Quum subit illius tristissima noctis imago
qua mihi supremum [tempus] in urbe fuit
quum repeto noctem, qua tot mihi cara reliqui
labitur ex oculis nunc quoque gutta meis.
(When steals upon me the gloomy memory of that night
which marked my latest hours in the city -
when I recall that night on which I left so many things
dear to me, even now from my eyes the teardrops fall.)
Quoted from the Edinburgh-educated Malaysian Chinese scholar Ku Hung-ming's (1857-1928) quotation in "Days That Are No More" from Chapter3, Book 1, of Ovid's Tristia. Translation from Lo Hui-Min's “Ku Hung-ming: Schooling,” Papers on Far Eastern History, Vol. 37-38, 1988, p. 64.
Sunday 25 September 2011
Tuesday 13 September 2011
Recent readings XXVIII
Modern Asian Studies Vol. 45, Special Issue 2: China in World War II, 1937-1945: Experience, memory, and Legacy. Part I: Experiencing China's War with Japan: World War II, 1937–1945
Rana Mitter, "Classifying Citizens in Nationalist China during World War II, 1937–1941," Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (2011), pp. 243-275.
Matthew D. Johnson, "Propaganda and Sovereignty in Wartime China: Morale Operations and Psychological Warfare under the Office of War Information," Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (2011), pp. 303-344.
Andres Rodriguez, "Building the Nation, Serving the Frontier: Mobilizing and Reconstructing China's Borderlands during the War of Resistance (1937–1945)," Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (2011), pp. 345-376. Rodriguez argues that the notion of 'frontier service' and the 'cultural reconstruction' project propounded by the Chinese anthropologist, Li Anzhai, not only sought the modernize and unify China around a distinct multicultural identity, it was also an important mobilizing force amongst sectors of wartime youth which arguably introduced young Han Chinese to a region which they had hitherto only imagined in the pre-war period.
Felix Boecking's "Unmaking the Chinese Nationalist State: Administrative Reform among Fiscal Collapse, 1937-1945," Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (2011), pp. 277-301. Boecking contends that from 1937 until 1940, the Chinese Nationalist Party (Guomindang) fiscal policy managed to preserve a degree of relative stability even though, by early 1939, the Nationalists had already lost control over ports yielding 80 per cent of Customs revenue. The introduction of war-time fiscal instruments led to administrative changes, which in return created one of the preconditions for the disintegration of the Nationalist state, which facilitated the Chinese Communist Party victory in 1949.
Part II: Remembering China's War with Japan: The Wartime Generation in Post-war China and East Asia
Parks M. Coble, "Writing about Atrocity: Wartime Accounts and their Contemporary Uses," Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (2011), pp. 379-398. Coble finds that most wartime writing stressed the theme of 'heroic resistance' by the Chinese rather than China's victimization at the hands of Japanese. Exceptions to his approach included efforts to publicize Japan's action to Western audiences in the hope of gaining support for China's cause, and a related focus on the bombing of the civilian population by the Japanese.
James Reilly's "Remember History, Not Hatred: Collective Remembrance of China's War of Resistance to Japan," Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (2011), pp. 463-490. Reilly examines four historical periods: China's 'benevolent amnesia' on Japan's wartime atrocities before 1982; China's patriotic education campaign from the mid-1980s; the rise of history activism in China in the late 1990s; and the post-2005 reversal in official rhetoric on Japan and the wartime past. He argues that while the party-state retains an impressive capacity to shape the narratives of critical periods of modern Chinese history, Chinese leaders are likely to find themselves increasingly constrained by domestic forces and by external events beyond their control.
Neil J. Diamant, "Conspicuous Silence: Veterans and the Depoliticization of War Memory in China," Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (2011), pp. 431-461. Diamant argues that the relative silence of authentic military voices in the post-war period can be attributed to several peculiar features of modern Chinese history. The nature of warfare, the absence of a national army, veteran organizations and a consensus over the the legitimacy about the wars, has overshadowed the validity of veteran's claims for a higher political and cultural status. Intellectual elites in various cultural and propaganda offices dominate national war memory presenting a simplistic and artificial rendering of the wars, and marginalize veterans' position to portray war from their perspectives.
Arron William Moore, "The Problem of Changing Language Communities: Veterans and Memory Writing in China, Taiwan, and Japan," Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (2011), pp. 399-429. Moore analyses six categories of 'memory writing' that veterans used to engage with memory debates: post-war diaries, 'testimonial literature', articles and literary works, surveys and oral histories, memoirs, and paratext. He argues that veterans can only be 'heard' by members of their language community, or by a post-war society that is prepared to 'listen' to their message with little mediation.
Rana Mitter, "Classifying Citizens in Nationalist China during World War II, 1937–1941," Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (2011), pp. 243-275.
Matthew D. Johnson, "Propaganda and Sovereignty in Wartime China: Morale Operations and Psychological Warfare under the Office of War Information," Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (2011), pp. 303-344.
Andres Rodriguez, "Building the Nation, Serving the Frontier: Mobilizing and Reconstructing China's Borderlands during the War of Resistance (1937–1945)," Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (2011), pp. 345-376. Rodriguez argues that the notion of 'frontier service' and the 'cultural reconstruction' project propounded by the Chinese anthropologist, Li Anzhai, not only sought the modernize and unify China around a distinct multicultural identity, it was also an important mobilizing force amongst sectors of wartime youth which arguably introduced young Han Chinese to a region which they had hitherto only imagined in the pre-war period.
Felix Boecking's "Unmaking the Chinese Nationalist State: Administrative Reform among Fiscal Collapse, 1937-1945," Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (2011), pp. 277-301. Boecking contends that from 1937 until 1940, the Chinese Nationalist Party (Guomindang) fiscal policy managed to preserve a degree of relative stability even though, by early 1939, the Nationalists had already lost control over ports yielding 80 per cent of Customs revenue. The introduction of war-time fiscal instruments led to administrative changes, which in return created one of the preconditions for the disintegration of the Nationalist state, which facilitated the Chinese Communist Party victory in 1949.
Part II: Remembering China's War with Japan: The Wartime Generation in Post-war China and East Asia
Parks M. Coble, "Writing about Atrocity: Wartime Accounts and their Contemporary Uses," Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (2011), pp. 379-398. Coble finds that most wartime writing stressed the theme of 'heroic resistance' by the Chinese rather than China's victimization at the hands of Japanese. Exceptions to his approach included efforts to publicize Japan's action to Western audiences in the hope of gaining support for China's cause, and a related focus on the bombing of the civilian population by the Japanese.
James Reilly's "Remember History, Not Hatred: Collective Remembrance of China's War of Resistance to Japan," Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (2011), pp. 463-490. Reilly examines four historical periods: China's 'benevolent amnesia' on Japan's wartime atrocities before 1982; China's patriotic education campaign from the mid-1980s; the rise of history activism in China in the late 1990s; and the post-2005 reversal in official rhetoric on Japan and the wartime past. He argues that while the party-state retains an impressive capacity to shape the narratives of critical periods of modern Chinese history, Chinese leaders are likely to find themselves increasingly constrained by domestic forces and by external events beyond their control.
Neil J. Diamant, "Conspicuous Silence: Veterans and the Depoliticization of War Memory in China," Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (2011), pp. 431-461. Diamant argues that the relative silence of authentic military voices in the post-war period can be attributed to several peculiar features of modern Chinese history. The nature of warfare, the absence of a national army, veteran organizations and a consensus over the the legitimacy about the wars, has overshadowed the validity of veteran's claims for a higher political and cultural status. Intellectual elites in various cultural and propaganda offices dominate national war memory presenting a simplistic and artificial rendering of the wars, and marginalize veterans' position to portray war from their perspectives.
Arron William Moore, "The Problem of Changing Language Communities: Veterans and Memory Writing in China, Taiwan, and Japan," Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (2011), pp. 399-429. Moore analyses six categories of 'memory writing' that veterans used to engage with memory debates: post-war diaries, 'testimonial literature', articles and literary works, surveys and oral histories, memoirs, and paratext. He argues that veterans can only be 'heard' by members of their language community, or by a post-war society that is prepared to 'listen' to their message with little mediation.
Monday 12 September 2011
六朝 ‧ 香港
童嶺：〈「鈔」、「寫」有別論－－六朝書籍文化史識小錄一種〉，《漢學研究》，第29卷第1期（2011年3月），頁257-280。照本不動而謄錄者謂之「寫」；部分摘錄且可作改動者謂之「鈔」。
楊孟軒：〈調景嶺：香港「小臺灣」的起源與變遷，1950-1970年代〉，《臺灣史研究》，第18卷第1期（2011年3月），頁133-183。採用流亡／離散（diaspora）群體概念切入，引用CO1030、HKRS檔案、臺灣救總出版品，以及第三勢力在香港出版的兩份主要雜誌《中國之聲》（1951-2）及《自由陣線》（1950-3）
楊孟軒：〈調景嶺：香港「小臺灣」的起源與變遷，1950-1970年代〉，《臺灣史研究》，第18卷第1期（2011年3月），頁133-183。採用流亡／離散（diaspora）群體概念切入，引用CO1030、HKRS檔案、臺灣救總出版品，以及第三勢力在香港出版的兩份主要雜誌《中國之聲》（1951-2）及《自由陣線》（1950-3）
Friday 9 September 2011
中體西用論的重生？
中體西用是一種以中學為體，西學為用的理論。中學是指孔子之道，是中國道統文化，生活規範。西方的物質文明，格致製造，有其實用價值。中西學術的主要區別就是道與器，形而上者以道勝，形而下者以器勝。（莊吉發：〈中體西用－－以盛清時期中西藝術交流為中心〉，《史學彙刊》，第26期，2010年12月，頁128）
康熙道：「中國人不解西洋字義，故不便辨爾西洋人不解中國字義，如何妄論中國道理之是非？」......入境隨俗，互相尊重，符合人類文化自然演進的法則。文化人類學派解釋人類文化的起源也主張文化複源說，文化是多元的，深信人類文化依著自然法則演進，人同此心，心同此理，不必一定發源於一地，或創自一人，康熙皇帝的態度是客觀的。（頁137-8）
資料來源：莊吉發：〈中體西用－－以盛清時期中西藝術交流為中心〉，《史學彙刊》，第26期，2010年12月，頁125-178。附郎世寧雍正年間藝術創作活動簡表（頁129-34）。又附乾隆年間平定西域得勝圖銅版畫繪製過程簡表，將稿樣交粵海關發送法蘭西製成銅版畫（1753-1776）（頁163-6）。
康熙道：「中國人不解西洋字義，故不便辨爾西洋人不解中國字義，如何妄論中國道理之是非？」......入境隨俗，互相尊重，符合人類文化自然演進的法則。文化人類學派解釋人類文化的起源也主張文化複源說，文化是多元的，深信人類文化依著自然法則演進，人同此心，心同此理，不必一定發源於一地，或創自一人，康熙皇帝的態度是客觀的。（頁137-8）
資料來源：莊吉發：〈中體西用－－以盛清時期中西藝術交流為中心〉，《史學彙刊》，第26期，2010年12月，頁125-178。附郎世寧雍正年間藝術創作活動簡表（頁129-34）。又附乾隆年間平定西域得勝圖銅版畫繪製過程簡表，將稿樣交粵海關發送法蘭西製成銅版畫（1753-1776）（頁163-6）。
Monday 5 September 2011
Recent readings XXVII
I am back to Hong Kong for a while and just started to browse through the journals I missed in the summer. Some of them are quite interesting and a few related to my current research interests. They are:
伍伯常：〈隋唐之際的割據勢力－－以貴冑出身的李淵和李密為中心〉，《東吳歷史學報》，第25期（2011年6月），頁1-56。建制內外的力量角力及地緣政治的克服與制約。
何萍：〈英國與武漢國民政府之漢案交涉──以英國領事報告為中心〉，《東吳歷史學報》，第25期（2011年6月），頁187-252。 useful for my research on KW
李朝津：〈清末民初廣東大學學制之發軔〉，《東吳歷史學報》，第25期（2011年6月），頁141-185。1924年成立的廣東大學的政治牽絆。
羅麗馨：〈豐臣秀吉侵略朝鮮〉，《國立政治大學歷史學報》，第35期（2011年5），頁33-74。由侵略史到侵略史觀。
侯旭東：〈東漢洛陽南郊刑徒墓的性質與法律依據－－從《明鈔本天聖令 ‧ 獄官令》所附一則唐令說起〉，《中央研究院歷史語言研究所集刊》，第82卷，第1分，2011年3月，頁1-42。
I read several critical reviews of some books I am interested in. It certainly does not do the justice without actually reading the books but it makes sense when I am forced to prioritise my reading lists.
David Lyon's Identifying Citizens: ID Cards as Surveillance (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009). Using ID cards as the point of departure, the book resonates with Foucault's concepts of biopolitics and governmentality. The finer the granularity of identifying information collected by the state, the greater will be the potentiality for treating citizens differently according to their respective administrative identities. The process of identification entails social sorting.
Joel Mokyr's The Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain, 1700-1850 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009). Why did Britain have an industrial revolution first? Why not other advanced European countries? Because in Britain ideas interacted vigorously with business interests in 'a positive feedback loop that created the greatest sea change in economic history since the advent of culture.' Technological innovation is the prime mover.
Patrick Wright's Passport of Peking: A Very British Mission to Mao's China (OUP, 2010). Wright makes extensive use of diaries, journals, reminiscences, and oral interview with key visitors to the Communist China as early as in 1954. The key visitors include the painter Stanley Spencer, artist-journalist Paul Hogarth, biologist Cedric Dover, sinologist Edwin Pulleyblank, philosopher A. J. Ayer, architect Sir Hugh Casson, MP Barbara Castle, former PM Clement Attlee, politician Anuerin Bevan etc.
George R. Trumbull's An Empire of Facts: Colonial Power, Cultural Knowledge, and Islam in Algeria, 1870-1914 (CUP, 2009). Trumbull examines the views of colonial ethnographers about Islam as monolithic, primitive, and politically dangerous. The Imprimerie Adolph Jourdan in Algiers specialized in publishing works of colonial ethnography, which became widely known in colonial Algeria and France, and those the administration approved were bought for the libraries that existed in most administrative districts of Algeria.
Michael Curtis's Orientalism and Islam : European thinkers on Oriental despotism in the Middle East and India (CUP, 2009). Montesquieu, Edmund Burke, Alexis de Tocqueville, James Mill and John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, and Max Weber
伍伯常：〈隋唐之際的割據勢力－－以貴冑出身的李淵和李密為中心〉，《東吳歷史學報》，第25期（2011年6月），頁1-56。建制內外的力量角力及地緣政治的克服與制約。
何萍：〈英國與武漢國民政府之漢案交涉──以英國領事報告為中心〉，《東吳歷史學報》，第25期（2011年6月），頁187-252。 useful for my research on KW
李朝津：〈清末民初廣東大學學制之發軔〉，《東吳歷史學報》，第25期（2011年6月），頁141-185。1924年成立的廣東大學的政治牽絆。
羅麗馨：〈豐臣秀吉侵略朝鮮〉，《國立政治大學歷史學報》，第35期（2011年5），頁33-74。由侵略史到侵略史觀。
侯旭東：〈東漢洛陽南郊刑徒墓的性質與法律依據－－從《明鈔本天聖令 ‧ 獄官令》所附一則唐令說起〉，《中央研究院歷史語言研究所集刊》，第82卷，第1分，2011年3月，頁1-42。
I read several critical reviews of some books I am interested in. It certainly does not do the justice without actually reading the books but it makes sense when I am forced to prioritise my reading lists.
David Lyon's Identifying Citizens: ID Cards as Surveillance (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009). Using ID cards as the point of departure, the book resonates with Foucault's concepts of biopolitics and governmentality. The finer the granularity of identifying information collected by the state, the greater will be the potentiality for treating citizens differently according to their respective administrative identities. The process of identification entails social sorting.
Joel Mokyr's The Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain, 1700-1850 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009). Why did Britain have an industrial revolution first? Why not other advanced European countries? Because in Britain ideas interacted vigorously with business interests in 'a positive feedback loop that created the greatest sea change in economic history since the advent of culture.' Technological innovation is the prime mover.
Patrick Wright's Passport of Peking: A Very British Mission to Mao's China (OUP, 2010). Wright makes extensive use of diaries, journals, reminiscences, and oral interview with key visitors to the Communist China as early as in 1954. The key visitors include the painter Stanley Spencer, artist-journalist Paul Hogarth, biologist Cedric Dover, sinologist Edwin Pulleyblank, philosopher A. J. Ayer, architect Sir Hugh Casson, MP Barbara Castle, former PM Clement Attlee, politician Anuerin Bevan etc.
George R. Trumbull's An Empire of Facts: Colonial Power, Cultural Knowledge, and Islam in Algeria, 1870-1914 (CUP, 2009). Trumbull examines the views of colonial ethnographers about Islam as monolithic, primitive, and politically dangerous. The Imprimerie Adolph Jourdan in Algiers specialized in publishing works of colonial ethnography, which became widely known in colonial Algeria and France, and those the administration approved were bought for the libraries that existed in most administrative districts of Algeria.
Michael Curtis's Orientalism and Islam : European thinkers on Oriental despotism in the Middle East and India (CUP, 2009). Montesquieu, Edmund Burke, Alexis de Tocqueville, James Mill and John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, and Max Weber
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