Month: January 2016

China bans Gao Hua book

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Source: RFA (1/21/16)
China Bans New Book by Late Scholar of Communist Party History
By Xin Lin

china-mao-zedong-long-march-oct15-1935-305.jpg

Mao Zedong, chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, arrives in Yan’an, Shaanxi province, after the Long March, Oct. 15, 1935. Pigiste/Xinhua/AFP

The ruling Chinese Communist Party has stopped publication of a collection of essays by a well-known historian whose books have never yet been available outside Hong Kong.

Gao Hua’s collection The Realm of History, which includes the late historian’s essays, lecture notes, book reviews and observations, was halted just ahead of publication by party censors, who ruled it “forbidden,” fellow scholar Wu Zuolai said via Twitter.

The book was announced by the Guangxi Normal University Press last November to mark the fourth anniversary of Gao’s death. Continue reading China bans Gao Hua book →

The awful Chinese writing system

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From The Chronicle of Higher Education’s blog: “Lingua Franca: Language and writing in academe.” Pullum is a linguist at U. Edinburgh.–Chris Rea <leiqinfeng@gmail.com>

Source: Chronicle of Higher Education (1/20/16)
The Awful Chinese Writing System
By Geoffrey Pullum

biang

Is the Chinese writing system a sufficient reason on its own to guarantee that Mandarin will not become a global language like English? That’s what someone asked me after I discussed the prima facie unsuitability of English to serve as a world communication medium. And while I make no claims at all to sinological expertise, I know enough to tell you that the answer is yes. The system is a millstone round the neck of the whole sinophone world, and should have been ditched decades ago.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for it to be abandoned, though. We humans have a habit of getting ourselves into situations where something must be done to improve things for everyone, and it is perfectly obvious what, yet for various reasons (cultural, political, psychological, or whatever) it’s impossible to get the relevant millions of people to do it. Continue reading The awful Chinese writing system →

Cross-Currents 17

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New Online Content:  Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review
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December 2015 e-journal (No. 17)

Co-editors’ Note to Readers

Articles
The Game People Played: Mahjong in Modern Chinese Society and Culture
Maggie Greene, Montana State University

The Afterlives of Korean An Chunggŭn in Republican China: From Sinocentric Appropriation to a Rupture in Nationalism
Inhye Han, Ewha Womans University

Domesticating Hybridity: Straits Chinese Cultural Heritage Projects in Malaysia and Singapore
Karen M. Teoh, Stonehill College

Imagining Urban Community: Contested Geographies and Parallax Urban Dreams on Cheju Island, South Korea
Tommy Tran, University of California, Los Angeles

Review Essays

Sundered Voices, Streets of Privilege: Lived-in Intricacies of the Japanese Colonial Empire in Korea and Manchuria

Kyu Hyun Kim, University of California Davis

Nayoung Aimee Kwon, Intimate Empire: Collaboration and Colonial Modernity in Korea and Japan.  Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2015. 296 pp. $90 (cloth); $25 (paper).
Emer O’Dwyer, Significant Soil: Settler Colonialism and Japan’s Urban Empire in Manchuria. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015. 528 pp. $60 (cloth). Continue reading Cross-Currents 17 →

Forgotten Books and Cultural Memory–cfp reminder

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A quick reminder: The final abstract deadline for Forgotten Books and Cultural Memory (May 27–28 in Taipei) is next Monday, February 1. We were pleased to accept twenty-five of the abstracts we received for the early-consideration deadline (from fourteen countries and five continents), and we hope that some of you will also consider submitting by the final deadline.

Twenty-minute papers should be delivered in English, but we are hoping for (and have received) numerous abstracts about Chinese texts and papers which address the forgetting and remembering of texts in interactions between the East and the West.

The conference website is https://forgottenbookstaipei.wordpress.com.

Very best,

Sharin Faith Schroeder
Assistant Professor
Department of English
National Taipei University of Technology
02-2771-2171 ext.3933
sharinschroeder@mail.ntut.edu.tw

Asian urbanization course suggestions (3,4)

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I have used the Discovery Channel documentary series The People’s Republic of Capitalism, mainly on Chongqing, for teaching. It’s a bit outdated now, from 2008, but should still be somewhat informative. The full documentary is available here http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-peoples-republic-of-capitalism/.

Best,

Liang Luo <liang.luo@uky.edu>

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So many cities, so little time.  Another possibility is Taipei: there is nice economic work on its position as a 2nd tier Asian city offering financial services and goods “between” China, Japan, and SE Asia.  Even better, there is the beautiful book by Joseph Allen, “Taipei: City of Displacements”, and the incomparable film by Li An: “Eat, Drink, Man, Woman”.

Peter Zarrow  peter.zarrow@uconn.edu

Asian urbanization course suggestions (1,2)

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One film I would highly recommend is Land of Many Palaces. It is a documentary of the ‘ghost city” of Ordos but the subject matter goes beyond just that location. We invited one of the filmmakers Adam James Smith (a Brit living in China)  to our campus to screen the film after its release last year and the student/faculty response was extremely positive with discussion that continued long after the film was over. It is very well done, thought provoking, and sensitive. The film provides food for discussion on the rural-to-urban shift in China; how do we define culture or civilization; issues of the ill and elderly; the role of the government in relocation projects; disruption of social fabric; and so much more. Here’s a website for the film:

http://www.thelandofmanypalaces.com/

Pamela Herron <pgstover@utep.edu>

==============================

That sounds like such an interesting class. I would consider Shenzhen as it is the first city of its kind in China. Along with that, Peter Hessler’s “Oracle Bones” features Shenzhen and may provide a useful tool or outside reading. As for places outside of Asia, I think that Auckland would make for an interesting comparison. For one, there is a huge real estate problem at the moment because Chinese buyers are flooding the market and driving up prices. This is also causing the city to grow very quickly. On top of that, there is a large and growing Korean population, not to mention diasporas from other Asian countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines. Speaking of Southeast Asia, urban areas such as Jakarta and Bangkok could be interesting and might provide different insight than Tokyo, for example, because their timeline of development and the issues they’ve had to deal with are unique to them. With Thailand’s thriving movie industry, I would be surprised if urbanization hasn’t been represented cinematically yet. I hope some of these thoughts can be useful. Good luck!

Lehyla Heward <lehyla.heward@gmail.com>

An Wang fellowship in environmental humanities

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2016-17 Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies An Wang Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chinese Environmental Humanities

The Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University is pleased to announce the 2016-17 competition for the An Wang postdoctoral fellowship in Chinese environmental humanities. The fellow will pursue his or her research and contribute to a new environmental humanities initiative at the Fairbank Center. The fellowship period is from August 1, 2016 to July 31, 2017.

Applications are welcome from those with a Ph.D. in the humanities or social sciences. All requirements for the degree must be completed by June 30, 2016. A strong working knowledge of Chinese (preferably including literary Chinese) and English is required.

Applicants may not be more than 5 years beyond the receipt of the Ph.D. at the start of the fellowship. Harvard University doctoral degree recipients are NOT eligible for this fellowship.

Total stipend for one year: $50,000 and health benefits.

For program and application details, please see:

http://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wang-chinese-environmental-humanities-postdoctoral-fellowship

Application deadline: February 29, 2016

Shirley Sun <scsun@fas.harvard.edu>

Research on international schools and identity in China?

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Dear all,

Could you please direct me to any research, report or literature related to the international schools in China? I recently had a freshman student from Shanghai talk to me about her “identity crisis.” She was born and raised in Shanghai and all her family are Shanghainese. She attended international schools in Shanghai since kindergarten and has been speaking more English than Chinese (Mandarin and Shanghainese included) in her life, even at home. At the international schools, almost all her classmates were Chinese but they spoke English to each other and followed American pop culture closely. She used the Chinese textbooks for foreigners and Chinese literature classes were optional with very few interested students. Ironically, she speaks more Chinese than before here at Purdue, which has a huge population of international students from mainland China. Now she wants to pursue a major in Asian Studies and investigate the identity issues of people like her. I find this phenomenon very interesting and also want to help her. If you could share your knowledge and/or experiences related to the international schools, it’ll be very helpful and much appreciated.

Thanks,

Hongjian Wang <wang2512@purdue.edu>

Behind the scenes of film censorship

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Source: Global Times (1/21/16)
A look behind the scenes at China’s censorship watchdog

A picture of the “dragon” seal of approval from China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television Photo: Li Jingjing/GT

Every Thursday afternoon at 1:30, Liu Huizhong arrives at room 301 in the China Film Archive in Beijing. One day at the end of 2015, he was reviewing the digital versions of two old films with two other censors.

One was Taitai Wansui (Long live my wife), produced in 1947. Liu gave the film a score of 62.

“I let it pass,” he shouted to his colleague a meter away. Continue reading Behind the scenes of film censorship →

Asian urbanization course suggestions?

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Dear Colleagues,

The Asian Studies program and Urban Studies program at Rhodes College is designing an interdisciplinary, team-taught course on Asian urbanization and the cinematic representation of urban life in Asia. The course is envisioned to discuss both a variety of Asian metropolises (e.g., Beijing, Shanghai, Hong kong, Seoul, Tokyo) as well as a couple of Asian small towns. In addition, we also plan to have students examine a couple of overseas areas with significant diaspora Asian populations.

Since this course is still in the design stage, we would appreciate any input or suggestions on the following three aspects.

What Asian mega-cities – other than the ones above – would be a good fit for this course?

What film titles – new or old – well capture themes related to urbanization and urban life in Asia?

What cities outside of Asia/what titles might provide for a compelling study?

Thank you.

Li Han <hanl@rhodes.edu>

Chinese Netizens flood Tsai Ing-wen’s facebook page

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Source: China Real Time, WSJ (1/21/16)
Chinese Netizens Flood Tsai Ing-Wen’s Facebook Page with Anti-Taiwan Independence Posts
By Marco Huang

Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen rallies her supporters in Taipei on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016. Ng Han Guan/Associated Press

Taiwanese President-elect Tsai Ing-wen’s Facebook page was bombarded with tens of thousands of pro-China comments late Wednesday, in what appears to be an unprecedented effort by mainland Internet users to bypass Chinese Internet controls and launch a coordinated messaging campaign on the hot-button issue of cross-strait ties.

Members of Baidu Tieba, a message board run by Chinese Internet giant Baidu, collectively scaled China’s Great Firewall beginning at 7 p.m. Wednesday and flooded Ms. Tsai’s official Facebook page with anti-Taiwan independence messages. Continue reading Chinese Netizens flood Tsai Ing-wen’s facebook page →

Go Princess Go and other web dramas pulled

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Source: China Real Time, WSJ (1/21/16)
China’s Censors Pull More Web Dramas, Including Hit Rom-Com
By Lilian Lin

A scene from the Web drama “Go Princess Go.” Le.com

The offending dramas were taken offline earlier this week by China’s Web regulators. Most of the shows had been adapted from popular Chinese novels, including some dark detective dramas.

People close to Chinese video sites Le.com (formerly known as letv.com) and iqiyi.com told China Real Time that the dramas were taken down for being too vulgar, bloody and superstitious. Le.com said in a statement on Thursday that it took down one of the dramas as requested by the “relevant department” and would resume streaming the show after “optimizing” part of its content. A spokeswoman for iqiyi.com declined to comment.

The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT), China’s top media regulator, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

One of the dramas, the recent smash hit “Go Princess Go,” is about a modern Chinese man who accidentally travels back to ancient times and becomes a princess. The show, which had been viewed more than 2.4 billion times on Le.com as of last week, quickly generated buzz on social media for its outside-the-box plot and for its inclusion of some sexual scenes and language, both of which are rare in traditional Chinese television content. Continue reading Go Princess Go and other web dramas pulled →

‘Ten Years’ a hit in HK

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Perhaps this won’t take ten whole years? After all, things seem to be proceeding ahead of schedule! A clearly resonant story line and unexpected box office hit in Hong Kong.

Kevin Carrico <kjc83@cornell.edu>

Source: CNN (1/21/16)
‘Ten Years’: Dark vision of Hong Kong’s future proves surprise box office hit

Hong Kong (CNN)–A protester douses her body in petrol and sets herself alight outside the British consulate.

Government assassins kill a local politician to spark a riot that will allow them to seize greater control. Uniformed “youth guards” attack a bookshop accused of selling banned materials.

This is Hong Kong in 2025, according to hit local film “Ten Years,” which has attracted massive audiences amid concerns that Beijing is tightening its grip on the city.

A still from &#39;Self Immolator&#39;, in which a Hong Konger sets themselves on fire in protest.

A still from ‘Self Immolator’, in which a Hong Konger sets themselves on fire in protest.

Outperforming ‘Star Wars Continue reading ‘Ten Years’ a hit in HK →

Four Short Stories from China event

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“That Damned Thing She Said”: 4 short stories from China
Wanderlust: Great Literature from Around the World
Read Paper Republic in partnership with Free Word
Mon 14 Mar 2016, 6:45pm
Free Word Lecture Theatre
https://www.freewordcentre.com/info/visiting-us/

With International Women’s Day (8 March) in mind, Read Paper Republic has selected 4 short stories from China that focus on highly-charged issues such as sexual freedom, political disappearances, “left-over” women, and compromising situations. A woman trapped in a loveless marriage has an awkward, but ultimately empowering, one-night stand. A wife comes home to find her husband has disappeared, or rather “been disappeared”. The colleagues of a career woman apply their engineering expertise to the intractable problem of finding her a worthy husband. A young woman refuses to sleep with her boss, with catastrophic consequences for her family. Continue reading Four Short Stories from China event →

Directory of World Cinema, China 2 review

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MCLC and MCLC Resource Center are pleased to announce publication of Hongmei Yu’s review of Directory of World Cinema, China 2 (Intellect, 2015), edited by Gary Bettinson. The review appears below but is best viewed online here:

https://u.osu.edu/mclc/book-reviews/hongmeiyu/

My thanks to Jason McGrath, MCLC book review editor for media studies, for ushering the review to publication.

Best,

Kirk A. Denton, editor

Directory of World Cinema, China 2

Edited by Gary Bettinson

Reviewed by Hongmei Yu
MCLC Resource Center Publication (Copyright January, 2016)

Gary Bettinson, ed. Directory of World Cinema, China 2. Bristol: Intellect, 2015. 300 pp. ISBN: 1783204001 (Paperback: $36.00)

Gary Bettinson, ed. Directory of World Cinema, China 2. Bristol: Intellect, 2015. 300 pp. ISBN: 1783204001 (Paperback: $36.00)

The geopolitical complexity of the Sinophone world makes any attempt to comprehensively address the filmmaking traditions of Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and overseas Chinese communities together a formidable mission. The two China volumes in the Directory of World Cinema series provide interesting insights into the fast-growing Chinese film industry, but exemplify at the same time the organizational challenges of such an ambitious project.

The first China volume in the series was published in 2012. Editor Gary Bettinson discusses in the introduction the overwhelming presence of Chinese co-productions. “Without denying the transnational, cross-fertilizing connections among the cinemas of Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong,” the book still categorizes Chinese cinema into these three territories, aiming to “elucidate[s] the careers of key personnel and survey[s] significant cinematic trends within and across the three territories.”[1] The volume is composed of short essays, introductions to major stars and directors, and film reviews. However, its extensive coverage of Hong Kong, which might be a result of a United Kingdom-Hong Kong connection—most of the contributors live and work in the UK—as well as some contributors’ personal preference, makes the tripod unbalanced.
Continue reading Directory of World Cinema, China 2 review →