In this episode (taped on the eve of June 4th), Jeremiah and David examine the zeitgeist of China in the 1980s through the lens of the historic 1988 documentary River Elegy《河殇》. The six-part documentary was a scathing critique of Chinese traditional culture and political philosophy, portraying hallowed icons such as the Great Wall and the Yellow River as morally repugnant symbols of barbarism and cultural self-deception. The TV series also touched upon previously taboo topics such as Mao's Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. The documentary was highly controversial at the time yet was widely disseminated in State media such as the People's Daily, giving rise to an astonishingly frank public debate about the fate of China and the need for economic and political liberalization. The documentary was banned after 1989 but remains a cultural time capsule of the decade's relatively open political discourse. The podcast discussion examines the contentious intellectual currents of the 1980s and poses some counterfactual questions about how China's reforms might have progressed if the free-thinking trajectory of River Elegy had continued to exert an influence.
Link to a segment of River Elegy on YouTube (https://youtu.be/39j4ViRxcS8?t=31)
Moser, David, "Thoughts on River Elegy, June 1988-June 2011 (https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1908&context=chinabeatarchive)" (2011). The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012. 904.

Elegy for the Eighties

A semi-serious deep dive into Chinese history and culture broadcast from Beijing and hosted by Jeremiah Jenne and David Moser.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

In this episode, Jeremiah and David have a long-overdue discussion with historian and writer Maura Cunningham. Maura was Editor-in-Chief of the classic blog China Beat, a fellow at the Asia Society Center on US-China Relations, Program Officer at the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, and is now the Digital Media Manager for The Association of Asian Scholars (AAS) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Maura is also the co-author, with Jeffrey Wasserstrom, of the essential book China in the 21st Century: Everything You Need to Know, and the podcast conversation starts with a reconsideration of the book’s title: “What are the new China realities ‘everyone needs to know’ in the post-Covid, post-Xi Jinping era?” We compare notes with Maura about the current state of scholarly research on China, the aftermath of the pandemic on US-China academic exchange programs, and the problems of maintaining standards of academic freedom amidst the tightening of the Chinese information environment. ﻿Other topics include a reevaluation of the fundamental goals of China research and the prospects of increased Chinese language training and sinological research activity in China under increasing research limitations in the PRC.Greitens, S., & Truex, R. (2020). Repressive Experiences among China Scholars: New Evidence from Survey Data. The China Quarterly, 242, 349-375. doi:10.1017/S0305741019000365 (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/china-quarterly/article/repressive-experiences-among-china-scholars-new-evidence-from-survey-data/C1CB08324457ED90199C274CDC153127)Will I Return to China?: A ChinaFile Conversation (June 21, 2021) (https://www.chinafile.com/conversation/will-i-return-china)Wasserstrom, J. N., & Cunningham, M. E. (2018). China in the 21st century: What Everyone Needs to Know.

Studying China in the 21st Century (What Everybody Needs to Know) with special guest Maura Cunningham

This week Jeremiah and David catch up with an old friend, China history scholar Marketus Presswood., who has just released a documentary on jazz in China entitled Yellow Jazz, Black Music, available on Vimeo. Based on years of research and extensive interviews, the documentary traces the influx and development of jazz music in China, from the Shanghai ballrooms of the 1920s to a resurgence in the urban nightclubs of the Reform-and-Opening period, and finally to the art form's flourishing in a new globalized, high-tech China. ﻿Marketus provides a fascinating description of the lives of the African-American jazz musicians in Republican Era Shanghai, including the experiences of Langston Hughes, who visited the city in 1934 and interacting with the stars of the local jazz scene. We also discuss the difficulties of Chinese musicians in accessing and mastering the art form, the social and artistic impact of jazz on Chinese culture, and the possibilities of a new kind of "jazz with Chinese characteristics."Links to:Website for the film:www.yellowjazzblackmusic.com (http://www.yellowjazzblackmusic.com/?fbclid=IwAR3WkAd8i9Fn9oQ-9e8bCSY66-QOf_aSqbA7BAHR62o9LcxGMJ8RIEYIOUY)Yellow Jazz, Black Music on Vimeo:  https://vimeo.com/ondemand/yellowjazzblackmusic (https://vimeo.com/ondemand/yellowjazzblackmusic)The Yellow Jazz Black Music Spotify music site:https://open.spotify.com/album/2oDjOu5dXCUm8atpkZfJ2W (https://open.spotify.com/album/2oDjOu5dXCUm8atpkZfJ2W)Jeremiah on Langston Hughes in Shanghaihttps://www.jeremiahjenne.com/the-archives/2021/1/28/langston-hughes-in-shanghai (https://www.jeremiahjenne.com/the-archives/2021/1/28/langston-hughes-in-shanghai)David on Jazz in Chinahttps://chinachannel.org/2018/07/20/chinese-jazz/ (https://chinachannel.org/2018/07/20/chinese-jazz/)Marketus on "Being Black in China" https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/07/on-being-black-in-china/277878/ (https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/07/on-being-black-in-china/277878/)

"Yellow Jazz, Black Music" with Marketus Presswood

In this episode, Jeremiah and David talk about the foreign experience of travel in China, drawing upon their personal experiences over the years as explorers, educators, and tour guides. The two trade accounts of the rapid expansion of China’s travel industry in decades after Reform and Opening, the occasional brushes with anti-foreign sentiment, and the exploding domestic luxury travel market as the economy booms and overseas travel has been restricted. The discussion also turns to the new post-Covid-19 reality of quarantines, vaccination records, and issues with the ubiquitous health-record apps that have become mandatory additions to everyone’s mobile phone. The podcast concludes with cautious prognostications about the upcoming Olympics, vaccination passports, and the future of foreigners traveling, studying, and working in China.
David also recommends the excellent new documentary about jazz and jazz-age Shanghai by Marketus Presswood, Yellow Jazz, Black Music (https://vimeo.com/ondemand/yellowjazzblackmusic) now streaming on Vimeo.

China Tripping

In this episode, we host Ruth Poulsen, Director of Curriculum and Assessment at the International School of Beijing and author of a recent article in The American Educator entitled "What's the Line between Culture Shock and Racism (tieonline.com/article/2895/whats-the-line-between-culture-shock-and-racism-)?" Ruth is a long-term ex-pat, having spent much of her childhood and adult life in various countries in the Middle East and Asia. In the interview, Ruth shares her cross-cultural insights gained from her years working with teachers and students living abroad and offers some strategies for coping with cultural shock, cultural misunderstandings, and negative stereotypes. Those new to the podcast might want to check out an earlier episode with Lenora Chu (https://blubrry.com/barbarians/66506635/raising-little-soldiers-education-in-china-part-ii/), which examined cross-cultural differences in the Chinese and American education systems.

Elegy for the Eighties

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