globalization

"It looks as if globalization renders the study of language and literature necessarily pluralistic and multiplies the dimensions that texts and genres can have at one moment" (p. 497)

"the overwhelming economic identity of 'globalization' values one of the translation functions over the other: the promotion of language transparency and/or the hegemony of a single language. This economic identity of globalization does not urge the formation of grounds for language interaction or exchange. English is promoted by social and economic elites as the standard, and other languages are to be translated toward English not the other way round." (p. 498)

"Globalization is what is taking place in Abu Dhabi and Doha and not what is taking place in the study of language and literature in the West. We may notice that in general in Education City [several American universities have set up educational outposts there], the Western humanities are not taught. Rather, 'English skills' are taught in the interest learning Western practices of business, engineering, and medicine." (p. 513)

But what about the globalized study of language and literature? The Chinese and Japanese know English, but do the Americans and British know Chinese and Japanese?Do universities in the West spend millions of dollars on translation studies? Is there any sign of viewing the language of East and West as working simultaneously in both parts of the 'globe' to create mutual understanding?...The 'globalized' study of language and literature has been taking place as long as universities have existed, while ultimately acceding to narrow, ethnocentric, and jingoistic practices, thus canceling the very purpose of the broad studies.' (p. 513-4)

from David Bleich's "Globalization, Translation, and the University Tradition," New Literary History, vol. 39, 2008, pp. 497-517.

"By the twentieth century it could be argued that consumerism had become a state project, the protection and defence of consumers' interests having become a legitimate and central aspect of a government's responsibilities to its citizens during an era of expanding democracy. Consumption, or the right to enjoy its pleasures, had become an entitlement to citizen who had made sacrifices in two world wars and expected a share in the societies being reconstructed in their name in late 1940s and 1950s." (p. 213-4)

"Marx argued that modern capitalism creates a fetish of the commodity, the product becoming a hieroglyphic which we seek to decode to understand the labour relations behind it." (p. 218)

from Matthew Hilton's "The Death of a Consumer Society," Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Vol. 18 (2008), . 211-236.

Governmentality

Recently I read two articles on governmentality, which I first learned from Patrick Joyce in Manchester several years ago. It recalls my refreshing memory of our seminar on governmentality and I was the first being asked about it.

Bronwyn Davies and Peter Bansel, "Governmentality and Academic Work: Shaping the Hearts and Minds of Academic Workers," Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, Vol. 26, No. 3, 2010, pp. 5-20. Drawing on Foucault's analysis of neoliberalism, and its practices of shaping individuals through specific modes of government in order to analyse the phenomenon of the market oriented, audit university, the authors analyse the discourse taken up by managers and academics.

Stephanie Rutherford, "Green Governmentality: Insights and Opportunities in the Study of Nature's Rule," Progress in Human Geography, Vol. 31, No. 3, 2007, pp. 291-307. I need some more time to read this through and through. Rutherford highlights three key aspects of governmentality - its analytics of power [disciplinary power], biopolitics [ecopolitics], and technologies of the self and subject formation. From this article, I was introduced to Philip Howell's "Race, space and the regulation of prostitution in Colonial Hong Kong," Urban History, Vol. 31, Issue 02, 2004, pp. 229-48.

儒學，成德之學？

「一個人可以建構一套道德形上學，但並不表示他自己可以過道德的生活。在我長時間所接觸講中國儒學的人之中，如早期的熊十力先生，接下來的唐君毅先生、牟宗三先生，以及到今天很多講新儒學的人，其中真正做成德之學的非常之少，真正能下決心化掉自然人的慾望、有自我改造的強烈意志以及成聖成賢的意志選擇的，只有唐君毅先生。......就儒學而言，建構理論是一回事，而自我改造是另一回事，然而現在卻有所渴淆，將主體性的形上學與成德之學當成一回事，於是似乎講一套道德形上學就已足夠。事實上，講一套道德形上學對儒家基本的目的是不夠的，因為儒家基本的問題是在自我轉化以成聖成賢，不只是構造一套形上學理論。」（頁199-200）

出自勞思光：〈對中國哲學研究之省思－－困境與出路〉，《中國文哲研究通訊》，第20卷第2期，頁193-202。（原文為2009年10月8日為慶祝本所成立20周年所舉辦之系列專題演講。）

再讀《史記》一

日者「分別天地之終始，日月星辰之紀，差次仁義之際，列吉凶之符。」

「夫卜者多言誇嚴以得人情，虛高人祿命以說人志，擅言禍災以傷人心，矯言鬼神以盡人財，厚求拜謝以私於己。」（《史記。日者列傳》，頁3216-7）

Recent readings XXV

王承文：〈晚唐高駢開鑿安南「天威遙」運河事蹟釋證－－以裴鉶所撰《天威遙碑》為中心的考察〉，《中央研究院歷史語言研究所集刊》，第81本，第3分（2010年9月），頁597-650。

「近十多年來，中國加強了環北部灣地區的開發，並將其視為中國西南內陸地區通向東南亞與世界的門戶和橋樑。二○○七年，中國正式成立了環北部灣經濟開發區。中外學術界也不斷重新審視環北部灣地區的歷史和現，甚至直接將北部灣稱為「亞洲小地中海」。但是，從總體上來看，學術界對古代嶺南西南部歷史的研究還相當缺乏。......」（頁642）

為什麼如此明目張膽地為政治服務的學術文章會再現於《史語所集刊》？

Mei-Fen Kuo, "The Chinese Australian Herald and the Shaping of a Modern 'Imagined' Chinese Community in 1890s Colonial Sydney," Chinese Southern Diaspora Studies 南方華裔研究雜誌, Vol. 2, 2008, pp. 34-53.

Alan Hunter, "Soft Power: China on the Global Stage," Chinese Journal of International Politics, Vol. 2, 2009, pp. 373-398.

Rey Chow, "Reading Derrida on Being Monolingual," New Literary History, vol. 39, 2008, pp. 217-231.

專欄書

香港專欄書多，專著少。專欄作家往往一躍而成為著書者。

沈旭暉在新作《國際政治夢工場III：中華魅影 : 從電影看國際政治》（香港：圓桌精英出版社，2010）的後記（？還是跋？忘掉了）寫道：

「文章結集和專欄要是沒有分別，問題就大了。」（頁248）

如是說，坊間有大問題的多到數不清，結集與專欄有分別才是有問題，否則就不叫做專欄書了。

Meaghan Morris and others

Guided by Meaghan Morris, I read some articles related to Cultural Studies. Here are they:

Meaghan Morris's "Humanities for taxpayers: some problems," New Literary History, Vol. 36, No. 1, Winter 2005, pp. 111-29. "The pressures of civilizationalism are palpable in Hong Kong, where every local student comes into the classroom having been trained to divide the humanities into 'Chinese X' on the one hand, and 'World X' on the other." (p. 126)

Meaghan Morris's "From criticism to research: the 'textual' in the academy," Cultural Studies Review, Vol. 12, No. 2, Sep 2006, pp. 17-32. 'who needs whole persons in Hong Kong?', the University has an answer supported by findings in the USA: business does. Corporate managers seek that famous 'well-rounded personality' in potential employees, and by this they mean a mix of cognitive, presentational and social skills. (p. 23)

Meaghan Morris's "Teaching versus research? Cultural studies and the new class politics in knowledge," Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Vol. 9, No. 3, 2008, pp. 433-50.

Eva Tsai, "Learning to labor: thesis supervision and academic work in the graduate school,"Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Vol. 9, No. 3, 2008, pp. 451-68.

Kimburley Wing Yee Choi, "Consumption: Why does it matter in cultural research?" Cultural Studies Review, Vol. 12, No. 2, Sep 2006, pp. 50-73. Hong Kong family consumption of Disney products, movies and English-language educational kits. I love this! Just look at the conversation between Kim and one of the subjects. Interviewee: "we know so clearly the limitations of people living in Hong Kong. You must have professional skills to survive in this globalised world...For me, children need to leave Hong Kong because, you know [the job market of] Hong Kong will get saturated after twenty years. If they don't have the ability to go outside Hong Kong, their development will be more limited than ours." (p. 65)

Bronwyn Davies, Michael Gottsche & Peter Bansel, "The Rise and Fall of the Neo-liberal University," European Journal of Education, Vol. 41, No. 2, 2006, pp. 305-19. Quoted from an Australian scientist "Teaching assessment is a joke. It's a bit of window dressing and it happens I do very well at it, but that's just my good luck in a way and I don't mind it. But, I don't think anyone could seriously think that we assess teaching now. We just go through the motions." (p. 315)

Bronwyn Davies, "The (im)possibility of intellectual work in neoliberal regimes," Discourse: studies in the cultural politics of education, Vol. 26, No. 1, March 2005, pp. 1-14.

Yongbing Liu, "The construction of cultural values and beliefs in Chinese language textbooks: A critical discourse analysis," Discourse: studies in the cultural politics of education, Vol. 26, No. 1, March 2005, pp. 15-30. The discourse of cultural values and beliefs are constructed from five different perspectives, namely, concentration and diligence, respect for authority (government leaders and elders), modesty and tolerance, collective spirit, and honesty. (p. 19)

Richard James's "Students and student learning in mass systems of higher education: Six educational issues facing universities and academic leaders" a seminar paper presented for Mass Higher Education in UK and International Contexts, 29-30 May 2007, Surrey. 1. student diversity and changing expectations; 2. student engagement and patterns of paid work; 3. student preparedness and academic standards; 4. effective teaching and learning for large cohorts; 5. the renewal of teaching and learning spaces and the 'churning' of ICT; 6. multiple forces influencing curriculum renewal.

Mitchell G. Ash, "Bachelor of what, master of whom? The Humboldt myth and historical transformation of higher education in German-speaking Europe and the US," European Journal of Education, Vol. 41, No. 2, 2006, pp. 246-67.

Rosemary Deem, "Conceptions of contemporary European universities: to do research or not to do research," European Journal of Education, Vol. 41, No. 2, 2006, pp. 281-304.

Monumenta Nipponica

Sometime ago I read two three-decade old articles on Monumenta Nipponica. They are:

Edward R. Beauchamp's "Griffis in Japan: The Fukui Interlude, 1871," Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 30, No. 4 (Winter, 1975), pp. 423-452. In 1870, "In the former [Yokohama], there were approximately 2,000 foreigners, half of them Westerns, half of them Western military and security forces, while Tokyo sheltered only 100 Westerners, including two or three women. (p. 427) and

Masuzo Ueno's "The Western Influence on Natural History in Japan," Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 19, No. 3/4 (1964), pp. 315-339. "Another Englishman who co-operated with Blakiston in the study of Japanese birds was Henry J. S. Pryer (1850-1888). Born in London, Pryer came to Yokohama in 1871 to become a secretary in the firm of Adamson-Bell & Co., and remained there until his death in 1888. In his leisure time he devoted himself to the collecting of butterflies, on the basis of which hobby he published in 1886-1889 a book in three parts, Rhopalocera Nihonica, A Description of the Butterflies of Japan. [Yokohama: Printed at the office of the "Japan Mail;" published by the author]." (p. 334)

林奕華 VI

月前喜讀林奕華的作品，繼《等待香港：青春篇》、《等待香港：娛樂篇》、《等待香港：女人篇》、《娛樂大家：電影編》、《娛樂大家：明星編》之後，第六本，也是最後一本，是《娛樂大家：文化編》。

「香港的主流文化一向都是理所當然的男性中心，並且是草根式的（我的說法是『麻甩』）。」（〈借森美小儀選舉事件測試我們有幾男性中心〉，頁20）（粗體為我加）

「時下很多女性用cheap［即賤］來形容其他女性，或以它來警誡自己不能犯下cheap的錯誤，...一不能太容易被得手，二是假設男性總不會為任何東西要求自己，所以女性若是千依百順，她就不會得到男人對她的珍惜。...那些條件比她［自己］好的女性，都成了可能搶去她的幸福的敵人，因為她們比她積極，比她主動，比她cheap（賤）。」

「男人歧視女性，是覺得『她』除非全無姿色，不然一定會『引人犯罪』。女人歧視女性，則是在認同男人的觀點外還往同性多踐踏一腳：把自己不能達社會預設的『美麗』的憤恨，藉對消費揭秘和醜聞發洩在女藝人身上。」

「女人何必為難女人？答案太簡單了，都是一個『性』字惹的禍－－如果女人都有機會活出更多面相、更多自我、更多自信，社會對於女藝人的態度便不會受到單一和狹窄化的『性感』標準所框死。」（〈給香港女藝人的信〉，頁104-6）

「香港是個連國際學校學生都較易惹麻煩的社會－－英文講得好與自主意識比較強的年青人對大多數人總是有著莫名威脅。」（〈塊肉餘生記之Great Expectations〉，頁112）

「香港的文化特色之一，就是廣東人說的『一時唔偷雞，馬上做保長』。」（〈抄與炒〉，頁156）

「香港人重視名牌，但更擁抱香港人的草根性。」「香港茶餐廳看似不過是港人的地道飲食風格，其實，我們的娛樂也可以很茶餐廳。」（〈演唱會香港式〉，頁158）

「選擇是自由的體現，香港人的文化特色之一，是『爭取不要選擇的自由』。即是，怕麻煩。就如上餐廳一般，AB餐以外頂多來個C...香港人因此非常歡迎一眾品牌電影，讓湊熱鬧心理成了上戲院的最強推手。」（〈新片開畫的日子〉，頁284）

「這裏沒有尊重戲劇的傳統。」(〈香港不是倫敦〉，頁287）

「整個社會的信念都是建立在（一）生活的目標是賺錢；（二）賺錢的目的是提升身份地位；（三）身份地位的意義是可供比較和炫耀；（四）炫耀是因為欠缺自信等等一系列價值觀上...」「香港真是一個『人民最愛忘記』的城市。」

「香港就是香港，口頭上的一傳十十傳百容易，真要拿起筆為歷史留下見證卻沒有多少人願意做和做得到。」

「恨我們不是沒有文化，而是文化不被容於文化。」(〈商業與藝術〉，頁296-8）

「香港文化的一大特色－－除了『女人喜歡為難女人』...還有『文化人喜歡為難文化人』。回頭一想，有此現象也是理所當然不過，因為『女人』和『文化人』有著一個共通點，就是特別易犯『眼紅症』。」

「香港人的口頭禪之一是『駛唔駛呀？』（有需要嗎？），言下之意就是能不要求就不要求自己。〈文化人何苦為難文化人〉，頁346-7）

trophy kids

A professor asks, "how do you hold students for a two-hour class when they have two-minute attention spans?" (Ron Alsop's The trophy kids grow up : how the millennial generation is shaking up the workplace (New York: The Wall Street Journal, 2008), p. 142)

Alsop's inspiring book contains 11 chapters: The trophy kids; Great expectations; Apron strings; Take your parents to work; How am I doing?; Checklist kids; Master jugglers; Free to be me; Recruiting in cyberspace; Dream jobs; and A generous generation.

Alsop outlines the traits of the four generations in the workplace:

traditionalists (1925-45): patriotic, dependable, conformist, respects authority, rigid, socially and financially conservative, solid work ethic.

baby boomers (1946-64): workaholic, idealistic, competitive, loyal, materialistic, seeks personal fulfillment, values titles and the corner office.

gen Xers (1965-79): self-reliant, adaptable, cynical, distrusts authority, resourceful, entrepreneurial, technology savvy.

millenials (1980-2001): entitled, optimistic, civic minded, close parental involvement, values work-life balance, impatient, multitasking, team oriented.

"We have to understand that millennials simply view the world differently from us, and try to adapt to them," an enterprise recruiting and retention director said, "we need to give them a voice in the organization and learn to work with them, not against them." (p. 8)

Weekend reading

In France, homeland of l'exception française, where cultural diversity was built into the country's very system and people's souls, only 900 authors can claim an income of more than 16,500 euros a year from all of their titles. (Martine Prosper, Édition, l'envers du décor (Paris, 2009))

This weekend's leisure reading was the author of The business of books : how international conglomerates took over publishing and changed the way we read (London: Verso, 2000) André Schiffrin's Words and money (Argent et les mots) (London: Verso, 2010).

Unfolded by a more-than-ten-page introduction that closely links words and money, the topics of the book, and asks alternative possibilities for the traditional publishing media, Schiffrin observes that "[s]urely no capitalist in his or her right mind would invest in a bookstore these days, or in a publishing house, on in a newspaper."

The book is divided into seven chapters. They are: 1. The future of publishing; 2. The Norwegian example; 3. Films and movie houses; 4. Helping the bookstores; 5. The future of the press; 6. Saving the press. It closes by the conclusion: technology and monopoly.

Words and money is definitely worth reading for the up-to-date tough situation of the publishing and press industries in the major western countries such as America, Britain, France, and Germany. The recommendation for the government is intervention by favourable aid at all levels, financially and legally, to save from small independent bookstores to major newspapers against large globalized conglomerates. At the individual level, I think, do not enter the industries.

Some excerpts from the book:

The current economic crisis revealed that the really big money wasn't coming from the mundane activity of making actual, tangible goods and then selling them. (p. xiv) tipping point for alternative means of production and wealth accumulation

None of these changes [practical changes due to the ethos of profit maximization across a wide range of professions] were due to the internal demands of these professions. Indeed, they are contrary to the needs of the practitioners and their clients. But they are part of the inevitable monetization of modern capitalist society, which allowed for no exceptions and was ravenous in its demands....Even though their system collapsed, many of its proponents have continued to defend it and have returned to their former practices and their obscene remuneration. (p. 5) what else and where else can they do and go?

In Japan, overall sales of newspapers are 624 papers per thousand persons, two and a half times greater than the US figure (p. 67) unbelievable.

There is a strong French tradition of self-censorship where the government is concerned. (p. 70) really?

News coverage, both in France and in the US, is solidly white. (p. 71-2) how true?

The book also introduces to me Florence Noiville's J'ai fait HEC et je m'en excuse (I Went to Business School and I'm Sorry) (Paris, 2009) in which she shows how the major thrust of the curriculum at France's leading business school is not to show how business or the economy works, but to teach its students how to maximize profit, partly by firing as many people as possible. (p. 7-8)

Recent readings XXIV

The new semester just began. I barely had time to maintain the blog and I can only list the recent readings here:

John Griffiths's "Were there Municipal Networks in the British World c. 1890-1939?" The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Vol. 37, No. 4, Dec 2009, pp. 575-597. Griffiths contemplates the significance of British world publications such as the Municipal Journal, in the facilitation of British world progressivism and its role in formalising networks.

Deirdre H. McMahon's "'Quick, Ethel, Your Rifle!': Portable Britishness and Flexible Gender Roles in G.A. Henty's Books for Boys," Studies in the Novel, Vol. 42, Nos. 1 & 2, Spring & Summer 2010, pp. 154-72. Henty's imperialism cultivates a portable notion of British identity, in which young boys and girls can go to any part of the globe with their Britishness not only intact but enabling them to survive in foreign lands.

Siân Nicholas's "'Brushing up your empire': Dominion and colonial propaganda on the BBC's home services, 1939-45," The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Vol. 31, No. 2, May 2003, pp. 207-230. The BBC's Empire Service was created in 1931 and in Nov. 1939 it was incorporated into a general comprehensive Overseas Service, including North American, African, Pacific and Eastern Services.

Simon Potter, "Communication and integration: The British and dominions press and the British world, c.1876-1914," The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Vol. 31, No. 2, May 2003, pp. 190-206.

Aled Jones and Bill Jones, "The Welsh World and the British Empire, c.1851-1939: An Exploration," The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Vol. 31, No. 2, May 2003, pp. 57-81.

Clare Anderson's "'The Ferringees are flying - the ship is ours!': The convict middle passage in colonial South and Southeast Asia, 1790-1860," Indian Economic & Social History Review, Vol. 42, No. 2, 2005, pp. 143-86. convict ship mutinies. One case from Hong Kong to Singapore and Penang on General Wood from Dec 1847 to Jan 1848, on which there were 92 convicts. On 3 Jan, convicts successfully seize ship after leaving Penang and attempt to navigate to China. Murder Captain Stokoe, third mate and four lascars. Wreck ship off Cambodia. Nineteen convicts tried by Singapore criminal sessions, 3-5 Apr: 3 executed, 23 life transportation to Bombay. Twenty-seven more tried on 4 June: 3 executed, 24 life transportation to Bombay.

Jonathan Hyslop's "Steamship Empire: Asian, African and British Sailors in the Merchant Marine c.1880-1945," Journal of Asian and African Studies, Vol. 44, No. 1, 2009, pp. 49-67. Hyslop interprets the steam empire as a set of overlapping webs, comprising the shipping companies, British diasporic labour and Indian Ocean seafarers

Recent readings XXIII

Romain Garcier's "The Placing of Matter: Industrial Water Pollution and the Construction of Social Order in Nineteenth-Century France," Journal of Historical Geography, Vol. 36, 2010, pp. 132-42. "'Pollution' brought together various strands of water research (especially water analysis, bacteriology and hydrology) but also served as the foundation of a discourse on industrial responsibility...The co-production of pollution science and nineteenth-century industrial order explains why industrial water pollution was allowed to go unabated...water pollution was regulated informally and industrialists were able to claim rivers as legitimate places for industrial matter against challenges brought up by other social actors.

Min Zeng (曾敏) & David Watkins's "Adaptation of Mainland postgraduate students to Hong Kong's universities," CERC [Crossing Borders in East Asian Higher Education] Studies in Comparative Education, Vol. 27, 2011, pp. 343-373. The topic is not new, neither its findings. "As students from a Confucian heritage culture, the informants respected their supervisors as knowledgeable authorities and tried to avoid challenging or questioning their authority." (emphasis mine)

Michael H. Lee, "Internationalizing universities: comparing China's Hong Kong and Singapore (1996-2006), CERC [Crossing Borders in East Asian Higher Education] Studies in Comparative Education, Vol. 27, 2011, pp. 283-315. By the end of 2005, Singapore's universities had 50,000 international enrollments and it has anticipated that at least 100,000 more non-local full fee-paying students would be studying in Singapore by 2012. Hong Kong is lagging well behind!

橫田文彥：〈1950年代～1980年代香港新聞廣告文に含まれる廣東語表現〉，《中國文學研究》，2006年12月，第32期，頁60-76。《華僑日報》、《星島日報》、《明報》；醫藥及飲食廣告。抽離歷史脈絡，無異於資料排比而已。

千野拓政：〈香港の夢はどこに？──張愛玲、映畫、アイデンティティー──〉，《中國文學研究》，2006年12月，頁46-58。

洪濤：〈英國漢學家與《楚辭．九歌》的歧解和流傳〉，《漳州師範學院學報(哲社版)》，2008年第1期(總第67期)，頁57-67。

顏榴：〈民國時期印象派概念的流傳和書籍的傳播〉，《中国美術館》，2008年第8期，頁81-88。

karaoke capitalism

We live in the world of karaoke capitalism (KC) where individual choice is endless. But this costs, either cash or competence. In the economy of KC we need to face the ultimate choice: copy or create.

Karaoke copycats look alike - read alike - think alike. If everyone is thinking alike, then someone isn't thinking. For some people, probably the majority of the population, imitation is enough. We are Mr. and Mrs. Average.

We live in the world of individual. All over the world, people are beginning to exercise their right to express themselves even though no one is paying attention to anyone.

You may think life is full of chance. Let's face it. The game of chance is over. Individualism represents the triumph choice over control and the victory of selection over chance. Satisfaction is based on choice.

KC is not open to all however. Money talks and, you like it or not, shapes our lives. Please help ourselves to find meaning in moneymaking.

The democratization of information should not be mistaken for the democratization of power just like the democratization of luxury good should not mistaken for the democratization of tastes. Information makes real sense only when you are capable of understanding it. Power is transferred from those who control information to those who control knowledge.

Knowledge is perishable. You need to exploit your skills right now, or at the best moment. Today, there is a best-before-date on people and their skill.

More opportunities come with an increasing number of responsibilities. Power structure is being reshaped. Power is shifting from the rule-takers to the rule-breakers and rule-makers.

People do not dislike change, but being changed. To succeed, we need more, not fewer non-conformists.

Meaning is no longer given by state or church. Materialism rules. More than ever people seek self-expression and self-identity through their their purchases. The gap between haves and have nots is increasing between as well as within countries. It is increasingly difficult to have a life while also making a living.

Forget about normal. Abnormal is the new normal. Indeed, we live in a world of double economy, a binomial society, a polarized world of wealth and poverty, opportunity and misery, luxury and low-cost. Either you make an input or you become an output.

In the world of KC where virtuous and vicious realities are the alternatives on offer - capital and competence versus change; opportunities versus responsibilities; liberty versus duty; individual splendor versus loneliness.

Modern cosmocrats outsource the family to have more time to work. In Hong Kong, working parents tend to outsource day-to-day nurturing of their children to barely paid maids who virtually have no emotional and ethical connection with the family in general.

Do whatever you want, but make sure that you are really good at it - world-class. Competence will buy you choice.

Education boosts the depth of the skills needed while competition simultaneously decreases the durability of knowledge.

Stories translate information into emotion.

Technology doesn't make you less stupid; it just makes you stupid faster.

We gamble because our lives have become overly predictable and safe.

The 10 commandments of karaoke leadership:

1. Thou shalt not display your feathers to demonstrate your all around brilliance and beauty.

2. Thou shalt not walk unto the wilderness blindly, but open your eyes and those of others.

3. Thou shalt not count the pennies at every turn.

4. Thou shalt value values and live them purely and unequivocally every day.

5. Thou shalt loveth all and all will love you back

6. Thou shalt know the inner-most sanctums of your customers as well as your own backyard.

7. Thou shalt cast out the rule book of bureaucracy.

8. Thou shalt giveth out carrots as you would have carrots given to you.

9. Thou shalt not engage in acts of self-congratulation.

10. Thou shalt depart toward the door before you are forced or asked to do so.

Source: Jonas Ridderstråle and Kjell A. Nordström's Karaoke capitalism : daring to be different in a copycat world (Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2005).

I am back

I really need to get back to my primary field after strolling along different genres for stimulation, inspiration and, admittedly, refuge. By all means I returned and started reading some essentials and related works, and found many useful journals and articles.

Sarah Bilston's "'It is Not What We Read, But How We Read': Maternal Counsel on Girls' Reading Practices in Mid-Victorian Literature," Nineteenth-Century Contexts, Vol. 30, No. 1, March 2008, pp. 1-20.

Karen Junod's "The Lives of the Old Masters: Reading, Writing, and Reviewing the Renaissance," Nineteenth-Century Contexts, Vol. 30, No. 1, March 2008, pp. 67-82.

John L. Kijinski's "Respectable Reading in the Late Nineties: H.D. Traill's Literature,"Nineteenth-Century Contexts, Vol. 25, No. 4, 2003, pp. 357-72.

Jonathan Mulrooney's "Reading the Romantic-period Daily News," Nineteenth-Century Contexts, Vol. 24, No. 4, 2002, pp. 351-77. The newspaper and its primary means of rapid geographical dissemination. A growing number of nineteenth-century British readers who imagined a relation to public life through the medium of newspapers.

Annika Bautz's "Scott's Victorian Readers," Nineteenth-Century Contexts, Vol. 31, No. 1, March 2009, pp. 19-29. Bautz considers the degree to which Sir Walter Scott's novels were available to Victorian readers by looking at numbers and kinds of editions produced for sale and making comparison with Scott's contemporary Jane Austen.

Mandy Reid's "Racial Profiling: Visualizing Racial Science on the Covers of Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1852-1928," Nineteenth-Century Contexts, Vol. 30, No. 4, Dec 2008, pp. 369-87. Reading the history of Uncle Tom's Cabin's covers shows us how the changing visual representations of racial differences depicted by the covers functioned as a crucial vehicle for disseminating and normalizing key transition moments in the history of contemporary racial science: the supplanting of monogensis by polygensis as the leading theory of human origins, the impact of evolutionary theory on anthropology, and, finally, the reframing of "race" in eugenics discourse.

Koos Kuiper's "the earliest monument of Dutch Sinological studies: Justus Heurnius's manuscript Dutch-Chinese dictionary and Chinese-Latin Compendium Doctrinae Christianae (Batavia 1628)," Quaerendo: A Quarterly Journal from the Low Countries Devoted to Manuscripts and Printed Books, Vol. 35, No. 1-2, 2005, pp. 109-39.

Priscilla Coit Murphy's "'Down with fiction and up with fact': Publishers Weekly and the postwar shift to nonfiction," Publishing Research Quarterly, Vol. 14, Fall 1998, pp. 29-52. statistics and graphs.