Anna Sun
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155579
- eISBN:
- 9781400846085
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155579.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
Is Confucianism a religion? If so, why do most Chinese think it isn't? This book traces the birth and growth of the idea of Confucianism as a world religion. The book begins at Oxford, in the late ...
More
Is Confucianism a religion? If so, why do most Chinese think it isn't? This book traces the birth and growth of the idea of Confucianism as a world religion. The book begins at Oxford, in the late nineteenth century, when Friedrich Max Müller and James Legge classified Confucianism as a world religion in the new discourse of “world religions” and the emerging discipline of comparative religion. The book shows how that decisive moment continues to influence the understanding of Confucianism in the contemporary world, not only in the West but also in China, where the politics of Confucianism has become important to the present regime in a time of transition. Contested histories of Confucianism are vital signs of social and political change. The book also examines the revival of Confucianism in contemporary China and the social significance of the ritual practice of Confucian temples. While the Chinese government turns to Confucianism to justify its political agenda, Confucian activists have started a movement to turn Confucianism into a religion. Confucianism as a world religion might have begun as a scholarly construction, but are we witnessing its transformation into a social and political reality? With historical analysis, extensive research, and thoughtful reflection, this book will engage all those interested in religion and global politics at the beginning of the Chinese century.Less
Is Confucianism a religion? If so, why do most Chinese think it isn't? This book traces the birth and growth of the idea of Confucianism as a world religion. The book begins at Oxford, in the late nineteenth century, when Friedrich Max Müller and James Legge classified Confucianism as a world religion in the new discourse of “world religions” and the emerging discipline of comparative religion. The book shows how that decisive moment continues to influence the understanding of Confucianism in the contemporary world, not only in the West but also in China, where the politics of Confucianism has become important to the present regime in a time of transition. Contested histories of Confucianism are vital signs of social and political change. The book also examines the revival of Confucianism in contemporary China and the social significance of the ritual practice of Confucian temples. While the Chinese government turns to Confucianism to justify its political agenda, Confucian activists have started a movement to turn Confucianism into a religion. Confucianism as a world religion might have begun as a scholarly construction, but are we witnessing its transformation into a social and political reality? With historical analysis, extensive research, and thoughtful reflection, this book will engage all those interested in religion and global politics at the beginning of the Chinese century.
Yuri Pines
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691134956
- eISBN:
- 9781400842278
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691134956.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Established in 221 BCE, the Chinese empire lasted for 2,132 years before being replaced by the Republic of China in 1912. During its two millennia, the empire endured internal wars, foreign ...
More
Established in 221 BCE, the Chinese empire lasted for 2,132 years before being replaced by the Republic of China in 1912. During its two millennia, the empire endured internal wars, foreign incursions, alien occupations, and devastating rebellions—yet fundamental institutional, sociopolitical, and cultural features of the empire remained intact. This book traces the roots of the Chinese empire's exceptional longevity and unparalleled political durability, and shows how lessons from the imperial past are relevant for China today. The book demonstrates that the empire survived and adjusted to a variety of domestic and external challenges through a peculiar combination of rigid ideological premises and their flexible implementation. The empire's major political actors and neighbors shared its fundamental ideological principles, such as unity under a single monarch—hence, even the empire's strongest domestic and foreign foes adopted the system of imperial rule. Yet details of this rule were constantly negotiated and adjusted. The book shows how deep tensions between political actors including the emperor, the literati, local elites, and rebellious commoners actually enabled the empire's basic institutional framework to remain critically vital and adaptable to ever-changing sociopolitical circumstances. As contemporary China moves toward a new period of prosperity and power in the twenty-first century, this book argues that the legacy of the empire may become an increasingly important force in shaping the nation's future trajectory.Less
Established in 221 BCE, the Chinese empire lasted for 2,132 years before being replaced by the Republic of China in 1912. During its two millennia, the empire endured internal wars, foreign incursions, alien occupations, and devastating rebellions—yet fundamental institutional, sociopolitical, and cultural features of the empire remained intact. This book traces the roots of the Chinese empire's exceptional longevity and unparalleled political durability, and shows how lessons from the imperial past are relevant for China today. The book demonstrates that the empire survived and adjusted to a variety of domestic and external challenges through a peculiar combination of rigid ideological premises and their flexible implementation. The empire's major political actors and neighbors shared its fundamental ideological principles, such as unity under a single monarch—hence, even the empire's strongest domestic and foreign foes adopted the system of imperial rule. Yet details of this rule were constantly negotiated and adjusted. The book shows how deep tensions between political actors including the emperor, the literati, local elites, and rebellious commoners actually enabled the empire's basic institutional framework to remain critically vital and adaptable to ever-changing sociopolitical circumstances. As contemporary China moves toward a new period of prosperity and power in the twenty-first century, this book argues that the legacy of the empire may become an increasingly important force in shaping the nation's future trajectory.
Lu Xinyu, Tan Jia, Lisa Rofel, Lisa Rofel, and Chris Berry
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789888028528
- eISBN:
- 9789882207202
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888028528.003.0002
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter outlines and analyzes the history of the movement. It seeks to elucidate the heterogeneity of the New Documentary Movement. This ...
More
This chapter outlines and analyzes the history of the movement. It seeks to elucidate the heterogeneity of the New Documentary Movement. This heterogeneity lies in themes, approaches to politics and history, and modernity and marginalization, as well as relationships with the official media system. Yet the New Documentary Movement distinguishes itself by sharing the effort to open more space for image-based reflections that are not included in official or mass media. The discussion also notes that the term “New Documentary Movement” first appeared in 1992, a little while after the first films began to appear. This places the origins of the movement between two crucial dates in Chinese history: 1989 and 1992.Less
This chapter outlines and analyzes the history of the movement. It seeks to elucidate the heterogeneity of the New Documentary Movement. This heterogeneity lies in themes, approaches to politics and history, and modernity and marginalization, as well as relationships with the official media system. Yet the New Documentary Movement distinguishes itself by sharing the effort to open more space for image-based reflections that are not included in official or mass media. The discussion also notes that the term “New Documentary Movement” first appeared in 1992, a little while after the first films began to appear. This places the origins of the movement between two crucial dates in Chinese history: 1989 and 1992.
Gareth Fisher
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231172769
- eISBN:
- 9780231541107
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231172769.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Gareth Fisher’s chapter based on ethnographic fieldwork examines the formation of distinctive textual communities among contemporary lay Buddhists; he shows how different communities formulate ...
More
Gareth Fisher’s chapter based on ethnographic fieldwork examines the formation of distinctive textual communities among contemporary lay Buddhists; he shows how different communities formulate moralities of textual exchange that sharply distinguish their memberships largely along lines of social class.Less
Gareth Fisher’s chapter based on ethnographic fieldwork examines the formation of distinctive textual communities among contemporary lay Buddhists; he shows how different communities formulate moralities of textual exchange that sharply distinguish their memberships largely along lines of social class.
Lu Xiao
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789888028122
- eISBN:
- 9789882206816
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888028122.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
What forces continue to oppress and restrain women artists in contemporary China? Some powerful answers are provided in this fictional memoir of an author who played an important role in the ...
More
What forces continue to oppress and restrain women artists in contemporary China? Some powerful answers are provided in this fictional memoir of an author who played an important role in the avant-garde cultural scene during the tumultuous early months of 1989. The acclaimed “China/Avant-Garde” exhibition organized by Gao Minglu at the National Art Museum in Beijing was shut down after about three hours from its opening on February 5th 1989, when the author shot live bullets into her mock-up of two telephone booths, turning an edgy installation work into an over-the-edge performance piece and an icon of the modern Chinese art movement. Many questions were left unanswered from where she got the gun to what she meant by all this. The man and the woman pictured in these two phone booths were specific people—she was one of them—the daughter of the director of a provincial art academy. Her father helped her get into the Central Academy in Beijing, where she was abused in various ways. In the 1989 exhibition, symbolically, she shot her nemesis, then went outside to a public telephone, called him, and told him what she had done. These events are naturally at the center of her memoir, but in describing the events and their aftermath, she offers candid views on the difficulties facing women in contemporary art circles and the way cultural power is exercised in China.Less
What forces continue to oppress and restrain women artists in contemporary China? Some powerful answers are provided in this fictional memoir of an author who played an important role in the avant-garde cultural scene during the tumultuous early months of 1989. The acclaimed “China/Avant-Garde” exhibition organized by Gao Minglu at the National Art Museum in Beijing was shut down after about three hours from its opening on February 5th 1989, when the author shot live bullets into her mock-up of two telephone booths, turning an edgy installation work into an over-the-edge performance piece and an icon of the modern Chinese art movement. Many questions were left unanswered from where she got the gun to what she meant by all this. The man and the woman pictured in these two phone booths were specific people—she was one of them—the daughter of the director of a provincial art academy. Her father helped her get into the Central Academy in Beijing, where she was abused in various ways. In the 1989 exhibition, symbolically, she shot her nemesis, then went outside to a public telephone, called him, and told him what she had done. These events are naturally at the center of her memoir, but in describing the events and their aftermath, she offers candid views on the difficulties facing women in contemporary art circles and the way cultural power is exercised in China.
Cara Wallis
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814795262
- eISBN:
- 9780814784815
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814795262.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter outlines the specific socio-cultural context of contemporary China at the beginning of the 21st century. To set the stage for the rest of the text, the chapter discusses the reforms of ...
More
This chapter outlines the specific socio-cultural context of contemporary China at the beginning of the 21st century. To set the stage for the rest of the text, the chapter discusses the reforms of the post-Mao period, the history of the urban–rural divide perpetuated by the hukou (household registration system), and the phenomenon of rural-to-urban migration. Though in the mid-1980s rural peasants had engaged in non-farm work, particularly in township and village enterprises (TVEs) as the urban-and eastern-centered economic reforms progressed and as the old apparatuses of state control were broken down, more and more rural residents were compelled to “leave the land.” The chapter emphasizes how shifting ideologies related to gender, class, and place play a pivotal role in shaping rural women's experience, during both the Mao-era planned economy and China's reform-era embrace of markets and global capitalism.Less
This chapter outlines the specific socio-cultural context of contemporary China at the beginning of the 21st century. To set the stage for the rest of the text, the chapter discusses the reforms of the post-Mao period, the history of the urban–rural divide perpetuated by the hukou (household registration system), and the phenomenon of rural-to-urban migration. Though in the mid-1980s rural peasants had engaged in non-farm work, particularly in township and village enterprises (TVEs) as the urban-and eastern-centered economic reforms progressed and as the old apparatuses of state control were broken down, more and more rural residents were compelled to “leave the land.” The chapter emphasizes how shifting ideologies related to gender, class, and place play a pivotal role in shaping rural women's experience, during both the Mao-era planned economy and China's reform-era embrace of markets and global capitalism.
Andrew Mertha
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801452659
- eISBN:
- 9780801470738
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801452659.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Asian Politics
China's engagement with the developing and developed worlds over the past decade has been no less than astounding. China, for instance, has shaped agricultural and commodity markets in Africa, while ...
More
China's engagement with the developing and developed worlds over the past decade has been no less than astounding. China, for instance, has shaped agricultural and commodity markets in Africa, while its demand for Brazilian agricultural products and Australian ore have in great measure protected those countries from the economic crisis that began in 2008. This chapter argues that China's contemporary policymaking structure and process as it pertains to Beijing's “go out” (zouchuqu zhanlüe) policy of increased international economic integration remains opaque at best and in some areas and along certain dimensions is still best characterized as a “black box.” However, China's experience in the past can illuminate some of the gaps in our ability to understand what is occurring in real time today. It suggests that the fragmented bureaucratic structure that implements and manages China's foreign aid is at least as fragmented as it was during the period reviewed in this study.Less
China's engagement with the developing and developed worlds over the past decade has been no less than astounding. China, for instance, has shaped agricultural and commodity markets in Africa, while its demand for Brazilian agricultural products and Australian ore have in great measure protected those countries from the economic crisis that began in 2008. This chapter argues that China's contemporary policymaking structure and process as it pertains to Beijing's “go out” (zouchuqu zhanlüe) policy of increased international economic integration remains opaque at best and in some areas and along certain dimensions is still best characterized as a “black box.” However, China's experience in the past can illuminate some of the gaps in our ability to understand what is occurring in real time today. It suggests that the fragmented bureaucratic structure that implements and manages China's foreign aid is at least as fragmented as it was during the period reviewed in this study.
Neky Tak-ching Cheung
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231172769
- eISBN:
- 9780231541107
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231172769.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Necky Cheung's ethnographic fieldwork-based chapter on the ritual of “receiving prayer beads” in rural western Fujian demonstrates how a form of grassroots Buddhism in local society not only ...
More
Necky Cheung's ethnographic fieldwork-based chapter on the ritual of “receiving prayer beads” in rural western Fujian demonstrates how a form of grassroots Buddhism in local society not only successfully survived the Maoist era, but has flourished to the present because it provides menopausal women cultural resources that enhance their social standing within a male dominated society in part through honoring themselves, fortifying matrilineal family ties, and establishing strong relationships with other women.Less
Necky Cheung's ethnographic fieldwork-based chapter on the ritual of “receiving prayer beads” in rural western Fujian demonstrates how a form of grassroots Buddhism in local society not only successfully survived the Maoist era, but has flourished to the present because it provides menopausal women cultural resources that enhance their social standing within a male dominated society in part through honoring themselves, fortifying matrilineal family ties, and establishing strong relationships with other women.
Shuqin Cui
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824840037
- eISBN:
- 9780824868390
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824840037.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
This book introduces readers to women's visual art in contemporary China by examining how the visual process of gendering reshapes understandings of historiography, sexuality, pain, and space. When ...
More
This book introduces readers to women's visual art in contemporary China by examining how the visual process of gendering reshapes understandings of historiography, sexuality, pain, and space. When artists take the body as the subject of female experience and the medium of aesthetic experiment, they reveal a wealth of noncanonical approaches to art. The insertion of women's narratives into Chinese art history rewrites a historiography that has denied legitimacy to the woman artist. The gendering of sexuality reveals that the female body incites pleasure in women themselves, reversing the dynamic from woman as desired object to woman as desiring subject. The gendering of pain demonstrates that for those haunted by the sociopolitical past, the body can articulate traumatic memories and psychological torment. The gendering of space transforms the female body into an emblem of landscape devastation, remaps ruin aesthetics, and extends the politics of gender identity into cyberspace and virtual reality. The book presents a critical review of women's art in contemporary China in relation to art traditions, classical and contemporary. Inscribing the female body into art generates not only visual experimentation, but also interaction between local art/cultural production and global perception. While artists may seek inspiration and exhibition space abroad, they often reject the (Western) label “feminist artist.”Less
This book introduces readers to women's visual art in contemporary China by examining how the visual process of gendering reshapes understandings of historiography, sexuality, pain, and space. When artists take the body as the subject of female experience and the medium of aesthetic experiment, they reveal a wealth of noncanonical approaches to art. The insertion of women's narratives into Chinese art history rewrites a historiography that has denied legitimacy to the woman artist. The gendering of sexuality reveals that the female body incites pleasure in women themselves, reversing the dynamic from woman as desired object to woman as desiring subject. The gendering of pain demonstrates that for those haunted by the sociopolitical past, the body can articulate traumatic memories and psychological torment. The gendering of space transforms the female body into an emblem of landscape devastation, remaps ruin aesthetics, and extends the politics of gender identity into cyberspace and virtual reality. The book presents a critical review of women's art in contemporary China in relation to art traditions, classical and contemporary. Inscribing the female body into art generates not only visual experimentation, but also interaction between local art/cultural production and global perception. While artists may seek inspiration and exhibition space abroad, they often reject the (Western) label “feminist artist.”
Cara Wallis
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814795262
- eISBN:
- 9780814784815
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814795262.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
As unprecedented waves of young, rural women journey to cities in China, not only to work, but also to “see the world” and gain some autonomy, they regularly face significant institutional obstacles ...
More
As unprecedented waves of young, rural women journey to cities in China, not only to work, but also to “see the world” and gain some autonomy, they regularly face significant institutional obstacles as well as deep-seated anti-rural prejudices. This book provides an intimate portrait of the social, cultural, and economic implications of mobile communication for a group of young women engaged in unskilled service work in Beijing, where they live and work for indefinite periods of time. While simultaneously situating within the fields of feminist studies, technology studies, and communication theory, the book explores the way in which the mobile phone has been integrated into the transforming social structures and practices of contemporary China, and the ways in which mobile technology enables rural young women—a population that has been traditionally marginalized and deemed as “backward” and “other”—to participate in and create culture, allowing them to perform a modern, rural-urban identity. The book provides original insight into the co-construction of technology and subjectivity as well as the multiple forces that shape contemporary China.Less
As unprecedented waves of young, rural women journey to cities in China, not only to work, but also to “see the world” and gain some autonomy, they regularly face significant institutional obstacles as well as deep-seated anti-rural prejudices. This book provides an intimate portrait of the social, cultural, and economic implications of mobile communication for a group of young women engaged in unskilled service work in Beijing, where they live and work for indefinite periods of time. While simultaneously situating within the fields of feminist studies, technology studies, and communication theory, the book explores the way in which the mobile phone has been integrated into the transforming social structures and practices of contemporary China, and the ways in which mobile technology enables rural young women—a population that has been traditionally marginalized and deemed as “backward” and “other”—to participate in and create culture, allowing them to perform a modern, rural-urban identity. The book provides original insight into the co-construction of technology and subjectivity as well as the multiple forces that shape contemporary China.
Xueping Zhong
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824834173
- eISBN:
- 9780824870010
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824834173.003.0008
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
This chapter highlights a theme that implicitly runs through this book, namely, the changing relationship between mainstream culture and the role of intellectuals in the postrevolutionary ...
More
This chapter highlights a theme that implicitly runs through this book, namely, the changing relationship between mainstream culture and the role of intellectuals in the postrevolutionary socioeconomic transformation in contemporary China. It suggests that future studies of Chinese mainstream (popular) culture must take into account the formation and development of, for a lack of a better word, a “cultural ecosystem” in the last three decades in China with four major forces or groups dominating meaning production: guan (officials), mei (the media), chan (industry), and xue (the academy). It is no longer accurate to assume a monolithic entity called “Chinese intellectuals” independent of these forces when the cultural production of meaning has become multifaceted and tension-filled. Nor is it accurate to apply ready-made labels to voices from within these forces without fully understanding their contextual, dialogic, and ideological implications.Less
This chapter highlights a theme that implicitly runs through this book, namely, the changing relationship between mainstream culture and the role of intellectuals in the postrevolutionary socioeconomic transformation in contemporary China. It suggests that future studies of Chinese mainstream (popular) culture must take into account the formation and development of, for a lack of a better word, a “cultural ecosystem” in the last three decades in China with four major forces or groups dominating meaning production: guan (officials), mei (the media), chan (industry), and xue (the academy). It is no longer accurate to assume a monolithic entity called “Chinese intellectuals” independent of these forces when the cultural production of meaning has become multifaceted and tension-filled. Nor is it accurate to apply ready-made labels to voices from within these forces without fully understanding their contextual, dialogic, and ideological implications.
Lucetta Yip Lo Kam
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9789888139453
- eISBN:
- 9789888180141
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888139453.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
This chapter maps out the growing terrain of lala communities in Shanghai and discusses the possible social, political and cultural influences that have contributed to the rapid development of ...
More
This chapter maps out the growing terrain of lala communities in Shanghai and discusses the possible social, political and cultural influences that have contributed to the rapid development of tongzhi communities in contemporary China. This chapter documents various lala activities carried out in Shanghai and introduces the major actors of the local communities during their formative stage (2005 to 2011).Less
This chapter maps out the growing terrain of lala communities in Shanghai and discusses the possible social, political and cultural influences that have contributed to the rapid development of tongzhi communities in contemporary China. This chapter documents various lala activities carried out in Shanghai and introduces the major actors of the local communities during their formative stage (2005 to 2011).
Kirk A. Denton
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824836870
- eISBN:
- 9780824869748
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824836870.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the book's main themes. This book analyzes the ways in which history museums have moved beyond the Cold War narratives of the Mao era to both tell ...
More
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the book's main themes. This book analyzes the ways in which history museums have moved beyond the Cold War narratives of the Mao era to both tell new stories and retell old stories in ways that speak to more contemporary concerns. It analyzes the exhibition of the past in various Chinese state museums and the role of these museums in nation building, the construction of national identities, and political legitimization; and investigates how these representations of the past are changing in the new political and economic climates of postsocialist, neoliberal China. Museums and memorial sites offer a particularly visible and public space through which to discuss issues of memory, politicized constructions of the past, globalization and the changing role of museums in postsocialist societies, and the construction of national and postsocialist identities. The book is centered on the issue of how Chinese museums are responding to a world that is changing so quickly beyond their walls.Less
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the book's main themes. This book analyzes the ways in which history museums have moved beyond the Cold War narratives of the Mao era to both tell new stories and retell old stories in ways that speak to more contemporary concerns. It analyzes the exhibition of the past in various Chinese state museums and the role of these museums in nation building, the construction of national identities, and political legitimization; and investigates how these representations of the past are changing in the new political and economic climates of postsocialist, neoliberal China. Museums and memorial sites offer a particularly visible and public space through which to discuss issues of memory, politicized constructions of the past, globalization and the changing role of museums in postsocialist societies, and the construction of national and postsocialist identities. The book is centered on the issue of how Chinese museums are responding to a world that is changing so quickly beyond their walls.
James Stent
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- December 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190497033
- eISBN:
- 9780190497064
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190497033.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Financial Economics
China’s Banking Transformation explains how Chinese banks work, analyzes their strengths and weaknesses, and sets forth the challenges they face in a slowing economy. Based on his twelve years of ...
More
China’s Banking Transformation explains how Chinese banks work, analyzes their strengths and weaknesses, and sets forth the challenges they face in a slowing economy. Based on his twelve years of service on the boards of Chinese banks, the author brings the informed view of an insider to explaining the reality of China’s banks. Without minimizing the real issues Chinese banks face, China’s Banking Transformation challenges negative media accounts and reports of “China bears.” China’s Banking Transformation demonstrates that Chinese banks have transformed into modern, well-run commercial banks, playing a vital role supporting China’s economic growth. Acknowledging that China’s banks are different from Western banks, the author explains that they are hybrid banks, borrowing from Western models, but at the same time operating within a traditional Chinese cultural framework and in line with China’s governance model. From personal experience at the board level, Stent describes the governance and management of China’s banks, including the role of the Communist Party. He sees China’s banks as embedded in ancient concepts of how government and society work in China, and also as actors within market socialism. As the first account of Chinese banking by a Westerner who has worked in China’s banks, China’s Banking Transformation will interest anyone interested in the political economy of contemporary China, in Asian development issues, and in the banking industry. The book dispels misconceptions and provides insight into the financial aspects of China’s economic growth story.Less
China’s Banking Transformation explains how Chinese banks work, analyzes their strengths and weaknesses, and sets forth the challenges they face in a slowing economy. Based on his twelve years of service on the boards of Chinese banks, the author brings the informed view of an insider to explaining the reality of China’s banks. Without minimizing the real issues Chinese banks face, China’s Banking Transformation challenges negative media accounts and reports of “China bears.” China’s Banking Transformation demonstrates that Chinese banks have transformed into modern, well-run commercial banks, playing a vital role supporting China’s economic growth. Acknowledging that China’s banks are different from Western banks, the author explains that they are hybrid banks, borrowing from Western models, but at the same time operating within a traditional Chinese cultural framework and in line with China’s governance model. From personal experience at the board level, Stent describes the governance and management of China’s banks, including the role of the Communist Party. He sees China’s banks as embedded in ancient concepts of how government and society work in China, and also as actors within market socialism. As the first account of Chinese banking by a Westerner who has worked in China’s banks, China’s Banking Transformation will interest anyone interested in the political economy of contemporary China, in Asian development issues, and in the banking industry. The book dispels misconceptions and provides insight into the financial aspects of China’s economic growth story.
Dan Shao
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824834456
- eISBN:
- 9780824870263
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824834456.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This book addresses a long-ignored issue: How does the past failure of an ethnic people to maintain sovereignty over their homeland influence their contemporary reconfigurations of ethnic and ...
More
This book addresses a long-ignored issue: How does the past failure of an ethnic people to maintain sovereignty over their homeland influence their contemporary reconfigurations of ethnic and national identities? To answer this, the book focuses on the Manzus, the second largest non-Han group in contemporary China, whose cultural and historical ancestors, the Manchus, ruled China from 1644 to 1912. It analyzes the major forces responsible for the transformation of Manchu identity from the ruling group of the Qing empire to the minority of minorities in China today. Within the first half of the twentieth century, four regimes each grouped the Manchus into different ethnic and national categories while re-positioning Manchuria itself on their political maps in accordance with their differing definitions of statehood. During periods of state succession, Manchuria was transformed from the Manchu homeland in the Qing dynasty to an East Asian borderland in the early twentieth century, before becoming China's territory recovered from the Japanese empire. As the transformation of territoriality took place, the hard boundaries of the Manchu community were reconfigured, its ways of self-identification reformed, and the space for its identity representations redefined. The book goes beyond the single-country focus and looks instead at regional and cross-border perspectives. It is a study of China, but one that transcends traditional historiographies.Less
This book addresses a long-ignored issue: How does the past failure of an ethnic people to maintain sovereignty over their homeland influence their contemporary reconfigurations of ethnic and national identities? To answer this, the book focuses on the Manzus, the second largest non-Han group in contemporary China, whose cultural and historical ancestors, the Manchus, ruled China from 1644 to 1912. It analyzes the major forces responsible for the transformation of Manchu identity from the ruling group of the Qing empire to the minority of minorities in China today. Within the first half of the twentieth century, four regimes each grouped the Manchus into different ethnic and national categories while re-positioning Manchuria itself on their political maps in accordance with their differing definitions of statehood. During periods of state succession, Manchuria was transformed from the Manchu homeland in the Qing dynasty to an East Asian borderland in the early twentieth century, before becoming China's territory recovered from the Japanese empire. As the transformation of territoriality took place, the hard boundaries of the Manchu community were reconfigured, its ways of self-identification reformed, and the space for its identity representations redefined. The book goes beyond the single-country focus and looks instead at regional and cross-border perspectives. It is a study of China, but one that transcends traditional historiographies.
Xueping Zhong
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824834173
- eISBN:
- 9780824870010
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824834173.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
This chapter focuses on Chinese youth drama, a subgenre on television that offers yet another interesting example of mainstream culture’s representations of social contradictions and ideological ...
More
This chapter focuses on Chinese youth drama, a subgenre on television that offers yet another interesting example of mainstream culture’s representations of social contradictions and ideological tensions. It examines three types of well-received Chinese-made youth dramas and their best-known texts. First, it considers the dramas by the so-called master of Chinese youth drama, Hai Yan. It explores the representations shared by the young characters and the social and ideological implications of the commonality in Hai Yan’s dramas. Second, it examines the phenomenon of “post-youth” youth drama, which refer to dramas that focus on the generation of Chinese who grew up during the Mao era but who encountered significant changes in their lives during the post-Mao era. It looks at the ambivalence expressed within those dramas in which their main characters live through two sharply different eras. Third, the chapter examines “counteridol” youth drama, in particular one of its latest representatives, Shibing tuji (Soldiers, be ready, 2007). Focusing on its main character, Xu Sanduo, and the popular following this unlikely hero has generated, it speculates on why an unconventional “youth idol” has successfully captured the public’s imagination.Less
This chapter focuses on Chinese youth drama, a subgenre on television that offers yet another interesting example of mainstream culture’s representations of social contradictions and ideological tensions. It examines three types of well-received Chinese-made youth dramas and their best-known texts. First, it considers the dramas by the so-called master of Chinese youth drama, Hai Yan. It explores the representations shared by the young characters and the social and ideological implications of the commonality in Hai Yan’s dramas. Second, it examines the phenomenon of “post-youth” youth drama, which refer to dramas that focus on the generation of Chinese who grew up during the Mao era but who encountered significant changes in their lives during the post-Mao era. It looks at the ambivalence expressed within those dramas in which their main characters live through two sharply different eras. Third, the chapter examines “counteridol” youth drama, in particular one of its latest representatives, Shibing tuji (Soldiers, be ready, 2007). Focusing on its main character, Xu Sanduo, and the popular following this unlikely hero has generated, it speculates on why an unconventional “youth idol” has successfully captured the public’s imagination.
Konrad Ng
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231163378
- eISBN:
- 9780231850254
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231163378.003.0002
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter explores the contemporary Chinese life in filmmaker Jia Zhangke's films. Jia's unique film language, a form that mixes fiction and documentary, and his focus on marginal lives, reveal ...
More
This chapter explores the contemporary Chinese life in filmmaker Jia Zhangke's films. Jia's unique film language, a form that mixes fiction and documentary, and his focus on marginal lives, reveal how China's current context of large-scale and rapid development has impacted on cinematic storytelling and given rise to a form of critical realism. Jia's films suggest that Chinese ‘progress’ is, at best, an ambivalent achievement; alienation and disjuncture now haunt the Chinese experience. Jia plots his narratives through global popular culture to reflect how China's pursuit of modernity and reform has dissolved cultural tradition and the nation as anchors of experience. Jia's use of long-takes, realist and ironic mise-en-scène, crowded and colloquial sound design and casting of non-professional actors alongside professional actors affectively convey and capture the disorienting experiences of contemporary China. For Jia, cinematic storytelling is a way to intervene in the context from which it emerges.Less
This chapter explores the contemporary Chinese life in filmmaker Jia Zhangke's films. Jia's unique film language, a form that mixes fiction and documentary, and his focus on marginal lives, reveal how China's current context of large-scale and rapid development has impacted on cinematic storytelling and given rise to a form of critical realism. Jia's films suggest that Chinese ‘progress’ is, at best, an ambivalent achievement; alienation and disjuncture now haunt the Chinese experience. Jia plots his narratives through global popular culture to reflect how China's pursuit of modernity and reform has dissolved cultural tradition and the nation as anchors of experience. Jia's use of long-takes, realist and ironic mise-en-scène, crowded and colloquial sound design and casting of non-professional actors alongside professional actors affectively convey and capture the disorienting experiences of contemporary China. For Jia, cinematic storytelling is a way to intervene in the context from which it emerges.
Madeleine YueDong
Reginald E. Zelnik (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520230507
- eISBN:
- 9780520927636
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520230507.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Old Beijing has become a subject of growing fascination in contemporary China since the 1980s. While physical remnants from the past are being bulldozed every day to make space for glass-walled ...
More
Old Beijing has become a subject of growing fascination in contemporary China since the 1980s. While physical remnants from the past are being bulldozed every day to make space for glass-walled skyscrapers and towering apartment buildings, nostalgia for the old city is booming. This book offers a comprehensive history of Republican Beijing, examining how the capital acquired its identity as a consummately “traditional” Chinese city. For residents of Beijing, the heart of the city lay in the labor-intensive activities of “recycling,” a primary mode of material and cultural production and circulation that came to characterize Republican Beijing. An omnipresent process of recycling and re-use unified Beijing's fragmented and stratified markets into one circulation system. These material practices evoked an air of nostalgia that permeated daily life. Paradoxically, the “old Beijing” toward which this nostalgia was directed was not the imperial capital of the past, but the living Republican city. Such nostalgia toward the present, the author argues, was not an empty sentiment, but an essential characteristic of Chinese modernity.Less
Old Beijing has become a subject of growing fascination in contemporary China since the 1980s. While physical remnants from the past are being bulldozed every day to make space for glass-walled skyscrapers and towering apartment buildings, nostalgia for the old city is booming. This book offers a comprehensive history of Republican Beijing, examining how the capital acquired its identity as a consummately “traditional” Chinese city. For residents of Beijing, the heart of the city lay in the labor-intensive activities of “recycling,” a primary mode of material and cultural production and circulation that came to characterize Republican Beijing. An omnipresent process of recycling and re-use unified Beijing's fragmented and stratified markets into one circulation system. These material practices evoked an air of nostalgia that permeated daily life. Paradoxically, the “old Beijing” toward which this nostalgia was directed was not the imperial capital of the past, but the living Republican city. Such nostalgia toward the present, the author argues, was not an empty sentiment, but an essential characteristic of Chinese modernity.
Qi Wang
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780748692330
- eISBN:
- 9781474406390
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748692330.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This book provides a historically informed examination of independent moving image works made between 1990 and 2010 in China. Showcasing an evolving personal mode of narrating memory, documenting ...
More
This book provides a historically informed examination of independent moving image works made between 1990 and 2010 in China. Showcasing an evolving personal mode of narrating memory, documenting reality, and inscribing subjectivity in over sixteen selected works that range from narrative film and documentary to experimental video and digital media (including a multimedia avant-garde play), this book presents a provocative portrait of the independent filmmakers as a peculiarly pained yet active group of historical subjects of the transitional, postsocialist era. Through a connected investigation of cultural and cinematic concepts including historical consciousness, personal memory, narrative, performance, subjectivity, spatiality, and the body, Wang weaves a critical narrative of the formation of a unique postsocialist cultural consciousness that enables independent cinema and media to become a highly significant and effective conduit for historical thinking in contemporary China. Covering filmmakers such as Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Jia Zhangke, Jiang Wen, Lou Ye, Meng Jinghui, Wang Bing, Wang Guangli, Duan Jinchuan, Cui Zi'en, Shi Tou, and Tang Danhong, this book is essential reading for all students and scholars in Chinese film and culture.Less
This book provides a historically informed examination of independent moving image works made between 1990 and 2010 in China. Showcasing an evolving personal mode of narrating memory, documenting reality, and inscribing subjectivity in over sixteen selected works that range from narrative film and documentary to experimental video and digital media (including a multimedia avant-garde play), this book presents a provocative portrait of the independent filmmakers as a peculiarly pained yet active group of historical subjects of the transitional, postsocialist era. Through a connected investigation of cultural and cinematic concepts including historical consciousness, personal memory, narrative, performance, subjectivity, spatiality, and the body, Wang weaves a critical narrative of the formation of a unique postsocialist cultural consciousness that enables independent cinema and media to become a highly significant and effective conduit for historical thinking in contemporary China. Covering filmmakers such as Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Jia Zhangke, Jiang Wen, Lou Ye, Meng Jinghui, Wang Bing, Wang Guangli, Duan Jinchuan, Cui Zi'en, Shi Tou, and Tang Danhong, this book is essential reading for all students and scholars in Chinese film and culture.
Shuqin Cui
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824840037
- eISBN:
- 9780824868390
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824840037.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to examine the emergence of women's visual art in contemporary China and why the body, especially the female body, so often serves as a ...
More
This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to examine the emergence of women's visual art in contemporary China and why the body, especially the female body, so often serves as a subject for exploration and a medium of aesthetic experiment. It is argued that bodily inscription through visual articulation involves a process of gendering that challenges artistic conventions as well as viewers' preconceptions. The chapter goes on to discuss issues such as the shifting conceptions of the term women's art or feminist art in the Chinese contemporary art field. This is followed by an overview of the subsequent chapters.Less
This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to examine the emergence of women's visual art in contemporary China and why the body, especially the female body, so often serves as a subject for exploration and a medium of aesthetic experiment. It is argued that bodily inscription through visual articulation involves a process of gendering that challenges artistic conventions as well as viewers' preconceptions. The chapter goes on to discuss issues such as the shifting conceptions of the term women's art or feminist art in the Chinese contemporary art field. This is followed by an overview of the subsequent chapters.
