2009 is shaping up to be a great year. The dissertation is humming along, I’m teaching a class on Modern Chinese history for about 20 American university students studying here in Beijing as well as a seminar on Chinese philosophy. The classes start on Thursday and I’m almost done with finalizing the syllabus (I’m an inveterate, compulsive tinkerer). This is the fourth time I’ve taught the philosophy seminar and this is the fourth syllabus I’ve used. I always begin the process of revision by “wanting to tweak a few things,” but as an academic there’s a hint of shade-tree mechanic in me, and I can’t resist just pulling the whole thing apart and putting it back together again. The Modern Chinese History class is a little more straightforward (1911-2008) and we hit all the high and low points: May Fourth, Nanking Decade, World War II, Liberation, Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, Reform and Opening, that thing that rhymes with Schmiananmen, and the problems and possibilities of the present day. It’s a fun class to teach, needless to say.
Along the way in the past year, I also managed (almost by accident) to have several pieces published in books which have either just been released or are due out soon. The first is an essay on Hua Guofeng for the book China in 2008: A Year of Great Significance, to be published by Rowman & Littlefield this spring. This is the in print result of a year in the life of the blog The China Beat, and the list of contributors makes me a bit humble to have my name alongside theirs in the table of contents. While I never meant to become the “Hua Guofeng guy,” I was happy to add my own little bit to this wonderful project.
On a more local note, December saw the release of the latest iteration of the Beijing Insiders Guide, published by True Run Media (the good folks who bring you The Beijinger magazine). I have some short pieces in there, including the preface. It’s a book we buy every year, without fail, and I keep a copy on my desk here at school as a crutch for the fair number of obscure questions I get from students about how to get to where that thing is.
So while the world (and my university) awaits the final completion (and eventual publication plus seven-figure movie deal) of my dissertation, this will suffice. Hopefully I can get a few more things out there this year as well. Until then…there’s always the blog.
2009: A Year of Some Significance: 2009 is shaping up to be a great year. The dissertation is humming along, I&.. http://tinyurl.com/aurk76
Good luck with the dissertation. ‘Humming along’ tells me you’re firmly in control of the beast.
This interests me:
“The Modern Chinese History class is a little more straightforward (1911-2008) and we hit all the high and low points”
Is the class strictly for foreign ears or do you sometimes get Chinese students popping their heads around the door to listen in? Would you ask them politely to leave if they did, for fear of possible repercussions? Do you have to present your syllabus to any local authority for an official ‘OK’?
From reading this blog alone I have no doubt that this is just the kind of modern history course that is sorely needed in the national curriculum in China.
I would never ask anybody to leave who wished to listen to all views respectfully and/or contribute productively. That said, all of our students are from American universities and are used to an academic culture of critical thinking and open debate.
Oblique enough?
I do occasionally make a little joke in class by prefacing a choice comment on the CCP or Taiwan by addressing the light switch with a curt “Sorry guys, you might not want to listen in on this…”