Podcasts about imperfect analogies

After being inaugurated as president of the People’s Republic of China five years ago, no single leader in modern Chinese history since Mao Zedong has assumed more power, or sizably projected his personal influence both domestically and internationally. Calling for a national rejuvenation, Xi has pledged to expand the middle class, and make more reforms for increased foreign investment. In foreign policy, Xi’s China has become more assertive. China has deployed its military overseas for the first time since 1950, and made claims to territory in the East and South China Seas. It’s also committed to billions of dollars in foreign aide for developing nations. In October 2017, the Chinese Communist Party abolished five year term limits, paving the way for Xi to rule beyond 2022. What does his leadership mean for the political and economic future of China, and superpower relations with the United States? Participants: Elizabeth Economy is the C. V. Starr senior fellow and director for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is an acclaimed author and expert on Chinese domestic and foreign policy, writing on topics ranging from China’s environmental challenges to its resource quest. She has published articles in foreign policy and scholarly journals including Foreign Affairs, Harvard Business Review, Foreign Policy, New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. She is the author of “By All Means Necessary: How China’s Resource Quest is Changing the World,” the award wining “The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China’s Future,” and “The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State,” which analyzes the contradictory nature of reform under President Xi Jinping. Jeffrey Wasserstrom is Chancellor’s Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine. His most recent book, coauthored with Maura Elizabeth Cunningham, is the third edition of “China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know,” published by Oxford. His other books include, as author, “Eight Juxtapositions: China through Imperfect Analogies from Mark Twain to Manchukuo,” and, as editor, “The Oxford Illustrated History of Modern China.” An Associate Fellow of the Asia Society, he has served on the Board of Directors of the National Committee on United States-China Relations, is Editor of The Journal of Asian Studies, Advising Editor for Asia for The Los Angeles Review of Books, and a member of Dissent magazine’s Editorial Board. His commentaries and reviews have appeared in many general interest periodicals, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, Internazionale, Time, Slate, The American Scholar, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Nation, and The Times Literary Supplement. Jonathan Movroydis (moderator) is director of research at the Richard Nixon Foundation. Filmed at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum on June 26, 2018.

The recent proposal to remove presidential term limits in China has prompted questions about the country’s future development, and the historical legacy of China’s past authoritarian leaders seems relevant once again. How should we understand the current direction of China’s political culture? In a newly revised and updated book, modern China historians Jeffrey Wasserstrom and Maura Cunningham review the key historical trends that have shaped China’s development in the 21st century. From Confucian thought to U.S.-China relations under Trump and Xi, China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know, third edition, provides essential knowledge for understanding the world’s emerging superpower. Dr. Cunningham and Dr. Wasserstrom discussed their book and how to understand contemporary China in historical perspective with the National Committee on March 27, 2018.    Maura Elizabeth Cunningham is a writer and historian of modern China. She is a graduate of Saint Joseph’s University (B.A.), Yale University (M.A.), the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies (graduate certificate), and the University of California, Irvine (Ph.D.), as well as of Chinese language programs in Beijing and Hangzhou. Dr. Cunningham’s dissertation was a social and cultural history of child welfare in 20th-century Shanghai; she is currently working on a book about children’s cartoonist Zhang Leping. In 2016, she moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to become the digital media manager at the Association for Asian Studies. Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among other publications.    Jeffrey Wasserstrom is Chancellor’s Professor of History at UC Irvine, where he edits the Journal of Asian Studies; he also holds courtesy affiliations in the Law School and the Literary Journalism Program. Dr. Wasserstrom holds a bachelor’s degree from UC Santa Cruz, a master’s from Harvard, and a doctorate from Berkeley, and has written five books and edited or coedited several others. His most recent books as author and editor include, Eight Juxtapositions: China through Imperfect Analogies from Mark Twain to Manchukuoand the Oxford Illustrated History of Modern China. He was a co-founder of The China Beat blog (2008-2012) and is now an academic editor for the LARB’s China Channel.    

Noted China expert Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Chancellor’s Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine, discusses relations between China and America in the dawning era of Xi and Trump, in an interview with National Committee on U.S.-China Relations Senior Director for Education Programs, Margot Landman, on December 12, 2016. Jeffrey Wasserstrom is Chancellor's Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine, where he also holds appointments in law and literary journalism. His most recent books are, as editor, The Oxford Illustrated History of Modern China, and, as author, Eight Juxtapositions: China through Imperfect Analogies from Mark Twain to Manchukuo, both published this year. A regular contributor to newspapers, magazines, and blogs, he is a former member of the board of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations is the leading nonprofit nonpartisan organization that encourages understanding of China and the United States among citizens of both countries.

Modern China historian Jeffrey Wasserstrom and the New Yorker magazine’s Jiayang Fan joined the National Committee for a discussion of how international ambitions, a contentious historical legacy, and official doctrine fuel common misconceptions about U.S.-China relations on December 12, 2016. Despite more than 300,000 Chinese students currently studying in the United States, increasingly integrated economic relations, booming cross-border tourism, and more high-level dialogues than ever before, misconceptions and suspicion between the United States and China are still widespread. The recent U.S. election saw significant rhetorical frustration directed at China, and it remains to be seen which, if any, hardline campaign promises will be turned into policy. At the same time, closer relations have allowed mutual fascination and admiration to flourish through the millions of Sino-American interactions occurring every day. Jeffrey Wasserstrom is Chancellor's Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine, where he also holds appointments in law and literary journalism. His most recent books are, as editor, The Oxford Illustrated History of Modern China, and, as author, Eight Juxtapositions: China through Imperfect Analogies from Mark Twain to Manchukuo, both published this year. A regular contributor to newspapers, magazines, and blogs, he is a former member of the board of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. Jiayang Fan is a staff writer at the New Yorker magazine, where she writes about China and Chinese-American politics and culture. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine, and the Paris Review, among other places. Ms. Fan was born in Chongqing, moving to the United States at the age of eight. She graduated from Williams College with a double major in philosophy and English literature. She received a Fulbright scholarship to spend a year in Korea. The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations is the leading nonprofit nonpartisan organization that encourages understanding of China and the United States among citizens of both countries.  

Jeffrey Wasserstrom‘s wonderful new book in the “China Specials” series at Penguin opens with two main premises. First, it is more important than ever to have “illuminating lenses through which to view the People’s Republic of China,” especially ones that help us make sense of the ways that the PRC... Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

Jeffrey Wasserstrom‘s wonderful new book in the “China Specials” series at Penguin opens with two main premises. First, it is more important than ever to have “illuminating lenses through which to view the People’s Republic of China,” especially ones that help us make sense of the ways that the PRC has changed since 2008 in the wake of the Olympics, unrest from Tibet to Xinjiang to Hong Kong, the Sichuan earthquake, and more. Second, unexpected juxtapositions can help us understand these changes. Eight Juxtapositions: China through Imperfect Analogies from Mark Twain to Manchukuo (e-Penguin, 2016) is small, beautifully written book that does just that. It is packed with the kinds of insights that come from surprising and unusual combinations and comparisons between Japan’s Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere and China’s policies toward Tibet and Xinjiang, George W. Bush and Hu Jintao, Beijing and Berlin, Orwell and Huxley, today’s China and Russia, Yu Hua and Mark Twain, Xi Jinping and Pope Francis, and more. Check out a copy, explore the marvelous Penguin series of these short books on China, and consider assigning it in a course! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeffrey Wasserstrom‘s wonderful new book in the “China Specials” series at Penguin opens with two main premises. First, it is more important than ever to have “illuminating lenses through which to view the People’s Republic of China,” especially ones that help us make sense of the ways that the PRC... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeffrey Wasserstrom‘s wonderful new book in the “China Specials” series at Penguin opens with two main premises. First, it is more important than ever to have “illuminating lenses through which to view the People’s Republic of China,” especially ones that help us make sense of the ways that the PRC has changed since 2008 in the wake of the Olympics, unrest from Tibet to Xinjiang to Hong Kong, the Sichuan earthquake, and more. Second, unexpected juxtapositions can help us understand these changes. Eight Juxtapositions: China through Imperfect Analogies from Mark Twain to Manchukuo (e-Penguin, 2016) is small, beautifully written book that does just that. It is packed with the kinds of insights that come from surprising and unusual combinations and comparisons between Japan’s Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere and China’s policies toward Tibet and Xinjiang, George W. Bush and Hu Jintao, Beijing and Berlin, Orwell and Huxley, today’s China and Russia, Yu Hua and Mark Twain, Xi Jinping and Pope Francis, and more. Check out a copy, explore the marvelous Penguin series of these short books on China, and consider assigning it in a course! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeffrey Wasserstrom spoke with me about his newest book, Eight Juxtapositions: China through imperfect analogies from Mark Twain to Manchukuo, which illuminates nuances and deconstructs the facile comparisons that dominate so much thinking and writing about China today.