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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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07 Oct 09
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WSJ on Manchu language and identity Running between classes today, but wanted to call everybody’s attention to an excellent article in today’s Wall Street Journal by Ian Johnson on recent efforts to revive the Manchu language and Manchu identity in today’s PRC. Be sure t... |
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04 Oct 09
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It’s not “Who do you love?” that matters, but “What do you fear the most?” In class two weeks ago we were watching one of the installments from the documentary series China From the Inside, when one of my students asked, with some reason, that if there was so much hardship and discontent why does the CCP enjoy such broad... |
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02 Oct 09
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60th Anniversary Hangover So it’s October 2nd and Beijing is waking up with a bit of hangover. I went to a parade-viewing party yesterday morning and when I arrived, at 9:00 a.m., the assembled gathering of translators, bloggers, and professional snarkers was alread... |
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01 Oct 09
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Tweeting the 60th Anniversary parade So I headed over to new neighbor Brendan O’Kane’s house to watch the parade and entered a party in full swing. Dave (A.K.A. DavesgoneChina) and Danwei’s Joel Martinson were already there. Eric Abrahamsen from Paper Republic showed up... |
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01 Oct 09
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Bunkered down in Beijing I’m back in Beijing after an extended trip on the Russia/China/Mongolia border. I probably should have stayed there. I’ve stocked two-days worth of food, water, and DVDs and am barricading the gate to the courtyard in honor of the 60 yea... |
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24 Sep 09
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Dissertation Group in Beijing? Yes, I know…I’ve been remiss about writing. But with the whole “earning a living thing” plus feverishly attempting to finish my dissertaton before I’m 40 die student loans are paid off next year, I thought it might be usefu... |
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25 Aug 09
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Seeking truth from whatever… For what it’s worth, David Bandurski and his team at China Media Project absolutely rock, and today’s commentary and translation of a bit of whiny blather from Qiu Shi on “people being mean to China” or some other such spray of... |
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25 Aug 09
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National Pride and Film Festivals Who cares what we believe, just as long as those with different opinions or alternative perspectives shut the hell up.
Comparisons between the riots in Urumqi and 9/11 are not quite right (a closer parallel can be found in the race riots which swept US... |
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27 Jul 09
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Bad History Alert: Wu Sike: “Chinese relations with Arabs and Muslims date back to two or three millennia.” In a rambling recitation of CCP talking points an interview with Al-Jazeera, China’s special envoy to the Middle East Wu Sike attempted to mend fences with those in the Islamic world who might have taken umbrage to the Chinese government’s respon... |
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26 Jul 09
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Debate with Fenqing Characteristics… Who cares what we believe, just as long as those with different opinions or alternative perspectives shut the hell up.
I’ve not seen the movie in question, so I’m not judging it good or bad, but I do think the filmmakers and the organizers... |
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21 Jul 09
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On Eclipses and Astronomy in Chinese history Well as most of my China-based readers know, there will be an eclipse tomorrow morning between 8:30 and 9:30 local time. The local news this evening reminded people not to gaze directly into an eclipse without protective goggles. They should have als... |
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13 Jul 09
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Trip Report #2: China’s Most Beautiful Village — Dehang, Hunan Following our misty mountain hop through Zhangjiajie, we traveled south by train to the town of Jishou. Jishou isn’t really anything, it’s a transportation center masquerading as a fugly provincial town, but it’s a convenient gateway t... |
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09 Jul 09
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Hunan Trip Report #1: On hiking in Zhangjiajie, taxi drivers, and other larcenous primates 45 minutes on this particular trail and we realized that there was absolutely nobody else around. It was an odd sensation for two residents of urban China, where every space has eyes and the flow of humanity is a ceaseless feature of the cityscape.
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08 Jul 09
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Ethnic Tensions, Mad Libs, and other dysfunctional relationships I’m back from Hunan and I’ve got some great posts from our trip, but I did want to take a moment and comment on the recent unrest in Urumqi.
The violence on both sides has been shocking and horrifying and only threatens to worsen as... |
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24 Jun 09
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Off to Hunan It’s that time of the year. Or decade. Or something. The stars have finally aligned and YJ and I actually have time off at the same time,* so we’re packing our bags and heading to the birthplace of Chairman Mao, Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongta... |
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20 Jun 09
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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Iranian Fenqing? The (increasingly nervous) supreme leader of Iran speaking on the demonstrations this week in his country:
The ayatollah reached beyond Iran to criticize “media belonging to Zionists, evil media” for seeking to portray Iran as divided and accused wha... |
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19 Jun 09
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Why I teach history, Part IX: The Middle Kingdom and Middle Earth? Now some teachers will write about their students, sharing odd or quizzical bits from papers and exams for the sake of humor. I wouldn’t do that to my students, but OTHER people’s students…sure, why not?
From an op-ed on China and Nort... |
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18 Jun 09
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“Apologies for the past are due Chinese descendants” California Assemblyman Paul Fong (D – Mountain View) is seeking federal reparations for the discrimination suffered by Chinese immigrants coming to the United States in the 19th and early 20th century.
From the San Jose Mercury News:
Assemblyman... |
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16 Jun 09
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Green Dam, spring break sorority girls, and Jaime Escalante (yes, there IS a connection.) I’m not a tech guy, but I despise state-sponsored censorship, so I’ve been following the epic fail of the Green Dam software with a certain admitted sense of schadenfreude. The whole thing has been a disaster from the start which is rathe... |
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11 Jun 09
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“Asian Poses” This is either an online photographic archive documenting an interesting cultural phenomenon which touches on a host of issues worthy of further study and research…or a fetish site. Could go either way.
(h/t Sinosplice via Adam Schokora vi... |
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10 Jun 09
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Notes from a non-anniversary: The scene from the Square on Thursday morning Half the town on any given day is wearing white. While Wang Dan may have been going for a 'subtle gesture of protest,' it's possible the 'wear white day' idea was a little too subtle. Kind of like: "If you wish to honor the memory of the Tiananmen dead,... |
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10 Jun 09
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Letters of Hu Shi purchased by Chinese government bureau From The People’s Daily Online:
The State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) bought the rare manuscripts of Hu Shi’s letters at the price of 5,544,000 yuan in China Guardian’s 2009 Spring Auction Saturday. It is the first time... |
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10 Jun 09
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New Global Times Column: Basketball and Sino-US Relations…no, really. Another week another column for The Global Times. (And in case you’re wondering, my soul feels no less decayed than usual.) This one is on basketball with a little foreign relations thrown in by way of metaphor. Enjoy.
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09 Jun 09
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More terracotta army secrets to be revealed Work in the sites around the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi has proceeded in fits and starts since the terracotta soldiers were first discovered in 1974. In recent years, Chinese archaeologists have held at bay local officials eager to develop tourism at al... |
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09 Jun 09
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Asian history online: CHANT (Chinese Ancient Texts Online) Via Asian Studies WWW Monitor:
Chinese Ancient Texts (CHANT) Database
Research Centre for Chinese Ancient Texts, Institute of Chinese
Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, HK, China.
A description of, a guided tour, and online contents of:
*... |
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09 Jun 09
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Morning Tea: Five books on the US internment of Japanese-Americans…Pomfret on post-Tiananmen China…The Pampered Test-taker History may or may not itself, (The Propellerheads suggest it does, I disagree but I think it comes close enough every once in awhile to scare the bejeezus out of the human race.) But like flu epidemics and movies starring Colin Farrell, certain rhetori... |
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08 Jun 09
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Now that’s a vintage…9000-year old Chinese recreated in Delaware Jim “Beijing” Boyce called my attention to this piece in National Geographic :
A Delaware brewer with a penchant for exotic drinks recently concocted a beer similar to one brewed in China some 9,000 years ago.
Sam Calagione of the Dogfish Head... |
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08 Jun 09
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The Historical Record for June 8, 2009: The Anti-Rightist Movement This date in 1957 marked the beginning of the Anti-Rightist Movement, a crusade launched by the party leadership in the wake of Mao’s rather impetuous call to “Let 100 flowers bloom.”
Like a lot of 20th century Chinese history... |
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07 Jun 09
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Afternoon tea: Gaokao, Bride scams, and the “historical bafflement of the Chinese people.” Just a few quick links from over the weekend while YJ gets Sunday dinner on. Best part about pingfang living? Al fresco dining…May to October.
For those of you who don’t have a high-school aged Chinese student living with you (or missed t... |
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04 Jun 09
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Notes from a non-anniversary: The scene from the Square on 6-4-09 Half the town on any given day is wearing white. While Wang Dan may have been going for a 'subtle gesture of protest,' it's possible the 'wear white day' idea was a little too subtle. Kind of like: "If you wish to honor the memory of the Tiananmen dead,... |
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03 Jun 09
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Voices from China’s Past: Sima Qian on the Wisdom of News Blackouts Ed Note: This post is the first by Sean, a graduate school colleague of mine currently in Taiwan doing research for his dissertation. He’s one of the smartest guys I know and I’m really happy to have him contributing here to the Granit... |
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03 Jun 09
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Back in Beijing in the middle of a blackout Last week I was on an extended sojourn to the Russian borderlands of Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang. I’m now back in Beijing and seem to have landed into the middle of a history blackout. I’ve said it before, but nothing makes the CCP lo... |
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24 May 09
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Off to the grasslands… Semester is over but the job’s not done…I’ll be heading off for a one-week trek to the northern reaches of Inner Mongolia (Manzhouli, Hulunbeier) to hang with the Evenki people and possibly get trampled by reindeer. Should the latte... |
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21 May 09
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A Beijing graduation The program I teach for in Beijing had their ‘graduation ceremony’ last night, followed by the usual hijinks of ‘China Night.’ Most of the highlights involved inside jokes so I won’t bore you with them here except to sa... |
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