Author: Jeremy Wallace
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Back to Work
Matthew was here visiting me in Beijing for the past couple of weeks. This explains the lack of posting and the fact that I was at the Wall again. I had previously only been to Simatai. Matthew and I chose to go to the repaired and nearby, yet still not overly traveled Juyongguan. It was…
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Historical Urban Bias
I think that it is a generally accepted fact that the CCP instituted policies with a distinct urban bias throughout its rule; however, that does not lessen the joy of finding evidence of it, especially when that evidence accords with my dissertation’s principal narratives. From MacFarquhar and Schoenhal’s Mao’s Last Revolution, pp. 374-5: Indigence led…
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The Last Revolution of Mao Zedong
This past week I finished reading MacFarquhar and Schoenhals book Mao’s Last Revolution on the Cultural Revolution. Allow me a couple of thoughts. First, on the book, I understand that the authors have a particular view of the events but would prefer more discussion of other possible interpretations of the events in their first chapter…
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Plethora of Possibilities
Lots of interesting news and punditry to pass along today. You can go to this link instead of scrolling down on the right to see some of the stories that I “share” through google reader. The “Chongqing nail house” was destroyed. Here‘s some info on the settlement. Discussion on the media’s coverage of the story.…
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Illiteracy
Education is fundamentally a choice. Students choose to do their homework or not, to attend class or not, to take challenging or easy classes, etc. China released statistics today that show that more people are choosing to not go to school. Illiteracy rates in China before the PRC were always high. The character based language…
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Newswar
Frontline’s tremendous recently concluded 4-part series, Newswar, discusses the present and future challenges facing the news industry. In addition to addressing the Scooter Libby case and other fights with the administration, there was a long discussion over the saga of the Tribune Compnay’s, focusing on its purchase of the LA Times. While the newspaper business…
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Education, Chinese Style
The NYT Sunday magazine has an interesting article by Ann Hulbert, Re-Education, on the Chinese education system. Two great graphics accompany the article. The lettering is by Leanne Sharpton. For my money, the key paragraph is this: Chinese routinely say they wish the exam weren’t such a monolithic force, and various provinces have lately been…
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Environmental Social Science
If you look at the cross-national statistics for income and inequality, you will find that there is an inverted-U pattern. That is, poor countries have little inequality (i.e. everyone is poor). Rich countries tend to have relatively little inequality (i.e. everyone is rich). It is in middle income countries where you have the most inequality.…
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The Once and Future Blocked Website
Last week sometime, *.blogspot.com was unblocked from here in China. I did not blog about this because I thought that it wouldn’t last. Well, it was either that or laziness. At any rate, blogspot is blocked again. My guess is that it will through one more cycle before I return to the States in July,…
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Rusty Nails?
The “Nail House” story from Chongqing that I have mentioned previously is still in the news. Simon Elegant of Time and Time‘s China Blog talks about a “nail house” story in Shanghai that echoes some of the concerns that I have about overly lauding holdouts. A similar case in Shanghai (see picture below) ended a…
Jeremy Wallace 