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Corner of Fenyang Road and Huaihai Road in Shanghai, taken on Jan 19 2019

Corner of Fenyang Road and Huaihai Road in Shanghai, taken on Jan 19 2019

The China Challenge: From Quantity to Quality to Inequality

January 19, 2019


I have spent roughly half of the past thirty years living and working in China, and all of that time studying China in one way or other. I first traveled around China in 1988 and 1989. began to live here in 1996, when I came here to research my doctoral dissertation on the history of Shanghai during its jazz age in the 1920s-1930s. I lived in Beijing for a few months, and then in Shanghai for the next three years, interspersed with trips back to New York to finish my degree. Having married a woman from Shanghai, I continued to return to Shanghai for long periods despite moving to Australia for my first teaching job, and then we moved to China in 2007 and I have been living here ever since. (I wrote about this in another piece I posted last year, which has gotten a lot of interest and good feedback.) Over these many years of living here, I have observed firsthand the rapid and wide-scale transformation of China from a largely rural country to a largely urbanized one. To this day, I still see these changes on a daily basis while commuting back and forth between Shanghai and Kunshan and my current job at Duke Kunshan University. I have also seen China change from a country with very little knowledge and information about the outside world, to one that is obsessed with the wider world and its growing influence in it.

Chinese people are now far more knowledgeable about the outside world, and they are far better traveled than they were back in the 1980s. Back then, very few people traveled abroad, and those who did tended to stay abroad. Now, millions of Chinese people travel the world, and hundreds of thousands are being educated abroad only to return to China.

This gets back to my main theme of quantity vs. quality. Over the years of living here, I’ve seen huge transformations in terms of quantity. The number of people living in cities has risen greatly. So has the number of people who have received a tertiary education. The number of shopping malls, stores, factories, schools, restaurants, automobiles, apartment complexes, buildings, buildings, buildings—you name it—all have skyrocketed. Just to use an example from my first visit in 1988, back then there was one KFC in China. Now there are thousands, as well as thousands of McDonalds and other chain restaurants and stores from abroad. China has created its own fast food chains as well.

Fast food is a good example of quantitive change without accompanying quality. As we all know, fast food is basically what we call junk food. It’s not healthy. It’s not even that tasty—our taste buds are tricked by the sugar and fat. The growth in the fast food industry is indicative of the quantitative growth of China’s economy and institutions while sacrificing quality. Okay, some might argue with my example, but you get the point.

Basically, China has been on a mission to grow in quantity for nearly a century now. The obsession with quantitative growth certainly began in the 1920s, and it culminated in the Great Leap Forward of the 1950s and in the huge population boom of the Mao years. This was an attempt to leapfrog China’s economy over those of the western nations, and one that notoriously failed (though there were certainly some achievements), and which, most scholars would argue, caused the unnecessary deaths of millions due to starvation.

China’s obsession with catching up with and surpassing western economies and militaries is understandable. After all, at the time that Lord McCartney sailed to China to kowtow (or kneel as it turned out) to the Qianlong Emperor in the 1790s, China was arguably far wealthier and more powerful than any other country on earth. Certainly the Englishmen who visited China during that time period were suitably impressed. Over the next century, China fell from its lofty position, with internal rebellions so massive and destructive they dwarfed America’s Civil War of the same age. At the same time, starting with the Opium War launched by the British in 1839, Europeans and Americans forcibly opened the country to trade and commerce with distant lands overseas, while continuing to hook China on opium. Finally, the Japanese Empire caused enormous damage to China over the next century in the name of “saving Asia for the Asians.”

One needn’t go into the details to understand that China became very defensive as a result. The project of Chinese nation-building launched in the 20th century with the rise of the Republic of China was an attempt to create a strong, sovereign nation that could withstand the onslaughts of the foreign imperialists. This mindset still governs over China today, and the focus is still on increasing the quantity of everything that can contribute to national strength and prosperity. Whether it’s armed forces or science and engineering, building national infrastructure or fortifying national defense, China is still in quantitative mode.

Between the Mao years and the Deng years, a great deal of irreparable damage was done to Chinese institutions and to lineages of experts who might have led China down a somewhat different path than today. The revolutionary politics of Maoism attacked and purged the country of generations of intellectuals, artists, educators, scientists, journalists, politicians, diplomats, and artisans, and also closed China off to the developments of the outside world. Since the late 1970s, when Deng Xiaoping traveled to the USA and watched a Texan rodeo while wearing a ten-gallon cowboy hat, China has been opening further and further to the outside world, and a Pandora’s Box of ideas and influences has once again rushed in. Unlike the treaty port system of the 1840s-1940s, which was basically forced upon China by the western powers, the influence of the outside world is much more under the control of Chinese government run by the Communist Party, which has control over the cities and places where it is felt most strongly, from Shenzhen to Shanghai to Beijing. Yet, once the genie was let out of the bottle, it could not be stuffed back in.

When I first visited China in 1988-1989 as a college student and spent three months traveling around the country, China was already in the throes of transitioning from a socialist economy to a market economy. In 1988, foreigners like me who were traveling in China had to use Foreign Exchange Currency or FEC. We could change that currency on the “black market” for the local currency, RMB, the “People’s Money”, and use it to buy things on the street, but officially speaking we were limited to FEC. FEC was worth twice the value of RMB on the black market, because you could buy things with FEC that you couldn’t with RMB. Also, foreigners like myself had the privilege of being able to go to the Friendship Stores to buy imported goods, which the vast majority of Chinese did not have access to. This is one reason why Chinese people were so eager to exchange FEC for RMB—they could buy things like TV sets and other technologies and goods with FEC, as long as they knew somebody with connections (guanxi) who could enter the so-called Friendship Stores.

When I first arrived in China as an 18 year old, there was one Kentucky Fried Chicken, and it was in the Wangfujing district in Beijing. Luckily, I took a photo of that restaurant, which is one of my cherished photos from my first trip to China. My overall impression of China was that people had few possessions. They lived in simple housing units without heat or air conditioning (there was heat in the north but not in the south), rode everywhere on bicycles if they could afford them, and had limited choices for food and entertainment. There were extremely few foreigners living in China back then, and most of them were either students studying in the more prominent universities like Fudan in Shanghai, Nanjing University, or Beijing University, or they were journalists, but I didn’t meet any of those. I did visit some of my friends and classmates who were studying in programs in Nanjing and Beijing.

Another memory I have of that first trip is how eager many Chinese people were to enter the newly emerging marketplace, and also how confused many were about the whole concept of “reforms and opening” (Gaige Kaifang), the campaign that Deng Xiaoping had launched a decade before I arrived. There were plenty of people in the small towns and cities that I visited trying to sell produce and other goods and items, including Mao era memorabilia. I had conversations with all sorts of people from all walks of life, on trains, on boats, and buses, and even on bicycles, as I made my way around the country. I met people who tried to get me to do business with them. Other more desperate characters tried to fleece me or swindle me in one way or other, mostly by selling me things at way above their market value (this is still a situation met frequently by foreigners in this land), but also through thievery and other means. I had my wallet stolen more than once and also had my camera bag slashed in a crowd in a busy train station, although I saved the camera. Luckily I never had my passport stolen. But for every swindler or thief, it seems there was always a Good Samaritan, someone with more of an education and social status, who helped me out or befriended me in one way or other. And so I made my way through the country on what remains to this day the most important single journey of my life.

I say this because it was through that three-month journey that I developed a deep and lifelong interest, affection, and curiosity for China. Not only was it the journey itself, but also the planning and preparation for that journey, which included a year of intensive study of Mandarin Chinese at Dartmouth College and then at a summer at National Taiwan University in Taipei Taiwan studying in the famed IUP Program or Stanford Center.

While preparing for my first journey in Mainland China, I read all the books I could get my hands on, including Yale historian Jonathan Spence’s book Gate of Heavenly Peace (a gift from my father before I went abroad), NYTimes journalist Fox Butterfield’s Alive in the Bitter Sea, Nien Cheng’s memoir Life and Death in Shanghai about the Cultural Revolution, and of course, John King Fairbanks’ history of modern China, and a few others as well. I also read some Chinese literature, both in translation and in the original. I could read Chinese poems and short stories by then, although it was a struggle with the dictionary to do so, as it was for me to talk to people in real time.

Back then, China was gearing up for the most rapid social and economic transformation the world has ever seen. Of course at the time, nobody had any inkling of how rapidly and completely China would change over the next few decades. This change happened over the past thirty years, as the incredible economic growth of the Reform Era propelled China from one of the world’s poorest countries to one of its wealthiest (although the wealth is not well-distributed, introducing my third theme of inequality—but we will get back to that). By the way, I agree with Joshua Eisenman and some other China scholars that the Mao era actually helped pave the way for this growth, which arguably began in the early twentieth century under the leadership of men like Wang Jingwei and Chen Gongbo—both of whom later became known as China’s arch traitors during the war with Japan in 1937-1934.

Today, while the government of China is still hell-bent on controlling outside influence and is still very concerned about it, there is little it can do to prevent millions of Chinese from being exposed more and more to the world outside of China. Going back to the Qianlong reign, there were very strict controls on foreigners, who were basically limited to the port of Canton, much as the Tokugawa restricted them to Nagasaki. Foreigners were generally forbidden from learning Chinese, and Chinese were not encouraged to venture outside the realm, certainly not as far as Europe. Today, by contrast, millions of Chinese people—or should we say, people of Chinese heritage—are living in other countries around the world. Thailand has the largest number with around 13 million, and there are well over 3 million in the USA alone. There are millions more traveling freely abroad and exploring the world, or studying abroad for lengthy periods of time. Millions more are exposed on a daily basis to a globalizing world, whether through the media or by living in big cities such as Shanghai. And millions of foreigners are learning Chinese and many like myself are marrying Chinese people and raising families in China.

In Shanghai alone, there are hundreds of thousands of foreigners and overseas Chinese “returnees” living amongst the millions of Chinese. There are hundreds of thousands more dispersed among various large cities in China, and in smaller towns like Kunshan as well (in China, a smaller town might still have a couple million people in it). These foreigners and returnees have an enormous outsized influence on cultural and social life in these cities as well as on institutions, industries, and practices. This is partly because they bring know-how, ideas, skills, and can-doism that just didn’t exist here. Foreigners and returnees have educations and knowledge bases that enable them to do amazing things here and have profound influences on local people and places.

I can think of countless examples where this has happened, in areas ranging from music scenes (one of my own areas of research), restaurants, entertainment venues, businesses, schools, universities, and many other industries as well. This was in fact easy to do back in the 1980s and 1990s, when China had very little knowledge of the outside world. Of course you can say that Chinese people are much more worldly and educated and exposed to ideas about things from abroad than they were twenty or thirty years ago. Even so, I would argue that China still needs the foreigners and overseas returnees to serve as catalysts for this transformation it has embarked upon since the 1980s, and will continue to do so for a long time to come.

This is simply because China lost much of its artisanal knowledge during the Mao years. Any field in which knowledge is passed from master to apprentice, whether music, art, business, science, technology, or education, was deeply affected by the attacks on expertise during the Mao years, not to mention the cutting of China off from the outside world. Yes, there were Soviet experts in China in the 1950s. By the 1960s, most of them had gone home. China stood on its own. Meanwhile, intellectuals and experts of all stripes were being ruthlessly attacked by the violent forces of the Cultural Revolution, and by Mao’s dictum that anybody can do anything if given a chance and possessed of the right attitude (even make steel in their own backyards!)

So when China opened up to the world starting in the 1980s, it had a great deal of catching up to do, and this is still going on today. China’s strategy was to focus on quantity: More schools, more graduates, more engineers and scientists, more trains, planes, automobiles, airports, industries, factories, cities, subway systems, roads, highways, you name it. And China did this extremely well. China is a country obsessed with numbers and with what is quantifiable and measurable.

Quality is another thing entirely. Quality is not always measurable. Often, quality is subtle, and it is something passed on from brain to brain and hand to hand. In other words, there is an artisanal nature to quality. Quality is also something that is not often achieved through quantification. Take my own field of education. Teaching a class of 200 students is not the same as teaching a class of 20 students. A liberal arts education demands a great deal of attention and effort on the part of the professor, working very closely with one’s students. And not only professors—many others are involved as well in producing a high-quality educational experience. This is true of many other fields as well. Quality means giving individual attention to a small number of people or things. Think of the Japanese apple growers polishing those individual apples.

China recognizes the need for quality. I think this is the biggest change going on over the past few years, and it is starting to pick up pace. It is one thing to educate hundreds of millions of people—a staggering achievement. Yet what is the quality of that education? How ready are those people for the technological and cultural changes that are coming over the next few decades? How much of what is produced in China will be of value to the rest of the world?

Quantity has gotten China very far, in terms of education, industry, wealth, and infrastructure. This is the hardware. The software is quality. And quality of life in China, while much better for certain people and in certain ways, still needs a great deal of improvement. 

I look back on the China I first saw in the 1980s and I feel that in many ways, the people back then were better off than they are now. For one thing, they rode bicycles all over the place, which means they were healthier than they are today. The cities and the air were cleaner too—of that I’m sure (though burning bitumen or coal loaves was more common in the winter). People were not working as long hours as they do today. They were not nearly as overloaded with sensory stimulation and information. They were often closer to their relatives. This has to be qualified of course, since many millions were sent to other cities or rural areas during the Mao years. Above all else, people had the security of the “iron rice bowl” (tiefanwan) of socialism. They had jobs for life, and they had housing. 

Life was probably much simpler for most people in the 1980s than it is today. They certainly didn’t have the range of choices they have today, but they probably ate healthier in general, with more rice and vegetables in their diet and less fat, junk food and meat. In fact, as I mentioned at the beginning of this piece, junk food barely existed at all. Colonel Sanders was just beginning to set up shop then, and Ronald McDonald didn’t even have his foot in the door.

Of course there were many things that people were not happy about back then. For one thing, the danwei or work unit had a huge influence over their lives. Whether it was their housing, their jobs, or even their marriages, these choices were often out of their own hands, or at least in the hands of the danwei. I met many people on the road who had been dispatched to faraway places without any say in the matter. And the inequities building up, where some people had access to precious resources like the Friendship Stores and most others did not were also contributing to the overall malaise that was gripping China in that era. Meanwhile, enough culture was coming in from abroad to make people realize there were better worlds out there. This all culminated in the events of 1989. While I didn’t witness those firsthand, I certainly felt the tensions that were building to them while traveling in China that winter.

In many ways, millions upon millions of people are better off in China today than they were thirty years ago in terms of material wealth and access to choices and resources. Yet China’s economic growth over the past few decades has created vast differences between the wealthy and the impoverished.

Our new book Polarized Cities goes so far as to argue that a new caste society has arisen in China, where wealth creates more wealth and poverty begets poverty. This is probably not as fixed as more traditional castes, and yet access to the resources necessary to advance up the socioeconomic ladder are very hard to come by for those at the bottom. After the “iron rice bowl” was smashed in the 1990s, people lost their jobs, their access to health care, and their homes. As the work of Qin Shao reveals, (see her book Shanghai Gone), in Shanghai, huge numbers of people were forcibly removed from their homes and their homes and communities were destroyed to make way for new shopping malls, office, buildings, and apartment complexes. While some were able to buy into the new real estate market and improve the quality of their homes, most were moved to the outskirts of the city. And this was happening all over China. Now, millions of people in China are being uprooted by a combination of state policies and market forces. And new inequalities are growing by the day. 

How can quality be reconciled with inequality? This is another challenge that China faces, and one that will influence the fate of around 1.5 billion people for some time to come.


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  • March 2019
    • Mar 26, 2019 Talking About the Beatles: 5 Albums Backwards and Forwards Mar 26, 2019
    • Mar 23, 2019 A Magical Evening of Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai with Wynton Marsalis and His Big Band (March 14 2019) Mar 23, 2019
  • February 2019
    • Feb 24, 2019 Niseko Green: A Dartmouth Alumni Gathering in Snowy Hokkaido Feb 24, 2019
    • Feb 22, 2019 Working Through the Pain to Victory: Memories of Coach Jeff Johnson and the ABRHS Boys’ Swim Team, 1983-1987 Feb 22, 2019
    • Feb 11, 2019 Mapping Shanghai’s Entertainment World: Christian Henriot and Virtualshanghai.net Feb 11, 2019
    • Feb 7, 2019 Songs About Shanghai from the Early Jazz Age Feb 7, 2019
    • Feb 5, 2019 新年快乐,恭喜发财!Happy Chinese New Year from ShanghaiSojourns! Feb 5, 2019
  • January 2019
    • Jan 19, 2019 The China Challenge: From Quantity to Quality to Inequality Jan 19, 2019
    • Jan 5, 2019 The Best of Shanghai Sojourns: The Ten Most Popular Posts in 2018 Jan 5, 2019
    • Jan 1, 2019 Walking on the Wild Side of Life: Reading Laura Dassow Walls’ Bio of Henry Thoreau Jan 1, 2019
  • December 2018
    • Dec 27, 2018 A Brahmsian World: On Finishing Jan Swafford’s Brahms Bio Dec 27, 2018
    • Dec 10, 2018 Sa-bai-dee! Visiting Luang Prabang in Laos for the Rustic Pathways EdNet Conference Dec 10, 2018
    • Dec 2, 2018 Seven Tips for Travelers Dec 2, 2018
  • November 2018
    • Nov 15, 2018 Discovering Barcelona: A Flaneur's Guide Nov 15, 2018
    • Nov 11, 2018 Bravo CIEE por una fantástica conferencia en Barcelona Nov 11, 2018
    • Nov 4, 2018 Getting Back to the Heart of Asia: Another Visit to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore Nov 4, 2018
  • September 2018
    • Sep 1, 2018 ​Reflections on the Duke Kunshan Cultural Crossroads Festival Held on Campus on August 18, 2018 Sep 1, 2018
  • August 2018
    • Aug 16, 2018 Dr. Nathan's Top 50 Sci-Fi Films of All Time Aug 16, 2018
    • Aug 7, 2018 A Musical Holiday in America: Radiohead, Thomas Dolby, and the Musical Missionaries of Shanghai Aug 7, 2018
  • July 2018
    • Jul 18, 2018 Ode to Thomas Dolby, The Man Who Blinded Us With Science, Not To Mention Technology, Music, and Poetry Jul 18, 2018
    • Jul 4, 2018 A Whirlwind Tour of Tokyo: Ever an A-Maze-ing City! Jul 4, 2018
  • June 2018
    • Jun 23, 2018 Ode to the Beatles: Memories, Dreams, and Reflections on the Fab Four Jun 23, 2018
    • Jun 16, 2018 A Message to Friends and Colleagues and Like-Minded Folks: Please Support My Work. Jun 16, 2018
    • Jun 3, 2018 On the Importance of Play: At Work, at Home, and with Family Jun 3, 2018
  • May 2018
    • May 5, 2018 It Don’t Get Any More Shanghai Noir Than This: An Online Interview with Paul French, author of City of Devils May 5, 2018
    • May 1, 2018 From Thrills to Chills: A Review of the New Shanghai History Museum in People’s Park May 1, 2018
  • April 2018
    • Apr 14, 2018 Why I Remain in China After All These Years: Some Brief Thoughts and Reflections on the 30th Anniversary of My Engagement with the P.R.C. Apr 14, 2018
    • Apr 10, 2018 My Top Six Bands from My Junior High Days (1981-83) Apr 10, 2018
    • Apr 6, 2018 Walking Historical Shanghai: The Hotel and Theater District around Thibet and Nanjing Roads (Part II) Apr 6, 2018
    • Apr 5, 2018 Walking Historical Shanghai: The Hotel and Theater District Around Tibet Road (Part 1) Apr 5, 2018
  • March 2018
    • Mar 31, 2018 三十年代多伦路上的暗杀案 Unraveling a Murder Mystery on Shanghai’s Duolun (Darroch) Road Mar 31, 2018
    • Mar 28, 2018 My first APAIE conference Mar 28, 2018
    • Mar 25, 2018 Climbing Into the Way Back Machine: Another Night of Music in Shanghai, Traveling Backwards From 1950s Rock’n’Roll to 1930s Big Band Jazz Mar 25, 2018
    • Mar 10, 2018 Walking Shanghai: From the Oldest Part of Town to Some Brand New Nightlife Hotspots Mar 10, 2018
  • February 2018
    • Feb 11, 2018 The Beijing Indie Scene is Alive and Kicking (Well, Almost) Feb 11, 2018
    • Feb 4, 2018 Sunday Journal: Surviving the Cold War in Shanghai, filming a BBC doc, exploring Kunshan Nightscapes, and city walks Feb 4, 2018
  • January 2018
    • Jan 12, 2018 “Someday Soon, You Will All Be Speaking Chinese”—True or False? Jan 12, 2018
    • Jan 7, 2018 Catching Up with the Rock and Jazz Scenes in Shanghai: WHAI at Yuyintang and the JZ Big Band Jan 7, 2018
    • Jan 1, 2018 新年快乐, 上海!Welcoming 2018 in Shanghai with a Walk On the Sunny Side of the Street Jan 1, 2018
  • December 2017
    • Dec 30, 2017 The Cafe to End All Cafes: The New Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Shanghai Dec 30, 2017
    • Dec 28, 2017 So Long, Old West Gate! The Demise of an Old Shanghai Neighborhood Dec 28, 2017
    • Dec 27, 2017 Six Important Points About China Worth Remembering * Dec 27, 2017
    • Dec 27, 2017 Oh, That Magic Kingdom in the Middle Kingdom! Some Comparisons Between Shanghai Disneyland and LA Disneyland Dec 27, 2017
    • Dec 22, 2017 One Last Night Tour of the Bund (for now) and Saying Farewell to Astor House Dec 22, 2017
    • Dec 14, 2017 The Uncertain Future of the Astor House Hotel: A Historical Landmark Hotel in Shanghai Dec 14, 2017
    • Dec 8, 2017 Jazzing the Bund: Joshua Redman and the Aaron Goldberg Trio at Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai Dec 8, 2017
  • November 2017
    • Nov 16, 2017 Morphology, Longevity, Incept Dates: Random Musings, Memories, and Reflections Inspired by Blade Runner and the Sequel, Blade Runner 2049 Nov 16, 2017
    • Nov 2, 2017 Keeping your EARCOS to the Ground: Notes and Reflections on the 49th EARCOS Leadership Conference in Bangkok Nov 2, 2017
  • October 2017
    • Oct 22, 2017 Ten Reasons Why Cities are Grand (Especially Shanghai) Oct 22, 2017
    • Oct 15, 2017 逆流上水 Paddling Against the Current: On Rethinking Asian Language and Culture Studies and on Re-Orienting the Study Abroad Experience Oct 15, 2017
    • Oct 13, 2017 Bustin’ Beijing: Subways, Schwarzman Scholars, and a Whole Lotta Breakdown in Sanlitun Oct 13, 2017
    • Oct 3, 2017 Still Taiwan After All These Years Oct 3, 2017
  • September 2017
    • Sep 17, 2017 Bombay or Bust: My First Journey to India, and the Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship Sep 17, 2017
    • Sep 16, 2017 Bangkok Redux: Exploring the Golden City Sep 16, 2017
    • Sep 15, 2017 Ancient City of Infinite Charms: Hanoi, Vietnam Sep 15, 2017
    • Sep 5, 2017 Why Asia Needs More Liberal Arts (and Sciences) Sep 5, 2017
    • Sep 3, 2017 Night Train to Singapore Sep 3, 2017
  • July 2017
    • Jul 28, 2017 Quick Asian Impressions from a Whirlwind Recruiting Tour (Part 1 of 2) Jul 28, 2017
    • Jul 27, 2017 My Chinese Alter Ego, or What's In a Name? Jul 27, 2017
    • Jul 22, 2017 I'm a zhongguo tong, dammit (and proud of it!) Jul 22, 2017
    • Jul 10, 2017 On the Value of Liberal Arts Education Part 2: Classical vs. Jazz Jul 10, 2017
  • June 2017
    • Jun 25, 2017 On the value of a liberal arts education, or how I went from a math and science nerd to a China/Asian studies nerd Jun 25, 2017
  • May 2017
    • May 19, 2017 Jazz Bandleader Whitey Smith, “The Man Who Taught China to Dance” in Shanghai, 1920s-1930s May 19, 2017
    • May 7, 2017 Rocking Kunshan: A Night with The Eagle Bar Band May 7, 2017
  • April 2017
    • Apr 25, 2017 昆山的酒吧 The Bars and Clubs of Kunshan (Part One) Apr 25, 2017
    • Apr 20, 2017 Getting Green Again: Remembering our Class of 1991 25th Reunion at Dartmouth College Apr 20, 2017
    • Apr 16, 2017 Gathering the Worthies: The Association of Asian Studies (AAS) Conference in Toronto, March 2017 Apr 16, 2017
  • February 2017
    • Feb 19, 2017 Spring 2017 GLS Orientation and Faculty Tour of Shanghai Feb 19, 2017
    • Feb 4, 2017 Vinyl School Years: Musical Memories from the 1980s and my Top 20 Albums (Part 2) Feb 4, 2017
  • January 2017
    • Jan 30, 2017 Vinyl School Years: My Favorite Albums from the 1980s (Part 1) Jan 30, 2017
    • Jan 17, 2017 The Year 2016 in 10 Favorite Books Jan 17, 2017
  • May 2016
    • May 24, 2016 Remembering James Freedman, President of Dartmouth College May 24, 2016
  • April 2016
    • Apr 17, 2016 An educational weekend in Shanghai with SAS Alumni and Duke Kunshan GLS faculty Apr 17, 2016
  • February 2016
    • Feb 21, 2016 Music and Memory: Remembering the Dartmouth College Chamber Singers Feb 21, 2016
  • January 2016
    • Jan 2, 2016 Live from Tokyo, its...A podcast interview on Shanghai Nightscapes with "New Books in East Asian Studies" presenter Carla Nappi Jan 2, 2016
  • November 2015
    • Nov 7, 2015 More talks for Shanghai Nightscapes Nov 7, 2015
  • September 2015
    • Sep 1, 2015 Shanghai Nightscapes book talk for Royal Asiatic Society, Sept 12 Sep 1, 2015
  • August 2015
    • Aug 3, 2015 Shanghai Nightscapes Goes Live Aug 3, 2015
  • July 2015
    • Jul 7, 2015 That's a Fine Cuppa Cha: Another Rave Review of Mu Shiying Jul 7, 2015
    • Jul 4, 2015 What Makes a City Habitable? Workshopping with Toby Lincoln and SASS, and a Night of Cow's Heads and Craft Brews Jul 4, 2015
  • June 2015
    • Jun 18, 2015 Catching Coco and the Possicobilities at JZ Club Jun 18, 2015
    • Jun 6, 2015 Project Dementia Revisited: Getting Reacquainted with the Beijing Rock Scene Jun 6, 2015
  • December 2014
    • Dec 24, 2014 Walter Benjamin: A Critical Life Dec 24, 2014
    • Dec 24, 2014 A Great List of Books and Films on Old Shanghai Dec 24, 2014
  • November 2014
    • Nov 21, 2014 "The Beautiful and Damned:" Including a Review of Mu Shiying: China's Lost Modernist Nov 21, 2014
    • Nov 10, 2014 Shanghai Art Deco Weekend: A Talk on the Paramount Ballroom of the 1930s Nov 10, 2014
  • August 2014
    • Aug 28, 2014 Another review of Mu Shiying Aug 28, 2014
    • Aug 20, 2014 The recordings of Whitey Smith, the Jazz-Man who Taught China to Dance Aug 20, 2014
  • May 2014
    • May 26, 2014 A review of Mu Shiying: China's Lost Modernist in Asian Review of Books May 26, 2014
  • April 2014
    • Apr 19, 2014 Announcing our New Book: Shanghai Nightscapes (to be published within the next year or so) Apr 19, 2014
    • Apr 18, 2014 Book Talk at Italian Chamber of Commerce in China Apr 18, 2014
  • March 2014
    • Mar 24, 2014 Mu Shiying Book Talk at Wooden Box, Shanghai April 3 Mar 24, 2014
    • Mar 24, 2014 Film Screening of "Down" for RAS Shanghai, Wed Mar 26, 7 pm Mar 24, 2014
    • Mar 24, 2014 Mu Shiying Book Talk at FCC HK Mar 24, 2014
    • Mar 16, 2014 A Whirlwind of Talks and Tours in March 2014 Mar 16, 2014
    • Mar 16, 2014 City of Darkness Revisited, by Greg Girard and Ian Lambot Mar 16, 2014
    • Mar 7, 2014 The 2014 Shanghai Literary Festival Begins Mar 7, 2014
    • Mar 6, 2014 Local media support for my new book on Mu Shiying Mar 6, 2014
    • Mar 6, 2014 Mu Shiying: China's Lost Modernist now available on Amazon Mar 6, 2014
    • Mar 4, 2014 My New Book has Arrived! Mar 4, 2014
    • Mar 4, 2014 A Review of our Film, Down: Indie Rock in the PRC Mar 4, 2014
  • February 2014
    • Feb 20, 2014 The Poseidon Project: A Review of a Locally Produced Indie Doc Feb 20, 2014
    • Feb 11, 2014 Some podcasts on my rotation list Feb 11, 2014
    • Feb 5, 2014 Two new BBC radio shows: on Chinese Pop Music and Shanghai History Feb 5, 2014
  • November 2011
    • Nov 27, 2011 子曰--王燮达个人作品展 Sages' Sayings: Wang Xieda Solo Exhibition @ James Cohan Gallery Nov 27, 2011
    • Nov 16, 2011 The Poetry of Chen Gongbo, and the Perils of Translation Nov 16, 2011
    • Nov 16, 2011 Video Art in China @ The Minsheng Art Museum Nov 16, 2011
  • September 2011
    • Sep 29, 2011 Congratulations to Peter Hessler, on Being Awarded a MacArthur Fellow Sep 29, 2011
    • Sep 27, 2011 Some Random Notes on Filmmaking, Art, Music, and Identity Sep 27, 2011
    • Sep 17, 2011 Excavating China's Collective Unconscious: Some Good Contemporary Chinese Art Shows at Shanghai's Moganshan Art District Sep 17, 2011
    • Sep 12, 2011 Old Shanghai Revisited: Touring the Bund and the Shanghai History Museum with my NYU Shanghai History Class Sep 12, 2011
    • Sep 4, 2011 Jazzing Chinese Folk: The Solitary Bird CD Release Party @ TwoCities Gallery Sep 4, 2011
  • August 2011
    • Aug 31, 2011 A Visit with Shanghai's Red Collector, Liu Debao Aug 31, 2011
    • Aug 26, 2011 Strolling Through China's Revolutionary History: A Walk in Shanghai's French Concession Aug 26, 2011
    • Aug 23, 2011 China's Basketball Brawls: Aggression vs. Etiquette on the Courts and on the Road Aug 23, 2011
    • Aug 15, 2011 One More Night of Blues and Funk with Tony Hall's Blues Mission Aug 15, 2011
    • Aug 14, 2011 Shanghai Nights of Blues and Jazz Aug 14, 2011
    • Aug 13, 2011 The Many Faces of Shanghai: Life in the Apocatropolis Aug 13, 2011
    • Aug 9, 2011 A Fond Farewell to Yonsei University Aug 9, 2011
    • Aug 7, 2011 A Visit to Songdo: Yonsei's Eco-Campus of the Future Aug 7, 2011
    • Aug 7, 2011 Artful Construction Sites: Seoul's Digital Media City Aug 7, 2011
    • Aug 6, 2011 A Shanghailander in Seoul VI: So Long Seoul (for now) Aug 6, 2011
  • July 2011
    • Jul 31, 2011 Another review of my book Shanghai's Dancing World Jul 31, 2011
    • Jul 29, 2011 A Shanghailander in Seoul V: Beating the Rainy Day Blues Jul 29, 2011
    • Jul 22, 2011 A Shanghailander in Seoul IV: A "Field Trip" to the Ehwa Museum Jul 22, 2011
    • Jul 16, 2011 A Shanghailander in Seoul III: Getting Squared with Seoul Circles, Jul 16, 2011
    • Jul 3, 2011 A Shanghailander in Seoul II: Climbing Seoul Mountains Jul 3, 2011
  • June 2011
    • Jun 25, 2011 A Shanghailander in Seoul Part 1: Touched Down and Settling In Jun 25, 2011
    • Jun 18, 2011 Two Plays Now Showing in Shanghai: God of Carnage and Deer Cauldron Tale Jun 18, 2011
    • Jun 5, 2011 Land of Rice Wine and Stinky Tofu: A Weekend in Shaoxing Jun 5, 2011
  • May 2011
    • May 15, 2011 Resurrecting the Ghosts of Old Shanghai: The Execution of Mayor Chen May 15, 2011
    • May 11, 2011 Mao on Maoming Road: A Tour of the Chairman's Old Shanghai Haunts May 11, 2011
    • May 9, 2011 Here are some Wordle Word Clouds from my Research and Writing May 9, 2011
    • May 1, 2011 Playing with Noise: A Weekend of Art and Rock in Beijing May 1, 2011
  • April 2011
    • Apr 15, 2011 Glitz and Glamour, Desire, and Danger: A Field Trip to Xintiandi Apr 15, 2011
    • Apr 13, 2011 Shanghai has Sprung: Walking through Historic Parks, Remembering Lu Xun and Waltzing with Mao Apr 13, 2011
    • Apr 10, 2011 Touring the French Concession and Screening Down: Indie Rock in the PRC Apr 10, 2011
    • Apr 9, 2011 Bob Dylan Rocked Shanghai, But Did He Roll? Apr 9, 2011
    • Apr 4, 2011 Interview with the filmmakers on the making of Down: Indie Rock in the PRC Apr 4, 2011
    • Apr 1, 2011 A Week of Musical Magic in Shanghai Apr 1, 2011
  • March 2011
    • Mar 29, 2011 春日游走老上海法租界 A stroll through the Heart of Old Shanghai's French Concession with NYU Shanghai Mar 29, 2011
    • Mar 28, 2011 上海纽约大学奠基仪式 NYU Shanghai Campus Groundbreaking Ceremony Mar 28, 2011
    • Mar 23, 2011 Shanghai's Dancing World favorably reviewed in the American Historical Review Mar 23, 2011
    • Mar 21, 2011 有朋自遠方來 不亦樂乎: Receiving honored guests from Tokyo and Harvard, resurrecting the ghost of Zhang Ailing, and exploring rooftops on the Shanghai Bund Mar 21, 2011
    • Mar 20, 2011 穆時英 上海的狐步舞, “Shanghai Fox-trot” Mar 20, 2011
    • Mar 19, 2011 Shanghai’s Nighttime Phantasmagoria: Haunting Nightlife Spaces Old and New Mar 19, 2011
    • Mar 4, 2011 Canned Fun: An Evening at the Phebe 3D Dance Club in Shanghai Mar 4, 2011
  • February 2011
    • Feb 10, 2011 Dancing at the Majestic Hotel to "Nightime in Old Shanghai" by Whitey Smith Feb 10, 2011
    • Feb 7, 2011 An A-Muse-ing Weekend in Shanghai or Sexing the Foreigner in the Nightlife Scene Feb 7, 2011
  • January 2011
    • Jan 14, 2011 On Chua, Chinese Mothers, and Educating Our Daughter in Shanghai Jan 14, 2011
    • Jan 13, 2011 The Rock Doc is Nearing Completion Jan 13, 2011
  • August 2010
    • Aug 25, 2010 Shanghai's Dancing World voted a "page turner" at HK Book Fest Aug 25, 2010
    • Aug 4, 2010 A review of _Shanghai's Dancing World_ in _China Quarterly_ Aug 4, 2010
  • July 2010
    • Jul 30, 2010 On Reading Peter Hessler’s latest book, Country Driving Jul 30, 2010
    • Jul 27, 2010 Some Late Night Thoughts on Reading Paul Theroux’s _My Secret History_ Jul 27, 2010
    • Jul 1, 2010 Xu Jilin on Arts and Culture in Shanghai Jul 1, 2010
  • June 2010
    • Jun 3, 2010 Shanghai Journal back online Jun 3, 2010
  • October 2008
    • Oct 5, 2008 A Fun-Filled Vacation Week in Shanghai Oct 5, 2008
  • September 2008
    • Sep 30, 2008 Singin' the Digestive Blues in Good Ol' Shanghai Sep 30, 2008
    • Sep 13, 2008 Life in Shanghai Continues Apace, and my New Job with CIEE Ramps Up Sep 13, 2008
  • August 2008
    • Aug 31, 2008 Post-Olympic Rambles Aug 31, 2008
  • July 2008
    • Jul 26, 2008 Ah, Those Wonderful Olympics (II) Jul 26, 2008
    • Jul 26, 2008 Tempests in Teapots: The Beijing Olympics and the World Press Jul 26, 2008
    • Jul 22, 2008 Back on Track in Muggy Shanghai Jul 22, 2008
    • Jul 14, 2008 Garden Memories of an Illustrious Past: A Weekend Visit to Suzhou Jul 14, 2008
    • Jul 8, 2008 Beaches and Buddhas: A Weekend Trip to the Zhoushan Islands of Shenjiamen, Zhujiajian, and Putuoshan Jul 8, 2008
    • Jul 1, 2008 Another Sign of Old Shanghai Vanishing Jul 1, 2008
  • June 2008
    • Jun 29, 2008 Shanghai Gloaming: A Videographic Portrayal of the City in Flux Jun 29, 2008
    • Jun 29, 2008 (mis)Representing Beijing: A Review of _Beijing Time_ by Dutton et al Jun 29, 2008
    • Jun 23, 2008 Sex and Politics in the Orient: An Interview with James Farrer Jun 23, 2008
    • Jun 16, 2008 Punks on Stage in Shanghai: Re-TROS at Moganshan Lu STD Party Jun 16, 2008
    • Jun 7, 2008 Eine Kleine Nachtmusik: The Rogue Transmission, Boys Climbing Ropes, and Joyside at Windows Underground Jun 7, 2008
    • Jun 1, 2008 Windows Underground: A New Bastion for the Rock Scene in Shanghai Jun 1, 2008
    • Jun 1, 2008 Happy Children’s Day, Shanghai Jun 1, 2008
  • May 2008
    • May 21, 2008 A Message to China: Stop Eating Shark Fin Soup! 鱼翅汤背后的成本:鲨鱼可能消失 May 21, 2008
    • May 19, 2008 Nightlife in China: A Special Issue of _China An International Journal_ May 19, 2008
    • May 18, 2008 Earthquake Rocks Sichuan, but Shanghai Parties On May 18, 2008
    • May 17, 2008 Six Shanghai Walks: One Down, Five to Go May 17, 2008
    • May 13, 2008 Shanghai in May: A Renewed Love Affair with the City May 13, 2008
    • May 3, 2008 A Virtual Tour of the Paramount Ballroom, 1930s Shanghai's Finest Dance Palace May 3, 2008
  • April 2008
    • Apr 28, 2008 Holy Hollywood! Welcoming John Cusack to Shanghai Apr 28, 2008
    • Apr 28, 2008 Tintin in the Land of Snow: Tibet, China, and the West Apr 28, 2008
    • Apr 21, 2008 Dartmouth in Beijing Presents: Preserving the Hutongs of Beijing Apr 21, 2008
    • Apr 20, 2008 CIEE Workshop On Improving Teaching, Learning, and Intercultural Understanding Apr 20, 2008
    • Apr 11, 2008 SUBS in Shanghai : Great band but the venue needs work Apr 11, 2008
    • Apr 10, 2008 Sparrow Village: A Film about China's Miao Minority People Apr 10, 2008
    • Apr 6, 2008 Tianzifang: A Close Look at Shanghai’s “Creative Art Park” Apr 6, 2008
    • Apr 4, 2008 China's Jimi Hendrix? The Guitar Work of Zhou Chao 周朝 Apr 4, 2008
    • Apr 2, 2008 Shanghai Spring has Finally Arrived Apr 2, 2008
  • March 2008
    • Mar 29, 2008 A Week in Shanghai with Dr. Nightlife and Dr. Sex Life Mar 29, 2008
  • February 2008
    • Feb 19, 2008 Goodbye Sydney, Farewell UNSW Feb 19, 2008
    • Feb 10, 2008 Chinese New Year Resolutions Feb 10, 2008
  • January 2008
    • Jan 30, 2008 Chasing the Shanghai Winter Blues Jan 30, 2008
  • December 2007
    • Dec 20, 2007 Nile Perch and Blue Jeans: Videographing inequalities in globalized labor in China and Africa Dec 20, 2007
  • November 2007
    • Nov 11, 2007 Another Week of Rock, Art, and Beauty in Beijing Nov 11, 2007
    • Nov 6, 2007 Beautiful Ugliness: The Aesthetics of Jia Zhangke's Film _Still Life_ Nov 6, 2007
    • Nov 3, 2007 The Ullens Center and Chinese New Wave Art from the 1980s Nov 3, 2007
  • October 2007
    • Oct 6, 2007 Beijing Punk Band Snapline Oct 6, 2007
    • Oct 5, 2007 The Best of Old and New Beijing: Historical Sites and Live Music Oct 5, 2007
  • September 2007
    • Sep 18, 2007 Kaiser Kuo Gives a Smoking Talk to Dartmouth FSPers Sep 18, 2007
    • Sep 18, 2007 Dartmouth Does the Great Wall: Simatai to Jinshanling Sep 18, 2007
    • Sep 11, 2007 Hang the Police, We're Here to Rock! The Beijing Pop Festival, Sept 10 and 11 2007 Sep 11, 2007
  • August 2007
    • Aug 15, 2007 An Interview with Greg Girard, Shanghai-based Photographer and Author of Phantom Shanghai Aug 15, 2007
    • Aug 14, 2007 Nightlife in Beijing vs. Shanghai: A Student's Perspective Aug 14, 2007
    • Aug 13, 2007 Another Rockin’ Week in Beijing Aug 13, 2007
    • Aug 8, 2007 Water Ripple: A Bluesy Chinese Rock Band Aug 8, 2007
    • Aug 6, 2007 PUNK VS METAL: A Showdown @ D22 and 13 Club Aug 6, 2007
    • Aug 4, 2007 Chinese Punks and The Ramones Tribute Concert @ Mao Livehouse in Beijing Aug 4, 2007
  • July 2007
    • Jul 31, 2007 A Chinese Rock Odyssey: On tour in Hunan and Wuhan with Beijing punk band SUBS and Veteran Rocker Cui Jian Jul 31, 2007
    • Jul 24, 2007 Courtesans, Hostesses, and Dancers in Old and New Shanghai Jul 24, 2007
    • Jul 24, 2007 Republican Beijing: The City and Its Histories Jul 24, 2007
    • Jul 23, 2007 Project Dementia Goes to Shanghai: An Interview with Wu Jun and a Night @ 4Live Jul 23, 2007
    • Jul 23, 2007 A Mad Whirlwind Weekend in Shanghai: The CET summer field trip July 21-22 Jul 23, 2007
    • Jul 23, 2007 Full Tilt: An Online Journal of East Asian Literature and Poetry in Translation Jul 23, 2007
    • Jul 21, 2007 Shanghai Baby Redux Jul 21, 2007
    • Jul 20, 2007 Project Dementia Week 3: A Tsunami@2K, Jamming@Sugar Jar, Acoustic Glam@D22, and the usual Excess@PPG Jul 20, 2007
    • Jul 15, 2007 Welcome to Project Dementia: Week 3 in Beijing Jul 15, 2007
    • Jul 10, 2007 BEIJING ROCKS!!! The CH-INDIE Fest at Dos Kolegas Jul 10, 2007
    • Jul 6, 2007 A Rocking Week in Beijing: 13 Club and Kaiser Jul 6, 2007
    • Jul 2, 2007 Rock It! A Crash Course in the Chinese Indie Music Scene Jul 2, 2007
    • Jul 2, 2007 Sex in China: The Times They Are a Changin' Jul 2, 2007
  • June 2007
    • Jun 27, 2007 人在中国现在能读我的博客!People in China can now read my blog! Jun 27, 2007
    • Jun 27, 2007 Beijing or Bust: Documenting China's "Returnees" Jun 27, 2007
    • Jun 25, 2007 Trippin’ at the Hip-Hoppinest Club in Beijing: Propaganda Jun 25, 2007
    • Jun 25, 2007 Freedom, Beijing Style Jun 25, 2007
    • Jun 25, 2007 Muse: Shanghai's Toniest Nightclub? Jun 25, 2007
    • Jun 22, 2007 A Stroll through the Shanghai Night Jun 22, 2007
    • Jun 21, 2007 All of Shanghai Under one Roof Jun 21, 2007
    • Jun 17, 2007 Shanghai: A Day in the Life Jun 17, 2007
    • Jun 7, 2007 Battle of the Sexes: Shanghai Baby vs. Foreign Babes in Beijing Jun 7, 2007
    • Jun 6, 2007 A Dialogue on Fairer Globalization with Devin Stewart Jun 6, 2007
    • Jun 2, 2007 Public Manners in China and the Case of a Korean Blogger Jun 2, 2007
  • May 2007
    • May 28, 2007 China and Genocide in Darfur vs. America in Iraq May 28, 2007
    • May 27, 2007 Sustainable Development and the "Eco-City" of Dongtan near Shanghai May 27, 2007
    • May 27, 2007 Responsible Globalization in Asia and the World May 27, 2007
    • May 27, 2007 Strange Cities: A Multimedia Site on Old Shanghai May 27, 2007
    • May 18, 2007 An Interview with Peter Hessler May 18, 2007
    • May 16, 2007 David Spindler and the Great Wall May 16, 2007
    • May 15, 2007 The Great Wall of China: Article and Film May 15, 2007
  • April 2007
    • Apr 27, 2007 Final Remarks on the Usage and Abusage of "Laowai" Apr 27, 2007
    • Apr 22, 2007 Thinking About Ethnicity and Race in China Apr 22, 2007
    • Apr 20, 2007 Frederic Wakeman, _Policing Shanghai_/ A Review Apr 20, 2007
    • Apr 18, 2007 Resurrecting Old Shanghai: The Peace Hotel Apr 18, 2007
    • Apr 15, 2007 What Wm. T. de Bary Has Taught Me Apr 15, 2007
    • Apr 15, 2007 On the True Meaning of Laowai Apr 15, 2007
    • Apr 12, 2007 Mainland Chinese Historians, US Academia, and Cold War Politics Apr 12, 2007
    • Apr 8, 2007 Unblocking Blocked Blogs in China (or India, Pakistan, Nepal..) Apr 8, 2007
    • Apr 7, 2007 A Short Walk on a Great Wall: David Spindler Strikes Again Apr 7, 2007
    • Apr 4, 2007 Are Chinese underrepresented in Western academia? Apr 4, 2007
    • Apr 2, 2007 On Translations of Popular Chinese Literature Apr 2, 2007
  • March 2007
    • Mar 22, 2007 Chinese Doublethink: The New Media Rules Mar 22, 2007
    • Mar 19, 2007 Democracy in China? Mar 19, 2007
    • Mar 17, 2007 Great Wall Exhibit in Sydney/Melbourne Mar 17, 2007
    • Mar 12, 2007 More Thoughts on Sex and Shanghai Mar 12, 2007
    • Mar 9, 2007 Sex and Shanghai Mar 9, 2007
    • Mar 6, 2007 On Chinglish Mar 6, 2007
  • February 2007
    • Feb 22, 2007 Shanghai's Art Deco Riches Revealed Feb 22, 2007
    • Feb 11, 2007 Shanghai: digital map to provide 3D view of downtown Feb 11, 2007
  • January 2007
    • Jan 20, 2007 Comet McNaught--Another Great Siting Jan 20, 2007
    • Jan 19, 2007 Gentrification worries Shanghai preservationists Jan 19, 2007
    • Jan 19, 2007 First Siting of Comet McNaught Jan 19, 2007
    • Jan 16, 2007 Shanghai's mad dash: University Admission Jan 16, 2007
    • Jan 16, 2007 Education key to Shanghai life Jan 16, 2007
    • Jan 15, 2007 Three Days at Uluru Jan 15, 2007
    • Jan 14, 2007 China's problems multiply with its population Jan 14, 2007
    • Jan 14, 2007 Genghis Khan -- A Chinese Hero??? Jan 14, 2007
    • Jan 14, 2007 Shanghai Scandal Jan 14, 2007
    • Jan 14, 2007 Monument to all that jazz: Shanghai's Peace Hotel, a piece of Old Europe in new China Jan 14, 2007
    • Jan 14, 2007 Shanghai Risen, Shanghai Falling Down Jan 14, 2007
    • Jan 14, 2007 Resurgence And Spread Of Syphilis In China Is A Rapidly Increasing Epidemic Jan 14, 2007
    • Jan 5, 2007 Beijing’s Olympic-sized traffic problem Jan 5, 2007
    • Jan 2, 2007 Shanghai to have 400 km urban rail lines in 2010 Jan 2, 2007
  • December 2006
    • Dec 27, 2006 Global warming likely to wreck havoc in China Dec 27, 2006
    • Dec 5, 2006 Beijing vs. Shanghai Dec 5, 2006

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