East Asian Studies

Michael Puett Ritual Substitutions: Theories of Ritual from Classical China 10/30/2014

Despite an unprecedented advancement in Sino-Russian relations in the recent decade and China's ability to engage Russia, Moscow's new pragmatic diplomacy of strategic divergence in East Asia and its desire to create its own zone of influence in Eurasia as a regional great power complicate substantially the partnership between the two Eurasian giants. The changing regional security environment and an intensified China-US struggle for leadership in the Asia-Pacific compel the Xi Jinping administration to adopt a nuanced and very measured policy in Eurasia, downplaying it's significant economic and political discrepancies with Moscow. These developments may enable Moscow to further advance its own regional initiatives and obtain more levers if needed to curb Beijing's assertive behavior toward its neighbors.

Barbara Finamore is Senior Attorney and Asia Director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Check out the College of East Asian Studies Chair Mary Alice Haddad's interview with Barbara here

In the weeks leading up to the Paris Climate Summit, the world is talking about China and its environment. Professor Mary Alice Haddad, Chair of the College of East Asian Studies, talks with Barbara Finamore, Senior Attorney and Asia Director of the Natural Resource Defense Council, about what we should expect to see from China during the meetings in Paris.

For Barbara's full talk: On The Road To Paris: China, Climate Change and The Environment, Click here

Japanese Tea Ceremony presented by Stephen Morrell, Landscape Designer

Discussion with former Japanese Ambassador Fujisaki

Lecture to be given by Ralph Samuelson, Senior Advisor, Asian Cultural Council; Teacher and Performer of Japanese Music

Smiling peasants, parading tractors, model workers, cowering imperialists . . . such utopian made-to-order propaganda images dominate the imagination of socialist-era China's graphic art. The 1950s magazine Cartoon (Manhua, 1951-1960) complicates this picture. Carrying on China's modern tradition of pictorial infotainment, Cartoon during its mid-1950s heyday published hundreds of satirical works poking fun at the ironies, bungling, and injustices happening all over China's actually existing socialism. This lecture explores the artistic inheritance behind Cartoon as well as the ambiguities of its fate in the anti-rightist crackdown of 1957.