21st Asian History Carnival- Part 2

暦

Early autumn-- it is one of the most beautiful times of the year. Known as the Time of White Dew, it is a season characterized by singing autumn insects, a countless variety of elegant chrysanthemums, and the most beautiful moon of the year.

It is also a time of devastating typhoons. China Beat's Paul R. Katz tells us that not only did a large typhoon come ashore last Sunday, but a food contamination incident (including tainted baby formula) has rocked the island as well. Richard at Stocks and Politics  also writes of the incident here. (You can read what the cover-up allegations are based on on the 2008 baby milk scandal wiki article). 

Switching countries, but still on the topic of tainted food, the always-brilliant Jun Okumura writes of Japan's latest food scandal (and its political implications) here. As I was falling asleep last night, I heard a news report that the same chemical was found in imported powdered milk (from China) used in frozen food here in Japan as well. We'll see what happens but the public here is very distrusting already after the great gyoza scare, 

選舉

So, what have been the notable posts across the blogosphere in early Autumn? Well, to tell you the truth, if we set aside all the tedious post-Olympic wrap-ups, as well as the US election and financial crisis, well there really is not a whole lot to recommend. However, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the activity in Tokyo to select a new Prime Minister or the elections in Hong Kong.

First Tokyo. What can I say? How many prime ministers have there even been the last two decades in Japan? Is it me, or is Japanese politics really boring? Well, luckily we have Tobias Harris to explain things for us! Tobias Harris, by the way, is on my list of people I'd really like to meet someday. I believe he worked as an assistant to one of the upper house representatives, before returning to the US to enter a PhD course at MIT. From Fukuda's resignation here to Koizumi's response, Tobias takes us on a tour of the process of selecting a new prime minister. Somehow he even makes Japanese politics almost interesting-- and, as icing on the cake, Shisaku writes of Fukuda's last stand here.

Personally, I thought the most interesting series of posts this early autumn was hands down Daisann McLane's election reports from Hong Kong.

Similar to the way she writes about learning Cantonese (which is, of course, the name of her blog), she reports about the recent Hong Kong elections, not from an armchair journalistic point of view, but as someone actually out there working the campaign trail. The hero of her story is Leung Kwok Hung. Better known as 長毛, Daisann starts off worried about her friend's chances of being re-elected to LEGCO-

LEGCO--that compromised, politically hog-tied legislature of which he is the most interesting, and certainly the most principled member (show me another Hong Kong pol that lives in a council house flat, and gives away all his salary except $1,000 US a month!)

  

I remain convinced that it takes a certain type of person to devote themselves to learning Cantonese. In my own Cantonese class in Kowloon, I watched students drop like flies: from long time Western and Indian residents (some living in HK decades before signing up for a beginners Cantonese class) to the Japanese and Taiwanese students, few were left by the end (and as I was one of those dead flies, I cannot even tell you how many were left on the last day!)

I would say mastering Cantonese takes a personality which likes a challenge. And, indeed, by the next post, we find our gal sitting smack in the middle of Long Hair's campaign office. This post was then followed by this one which has her out on the campaign trail-- passing out fliers in the New Territories. Her View from the Gaai Tauh --not to mention the election results here and here  were for me this past month's highlight.

And speaking of un-simplified characters, Richard at the Duck tells us that Taiwan is flirting with the idea of adopting hanyu pinyin. Really? I wondered... it looks like it might be official, though, according to this. It certainly would make things "simpler," I guess.

大日本帝国　

First, to set the mood are these Hand Painted Cups commemorating the "suppression of Taiwan" by Imperial Japanese forces.

Sayaka, of the Prison Notebooks, had two posts here and here on the topic of colonial education in Japan that brought up some really interesting issues. Both were recommended to me by Konrad and are well worth having a look. And, Chuck Hayford says that this article by Mikyoung Kim on Japan Focus is the best overall review and analysis of the Northeast Asian history textbook issue.

玉声

Confucius and "Asian values" remain a controversial topic. The first scuffle of early autumn was kicked off at the Granite Studio when Jeremiah wrote this post analyzing a "mini-debate" between Daniel Bell and Dissent's Michael Walzer at Dissent Magazine. The original debate can be read here. As things heated up, Daniel Bell even felt the need to stop in to speak up for himself. During debates about "Asian values" it seems that almost inevitably Singapore and India are brought up. New blogger Eric Feigenbaum wrote an interesting Post here addressing many of the issues that Singapore presents.

A few days after Jeremiah's post, Namit Arora at Shunya's Notes uploaded a post also on the Sage, called What Confucius Said. To respond to Namit's post, I wrote this post called, Talking to Confucius (which I recommend more for the discussion about the bronzes than anything else). Jeffery Westerstrom had a piece in the Far eastern Economic Review called, Confucius: China's Comeback Kid, which also generated some comments.

What is it about the Sage that he seems to inspire such divided feelings? (Which is really to ask the other side of Namit's question, why it is that Confucius has such a negligible following outside the Chinese cultural sphere, compared, for example, to Zen Buddhism or "even all those Hindu gurus and yogis with their fans in California") Curious, I asked the expert extraordinaire Sam Crane, who answered quite simply that enough effort has not be made to show the relevancy of Confucian thought and that is the reason Confucianism remains relatively unpopular outside the Chinese cultural sphere.

And speaking of Sam Crane, if I were to award Learning Cantonese Daisann Mclane with the Gold, then the silver medal for this 21st Carnival, I think should go to Sam Crane for his post, Can a Black Man be Chinese?  I am quite certain even Sam was surprised by the number of comments he received! And he afterward posted an alternative: Can a Black Woman be Chinese?

藝

Finally, a word about the photograph at the top of the Post. Like that used for the 21st Asian History Canival Part 1-- this one too is one of Jim Gourley's Top 40 China Photos. This particular one is one of my personal favorites.

On the topic of photographs, there are two historic photography exhibitions that were of particular note. First, at Australia's National Gallery, the exhibition Picture Paradise is showcasing over 400 original photographs from the Asia Pacific region from the 1840s to the 1940s. Just poking around the website, I was stunned by the great beauty of some of the images

(Recently at Disneyland in LA, I overheard a kid asking his father, "Dad, what's film?")

The other exhibition is in Los Angeles and was organized by Tokyo  bloggers Neojapaonisme. Jeremiah already introduced some of the photographs in the last Carnival, but I did want to remind everyone that Meeting Modernity started on the 13th. It's already well-known that Japan has a long and very rich history of photography. I was not all that surprised that the this latest "stash" of old photographs was uncovered in Tochigi as I seem to recall that one of the last Shoguns was very interested in the new art and had at least one official photographer who hailed from Tochigi (indeed, one of his descendants took my son's o-miyamairi photograph almost 7 years ago).

Any hardcore Tochigi history of photography fans might enjoy this novel (written by a Tochigi local writer) about the life of the Shogun's photographer and his son during the early days of Meiji Japan. Some of the pictures from the Meeting Modernity exhibition can be seen here. And for what might be the best online collection of Japanese historical photographs, here is Okinawa's Soba's amazing photostream.

Jeff Wasserstrom put this together on What Did the Cultural Revolution Look Like. Enjoy!

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So, there you have the 21st Asian History Carnival. If you enjoyed what you read please leave or comment (or write to the librarian) All complaints should be sent to Jeremiah (just kidding).... 

Comments

[Sam]

Thanks for including me! I happily accept the silver.