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In this multi-disciplinary and multi-sited volume, the authors challenge reductionist and oversimplifying approaches to understanding China's engagement with Southeast Asia. Productively viewing these interactions through a "e;resource lens"e;, the editor has transcended disciplinary and area studies divides in order to assemble a dynamic and diverse group of scholars with extensive experience across Southeast Asia and in China, all while bringing together perspectives from resource economics, policy analysis, international relations, human geography, political ecology, history, sociology and anthropology. The result is an important collection that not only offers empirically detailed studies of Chinese energy and resource investments in Southeast Asia, but which attends to the complex and often ambivalent ways in which such investments have become both a source of anxiety and aspiration for different stakeholders in the region.
"In this fascinating multi-disciplinary and multi-sited volume, the authors challenge reductionist and oversimplifying approaches to understanding China's engagement with Southeast Asia. Productively viewing these interactions through a "resource lens", the editor has transcended disciplinary and area studies divides in order to assemble a dynamic and diverse group of scholars with extensive experience across Southeast Asia and in China, all while bringing together perspectives from resource economics, policy analysis, international relations, human geography, political ecology, history, sociology and anthropology. The result is an important collection that not only offers empirically detailed studies of Chinese energy and resource investments in Southeast Asia, but which attends to the complex and often ambivalent ways in which such investments have become both a source of anxiety and aspiration for different stakeholders in the region. It is essential reading for scholars seeking to understand the diverse contours of Chinese investment in Southeast Asia"-- Erik Harms, Department of Anthropology, Yale University
China is hot. The world sees a glorious future for this sleeping giant, three times larger than the United States, predicting it will blossom into the world's biggest economy by 2010. According to Chang, however, a Chinese-American lawyer and China specialist, the People's Republic is a paper dragon. Peer beneath the veneer of modernization since Mao's death, and the symptoms of decay are everywhere: Deflation grips the economy, state-owned enterprises are failing, banks are hopelessly insolvent, foreign investment continues to decline, and Communist party corruption eats away at the fabric of society. Beijing's cautious reforms have left the country stuck midway between communism and capitalism, Chang writes. With its impending World Trade Organization membership, for the first time China will be forced to open itself to foreign competition, which will shake the country to its foundations. Economic failure will be followed by government collapse. Covering subjects from party politics to the Falun Gong to the government's insupportable position on Taiwan, Chang presents a thorough and very chilling overview of China's present and not-so-distant future.
Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize An unprecedented, groundbreaking history of China's Great Famine that recasts the era of Mao Zedong and the history of the People's Republic of China. "Between 1958 and 1962, China descended into hell. Mao Zedong threw his country into a frenzy with the Great Leap Forward, an attempt to catch up to and overtake Britain in less than 15 years The experiment ended in the greatest catastrophe the country had ever known, destroying tens of millions of lives." So opens Frank Dikötter's riveting, magnificently detailed chronicle of an era in Chinese history much speculated about but never before fully documented because access to Communist Party archives has long been restricted to all but the most trusted historians. A new archive law has opened up thousands of central and provincial documents that "fundamentally change the way one can study the Maoist era." Dikötter makes clear, as nobody has before, that far from being the program that would lift the country among the world's superpowers and prove the power of Communism, as Mao imagined, the Great Leap Forward transformed the country in the other direction. It became the site not only of "one of the most deadly mass killings of human history,"--at least 45 million people were worked, starved, or beaten to death--but also of "the greatest demolition of real estate in human history," as up to one-third of all housing was turned into rubble). The experiment was a catastrophe for the natural world as well, as the land was savaged in the maniacal pursuit of steel and other industrial accomplishments. In a powerful mesghing of exhaustive research in Chinese archives and narrative drive, Dikötter for the first time links up what happened in the corridors of power-the vicious backstabbing and bullying tactics that took place among party leaders-with the everyday experiences of ordinary people, giving voice to the dead and disenfranchised. His magisterial account recasts the history of the People's Republic of China.
Gardens are sites that can be at one and the same time admired works of art and valuable pieces of real estate. As the first account in English to be wholly based on contemporary Chinese sources, this innovative, beautifully illustrated book grounds the practices of garden-making in Ming dynasty China (1368-1644) firmly in the social and cultural history of the day. Who owned Ming gardens? Who visited them? How were they represented in words, in paintings, and in visual culture generally, and what meanings did these representations hold at different levels of Chinese society? How did the discourse of gardens intersect with other discourses such as those of aesthetics, agronomy, geomancy, and botany? By examining the gardens of the city of Suzhou from a number of different angles, Craig Clunas provides a rich picture of a complex cultural phenomenon--one that was of crucial importance to the self-fashioning of the Ming elite. Drawing on a wide range of recent work in cultural theory, the author provides for the first time a historical and materialist account of Chinese garden culture, and replaces broad generalizations and orientalist fantasy with a convincing picture of the garden's role in social life. Fruitful Sites will appeal to all students of China's cultural history, to students of garden history from any part of the world, to art historians, and to readers engaged in Asian and cultural studies.
“A prescription for survival in this gorgeously illustrated and accessible guide to the future of farming.” —Albert Bates, author of The Biochar Solution Grow vegetables year-round in a greenhouse powered only by solar energy! Originally developed in China to feed millions, Chinese greenhouses are earth-sheltered, solar-heated, east-west oriented, intelligently glazed, and well-insulated. They have proven highly effective in growing warm-weather vegetables and fruits like green peppers and tomatoes in cold climates through fall, winter, and early spring using passive solar energy as the sole heat source. The Chinese Greenhouse is a full-color comprehensive guide to these passive solar greenhouses for self-sufficiency and growing year-round in soil or aquaponic grow beds with no additional heat. Coverage includes: How to design, build, and operate a Chinese greenhouse How to improve performance via short-term and long-term heat banking How to provide additional heat to make your greenhouse operate even more effectively How to cool the greenhouse during the summer. Become a more self-sufficient gardener, growing and harvesting a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables year-round, with your own Chinese greenhouse. “Wonderfully researched . . . brilliant.” —Jean-Martin Fortier, farmer and author of The Market Gardener, editor of Growers Magazine “Essential reading for pioneers of Chinese greenhouses.” —Pam Dawling, author of The Year-Round Hoophouse and Sustainable Market Farming “Every enthusiastic vegetable farmer dreams of this winter-growing miracle, and Dan shows how to do it.” —Shawna Coronado, author of 101 Organic Gardening Hacks
The Splendid Chinese Garden is an illustrated guide to the classic gardens of China. It explains the history of the garden, the traditions and beliefs they represent, their aesthetic and the techniques used to create them. Also included are chapters that survey the great gardens of China, the gardens tourists love to visit and gardeners dream of seeing and exploring. Chinese Gardens in the South of the Yangtze River: Ge Garden (Yangzhou) He Yuan, also known as Jixiao Shan Zhuang (Yangzhou) Zhan Garden (Nanjing) Jichang Garden (Wuxi) Humble Administrator's Garden (Suzhou) Lingering Garden (Suzhou) Master of the Nets Garden (Suzhou) Lion Grove Garden (Suzhou) Chinese Gardens in the North of the Yangtze River: Yihe Garden or the Summer Palace (Beijing) Beihai Park (Beijing) Jingyi Garden in Xiangshan Mountain (Beijing) Imperial Garden, Palace Museum (Beijing) The Back Garden of the Prince Gong Mansion (Beijing)
This discerning book examines China’s newly developed soft-intervention policy towards North Korea, Myanmar and the two Sudans by examining China’s diplomatic statements and behaviours. It also highlights the Chinese soft-intervention policy in economic manipulation and diplomatic persuasion in the recent generations of Chinese leadership under Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping.
China has a population of 1.3 billion people which puts enormous strain on her natural resources. This volume, by one of the leading scholars on the earth's biosphere, provides the fullest account yet of the environmental challenges that China faces.