Jottings from the Granite Studio » Jottings in other places http://granitestudio.org A Qing historian reads the newspaper... Sun, 22 Jan 2012 04:41:50 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 In case you missed it…Yajun writing in The Guardian about the Foshan Hit-and-run Case http://granitestudio.org/2011/10/24/in-case-you-missed-it-yajun-writing-in-the-guardian-about-the-foshan-hit-and-run-case/ http://granitestudio.org/2011/10/24/in-case-you-missed-it-yajun-writing-in-the-guardian-about-the-foshan-hit-and-run-case/#comments Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:36:59 +0000 Jeremiah http://granitestudio.org/?p=3018 I’m in the US this week for an academic conference, but be sure to check out Yajun’s piece for The Guardian on the Foshan hit-and-run case.  Arguing that the causes of the passers-by indifference to the plight of “Little Yueyue” is symptomatic of larger problems in Chinese society.  She writes:

Whatever the reasons are and wherever we place the blame, there is no excuse for witnessing a human being dying without doing anything to help. As many Chinese web users have written, it’s possible that there is a kind of sickness in Chinese society that has infected us to our core, and which has been growing for a long time.

Great article.  For more by Yajun, check out some of her Granite Studio posts from earlier this year:

Diversity When?

Political trust: Not something to be taken with a grain of salt

A Chinese Perspective on the Jasmine Revolution

Turning Rumors into News: The non-death of Jiang Zemin

The Sino-Japanese Relationship: (Apologies to Facebook) It’s Complicated

The Significance of Singing Red Songs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

]]> http://granitestudio.org/2011/10/24/in-case-you-missed-it-yajun-writing-in-the-guardian-about-the-foshan-hit-and-run-case/feed/ 0 Two more posts up at The Atlantic Monthly site http://granitestudio.org/2011/02/26/two-more-posts-up-at-the-atlantic-monthly-site/ http://granitestudio.org/2011/02/26/two-more-posts-up-at-the-atlantic-monthly-site/#comments Fri, 25 Feb 2011 23:00:14 +0000 Jeremiah http://granitestudio.org/?p=2654 An update on the week’s events here in Beijing, though compared to the seething hot beds of revolution which are Tripoli and, apparently, Madison, Wisconsin, Beijing has been rather quiet.

The second looks at the meaning of drought in Chinese history, and why drought was often the most destabilizing of natural disasters in China’s past.

(Though I guess when you start writing about the weather, it’s probably time to wrap up the guest blogging gig.*)

——————-

*Update: Sure enough, last night…it snowed.  Not enough to really make a difference and it was almost certainly the work of the Weather Modification Gnomes BUT not the best timing.

]]> http://granitestudio.org/2011/02/26/two-more-posts-up-at-the-atlantic-monthly-site/feed/ 6 Two new posts for James Fallows on the Atlantic Monthly site http://granitestudio.org/2011/02/24/two-new-posts-for-james-fallows-on-the-atlantic-monthly-site/ http://granitestudio.org/2011/02/24/two-new-posts-for-james-fallows-on-the-atlantic-monthly-site/#comments Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:07:00 +0000 Jeremiah http://granitestudio.org/?p=2646 Today was a busy day. Yajun is by herself in the Beijing office writing a story on new calls for a revolution this weekend even as the PSB is busy rounding up the usual suspects.  I was teaching today, 90 exhilaration (for me, if not my students) minutes on Chiang Kai-shek and the Nanjing Decade.  And somewhere between last night and this afternoon I finished two new posts as part of my week-long gig guest blogging for James Fallows at the Atlantic Monthly site.

Post one was inspired by a comment on twitter by Bill Bishop (of the Sinocism blog and the well-known Twitter handle @niubi) about the speciousness of comparing the last days of the Qing with contemporary China.  I couldn’t resist, so I took him up on his challenge and concluded that while admittedly there are some pretty significant differences which make historical parallels difficult to make, there are sufficient similarities for Hu Jintao to keep reaching for his bottle of printers ink to keep the gray hairs away.

The second post was more of a “what’s hot in the China blogosphere today?” kind of story, this one about Ambassador Jon Huntsman “coincidentally” showing up at last Sunday’s ]]> Today was a busy day. Yajun is by herself in the Beijing office writing a story on new calls for a revolution this weekend even as the PSB is busy rounding up the usual suspects.  I was teaching today, 90 exhilaration (for me, if not my students) minutes on Chiang Kai-shek and the Nanjing Decade.  And somewhere between last night and this afternoon I finished two new posts as part of my week-long gig guest blogging for James Fallows at the Atlantic Monthly site.

Post one was inspired by a comment on twitter by Bill Bishop (of the Sinocism blog and the well-known Twitter handle @niubi) about the speciousness of comparing the last days of the Qing with contemporary China.  I couldn’t resist, so I took him up on his challenge and concluded that while admittedly there are some pretty significant differences which make historical parallels difficult to make, there are sufficient similarities for Hu Jintao to keep reaching for his bottle of printers ink to keep the gray hairs away.

The second post was more of a “what’s hot in the China blogosphere today?” kind of story, this one about Ambassador Jon Huntsman “coincidentally” showing up at last Sunday’s non-event in Wangfujing only to find himself the subject of a 90-second video posted by a Chinese fenqing website.

Enjoy.

]]> http://granitestudio.org/2011/02/24/two-new-posts-for-james-fallows-on-the-atlantic-monthly-site/feed/ 2 Guest Blogging for James Fallows http://granitestudio.org/2011/02/22/guest-blogging-for-james-fallows/ http://granitestudio.org/2011/02/22/guest-blogging-for-james-fallows/#comments Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:24:07 +0000 Jeremiah http://granitestudio.org/?p=2643 YJ is pretty excited — and a little freaked out — over how much attention her post on the Jasmine Revolution is getting.  As of 8:30 p.m. Beijing time tonight, if you google “Jasmine Revolution,” Yajun’s post is the fifth entry on the first page after Wikipedia, Washington Post, BBC, and the New York Times .

In other and somewhat related news, this week I’m really thrilled to be one of several guest bloggers for James Fallows on the Atlantic Monthly site.  For my first post I’ve tackled the same question as YJ — why isn’t China ready for an Egypt-style revolution.  I agree with Yajun that a major issue is the lack of any meaningful organization, but I also argue that this is because the Party has learned the lessons of 1919 and 1989 and is now very careful about letting disaffected groups from linking their causes together either vertically across class lines or geographically.

Enjoy.

]]> YJ is pretty excited — and a little freaked out — over how much attention her post on the Jasmine Revolution is getting.  As of 8:30 p.m. Beijing time tonight, if you google “Jasmine Revolution,” Yajun’s post is the fifth entry on the first page after Wikipedia, Washington Post, BBC, and the New York Times .

In other and somewhat related news, this week I’m really thrilled to be one of several guest bloggers for James Fallows on the Atlantic Monthly site.  For my first post I’ve tackled the same question as YJ — why isn’t China ready for an Egypt-style revolution.  I agree with Yajun that a major issue is the lack of any meaningful organization, but I also argue that this is because the Party has learned the lessons of 1919 and 1989 and is now very careful about letting disaffected groups from linking their causes together either vertically across class lines or geographically.

Enjoy.

]]> http://granitestudio.org/2011/02/22/guest-blogging-for-james-fallows/feed/ 6 Sinica Podcast: The Eulogy and the Aftershocks http://granitestudio.org/2010/04/23/sinica-podcast-the-eulogy-and-the-aftershocks/ http://granitestudio.org/2010/04/23/sinica-podcast-the-eulogy-and-the-aftershocks/#comments Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:44:41 +0000 Jeremiah http://granitestudio.org/?p=1822 Kaiser Kuo has started Sinica, a much-needed podcast series bringing together people from academia, media, business, and other corners of the Sinosphere to discuss the issues of the day.   This week’s episode featured Gady Epstein from Forbes Magazine, Tania Branigan of The Guardian, and I me talking a bit about Hu Yaobang, earthquakes, and, apparently, Song Zuying.

People new to the blog and who are interested in reading more on these topics might want to check out the following posts from the past:

“The Historical Record for April 15, 2009: The Death of Hu Yaobang” (April 15, 2009)

“List of possible embarrassing revelations in Ζhao Ζiyang Memoirs due out this summer (May 15, 2009)

And for those interested in earthquakes…

“The Historical Record for March 1: Zhang Heng’s Seismometer”

Enjoy and thanks to Kaiser for inviting me on the show.

]]> Kaiser Kuo has started Sinica, a much-needed podcast series bringing together people from academia, media, business, and other corners of the Sinosphere to discuss the issues of the day.   This week’s episode featured Gady Epstein from Forbes Magazine, Tania Branigan of The Guardian, and I me talking a bit about Hu Yaobang, earthquakes, and, apparently, Song Zuying.

People new to the blog and who are interested in reading more on these topics might want to check out the following posts from the past:

“The Historical Record for April 15, 2009: The Death of Hu Yaobang” (April 15, 2009)

“List of possible embarrassing revelations in Ζhao Ζiyang Memoirs due out this summer (May 15, 2009)

And for those interested in earthquakes…

“The Historical Record for March 1: Zhang Heng’s Seismometer”

Enjoy and thanks to Kaiser for inviting me on the show.

]]> http://granitestudio.org/2010/04/23/sinica-podcast-the-eulogy-and-the-aftershocks/feed/ 2