From positionspolitics.org/praxis:

Patricia Thornton on US-China Relations and Project 2025.

Rebecca E. Karl

Dear Colleagues,

I’m delighted to share that my book, Seeing Through Abstraction: Literary Encounters with Information in Modern China, is now out with Columbia University Press. Covering fiction, poetry, and woodcut art, the book repositions modern Chinese literature within the global history of the information age. A fuller description is available on Columbia UP’s webpage, where those interested in ordering a copy can also receive a 20% discount by using the promo code CUP20.

Anatoly Detwyler <detwyler@wisc.edu>
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Call for Abstracts: Ling Yü and Chen Yuhong, Special Issue of Taiwan Lit
Guest Editors: Justyna Jaguścik and Wen-chi Li

In recent years, Taiwanese poetry has gained sustained international attention. Several collections have been translated into English, French, Dutch, German, Italian, and Swedish, earning translation prizes and increasing global visibility. With Ling Yü receiving the Newman Prize in 2025 and Chen Yuhong being awarded the Cicada Prize in 2022, it is timely to revisit contemporary Taiwanese poetry and recognize its depth, strength, and vitality, qualities that not only resist being overshadowed by the prominence of contemporary Chinese poetry but also affirm Taiwan’s rightful place on the world stage in its own name, without mediation through China. This special issue on Ling Yü and Chen Yuhong seeks to further consolidate their visibility through the platform of Taiwan Lit and the Global Sinosphere and to examine the processes through which their works may be canonized within broader literary frameworks.

Pairing Ling Yü and Chen Yuhong provides a unique lens for exploring Taiwanese poetry across generational and stylistic lines. Ling Yü’s work is often associated with lyrical density, philosophical reflection, and explorations of interiority. As Cosima Bruno remarked in her Newman Prize rationale: “Ling Yü’s language is economical and concise, yet surprising and reverberating with complex meaning. Her poetry engages thoughtfully with classical and modern, Eastern and Western literary, philosophical, artistic, and esoteric sources, generating outstanding works that require attention but are also intuitively grasped.”

Chen Yuhong, by contrast, presents a distinct poetic aesthetic. Her work foregrounds feminist critique and musicality, while her practice as a translator has introduced the works of Louise Glück, Carol Ann Duffy, Anne Carson, and Margaret Atwood into Mandarin. Taiwanese scholar Chen I-chih observes that Chen Yuhong “poured her lifelong sensitivity and passion into her work,” and that “her achievement lies primarily in the subtle prosody forged through the fusion of Chinese and Western poetics, as well as in the multilayered system of imagery she developed,” which earned her the United Daily News Literary Grand Prize in 2017. Continue reading Taiwan Lit–cfp →

Source: NYT (7/28/25)
Shaolin ‘C.E.O. Monk’ Is Accused of Embezzlement and Affairs With Women
China’s famed Shaolin Temple said its celebrity abbot, Shi Yongxin, was under investigation over misuse of funds and “improper relations” with women.
By Lily Kuo and Vivian Wang (Lily Kuo reported from Taipei, Taiwan. Vivian Wang recently visited the Shaolin Temple)

The abbot of Shaolin Temple, Shi Yongxin. The Buddhist Association of China said it had revoked his clergy certificate. Credit…Peter Parks/Agence France-Presse —. Getty Images

Chinese authorities are investigating the longtime head of China’s Shaolin Temple on suspicion of embezzling funds, maintaining “improper relations” with women and fathering at least one child outside marriage, the temple said.

It is the latest scandal to embroil one of the country’s most famous monks, Shi Yongxin, also known as China’s C.E.O. monk for his work turning the temple, a fabled 1,500-year-old monastery complex in central China, into an international tourist attraction and global brand.

A short notice posted on Sunday by the Shaolin Temple’s official account on the Chinese messaging app WeChat said that Shi Yongxin, the temple’s abbot, was under investigation by “multiple departments” for criminal offenses related to the misuse of funds and assets owned by the temple, as well as for “seriously violating” Buddhist principles. The temple did not provide specifics.

The Buddhist Association of China said on Monday that it had revoked the abbot’s clergy certificate. The organization described his behavior as “completely vile” and damaging to the reputation of the broader Buddhist community and other monks. Continue reading Shaolin CEO monk accused embezzlement and affairs →

We are pleased to announce the publication of a translation by Joanna Suwen Lee-Brown of Yang Shuo’s “Asia Sunrise” at:  https://positionspolitics.org/asia-sunrise/.

Rebecca Karl

“Asia Sunrise” (1957) is a travel essay by the revolutionary writer Yang Shuo that recounts his visit to Port Said in Egypt after the Suez Crisis. Yang Shuo depicts everyday Egyptians engaged in a heroic struggle for national liberation — and China’s solidarity with their efforts.

Source: NYT (6/28/25)
Chinese Police Detain Dozens of Writers Over Gay Erotic Online Novels
阅读简体中文版 | 閱讀繁體中文版
The genre known as Boys’ Love, stories written mostly by and for straight women, has been in the authorities’ sights for years.
By Vivian Wang, Reporting from Beijing

A Beijing store selling merchandise based on Boys’ Love graphic novels. Boys’ Love fiction, about romance between men, has had a fervent niche following in China since the 1990s. Credit…Siyi Zhao/The New York Times

The graduate student in southern China wrote the romance novel in her spare time, self-publishing it online. In 75 chapters, it followed two male protagonists through a love affair that included, at times, steamy sexual encounters. It earned her less than $400, from readers who paid to access it.

Now, it could bring her a criminal conviction.

Across China, the authorities have been interrogating dozens of writers — many of them young women — who published gay erotic novels online, in what appears to be the largest police roundup of its kind to date.

At least 12 such authors were tried on obscenity charges in Anhui Province late last year, according to court records, and more investigations, including that of the student, were opened in Gansu Province this spring. Some of the writers have been fined heavily or sentenced to years in prison for producing and distributing obscene content.

At the center of the crackdown is Boys’ Love, a genre of romance between men that is mostly written and read online, and mostly by heterosexual women. Originally from Japan, it has developed a fervent niche following in China and other Asian countries since the 1990s, offering fans an alternative to the stereotypes of passive, obedient women and macho men in many mainstream love stories. Continue reading Police detain dozens of ‘boys’ love’ writers →

Source: China Media Project (5/13/25)
Plucking China’s “Peach Networks”
A state television exposé last month claimed to unmask exploitative dating apps, but it also exposed how cyclical media campaigns serve official narratives in China’s tightly controlled information landscape.
By Dalia Parete

Perhaps you’ve never heard of “peach networks.” But this term, which refers to shadowy dating apps allegedly facilitating illegal prostitution, trended briefly in China late last month when the country’s state broadcaster ran a consumer investigation of what it characterized as a growing phenomenon — dating apps that cross the line into sexual exploitation.

The phrase “peach networks,” or taose shejiao (桃色社交), first appeared on April 20, featured in an episode of “Finance Investigation” (财经调查), a program released on China Central Television in March 2024 that runs documentary-style investigations into consumer issues, business misconduct, and market violations. Such soft targets — not dealing, at least directly, with government negligence or corruption — fall into a shrinking area of permitted coverage in a media industry that has been heavily restrained over the past decade.

In this case, the report alleged that apps it referred to as “peach networks” were disguising themselves as legitimate social networking sites while engaging in illegal activities. On some of these platforms, men were permitted to sign up without any identity verification, while women were put through intensive identity checks. Once registered, male users were bombarded with messages from female profiles, and prompted to purchase virtual currency to reply. According to the CCTV program’s investigation, many of the initial interactions for which men spent their credits were in fact with automated chatbots rather than real women, the process engineered to draw chiefly male users deeper into the platform to pay more money.

In the Chinese language, the term “peach-colored,” or taose (桃色), has historically denoted sexual or erotic themes — the peach fruit, owing to its curvy shape and soft pink color, being likened to the human body. When paired with “social networking,” or shejiao (社交), the result is a composite phrase suggesting the apps in question provide sexual services or content, which in China is tightly controlled. Continue reading Peach networks →

Call for Presenters: Panel on “Feminism, Technologies, and Transmediality in Postsocialist China”
54th Annual Conference of the SouthWest Conference on Asian Studies (SWCAS), 2025

We invite proposals for our panel titled “Feminism, Technologies, and Transmediality in Postsocialist China,” to be presented at the upcoming 54th Annual SWCAS Conference. The panel currently includes two presenters and is seeking two additional presenters and one discussant to join the conversation.

After the end of the Cultural Revolution, Chinese feminism experienced a revival as a new generation of female intellectuals, writers, artists, and digital media users emerged to reflect on their newly acquired identities during the transitional period from a state-established revolutionary era to a postsocialist, neoliberal-oriented one shaped by shifting political and economic conditions. Accompanying this new wave of female artistic production and social intervention were China’s rapid globalization, advances in science and technology, and the emergence of diverse media forms and practices.

By examining how female artists and intellectuals negotiate their social roles within this evolving ecology of productive relations, technological developments, and global media industries, this panel explores the dynamic intersections of feminist expression, technological influence and critique, and transmedial practices in Chinese media since the postsocialist transition. We welcome proposals that examine: Continue reading SWCAS 2025 panel–cfp →

Postdoctoral Position “China’s Multiple Pasts: Museums, Colonial History, and Decoloniality in Southeast Asia” (project no: 2024/53/B/HS3/01498) University of Warsaw, Faculty of History.

The dean of the Faculty of History with the consent of the Rector of the University of Warsaw, announces a competition for the position of postdoctoral researcher in the field of history in the Department of History of the 20th Century, Faculty of History, University of Warsaw in NCN OPUS-27 research project ‘China’s Multiple Pasts: Museums, Colonial History, and Decoloniality in Southeast Asia’.

This project strives to examine if and how Overseas Chinese history museums in Southeast Asia offer alternative representations of the past to those found in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). By juxtaposing the nationalist representations embedded in the PRC’s memorialization of Chinese diaspora and those shown in museums in Southeast Asia, this project will analyse the diversity of discourses on China’s past, retrieve the agency of different communities funding the museums, and problematize the application of decolonial theories in museums based outside the Western episteme.

The appointment will begin in October 2025.

The successful candidate must hold a Ph.D. by the time of appointment, and is a specialist in Chinese Overseas Chinese studies, preferably with a focus on museum and/or heritage studies. Knowledge of Thai/Malay/ Indonesian will be an asset. Continue reading U of Warsaw postdoc →

Fixed-term lectureship in Modern Chinese Literature and Cultural Studies
University of Oxford

Salary: £38,674 to £46,913 Grade 7
Hours: Full Time
Job Ref: 178227

The Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies intends to appoint a Departmental Lecturer (DL) for one year in Modern Chinese Literature and Cultural Studies. This is an excellent opportunity for a highly promising scholar to develop their career in the field of Modern Chinese literature and cultural Studies, as they play an active and valued role in teaching the Faculty’s undergraduate and graduate courses, and contributing to the administration of degree courses.

You will have completed, or be close to completing, a doctorate in modern Chinese literature or cultural studies. You will be able to demonstrate an aptitude for academic teaching at undergraduate and graduate teaching and a solid knowledge of the Chinese language, making use of original Chinese texts on aspects of modern Chinese culture. You will have a commitment to communicating and publishing research, and an ability and willingness to carry out administrative roles in an academic setting, possessing excellent communication, organisational and interpersonal skills, supported by a good standard of English.

This position is based at the China Centre at St Hugh’s College, close to central Oxford.

This is a full-time, fixed-term position until 31 August 2026.

The closing date for applications is 12 noon on 24 March 2025.

Contact Person: HR recruitment
Closing Date: 24 March 2025 12:00
Contact Email: recruitment@ames.ox.ac.uk

Posted by: Posted by: Margaret Hillenbrand <margaret.hillenbrand@chinese.ox.ac.uk>

We at the Universities Service Centre for China Studies (USC) Collection, Chinese University of Hong Kong, are thrilled to announce the relaunch of the Folk History Archive website, a significant component of our Folk History Project, which has been collecting Chinese personal and familial testimonies, memoirs, and biographies since 2006 on its website and in print for its collection.

Key Highlights:

• Approximately 500 original contributions, including 70 novellas and over 400 articles, providing a rich and diverse collection of narratives.
• Downloadable metadata for over 9,000 records, encompassing selections from magazines, newspapers, and books, enhancing research opportunities.
• Resources related to Chinese folk history, incorporating book series, websites, and we-media platforms, providing a comprehensive knowledge base.

We are excited to reintroduce the Folk History Archive in a new design and invite you to explore this invaluable online resource. Your engagement and support contribute to the preservation and sharing of diverse narratives that shape our understanding of Chinese history and society.

You are welcome to direct any inquiries or questions via email to us: usc@cuhk.edu.hk.

Sincerely,

Miriam Seeger <miriamseeger@cuhk.edu.hk>
Modern China Studies Librarian
Universities Service Centre for China Studies Collection
The Chinese University of Hong Kong Library

Dear MCLC Community,

Wu Xuezhao 吴学昭 has just published a collection of letters addressed to Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang (see image left): among then I am honoured to find an exchange I had with Yang Jiang, whom I met in 2011 for her 100 years birthday.

Also, a picture of our meeting (me, Yang Jiang and Wu Xuezhao) was just published in the Chinese translation of  the 1956 special issue on China today of the Italian review Il Ponte (The bridge), collecting reports of the visit of an Italian cultural delegation to China (September-October 1955).

Silvia Calamandrei <scalamandrei51@gmail.com>

New Publication
Teaching Film from the People’s Republic of China has been published by the Modern Language Association (MLA).  It is a timely and multidisciplinary reference book for film pedagogy. The seven parts of this book include sections such as “Image and Reality of a Changing China,” “Recontextualizing National Culture,” “Intercultural and Comparative Approaches,” and “Multidisciplinary Approaches.”

Particularly, I would like to highlight my essay, “Visualizing Ethnic Minorities in Multicultural China,” in this volume. This is perhaps the first pedagogical piece published in the United States about teaching the ethnic minority visual cultures of China. The essay spans various visual realms, from film to photography and pre-modern China’s paintings albums about the “Miao barbarians,” to discuss interdisciplinary ways of engaging students in examining the historical evolution and contemporary ramifications of visualizing non-Han groups in China. The essay provides a variety of sources and methods for instructors to incorporate the discussion of cultural diversity, race, and ethnicity into their teaching about Chinese culture, history, and art.

Yanshuo Zhang <yanshuo2009@gmail.com>

30th Annual Columbia Graduate Student Conference on East Asia
October 18th and 19th, 2024

Graduate students are cordially invited to submit abstracts for the 30th Annual Columbia Graduate Student Conference on East Asia, to be held at Columbia University on October 18th and 19th, 2024. This two-day conference provides students from institutions around the world with the opportunity to meet and share research with their peers. In addition, participants will gain valuable experience presenting their work through discussion with fellow graduate students and Columbia faculty.

We welcome applications from students engaged in research on all fields in East Asian Studies. While applicants are welcome to anchor their research within specific disciplines such as History, Literature, Cinema, Art History, Religion, Sociology, and others, we particularly encourage projects that transcend national, temporal, and disciplinary boundaries, aiming to investigate how solidarity can be fostered among groups with diverse backgrounds.

Participation

Presenters deliver a talk no longer than 20 minutes based on an academic paper that summarizes research in progress. Presentations may take three possible forms: a standard academic research paper, a PowerPoint presentation accompanied by a talk, or a work of documentary filmmaking. A documentary work should be 20 minutes or less. Those interested in proposing research in alternative forms are encouraged to reach out to the committee directly at columbiaealacgradcon@gmail.com. Continue reading Columbia Grad Conference 2024 →

Source: NYT (1/13/24)
In a Setback for Beijing, Taiwan Elects Lai Ching-te as President
Taiwan’s vice president, whose party has emphasized the island’s sovereignty, defeated an opposition party that favors reviving engagement with China.
By Chris Buckley, Amy Chang Chien, John Liu and Damien Cave (Chris Buckley, John Liu and Damien Cave reported from Taipei. Amy Chang Chien reported from Chiayi, Taiwan.)

Taiwan’s vice president, Lai Ching-te, won the island’s presidential election on Saturday. Credit…Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times

The Taiwanese presidential candidate Lai Ching-te has for years been reviled by China’s Communist Party as a dangerous foe who, by its account, could drag the two sides into a war by pressing for full independence for his island democracy. Right up to Saturday, when millions of Taiwanese voted for their next president, an official Beijing news outlet warned that Mr. Lai could take Taiwan “on a path of no return.”

Yet, despite China’s months of menacing warnings of a “war or peace” choice for Taiwan’s voters, Mr. Lai was victorious.

Mr. Lai, currently Taiwan’s vice president, secured 40 percent of the votes in the election, giving his Democratic Progressive Party, or D.P.P., a third term in a row in the presidential office. No party has achieved more than two successive terms since Taiwan began holding direct, democratic elections for its president in 1996.

At a D.P.P. gathering outside its headquarters in Taipei, thousands of supporters, many waving pink and green flags, cheered as Mr. Lai’s lead grew during the counting of the votes, which was displayed on a large screen on an outdoor stage.

Addressing his supporters at the event, Mr. Lai called for unity, while also pledging his commitment to defending Taiwan’s identity. “Between democracy and authoritarianism, we choose to stand on the side of democracy,” Mr. Lai said. “This is what this election campaign means to the world.” Continue reading Taiwan elects Lai Ching-te →