Book reviews

Leonard Blussé. Strange company: Chinese settlers, mestizo women, and the Dutch in VOC Batavia . xiii, 302 pp. Dordrecht: Foris Publications, 1986. (Verhandelingen van het Kononklijk Instituut voor Taal‐, Land‐ en Volkenkunde, 122.) Guilders 35.

John S. Guy. Oriental trade ceramics in South‐East Asia, ninth to sixteenth centuries. With a catalogue of Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai wares in Australian collections, xiv, 161 pp. Singapore, etc: Oxford University Press, 1986. (Oxford in Asia Studies in Ceramics.) £47.50.     

Chinese food: Academic mishmash

K. C. Chang, ed. Food in Chinese Culture: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977. 429 pp. Illustrations, glossary, index, and bibliography. $20.00.     

An East–West confrontation in the North-China Herald during the Nationalist Revolution: a case study of Shao Futang’s letters to the editor

ABSTRACT

In the Republican period, Shao Futang, secretary to the general manager of the International Dispensary of Shanghai (Wuzhou yaofang), wrote numerous letters to the editor that were published under the initials F. D. Z. in the English-language newspapers of Shanghai, such as the North-China Herald and the China Press. He wrote frequently to these newspapers out of dissatisfaction with the total indifference shown by Chinese residents of the Shanghai International Settlement to what foreigners said about China in these newspapers. The North-China Herald and other newspapers also had Chinese readers and thus needed to hear from those like Shao who could represent the voice of the Chinese people. When anti-imperialism and abrogation of unequal treaties were first proposed in 1924, Shao for the first time voiced his opinion in these newspapers. He defended Chinese patriotism by pointing out that it was not “anti-foreignism.” When the Nationalist Revolution broke out in 1926, an increasingly strong sense of nationalism emerged in the published letters he wrote. He denounced Western readers’ disparagement of the Nationalist Revolution, expressed the desire of the Chinese people for the abrogation of the unequal treaties, and appealed to the Municipal Council of the Shanghai International Settlement to make necessary changes and give political rights to the Chinese people.     

China's Cities: Tradition and change

Mark Elvin and G. William Skinner, eds. The Chinese City Between Two Worlds. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1974. xiii + 458 pp. Tables, maps, notes, character list, and index. $18.75.     

Republic in early modern China: The cross-cultural dissemination of a political concept

ABSTRACT

The English term republic and the Chinese term Gonghe (共和, “joint harmony”; i.e., “republic” in modern Chinese) stem from different conceptual origins and carry different connotations. When they first encountered the term republic, the intellectuals of China and Japan could only understand it by drawing on the political knowledge of Chinese antiquity. But soon after, two different concepts corresponding to the term republic emerged in the form of Chinese characters within the Chinese and Japanese linguistic environments—minzhu (民主, “people's rule”) and gonghe, which gradually shed their ancient Chinese significations. After its coining as an early modern political concept in the Japanese language, the term gonghe sporadically filtered into the Chinese linguistic context during the 1880s and 1890s. In 1898–1902, the concept of gonghe rapidly gained popularity in China, primarily due to its introduction by Liang Qichao (梁启超, 1873–1929) and other figures, with a clearly demarcated line separating the term from its ancient Chinese significance. As the concept of gonghe spread in China, it became embroiled in the contemporary tide of political reform, both influencing and being influenced by this trend. In the first decade of the 20th century, two competing interpretations of the term gonghe appeared. The moderates, represented by Liang Qichao, maintained that the evolution of the political system had a natural order; that their contemporary China did not yet have the conditions to adopt a republican system; and that it was necessary to first improve the citizens’ character, and cultivate the habits of self-governance among the people. The radicals, represented by Sun Yat-sen (孙中山, 1866–1925), held that China should overleap a constitutional monarchy, overthrow the Manchu emperor through violent revolution, and directly establish a republican form of government. The views of the radical party won discursive power, but their discussions and deliberations on the implications of a republic were clearly inadequate. Following the outbreak of the 1911 Revolution, a republican form of government was quickly established, but its functional results fell far short of people's expectations, causing the concept of a republic to be distrusted, criticized, and even shelved.     

The social organization of health care in China

Hillier, S.M., and J.A. Jewell. Health Care and Traditional Medicine in China 1800–1982. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1983. xix + 453 pp. including plates, chapter references, appendix, and indices. $50.00 cloth.

Henderson, Gail E., and Myron S. Cohen. The Chinese Hospital: A Socialist Work Unit. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984. xvi + 183 pp. including photographs, appendices, references, and index. $22.50 cloth.     

Book reviews

CHINA

CHRISTOPHER I. BECKWITH. The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia: a History of the Struggle for Great Power among Tibetans, Turks, Arabs, and Chinese during the Early Middle Ages. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987. xxii, 281 pp. First paperback edition with a new Afterword, 1993. No price given, paper.

GREGOR BENTON. China's Urban Revolutionaries: explorations in the History of Chinese Trotskyism, 1921–1952 . (Revolutionary Studies) New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1996. 269 pp. US$55.00, hardcover; US$19.95, paper.

GUANLONG CAO. The Attic: memoir of a Chinese Landlord's Son. Translated by Guanlong Cao and Nancy Moskin. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 1996. 245 pp. US$24.95, hardcover.

JOHN FITZGERALD. Awakening China: politics, Culture and Class in the Nationalist Revolution. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996. 461 pp. US$69.95, hardcover.

MELVYN GOLDSTEIN, WILLIAM SIEBENSCHUH and TASHI TSERING. The Struggle for Modern Tibet: the Autobiography of Tashi Tsering. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1997. xi, 220 pp. Photographs, map, index. US$27.95, hardcover.

DAVID S. G. GOODMAN and GERALD SEGAL (eds). China Rising: nationalism and Interdependence. London and New York: Routledge, 1997. xi, 196 pp. Contents, list of tables, notes on contributors, index. A$33.95, paper.

KEUN LEE. Chinese Firms and the State in Transition: property Rights and Agency Problems in the Reform Era. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1991. xi, 210 pp. Tables, foreword, acknowledgments, notes, bibliography, index. No price given, hardcover.

LILY XIAO HONG LEE. The Virtue of Yin: studies on Chinese Women. Broadway, Sydney: Wild Peony, 1994. 117 pp. A$18.95, paper.

JOHN MAKEHAM. Name and Actuality in Early Chinese Thought. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1994. 286 pp. US$17.95, hardcover.

EDWIN E. MOISE. Modern China, A History. 2nd ed. London and New York: Longman, 1994. 250 pp. Index, illustrations, maps. £14.99, paper.

MAYSING H. YANG (ed.). Taiwan's Expanding Role in the International Arena. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1997. 216 pp. Foreword, preface, index. US$52.95, hardcover; US$24.95, paper.

JAPAN, KOREA

WINSTON DAVIS. The Moral and Political Naturalism of Baron Kato Hiroyuki (Japan Research Monograph no. 13). Berkeley: Center for Japanese Studies, Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 1996. x, 125 pp. Contents, abbreviations. No price given, paper.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

WILLIAM CASE. Elites and Regimes in Malaysia: revisiting a Consociational Democracy . Clayton, Melbourne: Monash Asia Institute, 1996. xiv, 268 pp. A$29.95, paper.

D. D. MEARNS and C. HEALEY (eds). Remaking Maluku: social Transformation in Eastern Indonesia. Darwin: Centre of South East Asian Studies, Northern Territory University. 1996. 185 pp. No price given, paper.

PANIVONG NORINDR. Phantasmatic Indochina: French Colonial Ideology in Architecture, Film, and Literature. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1997. x, 205 pp. US$44.95, hardcover; US$16.95, paper.

SAYA S. SHIRAISHI. Young Heroes: the Indonesian Family in Politics (Studies on Southeast Asia no. 22). Ithaca, New York: Southeast Asia Program Publications, Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University, 1997. 183 pp. Bibliography. No price given.     

The only way is ethics? Applying for National Health Service ethical approval and governance for research with children

ABSTRACT

In this Viewpoints piece, we reflect on the process of applying for National Health Service (NHS) ethical approval and governance for research with children in England. We present a case study of our experiences of navigating the Integrated Research Application System (IRAS) for one study, The Hair Study. We argue that, for children’s geographers, getting to grips with the complex processes of applying for NHS ethical approval and governance is important when considering the move towards interdisciplinary working, and engagement with children in underexplored spaces and places, such as: doctors surgeries; hospitals; dentists; and other services commissioned by the NHS.     

Italian diplomacy in China: the forgotten affair of Sān Mén Xiàn (1898–1899)

ABSTRACT

In March 1899, about one year before the Boxers’ siege at the diplomatic quarter in Beijing (June 1900), the Kingdom of Italy presented an ultimatum to the imperial government of China, aiming to the occupation of Sān Mén bay (in the Chinese province of Zhèjiāng). The unsuccessful attempt was not considered of significant political relevance at that time. However, diplomats have suggested and subsequently historians have commented that those events convinced the imperial Chinese government to change the strategy towards the Western colonial Powers and finally to support the Boxers’ rebellion against the foreigners and the Christian religion. This article is based on the original diplomatic documents, mainly available at the historical archive of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome. Those primary sources reveal the most controversial aspects of that forgotten episode of diplomatic history.     

Book reviews

CHINA

CHIU‐YEE CHEUNG. Lu Xun: the Chinese “Gentle” Nietzsche. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2001. xviii, 197 pp. SFR 56.00, paper.

PAMELA KYLE CROSSLEY. The Manchus. Oxford and Maiden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 1997; 2002. xvi, 239 pp. 26 plates, 2 maps. £30.00, hardcover; £16.99, paper.

GLORIA DAVIES (ed). Voicing Concerns: contemporary Chinese Critical Inquiry. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group, 2001. xii, 270 pp. US$75.00, hardcover; US$26.95, paper.

ANDREW F. JONES. Yellow Music—media Culture and Colonial Modernity in the Chinese Jazz Age. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2001. ix, 213 pp. Glossary, notes, bibliography, index. US$49.95 hardcover, $17.95 paper.

KAM LOUIE. Theorising Chinese Masculinity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. 239 pp. Bibliography, index. A$80.00, hardcover.

LUNG‐KEE SUN. The Chinese National Character: from Nationhood to Individuality. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2002. xx, 299 pp. US$65.95, hardcover.

JAPAN, KOREA

MICHAEL LEWIS. Becoming Apart: national Power and Local Politics in Toyama, 1868–1945. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000. Harvard East Asian Monographs, no. 192. $US45.00, hardcover.

KATO SHUICHI. A Sheep's Song: a Writer's Reminiscences of Japan and the World. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. 470 pp. Translated and annotated by Chia‐ning Chang. Index. US$24.95, paper.

SUSAN FISHER (ed). Nostalgic Journeys: literary Pilgrimages between Japan and the West. Proceedings of a conference held in Vancouver, British Columbia, September 1999. Vancouver: University of British Columbia, Institute of Asian Research, 2001. 194 pp. Notes on contributors. No price given, paper.

MICHAEL MOLASKY and STEVE RABSON (eds). Southern Exposure: modern Japanese Literature from Okinawa. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2000. 362 pp. Introduction, Notes on translators. US$27.95, paper.

RAJYASHREE PANDEY. Writing and Renunciation in Medieval Japan: the Works of the Poet‐Priest Kamo no Chōmei. Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies No. 21, Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1998. xi, 197 pp. US$32.95/£24.50, hardcover.

TAKAMIZAWA JUNKO. My Brother Hideo Kobayashi. Translated by James Wada, introduction by Leith Morton. Sydney: Wild Peony, 2001. x, 166 pp. Photographs. A$30.00, paper.

SOUTH, WEST & CENTRAL ASIA

I. QADEER, K. SEN and K. NAYAR. Public Health and the Poverty of Reform. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2001. Rs 700, hardcover.

JAVED AHMAD KHAN. India and West Asia: emerging Markets in the Liberalisation Era. New Delhi/Thousand Oaks/London: Sage Publications, 1999. 263 pp. Rs. 395, hardcover.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

PHILIP J. ELDRIDGE. The Politics of Human Rights in Southeast Asia. London: Routledge, 2001. 256 pp. £55.00, hardcover.

KASIAN TEJAPIRA. Commodifying Marxism. The Formation of Modern Thai Radical Culture, 1927–1958. (Kyoto Area Studies on Asia, Centre for Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Volume 3). Kyoto: Kyoto University Press; Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press, 2001. xiv, 390 pp. Index. No price given, paper.

NICHOLAS TARLING. A Sudden Rampage: the Japanese Occupation of Southeast Asia, 1941–1945. London: C. Hurst & Company, 2001. xvi, 286 pp. £12.95, paper.     

The Consorts of King Wu and King Wen in the Bronze Inscriptions of Early Chou

Abstract

Daodejing is an essential text in Chinese culture. The number of its English translations exceeds a total of 112 editions. The first one was produced by John Chalmers, who was a Scottish missionary from London Missionary Society stationed in Hong Kong and Canton for a long period of time. Chalmers's close missionary colleague, James Legge, who was subsequently the first Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Oxford, produced another translation. This paper aims at revealing the socio-cultural and intellectual processes behind the making of these two translations. In so doing, it discusses the differences in the two texts and explores the reasons for their differences.

Christian missionaries in China were the agents for the cultural interactions between China and the West. Not only did they bring the Christian message to China, but they also introduced the Chinese ideas through their translations and writings to their Western audience. This should be a fruitful and important topic for serious scholarship in both the studies in Sinology and in the history of translation.     

Publications briefly noted

PETER DRYSDALE, ZHANG YUNLING and LIGANG SONG (eds). APEC and Liberalisation of the Chinese Economy.

PAUL BAILEY. China in the Twentieth Century , 2nd edition. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2001. Maps, glossary, bibliography, index. £50.00/US$59.95 hardcover, £13.99/US$26.95, paper.

JAMES L. WATSON (ed). Golden Arches East: McDonald's in East Asia. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997. 256 pp. US$21.95, paper.

ALISON MURRAY. Pink Fits: sex, Subcultures and Discourses in the Asia‐Pacific. Clayton, VIC: Monash Asia Institute, 2001. 198 pp. A$29.95, paper.     

Demolition of Chengzhongcun and social mobility of Migrant youth: a case study in Beijing

ABSTRACT

Since the late 1980s, millions of poor and low-income rural migrant workers migrating to Chinese metropolises with their children have congregated in chengzhongcun (villages in the city) for low-cost housing. Drawing on data from a 14-month participant observation in one chengzhongcun in Beijing, we critically explore the potential impact of urban expansion on social mobility of migrant youth. We argue that the uncertainty and chaos connected with looming demolition result in substandard schooling and business closures for migrant parents, leading to the stagnant mobility of migrant youth. Expanding the social hierarchy pyramids, we argue that eliminating chengzhongcun, a space that creates the possibility of climbing the social ladder, hampers the social mobility of migrant youth in the context of the rigid class structure in the late-socialist China. This research re-examines the goals of the demolition of chengzhongcun and advances our understanding by analyzing the prospects of disadvantaged migrant youth during and after the demolition process.     

US attitudes towards China before and after the Washington Conference based on US mainstream media reports

ABSTRACT

The problems China faced in the world order after World War I and the position and measures China took in the tussling between Western countries needs to be analyzed not only using historical records in Chinese and from the perspective of China itself; researchers should also consult foreign documents to determine the attitudes and ways of thinking of other countries, so as to reflect on the choices China needed to make and the roles that Western countries played at that time. Only in so doing can we fully understand how much space and strength China then had to strive for its rights in the international arena. This article examines the social basis of the attitude and policies of the United States (US) towards China in the period between the May Fourth Movement (1919) and the Washington Conference (1921–1922) by focusing on reports on China in the US mainstream media, including the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. The US government’s attitude towards China was determined by the interests of the United States, the Far East, and the other countries of the world. However, the US mainstream media’s reports on China also reflected the values of American society and popular sympathy for China’s destiny. When discussing how to support China, the US media distinguished between support for the Chinese government and support for the Chinese people on the way to democracy and governance by law. In this case, the media reflected different views on how to assist China.     

Some Issues on the Management of Archaeological Sites in Mainland China

Abstract

The conservation of archaeological sites in mainland China has not attracted much academic and public attention until recently. However, after the 1990s, both the Chinese government and academia have been increasingly concerned with the management of archaeological sites, as illustrated by the introduction of national guidelines (China Principles) and the establishment of research centres in universities and research institutes. Economic development and related social needs are major driving forces behind this phenomenon, while the impact of globalization on academic development in China cannot be denied. However, the natural and social environments in mainland China, as well as the characteristics of archaeological sites, differ from other countries, and whether international principles regarding conservation and management of archaeological sites are applicable to China needs to be considered. While it is a challenging task for mainland Chinese scholars to find suitable strategies to conserve and manage hundreds of thousands of archaeological sites, the problems and experiences in the process of applying international principles to China may provide valuable lessons, not only for Chinese scholars but also for scholars in other areas.     

Book reviews

Aldeghi, I., et al., Vécu et devenir des chômeurs de longue durée (La Documentation Française, 1992), 123pp., 100F., ISBN 2 11 002644 8

Baker, K.M., Inventing the French Revolution (Cambridge University Press, 1990), 372pp., £32.50 hbk., £11.95 pbk., ISBN 0 521 34618 5 and 0 521 38578 4

Blancquart, M.‐C., and Cahne, P., Littérature française du XX^e (PUF, 1992), 564pp., ISBN 2 130 44810 0

Brunet, P., ed., France et Grande‐Bretagne rurales. Rural France and Great Britain (Centre de Recherches sur l'Evolution de la Vie Rurale, Université de Caen, 1991), 510pp., 180F., ISBN 2 905 46162 4

Caune, J., La Culture en action. De Vilar à Lang: le sens perdu (Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, 1992), 368pp., 130F.

Coleman, J., and Parker, G., French and the Enterprise Path (AFLS‐CILT, 1992), 200pp., £8.95

Collot, S., Les Lieux de désir: topologie amoureuse de Zola (Hachette Université, 1992), 192pp., 150F., ‘Recherches Littéraires’ Collection, ISBN 2 010 18816 0

Coutel, C., ed., La République et l'école; une anthologie (Presses‐Pocket, 1992), 288pp., ISBN 2 266 04474 5

Crosland, M., Science under control: the French Academy of Sciences, 1795–1914 (Cambridge University Press, 1992), 454pp., £60.00, ISBN 0 521 41373 7

David, M., Le Printemps de la Fraternité: genèse et vicissitudes, 1830–1851 (Aubier, 1992), 396pp., 180F., ISBN 2 700 72237 X

Debray, R., Vie et mort de l'image (Gallimard, 1992), 140F., 412pp., ISBN 2 070 72816 1

Drieu la Rochelle, P., Journal 1939–1945 (Gallimard, 1992), 521pp., 140F., ISBN 2 070 72307 0

Durand, J.‐D. et al., Cent ans de catholicisme social à Lyon et en Rhône‐Alpes. Actes du Colloque de Lyon, 18–19 janvier 1991 (Les Editions Ouvrières, 1992), 566pp., 170F., ISBN 2 708 22954 0

Estienne, P., Les régions françaises (Masson, 1991), 2 vols, 264pp., 272pp., 180F., 190F., ISBN 2 225 82509 2, 2 225 82590 4 respectively

Fougeyrollas, P., L'Attraction du futur: un essai sur la signification du présent (Méridiens Klincksieck), 274pp., 140F., ISBN 2 865 63299 7

Gaillac, H., Les Maisons de correction 1830–1945 (Editions Cujas, 1991), 464pp., 120F., ISBN 2 254 92404 X

Genet‐Delacroix, M.‐C., Art et Etat sous la III^e République. Le Système des Beaux‐Arts 1870 (Publications de la Sorbonne, 1992), lviii+433pp., 190F., ISBN 2 859 44219 7

Hagège, C., Le Souffle de la Langue (Odile Jacob, 1992), 286pp.+9pp. of maps, 130F., ISBN 2 738 10182 8

Hancock, M.D. et al., Politics in Western Europe (Macmillan, 1993), 526pp., £14.99, ISBN 0 000 00000 0

Hardman, J., Louis XVI (Yale University Press, 1993), 264pp., £25.00, ISBN 0 300 05719 9

Hargreaves, A.G., Voices from the North African immigrant community in France. Immigration and identity in Bear fiction (Berg, 1991), 175pp., £29.50, ISBN 0 854 96649 8

Harpaz, E., Benjamin Constant et Madame Récamier (lettres 1807–1830) (Honoré Champion, 1992), 362pp., 140F., ISBN 2 852 03706 8

Hudson, J., and Tosser, N., Business French (Made Simple, 1992), 426pp., £8.95, ISBN 0 730 60299 6

Jones, H.S., The French State in Question. Public Law and Political Argument in the Third Republic (CUP, 1993), 231pp., £30., ISBN 2 521 43149 2

Kolebka, G., Dépressions sur une partie de la France (Seghers, 1991), 164pp., 100F., ISBN 2 232 10341 2

Lagrée, M., and Roche, J., Tombes de mémoire: le dévotion populaire aux victimes de la Révolution dans l'Ouest (Rennes Apogée, 1993), 148pp., 125F., ISBN 2 909 27512 4

Lefebvre, D., Guy Mollet: Le mal aimé (Plon, 1992), 545pp., 149F., ISBN Z 259 02465 3

Lemalet, M., Lettres d'Algérie, 1954–1962: La guerre des appelés, la mémoire d'une génération (Jean‐Claude Lattès, 1992), 360pp., 139F., ISBN 2 709 61145 7

Lyotard, J.‐F., The inhuman (Polity Press, 1991), 216pp., £35, ISBN 0 745 69772 1

Michel, P., and Nivet, J.‐F., Octave Mirbeau; l'imprécateur au c?ur fidèle (Librarie Séguier, 1990), 1019pp., ISBN 2 877 36162 4

Ministère du Travail, de l'Emploi et de la Formation Professionnelle, Le Tourisme Social et Familial (La Documentation Française, 1992), 333pp., 180F., ISBN 9 782 11002757 3

Oriol, P., Les immigrés devant les urnes: le droit de vote des étrangers (CIEMI/L'Harmattan, 1992), 223pp., 120F., ISBN 2 738 41246 7

Remond, R., et al., Paul Touvier et l'Eglise. Rapport de la Commission historique instituée par le cardinal Decourtray (Fayard, 1992), 418pp., 130F., ISBN 2 213 02880 X

Richardot, J.‐P., Le peuple protestant français aujourd'hui (Laffont, 1992), 388pp., ISBN 2 221 07364 9

Sainteny, G., Les Verts (PUF, 1991), 127pp., ISBN 2 130 44491 1

Sainte‐Beuve, C.‐A., La Vie des lettres (Hermann, 1992), 4 vols. I: Moyen‐#afAge et Renaissance, 184pp., ISBN 2 705 66176 X; II: Le Siècle de Versailles, 240pp., ISBN 2 705 66177 8; III: Les Lumières et les salons, 192pp., ISBN 2 705 66178 6; IV: Le Siècle du progrès, 212pp., ISBN 2 705 66179 4, 60F. each.

Scientrier, P., Tester et enrichir ses connaissances en littérature (Marabout, 1992), 287pp., ISBN 2 501 01757 9

Scriven, M., and Wagstaff, P., eds., War and society in twentieth‐century France (Berg, 1991), xii+304pp., ISBN 0 854 96292 1

Servent, P., Le Mythe Pétain. Verdun ou les tranchées de la mémoire (Editions Payot, 1992), 283pp., 120F., ISBN 2 228 88500 2

Sowerwine, C., and Magnien, C., Madeleine Pelletier, une féministe dans l'arène politique (Editions Ouvrières, 1992), 250pp., 125F., ISBN 2 708 22960 5

Stanley, J.L., ed., From Georges Sorel, vol. 2: Hermeneutics and the Sciences, translated by John and Charlotte Stanley. (New Brunswick and London, Transaction Books, 1990), 219pp., ISBN 0 887 38304 1     

Nupela Masta? Local and Expatriate Labour in a Chinese-Run Nickel Mine in Papua New Guinea 1

Abstract

Studies of mining projects in Papua New Guinea, since the development of the Panguna copper mine in Bougainville during the 1960s, have contributed to our understanding of the politics of interactions between resource companies, host governments and landowners. The Ramu Nickel mine, situated in northern Papua New Guinea, is China’s largest investment in the Pacific to date at US$1.4 billion. The project is managed by a state-owned enterprise, China Metallurgical Corporation, and financed by China ExIm Bank. This venture presents an opportunity to understand Chinese resource investment in a comparative perspective. While many issues, such as conflict over land, internal migration, and the limited involvement of the Papua New Guinean state, are constant, one aspect specific to Chinese resource investment is the use (or non-use) of host country labour, and the high proportion of Chinese labour employed at the mine sites. This practice differs from the relatively limited, short-term use of expatriate labour common to Western mining projects in developing countries. The attitudes and experiences of local and Chinese workers and managers will be examined to determine what is new in this approach to resource extraction.     

Book reviews

CHINA

SUSAN BROWNELL and JEFFREY N. WASSERSTROM (eds). Chinese Femininities/ Chinese Masculinities: a Reader. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. 460 pp. US$24.95, paper.

LEO T. S. CHING. Becoming “Japanese”: colonial Taiwan and the Politics of Identity Formation. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 2001. xii, 251 pp. Introduction, notes, bibliography, index. US$18.95, paper.

PAMELA KYLE CROSSLEY. A Translucent Mirror: History and Identity in Qing Imperial Ideology. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. xiv, 361 pp. US$45.00, hardcover.

STEPHANIE HEMELRYK DONALD, MICHAEL KEANE and YIN HONG (eds). Media in China: consumption, Content and Crisis. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002. 240 pp. Tables, figures, notes on contributors, bibliography, index. £55.00, hardcover.

EDMUND S. K. FUNG. In Search of Chinese Democracy: civil Opposition in Nationalist China, 1929–1949. Cambridge, New York and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 352 pp. A$125.00, hardcover.

FEI FEI LI, ROBERT SABELLA and DAVID LIU (eds). Nanking 1937 : memory and Healing. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2002. Foreword by Perry Link, index. 278 pp. US$23.95, paper.

DAVID SHAMBAUGH (ed). Is China Unstable? Assessing the Factors. Armonk and London: M. E. Sharpe, 2000. £35.37, hardcover; £18.95, paper.

YANG LIAN. Yi. Translated from the Chinese by Mabel Lee. Copenhagen, Los Angeles: Green Integer, 2002. 361 pp. US$14.95, paper.

YANG LIAN. Notes of a Blissful Ghost. Translated from the Chinese by Brian Holton. Shatin, Hong Kong: Renditions Paperbacks, 2002. 160 pp. US$14.95, paper.

XUEPING ZHONG, WANG ZHEN and BAI DI (eds). Some of Us: Chinese Women Growing Up in the Mao Era. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2001. 208 pp. US$58.00, hardcover; US$22.00, paper.

JAPAN AND KOREA

NOREEN JONES. Number 2 Home: story of Japanese Pioneers in Australia. Fremantle: Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 2002. 224 pp. A$24.95, paper.

MARK McLELLAND. Male Homosexuality in Modern Japan: cultural Myths and Social Realities. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 2000. 268 pp. £17.99, paper.

LINDA S. LEWIS. Laying Claim to the Memory of May: a Look Back at the 1980 Kwangju Uprising. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2002. US$19.95, paper.

HENRY SCOTT‐STOKES and LEE JAI‐EUI (eds). The Kwangju Uprising: eyewitness Press Accounts of Korea's Tiananmen. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2000. US$37.50, hardcover; US$18.95, paper.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

MARC ASKEW. Bangkok: place, Practice and Representation. London and New York: Routledge, 2002. US$90.00, hardcover; US$26.95, paper.

ANTHONY MILNER. The Invention of Politics in Colonial Malaya. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. viii, 328 pp. Map, index and select bibliography. A$49.95, paper.

SHIGEHARU TANABE and CHARLES F. KEYES (eds). Cultural Crisis and Social Memory: modernity and Identity in Thailand and Laos. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002. xii, 312 pp. Index. £55.00, hardcover.

C. J. W‐L. WEE (ed). Local Cultures and the “New Asia”: the State, Culture and Capitalism in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), 2002. x, 245 pp. US$ 49.90/S$ 73.90, hardcover; US$ 25.90/S$ 39.90, paper.

GENERAL ASIA

TANI BARLOW (ed). New Asian Marxisms. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2002. 422 pp. US$27.95, paper; US$79.95, hardcover.

T. FUJITANI, GEOFFREY M. WHITE and LISA YONEYAMA (eds). Perilous Memories: the Asia‐Pacific War(s). Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2001. 462 pp. US$59.95, hardcover; US$19.95, paper.

MARGARET JOLLY and KALPANA RAM (eds). Borders of Being: citizenship, Fertility and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001. 326 pp. US$59.50, cloth; US$24.95, paper.

RAJINI SRIKANTH and ESTHER Y. IWANAGA (eds). Bold Words: a Century of Asian‐American Writing. New Brunswick, New Jersey and London: Rutgers University Press, 2001. 442 pp. US$59.00, hardcover; US$25.00, paper.

OUYANG YU. Two Hearts, Two Tongues, and Rain‐Coloured Eyes. Broadway, NSW: Wild Peony Press, 2002. 119 pp. No price given, paper.

ZIJIE PAN. Vostok/This Could Have Happened to You. Broadway, NSW: Wild Peony Press, 2002. 94 pp. No price given, paper.     

“A handshake across the Himalayas:” Chinese investment,hydropower development,and state formation in Nepal

Abstract

This article examines contemporary patterns of Chinese infrastructure development in Nepal’s Rasuwa District and the ways in which Nepali actors engage with Chinese investments to advance projects of state formation. Particularly in the wake of political volatility and natural disaster, Chinese interventions support the material and imaginative projects of a Nepalese state seeking stability, security, and economic growth. Long perceived as peripheral to the state center, Rasuwa is rapidly becoming central to Sino-Nepal relations, particularly in the context of bilateral investments in hydropower and transportation infrastructure. Drawing on data generated from 30 months of fieldwork in Nepal, we argue that Chinese development in Rasuwa: a) undergirds territorializing practices of the Nepalese state; b) represents a “gift of development” that connects Nepali ambitions of bikas (development) with Chinese anxieties over exile Tibetan populations; and c) reflects a strategic reorientation of geopolitical alliances between Nepal, China, and India. Challenging studies that depict Chinese development as an overwhelming extractive force, we instead show how small states like Nepal in fact use Chinese interventions to advance domestic projects of state formation and national security at home. On the basis of this study, we expand understandings about the place and priority of infrastructure in national state-making agendas, illustrate uneven local experiences with international development interventions, and highlight new configurations of Chinese investment and development abroad – characterized in Nepal as a “handshake across the Himalayas.”