Author: denton.2@osu.edu

Dating show puts veto power in parents’ hands

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Source: Sinosphere, NYT (2/16/17)
Chinese Dating Show Puts Veto Power in Parents’ Hands
By KAROLINE KAN

The format of “Chinese Dating” adheres to Confucian traditions. The show’s hostess, Jin Xing, far left, is one of China’s most popular entertainment personalities. CreditChinese Dating

BEIJING — You are a young Chinese man whose father tells you the most important skill his future daughter-in-law must have is caring for her home and family. Your mother rejects a 40-year-old woman as your potential mate because she may be too old to bear children.

This is not prerevolutionary China, but a new TV dating show. Continue reading Dating show puts veto power in parents’ hands →

Li Yiyun memoir

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Source: NYT (2/15/17)
The Rare Writer Who Hates the Word ‘I’
By JIAYANG FAN

Yiyun Li CreditPhilippe Matsas/Opale — Leemage

DEAR FRIEND, FROM MY LIFE I WRITE TO YOU IN YOUR LIFE
By Yiyun Li
208 pp. Random House. $27.

“Why write autobiographically?” the Chinese-American author Yiyun Li asks in this new collection of essays, “Dear Friend, From My Life I Write to You in Your Life,” the closest thing to an autobiography she has ever published. It is a question Li takes seriously and explores tirelessly, not least because she professes an unease with the assertion of the pronoun “I.” It is a “melodramatic” word, Li writes. “The moment that I enters my narrative my confidence crumbles.” This a remarkable statement in a volume that is essentially memoir.

Continue reading Li Yiyun memoir →

HK souvenir book launched cancelled

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Source: SCMP (2/12/17)
Speculation rife over sudden cancellation of Hong Kong souvenir book launch
Though printing issues cited as reason, commentators and publishers believe problems in content of book commemorating city’s past 20 years a likelier cause
By Oliver Chou

The souvenir book, titled 20th Anniversary of Hong Kong’s Return, commemorates the 20th anniversary of the city being under Chinese sovereignty. Photo: Sam Tsang

The abrupt cancellation of a politically star-studded launch of a book commemorating the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong being under Chinese sovereignty has drawn talk that the reason goes beyond just a “printing problem”.

The large souvenir book, titled 20th Anniversary of Hong Kong’s Return, published by pro-Beijing Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group, was originally scheduled for launch on Monday afternoon at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, according to a press invitation dated February 9. But a terse notice on February 11 said the event was cancelled due to a “printing problem”. Continue reading HK souvenir book launched cancelled →

Made in China Yearbook 2016

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Dear Colleagues,

I am happy to announce the release of the Made in China Yearbook 2016: Disturbances in Heaven, published open access by ANU Press.

According to the Chinese zodiac, 2016 was the year of the fire monkey. What better character than Sun Wukong to inspire this inaugural volume of the Made in China Yearbook? In this past year, Chinese workers and activists from all walks of life have struggled under heightened repression by the Chinese party-state, showing remarkable endurance even under these dire circumstances. Through their battles, however small or short-lived, they repeatedly challenged the message of ‘harmony’ put forward by the Chinese authorities, creating ‘disturbances’ in the imaginary heaven engineered by the party-state. All of this is nothing other than proof of the survival of the monkey spirit in Chinese society. Even when trapped under a mountain of repression, or in terrible pain due to the curse of the magic headband of state control, the monkey still manages to briefly wriggle free, reminding us that not all is well, that not everything is predictable.

To download the electronic version of the book FOR FREE, please click on this link. More exciting news related to our Made in China project will follow soon.

Ivan Franceschini (ivan.franceschini@anu.edu.au)

Columbia grad conference on East Asia 2017

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26th Annual Graduate Student Conference on East Asia
Columbia University, New York
February 24th to 25th, 2017

You are cordially invited to join us at Columbia University for our annual Graduate Student Conference on East Asia. This year, we are proud to be hosting 24 panels on a diverse range of topics by scholars from across the globe, as well as an opening keynote by Prof. Harrison Huang and closing keynote by Prof. Paul Kreitman.

We also have the privilege of featuring a roundtable in celebration of the translation of Cai Xiang’s Revolution and Its Narratives. This discussion will include remarks by the translators, Prof. Rebecca Karl and Prof. Xueping Zhong, as well as a panel of invited guests.

All events are free and open to the public. Please visit our website for more information.

Sincerely,
The 2017 Gradcon Organizing Committee
Harlan Chambers <hdc2116@columbia.edu>
Chen Yedong, Aaron Glasserman, Alexander Kaplan-Reyes, Thomas Michael Ryan, Nataly Shahaf, Dongming Wu

Obsession with skyscrapers reaches new heights

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Source: SCMP (2/14/17)
China’s obsession with skyscrapers reaches new heights
By Summer Zhen

It seems that nothing can curb China’s obsession with skyscrapers.

Fifteen years ago, there were barely any high-rises in China. Now, seven of the 20 tallest buildings in the world are on mainland Chinese soil. With the rapid development of the economy, high-rises have shot up on land once occupied by bungalows and a so-called International Financial Centre or World Trade Centre can be found in every corner of the country.

The construction boom shows no sign of slowing down. Analysts cite two main reasons behind the trend; the acceleration of China’s urbanisation and a desire to improve the national image with modern construction. Continue reading Obsession with skyscrapers reaches new heights →

Han Han’s Duckweed

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Source: China Film Insider (2/12/17)
Film Review: Han Han’s Race Back To The ’90s Is a Sentimental Journey
By JONATHAN LANDRETH

Every day while CFI’s Hollywood readers take in the business of the Chinese film industry, the actual movies can sometimes seem exotic or remote. But in major US cities, mainstream Chinese films are increasingly available: thanks to Wanda’s purchase of AMC and distributors like China Lion, they get American theatrical releases practically simultaneous to their premieres at home. Though they receive virtually no publicity outside the non-Chinese community, these films are more than worth seeking out by anyone serious about engaging the Chinese industry, understanding the Chinese sensibility and familiarizing themselves with China’s talent pool. Periodically, CFI will review and point readers in the direction of noteworthy US releases of contemporary commercial and independent Chinese titles.

===========================================
Duckweed (2017), written by Yu Meng; directed by Han Han
.
Distributed by China Lion Films, opens in the U.S. February 10, 2017 (cinemas here).
Grade: A-
=========================================== Continue reading Han Han’s Duckweed →

Mindless obedience (1)

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The Global Times piece on the State Council’s promotion of the Di Zi Gui posits a contrast between unquestioning obedience and critical thinking.

There is another contrast which may matter more, given that the discussion concerns a fairly early stage of childhood. I mean the contrast between two views of the child: one, that he is a miniature adult in need of information which adults are in a position to transmit, and the other, that he is a creature whose emotions and thought processes follow different patterns than those of an adult. Much of twentieth-century educational research in the West was directed toward exploring the latter view and its implications. Haim Ginott liked to say that children (including adolescents) speak a language that he called Childrenese and anyone who wishes to communicate effectively and constructively with a child needs to learn that language. Continue reading Mindless obedience (1) →

Mindless obedience

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Source: Global Times (2/9/17)
Plans to teach Qing Dynasty book sparks fight over culture and obedience
By Zhao Yusha

Primary students wear traditional Chinese costume during their school's open day on September 1, 2016 in Xuchang, Central China's Henan Province. Photo: IC

Primary students wear traditional Chinese costume during their school’s open day on September 1, 2016 in Xuchang, Central China’s Henan Province. Photo: IC

Central government plans to make students around the country study a book which encourages the reader to always listen to their parents and teachers have sparked controversy, with some experts saying that the book will simply “teach people to be obedient.”

The State Council, China’s cabinet, issued guidelines in January which said that by 2025 major achievements should be made in traditional culture-related research, education, protection, inheritance, innovation and exchanges. The international influence of Chinese culture should see a “marked boost,” said the guideline.

One part of the guideline says that the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) book Di Zi Gui [弟子規] (students’ rules) should be included in the curriculum of elementary schools. The book, which contains only 360 sentences, explains how to be a good student and child, and tells readers to follow a traditional Confucian moral code. Continue reading Mindless obedience →

Sydney visiting fellowships

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Visiting Fellowships in Chinese Studies at the University of Sydney

The Department of Chinese Studies will have the honour of appointing one to two distinguished Visiting Fellows each year from 2017 to 2021, thanks to the acuity of vision and generosity of James Lee, a Hong Kong based University of Sydney alumnus. Located within the School of Languages and Cultures, the Department’s priorities and specializations encompass a wide spectrum of studies in literature, language, linguistics, translation, and cultures.

These fellowships are designed to support the Department’s research and teaching activities, and will allow visiting academics to spend up to six months at the University of Sydney, January–June or June–November. As a condition of the fellowship, fellows will a negotiated number of public lectures and research seminars, as well as guest lectures in undergraduate units of study. Continue reading Sydney visiting fellowships →

Crossing between Tradition and Modernity

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I’m happy to announce publication of Crossing between Tradition and Modernity: Essays in Commemoration of Milena Doleželová-Velingerová (1932-2012) (Prague: Karolinum Press, 2016). After Professor Doleželová-Velingerová’s untimely death in 2012, a group of her students decided to put a volume of essays together to honor her life and career. This is the final product of those efforts. We are grateful to the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for supporting publication of the volume. The book is not yet available on Amazon, but will be, I’m told. The University of Chicago Press distributes Karolinum Press books, so it will eventually be available on its website as well. See the blurb and table of contents below for more information on the book.

On a related note, we have pooled the royalties from this volume into a fund at MCLC to establish the Milena Doleželová-Velingerová Memorial Prize, a (possibly) annual prize for the best essay published in the journal Modern Chinese Literature and Culture in a calendar year. The royalties from the book are not enough to sustain the fund/prize for more than a couple of years, so I am appealing to the MCLC community to consider making a donation. There’s a “DONATE MONEY” link on the main page of the MCLC site (https://u.osu.edu/mclc/). Or you can go directly to the link below (it’s a secured site):

https://www.giveto.osu.edu/makeagift/OnlineGivingDonation.aspx?Source_Code=WA&Fund=301588

I hope you will consider making a donation. We would be most grateful for your contribution. Continue reading Crossing between Tradition and Modernity →

Politics and Poetics of Nostalgia–cfp

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MLA CFP: The Politics and Poetics of Nostalgia in Modern Chinese Literature and Culture

Generally speaking, nostalgia enjoys a much more dominant position in the history of Chinese cultural discourse than it does in its western counterpart. Indeed, in the Chinese tradition, nostalgia is a common literary conceit used by authors to define their creative identity. To most of the contemporary Western critics, by contrast, nostalgia carries pejorative connotations. This session intends to complicate the subject of nostalgia, be it a feeling, an ideology, or a culturally coded concept, by contemplating the notion and use of nostalgia in modern and contemporary Chinese thinking. The organizer in particular invites proposals that offer new theoretical views of nostalgia by not only addressing the nostalgic impulse concealed or revealed in Chinese literature, film, and media, but also examining the ways in which nostalgia in these forms participates in the (re)construction of the society, culture, and the world. Possible topics are not restricted to the following but could relate nostalgia to cultural critique, literary aesthetics, national identity, individual identity, and historical intervention. Presentations that help contribute to a fresh understanding of Chinese nostalgia are especially welcome. Continue reading Politics and Poetics of Nostalgia–cfp →

Special issue on Nicholas Tapp’s anthropology

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Alert: the special issue entitled “Ethnicity and Mobility: Nicholas Tapp’s Anthropology,” is vol. 28, of the Journal of Social Science published by the Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, Thailand. ISSN 0125-4138. It was edited by Aranya Siriphon.

The issue has 14+ articles commemorating and discussing the work of Nicholas Tapp, who passed away in 2015. At the time of his untimely death, he served as director of the anthropology institute at East China Normal University, in Shanghai, China — his legacy there is described in one of the papers. Other articles in this special issue concern his Hmong studies, and some are of a different or more personal nature, such as the reminiscences by his daughter Amanda Tapp, and by his colleagues Andrew Turton and the Hmong scholar Gary Y. Lee. Several authors (Jean Michaud, Stephan Feuchtwang, and myself) discuss Tapp’s recent book on Hmong selfhood, The Impossibility of Self. There is also a near-complete bibliography of Nicholas Tapp’s works. Continue reading Special issue on Nicholas Tapp’s anthropology →

HKU position in gender/sexuality studies

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Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in Gender and Sexuality Studies
The University of Hong Kong
http://jobs.hku.hk/jd.php?id=201700133

Applications are invited for a tenure-track appointment as Assistant Professor from scholars in gender, sexuality, and/or women’s studies with an arts and humanities disciplinary base.  The appointment will commence on September 1, 2017, or as soon as possible thereafter, on a three-year fixed-term basis, with the possibility of renewal and with consideration for tenure before the expiry of a second three-year fixed-term contract.

Applicants should hold a doctorate degree in gender studies or a related discipline, and show excellence in teaching and research in these fields. Preference will be given to candidates with a commitment to scholarship on women in Asia or the Asian diaspora. Demonstrated success in acquiring external grants and an interest in community outreach on gender and diversity issues would be an asset. Continue reading HKU position in gender/sexuality studies →