Mobility and Cultural Authority in Contemporary China

As Chinese tourists, migrant workers, and students are becoming increasingly mobile, both inside China and abroad, the authoritarian state is wedged between the benefits and dangers posed by mobility. Communist China delicately balances its own conflicting impulses to support and discourage such mobilization by apparently loosening its restrictions on internal and international migration while still tightly regulating the promotion of domestic leisure industry with what Nyíri (Vrije Univ., Amsterdam) sees as a type of "indoctritainment." Concurrent with its integration into the global economic order is the portrayal of a new, optimistic, and modernized China, yet one in which the state has reshaped the culture of tourism, carefully manicured and interpreted through its public spaces and media infrastructure.

Multiversity of physical and cyberspace

The multiversity of physical and cyberspace has merged into a confluence of online and offline cultures that can no longer be classified

With globalization, migration, and cutting edge technologies that tie people over vast geographical distances once unimaginable, ethnicity, culture and identity have blurred to the point where many have argued that “race is dead.” Just how true is this? The answer seems to be more historical than it is contemporary, stemming from theorists and academics laying the foundation of these answers to the present early in the 20th century.

Cultural relativism - As a paradigm shift in 20th century, Boaz and his followers ascertained that civilization is not something absolute, but relative, with the caveat that “ideas and conceptions are true only so far as our civilization goes." The idea eventually evolved into "cultural relativism."

MacLuhan’s Gutenberg Galaxy - In the 1960s, Marshall McLuhan painstakingly argued that communication technology (alphabetic writing, the printing press, and the electronic media) not only influences human cognition, but also profoundly changes human social organization. As he saw it, a “new technology extends one or more of our senses outside us into the social world, then new ratios among all of our senses will occur in that particular culture.”

Identity in cyberculture - A concept first coined by science fiction writer William Gibson in the 1980’s, cyberculture relies on establishing identity and credibility. Although in the absence of direct physical interaction, thus leading the process for such establishment to be more difficult, human relationships are two-way in cyberculture, with identity and credibility being both used to define community in cyberspace and to be created within and by online communities.

Cultural Diversity as Software Package - With the rise of social media in the web 2.0 mashup and remix world, some have coined this era “diversity 2.0” where technology impacts the way people view themselves and interacts with those around them. This cultural engineering in fact takes on the cyber qualities of mashing up videos, text, and web coding and remixing them with anachronistic analogies and metaphors.

Empires at War

In my Choice review of Empires at War, Francis Pike offers a concise geopolitical analysis of Asia since WW II subsequently followed by the political and economic emergence of the continent. In meticulous fashion, the author spans the entire continent, focusing on the century-long nation building of each state from the Far East to the South Asian subcontinent. The chronology begins during the Cold War era of political bargaining and struggle between the US and the Soviet Union, and Asia emerges from the ashes of a century-long struggle for land and power that was in many ways a continuation of the struggle with European colonial powers. Contrary to the dominant Western-centric viewpoint that Asian nations were powerless colonial regions carved up after centuries of warfare, historian and journalist Pike argues that modern Asia's development was, for the most part, independent of the struggle between the two superpowers. Chronicling the major characters during this period, such as Mao, Gandhi, Kim Il Sung, and Sukarno and their roles in leading their nations to independence, the author reveals that Asia very much determined its own path into the present day. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above.

Playing Our Game: Why China's Rise Doesn't Threaten the West

At the moment Liu Xiaobao was announced as this 2010's Nobel Peace Prize winner, Liu was most likely incarcerated in his cell in the very country he had set to free. Interestingly, in my review of Playing Our Game, Edward Steinfeld's argues that contrary to China's perception as rising superpower threatening America's place in the world, it is the opposite that is true: China's growth not only solidifies America's trade dominance but democratizes China, forcing the authoritarian regime to "play by the rules" of American trade diplomacy. Even though the majority of Chinese products are assembled for export to the West, elements of those products are bought from the West: American global production has increased since China's liberalization of its economy. Although both Chinese and Americans benefit from China's global integration, the implications for China's social and economic development are enormous, as the majority of its citizens earn so much less than Americans, with few luxuries or a social safety net, and the country's most talented researchers are gravitating to the West. VERDICT A superb analysis of the political economies of China and the United States, dispelling some of the myths of China's rise as a superpower. Recommended for all interested in globalization and Chinese-American global relations.—Allan Cho, Univ. of British Columbia Lib., Vancouver

The Hidden People of North Korea: Everyday Life in the Hermit Kingdom

Today was an astonishingly significant day in global affairs as North Korea crowned Kim Jong-un the successor to Kim Jong-il, setting in place the next stage for the country's future. In my Library Journal review of Hassig and Oh's The Hidden People of North Korea: Everyday Life in the Hermit Kingdom, we see the inner depths of life in
In this sequel to North Korea Through the Looking Glass, which focused on Kim Jong-Il's political apparatus, Hassig (psychology, adjunct, Univ. of Maryland) and Oh (Inst. for Defense Analyses) discuss the lives of North Korea's citizens. Revealing the haunting details of daily life in an authoritarian state, the authors boldly declare that the current regime is unraveling despite its feverish attempts to hold on to power; even sprouts of capitalism are appearing in North Korean society. Unlike other authors, e.g., Jasper Becker in Rogue Regime, who portray Kim Jong-Il as fanatically eccentric, Hassig and Oh view Kim as a shrewd politician who understands the deficiencies of socialism but chooses to hold on to the status quo. The authors, who gained an intimate knowledge of North Korean society through their interviews with refugees in China, describe a defeated populace that for the most part disregards the constant barrage of state propaganda. VERDICT Western readers will gain a rare view of the hidden world of North Korean citizens. Recommended for those interested in international affairs or inquisitive about this last remnant of the Communist world.—Allan Cho, Univ. of British Columbia Lib., Vancouver

The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers

Upon recently reviewing Richard McGregor's new book, The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers (Harper: HarperCollins. Jun. 2010), I discovered that this is China is on the brink of either explosive growth or immense crises. This is a book that tries to explore this in greater detail, opening up a seedier side of the communist regime that we all suspect, but never privy to knowing. McGregor (China bureau chief, Financial Times) reveals the inner workings of China's political structure and the mechanisms that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) needs to manipulate the country's business, government, courts, media, and military. Not only, as McGregor shows, is the CCP pervasive in almost every aspect of citizens' lives, but it also carefully conceals corruption and human rights abuses by sheltering its own members from any hint of criticism. Although a superpower second only to the United States in global influence and modernization, China continues to be ruled by men in an anachronistic bubble reminiscent of the country's imperial past, reticent and mysterious to its people and the rest of the world. In tracing the bureaucracy and its leadership, from Mao Zedong to current president Hu Jintao, McGregor documents how such an extraordinary political machine—it has over 73 million members—with complete control of all areas from the largest cities to the tiniest hamlets, is run like a modern-day corporation, from selecting its own senior managers for all government offices to rewarding its card-holding members through a patronage system. VERDICT McGregor's portrait unravels the ambiguities surrounding this secretive state's party apparatus. Recommended for all seeking to keep current on Chinese political history.—Allan Cho, Univ. of British Columbia Lib., Vancouver

The Race to the Past

Although Read Write Web calls it the ongoing game of cat and mouse between China and Google, in my opinion, this hearkens back to the long history of colonialism in the 19th and 20th centuries. Much of this tension stems from the Chinese government's suspicion and fear that Google is essentially bypassing Chinese firewalls and spreading Western influence into areas beyond Chinese control. Certainly, from a Western-centric viewpoint, this has always been about democratization and intellectual freedom. However, the same could be said in 1839, when the West (led by the British empire) wanted the doors in China to remain open to trade. Hence, the Google vs. China standoff is very much a commercial venture as it is about democracy. Instead of pulling out of China, Google certainly realizes the enormous wealth and lucrative markets of the Chinese, and it simply can't continue as a multinational giant by bypassing 1 billion of the world's population.

For that reason alone, rather than pulling out altogether, Google sidestepped any potential conflict this past winter by automatically redirecting its users from Google.cn to Google.com.hk, its Hong Kong search engine. This redirect, which offers unfiltered search in simplified Chinese, has been working well for its users and for Google, as it reports on its latest blog entry.

However, the PRC has stepped up its firmness, as government officials have made it clear that the automatic redirection to Google Hong Kong is no longer acceptable. Google's solution? Instead of redirecting users directly from Google.cn to Google.com.hk, the Chinese homepage will now simply link to its Hong Kong counterpart, which allows users to search free of censorship. As many have commented, the best Google can hope for is to find an acceptable middle ground so that it can honor its own commitment to unfiltered search results while working within the rules set by the Chinese government. And Hong Kong's Google site seems to be that solution, if not long-term, then at least temporarily.

It's interesting, and perhaps historically relevant that Hong Kong is the compromise. A landing spot for much of its history until its recent commercial success this latter part of the 20th century, Hong Kong has always been an entrepot, an entry point where migrants, travelers, and traders stationed temporarily to either evade state authorities or build support for political upheaval. In fact, Hong Kong is where the seeds of Sun Yat-sen's 1911 revolution had taken place. Almost 100 years later, Hong Kong finds itself enmeshed again between the two powers which divide the orient.