Chinese Studies

The Ancient Tea Horse Road and the Politics of Cultural Heritage in Southwest China

by Gary Sigley

Published in the China Heritage Quarterly (www.chinaheritagequarterly.org), No. 20, 2012.

In 2005, a tea caravan (mabang 马邦) emerged out of the mists of time and made an epic journey from Yunnan 云南 to... more In 2005, a tea caravan (mabang 马邦) emerged out of the mists of time and made an epic journey from Yunnan 云南 to Beijing, from the 'periphery' to the 'centre'.[1] The caravan, consisting of forty muleteers and over one hundred mules, was transporting a precious four-tonne cargo of Pu'er tea cakes (普洱茶饼) from the tea producing regions of southeast Yunnan to the capital of the People's Republic. The tea was highly valued as 'tribute tea' (贡茶), calling to mind the time when precious commodities from across the empire were offered up to the imperial court, and also reflecting in the present the rapacious demand for luxury and exotic goods amongst China's nouveau riche (and, we might add, as gifts to curry favour with those in positions of power) ...

Cultural Contradictions? The Ambiguous Relationship between Confucianism and Democratic Centralism in Communist China

by William Patterson

International Topics

Anayasanın Yüzleri ve Çin Düşüncesi

by Faruk Turinay

Güncel Hukuk Dergisi'nin Mayıs 2012 sayısında yayınlandı.
Published by Güncel Hukuk Review in May 2012 volume.

The Health of Nations: Society and Law beyond State adlı eserinde Philip Allott, bir toplumun anayasasının, zaman... more The Health of Nations: Society and Law beyond State adlı eserinde Philip Allott, bir toplumun anayasasının, zaman içinde bir inşa sürecinin sonucu olduğundan bahseder. O anayasa ki, art arda gelen sebeplerin yarattığı birikmiş tesirlerin ve değişimin sürecidir . Üç boyutu vardır: düşünceler dünyası, gelişmeler dünyası ve hukuk... Bir toplumun kendini inşası, üç anayasanın yapılması demektir . Fikri anayasa (ideal constitution), kuramlar, değerler, amaçlar, fikirler seviyesinde yer alır. Gerçek anayasa (real constitution), günbegün gelişen, karşılıklı iletişimle şekillenen siyasi, iktisadi, toplumsal gücün icraatları olan olayların katındadır. Hukuki anayasa (legal constitution) ise toplumun sonsuza kadar sürecek bir sonuç-kural ilişkisi ve bunu hukuki belirli bir norma dönüştürmesiyle, ideal ve gerçek anayasalardaki kendi kendini inşa süreçleri arasındaki etkileşimle, zaman geçtikçe edindikleri güçle şekil alır . Allott’ın üçlü tasnifi göz önünde tutulursa, ‘siyasi bir kavram olarak anayasa’ kavrayışımızın ‘fikri anayasa’ ile ‘gerçek anayasa’ arasındaki etkileşim sayesinde oluşan düşünsel zemin üzerinde bir noktaya tekabül ettiğini söyleyebiliriz.

Binlerce yıllık Çin tarihinin en erken dönemlerinde anayasa kavramının izini sürmek ilginç bir deneyim olabilir. Tabii ki, bu bağlamda, anayasadan kastedilenin, toplumun idaresine hâkim olan ilkeler topluluğu olduğunu akılda tutarak... Üç bin yıl boyunca Çin devlet idaresinin bağlılığını kararlılıkla sürdürdüğü bir öğreti vardır: ‘Merhametli hükümet’ . Çinli idareciler yönetilenlerin zapturapt altında tutulmasını yumuşak bir yöntemle sağlayan bu öğretiye öylesine bağlı kalmıştır ki, onun icaplarının –en azından şeklen- yerine getirilmediği bir dönem olmamıştır. Ray Huang, merhametli hükümet öğretisinin “kamu yaşamının temel söylemi olarak kalması, bir anayasa yerini tutması”ndan söz etmektedir . Konfüçyüs’ün ardından, ‘İkinci Bilge’ ünvanıyla onurlandırılan Mencius’un ‘merhametli hükümet’inden başka miras bıraktığı başka kavramlar da vardır. Çinli düşünür, Nutuklar’ında, halkın iradesinden, hatta biraz daha ileri gidilerek halkın egemenliğinden söz etmektedir .

Playing with Food: Performance, Food, and the Aesthetics of Artificiality in the Song and Yuan

by Stephen West

A new temporal GIS viewer based on the “Tree of Time” data structure

by Vitit Kantabutra

Note that the count of the erroneous intervals (i.e. 124 erroneous intervals) in the CHGIS database I claimed in this paper has not been verified completely. However, I will upload a report file as a separate "paper" on this site that will permit any interested person in verifying the data.

THE POLITICS OF GRIEF AND CONTINUING BONDS WITH THE DEAD: THE CASES OF MAOIST CHINA AND WAHHABI ISLAM

by Dennis Klass

co-authored with Robert Goss.
Published in Death Studies, 27:787-811, 2003.

The article is a contribution to a cross-cultural theory of grief. It examines the relationship between... more The article is a contribution to a cross-cultural theory of grief. It examines the relationship between individual/family continuing bonds with the dead and cultural narratives that legitimize political power. The dead are collective representations (Dirkheim) that mediate the larger culture to individuals and to smaller communities and that reinforce social solidarity and identity. The political question is: Which collective - family, community, church, party, nation - owns the dead and controls the rituals by which bonds with the dead are maintained or relinquished? The article discusses one historical condition: times of rapid change in power arrangements. Bonds with the dead have a power in individual, family, or tribal life that can threaten the narrative that legitimizes the new political power holders. Ancestor rituals that support identity as a family or tribal member are surpressed and replaced by allegiance to collective representations of the new political order. Two historical examples are given: China under Chairman Mao and the Wahhabi reform in Arabic Islam.

Book review- Elena Barabantseva, Overseas Chinese, Ethnic Minorities and Nationalism: De-Centering China, London, Routeledge, 2010.

by VANESSA FRANGVILLE

On Their Dress They Wore a Body: Fashion and Identity in Late Qing Shanghai

by Paola Zamperini

Elective Affinities. Literary Soul Mates and the Marketplace in late Qing Fiction

by Paola Zamperini

UNTAMED HEARTS: EROS AND SUICIDE IN LATE IMPERIAL CHINESE FICTION

by Paola Zamperini

Clothes That Matter: Fashioning Modernity in Late Qing Novels

by Paola Zamperini

Making Fashion Work: Interview with Sophie Hong

by Paola Zamperini

Chan Ying Kit, "Historicizing Ming-Ryukyu Relations: The Politics of Scholarship", Ming Qing Studies, 2011, pp. 81-109.

by YingKit Chan

Published in Ming Qing Studies 2011.

The Ming Dynasty, which many Chinese regard as the last "Han" empire in Chinese imperial history, saw... more The Ming Dynasty, which many Chinese regard as the last "Han" empire in Chinese imperial history, saw further development and eventual maturation of the ancient "tribute trade system"; Ming emperors and their courts institutionalized the tributary system and included an unprecedented number of kingdoms and polities into the system. One of the polities that were incorporated into this network of formalized relations was the Ryukyu Kingdom, which Meiji Japan annexed to form the Okinawa Prefecture. Okinawa Prefecture has since been a site of contestation and negotiation between the power brokers of China, Japan, and the United States at the expense of its own historical and political agency and autonomy. This paper argues that Ryukyuan historiography has been mired by both dichotomous thinking and national subjectivities in China, Japan, and Okinawa, and that the "truth of history" should outweigh the dictates of national ambition, foreign policy, and "political scholarship".

[Non-refereed Op-ed] Whose Arms Will Embrace You? The United States and the Beijing Consensus

by Amarnath Amarasingam

The United States is increasingly playing a game of subtle communication in the international arena. I suspect we had... more The United States is increasingly playing a game of subtle communication in the international arena. I suspect we had a passing glimpse of this at the 19th Session of the Human Rights Council, which gathered in Geneva last month. The question is: who is the United States talking to and what is it trying to say?

Perché guardare a Oriente? Termini Imerese 5-6 Maggio 2012

by Seminario Popolare sul Pensiero dell’Estremo Oriente. Perchè guardare a Oriente?

Seminario Popolare sul Pensiero dell'Estremo Oriente (4 Ed.). Perché guardare a Oriente?

by Pietro Piro

Programma delle giornate di studi: Perché guardare a Oriente? Termini Imerese 5-6 Maggio 2012.

Nella giornata di studi Perchè guardare a Oriente?  I ricercatori coinvolti,  a partire dalle proprie... more Nella giornata di studi Perchè guardare a Oriente?  I ricercatori coinvolti,  a partire dalle proprie competenze e dai propri interessi, cercheranno di chiarire, in modo semplice e “popolare” perché è necessario conoscere e approfondire un tema legato ad un aspetto del pensiero Orientale (musica, arte, filosofia, religione, cinema..etc). In questo modo, si cercherà di trovare ragioni vitali, e non esclusivamente accademiche o commerciali, per accostarsi all’Oriente. Il tentativo è quello di avvicinare quante più persone possibili ad una cultura che rimane, nonostante l’accelerazione dei ritmi globalizzanti, relegata in secondo piano e ristretta o al cerchio ristretto degli specialisti o esposta alla banalizzazione del pensiero unico. Si cercherà dunque, di offrire delle risposte che possano essere un vero punto d’inizio per chi, spesso carico di pregiudizi, si accosta per la prima volta ad un mondo così complesso e affascinante. La sfida non è semplice. Si cercherà di non esporre una teoria preconfezionata, quanto di cercare di aprirsi al dialogo interrogante e stabilire insieme ragioni superiori e condivise.

Anti-Chinese attitudes in post-communist Mongolia: the lingering negative schemas of the past

by Mendee Jargalsaikhan

Fertility Control and Its Effect on Chinese Women

by Journal of Research on Women and Gender

Yun Zhou, Peking University

Population policy, especially fertility control policy, has been vital for China in the past few decades. At the end... more Population policy, especially fertility control policy, has been vital for China in the past few decades. At the end of 1970s, due to the fast speed of population growth and eagerness of economic and social development, China started a unique population policy known as the “one-child policy”. In this paper, we will explore the effects of the current fertility control policy on Chinese women. More specifically, the paper will explain the gains of Chinese women from the policy. According to our study, we find that women benefited from dissemination and promotion of contraceptive uses, at least when the policy was implemented in the earlier 1980s. Through methods of contraception, women were able to control fertility by themselves. By reducing number of children each woman has, a family accumulates more resources for children in the next generation, including female children. Due to the reduction in family members by fertility control, Chinese find more female or female-related relatives in their life. These changes will lead to a more harmonious society among human beings as well as between humans and nature.

Current Chinese population policy started in early 1980s and is one of the most controversial population policies in the world. Some labeled the policy as an aggressive anti-natalist policy, due to coercion of the contraceptive practice (for example, Abrams, 1996: 23). Criticism comes mostly from Western societies and they viewed the policy from different angles. September 2010 was the 30th year since the controversial policy was begun. Experiences over the years enable us to reflect on the current population policy from its background of having the policy and the special effects of the policy on the Chinese. This paper will specifically examine the effect of population policy in 1980s on Chinese women and discuss the contribution of women in the sustainable development in China in general.

冮树革，安晓波 (Björn Alpermann), "德国中国学研究的当代转型和未来发展趋向" (The Current Transformation and Future Development Prospects of China Studies Research in Germany), 国外社会科学 (Social Sciences Abroad), 2012/2, 17-23.

by Björn Alpermann

德国是从事中国学研究的主要国家之一，中国的历史和文化一直是德国传统汉学重要的研究领域和内容。改革开放以来，伴随着社会转型过程中中国的巨大变迁，德国传统汉学面临着学术研究的当代转型，传统汉学包容、吸纳当代中国研究并实现二者融合发展，成为重要的... more 德国是从事中国学研究的主要国家之一，中国的历史和文化一直是德国传统汉学重要的研究领域和内容。改革开放以来，伴随着社会转型过程中中国的巨大变迁，德国传统汉学面临着学术研究的当代转型，传统汉学包容、吸纳当代中国研究并实现二者融合发展，成为重要的现象和趋向。从德国中国学研究的社会历史背景变迁出发，并基于德国当代中国研究和社会科学研究的二元视角，本文从多个维度分析了目前德国中国学研究的主要特点和发展趋势，认为，德国中国学研究在稳定发展的过程中，当代中国研究的学术重要性日益增长，正在发生渐进性、适应性和结构性的变化，同时也表现出未来发展的一些新趋势。

Hebben vrouwen in Chinese families geen macht?

by Bastiaan Vrielink