Jottings from the Granite Studio

一．Powerful essay by Ma Jun posted on the China Dialogue website, “Participation not markets, will help China’s environment.” (中文) Ma argues that the market reforms of the past 15 years have had some success but that the market alone cannot resolve the country’s ecological crisis or the explosive economic inequalities that have accompanied China’s economic […]

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Couple of interesting articles in the Korea field via the History News Network. The first is on the last American defector still living in North Korea.

James [note: He is referred to as “Joe” in the 60 Minutes piece] Dresnok…broke 44 years of silence since he slipped across South Korea’s heavily mined border to begin […]

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Chinese president Hu Jintao yesterday began an eight-country tour of Africa following a November summit of African leaders in the Chinese capital. The People’s Daily is describing Hu’s visit as “a journey of friendship and cooperation” but others both in Africa and in the West are more skeptical about China’s intentions and wary of […]

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There seems like nothing in the history field can rile up the masses like a good old fashioned textbook controversy. This time on Taiwan where recent editions of the standard high school history text for Taiwanese students has had some changes made, most notably the terms, “mainland” (dalu 大陆）and “our country” (我国 woguo) […]

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Diligence China has a quality post on the landmarks of emerging markets–certain things to look out for as China makes the transition from “from self-loathing acolyte to over-confident preacher.” Two of these landmarks I thought deserved further comment.
A two stage process. Stage one – All of China’s historical problems were all either imported or the […]

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With Richard TPD’s internet still not quite up to speed, I’ve been posting a bit over at The Peking Duck. For those interested, there are four articles up now from yours truly:
“How Now Mao?” looks at Ross Terrill’s recent article in the Wilson Quarterly on all things Mao. Terrill’s article explores the relationship between […]

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Great post by Charles Hayford at Frog in a Well on all things related to pigs in Chinese history. Fabulous read as we get ready to celebrate the year of the Pig. You have to love a year that can claim as its own Chiang Kaishek, Jerry Lee Lewis, Lee Kuan Yew, Ronald Reagan, and […]

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ABC news reports that over 1100 cultural relics were unearthed last year at construction sites for Olympic venues in and around Beijing, including several tombs dating from the Ming dynasty located a few hundred yards away from the proposed site of an Olympic shooting range. So far over 700 tombs dating from the Han through […]

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This week as I wait somewhat patiently for my email to load, I’ve been walking the streets of Tianjin. One of the first places I wandered was to the Tianjin Tianhou Palace (天津天后宫), a temple located near Tianjin’s Antique Street (古文化街). The Antique Street is similar to dozens of other souvenir/faux brand markets around the […]

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Southwest Airlines ran a series of commercials this past summer advertising their service from Boston to Philadelphia. In the ads, Philadelphians gave their opinions about what made Philly so special, the joke being that everyone said the same two things: cheese steak and the Liberty Bell. The spot ends with a local yokel proclaiming that […]

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