China in and beyond the Headlines

Edited by Timothy B. Weston, Lionel M. Jensen author of Manufacturing Confucianism: Chinese Traditions and Universal Civi

Publication date:

28 June 2012

Length of book:

384 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Dimensions:

229x159mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781442209053

In the third volume of this popular series, leading experts provide fascinating and unexpected insights into critical issues of culture, economy, politics, and society in today's China. This world, outside the reach of state control and either misunderstood or unreported in Western media, gains clarity and dimension from the fresh insights of a prominent group of activists, investigative journalists, lawyers, scholars, and travelers, who share a common interest in lessening the profound information gap between China and the rest of the world. In sixteen new essays, they address such key topics as civil society, consumerism, environmental adversity, ethnic tension, the Internet, legal reform, new media and social networking, nationalist tourism, sex and popular culture, as well the costs of urban gigantism to portray the complexity of life in contemporary China—and how, increasingly, it speaks to the everyday experience of Americans.

Contributions by: David Bandurski, Susan D. Blum, Timothy Cheek, Gady Epstein, Andrew S. Erickson, Lionel M. Jensen, John Kamm, Wenquing Kang, Katherine Palmer Kaup, Travis Klingberg, Orion A. Lewis, Benjamin L. Liebman, Jonathan S. Noble, Tim Oakes, Jessica C. Teets, Alex L. Wang, and Timothy B. Weston.

Introduction: China, the United States, and Convulsive Cooperation
Lionel M. Jensen and Timothy B. Weston
Part I: In the Headlines
Chapter 1: Jousting with Monsters: Journalists in a Rapidly Changing China
David Bandurski
Chapter 2: Youth Culture in China: Idols, Sex, and the Internet
Jonathan S. Noble
Chapter 3: Dismantling the Socialist Welfare State: The Rise of Civil Society in China
Jessica C. Teets
Chapter 4: Mutually Assured Destruction or Dependence? U.S. and Chinese Perspectives on China’s Military Development
Andrew S. Erickson
Chapter 5: China’s Environmental Tipping Point
Alex L. Wang
Chapter 6: China’s Historic Urbanization: Explosive and Challenging
Timothy B. Weston
Chapter 7: The Worlds of China’s Intellectuals
Timothy Cheek
Chapter 8: Why Does China Fear the Internet?
Susan D. Blum
Part II: Beyond the Headlines
Chapter 9: Producing Exemplary Consumers: Tourism and Leisure Culture in China’s Nation-Building Project
Travis Klingberg and Tim Oakes
Chapter 10: Professionals and Populists: The Paradoxes of China’s Legal Reforms
Benjamin L. Liebman
Chapter 11: The Decriminalization and Depathologization of Homosexuality in China
Wenqing Kang
Chapter 12: The Evolution of Chinese Authoritarianism: Lessons from the “Arab Spring”
Orion A. Lewis
Chapter 13: Culture Industry, Power, and the Spectacle of China’s “Confucius Institutes”
Lionel M. Jensen
Chapter 14: Tensions and Violence in China’s Minority Regions
Katherine Palmer Kaup
Chapter 15: An Unharmonious Society: Foreign Reporting in China
Gady Epstein
Afterword: What Future for Human Rights Dialogues?
John Kamm

Getting a fix on Chinese cultural and political shifts has never seemed more urgent. So the appearance of this collection of wide-ranging, informative, and fluidly written essays is not just something to welcome but something to celebrate. I can't wait to bring the book into a classroom and take it for a spin with my students.