Author: T. Christopher Jespersen Publisher: Stanford University Press ISBN: 9780804736541 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 296
Book Description
In the 1930's and 1940's, the prevalent American view of China was that of a friendly, democratic, and increasingly Christian state, in many ways akin to the United States. This view was fostered by a wide range of literary, political, and business leaders, including Pearl S. Buck, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Wendell Willkie, Joseph Stillwell, Claire Chennault, and most notably, the powerful publisher of Life and Time, Henry R. Luce. This book shows how the notion of the Chinese as aspiring Americans helped shape American opinions and policies toward Asia for almost twenty years. This notion derived less from the reality of Chinese historical or cultural similarities than from a projection of American values and culture; in the American view, fueled by various political, economic, and religious interests, China was less a geographical entity than a symbol of American hopes and fears. One of the more important consequences was the idealization of China and the demonization of Japan.
Author: Oliver Turner Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317691261 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 258
Book Description
The United States and China are arguably the most globally consequential actors of the early twenty first century, and look set to remain so into the foreseeable future. This volume seeks to highlight that American images of China are responsible for constructing certain truths and realities about that country and its people. It also introduces the understanding that these images have always been inextricable from the enactment and justification of US China policies in Washington, and that those policies themselves are active in the production and reproduction of imagery and in the protection of American identity when seemingly threatened by that of China. Demonstrating how past American images of China are vital to understanding the nature and significance of those which circulate today, Turner addresses three key questions: What have been the dominant American images of China and the Chinese across the full lifespan of Sino-US relations? How have historical and contemporary American images of China and the Chinese enabled and justified US China policy? What role does US China policy play in the production and reproduction of American images of China? Exploring and evaluating a wide-ranging variety of sources including films and television programmes, newspaper and magazine articles, the records and journals of politicians and diplomats and governmental documents including speeches and legal declarations this work will be of great interest to students and scholars of US foreign policy, American politics, China studies and international relations.
Author: Jonathan Goldstein Publisher: Lehigh University Press ISBN: 9780934223133 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 316
Book Description
U.S. historians present 16 essays on the American view of the Chinese from the 18th century to the present. Among the perspectives are art, commerce, missionary activity, diplomacy, popular culture, and a comparison with images of Japan. Includes a general bibliography. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Author: Harold R. Isaacs Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317460073 Category : Literary Collections Languages : en Pages : 459
Book Description
A presentation of eight contemporary Chinese women writers, representing two generations of women with different backgrounds and experiences. The selections explore esthetic, cultural and ideological problems that continue to challenge Chinese women.
Author: Naomi Greene Publisher: Hong Kong University Press ISBN: 9888208691 Category : Performing Arts Languages : en Pages : 281
Book Description
Throughout the twentieth century, American filmmakers have embraced cinematic representations of China. Beginning with D.W. Griffith’s silent classicBroken Blossoms (1919) and ending with the computer-animated Kung Fu Panda (2008), this book explores China’s changing role in the American imagination. Taking viewers into zones that frequently resist logical expression or more orthodox historical investigation, the films suggest the welter of intense and conflicting impulses that have surrounded China. They make clear that China has often served as the very embodiment of “otherness”—a kind of yardstick or cloudy mirror of America itself. It is a mirror that reflects not only how Americans see the racial “other” but also a larger landscape of racial, sexual, and political perceptions that touch on the ways in which the nation envisions itself and its role in the world. In the United States, the exceptional emotional charge that imbues images of China has tended to swing violently from positive to negative and back again: China has been loved and—as is generally the case today—feared. Using film to trace these dramatic fluctuations, author Naomi Greene relates them to the larger arc of historical and political change. Suggesting that filmic images both reflect and fuel broader social and cultural impulses, she argues that they reveal a constant tension or dialectic between the “self” and the “other.” Significantly, with the important exception of films made by Chinese or Chinese American directors, the Chinese other is almost invariably portrayed in terms of the American self. Placed in a broader context, this ethnocentrism is related both to an ever-present sense of American exceptionalism and to a Manichean world view that perceives other countries as friends or enemies. “From Fu Manchu to Kung Fu Panda chronicles the struggle within Hollywood film to come to grips with American ambivalence toward China as a nation against the backdrop of its current economic and geopolitical ascendancy on the world stage. Reaching back to early film portrayals of Chinatown, Christian missionaries, warlords, and perverse villains bent on world domination, Greene moves from the ‘yellow peril’ to the ‘red menace’ as she examines WWII and Cold War cinema. She also explores the range of film fantasies circulating today, from films about Tibet to Chinese American independent features and the global popularity of kung fu cartoons. This accessible book allows these films to speak to the post 9-11/Occupy Wall Street generation and makes a welcome contribution to debates about Hollywood Orientalism and transnational Chinese film connections.” —Gina Marchetti, author of The Chinese Diaspora on American Screens: Race, Sex, and Cinema “A significant work of filmography, Naomi Greene’s book explores the exotic, at times menacing, but always fantastic images of China flickering on the silver screen of the American imagination. The author writes lucidly, jargon-free, and with the sure-footedness of a seasoned scholar.” —Yunte Huang, author of Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History
Author: Charles G. Kratz Publisher: Brauer Museum of Art Valparaiso University ISBN: 9780615233536 Category : Ceramic tableware Languages : en Pages : 71
Author: Zhang Wenxian Publisher: World Scientific ISBN: 9813202270 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 552
Book Description
Cultural understanding between the United States and China has been a long and complex process. The period from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century is not only a critical era in modern Chinese history, but also the peak time of illustrated news reporting in the United States. Besides images from newspapers and journals, this collection also contains pictures about China and the Chinese published in books, brochures, commercial advertisements, campaign posters, postcards, etc. Together, they have documented colourful portrayals of the Chinese and their culture by the U.S. print media and their evolution from ethnic curiosity, stereotyping, and racial prejudice to social awareness, reluctant understanding, and eventual acceptance. Since these publications represent different positions in American politics, they can help contemporary readers develop a more comprehensive understanding of major events in modern American and Chinese histories, such as the cause and effect of the Chinese Exclusion Act and the power struggles behind the development of the Open Door Policy at the turn of the twentieth century. This collection of images has essentially formed a rich visual resource that is both diverse and intriguing; and as primary source documents, they carry significant historical and cultural values that could stimulate further academic research. Contents: The State Affairs of the Celestial Empire in the late Nineteenth Century The Spectacular Geography of the Chinese Empire The Economic, Social, and Cultural Lives of the Late Qing Dynasty Life and Struggles of the Chinese in the New Continent The Chinese Question in American Politics The Chronology of Modern Chinese and American Histories, and Major Events in Chinese Immigration and Sino–US Relations Readership: General readers interested in Chinese culture and Chinese people.Keywords: Chinese People and Culture;American Perceptions;China;United States;Sino-US Relations;Nineteenth Century;Immigrants;The Chinese Exclusion Act;Engravings;Illustrations;Newspapers and MagazinesReview: Key Features: Nearly one thousand historical images of Chinese and their culture are presented in this book Rich primary source documents of American perception of the Chinese and their culture
Author: Hong Zhang Publisher: Praeger ISBN: Category : History Languages : en Pages : 240
Book Description
While American images of China have been characterized by a fluctuating love/hate relationship, many educated urban Chinese youths also retained ambivalent feelings toward the United States in the early decades of the 20th century. The years between the end of the Second World War and the outbreak of the Korean War represented a significant period in Sino-American relations. This study places the shifting perceptions of the United States among an important political group—young, volatile, and politically active urban Chinese—into historical perspective through the examination of the origin, development, and eruption of their anti-American sentiment. These feelings would prove to be a liability to the Chinese Nationalist cause and would ultimately assist in easing the way of the Communists into urban China. In the immediate post-World War II period, American influence and presence in China reached an unprecedented peak. However, American political, military, and economic activities largely failed to generate Chinese good will; instead, such actions produced political antipathy toward the United States. The sojourn of American GIs in urban China, for example, would serve as a critical factor in arousing nationalist fervor. The Chinese Communist Party would capitalize on this groundswell and push it to the foreground during open hostilities with the United States after the outbreak of the Korean War.
Author: Gene Luen Yang Publisher: First Second ISBN: 1466805463 Category : Young Adult Fiction Languages : en Pages : 231
Book Description
A tour-de-force by rising indy comics star Gene Yang, American Born Chinese tells the story of three apparently unrelated characters: Jin Wang, who moves to a new neighborhood with his family only to discover that he's the only Chinese-American student at his new school; the powerful Monkey King, subject of one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables; and Chin-Kee, a personification of the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, who is ruining his cousin Danny's life with his yearly visits. Their lives and stories come together with an unexpected twist in this action-packed modern fable. American Born Chinese is an amazing ride, all the way up to the astonishing climax. American Born Chinese is a 2006 National Book Award Finalist for Young People's Literature, the winner of the 2007 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album: New, an Eisner Award nominee for Best Coloring and a 2007 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year. This title has Common Core Connections
Author: T. Christopher Jespersen
Author: Oliver Turner
Author: Jonathan Goldstein
Author: Carola McGiffert
Author: Harold R. Isaacs
Author: Naomi Greene
Author: Charles G. Kratz
Author: Zhang Wenxian
Author: Hong Zhang
Author: Gene Luen Yang