All articles from: Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

From a Hierarchy in Time to a Hierarchy in Space: The Meanings of Sino-Babylonianism in Early Twentieth-Century China

In 1892, Terrien de Lacouperie (1845—1894), professor of Chinese at University College in London, set out to prove that the Chinese migrated from Mesopotamia in prehistoric times. Despite mixed responses from his colleagues, Lacouperie’s “Sino-Babylonianism” found its way into China and captured the imagination of Chinese historians from the 1900s to 1930s. Whether they supported [...]

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Literary Liberation of the Tibetan Past: The Alternative Voice in Alai’s Red Poppies

In 2000, the novel Red Poppies, by the Chinese-Tibetan writer Alai, won the Mao Dun Prize, China’s most prestigious literary award. Yet, to date, few have paid serious attention to the sociopolitical implications of the book, and those who have are unanimously critical, suggesting that it repeats the standard Han Chinese narrative about “Old Tibet.” [...]

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Women’s Contributions to the Household Economy in Pre-1949 China: Evidence from the Lower Yangzi Region

The economic role of women in pre-1949 China has been the subject of an ongoing debate. Farm surveys conducted in the highly commercialized region of the Lower Yangzi in the early to mid-twentieth century show that the value of women’s overall economic contribution was very similar to men’s. In particular, while a gendered division of [...]

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From a Hierarchy in Time to a Hierarchy in Space: The Meanings of Sino-Babylonianism in Early Twentieth-Century China

In 1892, Terrien de Lacouperie (1845—1894), professor of Chinese at University College in London, set out to prove that the Chinese migrated from Mesopotamia in prehistoric times. Despite mixed responses from his colleagues, Lacouperie’s “Sino-Babylonianism” found its way into China and captured the imagination of Chinese historians from the 1900s to 1930s. Whether they supported [...]

Read more

Literary Liberation of the Tibetan Past: The Alternative Voice in Alai’s Red Poppies

In 2000, the novel Red Poppies, by the Chinese-Tibetan writer Alai, won the Mao Dun Prize, China’s most prestigious literary award. Yet, to date, few have paid serious attention to the sociopolitical implications of the book, and those who have are unanimously critical, suggesting that it repeats the standard Han Chinese narrative about “Old Tibet.” [...]

Read more

Women’s Contributions to the Household Economy in Pre-1949 China: Evidence from the Lower Yangzi Region

The economic role of women in pre-1949 China has been the subject of an ongoing debate. Farm surveys conducted in the highly commercialized region of the Lower Yangzi in the early to mid-twentieth century show that the value of women’s overall economic contribution was very similar to men’s. In particular, while a gendered division of [...]

Read more