In On Saving Face, Michael Keevak traces the Western reception of the Chinese concept of “face” during the past two hundred years, arguing that it has always been linked to nineteenth-century ...colonialism. “Lose face” and “save face” have become so normalized in modern European languages that most users do not even realize that they are of Chinese origin. “Face” is an extremely complex and varied notion in all East Asian cultures. It involves proper behavior and the avoidance of conflict, encompassing every aspect of one’s place in society as well as one’s relationships with other people. One can “give face,” “get face,” “fight for face,” “tear up face,” and a host of other expressions. But when it began to become known to the Western trading community in China beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century, it was distorted and reduced to two phrases only, “lose face” and “save face,” both of which were used to suggest distinctly Western ideas of humiliation, embarrassment, honor, and reputation. The Chinese were judged as a race obsessed with the fear of “losing (their) face,” and they constantly resorted to vain attempts to “save” it in the face of Western correction. “Lose face” may be an authentic Chinese expression but “save face” is different. “Save face” was actually a Western invention.
Northwestern China is located at the core area of The Belt and The Road at present and it once has been an essential transportation hub of the ancient Silk Road. However, the north‐western part ...belongs to arid and semi‐arid region where water resource and vegetation cover are scarce, leading to soil erosion, desertification, and environmental degradation. So it is meaningful to study fractional vegetation cover in North‐western China. Vegetation MODIS data of northwestern China from 2000 to 2010 were collected, and then, the pixel dichotomy model and simple linear regression model were applied in this research. The results were as follows. First, the fractional vegetation cover was decreasing from the margin to the middle and western part and the higher value shown in the north‐east part of Inner Mongolia, the south part of Shaanxi, the north‐west part of Ningxia, the south‐east part of Gansu, and the north‐west part of Xinjiang. Second, the overall trend of fractional vegetation cover was rising during 2000 to 2010, which is clearly shown in northern Shaanxi, south‐eastern Qinghai and Gansu, and also south‐western Inner Mongolia. Third, fractional vegetation cover varied differently with season changes. To be more specific, the index in spring and winter was considerably low; in contrast, the index in summer and autumn was improved dramatically.
The Board of Rites and the Making of Qing China presents a major new approach in research on the formation of the Qing empire (1636–1912) in early modern China. Focusing on the symbolic practices ...that structured domination and legitimized authority, the book challenges traditional understandings of state-formation, and argues that in addition to war making and institution building, the disciplining of diverse political actors, and the construction of political order through symbolic acts were essential undertakings in the making of the Qing state. Beginning in 1631 with the establishment of the key disciplinary organization, the Board of Rites, and culminating with the publication of the first administrative code in 1690, Keliher shows that the Qing political environment was premised on sets of intertwined relationships constantly performed through acts such as the New Year's Day ceremony, greeting rites, and sumptuary regulations, or what was referred to as li in Chinese. Drawing on Chinese- and Manchu-language archival sources, this book is the first to demonstrate how Qing state-makers drew on existing practices and made up new ones to reimagine political culture and construct a system of domination that lay the basis for empire.
After overthrowing the Mongol Yuan dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), proclaimed that he had obtained the Mandate of Heaven (Tianming), enabling establishment of a ...spiritual orientation and social agenda for China. Zhu, emperor during the Ming’s Hongwu reign period, launched a series of social programs to rebuild the empire and define Chinese cultural identity. To promote its reform programs, the Ming imperial court issued a series of legal documents, culminating in The Great Ming Code (Da Ming lu), which supported China’s legal system until the Ming was overthrown and also served as the basis of the legal code of the following dynasty, the Qing (1644-1911). This companion volume to Jiang Yonglin’s translation ofThe Great Ming Code (2005) analyzes the thought underlying the imperial legal code. Was the concept of the Mandate of Heaven merely a tool manipulated by the ruling elite to justify state power, or was it essential to their belief system and to the intellectual foundation of legal culture? What role did law play in the imperial effort to carry out the social reform programs? Jiang addresses these questions by examining the transformative role of the Code in educating the people about the Mandate of Heaven. The Code served as a cosmic instrument and moral textbook to ensure “all under Heaven” were aligned with the cosmic order. By promoting, regulating, and prohibiting categories of ritual behavior, the intent of the Code was to provide spiritual guidance to Chinese subjects, as well as to acquire political legitimacy. The Code also obligated officials to obey the supreme authority of the emperor, to observe filial behavior toward parents, to care for the welfare of the masses, and to maintain harmonious relationships with deities. This set of regulations made officials the representatives of the Son of Heaven in mediating between the spiritual and mundane worlds and in governing the human realm. This study challenges the conventional assumption that law in premodern China was used merely as an arm of the state to maintain social control and as a secular tool to exercise naked power. Based on a holistic approach, Jiang argues that the Ming ruling elite envisioned the cosmos as an integrated unit; they saw law, religion, and political power as intertwined, remarkably different from the “modern” compartmentalized worldview. In serving as a cosmic instrument to manifest the Mandate of Heaven, The Great Ming Code represented a powerful religious effort to educate the masses and transform society. The open access publication of this book was made possible by a grant from the James P. Geiss and Margaret Y. Hsu Foundation.
This book examines the energy resource relations between China and ASEAN countries. It addresses the following issues: as the world energy demand shifts East because of the rise of China, ASEAN ...community and other emerging Asian economies, and as the Greater Indian Ocean and the South China Sea become the world's energy interstates, will geopolitical tensions over energy resources spark conflicts in the region, especially in the South China Sea? Against the background of China's rise and its growing influence in Southeast Asia, will China's quest for energy resource cooperation be viewed as a threat or opportunity by its neighbouring countries? Since the United States, Japan and India are important players in Southeast Asia, does the shifting geopolitics of energy give these big powers a new strategic tool in an intensifying rivalry with China? Or does the changing geopolitics of energy resources create more areas of shared interests and opportunities for cooperation between these big powers to balance, rather than increase, tensions in Southeast Asia? This book will be of interest to anyone who is keen to learn how the world, especially the United States, can accommodate and adapt to the new global energy dynamics and how China and ASEAN operate as new players in global and regional energy markets.
Urban China World Bank, the People's Republic of China Development Research Center of the State Council
2014.
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Over the past three decades, China's urbanization has supported high growth and rapid transformation of the economy. Today, more than half of the world's population lives in cities, and by 2030 that ...will rise to an estimated 60 percent. The report takes as its point of departure the conviction that China's urbanization can become more efficient, inclusive, and sustainable. However, it stresses that achieving this vision will require strong support from both government and the markets for policy reforms in a number of areas. The report proposes six main areas for reform: first, amending land management institutions to foster more efficient land use, denser cities, modernized agriculture, and more equitable wealth distribution; second, adjusting the hukou system to increase labor mobility and provide urban migrant workers with equal access to a common standard of public services; third, placing urban finances on a more sustainable footing, while fostering financial discipline among local governments; fourth, improving urban planning to enhance connectivity and encourage scale and agglomeration economies; fifth, reducing environmental pressures through more efficient resource management; and sixth, improving governance at the local level. The report also provides recommendations on the timing and sequencing of reforms. It stresses the need to first implement reforms related to land, fiscal, and public service systems. Doing so will facilitate China's transition to higher-quality economic growth. In the first section of this report, chapters one through four analyze China's achievements in urbanization and the challenges it faces in achieving efficient, inclusive, and sustainable urbanization. In the second section, a comprehensive reform agenda is proposed. Chapter five lays out the vision for urban China in 2030 and the reform package that will be needed to achieve it. It also describes the urban landscape in 2030 under the reform scenario. Chapters six through ten provide a detailed set of recommendations in the key areas of reform. Finally, chapter eleven proposes the sequencing and timing of reforms. This report is complemented by seven supporting reports, urbanization and economic growth, spatial design and urban planning, inclusive urbanization, land, food security, green urbanization, and financing urbanization that further deepen the analysis and expand on the policy recommendations.
This book represents a shifting of emphasis away from the discourse of authenticity to the process of authenticating ethnic tourism. It focuses upon what authentication is, how it works, who is ...involved, and what are the problems in the process. It explores an intricate tourism-ethnicity relationship in the context of Hainan Island, China.
In Wealth into Power, Bruce Dickson challenges the notion that economic development is leading to political change in China, or that China's private entrepreneurs are helping to promote ...democratization. Instead, they have become partners with the ruling Chinese Communist Party to promote economic growth while maintaining the political status quo. Dickson's research illuminates the Communist Party's strategy for incorporating China's capitalists into the political system and how the shared interests, personal ties, and common views of the party and the private sector are creating a form of 'crony communism'. Rather than being potential agents of change, China's entrepreneurs may prove to be a key source of support for the party's agenda. Based on years of research and original survey data, this book will be of interest to all those interested in China's political future and in the relationship between economic wealth and political power.
The rural county of Poyang, lying in northern Jiangxi Province,
goes largely unmentioned in the annals of modern Chinese history.
Yet records from the Public Security Bureau archive hold a treasure
...trove of data on the every day interactions between locals and the
law. Drawing on these largely overlooked resources, Tiger,
Tyrant, Bandit, Businessman follows four criminal cases that
together uniquely illuminate the dawning years of the People's
Republic.
Using a unique casefile approach, Brian DeMare recounts stories
of a Confucian scholar who found himself allied with bandits and
secret society members; a farmer who murdered a cadre; an evil
tyrant who exploited religious traditions to avoid prosecution; and
a merchant accused of a crime he did not commit. Each case is a
tremendous tale, complete with memorable characters, plot twists,
and drama. And while all depict the enemies of New China, each also
reveals details of village life during this most pivotal moment of
recent Chinese history. Together, the narratives bring rural regime
change to life, illustrating how the Chinese Communist Party
cemented its authority through mass political campaigns, careful
legal investigations, and sheer patience. Balancing storytelling
with historical inquiry, this book is at once a grassroots view of
rural China's legal system and its application to apparent
counterrevolutionaries, and a lesson in archival research
itself.
Beginning in the late Qing era, Chinese writers and intellectuals
looked to India in search of new literary possibilities and
anticolonial solidarity. In their view, India and China shared both
an ...illustrious past of cultural and religious exchange and a
present experience of colonial aggression. These writers imagined
India as an alternative to Western imperialism-a Pan-Asian ideal
that could help chart an escape route from colonialism and its
brutal grasp on body and mind by ushering in a new kind of
modernity in Asian terms. Gal Gvili examines how Chinese writers'
image of India shaped the making of a new literature and spurred
efforts to achieve literary decolonization. She argues that
multifaceted visions of Sino-Indian connections empowered Chinese
literary figures to resist Western imperialism and its legacies
through novel forms and genres. However, Gvili demonstrates, the
Global North and its authority mediated Chinese visions of
Sino-Indian pasts and futures. Often reading Indian literature and
thought through English translations, Chinese writers struggled to
break free from deeply ingrained imperialist knowledge structures.
Imagining India in Modern China traces one of the earliest
South-South literary imaginaries: the hopes it inspired, the
literary rejuvenation it launched, and the shadow of the North that
inescapably haunted it. By unearthing Chinese writers' endeavors to
decolonize literature and thought as well as the indelible marks
that imperialism left on their minds, it offers new perspective on
the possibilities and limitations of anticolonial movements and
South-South solidarity.
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