Brigitte Weltman-Aron
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231172561
- eISBN:
- 9780231539876
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231172561.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Born and raised in French Algeria, Assia Djebar and Hélène Cixous represent in their literary works signs of conflict and enmity, drawing on discordant histories so as to reappraise the political on ...
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Born and raised in French Algeria, Assia Djebar and Hélène Cixous represent in their literary works signs of conflict and enmity, drawing on discordant histories so as to reappraise the political on the very basis of dissensus. In a rare comparison of these authors’ writings, Algerian Imprints shows how Cixous and Djebar consistently reclaim for ethical and political purposes the demarcations and dislocations emphasized in their fictions. Their works affirm the chance for thinking afforded by marginalization and exclusion and delineate political ways of preserving a space for difference informed by expropriation and nonbelonging. Cixous’s inquiry is steeped in her formative encounter with the grudging integration of the Jews in French Algeria, while Djebar’s narratives concern the colonial separation of “French” and “Arab,” self and other. Yet both authors elaborate strategies to address inequality and injustice without resorting to tropes of victimization, challenging and transforming the understanding of the history and legacy of colonized space.Less
Born and raised in French Algeria, Assia Djebar and Hélène Cixous represent in their literary works signs of conflict and enmity, drawing on discordant histories so as to reappraise the political on the very basis of dissensus. In a rare comparison of these authors’ writings, Algerian Imprints shows how Cixous and Djebar consistently reclaim for ethical and political purposes the demarcations and dislocations emphasized in their fictions. Their works affirm the chance for thinking afforded by marginalization and exclusion and delineate political ways of preserving a space for difference informed by expropriation and nonbelonging. Cixous’s inquiry is steeped in her formative encounter with the grudging integration of the Jews in French Algeria, while Djebar’s narratives concern the colonial separation of “French” and “Arab,” self and other. Yet both authors elaborate strategies to address inequality and injustice without resorting to tropes of victimization, challenging and transforming the understanding of the history and legacy of colonized space.
Beverley Hooper
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789888208746
- eISBN:
- 9789888313754
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208746.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Foreigners under Mao: Western Lives in China, 1949–1976 is a pioneering study of the Western community during the turbulent Mao era. Based largely on personal interviews, memoirs, private letters, ...
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Foreigners under Mao: Western Lives in China, 1949–1976 is a pioneering study of the Western community during the turbulent Mao era. Based largely on personal interviews, memoirs, private letters, and archives, this book ‘gives a voice’ to the Westerners who lived under Mao. It shows that China was not as closed to Western residents as has often been portrayed. The book examines the lives of six different groups of Westerners: ‘foreign comrades’ who made their home in Mao’s China, twenty-two former Korean War POWs who controversially chose China ahead of repatriation, diplomats of Western countries that recognized the People’s Republic, the few foreign correspondents permitted to work in China, ‘foreign experts’, and language students. Each of these groups led distinct lives under Mao, while sharing the experience of a highly politicized society and of official measures to isolate them from everyday China.Less
Foreigners under Mao: Western Lives in China, 1949–1976 is a pioneering study of the Western community during the turbulent Mao era. Based largely on personal interviews, memoirs, private letters, and archives, this book ‘gives a voice’ to the Westerners who lived under Mao. It shows that China was not as closed to Western residents as has often been portrayed. The book examines the lives of six different groups of Westerners: ‘foreign comrades’ who made their home in Mao’s China, twenty-two former Korean War POWs who controversially chose China ahead of repatriation, diplomats of Western countries that recognized the People’s Republic, the few foreign correspondents permitted to work in China, ‘foreign experts’, and language students. Each of these groups led distinct lives under Mao, while sharing the experience of a highly politicized society and of official measures to isolate them from everyday China.
Silvio Cruschina
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199759613
- eISBN:
- 9780199932658
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199759613.003.0003
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
Chapter 2 is devoted to a detailed description of Sicilian word order variation. It is argued that word order alternations consistently correspond to overt manifestations of the different information ...
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Chapter 2 is devoted to a detailed description of Sicilian word order variation. It is argued that word order alternations consistently correspond to overt manifestations of the different information structures of the sentence. The impact and influence on syntax both of the discourse context and of the informational common ground shared by the interlocutors is examined in relation to new and old information, showing that specific syntactic structures are paired with particular pragmatic conditions. Special attention will be paid to the syntactic and pragmatic characteristics of Focus Fronting (FF), including the syntactic categories and the sentence types most commonly associated with FF and a discussion of the relationship between FF and notions such as exhaustivity and contrast.Less
Chapter 2 is devoted to a detailed description of Sicilian word order variation. It is argued that word order alternations consistently correspond to overt manifestations of the different information structures of the sentence. The impact and influence on syntax both of the discourse context and of the informational common ground shared by the interlocutors is examined in relation to new and old information, showing that specific syntactic structures are paired with particular pragmatic conditions. Special attention will be paid to the syntactic and pragmatic characteristics of Focus Fronting (FF), including the syntactic categories and the sentence types most commonly associated with FF and a discussion of the relationship between FF and notions such as exhaustivity and contrast.
Eric Avila
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816680726
- eISBN:
- 9781452947860
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816680726.001.0001
- Subject:
- Architecture, Architectural Theory and Criticism
The Folklore of the Freeway provides an alternative history of highway construction in urban America, emphasizing the cultural politics of fighting freeways in the inner city. Using the methods of ...
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The Folklore of the Freeway provides an alternative history of highway construction in urban America, emphasizing the cultural politics of fighting freeways in the inner city. Using the methods of ethnic studies, cultural studies, and urban history, this book offers a revisionist history of the freeway revolt in urban America, that moment when neighborhood activists organized against state highway builders to defend the integrity of their communities. While historical accounts of the freeway revolt emphasize successful forms of grassroots mobilization within predominantly white, middle-class urban communities, the urban neighborhoods that bore the brunt of urban highway construction, lacking political and economic power, devised a creative set of cultural strategies to express opposition towards the routing of freeways through their neighborhoods. These expressions, taking shape through visual and literary cultural forms, iterates the destructive consequences of the Interstate highway program, helping to preserve communal integrity and identity and inventing new relationships between people and the urban built environment. This book thus considers the cultural dimensions of this freeway revolt, emphasizing the role of culture and identity in mediating the relationship between inner city communities and the disruptive process of infrastructural development. Losers, perhaps, in the fight against the freeway, these racially and ethnically diverse communities of working class men and women nonetheless innovated a genre of cultural expression that shapes our understanding of the urban landscape and influences the shifting priorities of urban policy since the 1960s.Less
The Folklore of the Freeway provides an alternative history of highway construction in urban America, emphasizing the cultural politics of fighting freeways in the inner city. Using the methods of ethnic studies, cultural studies, and urban history, this book offers a revisionist history of the freeway revolt in urban America, that moment when neighborhood activists organized against state highway builders to defend the integrity of their communities. While historical accounts of the freeway revolt emphasize successful forms of grassroots mobilization within predominantly white, middle-class urban communities, the urban neighborhoods that bore the brunt of urban highway construction, lacking political and economic power, devised a creative set of cultural strategies to express opposition towards the routing of freeways through their neighborhoods. These expressions, taking shape through visual and literary cultural forms, iterates the destructive consequences of the Interstate highway program, helping to preserve communal integrity and identity and inventing new relationships between people and the urban built environment. This book thus considers the cultural dimensions of this freeway revolt, emphasizing the role of culture and identity in mediating the relationship between inner city communities and the disruptive process of infrastructural development. Losers, perhaps, in the fight against the freeway, these racially and ethnically diverse communities of working class men and women nonetheless innovated a genre of cultural expression that shapes our understanding of the urban landscape and influences the shifting priorities of urban policy since the 1960s.
Mariz Tadros
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9789774165917
- eISBN:
- 9781617975479
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774165917.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
The focus of this chapter is the Church–state–citizen relations from the 1950s to 2004, looking at how the Church leadership emerged as the mediator between Coptic citizenry and the state. It argues ...
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The focus of this chapter is the Church–state–citizen relations from the 1950s to 2004, looking at how the Church leadership emerged as the mediator between Coptic citizenry and the state. It argues that the diversification of centers of power has complicated this pact and made it both more ambiguous. This chapter also addresses the marginalization of Copts in civil and political society, starting with Nasser’s policies of centralization, and the Islamization of political space from the 1970s.Less
The focus of this chapter is the Church–state–citizen relations from the 1950s to 2004, looking at how the Church leadership emerged as the mediator between Coptic citizenry and the state. It argues that the diversification of centers of power has complicated this pact and made it both more ambiguous. This chapter also addresses the marginalization of Copts in civil and political society, starting with Nasser’s policies of centralization, and the Islamization of political space from the 1970s.
Anna Servaes
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781628462104
- eISBN:
- 9781626745599
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781628462104.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Social Groups
During the colonial period, French and American colonies struggled to survive in the New World. As these two separate and distinct cultures developed, major changes in politics and socio-economics ...
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During the colonial period, French and American colonies struggled to survive in the New World. As these two separate and distinct cultures developed, major changes in politics and socio-economics contributed to changes and adaptations to the French mentality in the Midwest. The Treaty of Paris, Louisiana Purchase, German immigration, and early twentieth century xenophobia influenced the French mentality, often marginalizing the culture. In order for the culture to survive, elements like language became less important than traditions and customs like La Guiannée.Less
During the colonial period, French and American colonies struggled to survive in the New World. As these two separate and distinct cultures developed, major changes in politics and socio-economics contributed to changes and adaptations to the French mentality in the Midwest. The Treaty of Paris, Louisiana Purchase, German immigration, and early twentieth century xenophobia influenced the French mentality, often marginalizing the culture. In order for the culture to survive, elements like language became less important than traditions and customs like La Guiannée.
James A. Chamberlain
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781501714863
- eISBN:
- 9781501714887
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501714863.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Occupations, Professions, and Work
This chapter shows that many arguments for the UBI extol its capacity to boost employment. A UBI motivated by this goal would enhance distributive justice, but would fail to tackle three problems ...
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This chapter shows that many arguments for the UBI extol its capacity to boost employment. A UBI motivated by this goal would enhance distributive justice, but would fail to tackle three problems with work: the mismatch between the social recognition and the contribution that a job makes to society; the marginalization of those who cannot or will not perform paid work, even though many contribute to society through unpaid activities; and the pressure that paid work puts on the non-paid activities that make up a rich and rewarding life. To counter these risks, we need to argue for the UBI in conjunction with a critique of the work society, and as a measure that can take us beyond it.Less
This chapter shows that many arguments for the UBI extol its capacity to boost employment. A UBI motivated by this goal would enhance distributive justice, but would fail to tackle three problems with work: the mismatch between the social recognition and the contribution that a job makes to society; the marginalization of those who cannot or will not perform paid work, even though many contribute to society through unpaid activities; and the pressure that paid work puts on the non-paid activities that make up a rich and rewarding life. To counter these risks, we need to argue for the UBI in conjunction with a critique of the work society, and as a measure that can take us beyond it.
Beverley Hooper
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789888208746
- eISBN:
- 9789888313754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208746.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Who were these people, living in Mao’s China and prepared to ally themselves with it politically in an era of Cold War hostility? Blanket generalizations do not adequately explain their motivations. ...
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Who were these people, living in Mao’s China and prepared to ally themselves with it politically in an era of Cold War hostility? Blanket generalizations do not adequately explain their motivations. Some, as communist internationalists, saw the PRC as a bright new hope for socialism and were keen to participate in building a revolutionary society. Others described their underlying motivation as ‘humanitarianism’: China had turned them to communism rather than the other way round. Having lived in China since the 1930s or even earlier, they were not the only people to conclude that the Communist Party seemed to offer the best way out of the country’s poverty and corruption. Later arrivals included émigrés from Cold War McCarthyism. And for a few women, in particular, the decision to live under Mao was closely linked to their personal relationships.Less
Who were these people, living in Mao’s China and prepared to ally themselves with it politically in an era of Cold War hostility? Blanket generalizations do not adequately explain their motivations. Some, as communist internationalists, saw the PRC as a bright new hope for socialism and were keen to participate in building a revolutionary society. Others described their underlying motivation as ‘humanitarianism’: China had turned them to communism rather than the other way round. Having lived in China since the 1930s or even earlier, they were not the only people to conclude that the Communist Party seemed to offer the best way out of the country’s poverty and corruption. Later arrivals included émigrés from Cold War McCarthyism. And for a few women, in particular, the decision to live under Mao was closely linked to their personal relationships.
Beverley Hooper
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789888208746
- eISBN:
- 9789888313754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208746.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
As representatives of the West in China, to use Isabel Crook’s words, the long-term residents were active participants in the PRC’s ‘people-to-people diplomacy’ (or ‘friendship diplomacy’) which, ...
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As representatives of the West in China, to use Isabel Crook’s words, the long-term residents were active participants in the PRC’s ‘people-to-people diplomacy’ (or ‘friendship diplomacy’) which, like its Soviet counterpart, was directed towards influencing foreign public opinion, especially in the West. In her book A History of China’s Foreign Propaganda 1949–1966, PRC journalist and author Xi Shaoying saw the long-term residents, along with short-term invited ‘friends of China’, as playing an integral role in the government’s ‘foreign propaganda work’. In the West, the long-termers’ most contentious activity was their support for the PRC against their own governments.Less
As representatives of the West in China, to use Isabel Crook’s words, the long-term residents were active participants in the PRC’s ‘people-to-people diplomacy’ (or ‘friendship diplomacy’) which, like its Soviet counterpart, was directed towards influencing foreign public opinion, especially in the West. In her book A History of China’s Foreign Propaganda 1949–1966, PRC journalist and author Xi Shaoying saw the long-term residents, along with short-term invited ‘friends of China’, as playing an integral role in the government’s ‘foreign propaganda work’. In the West, the long-termers’ most contentious activity was their support for the PRC against their own governments.
Beverley Hooper
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789888208746
- eISBN:
- 9789888313754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208746.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
To outsiders, the long-term residents seemed tightly knit, conscious of their group identity and wary of Westerners who did not share the mantle of ‘foreign comrade’ or ‘international friend’. But ...
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To outsiders, the long-term residents seemed tightly knit, conscious of their group identity and wary of Westerners who did not share the mantle of ‘foreign comrade’ or ‘international friend’. But the small community also had its internal dynamics, reflecting the length of time that people had spent in China as well as their nationality, personality and political attitudes—even within the socialist range. The turbulent politics of the era, including the Sino-Soviet split, also impinged on relations within the community, while the Cultural Revolution had a dramatic impact on individuals’ lives when their official designation as comrades and friends became subordinated to that as suspect foreigners.Less
To outsiders, the long-term residents seemed tightly knit, conscious of their group identity and wary of Westerners who did not share the mantle of ‘foreign comrade’ or ‘international friend’. But the small community also had its internal dynamics, reflecting the length of time that people had spent in China as well as their nationality, personality and political attitudes—even within the socialist range. The turbulent politics of the era, including the Sino-Soviet split, also impinged on relations within the community, while the Cultural Revolution had a dramatic impact on individuals’ lives when their official designation as comrades and friends became subordinated to that as suspect foreigners.
Beverley Hooper
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789888208746
- eISBN:
- 9789888313754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208746.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
On 24 February 1954, twenty-one American GIs and a British marine crossed the border from North Korea into the PRC.
Whatever the individual differences in the men’s explanations, there was a common ...
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On 24 February 1954, twenty-one American GIs and a British marine crossed the border from North Korea into the PRC.
Whatever the individual differences in the men’s explanations, there was a common theme that to some extent accorded with the emotive accusations of brainwashing. After taking over the camps from the North Korean army, the Chinese pursued their so-called leniency policy which, instead of punishing soldiers as the enemy, was directed at convincing them of the superiority of communism and the evils of their own government. The United States and Britain admitted that their soldiers had not been trained for this type of POW experience.
There were also strong disincentives for returning to the United States—or even to Britain. To Western governments the men were collaborators, making them liable to prosecution.Less
On 24 February 1954, twenty-one American GIs and a British marine crossed the border from North Korea into the PRC.
Whatever the individual differences in the men’s explanations, there was a common theme that to some extent accorded with the emotive accusations of brainwashing. After taking over the camps from the North Korean army, the Chinese pursued their so-called leniency policy which, instead of punishing soldiers as the enemy, was directed at convincing them of the superiority of communism and the evils of their own government. The United States and Britain admitted that their soldiers had not been trained for this type of POW experience.
There were also strong disincentives for returning to the United States—or even to Britain. To Western governments the men were collaborators, making them liable to prosecution.
Beverley Hooper
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789888208746
- eISBN:
- 9789888313754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208746.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Overall, China had failed to live up to the former POWs’ hopes. The grand socialist narrative of international peace and equality for all seemed to have little relevance to their everyday lives. The ...
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Overall, China had failed to live up to the former POWs’ hopes. The grand socialist narrative of international peace and equality for all seemed to have little relevance to their everyday lives. The daily grind, whether working on a farm or in a factory—or even the hard slog of learning Chinese—was not quite the adventure that some had anticipated. There was also the low standard of living and the realities of everyday life in a strictly controlled society, even without the sense of isolation from the outside world.Less
Overall, China had failed to live up to the former POWs’ hopes. The grand socialist narrative of international peace and equality for all seemed to have little relevance to their everyday lives. The daily grind, whether working on a farm or in a factory—or even the hard slog of learning Chinese—was not quite the adventure that some had anticipated. There was also the low standard of living and the realities of everyday life in a strictly controlled society, even without the sense of isolation from the outside world.
Beverley Hooper
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789888208746
- eISBN:
- 9789888313754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208746.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
To many other Western residents, the lives of embassy staff and their families seemed a world away from their own. Outside was Maoist Peking, its blue and grey cotton clothed inhabitants battling to ...
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To many other Western residents, the lives of embassy staff and their families seemed a world away from their own. Outside was Maoist Peking, its blue and grey cotton clothed inhabitants battling to get on crowded buses or cycling past the city’s low grey buildings and billboards urging them to ‘build socialism faster, better and more economically’. The world within was light and bright, a reproduction of a modern Western apartment with all its trappings—and in the evening the scene of many a party as people ate, drank and tried to enjoy themselves in defiance of the austere world outside.Less
To many other Western residents, the lives of embassy staff and their families seemed a world away from their own. Outside was Maoist Peking, its blue and grey cotton clothed inhabitants battling to get on crowded buses or cycling past the city’s low grey buildings and billboards urging them to ‘build socialism faster, better and more economically’. The world within was light and bright, a reproduction of a modern Western apartment with all its trappings—and in the evening the scene of many a party as people ate, drank and tried to enjoy themselves in defiance of the austere world outside.
Beverley Hooper
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789888208746
- eISBN:
- 9789888313754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208746.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Despite the restrictions, there was a small amount of ongoing personal contact, at least before the Cultural Revolution. Almost without exception, these friendships were with people who, as diplomats ...
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Despite the restrictions, there was a small amount of ongoing personal contact, at least before the Cultural Revolution. Almost without exception, these friendships were with people who, as diplomats expressed it, were ‘licensed for contact’ with foreigners. Usually from the academic or cultural world, they often had long-standing Western connections which were virtually impossible to maintain in the new political environment. In the political environment of the Mao era—and even for a while beyond—ongoing personal correspondence between a Chinese person and a Western diplomat was highly unusual.Less
Despite the restrictions, there was a small amount of ongoing personal contact, at least before the Cultural Revolution. Almost without exception, these friendships were with people who, as diplomats expressed it, were ‘licensed for contact’ with foreigners. Usually from the academic or cultural world, they often had long-standing Western connections which were virtually impossible to maintain in the new political environment. In the political environment of the Mao era—and even for a while beyond—ongoing personal correspondence between a Chinese person and a Western diplomat was highly unusual.
Beverley Hooper
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789888208746
- eISBN:
- 9789888313754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208746.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
From the early 1970s, the US-China relationship was central to diplomatic reporting, with National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger’s visit to Peking in October 1971, President Nixon’s historic visit ...
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From the early 1970s, the US-China relationship was central to diplomatic reporting, with National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger’s visit to Peking in October 1971, President Nixon’s historic visit in February 1972, and the establishment the following year of small liaison offices in Peking and Washington. Following each of Kissinger’s further visits in 1973 and 1974, senior diplomats virtually queued up at the liaison office to find out what progress, if any, had been made towards the normalization of US-China relations. Peking’s diplomats, like some of their colleagues elsewhere in the world, did not always see eye-to-eye with their foreign ministries. There was little chance of their becoming overly attached to Communist China, as the Japanologists and Arabists were sometimes accused of doing for Japan and Arab countries. At the same time, living and breathing the PRC led some diplomats to regard Chinese Communism as being rather more nuanced—and the government somewhat less belligerent—than the Cold War images portrayed in the West, particularly the United States.Less
From the early 1970s, the US-China relationship was central to diplomatic reporting, with National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger’s visit to Peking in October 1971, President Nixon’s historic visit in February 1972, and the establishment the following year of small liaison offices in Peking and Washington. Following each of Kissinger’s further visits in 1973 and 1974, senior diplomats virtually queued up at the liaison office to find out what progress, if any, had been made towards the normalization of US-China relations. Peking’s diplomats, like some of their colleagues elsewhere in the world, did not always see eye-to-eye with their foreign ministries. There was little chance of their becoming overly attached to Communist China, as the Japanologists and Arabists were sometimes accused of doing for Japan and Arab countries. At the same time, living and breathing the PRC led some diplomats to regard Chinese Communism as being rather more nuanced—and the government somewhat less belligerent—than the Cold War images portrayed in the West, particularly the United States.
Beverley Hooper
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789888208746
- eISBN:
- 9789888313754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208746.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Western correspondents were in some ways even less welcome than diplomats. Embassy reports finished up in foreign office files but correspondents’ despatches were in the public arena, potentially ...
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Western correspondents were in some ways even less welcome than diplomats. Embassy reports finished up in foreign office files but correspondents’ despatches were in the public arena, potentially undermining the images of new China that the government was trying so hard to project. On assuming power, the Communists had issued a series of bans on Western news organizations. Official images to the outside world were presented through the government news agency Xinhua, Peking Radio, and the handful of foreign language publications.Less
Western correspondents were in some ways even less welcome than diplomats. Embassy reports finished up in foreign office files but correspondents’ despatches were in the public arena, potentially undermining the images of new China that the government was trying so hard to project. On assuming power, the Communists had issued a series of bans on Western news organizations. Official images to the outside world were presented through the government news agency Xinhua, Peking Radio, and the handful of foreign language publications.
Beverley Hooper
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789888208746
- eISBN:
- 9789888313754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208746.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Mao’s China was a striking example of Ulf Hannerz’s research finding that foreign correspondents were likely to stick together more closely ‘in cities where there were few of them’. This was ...
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Mao’s China was a striking example of Ulf Hannerz’s research finding that foreign correspondents were likely to stick together more closely ‘in cities where there were few of them’. This was particularly the case when ‘they were living under tough conditions and perhaps in an adversarial or at least closely guarded relationship with the host society and especially its government’. With a paucity of information at their disposal, Peking’s correspondents often shared whatever was available.Less
Mao’s China was a striking example of Ulf Hannerz’s research finding that foreign correspondents were likely to stick together more closely ‘in cities where there were few of them’. This was particularly the case when ‘they were living under tough conditions and perhaps in an adversarial or at least closely guarded relationship with the host society and especially its government’. With a paucity of information at their disposal, Peking’s correspondents often shared whatever was available.
Beverley Hooper
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789888208746
- eISBN:
- 9789888313754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208746.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
The correspondents’ reports reflected not just the restrictions imposed on their access to information but official efforts to control what they wrote. Unlike the situation in the Soviet Union until ...
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The correspondents’ reports reflected not just the restrictions imposed on their access to information but official efforts to control what they wrote. Unlike the situation in the Soviet Union until 1961, this was not done through formal censorship but through admonitions, warnings, and the non-renewal of residence permits. Expulsion was the last resort. Without formal censorship, the onus was on individual correspondents to decide for themselves what self-censorship, if any, they should exercise in their reporting.Less
The correspondents’ reports reflected not just the restrictions imposed on their access to information but official efforts to control what they wrote. Unlike the situation in the Soviet Union until 1961, this was not done through formal censorship but through admonitions, warnings, and the non-renewal of residence permits. Expulsion was the last resort. Without formal censorship, the onus was on individual correspondents to decide for themselves what self-censorship, if any, they should exercise in their reporting.
Beverley Hooper
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789888208746
- eISBN:
- 9789888313754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208746.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
As a community, the foreign experts fitted somewhere between the diplomatic/correspondent communities and the long-term residents. Like Western diplomats and correspondents, they usually spent around ...
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As a community, the foreign experts fitted somewhere between the diplomatic/correspondent communities and the long-term residents. Like Western diplomats and correspondents, they usually spent around two years in China. But they were a much more disparate group, going to the PRC through individual arrangements with the Chinese authorities, not as representatives of Western governments or media organizations—or even on official exchanges like most students. Like the long-termers, they worked in Chinese institutions, a few even in the same department or section, in an environment where foreigners were a tiny minority. They had the same formal conditions, though they were specifically recruited as foreign experts while the long-termers found themselves in this category largely by default. Unlike the long-term residents, though, they were always conscious that they were in China for only a few years.Less
As a community, the foreign experts fitted somewhere between the diplomatic/correspondent communities and the long-term residents. Like Western diplomats and correspondents, they usually spent around two years in China. But they were a much more disparate group, going to the PRC through individual arrangements with the Chinese authorities, not as representatives of Western governments or media organizations—or even on official exchanges like most students. Like the long-termers, they worked in Chinese institutions, a few even in the same department or section, in an environment where foreigners were a tiny minority. They had the same formal conditions, though they were specifically recruited as foreign experts while the long-termers found themselves in this category largely by default. Unlike the long-term residents, though, they were always conscious that they were in China for only a few years.
Beverley Hooper
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789888208746
- eISBN:
- 9789888313754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208746.003.0014
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Although personal relationships could be intense in China, even in cases where both parties were foreigners, politics was a more pervasive factor in many people’s everyday lives. The broad ...
More
Although personal relationships could be intense in China, even in cases where both parties were foreigners, politics was a more pervasive factor in many people’s everyday lives. The broad recruitment of Western teachers and polishers created a politically diverse community in which conversations invariably turned to present-day China and people’s attitudes towards it. For those with a scholarly interest in China, the foreign expert sojourn was often an early phase of a lifelong involvement with the country. But these were also the people who felt most keenly their marginalization from Chinese society.Less
Although personal relationships could be intense in China, even in cases where both parties were foreigners, politics was a more pervasive factor in many people’s everyday lives. The broad recruitment of Western teachers and polishers created a politically diverse community in which conversations invariably turned to present-day China and people’s attitudes towards it. For those with a scholarly interest in China, the foreign expert sojourn was often an early phase of a lifelong involvement with the country. But these were also the people who felt most keenly their marginalization from Chinese society.
