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clay dubeThis website has information about national parks in China and elsewhere: https://national-parks.org/china
Here's a collection of academics commenting on national park plans: https://academic.oup.com/nsr/article/9/10/nwac150/6653241
clay dubeHi Folks,
Even though China is by far the top emitter these days, it will still take a generation before its total cumulative emissions surpass those of the U.S. The Washington Post today published a nice animated chart showing this.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2023/global-warming-carbon-emissions-china-us/
clay dubeToday, the LA Times published an article about efforts by a Chinese factory. which mainly turns out clothing for other companies, to build its own brand. A nice discussion of how market changes challenge Chinese manufacturing. You can read it via this link or the pdf below. (the article originally appeared on 2/9 on the web and 2/18 in print - the headlines on the two versions are not the same)
clay dubeHollywood has long wanted to access the Chinese film market, now the world's largest. Here is a new article about the hope:
Patrick Breski, "Is China's Film Sector Opening Its Doors to the World Again?," The Hollywood Reporter, Feb. 17, 2023.
A couple years ago, we hosted a discussion of the complicated China-hollywood relationship: https://china.usc.edu/video-made-hollywood-censored-beijing
clay dubeHi Folks,
I mentioned the pervasiveness of Hikvision cameras in the US and elsewhere and security worries that some have over them. Here Hikvision hits back. The story is from Axios, 2/17.
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3. China's Hikvision sues U.S. over FCC ban |
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Chinese video surveillance firm Hikvision is suing the U.S. government as well as the Federal Communications Commission over a November order limiting the sale of its products here. Why it matters: Hikvision is one of a number of Chinese firms that has seen its ability to sell goods in the U.S. limited by the federal government. Details: In its suit, filed Monday in a Federal Appeals Court in Washington, D.C., Hikvision argues that the FCC exceeded its authority in issuing the November order, among other claims. It seeks to have the court overturn the FCC's order.
The big picture: Hikvision isn't the first Chinese company to sue over federal restrictions on its business. Huawei previously took the U.S. government to court arguing that authorities overstepped their bounds. |
clay dubeUSC has long had students from China, at last count we had over 6,000 in degree programs. Usually USC or Purdue have the largest Chinese enrollment in the US. Prior to the pandemic, there were about 372,000 studying at all levels. The pandemic and economic slowdown in China has affected demand, along with anti-Asian speech and violence, though many still want to study abroad. But the shrinking number of young people mean that there simply aren't as many students as a generation ago. Also, China's vast expansion of tertiary opportunities means that there are more opportunties at home (when I taught there in 1982-85, there were fewer college students than in California). Now China has 25 m or so college students. Because of the favoritism for local students and the large number of schools there, virtually all Beijing and Shanghai high school grads can go to college. Competition overall, however, remains brutal for the best schools - and the competition starts early. There are several good documentaries about the higher ed exam. We screened an interesting film a couple years ago that focused on a community centered on an exam preparation school.
clay dubeMohism developed a following in response to the focus on the family preoccupations of others. Master Mo correctly assessed the dangers associated with privileging one's kin over all else, but he was also running into well-established customs, including ancestor worship (which helped establish the generational hierarchy that looms large for Confucians. Pragmatic and caring, Mohism had much to offer and many were drawn to it. You don't get official state support for Confucianism until the Han dynasty, partly in response to the extremism of the first emperor's form of Legalism. Daoism maintained a strong following (and a Daoist uprising will bring trouble to the Han) and at the much later Ming Court, Daoism loomed large. Many describe imperial norms as Legalism with a Confucianism.
clay dubeThe "flooding the space" of Chinese language media in Australia (and New Zealand) can be a giant challenge. In the US, the largest Chinese language paper has been World Journal 世界日报. Back in the 1990s, it was in the top 20 in circulation in the US. It is based in the LA area, but has readers and offices in other major cities. It was well established, but has been challenged, first by Chinese language media from the PRC and more recently by the Falungong-affiliated Epoch Times. Of course, the bad news for independent media in the US is true for Chinese language media as well. One company that got attention is LA-based EDI (eagle dragon 应龙). Here they are most known as the sponsor of a major annual film festival, but also have a radio station (streaming as well as broadcast: https://icitynews.com/?page_id=229072. The company's owners, the Su family, are devout Christians (the awards at their festival are golden angels), but also rely on close business ties with mainland media. Reuters reported on some of this in 2015 because they also own a station outside Washington: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/china-radio/, My own feeling is that we need diversity in media voices and it is important to have independent local voices and not simply pipe in broadcasts produced in China or Taiwan. It's cheaper and easier to do that, especially since often it is available for free, but it is not a real service, especially since the internet makes it easy for anyone who wants a Beijing or Taipei take on things to get one. Much harder to hear local Chinese voices, but much more important for the health of the community. -- Of course, everything can be balanced. Ch. 18 KSCI used to do this well in LA. You had a local newscast that was about LA, but in Chinese with particular attention to issues of interest to Chinese speakers. And they also included network news from Taiwan and from China as well. Sadly, the economics of running such a station (which also had soap operas and infomercials) didn't work out to support real newsgathering and reporting.
clay dubeHi Folks,
For a long time, our lunar new year stamp collection has proved popular. Please take a look at this year's at: https://china.usc.edu/happy-year-rabbit-%E7%A5%9D%E6%82%A8%E5%85%94%E5%B9%B4%E6%84%89%E5%BF%AB%EF%BC%81. Which rabbit stamp (or cat stamp, if you're following the Vietnamese) do you like? Why?
Could you use these stamps with your own students? How?
clay dubeIndira, I love what you set up with your students. In this age of digital communication, stamps are definitely a throwback. That said, there is something quite different about reading something on paper and what it means to send someone something on paper. I hope that you might talk with your students about this. How many of their parents still have cards they crafted for them in earlier grades. Again, what is it about the earlier technology that causes someone to treat the messages conveyed differently?
clay dubeAdditional readings below.
clay dubeIndira, thank you for highlighting echoes in how big powers often treat "smaller" players. In the case of Panama, it only established diplomatic ties with China in 2017 and previously recognized Taiwan. Both Beijing and Taipei sought recognition for a long time and both have polished diplomats. You highlight a big problem for the current administration: getting ambassadors nominated and approved by the Senate. This problem existed during Trump's administration too. An article: https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/01/11/us-ambassador-posts-vacancies-diplomacy-india-ethiopia-saudi-arabia-italy-colombia/ Axios has a chart showing appointments of all sorts, not just ambassadorships. https://www.axios.com/2022/12/09/biden-senate-nominations-confirmations Here's the announcement of Mari Carmen Aponti as amb. to Panama. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/10/08/president-biden-announces-key-nominations-4/ She was confirmed about a year later and has been US ambassador since September: https://pa.usembassy.gov/ambassador-mari-carmen-aponte/
clay dubeLecture 3: Identities and Ambitions
Resources on China and Australia - please choose at least one video and two text reports to read and discuss.
Video: Four Corners, "Interference: China's Covert Political Influence Campaign in Australia," Australian Broadcast Corporation, April, 2019.
Video: Jennifer Wong, SBS Dateline, "The China Dream: Tensions with Australia," August 31, 2022. (Part 2 focuses on Taiwan.)
William Yang, "Cheng Lei: Australian Journalist's Dire Prison Conditions," Deutsche Welle, Sept. 6, 2022.
Bill Birtles, "A Day to Pack Up Our Lives and Get Out," Sydney Morning Herald, April 30, 2021.
Jennifer Hsu, "The Politics of Being Chinese in Australia," Lowry Institute, March 3, 2021. (interactive | report)
Jamil Anderlini and Jamie Smythe, "The West Grows Wary of China's Influence Game," Financial Times, December 18, 2017.
Video: Rowan Callick, "The Party that Ate China: the Subsuming of a Great Culture," Ramsay Centre, April 12, 2022.
Chen Hong, "Can We Expect a Reset of China-Australian Relations?," Global Times, Jan. 19, 2023.
Hu Weijia, "Despite Different 'Values,' Australia Should Ameliorate Ties with China," Global Times, September 21, 2022.
Weizhen Tan, "China Restricted Imports from Australia. Now Australia is Selling Elsewhere," CNBC, June 2, 2021.
Managing the Story:
Short video on migrants and lunar new year in Southwestern China: Selina Wang, CNN, Jan. 27, 2023.
Essay about Zhao Lijian, China's leading "wolf warrior diplomat," be sure to read the update I've put at the top: Alex Palmer, NY Times, July 7, 2021. (article attached below)
clay dubeDear Qitao, It's fascinating to think about how English dramas could be used to introduce Chinese folk tales. I hope you'll share a couple of examples.
clay dubeHi Kirstjen, thanks very much for you comments. We need not embrace a perspective in order to understand it and to grasp how it may shape policies and behaviors. Of course, abuse in the past by others does not excuse abuse in the present - though it may be part of the justification for such policies. Teaching students to try to get a fuller idea of what may lie behind a policy is both hard and necessary.
