SS412 Assignments

This week's plan

Monday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
5/1: #801 Environmental challenges
Saturday class schedule
5/4: #802 Chai Jing (Note: This is a long assignment. Please plan accordingly).
5/5: Compensated class

Full list of assignments

U1. Thinking about China 
101 “Insider” and “outsider” perspectives
  • John Pomfret, “In Search of the Real China: Outsiders Still See What They Want to See,” in Foreign Affairs (November/December 2013), 148-54.​
102 Approaching diverse Chinese experiences
  • Wasserstrom, 113-18:
    • What is the most common thing Americans get wrong about China?
    • Why is China’s diversity overlooked?
    • How does ethnicity come into the picture?
    • How important are regional divides?
    • How important are age divides in China?
  • Wasserstrom, 122-25:
    • What is the biggest source of Chinese misunderstanding about the United States?
    • How do U.S. and Chinese views on Tibet differ?
U2. From Empire to Nation
201 China’s histories
  • Wasserstrom, 23-44:
    • All of chapter 2.
    • Beginning of chapter 3, up to and including “What was the May 4th movement?”
202 Thinking about China in history
  • Read: Peter Bol, “Thinking about China in History,” Harvard University (unpublished and undated).
  • As you read, consider:
    • What does it mean to suggest that China – either in “traditional” times or today – is/was “unchanging”? What, in turn, are some reasons Peter Bol raises for doubting this assumption?
    • How might Bol respond to Pomfret, who suggested, “I think most Chinese want to live as Americans do and aspire to the power and freedom of the United States”? How would you respond?
    • Bol references Max Weber's ideas presented in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905) and The Religion of China (1915) to warn against establishing “false dichotomies” between East and West. What, in Bol’s view, is wrong with Weber? Identify one or two alternatives he proposes for making more productive comparisons.
    • Bol endorses Yu Yingshi’s argument that “The concept of ‘national history’ in its current Western usage was wholly unfamiliar to Chinese historians before the 20th century.” What is the larger point he is making about the Chinese nation? Why might this argument be uncomfortable or even offensive to some readers?
    • How can ethnicity (productively) complicate our understanding of China’s past?

203 Olympic pride and pain
  • Wasserstrom, 101-04:
    • Why were the 2008 Olympics such a big deal for China?
    • What does the handling of the Olympics say about today’s China?
    • Will grand spectacles continue to be important to China?
  • Orville Schell, “China’s Agony of Defeat,” in Newsweek (26 July  2008).
  • Evan Osnos, “Angry Youth,” in The New Yorker (July 2008).
204 Nationalism and ethnicity today:
  • Wasserstrom, 136-37:
    • How powerful is Chinese nationalism?
  • Perry Link, “What it Means to Be Chinese: Nationalism and Identity in Xi’s China,” in Foreign Affairs (May/June 2015), 25-31.
  • ​Gray Tuttle, “China’s Race Problem,” in Foreign Affairs (May/June 2015), 39-46.
Assessment for units 1-2
  • To prepare for our first assessment, please review your notes on the homework assignments for units 1 and 2. You may bring readings and notes to class.
​U3. “It’s Right to Rebel”
301 Red histories:
  • Wasserstrom, 49-74:
    • “Who was Chiang Kai-Shek?” until end of chapter 3.

302 Red memories:
  • Watch one of the following “Fifth Generation” films that discuss the impact of the Mao years on individuals in various contexts. Blue Kite follows the life of a young boy, “Tietou” (iron head) who grows up in Beijing. In Farewell My Concubine, the protagonists are two Peking opera stars and a woman that comes between them. The final option is To Live, a film based on a novel by the same name by Yu Hua, follows a rural family from the 1940s to the 1970s.
    • Blue Kite 《蓝风筝》, Chinese with English subtitles. Directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang, 1993.
    • Farewell My Concubine《霸王别姬》, Chinese with English subtitles. Chen Kaige, 1993.
      • ​Library: First Floor 895.135 L612
    • To Live 《活着》, Chinese with English subtitles. Zhang Yimou, 1994.

303 Red legacies:
  • Jeremy Brown, “When Things Go Wrong: Accidents and the Legacy of the Mao Era in Today’s China,” in Restless China, ed. Perry Link et al (New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2013), 11-30.
U4. “To Get Rich is Glorious”
401 Deng’s transformation:
  • Wasserstrom, 75-89.
  • Deng Xiaoping, “Build Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” in The People's Daily (30 June 1984).
402 Harvey on "Neoliberalism with Chinese characteristics":
  • David Harvey, “Neoliberalism ‘with Chinese characteristics’,” in A Brief History of Neoliberalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 120-51.
​403 Lin on China's market miracle:
  • Justin Yifu Lin, “Demystifying the Chinese Economy,” talk delivered at the University of Hong Kong (April 2016). (53 minutes). Embeded to the right.
  • For reference only: Justin Yifu Lin's notes for the speech (PDF). Source: World Bank.
404 Factory Girls:
  • Leslie T. Chang, Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China, (New York: Spiegal & Graw, 2008), 97-119.​
405 "The Rich Lady":
  • Philip Pan, “The Rich Lady” in Out of Mao’s Shadow: The Struggle for the Soul of New China. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008), 147-174.
Unit 4 Assessment
U5. The Party 
501 Power and the People:
  • China From The Inside, part 1: “Power and the People” (54 min)
    See embedded YouTube link to right.
502 The Party:
Please note that due to the length of the reading, it has been divided up into two days:
  • Day 1: Richard McGregor, “The Red Machine: The Party and the State,” in The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers (New York: Harper Perennial, 2010), 1-17. End with the sentence: " 'The Party is like God,' a professor from the People's University in Beijing told me. 'He is everywhere. You just can't see him.'"
  • Day 2: Ibid., 17-33.
  • Optional: Richard McGregor, “Five Myths about the Communist Party,” Foreign Policy, January/February 2011.​
503 The Mayor:
  • The Chinese Mayor《大同》(2015) (1 hour 29 minutes). A documentary that follows Datong mayor Geng Yanbo's efforts to transform one of the China’s most polluted cities, Datong, into a cultural destination. See embedded YouTube link to right.
504 Debating democracy:
  • Ying Ma, “China is Not Moving toward Democracy,” in China: Opposing Viewpoints (Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2010), 21-30.
  • Henry S. Rowen, “China is Moving toward Democracy,” in China: Opposing Viewpoints (Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2010), 31-38.
  • Bruce Dickinson, “Democracy in China? It's in the eye of the beholder,” in The Los Angeles Times (12 August 2016).
U6. “Troublemakers”
601 Freedom and justice:
  • China from the Inside, part 4: “Freedom and Justice” (54 min). See embedded video to the right.
  • Wasserstrom, “Who are the Chinese dissidents now?” 93-96.
  • Josh Chin, “ ‘Rule of Law’ or ‘Rule by Law’? In China, a Preposition Makes All the Difference,” in The Wall Street Journal (20 October 2012).
602 Peasant advocacy:
  • Chen Guidi and Wu Chuntao, “The Long Road,” in Will the Boat Sink the Water? The Life of China’s Peasants (New York: PublicAffairs, 2006), 93-129. Note: this book is also available in Chinese under its original title,《中国农民调查》(2004).​​
603 Electronic advocacy:
  • Wasserstrom, 97-101:
    • What is the role of the Internet in political dissent?
    • What does the digital divide mean in China?
    • Is the Great Firewall of China a unique structure?
  • Perry Link and Xiao Qiang, “From Grass-Mud Equestrians to Rights-Conscious Citizens: Language and Thought on the Chinese Internet,” in Restless China, ed. Perry Link et al (New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2013), 83-108.
604 Liu Xiaobo:
  • Simon Leys, “He Told the Truth About China’s Tyranny,” in The New York Review of Books (February 2012).
  • “Who is Liu Xiaobo,” in Xinhua (November 2010).
  • Liu Xiaobo, “Charter 08,” in No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems, eds. Perry Link et al (Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press, 2012), 300-12.
  • Liu Xiaobo, “I Have no Enemies,” in No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems, eds. Perry Link et al (Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press, 2012), 321-26. 
605 Ai Weiwei:
U7. Gender and Sexuality
701 Women and gender:
  • China From The Inside, part 2: "Women of the Country." 54 min. See embeded video to right.
702 Youth and romance:
  • William Jankowiak, “Chinese Youth: Hot Romance and Cold Calculation,” in Restless China, Perry Link, ed. Perry Link et al (New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2013), 191-212.
703 Pressures of Chinese femininity:
Watch the following presentation by Leta Hong Fincher at Cornell University (42 minutes).
704 ​Pressures of Chinese masculinity:
  • James Palmer, “The Bro Code: Booze, Sex, and the Dark Art of Dealmaking in China,” in ChinaFile (4 February 2015).
705 Redefining sex in China:
​U8. Environment and Health
801 Environmental challenges:
  • China from the Inside, part 3: "Shifting Nature." 54 min. Embeded to right.
  • Wasserstrom, “What big issues relating to the environment and energy does China face?” 140-41.
802 Air pollution:
  • Chai Jing, Under the Dome: Investigating China’s Smog《穹顶之下：雾霾调查》(2015). See embeded video to the right.​
803 Food safety:
  • Yunxiang Yan, “Food Safety and Social Risk in Contemporary China, in Restless China, ed. Perry Link et al (New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2013), 249-69.