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17 Mar 10
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The Hunan lead poisoning case: Is it “China’s” fault? There’s a piece in The Guardian today on the horrific incidents of lead poisoning in a Hunan village, the result of pollution from a factory operated by the Tenda Corporation. It’s a terrible tragedy.
Even worse are the repeated attempts b... |
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09 Mar 10
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Let the 1911 Foolishness Begin… I’m sure this is not the first time I’ll write about this over the coming year BUT…
The centenary of the Wuhan Uprising/Xīnhài Gémìng 辛亥革命 is, well, nearly 18 months away which makes the planning process in Wuhan a litt... |
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09 Mar 10
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Red,White and Blue in Beijing…new blog in the roll Through Twitter and a bit of procrastination, I stumbled across the very well-written and often chortle-worthy blog Red, White and Blue in Beijing. While clearly of a genre, it’s nice to see the “expat rambles” thing done so well. ... |
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09 Mar 10
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Henan Cultural Preservation Office resists calls to commercialize Cao Cao’s tomb Even centuries later, Cao Cao sure knows how to start a turf war. This week the Henan Cultural Preservation Office issued a statement saying that there were no plans to commercialize the recently discovered tomb of Three Kingdoms era general Cao Cao.... |
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09 Mar 10
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Be careful when you ask for a little cream for your coffee… I’m usually resistant to the mystical properties of Chinglish and knock-off English, but this is positively transcendent.
(h/t Danwei.)
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06 Mar 10
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If only we could all be like Liu Xiang…then we’ll REALLY be ready for the Japanese next time Amidst the usual nonsense in China’s annual head feint toward participatory democracy, CPPCC celebrity watchers have enjoyed watching the likes Song Zuying (whose political credentials so far as we know mainly revolve around her — ahem —... |
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05 Mar 10
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From the archives: Learn from Lei Feng Day! On this date in 1963, Mao Zedong launched the “Learn from Lei Feng” campaign. The most important lesson I’ve learned from Lei Feng is to look out for falling telephone poles, but maybe I’m not the target audience. Anyway, in case you missed it, ... |
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28 Feb 10
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10 Random thoughts from a Starbucks in Nanjing 1. Nanjing 1912 is what all of China would look like if Chiang Kai-shek had won the war.
2. Can’t decide which is turning me off more on the Olympics, CCTV 5 turning over all of the air time to Wang Meng or NBC just plowing the Olympic hockey gold... |
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25 Feb 10
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Notes from Hangzhou We rolled into Hangzhou early, which was kind of a surprise. My recent experience on T-class trains, shunted aside as the ugly older sister to the vivacious newness of China’s burgeoning high speed network, is that they are forced to wait, silentl... |
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13 Feb 10
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Happy New Year We’re in Tianjin for the New Year holiday and the explosions festivities are already underway. I’m definitely looking forward to our walk back to the hotel tonight when half the city will be drunk out of their minds and either a) lighting ... |
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12 Feb 10
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Obama’s meeting and the joys of counter scheduling It was bound to happen, but you gotta love the timing…those of us who either yawped with rage (or at the very least smirked knowingly) when Beijing authorities chose last Christmas to sentence Liu Χiaοbο can at least yawp easier knowing that ... |
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10 Jan 10
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Back in Beijing… Back in Beijing, pipes frozen and busted. Ayi broke the lock on the front door. Plants are dead. Cats are in a state of vexation. Good to be home, though.
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09 Jan 10
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Wolf Totem and Han Nationalism Somehow in my Christmas vacation travels I missed this excellent China Beat essay on Han nationalism and Wolf Totem. Be sure to check it out. (h/t Blood and Treasure)
Back in Beijing on Monday.
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07 Jan 10
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Book Review: Standoff at Τiananmen Part personal memoir, part history, Eddie Cheng’s Standoff at Τiananmen is a straightforward chronological retelling of the events which led up the 1989 student demonstrations and crackdown in Τiananmen Square.
Eddie Cheng was a student at Pe... |
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01 Jan 10
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Top posts of 2009 Things I’ve discovered since I’ve been home: New television (hockey in HD=awesome), bad television (the car crash that is the “Jersey Shore”), and good television (the brilliant “Sons of Anarchy.”)
Okay, so I’m... |
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27 Dec 09
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History museums Christmas in Montpelier, VT. We’re up here visiting my sister and I have to say…it’s been a nice break from the daily grind of Beijing living. YJ and I are constantly amazed over such commonalities as “pedestrian right ... |
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26 Dec 09
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Liu Χiaobo… Like many, YJ and I have been following the trial of Liu Χiaobo. That the trial was scheduled for the Christmas holiday so that it might somehow escape notice in the rest of the world is just another in a staggering assortment of evidence th... |
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26 Dec 09
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On neighborly noise and culture Interesting little post on The Beijinger blog last week. Seems one of our fellow Lao Wai had a holiday gathering which — as these things do — went late, got a bit loud, and thus resulted in an oddly frantic clash with some of his elderl... |
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21 Dec 09
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In a Far Country… We’re busy getting ready for our annual trip to New Hampshire. It’s strange that on today, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, that thanks to the international date line our Monday is going to be approximately 36 hour... |
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19 Dec 09
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The 10-year anniversary of Macau’s handover and the politics of history If the British takeover of Hong Kong was the moral equivalent of three guys kicking in the back door and at gunpoint turning your suburban home into a crack house, then the Portuguese in Macau were more like a couple of shady dudes who wanted to rent ou... |
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18 Dec 09
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Guiding public opinion… I’ve said it before, but nothing makes the CCP look more like a bunch of insecure moonbats than their fixation on “guiding public opinion” (read: censorship and propaganda). The 2009 SCIO Internet News Work training session recentl... |
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16 Dec 09
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People’s Daily: “Japanese girls want to marry Chinese” Never ones to miss a chance for unintentional comedy, the boys at The People’s Daily this week are engaging in a little Freudian wish-making with an article that reads like it was cut straight from The Onion.
(The last line alone is... |
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16 Dec 09
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The historical record for December 16, 2009: Wu Zetian and An Lushan December 16 is an interesting day for Tang history. On this date in 705, Empress Wu Zetian died in Luoyang at the age of 82 sui. Founder of her own dynasty, the Zhou, and a strong wielder of personal power throughout the latter half of the 7th centur... |
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15 Dec 09
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The Onion: “Either Ming or Yuan Dynasty Seizes Control of Mainland China” The Onion is running a feature on “The Top Ten Stories of the last 4.5 Billion Years” with important and noteworthy sections entitled “Industrial Revolution Provides Millions of Out-of-Work Children with Jobs” and “Conquerors... |
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14 Dec 09
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Wang Xiaodong’s straight talk on Tibet There have been several discussions of the book by Wang Xiaodong & friends Unhappy China. While most of the book features the sort of puerile lack of self awareness usually associated with teenage males and reality TV stars, I had to give props to... |
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10 Dec 09
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Letters to the Granite Studio: Splittists, Sovereignty, and Disputed Islands…Forget the Taiwan Straits, let’s talk the Piscataqua River! In Tuesday’s Pearl Harbor post, I appended a little shout out to my home state’s role in ending the Russo-Japanese War. Well, just when you thought China had a monopoly on specious historical claims, here comes Maine and their splittis... |
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08 Dec 09
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Yep, America’s got ‘em too…Memories of Pearl Harbor and homegrown historical absolutism As most Americans and a few Japanese (or should that be reversed?) know, yesterday was the 68th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor once seemed to be one of those few events in history that seemed impervious to my rule about ... |
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06 Dec 09
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Bad History: Conrad Black Edition It’s Sunday in the hutong, and at this time of the year that means college football and paper grading. But I took some time out to have a laugh at this atrociously hysterical piece by publishing magnate Conrad Black on Stephen Harper’s recen... |
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05 Dec 09
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The Historical Record for December 5: Happy birthday, Zhu Yunwen — the emperor who cried “uncle!” Today is the birthday of Zhu Yunwen, the second emperor of the Ming dynasty, born December 5, 1377. The first son of the first son of the Ming dynastic founder Zhu Yuanzhang (Ming Taizu/The Hongwu Emperor), Zhu Yunwen took the throne following the deat... |
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04 Dec 09
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Peking University shudaizi versus Japanese reporter smackdown, and critical thinking in history is the loser The always fun China Smack blog has a recent translation between a clever student from PKU and a Japanese reporter interviewing students on the Bei Da campus. Readers interested in what passes for witty repartee in the eyes of Chinese netizens can... |
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04 Dec 09
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NYT: China’s forgotten fortresses I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Edward Wong’s fascinating article on a little-known (at least on my part) set of architectural anomalies in the Guangdong countryside. These towers — “part Chinese mansion, part Europea... |
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04 Dec 09
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The Historical Record for December 4: Happy Birthday, Feng Youlan Philosopher and author Feng Youlan was born on this date in 1895. Feng is perhaps best known for his much assigned tome A History of Chinese Philosophy, first published in 1934. Despite its flaws, the book still appears on reading lists in Chine... |
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03 Dec 09
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Karl Marx or George Washington — You make the call… An organization called the American Revolution Center, has just released a study showing just how little most Americans know about US history. One of these “wow, we’re dumb” reports pops up at least every six months or so and... |
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21 Nov 09
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Catching that Pepsi Spirit…. “Catching that Pepsi Spirit” was posted this time last year on the China Beat (back when that site was still blocked), but it’s worth reading if you missed it. Anybody who wants to understand the twisted intersection of attitude... |
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20 Nov 09
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The mystery of Chiang Kai-shek’s gold Letter in the WSJ today claims to shed light on the mystery of the gold the Generalissimo smuggled out of China as he prepared to retreat to Taiwan. (HUGE tip of the hat to Michael Turton at View from Taiwan.)
Regarding Melanie Kirkpatrick’s review... |
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20 Nov 09
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China’s English: catching up with India but still not good enough to keep the peace Perusing the papers this morning, I learned from the Financial Times that “India is rapidly losing one of its clear economic advantages over China, with the number of Chinese able to speak English on par with its neighbour and rival,” only to... |
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19 Nov 09
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Scripts, syntax, and competing definitions of nation and civilization Now mocking Chinese state media for breathless and brainless historical hyperbole is a bit of poor sport, but this little bit from the ChinaTibet portion of the People’s Daily website seemed even more breathless and, if possible, brainless than... |
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19 Nov 09
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The historical record for November 19: Xu Zhimo It’s November here in Beijing. Three weeks ago, before the snow really started to fall, we took the plants in from our garden. A week later, as we were looking out at our small patch of bamboo bending under the weight of the snow and ice, ... |
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18 Nov 09
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Nine Nations or Nine Macroregions: Patrick Chovanec responds Yesterday’s post comparing the maps of Patrick Chovanec and William Skinner has garnered many responses, not the least of which from Patrick Chovanec himself. We have been exchanging emails this morning, and a brief summary of our discussion ... |
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17 Nov 09
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Nine nations or nine macroregions? There’s a map, first posted by the Atlantic Monthly this week, that’s been making the rounds. This interactive map, credited to Beijing-based academic Patrick Chovanec, explores China’s diversity by dividing the PRC into discret... |
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17 Nov 09
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Obama in China: Tuesday morning edition It’s November, which is one of the worst times to visit Beijing. The other bad times include December, January, Chinese New Years, March, April, May 1st Holiday, June, July, August, the first part of September, and the October 1st holiday.
Novembe... |
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16 Nov 09
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Live feed for President Obama’s Shanghai townhall meeting . |
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15 Nov 09
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More on Obama’s visit… I’m up early on a Sunday morning watching college football and getting ready for a hike around the second ring road. We actually don’t hike ON the second ring road so much as I lead my students through a maze of hutongs starting aroun... |
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14 Nov 09
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James Lilley, ambassador to China 1989-1991, dies James Lilley, who was US ambassador to China during the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, has passed away. He was 81. Born in Qingdao and a longtime China hand, both in the CIA and as a diplomat, Ambassador Lilley defined old school. His book China Hands: Ni... |
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14 Nov 09
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ObaMao and Justin Timberlake: The state of the Sino-US relationship It’s a sunny day in the hutong, cold outside but the sun is shining nicely off the snow packed on the roof of our kitchen and bathroom and reflecting brilliantly into the living room. We moved our plants inside two weeks ago and they are enjoyin... |
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13 Nov 09
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Karl Eikenberry and the lessons of Vinegar Joe President Obama is flying to Asia this week with much on his mind: Should the US commit another 40,000 troops to the war in Afghanistan as stories of official incompetence and political corruption leak daily from the capital of Kabul?
If Britain’s cur... |
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13 Nov 09
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Morning tea: Snow, the blues, and the “Last Empress” Things read and noted:
In the WSJ, Melanie Kirkpatrick reviews Hannah Pakula’s new biography of Song Meiling: The Last Empress. Given that the only other major work to focus on Madame Chiang Kai-shek is Sterling Seagrave’s wretched Soon... |
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12 Nov 09
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Bad History: Qin Gang joins the Tea Party Movement I’ll admit it. I’ve been remiss about writing. Just know that my time has been well spent teaching history and writing dissertations. But when historians go on blogging vacation, it’s history that suffers. Really.
In the US we h... |
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11 Oct 09
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Things seen and noted: Sunday Telegraph edition A joint project between the Harvard-Yenching Library and the National Library of China plans to digitize nearly 51,000 rare books and manuscripts, some dating back to the Song Dynasty, from the Harvard collection. Once completed, the texts will b... |
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08 Oct 09
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Morning Tea: Things read and noted Time reviews Founding of the Republic. I confess, I still haven’t seen the film out of protest over SARFT’s rejection of my suggested translation, The Birth of a (Chinese) Nation. Unsurprisingly, the film reveals just as much about th... |
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