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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I want to come clean: I am a Red Sox fenqing. Mao may have had his Red Guards but I’m a card-carrying armband-wearing brainless slogan-chanting member of the 红袜兵.* Hey, we’ve got our catchy songs and marching anthem too. You have a problem with that? Didn’t think so, because there’s a bleacher full of guys behind me [...] In class two weeks ago we were watching the documentary series China From the Inside when one of my students asked, with some reason, that if there was so much hardship and discontent why does the CCP enjoy such broad support? It was a good question, and like all good questions it depends on whom you ask [...] April 18th marks the beginning of two administrations in Chinese political history. It was on this date in 1927 that Chiang Kai-shek established his government in Nanjing following the success of the Northern Expedition and a bloody purge of the Communists from the KMT ranks. 32 years later, Liu Shaoqi emerged from the political infighting in the wake of the [...] From the BBC: Best known for his gangster roles, Chow will swap his trademark trench coat for scholarly robes in the movie. The film will be a joint production between Beijing-based Dadi Cinema and the state-run China Film Group, a Dadi Cinema official told Associated Press. Filming is due to begin in three weeks. A release date [...] If it feels like I link to China Media Project a lot, it’s simply because David Bandurski runs a damn good blog. Allow me to do so again and recommend his excellent post “Can China forget its own history,” a must-read for anyone interested in modern Chinese history and historiography. The accompanying essay/translation will also have [...] 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 [...] Among the very cool history resources available on the web are the online exhibitions of historical photographs. An increasing number of museums, universities, archives, and private collections are putting old photographs on the Internet, and as I hear about these through listservs and other means I’ll post the links here. The first for today is a new online collection of Xinhua News photographs [...] Why Daqing? Well, the Party claimed it was the spirit of hard work, self-reliance, plus selfless devotion to party, country, and Mao Zedong thought which was responsible for Daqing’s incredible productivity. That said, it probably didn’t hurt that they struck oil there in 1959. [...] There seems to be a (I’m guessing not very large, but who knows?) movement afoot to take Mao off of the 100 RMB note and replace him, apropos of this weekend’s festivities, with Qu Yuan. Aileen McCabe of the Camwest News Service reports: An open letter, drafted by author Ling Cangzhou and signed by 11 colleagues, says: [...] Today is the birthday of the celebrated novelist, playwright, and also YJ’s favorite author, Lao She, born Shu Qingchun in Beijng, 1899. His family was Manchu, members of the Red Banner, and Lao She’s father was killed defending the city against the Allied Expeditionary Force sent to quell the Boxer Uprising. After her husband’s death, his [...] In a fascinating interview in the Australian newspaper The Age, Beijing-based artist Ai Wei Wei gives his own take on modern Chinese history: “It is very important to understand China that you know very soon after 1949, even before the Communists had total control, because of the severity of the problems facing China (what Mao called the [...] Perhaps no 20th century Chinese leader is as beloved inside China nor respected abroad as much as Zhou Enlai (1898-1976). Even so, Zhou remains something of an enigma. He is revered for being a rock in the storm of mid-century Chinese politics, holding fast to his integrity and working to moderate the excesses of the Mao [...] Donald Tsang (amusingly dubbed “Darth Bow Tie” by the chattering set) seems to have gotten himself in a bit of sticky wicket: From AP: Donald [...] On this date in 1976 former Chinese leader and Granite Studio sympathy fave Hua Guofeng ordered the arrest of the widow Mao (Jiang Qing) and three other accomplices, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen–collectively better known as the Gang of Four (四人帮). The Gang went to trial in 1981, accused of trying to seize power [...] |
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