Another classic attempt to “explain and understand” China from the CIA/NSC archives, this one is like some sort of unholy mash-up of John King Fairbank, Max Weber, Henry Luce, Edward Said, and the KMT propaganda department…but there is some useful archival footage as well as interviews with seminal American “China watchers” such as Theodore White and [...]
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Today’s a big dissertation working day so I’ll leave you with this gem, a 1958 film produced by the CIA and the National Security Council: “China Leaps Forward.” Enjoy. h/t to fellow [...] It’s November here in Beijing. Three weeks ago, before the snow really started to fall, we took the plants in from our garden. A week later, as we were looking out at our small patch of bamboo bending under the weight of the snow and ice, we decided that it was unfair that it [...] Ed Note: This post is the first by Sean, a graduate school colleague of mine currently in Taiwan doing research for his dissertation. He’s one of the smartest guys I know and I’m really happy to have him contributing here to the Granite Studio. Enjoy. ————————– Shortsighted governments using the power of the state to silence criticism [...] Wang Fuzhi (王夫之, 1619–1692, courtesy name, Ernong 而农, he also styled himself Chuanshan 船山) was witness to a calamity — the fall of the Ming Empire first to the bandit armies of Li Zicheng and subsequently to the Manchu ‘peacekeeping forces’ under the regent Dorgon. He became active in the anti-Manchu resistance and when the last [...] Puyi (The Xuantong Emperor) Most people know that yesterday marked 200 years since the births of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin…but it was also the 96th anniversary of the end of Manchu rule. The text below is a section from one of two edicts which officially ended imperial rule. The first turned over the reins of [...] February 3, 2009 marks the 110th anniversary of the birth of writer Lao She. I wrote this short piece last year to mark the occasion of anniversary number 109, and I like it so much that I’m running it again. Enjoy. —————————————————— Originally published February 3, 2008: Today is the birthday of the celebrated novelist, playwright, and also YJ’s [...] Yung Wing (容闳, 1828-1912) was the first Chinese graduate of Yale University (class of 1854) and went on to have a long and diverse career as an interpreter, tea trader, diplomat, educator, military procurement specialist, and writer. In his autobiography 我在中国和美国的生活 My Life in China and America, he recounts an incident that took place in Shanghai after [...] One new feature I’m trying to kick off here at The Granite Studio is an entirely biased and hugely subjective review of some of my favorite historians of China. These are the writers and scholars who influenced me when I began studying Chinese history and who continue to serve as inspirations as I continue my own [...] There’s a famous saying, attributed to Benjamin Franklin: “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Franklin was arguing that there exist higher principles beyond the immediate and that is critical in times of strife not to allow the urgent to vanquish the important. I’d be hard pressed [...] One of the more persistent myths of Qing dynasty (1644-1912) history is the hoary old story of the Manchu conquerors realizing their inherent inferiority and meekly taking on the culture of their subjects. The essence of the argument is that the success of the Qing in conquering and ruling such a large empire was due to [...] In August 1868, an angry group of Yangzhou residents burned down the home of Hudson Taylor, a British missionary who had arrived in the city with his family only two months prior and whom the local populace suspected of kidnapping children for nefarious purposes. Taylor and his family fortunately escaped the blaze, though they were roughed [...] “People ask for criticism, but they only want praise.” – Somerset Maugham “As a scientific truth, Marxism fears no criticism.” – Mao Zedong Like so many other hasty marriages, by 1956 the relationship between Mao and the Party had begun to suffer from a seven-year itch. Still only in their first decade of rule, the CCP were shocked [...] I have another post, based also on an observation by Liang Qichao, over at The Peking Duck which will likely generate a bit more commentary than this brief meditation on the joys of urban parks, but after a pleasant post-brunch stroll through Ritan Gongyuan, I thought parks to be worth a post of their own: As with [...] Professor Li Xiaojiang, of Zhejiang University, is a pioneer of women’s and gender studies in the PRC. She published Renlei jinbu yu funu jiefang (“Human progress and women’s liberation”) in 1983, one of the first scholarly articles in her field ever published in the PRC. In 1988, Professor Li wrote an essay analyzing the situation of [...] |
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