The One-Child Policy,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Special Report: Thirty Years Of The One-Child Policy
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Scott Tong of Marketplace is concluding his three years as the program’s Shanghai bureau chief by taking an in-depth look at the One-Child Policy as it approaches its 30-year anniversary.
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.
Notes On A Conversation: Ian Johnson And Angilee Shah,
2010
UC Irvine
Notes On A Conversation: Ian Johnson And Angilee Shah, Miri Kim
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Earlier this week, we held the final event of this year’s “China Lecture Series” at UC Irvine, featuring a dialogue between Ian Johnson and Angilee Shah. Johnson, formerly of the Wall Street Journal, is author of Wild Grass: Three Stories of Change in Modern China and A Mosque in Munich: Nazis, the CIA, and the Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in the West. Shah is a freelance writer and blogger; her work has appeared at the Far Eastern Economic Review, Global Voices Online, Zócalo Public Square, and The China Beat. Below, a summary of the conversation between Johnson and Shah.
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?”
Reflections On Qing History,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Reflections On Qing History, Maura Dykstra
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
A review of Pamela Kyle Crossley’s The Wobbling Pivot: China Since 1800, An Interpretive History (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010) and William T. Rowe’s China’s Last Empire: The Great Qing (Belknap Press, 2009)
Around The Web: Podcasts And Videos,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Around The Web: Podcasts And Videos
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
Though we spend a lot of time reading over here at China Beat headquarters, we also like to keep up with the many China-related podcasts and videos that are proliferating on the web these days. A sampling of what’s caught our attention recently:
Blogging Aas 2010 (5),
2010
University of California, Irvine
Blogging Aas 2010 (5), Miri Kim, Charles Wheeler
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
In this panel, organized by Siyen Fei (University of Pennsylvania), Mark Edward Lewis (Stanford University), Hilde De Weerdt (University of Oxford), and Fei presented papers that creatively engaged the work of G. William Skinner on how to conceptualize empire in time and space. Lewis proposed that the northern capital historically functioned as a peripheral center that connected the agricultural and economic centers found further south with the steppe, and this positioning, a prime concern of the dynasties founded by nomads, helped maintain China as a coherent empire. De Weerdt used social network analysis to mine Song dynastybiji for data that …
Blogging Aas (3),
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Blogging Aas (3), Miri Kim
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
This intellectually and visually stimulating roundtable was chaired by Carma Hinton (George Mason University) and focused on the legacy of China’s socialist past in China’s not-quite-so socialist present. I’d like to think I took good notes, but this was a session very rich in materials and ideas (and excellently managed time-wise, which means things moved along at a brisk pace), so apologies in advance for any errors or omissions.
If You Can Read Chinese, Read This E-Journal,
2010
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
If You Can Read Chinese, Read This E-Journal, Xujun Eberlein
China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012
The new issue of Remembrance (<记忆>) continues to review Mao’s Last Revolution (by Roderick MacFarquhar and Michael Schoenhals; Chinese translation can be found here). The four articles in issues 55 and 56 discuss the book from different angles, with thoughtful comments and legitimate questions. All are well worth reading.
