newsletter

chinese studies association of australia

number 39, february 2010

澳csaa newsletternumber 39

february 2010Contents 1 Fromthepresident

2 2009CSAAconferencereport

3 Newsround-up Aroundtheuniversities Upcomingconferences Publication Othernews

8 Interview:EmeritusProfessorColinMackerrasAO DanielSanderson

12 AustraliaChinaYouthAssociation PatrickMayoh

14 TaiwanStudiesinAustralia PhilippaRiley

16 Obituary:ProfessorLiuTs’un-yan1917-2009 JohnMinford

18 OnlineanywhereinAustralia:UsingtheNationalLibraryof Australia’sChinesee-Resources DipinOuyang

19 Newmemberpublications

On the cover...

ThebeachatXingcheng,Liaoning,August2008,byDanielSanderson.Ifyouwouldlikeyourphotographfeaturedonthecoverofthenewsletter,pleaseemailahi-rescopytodaniel.sanderson@anu.edu.au.ThebestsubmissionwillappearonthecoveroftheAugust2010edition.

TheChineseStudiesAssociationofAustralia(CSAA)NewsletterisabiannualpublicationthataimstokeepCSAAmembersinformedaboutthelatestdevelopmentsinthefieldofChineseStudiesinAustralia.

WewelcomesubmissionsfromCSAAmembersontopicalissuesofbroadinteresttotheChineseStudiescommunity.ProposalsforarticlesshouldbesenttotheNewslettereditoratdaniel.sanderson@anu.edu.au.

ToseebackissuesoftheCSAANewsletter,orformoreinformationonbecomingaCSAAmember,gotowww.csaa.org.au.

CSAA Council 2008-2010

President:DrRichardRigby,ANUSecretary:DrGengSong,ANUTreasurer:DrTamaraJacka,ANUImmediatePastPresident:ProfStephanieHemelrykDonald,Sydney

CouncilMembers;Assoc-ProfGloriaDavies,MonashAssoc-ProfMichaelKeane,QUTDrLuigiTomba,ANU

PostgraduateRepresentative:TBC

NewsletterEditor:DanielSanderson,ANU

TheChineseStudiesAssociationofAustralia(CSAA)istheprofessionalassociationforChinaspecialistsandpost-graduatestudentsinAustralia.ItsmembershipincludesmostAustralianspecialistsinthefieldsofanthropology,economics,geography,history,language,law,linguistics,politicalscience,sociology,literatureandotheraspectsofChinesesocietyandculture.

Formoreinformation,visittheCSAAwebsiteatwww.csaa.org.au.

csaa newsletter 澳 february 2010 1

澳From the president

The challenge of China

IfthereisasinglewordthatshouldbeappliedtoChina,whetherspeakingofitshistory,itscurrentdomestic situation or its international impact,thatwordshouldbecomplexity.Thereissimply

nothingsimpleaboutChina,andwithcomplexitygoessize.ForChina’sfuture,expectationsthatChinawilltakeanypaththenatureofwhichcanbepredictedfrom the past experience of other countries arealmostcertainlygoingtobeprovedwrong.Chinaisjusttoobig,andcarriestoogreatacivilisationalandhistoricalthrow-weight,tobeanythingotherthansuigeneris.AsLuXuntoldhis readers,youmakeyourpathbywalking it. This isas trueofChinanowasitwasthen–buttheimplicationsfortherestoftheworld are now even – far – greater than when hewrotethesewords.

A question of vital importance in the world iswhat sort of a country China is going to become.Butinmakingajudgement,thereisvirtuallynothingthat happens in China that doesn’t matter, or thatwe don’t need to know about. From a practicalnationalperspective,thedayswhenpolicyanalystscouldjustlookatsteelandgrainproductionfigures,imports and exports, look at the PLA training andrecruitmentcycle,workoutthepeckingorderinthestanding committee of the Politburo, are over. Allthesethingsarestilloftheutmostimportance,butaswenowseektounderstandacountrythat isre-assuming its historical place as one of the leadingnationsoftheworld,weneedtoknowsomuchmore:argumentsabouthistoryandcultureareimportant,notonlytotheChinese,buttoeveryonearoundtheworld.WhateverdifficultiesChinafaces,domesticallyandinternationally,inpursuingitsgrowthgoals,itisgoing to play an ever greater role in world affairs.The crucial question is, assuming that China’scomprehensivestrength,orglobalranking,willplaceitamongstthemostpowerfulandinfluentialnationsintheworldby,say,2020,or2030,whatsortofaChinaisitgoingtobe?

Hereourtaskiscomplicatednotonlybythesheercomplexityoftheissuestobeaddressed,andbythenotalwayshelpfulcacophonyofforeigncomment,butbythefactthattheChinesegovernmentiscommittedto presenting a single narrative of China’s rise asinterpreted and enunciated by its official organs.Yet anyone who has the slightest understandingof contemporary China will know that behind theeditorials of the People’s Daily, the statements ofMFA spokespeople, the presentation of the newsby CCTV, or the work of officially approved film

directors,thereisahugelycomplexworldofdebate,currentandcounter-current,introspection,historicalandculturalrevisionism,asmuchwithintheorgansofstateandpartyasoutside.Thedegreetowhichthisdebateistoleratedwaxesandwanes,andthingscanbesaidbysomepeople,orwithinsomebodies,thatareforbiddentoothers.Someofthisdebatewecansee,someofitishidden.Someofitisinspiring,encouraging,someofitismorethanalittlescaryorplumbcrazy.Butitishere,asmuchasinthemoreostensibly transparent narratives approved forpublic–andforeign–consumptionandedification,thatthevitalquestionofwhatsortofaChinawearegoingtobedealingwith10,20or30yearsfromnowisbeingworkedout.

Withinthis,globalisationisacomplicatingfactorthatcutsbothways.AsChinabecomesincreasinglyinvolvedintherestoftheworld,andvice-versa,thesimplebinarydivisionbetweendomesticandforeign–encapsulated in theoncemuch-used formulationneiwaiyoubie–isincreasinglyuntenable.

Togivearatherobviousexampleofthiscomplexity:whetherthestandardforjudgingpreviousdynastiesshouldbetheirachievementsincultureandlearning,orthedegreetowhichcentralauthoritywasimposedand borders expanded, matters not only to China,buttotherestofusaswell–andnotjusttoChinascholars; although we are best placed to explainjustwhyitdoesmatter.Similarly,thewholequestionof the reappraisal of traditional Chinese culture;the discussions about Confucianism (with andwithoutquotationmarks);howthemodernChinesestate maintains the multi-national character of theManchuQingEmpire;questionsofcentralismversusfederalism; the reappraisal of the achievementsof the Nationalist Government and its model ofmodernisation (not to mention its territorial claimslargelyinheritedbythePRC,including,topically,theSouthChinaSea);thedebatesaboutdemocracy;there-thinkingofthepostMay-4modernisationproject-tonamebutaveryfewoftheissuesthatmayoncehaveseemedarcanetosome,butinfacthavemajorimplicationsastheChinesecontinuetheprocessofwalking a path that is increasingly going to mergewiththeglobalhighway.

ForthoseofusinvolvedinChinesestudiesinanyfield, these questions provide both inspiration andchallengesforourwork.

DrRichardRigbyExecutiveDirector,ANUChinaInstituteCSAAPresident

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2009 CSAA conference

The CSAA conference, ‘Jiu: Commemorationand Celebration in the Chinese SpeakingWorld’,washostedattheUniversityofSydneyfrom 9-11 July 2009. 180 people attended,

includingscholars,mediarepresentatives,membersofthediplomaticservices,andindividuals.

Thepanelsandpaperswereofanexceptionallyhigh standard, reiterating again the intellectualpowerandconceptualbreadthofChineseStudiesinAustralia.GuestsfromHongKongSAR,thePRC,theUSA, the UK and Singapore also offered excellentpapersandkeynotesessions.

A postgraduate workshop on careers in ChinaStudieswasalsomadepossiblebytheparticipationof key speakers from the Australia-China BusinessCouncil, Hong Kong University Press, and PhilippaJones.

There were two cocktail receptions, one ofwhich followed a panel discussion on journalists’approaches to reporting the People’s Republic ofChina, with the participation of leading Australiantelevision and print journalists and hosted by theAustraliaNetwork.

The conference received financial support fromthe University of Sydney Faculty of Arts, the ARCAsia Pacific Futures Research Network and ChinaNode,Routledge,andtheAustraliaNetwork.

Report on the 2009 conference of the Chinese Studies Association of Australia by immediate past CSAA president Professor Stephanie Hem-elryk Donald.

csaa newsletter 澳 february 2010 3

News round-up

A summary of China-related happenings around Australia. If you would like news from your institution included in the next edition, please forward text and relevant images to the editor at daniel.sanderson@anu.edu.au before 31 july 2010.

Around the Universities

Australian National University

CAP RestructureAspartoftheANU’songoingreformprocess,the

CollegeofAsiaandthePacific(CAP)–formerlymadeupoftheResearchSchoolofPacificandAsianStudies(RSPAS),theFacultyofAsianStudies,theCrawfordSchoolofEconomicsandGovernment,theAsia-PacificCollegeofDiplomacyandtheRegulatoryInstitutionsNetworkProgram(RegNet)–isundergoingamajorrestructure. On 1 January 2010, RSPAS and theFaculty of Asian Studies were abolished, and CAPwasdividedintofournewSchools:

• the School of Culture, History and Language,encompassing the former Faculty of AsianStudies, as well as those parts of the formerRSPAS concerned with History, Anthropology,ArchaeologyandLinguistics;

• the School of International Relations, PoliticalandStrategicStudies,encompassingtheformerRSPAS departments of International Relations,Political&SocialChangeandStrategicStudies;

• the Crawford School of Economics and Go-vernment,whichwillnowincludetheEconomicsunit and the Resource Management in Asia-PacificprogramfromRSPAS,and;

•theSchoolofRegulation,JusticeandDiplomacy,formedbythemergerof the formerAsia-PacificCollegeofDiplomacyandRegNet.

China specialists are located in all of the newSchools, though concentrated mainly in the firstthree. Readers may be interested to note that theContemporary China Centre has merged with theDepartmentofPolitical&SocialChangeintheSchool

of International Relations, Political and StrategicStudies. Within it, the Contemporary China Centrewillliveon(butwithoutanindependentbudget)asadepartmentfocusforresearchonChina.TheChinaJournalwillbepublishedbytheDepartmentanditsCentre.

Foreign Minister visit

TheHonStephenSmithMP,AustralianMinisterforForeignAffairsspeakingattheANUChinaInstitute

TheHonStephenSmithMP,AustralianMinisterfor ForeignAffairs, visited theANUon26October2009. In an address to the ANU China Institute,SmithspokeontheAustralia-ChinaRelationshipanddiscussedChina’simportancetoAustralia,puttingincontext recent events in the bilateral relationship.The speech was attended by China’s Ambassadorto Australia, Mr Zhang Junsai. A transcript of thespeechcanbefoundatwww.foreignminister.gov.au/speeches/2009/091026_aus_china.html.

‘Teacher-fellows in residence’TheFacultyofAsianStudiesandtheANUChina

Institutehostedsevensecondaryandprimaryschoolteachers of Chinese from around across Australiaduring the period August 10 -14, 2009. Their visit,organised by Professor John Minford, formed anintegral part of the Chinese Curriculum InnovationProject.Thevisitwasmadepossiblebyagrantfromthe Australia-China Council of the Department ofForeignAffairsandTrade.

During their stay in Canberra, these ‘teacher-fellows in residence’ worked on specific projectsrelatedtotheteachingofChineseintheirrespectiveschools. They were also given the opportunity to

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speak with ANU academics about their work, aswell as attend classes and seminars with bothundergraduates and researchers. In addition, theprogramaimedtoprovideanopportunityforteachersinvolvedinChinesestudiesindifferentformsandatdifferentlevelstosharetheirviewsandexperienceswithteachingChineseinaschoolcontext,whilstalsobenefitingfromcontactswithacademicsattheANUin the field of Chinese studies. The week-long visitservedasapilotforanongoingprogramforteacherstobenefitfromtheANU’sstaffandresourcesintheteachingandresearchofChineseandthefeedbackfrom participants, overwhelmingly positive, will beconsideredforlaterprograms.Futureeventswillseeteachers involve themselves with a major ongoingproject, Chinese Studies Online, jointly beingdevelopedbyANU,theChineseUniversityofHongKong,andanumberofotheruniversitiesworldwide.It is the intentionofANUtomakeavailable freeofchargetoschoolsacrossAustraliatheresourcesoftheChineseStudiesOnlinewebsite,aswellasinvolvesuchkeystakeholdersinthewebsite’sdevelopment,especiallyinrelationtolanguagelearning.

Peking Opera visit

ArtistsfromtheJingkunTheatre

Artists from Hong Kong’s Jingkun Theatre andthe Shandong Peking Opera Troupe visited ANUand the University of Sydney in September 2009.In Canberra, the group, led by Artistic DirectorGeng Tianyuan and Principal Artist Tang Yuen-ha,conducted a series of seminars and masterclassesoveraperiodoftwoweeks,culminating inapublicperformance to a capacity crowd at the CanberraGrammar School Theatre on 24 September. Publicworkshops introducing various aspects of thePekingOperatradition, includingpercussion,stagemovement and makeup, were held in the lead-upto the performance. During their stay, the groupworked intensively with Chinese Studies studentsas well as Chinese language classes at all levels,providing insights into the practice and aestheticsofmanyformsoftraditionalopera, includingkunquand Peking Opera. The Jingkun Theatre’s visit wasmade possible by the support of the Hong KonggovernmentandwaspartoftheANUChinaInstitute’s

ChinaCurriculumInnovationproject.In Sydney, where they were guests of the

Confucius Institute and the School of LanguagesandCulturesattheUniversityofSydney,theartistsperformedattheYorkTheatreon28Septembertoapackedhouse.

University of Melbourne

2009 Melbourne Conference on ChinaThe first Melbourne Conference on China

organisedbytheAsiaInstitute,theFacultyofArts,theUniversityofMelbourne,tookplaceonMonday13JulyandTuesday14July2009attheUniversity’sAsia Institute in Parkville. Titled 60 Years of thePeople’sRepublic–TransformationsandChallenges,the event attracted an international audience ofover 100, including researchers, educators, andspecialistsfromChina(includingHongKongSARandMacauSAR),Australia,theUnitedStates,theUnitedKingdom,SouthKorea,India,andJapan.

The conference had an impressive line-up oflocally and internationally renowned keynotespeakers, including Professor Cheng Li from theBrookings Institution, Professor Ross Garnaut fromtheUniversityofMelbourne,ProfessorZhenwuZhaifromtheRenminUniversityofChina,andProfessorShaoguang Wang from the Chinese University ofHongKong.

Duringthetwo-dayevent,around80researchersfromleadingAustralianand internationalacademicinstitutions gave presentations at the 25 plenarysessions of the conference. Their papers offeredinformed analysis and perspectives surrounding awiderangeoftopics,includingcorporategovernance,new and traditional media, domestic politics andinternational relations, education, law and rights,theenvironment,China’spastandfuture,minorities,andculturalhistoriesandtraditions.

TheMelbourneConferenceonChinaisdesignedto involve researchers,policymakersandadvisers,educators, and specialists working in any area ofChinastudiesinintellectually-stimulatingdiscussiontoexplorethemanychallengingquestionsposedbytheongoingand rapidchanges thathaveoccurredand are occurring in China’s economy, politics,culture, and society. Following this year’s success,the conference is expected to continue into thefuture.

University of New South Wales

Confucius Institute launchedThen NSW Premier Nathan Rees, former Prime

Minister Bob Hawke and a senior delegation fromChina’s prestigious Shanghai Jiao Tong University(SJTU)wereamongthosecelebratingtheopeningofanewConfuciusInstituteattheUniversityofNewsSouthWaleson4August2009.

UNSWispartneringwithSJTUinestablishingthe

csaa newsletter 澳 february 2010 �

Institute,whichwillfacilitatestudentexchangesandexpandopportunitiesformulti-disciplinaryresearchand Chinese studies, including advanced Chineselanguagetraining.

DeliveringtheinauguralConfuciusInstituteGuestLectureattheofficialopening,PremierReestracedthelonghistoryofChina’slinkswithAustralia,andinparticularwithNSW,whichhostsmorethan50,000

Chinese students and attracted 350,000 Chinesevisitorslastyear.

Describing SJTU as “a distinguished ChinesepartnerforUNSW”,thePremiersaidthecollaborationfacilitatedbytheConfuciusInstitutewouldadvanceimportantareasofresearch.

Mr Hawke, who played a watershed role inAustralia’s engagement with China in the 1980s,spoke passionately about the importance of therelationship and described as “profoundly worthy”theaimsof thenew Institute inbuildingacademic,culturalandbusinesslinkstoChina.

“It isprofoundly inour interests thatwe in thiscountry should understand in an informed andunprejudicedwayasmuchaswepossiblycanaboutChina: itspeople, theircultureandtheir incredibleeconomictransformation,”theformerPrimeMinistersaid.

OtherspeakersatthegalaeventincludedUNSWVice-Chancellor Professor Fred Hilmer, ConfuciusInstitute Director Associate Professor HansHendrischke,ChineseConsulGeneralHuShanandSJTUDeputyPresidentProfessorSuMing.

University of Sydney

Chinese Media Studies SymposiumThe State of the Field: Chinese Media Studies

SymposiumwasconvenedattheUniversityofSydneyon4-5September2009toreflectuponthestateofChinesemediaandculturalstudiesthroughacloserinterrogation of the disciplinary relations betweenthe area studies of China, including the Chinese-speaking world more broadly, and the culturalstudiesofmediaandcommunications.

All areas of media and culture where Chineselanguageisdominantorrelevant(ChinaPRC;HongKong SAR; Taiwan; and migrant ‘mediaspheres’

globally,orcommunitiesintheregion)wereincludedinthistheme.Thesymposiumaimedtoexplorewhylocationmattersinthinkingthroughculture,butalsoinviteddebateonwhyrecentsignificantparadigmsof engagement with culture are not necessarily orusefully confined to pre-formulated ideas of geo-politicalandculturalspace.

To facilitate truly interdisciplinary perspectives,15 researchers and professionals were invitedto contribute through presentation papers orshorter interventions from their own research andexperience.Alongwith leadingexperts frommediacentresatAustralianuniversities,threeinternationalparticipants were invited, including the keynotespeaker,ProfessorYingZhufromtheCityUniversityofNewYork;DrJoyceYMNip,whoparticipatedasadiscussantfromHongKongBaptistUniversity;aswellasDrZhangLijun,ChairmanoftheChinesemediaconglomerateVODoneGroupandAdjunctProfessoroftheDepartmentofMediaandCommunicationattheUniversityofSydney,whojoinedthesymposiumasaspeakerviavideo-linkfromBeijing.DrZhang’svideo-linkpresentationfromtheVODoneheadquartersinBeijing,duringwhichherelatedthedevelopmentofonlinemediaservicesand thenewmediasector inChina,wasaparticularreminderofthecomplexityofnewactors,themesandissuesthatframethefieldofChinesemediatoday.

Around 30 people accepted the invitation toattend the symposium as guests, most of whomwere Chinese studies and/or media academics,or postgraduate and honours students from theUniversityofSydneyandotheruniversitiesinNSW.

The exchanges between professional andacademicexperiencewereanextremelyproductivecomponent of the symposium, while the open,inter-disciplinary setting allowed the symposiumto question existing paradigms, to probe intoinnovate research endeavours and to explore newcollaborations.

University of Technology, Sydney

Events

ThislastOctobertheUTSChinaResearchCentreheld two international workshops. Convened byProfessor Wanning Sun in collaboration with AnhuiUniversity fromthe12thtothe14thofOctobertheCentreheldtheProvincialChineseMediaWorkshopat Anhui University (Hefei, Anhui). The workshopfocusedonmediaandcommunicationinChina,andrepresentedthefirstsystematicandexplicitattemptto‘provincialize’Chinesemediaandcommunicationstudies. The workshop examined how a range ofmedia studies concerns – media policy, industry,content production, consumption – are played outatvariousprovinciallevels.ApartfromtheongoingProvincial China project scholars, Chinese mediaandcommunicationscholarsfrombothoutsideandinsideChina,includingJingWang,YuezhiZhao,Jack

FormerPrimeMinisterBobHawkespeakingatthelaunchoftheUNSWConfuciusInstitute

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Qiu,MarinaSvensson,SunWusan,GuoZhenzhi,GuoJianbin,ZhaoJingqiuandmanyothersparticipatedintheworkshop.

On28-29OctobertheChinaResearchCentreincollaborationwiththeIndianOceanandSouthAsiaResearchNetwork(UTS)heldaworkshoponHealthand Borders in China, India and the Indian OceanRegion.Theworkshopexaminedtheinterrelationshipsbetween health and borders, and explored issuesrelatedtotheglobalizationofhealthservices(suchasmedicaltourism),medicalprofessionals,theflowsofinternationalmedicalstandardsandthemovementofdiseaseacrossborders. Italsoexaminedhealthinequities arising from and within borders, due toeconomic imperatives, changing technologies andenvironments. The workshop brought togetherChina, India and Souteast Asia specialist fromvarious disciplinary backgrounds. The workshopalsofeaturedakeynotespeechbyProfessorWangShaoguangonChina’sHealthSystemsReform.

On November 24 the Centre held a ChineseMediainAustraliaIndustryforumwithfundingfromthe Cultural Research Network (ARC). This was ahalf-dayindustryforuminvolvingasmallnumberofleadingacademicsintheresearchfieldofdiasporicChinese media (Wanning Sun, Audrey Yue, JohnSinclair,andJiaGao)andapproximately10speakersfromtheChineselanguagemediasectorinAustralia.Theforumwaswellattendedbyothermediastudiesacademics, postgraduate students, and membersoftheChinesecommunityinSydney.Theforumwasdesigned to generate industry perspectives; and itfocusedontheChineselanguagemediafromwithinAustralia, thus contributing to the wider debateontheroleoftheethnicmedia inthemulticulturalAustralia.

Funded research projectsIn the latest round of ARC Grants two of our

members’ projects were successful in getting ARCDiscovery Grants: Susette Cooke’s project titled‘China’sTibetanBuddhistMargins:Identity,CultureandDevelopment’andWanningSun’s‘China’sRuralMigrant Workers: Social Transition and CulturalPractice.’

AnotherfourARCDiscoveryprojectsarecurrentlybeing undertaken by members of the Centre,including: Elaine Jeffrey’s ‘Governing Prostitutionin the People’s Republic of China’ (2009-2011)and (with LouiseEdwards) ‘BeingFamous inChina:Celebrities, Heroes and Public Figures’; AnitaChan’s ‘TheChangingNatureofChina’sEnterpriseCulture’(2009-2011);andBeatrizCarrillo(withDavidGoodman and Minglu Chen) (2009-2011) ‘The NewRichandtheStateinChina:Thesocialbasisoflocalpower.’AnitaChanalsoholdsanothertworesearchgrants.Onewith theChiangChing-KuoFoundationfor InternationalScholarlyExchangeon ‘TaiwaneseBusinesses, the Global Production Chain andCorporateSocialResponsibilityinVietnamandChina’

(2006-2010),andanother(withtwootherscholarsfromDenmarkandtheUK)on‘Thefactorsunderlyingcompetitiveness of soccer ball manufacturing inPakistan, India and China’ funded by the DanishSocialScienceResearchCouncil(2008-2010).

Upcoming conferences

18th ASAA Biennial ConferenceThe 18th Biennial Conference of the Asian

StudiesAssociationofAustralia(ASAA),willbeheldattheUniversityofAdelaidefrom5-8July2010asacollaborationbetweentheUniversityofAdelaideand Flinders University. The theme of this year’sconferenceis“Crises&Opportunities:Past,Present&Future.”Keynotespeakerswill includeTanSriDrMohd. Munir – Chairman of Malaysia Airlines anda Senior Visiting Fellow at the London School ofEconomics,andProfWangHuiofTsinghuaUniversity,Beijing.

In addition to any area of research under thebroad umbrella of Asian studies, the 2010 ASAAConferenceisparticularlykeentoreceivepapersonCrises and/or Opportunities in any area and fromany discipline whether based on the present or inanytimeinthepast.

Formoreinformation,visittheconferencewebsiteatwww.adelaide.edu.au/asaa2010/.

2010 Melbourne Conference on ChinaFollowing the success of the 2009 Melbourne

Conference on China, The Asia Institute at theUniversityofMelbourneispleasedtoannouncethe2010MelbourneConferenceonChina,tobeheldattheUniversityofMelbourneonMonday,19July2010andTuesday,20July2010.Thethemeofthisyear’sConferenceis“ChineseElitesandtheirRivals–Past,PresentandFuture”.

We welcome researchers, specialists, policymakers, policy advisers and educators workingin anywhere in the world and in any area of Chinastudiestocometothesouthernhemispheretomeetin Melbourne, Australia, to explore the variousquestionsposedbytheongoingandrapidchangesthat have affected Chinese elite groups and theirrivalsinthepast,thepresentand,mostimportantly,inthefuture.

Please submit an abstract of up to 500 words,nolaterthanFriday,30April2010,tothefollowingemail address: Conference-on-China@unimelb.edu.au.

Women in Asia conferenceTheCollegeofAsiaandthePacific(CAP)atThe

Australia National University (ANU) is hosting theTenthInternationalWomeninAsia(WIA)Conference,tobeheldfrom29Septemberto1October2010attheANU,Canberra.

csaa newsletter 澳 february 2010 �

The WIA conferences have been held regularlysince1981andaresupportedbytheWomen’sForumoftheAsianStudiesAssociationofAustralia.Theseare international conferences, with attendees fromthroughoutAustraliaandtheAsianregions,includingthosewhoareworkingonorintheregion.

Participants include academics and students;representatives of NGOs and other organisationsinvolved in aid and development; artists andperformers; and interested members of thegeneral public. The conference provides excellentopportunities for networking and getting to knowothersinthefield.

The theme for the2010conference– the tenthanniversaryWIAconference–isCrisis,Agency,andChange.Wehopethatthiswillstimulatediscussionacrossdisciplinesandacrossregionsontheimpactofcrises,whetherpersonalorcollective,onwomen;on the representationofwomenandcrisis;andonwomen’s agency, actions, and activism in responsetocrisisandineffortstoachievechange.

CallforPapers:Contributionsareinvitedfromabroadrangeofparticipantsfromvariousdisciplines.Participants are encouraged to submit proposalsfor panels (with 3-4 papers per panel). Individualproposals for papers are also welcome, as areinnovative suggestions for films, exhibitions andotherpresentations.

Immediate enquiries can be addressed to wia@anu.edu.au.

Publication

The current edition of positions: east asiaculturescritique(Volume17,Number3,Winter2009)features a number of articles by Australia-basedChinascholarsexploringquestionsofsuzhi(quailty)incontemporaryChina.ContributorsincludeTamaraJacka, Gary Sigley, Stephanie Hemelryk Donald, YiZheng,T.E.Woronov,WanningSunandLuigiTomba,who also provided the cover photograph for theedition.

Other news

Dragon Tails conferenceDragon Tails: Re-interpreting Chinese-Aust-

ralian Heritage, a conference on new historicalunderstandings of early Chinese-Australians, tookplace on 9-11 October 2009 at Sovereign Hill inBallarat, Victoria. Supported by Monash Universityand the Victorian Multicultural Commission, theconference was designed to consider the placeof Chinese-Australians within broader historiesof Australia and the Chinese diaspora, while alsoprovidingaforumfordiscussionofhowthesestoriescanbeinterpretedintheclassroom,andatculturalheritagesitesandmuseums.

The Dragon Tails conference brought together

a wide range of disciplines including history,archaeology, tourism, cultural studies, education,and museum/heritage studies. It also incorporatedcomparative inter-colonial and transnationalperspectives of Chinese-Australian heritage andhistory.

Keynote speakers at the conference includedactor, writer and broadcaster Annette Shun Wahand Professor Bob McKercher of the School ofTourismandHotelManagementatTheHongKongPolytechnicUniversity.

Etiquette in ChongqingIn2010,ChongqingNormalUniversity(CQNU)in

China’ssouthwestwillcommencetrainingforanewwaveofmiddleschoolteacherswhowillbechargedwithboostingstudents’skillsinpublicetiquette.

ThePublicEtiquettecourseaimstousepracticalexercisesandcasestudiestoeducateteachers,andin turn students, about international standards ofbehaviorandcommunication.Thelonger-termbenefitisthat,upongraduation,studentswillhaveagreaterchanceofsuccessintheirsearchforemployment.

The project is unique in that etiquette is notcurrently taught in Chinese schools. Similarly inwestern society, such social and cultural ritualshave traditionally been taught in the home or thecommunity. More importantly, the term ‘etiquette’derives from the French language and related atthe time to ‘trend’. This term has evolved in theEnglishlanguagehowever,tomeansocialritualandpractice.

The etiquette development project forms partof the Chinese Government’s Ministry of Educationstrategytoimproveteachertrainingstandards,whileatthesametimeboostingthesocialskillsofChinesecitizens.

Manycitizensbelievethereisalackofawarenessamong young people about how to communicateand behave effectively. According to Shi Meishan,Head of the Vocational Education Training andResearch department at CQNU, “Confucius valuesare not as evident in young people today as theywere in previous generations”. Confucian values,which include respect for parents and elders, careandhumanenessandrespect forsocial ritual,holda traditional position in Chinese society. However,thesevaluesaregraduallybeingerodedinfavourofmoreindividualistattitudes.

To complement their new curriculum, CQNUhasspentthelasttwoyearsdevelopingateachingresource, in cooperation with both Chinese andinternational experts including CSAA memberRebecca Lane. It will serve as a practical guide totraditionalChinesevaluesandhowtodemonstratethem,alongwithsomeuniversallyacceptedrulesofetiquette.

For more information about the etiquettecurriculumortheresource,pleasecontactRebeccaLaneon0408648427oremailr_jl@hotmail.com.

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InterviewEmeritus Professor Colin Mackerras AO

In the first of a new series of interviews with distinguished Australian sino-logists, Newsletter Editor Daniel Sanderson speaks to Emeritus Pro-fessor Colin Mackerras AO. Over his almost 50-year career in academia, Professor Mackerras has written extensively on a wide variety of subjects, including the Chinese theatre and China’s ethnic minorities. He has also been actively involved in the promotion of Asian languages and studies in Australian schools and universities.The full text of the interview can be accessed through the CSAA website.

DS:FirstofallIwashopingyoucouldtellmeabitaboutwhereyoucomefrom–whereyouwereborn,whereyougrew,up, yourfamily…

Colin Mackerras: I was born and brought up innorthernSydney–Turramurra–andmypeoplewerethere.Iwasactuallybornathome.Inthosedays–1939–itwasactuallyquitecommon.Togetherwithmytwinbrother,Iamtheyoungestoffiveboysandtwogirls.IlivedinSydneyuntilIwenttoCanberrainmylateteens.

DS:WhattookyoutoCanberra?

CM: Iwasdoing thefirstyearofanartsdegreeattheUniversityofSydneyand Igotascholarshiptogo to Canberra. The scholarship scheme was setup by the Menzies government in the late 50s. AtthattimeitwasmainlyaboutJapan–althoughthecourses included Chinese – because the Menziesgovernment signed a trade agreement with Japanin 1958. Of course in those days that was quitecontroversial, because only a few years had goneby since the War. In addition, his government setup an Asian Studies department at what was thenCanberraUniversityCollege,whichwaspartof theUniversityofMelbourne. Iwasoneof thefirstwhogotascholarshiptogothere–Iwasinthesecondyearofthatscholarship.

DS:Wasitatschoolthatyourinterestinhistorywasfirstsparked?

CM: Yes, but I didn’t study much history. In those

days – the late 50s – China was the big threat inAustralia, and the Menzies government followedtheAmerican line.Butmymother suggested that IshouldapplyforthescholarshiptodoAsianStudies–theycalled itOrientalStudiesthen.NowwecallitAsianStudiesofcourse,whichisbetter.Shewasvery interested in history and gave me an interestinhistory. I still thankher for it.Althoughshewasveryconservativeandbelievedinthe“FearofChina”schoolofthought,shehadtheforesighttoseethatChinawouldbeveryimportantforAustralia’sfuture,and she recommended that I should apply for theAsianStudiesscholarship.

DS:HadyoubeeninterestedinChinayourselfbeforethatpoint?

CM:No.ItwasonlywhenIgotthescholarshipthatIbecameinterestedinChina.Firstofallitwasveryclassical.WestudiedtheHandynastyandthatsortofthing.ThefirstheadofthedepartmentwasHansBielenstein, an aristocratic Swede who studied theHandynasty.AlongwithOttovanderSprenkelandseveral other very good scholars, he was the firstone who taught me Chinese history and I got veryinterestedfromthattime.

DS:Whatwas theatmosphere in theuniversity likethen?

csaa newsletter 澳 february 2010 9

CM: The Asian studies staff were enthusiasticandknewtheirstuff,andIstill lookbackonwhat Ilearnedtherewithpleasure.However,inotherways,theatmospherewasnotveryvibrant.Thenumberofstudentswasn’tthatgreat,andtherewerejustafewofusdoingChineseandJapanese.ItwasthereImetmywife,bytheway,andshe’sstillmywife,sotherewas companionship. The student body was quitesmall. The Canberra University College was just aseries of shacks. There weren’t proper buildingsatall.Westayed inaplacecalledNarellanHouse,which is no longer there. There weren’t universitycolleges,nothinglikethereisnow.

DS:Whatwas theguidingspiritwithin theOrientalStudies department? What was the approach toteaching?

CM: The approach was very traditional. Theemphasiswasallonclassicaltimes.Wedidn’tstudythe People’s Republic at all. We didn’t even studythe Republican period. We studied Chinese historydowntotheQing.AndmostoftheChineselanguagewedidwasclassicaltoo.Wedidreadahistorybook,which used modern Chinese, but [the content] wasall classical. There was nothing modern about it.AlthoughtherewasalsoacourseonspokenChinese,Iwasnotgoodatit.

DS:Whenyoufinished,whatdidyouthinkyouweregoingtodonext?Didyouthinkofanyothercareeroptionsapartfromfurtherstudy?

CM:Wellthat’sactuallyagoodquestion.MyfamilywantedmetogotoCambridgetodoadegreethere.My grandfather left some money through which Icoulddothat–ashedidmybrothersandsisters.SoIwenttoCambridgeanddidaMastersthesisthereon theUighursduring theTangdynasty. I couldn’tdomoderntimes.Ididtheclassicalperiod,theTangdynasty(618-907).TheUighurshadaseparatestatefocused on what’s now Mongolia from 744 to 840and I did a dissertation on that. I translated therelevant parts of the Standard Histories – the JiuTangShuandtheXinTangShu(theOldTangHistoryand the New Tang History) – and commented onthem,togetherwithawholerangeofothertexts.

DS:Iunderstandthatin‘64youwenttoChina.Howdidthatopportunitycomeabout?

CM: Well, it came about like this: I bumped into afriendofmine–EndymionWilkinson–intheMarketSquareinCambridgeonedayin1964.IwaswonderingwhatIwasgoingtodoactually.AndhesaidhewasgoingtoChina.So Isaidtohimthat if theChinesechargéd’affairesinLondonaskedifhimifheknewofanybodyelsewhowas interested ingoingtoChinacould he give them my name. And to my surprise,they wrote to me. Not the other way round. Andtherewasareason,whichIbelievecredible,thoughI’ve never been able to confirm it. Zhou Enlai, thePremier then, had been to Algeria not long beforetoprepareforaconferenceofnon-alignedcountries(whichintheeventnevercameoff).Hecouldspeak

French, and Algeria had just become independentof Franceat that time.HegaveanewsconferenceandhehadtospeakChinesebecausethatwastheprotocol.Buthecorrectedhis interpreter,becauseheknewFrenchbetterthanhisinterpreter–hewasastudentinFranceinhisyoungerdays.Hewasveryembarrassed about this because apparently somepeoplepicked itup,andsohe issuedacommand:GetpeoplefromEuropetoteachouryoungpeopleforeign languages. And I was a beneficiary of that.Englishwasthemainoneofcoursebecauseit’ssuchanimportantlanguage,anditwasthen,butFrenchandotherstoowereimportant.

DS: What was it like teaching English to Chinesestudentsinthe‘60s?

CM: Well it was much more difficult than now. Welived in the Youyi Binguan (The Friendship Hotel),which is actually just around the road from theInstitute.Mywifecamewithmeandwehadourfirstbaby inChina in 1965.Wehadanayi to lookafterhim–awomancalledComradeWang.Butasfortheteachingconditions,theyweremuchmorerigid.Theydefinitely looked at you to make sure you weren’tteachingthewrongthings,politicallyincorrectstuffwhich they didn’t like. I was hardly ever invited tocolleagues’ houses. Occasionally they would callonme,andsomeofthembecameverygoodfriends,andarestillgoodfriendstothisday.ImustsaythatI found the students very hard-working, very keen,and very polite – just as they are to this day. Butonedifferenceisthatinthosedaystheydidn’tspeaktheirownmindsatall.TheyspoutedtheMaoZedongrevolutionary line. They seemed to be very sincereaboutit.AsfarasIknowtheyweresincere.Butformeitwasabitofashocktostartwith.Igotusedtoit,andIgottobeveryfondofthestudents.

DS: How did things change on campus with theoutbreakoftheCulturalRevolutionin1966?

CM: Before the Cultural Revolution, one day thestudents simply disappeared. I turned up to classandwastoldthatthestudentswerenotthere–theyhadpoliticaljobstodo.Ididfindoutthattheyweregoing off to the countryside to do political thingsconnected with the siqing (the “Four Pures”) thatstartedin1965andwasstillcontinuinginto‘66.Wedidn’tseethestudentsafterthat.Wewerejusttoldtodonothing.IdidgetpermissiontogotoHohhotbymyselfandIexploredaround.Butwedidn’thaveany work to do after that. Our contract expired inAugust‘66–wesignedthatinFebruary‘65–andofcourseAugust ‘66wasthemonththattheCulturalRevolutionstarted.

WewentforabriefholidaytoBeidaiheinHebeiprovinceandwhenwecamebacktoBeijingtheplacewas in complete turmoil. There were people withplacardsroundtheirneckssayingtheywerecounter-revolutionaries.Thechurchesandtempleswereallclosed. You really couldn’t do very much. But wedidwhatwecouldandhada look round.Wewere

10

still there when the enormous demonstration tookplace (18 August 1966), but of course we weren’tinvitedtogotothat.Weleftsoonafterthat.Nobodydisturbedus.Wedidn’tget intoanyproblems.Buttheywouldn’thaveallowedus tostayonafter theexpirationofourcontracts.

DS:DoyouthinkthatyourtimeinChinaaffectedthewaythatyouapproachedChinastudieslater?

CM: I think it did affect it, yes. I felt a certainnearness to it that I wouldn’t have felt otherwise.I got a lot of materials from it. I developed quitestrongviewsaboutwhatwashappeningthere.IfeltacertainsympathyforChinaanditswayoflookingatthings,whichIwouldnothavedoneinthesamewayifIhadn’tlivedthere.Itdoesn’tmeanthatIlikedeverything about it by the way, because I thoughtthe Cultural Revolution, the effect that it had onmanyofmyfriendswasverybad.Forexample,IwasverygoodfriendswithYangXianyi…[who]sufferedterriblyduring theCulturalRevolution.Hewasputinto solitary confinement. That was a big shock tome.Thesepersonallinkswithallkindsofpeoplehadaneffectonme.Butitwasn’tallnegative.InfactitwasmorepositivethannegativeinthesensethatIhadafeelingfortheplacethatIwouldn’thavehadotherwise.I’dalreadytravelledquitewidely–IwenttoShanghaiandthelowerYangtzevalley,andalsoXi’an. The fact that my eldest son had been bornthough also gave me a nearness, a feeling for theplace.That’showI’dputit,Ithink.

DS:WhathappenedafterChina?

CM:IhadappliedforascholarshiptotheANUtodoaPhD.ItwasontheriseofthePekingopera,inwhichI’ddevelopedaninterestinChina.I’vealwaysbeeninterestedinmusicandtheatre.IwasabletocollectalotofgramophonerecordsandalotofbooksaboutthatsubjectinChinawhileIwasthere,andIbroughtthemallout.Istillhavemostofthem.

After that I stayed at the Department of FarEasternHistory,becauseWangGungwuofferedmea job. He advertised for research fellows – three-year appointments just to do research. He offeredtwopositionsandthetwothatgotthemwereSteveFitzgeraldandme.WebothgotourPhDsonthesameday.IthinkthatWangGungwuthoughtitwasgoodtohaveacontemporaryresearchfellow,whileIwasmoreintheculturalandhistoricalarea.Stilltothisday I feel grateful tohim for that.Getting that joband also going to China were breakthroughs in mycareer.

DS: In ‘74 you went to Griffith as head of the newAsian Studies department. I wonder if you couldtellmeabitaboutwhatGriffithwaslikeatthetime,becauseIgatheritwasafairlyradicalkindofplace.

CM: Yes it was, in many ways. Ho Peng Yoke tookup his position [as chair of the Asian Studiesdepartment]in1973,Icamein1974andwestartedteaching in 1975. It was quite a radical place.

Certainly, the humanities and Asian Studies wereboth quite radical, not only in political terms butalsoinacademicterms,inthesensethatthecoursesweredesignedasinterdisciplinary.SowehadAsianStudies – the whole idea of regional studies hasgoneoutoffashionnowadays,althoughitstillexists,fortunately–andIwasactiveindesigningthecoursesmoreorlessfromthestart.HoPengYokewasmoreinterestedinotheraspectsofdevelopingtheSchoolandhappytoleavemuchofthecurriculumdesigntome.Ibecamethechairmansomewhatlater.Wehiredpoliticalscientists,anthropologists,economistsandso on, having various disciplines represented. Wetaught about general Asian problems, as well asabout China, Indonesia and Japan. Also, languagewasfocaltothewholeendeavour.

DS: You were chair of the government’s NationalAsian Language and Studies in Australian Schools(NALSAS)taskforcefrom1994-99.Canyoutellmeabitabouttheexperience,asanacademic,ofworkingwiththegovernmentinthisway?

CM: Frustrating in a lot of ways, good in otherways. I’ll start with the good ways. I made a lot offriends through it. It was good to share ideas withpeople who were enthusiastic about this venture,becauseKevinRudd[whoasheadoftheQueenslandPremier’sdepartmenthadchampionedNALSAS]sawtoitthatthepeoplewhowereputinchargeofthisinBrisbanewerekeenabout it. I still regard thosepeople I worked with then as friends. It was goodto share ideas, and to get ideas implemented, toworkout thesortsofproblems thatwere involved,suchasdevelopingteacher-trainingprograms.Theywere very important because there weren’t reallyenoughpeoplewhocouldteachtheAsianlanguagesthat needed to be introduced. After the Howardgovernmentcamein in ‘96,hesaidthathewantedtokeepitgoing.IactuallymetwiththeministerRodKemp and he said he it was supportive, but therewasnotnearlythesameemphasisputonit.AfterIsteppeddown theydidn’tputanotheracademic inas the chair. They put a bureaucrat in, and it’s myimpressionthatitlostmomentum.ThenofcourseasMinisterofEducation,BrendanNelsonwaspreparedtoseeall themoneycutoff.Thatdidn’tmeanthatAsianStudieswasnolongertaught,butitdidmeanthat there was no “affirmative action” for AsianStudies. I think it’sactuallyverydifficulttorecoverfrom that. I know thatRudd is trying toputmoneybackagainbutIthinkit’snotnearlyenough.Therearesomanyotherdemandsonhim. Idon’tsay it’suseless.Quitethecontrary,butIdon’texpectAsianstudiestorevivetotheextentthatIwouldlike.

DS: As a historian who regularly writes oncontemporarytopics,whatroledoyouthinkhistorycan play in our attempts to understand currentdevelopmentsinChina?

CM:Ithinkitplaysabigrole,butIthinkitdependson how you see history. I don’t really see history

csaa newsletter 澳 february 2010 11

somuchasjustthestudyofthepastasastudyofprocesses and trends within societies and withinpoliticsthatexpressthemselves ineventslateron.Iseehistoryastryingto interpretthose.Ofcourseit’s a question of describing and discussing andanalysing what has happened in the past, but thepastincludestherecentpastaswellasthedistantpast. I’vetriedtoworkonboththedistantandtherecentpast,butthequestionyouraiseisstillarealone.Iseehistoryasbeingfairlyall-encompassing,inthesensethatitincludesarangeofthingsthatyoumightnotnecessarilythinkofashistory.Forexample,the way a historian approaches things is differentfrom the way an anthropologist approaches them,even though an anthropologist also studies trendsandissuesaboutthepast,includingtherecentpast,asahistoriandoes.Youcouldmakethesamepointabouteconomists. I think it’sanapproach towardsmaterial,more thananything. It’sadifferent setofpriorities in what scholars of different disciplinesregardasimportant.Ahistoriandoesn’tnecessarilyonlystudythepast.

DS:Youhavesometimesbeencriticisedforholdingtoo sympathetic a view of the Chinese governmentpoint of view. How would you respond to suchcriticism?

CM: I thinkthat there’sa rangeofpointsofview. Ithink it’s important to be critical, but things arerarely straightforward and we should try and seeotherpeople’spointofview.AmItoosympathetic?Itdependsonthepointofviewyou’re lookingat itfrom. In one sense I am definitely sympathetic totheChinesegovernment.IbelievethatalthoughtheChinese Communist Party has done some terriblethingswhile it’sbeeninpower,overall ithasmadeChinaamuchbetterplacethanbefore.Idon’tthinkChinawould improveby itsoverthrowso I’dprefertoleaveitinpowerforthetimebeing.IwouldmuchratherliveinChinanowthan60yearsago,letalone100yearsago.HasChinadonebetterundertheCCPthan it would have done had the Guomindang orsomealternativebeeninpower?Idon’tknowbutIsuspectso,becauseIstillsubscribetotheviewthatfor a very big and diverse country like that, with avery large area and a very large population and abackwardandverypoorpeasantry,astrongcentralgovernmentisuseful.Thatdoesn’tmeanIdon’tthinkitwillbedemocraticinthefuture,bytheway.Idon’tseethatit’simpossibleforittobedemocratic,andIdon’topposedemocracyinChinaoranywhereelse.But I thinkthatastrongcentralgovernmentatthemomentisagoodthing.Idon’texpecttheCCPtobeoverthrownintheverynearfuture,andIdon’tthinkitwouldbegoodforChinaifitwere.

Idon’tsuggestthatprogresshasbeenconsistent.For example, looking back on it now, the CulturalRevolutiondidagreatdealofdamageandcausedalotofsuffering.OneofthethingsthatInoticeaboutcommentary on China is that there is a great dealofemphasisoncensorship inChina,withmuchtoo

littleinformationflow.OfcoursethereiscensorshipinChinaanditshouldbepointedout.ButIbelievetheemphasisonpointing it out, at theexpenseofotherthings,isexcessive.Mygeneralfeeling,havingbeentoChinamanytimesovermanyyears,isthatinthebigpictureit’sgettingbetter.I’mnotsayingit’sbetternow than itwas last year– that’s theshortterm picture. But if you’re talking the big picture,things are getting much better. Society is gettingmuchfreer,thewaypeoplereacttoeachother,thewaymystudentsreacttomeandthewaytheytalk.It is still not like Australia, but I think it is gettingfreer,andIamnotinanydoubtthatatthemomentthe great majority of people in China support thegovernment,supporttheChineseCommunistParty.

Does all this make me too sympathetic to theChinese government? In the sense that I think theChineseCommunistPartyhas ingeneral,given theproblemsthatitfaced,doneareasonablygoodjob,then Ipleadguilty. IfbeingtoosympatheticmeansthatI’mnotabletomakecriticaljudgments,Ipleadnotguilty. I lookat the sourcesand try toanalysethemasbest Icanand if theypointtoaparticularconclusion then that’s the conclusion that I adopt,irrespectiveofwhetheritisfavourabletoorhostiletothegovernmentorpresentorder.

DS:Whenyoulookbackonyourcareerasawhole,whatmakesyouproudest?

CM:I’veneverreallythoughtaboutthat,butletmetryandthink,sinceyou’veaskedmethequestion.IthinkthatIhavemadeacontributiontoestablishingAsian studies inAustralia,bothat the tertiaryandthesecondary levels. I’vewrittenquitea lotaboutChina – my publications are quite extensive, andalthough I don’t think they’re all of equal value,some of them are contributions to the literature. Iwas appointed an officer in the Order of Australia–I’mproudofthat.Thesesortsofthingsdon’treallymatter, Iknowthat,butI’mproudofthat.Also,mystudents.QuiteafewofthestudentsIhavehadatundergraduate,honoursorPhDlevelhavedoneverywell,includinginChinastudiesandotheraspectsofrelationswithChina.AlthoughIdon’ttakecreditforanypartoftheirachievements,Istillfeelveryproudofthem.

DS:WhatareyourthoughtsonthecurrentstateofChineseStudiesinAustralianuniversities?

CM:TherearesomeverygoodpeopleandAustraliapunches above its weight in the sense that thenumberofreallyfirst-rateChinascholarsperheadofpopulation inAustralia isprobablybiggerthananyothercountry.It’sgotsomegoodChinaCentres.Therangeofdisciplinesrepresented–literature,politics,anthropology.InthatsenseIthinkit’sverygood.Inanother sense I’m not so happy. For example, thenumberofpeoplewholearnaboutChinaatschoolis not nearly as much as it should and could be,consideringhowimportantChina is forusnow.ButonthewholeChinaStudiesaredoingprettywellinAustraliaatthemoment.

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Australia China Youth Association

Patrick Mayoh introduces the Australia China Youth Association (ACYA), a new organisation for uni-versity students, dedicated to building networks between the two countries.

As a gateway for Chinese and AustralianyoungpeopletoexcitingopportunitiesintheMiddleKingdomandtheLandDownUnder,the Australia-China Youth Association

(‘ACYA’)hasexperiencedincrediblesuccesssinceitsrecentformation.ACYAisagrassrootsorganizationaimed at unlocking opportunities for youngAustraliansandChinesethroughcareers,educationand people-to-people exchange. Through workingwithAustralianandChinesegovernment,businessesandeducational institutions,weseek toencouragemeaningfulcross-culturalengagementandpromoteexciting opportunities for young AustraliansinterestedinChina.

Fromcraftingdumplingstosecuringinternshipsininternationallawfirms,ourACYAteamisexperiencedin a kaleidoscopic mix of China-related activitiesand opportunities. ACYA has a variety of workingcommittees as well as local chapters establishedat the Australian National University, Universityof Melbourne, University of Sydney, Universityof Queensland, Monash University, University ofTechnologySydney,TsinghuaUniversityandPekingUniversity.

One reason for ACYA’s remarkable growth hasbeen the widespread recognition that genuineeducational and cultural exchange programs arenecessary to enhance Sino-Australian relations.Asan importantregionalplayerandavital tradingpartnertoagrowingbodyofnations,China’spolitical,economic, social and environmental progress willinevitably shape Australia’s future. In this context,Australian China-literate scholars are a valuableresource to facilitate a mutually beneficial andrespectful relationship between two of the largestplayersintheAsiaregion.ItisourexpectationthatincreaseddialoguebetweenAustralianandChineseyoungpeoplewillachievetheseends.

From an educational perspective, around122,000ChinesestudentsareenrolledinAustralian

educational institutions, 100,000 AustralianstudentsarestudyingChineseand1,500Australianstudentsstudied inChina in2007.However,manyyoung Australians and Chinese who study in Chinaor Australia return home feeling like there is noorganisation thatcansustain their linkswithChinaorAustralia.AsACYAwillhaveaphysicalanddigitalpresenceinbothcountries,wewillenablestudentstocontinuetheir linkswithChinaorAustraliaaftertheir experiences abroad. We also run a student-mentoringprogramforChinesestudentsstudyinginAustralia,oftenculminatinginintensesoccergamesandkaraokesessions!

Forums and information evenings

ACYAhasrunnumerousforumsandinitiativestoensureyoungAustraliansandChineseareengagedinongoingexchangesandarekeptuptodateonthelatestopportunities. ACYAandtheChina InstituteatTheAustralianNationalUniversity(ANU)heldthepublic‘PerceptionsofChinaForum’on21May2009at the ANU College of Law. The forum addressedcurrent perceptions of China, with viewpoints frommedia, economists and students, both Australianand Chinese. Guest speakers included Mr RowanCallick(Asia-PacificEditor,TheAustralian),EmeritusProfessor Peter Drysdale (Crawford School ofEconomicsandGovernance,ANU),MrJiangYaping(AustralianCorrespondent,Xinhua),DrRichardRigby(Director of the China Institute) and ANU studentrepresentatives Mr Xie Guanghao and Ms NatalieLilford.

Along with the Asia-Pacific Learning CommunityandtheANUAsia-PacificStudiesSociety,ACYAco-hostedthetelevisedpublicforum‘DoesChinaPlaybyOurRules?’WithguestspeakersProfessorHughWhite, Adjunct Professor Peter Bailey, ProfessorGeremie Barmé and Dr. Jane Golley, the forumwasa fascinating insight intohowthe internationalcommunity can work with China over the comingdecade.Wehavealsoattractedleadingpoliticians,including the Hon. Julie Bishop MP who spoke inlate 2009 about the importance of educationalexchangesandtheabilitytostudyinChina.

Outside stimulating discourse on key issuesaffecting the Sino-Australian relationship, ACYAprovides important information sessions. TheYear in China Information Evening provided anopportunity for students interested in studying

csaa newsletter 澳 february 2010 13

andworkinginChinatohearfromcurrentandpastuniversitystudentswhohavestudiedandworkedinChina, covering everything from visas to banquets,from scholarships to tai qi. The opportunity to askquestionstothosewithexperiencehelpedcalmthenervesofmanyChina-boundscholars.

‘Meet Australia!’ was ACYA’s first activity heldinChinatakingplaceon28May2009atTsinghuaUniversity.‘MeetAustralia!’aimedtoprovideChineseuniversitystudentsinterestedinAustraliawithmoreinformation on Australian culture and student life,whilst giving them the opportunity to engage withAustralianuniversity studentscurrently studying inBeijing.Inmid2009,ACYAANUChapteralsohostedagroupofstudentleadersfromTsinghuaUniversitywho experienced a two-day tour of Canberra, metwith the Hon Kate Ellis MP – Minister for Youth –andspoketoANUstaffandstudentsontheirstudyprogramsandlifeinChina.

Partnerships, Networks, and

Internships

ACYA is very proudto have establishedstrong partnershipswith Australian andChinese enterprise,g o v e r n m e n t ,a c a d e m i co r g a n i s a t i o n sand chambers ofcommerce and in-dustry.Asaresultofthese achievements,ACYA has been ableto provide internshipopportunitiesformemberswith the Australia-ChinaBusiness Council, the FordFoundation,TransAsiaLawyersandtheAustralia-ChinaAlumniAssociation.Thisdirectengagementwithorganisationsheavilyinvolved in furthering Australia-China relations willprovide our members with invaluable internshipopportunitiesindynamicinternationalcontexts.

It is only through the generous support of ourGoldSponsor -TheANUChina Institute-andSilverSponsors -TransAsia Lawyers and China StudyAbroad-thattheseinitiativeshavebeenpossible.Wewouldalsoliketothankthevariousorganizationsthathavesupportedourefforts,includingtheAustralia-ChinaBusinessCouncilandTheEastAsiaForum.Ifyou are interested in sponsorship opportunities oranyformofcooperation,pleasecontactStevanTao:stevan.tao@acya.org.au.

Current initiatives

One of ACYA’s key works in progress is theformationofa“OneStopShop”websitescheduledto

belaunchedinMarch2010.TheACYAwebsite(www.acya.org.au)willbeabi-lingual resource for youngAustralians and Chinese seeking to understandcareer opportunities and develop cross-culturalnetworks. ACYA will be the only Australian basedwebsitethattargetsuniversitystudents,seekingtounlockopportunitybasedonthethreefoundationalpillars: Careers, Education and People-to-Peopleexchange.

ACYA has also been working tirelessly toestablish the Australia-China Youth Dialogue. Thiseffort has followed suggestions from Dr StephenFitzgerald (in ‘Learning toLivewithChina’)and theHonStephenSmithMP(speechaddressingtheANUChinaInstituteon26October2009)thatthereisaneedforformsofinstitutionaliseddialoguebetweenAustraliaandChinathroughbothgovernmentalandnon-governmentalorganisations.TheAustralia-China

YouthDialogueseekstoallowyoungleadersfrombothcountriestodiscusscurrent

issues, including those likely toarise in thenear futurewhen

today’s youth becometomorrow’s leaders. We

believe that engagingstudents from bothAustralia and Chinain the discussion ofcurrent relationsis crucial toe n c o u r a g i n gbetter dialogueand understandingbetween the

nations. The YouthLeadership Dialogue

will focus on culturalrelations, educational

opportunities, economicrelations, political deve-

lopments, environment andscience. We are currently working with

the Australia China Council (DFAT) on this excitinginitiative and welcome any involvement individualsororganizationsmaywhichtohave.

How to get involved

General membership is free for anyone with aninterestinSino-Australianexchangessosendusanemailatinfo@acya.org.au.ToaccessthefullrangeofACYAeventsandopportunities,pleasemakecontactwith Jessica Liang (Jessica.liang@acya.org.au) oryouruniversitychapter.Lastbutcertainlynotleast,ACYAisalwaysonthelookoutfortalentedstudentsand young professionals who are keen to enhanceSino-Australian relationships, so if you are keen togetinvolved,wewouldlovetohaveyouonboard.Ifyouwouldlikepromotionalmaterialoranyadditionalinformation,pleasecontact:info@acya.org.auorcallHenryMakehamon0403141929.

1�

臺Taiwan Studies in

AustraliaPhilippa Riley, A PhD candidate in the Asia Institute at the University of Melbourne, discusses the state of Taiwan Studies in Australia today. This article originally appeared in the January 2010 edition of the East Asian Library Resources Group of Australia (EALRGA) Newsletter. For more of the latest from EALRGA, visit their website at coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/NLA/EALRGA/index.html

Taiwan’s complex history and culturallydiverse society is well worth scholarlyattention. The home to several significantacademic institutions and libraries, and

with a government keen to foster internationallinks, Taiwan offers researchers support for theirprojects. The Taiwanese have a democraticallyelected government and enjoy a higher averageliving standard than people in some parts of theregion. Taiwan, half the size of Tasmania but witha population slightly greater than Australia’s, hassignificant trade, education, and family links withAustralia.Australia isTaiwan’ssixth largestsourceof imports, and the third most popular overseaseducationdestinationforTaiwanesestudents.TaipeicanbereachedfromSydneybyair inlessthantenhours.Withtheseadvantages,anddespiteTaiwan’sdiplomatic isolation, the field of Taiwan Studies isgrowinginAustralia.

Taiwan Studies promotes the understandingof Taiwan as a distinct research field within whichinterdisciplinary conversations over a broad rangeof issues are possible. Australia-based scholarsare pursuing Taiwan-related topics in areas of thesocial sciences, humanities, language and culturethat range from Taiwan’s democratisation, tocross-Strait relations, economic development andreligion,identities,popularculture,sexualityandartpractices. No one method or discipline dominatestheconversation.

Internationally,aninstitutionallysupportedareaof inquiry explicitly identified as “Taiwan Studies”burgeonedinthe1990sasTaiwan’sdemocratisationbrought with it demands for attention to the

specificitiesofTaiwan,incontrasttothepost1949Kuomintangregime’sportrayalofTaiwanasChina.AstheAustralianscholarMarkHarrisonhasobserved,the construction of the field of Taiwan Studies isitself implicated in contests between nationalistideologiesandagendas.

DuringtheColdWar,Taiwanwasmoreaccessibleto Westerners than the Chinese mainland and wasviewedasbeingrepresentativeofChinesesocietyasawhole;somanyAustralianscholarswenttoTaiwantostudyChineselanguage,societyandculture.MostAustralianChineseStudiesspecialistshavestudiedinTaiwanandretainaninterestinit,eventhoughthefocusoftheirresearchisChina,ratherthanTaiwanin particular. Others see the Chinese influence asbut one of many strands in Taiwanese society andculture, and pursue questions from their disciplinewithTaiwanastheirresearchsite.

Australian academics working on Taiwan donot currently enjoy the benefits that come fromfrequentinteractionwithinterestedothersthatarepossibleforcolleaguesinNorthAmerica,JapanandEuropeasaresultoftheirrespectiveTaiwanStudiesassociations. The first North American TaiwanStudies Association (NATSA) conference was heldat Yale in 1994. NATSA is one of several Taiwan-focusedgroupsintheUSA.Since2004,conferencesof theEuropeanTaiwanStudiesAssociation (EATS)have been held at various European Universities.TheJapanAssociation forTaiwanStudies (JATS) isbasedatOsakaInternationalUniversity.

FewAustralianuniversitiesofferTaiwan-centredcoursesforundergraduatestudents,butthenumberof courses will rise in 2010. In 2010 the Universityof Tasmania will deliver a new course called “ThePoliticalandCulturalHistoryofTaiwan.”MacquarieUniversity’s Department of International Studiesoffers “Chinese literature from Hong Kong andTaiwan,” and Melbourne University’s Asia Institutehas“TaiwanandBeyond:ChineseSettlerCultures.”Inthesecondsemesterof2010,theFacultyofAsianStudiesattheANUwillkickoffitsnewTaiwanStudiesProgramwithacoursecalled,“Taiwan:HistoryandCulture.”

In the absence of an association whosemembership list might identify Australian-basedscholars who work on Taiwan, what follows is anincompleteandbriefsurveyofthesescholars.

J. Bruce Jacobs, Professor of Asian Languages

csaa newsletter 澳 february 2010 1�

灣andStudiesatMonashUniversity, isaspecialist inTaiwanpoliticsandsociety.Jacobs’researchfocuseson Taiwan’s democratisation, Taiwan nationalism,cross-Strait relationsandthehistoryofTaiwan.HecurrentlysupervisesseveralPhDstudentsinvariousaspectsofTaiwanStudies.

Griffith University’s David C. Schak, AdjunctAssociate Professor at Griffith Business School,has expertise in Taiwanese society, social change,TaiwaneseBuddhismandTaiwanesebusiness.

AttheANU,JohnMakeham,ProfessorofChineseStudiesattheFacultyofAsianStudies,teachesandpublishesonChinesethoughtandthedevelopmentofacademicdisciplinesinChinaandTaiwan.

The ANU has appointed a new Senior LecturerinTaiwanStudies. LiaoHsin-Tien,who iscurrentlyAssociate Professor at the National TaiwanUniversity of Arts in Taipei, will take up the postmid-year.Liao’sareasofexpertisearevisualcultureand visual sociology, postcolonialism and culturaldiscourse, cultural sociology, art criticism researchandTaiwanesearthistory.

Mark Harrison’s research covers politics andcontemporarycultureinChinaandTaiwan.Currentlyin Taiwan undertaking research, Harrison is SeniorLecturerinChineseintheSchoolofAsianLanguagesandStudiesattheUniversityofTasmania.

AttheUniversityofWesternAustralia,AssociateProfessorChenJiefocusesonTaiwan’sforeignpolicy,foreignrelationsandTaiwaneseNGOs.

FranMartin,aSeniorLecturerinCulturalStudiesattheSchoolofCultureandCommunicationsattheUniversityofMelbourne,haspublishedonsexualities,film,fictionandpopularcultureinTaiwan.

At the University of Melbourne (the institutionwithwhichthisauthorismostfamiliar)inadditiontoFran Martin researchers in a number of disciplineshavepublishedorareworkingonTaiwantopics.AttheAsiaInstituteDuLipingisinterestedintraditionalChinesemarketingsystemsandthesocialaspectsofeconomicbehaviour;CarolynStevensintheinfluenceof Japanese popular culture; Sander Adelaar inAustronesianlanguages;andLewisMayoinculturalpolitics, colonial identities and diaspora Chineseidentity.DavidHolm,currentlyinTaiwanatNationalTsinghua University, examines Taiwan culturalphenomena in conjunction with wider research onChinese regionalcultures.SeanCooneyat theLawSchoolhasexaminedlabourlawandcivilsociety.Hehasalsodonesomeworkon the legal relationshipbetweenTaiwanandthePRC.AttheSchoolofSocialandPoliticalSciences,Jui-ShanChangworksonthecomparative analysis of social trends and culturalideals of elites in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.TheseprojectsattheUniversityofMelbournearejustasampleofwhat isbeingundertakenatAustralianuniversities.

Several Australian early career researchers ,including Mark Harrison and Jeremy Taylor, havebenefitted from involvement in Taiwan focusednetworksinEuropeandelsewhere.Meanwhile,many

around Australia are keen to encourage greaterinteractionamongacademicsandgraduatestudentswith an interest in Taiwan; and the University ofMelbourneisplayingapart.AUniversityofMelbourneAsia Institute public lecture and conference with aTaiwan theme is planned for December 2010. Theconference is tentatively titled, “Spatial Culturesand Cultural Spaces in Taiwan: Historical andContemporary Perspectives.” Furthermore, twostudent groups affiliated with the University ofMelbourne Graduate Student Association (GSA)provide opportunities for graduate researchers atthe University of Melbourne and others to meet.ThepurposeoftheTaiwanResearchReadingGroup(TRRG) is to facilitate scholarly exchange betweenstudentsandacademicswitharesearch interest inanyaspectofTaiwan’scultureandsociety.Thegroupmeets monthly at the Asia Institute. The ChineseStudiesResearchGroup(CSRG),formedin2004withthesupportoftheEastAsianCollectionattheBaillieuLibrary, also provides a forum for the presentationof Taiwan-related research. In December 2007,theCSRGhostedaone-daypostgraduateseminar,“TaiwanToday.”Itishopedthattheseinitiativeswillcontribute to the development of greater dialogueamongAustralia-basedscholarsofTaiwan,andthustothegrowingfieldofTaiwanStudiesinAustralia.

Bibliography

Australia. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade(DFAT). “Taiwan Brief–March 2009.”http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/taiwan/taiwan_brief.html

Crook, Steven. “Taiwan Studies Goes Global.”Taiwan Review 57, 10 (1 October 2007). http://taiwanreview.nat.gov.tw/ct.asp?CtNode=119&xItem=24694

Jacobs, J. Bruce. “Taiwan Studies in Australia: AnOverview.” Issues and Studies: A Social ScienceQuarterlyonChina,TaiwanandEastAsianAffairs,43,1(March2007):217-243.

Harrison,Mark.Legitimacy,MeaningandKnowledgein the Making of Taiwanese Identity. New York:PalgraveMacmillan,2006.

Storm,CarstenandMarkHarrison.“Methodologies,Epistemologies, and a Taiwan Studies.” In TheMargins of Becoming. Identity and Culture inTaiwan, edited by Carsten Storm and MarkHarrison,7-18.Wiesbaden:Harrassowitz,2007.

Contacts

TRRG: send an email to taiwan_reading_group@yahoo.com.autojointhemailinglist.Seealsowww.gsa.unimelb.edu.au/gradstudentgroupdetails/, andonfacebook.

CSRG: www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/asian/CSRG/CSRG.html,alsoonfacebook.

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Professor Liu Ts’un-yan191�-2009

The following obituary by Professor John Minford first appeared in the higher education supplement of The Australian on 14 October, 2009. Professor Minford is head of the China Centre in the School of Culture, History and Language at the Australian National University. He studied under Professor Liu from 1977 to 1980.

Liu Ts’un-yan, emeritus professor of theAustralian National University, who died inAugustatage92,wasoneofthelastandmostsignificant native exponents of his country’s

grand cultural tradition. He was a great master, intherealsenseofthatterm.

The range and depth of his knowledge andunderstanding of Chinese culture, his effortlessabilitytointerpretandintegrateallofitsbranches,weresimplybreathtaking.

To give one small example. In 1952, while stillin Hong Kong, he wrote a couple of short essays,reminiscences of Cheng Yanqiu, the famous PekingOpera actor he had known in Beijing in the late1920s. Liu remarked that the foundation of thisgreat artist’s success lay in his lifelong pursuit ofTaoist self-cultivation, including the practice of taichiandofbreathingtechniques.Thispractice,donesteadily and consistently through the years, waswhatmaintainedthehighstandardofhissingingandstageperformance.Thiswasaprofoundobservation,lightly made, typical of the insights that were partandparcelofLiu’sthinkingthatinformedhiseverydayconversation.

Liu’slifelonginvolvementwithChina’sindigenousTaoist philosophy and religion, a subject on whichhebecameoneoftheworld’sunrivalledauthorities,arose directly out of a personal experience duringhis childhood in Beijing. He was a sickly child andnophysician,ChineseorWestern,couldbefoundtohelphimmendhishealth.Hewasfinally takentoaTaoistmonasteryandtherehewasinitiatedbyoneof the monks. That was when he started learningsomeofthebasicqigongpracticesthathelpedhimthroughouthislonglife.Intheclosingsentencesof

a wide-ranging historical survey of Taoist religion,published inHongKong in1980,hereturnstothistheme: whatever else one may have to say aboutTaoism, he argues, it has done so much practicalgoodforthemenandwomeninoursociety.

Itishardtoknowwheretobegin.Liuwassomanythingsatoneandthesametime.HewasaChinesescholar-gentleman at home in many branches ofChinese literature, classical and vernacular, andfluent in many varieties of the Chinese language:Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese dialect. Heeven knew Shandong dialect. The province ofShandong (birthplace of Confucius and Mencius)washisfamily’sancestralhome.AndeversincetheManchuconquestofChinaintheearly17thcentury,his family had been Chinese bannermen, honoraryManchus,inheritorsofthatproudtraditionwithinatradition.

Hewasthemostmeticulousscholarandteacher,able to rise to the demands of the most exactingtextual scholarship, at home in the most arcanebyways of the Confucian, Taoist and Buddhistclassics.Hisscholarshipwasfoundedontheclose,indefatigablereadingofcentraltexts.

He was a painstaking bibliographer, makingcopious notes at libraries all over the world. Yetbehind this scholarly (and sometimes daunting)personawasamanofgreathumanityandwarmth,aplayfulmanofletters,awittyessayist(againinbothclassical and colloquial Chinese), a fluent novelistandplaywright.

Liu could be a devastating critic, wherever hediscerned incompetence and pretentious, phonyscholarship.Therewerememorableseminarsatwhichhedecidedthatenoughwasenoughandproceededtoofferthespeakerafew“minoremendations”.Yethe was a prodigiously kind and generous mentorwherever he sensed the presence of a receptivemind.

ItwasAustralia’sextraordinarygoodfortunethatin the early 1960s Liu chose to leave Hong Kong,wherehehadlivedandworkedsinceafterthewar,andtotravelacrosstheseasandjointheAustralianNationalUniversity.HemadeCanberrahishomeforthelasthalfofhislife,becomingprofessorofChinesein1966.Duringsubsequentyears,untilhisretirementin1982,hedidmorethananyonetoputtheANUonthe world map of Chinese studies. In 1992 he wasmadeaMemberoftheOrderofAustralia.

csaa newsletter 澳 february 2010 1�

His deeply humanistic vision of Chinese studieswasspelledoutmosteloquentlyinhisowninaugurallecture: “The modern university had its origin inmedieval European ecclesiastic education. Itsobjective was to produce an all-round man ... Westill respect this great tradition. This is preciselywhat ismeantbytheChineseclassicalsaying: ‘Theaccomplishedscholarisnotautensil.’

“A mere knowledge of the language does notconstitutetherealunderstandingofthatlanguage.TounderstandthefeelingsexpressedintheChineselanguageonemustbeacquaintedwithatleastsomeofthemanyrichworksofliteraturewritteninChinese...Weare concernednotonlywitha languageanda literature but,through thelearning of thatlanguage andliterature, withsomething morelasting,somethingdeeper, a moreintimate ands y m p a t h e t i cunderstanding ofthepeoplewhoselanguage andliterature we arestudying.”

Liu was happyduring recenttimes to seefor himself thathis humanisticlegacy was beingtaken seriouslyonce more,that traditionalChinese studieswerebeingrevivedandthattheANUwasoncemorestandingupforthoseenduringvaluesinwhichhebelievedsostrongly.Inhiswritings,inhisteaching, in his person, he embodied that Chinesesense of cultural continuity and actuality, of thepastinthepresent,andofthepresentinthepast,that sense of the interconnectedness of literature,history and philosophy, of the lively links betweenscholarshipandlife.

Liu was the bearer of a great tradition. As astudentatPekingUniversityhestudiedundersomeofthegreatestscholarsofthattransitionalgeneration.He went on to become one of the key members ofa worldwide circle of scholars and critics, many ofwhom were his friends and most of whom have bynowsadlypassedaway.

ForLiusuchfriendshipswereaspoolsoflightinthedarkeningtimesaroundhim.Hewrotein2002ofhisfriendshipwithDavidHawkes,theOxfordscholarwhosedeathonJuly31thisyearsosaddenedhim:“Inthesetroubledtimes,whenallthetalkisofthe

turmoilandchaosofwar, tohavehada friendshiplike this, that has lasted half a century, is indeedsomethingtobetreasured.”

Theveryideaoffriendship,ofacommunityoflike-mindedscholarsandmenoflettersworkingtogetheracross theboundariesofgeographyand language,indeedoftimeitself(forLiu’swonderfullibraryheldmanygoodfriends frompastdynasties), thenotionthatallofthiscouldbeaforceforgoodlayattheheartofeverythinghedid.

In an essay republished in China in 2001, heascribed to China’s perennial philosophy a crucialroleasmediator inachaoticandmaterialisticage.He was referring to hard-won truths, to genuine

wisdom,not to thefacilepressing intoserviceofConfuciusor Taoism forpolitical ends, ofwhich he took adim view.Moreand more with thepassingoftheyearshespokewithuttersimplicity of theneedtodistinguishbetween what wasgenuine or true,zhen, and whatwasfalseorphony,jia. In the end, heinsisted, this wasall that mattered.Such distinctionscame easily,were indeed self-evident, to a manwho had practisedhisownphilosophyunpretent iouslybut consistently

allhislife,andwhoseemedinhislastyearstohavebecomealmostluminouslytransparent.WhathesaidonceaboutHawaii-basedphilosopherChangChung-yuanwaseminentlytrueofLiuhimself:theTaowasinhisface.

Inhismessageofcondolence,KevinRuddwrote:“(Liu)wastheheadofthedepartmentofChinesewhenIbeganattheANUasanundergraduate.Hewasaconstant source of encouragement for Australianstudents struggling to make their first impressionontheChineselanguage.IwouldliketopersonallyhonourhiscontributiontoSinology,toscholarship,totheAustralianNationalUniversityand,ofcourse,therefore,hiscontributiontoAustralia.”

Liu’spassingleavesAustraliaandtheAustralianChinesestudiescommunitybereftofanirreplaceablevoice, a voice speaking quietly but eloquentlyfor China in all of its triumphs and failings, as theimportanceofsuchatrueunderstandingofChinaisgreaterthanever.

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Australians already have access to asignificant range of electronic resourcesthroughtheirState/Territory,academicandpublic libraries. However, remote access

toChineselanguageelectronicresourcesisstillnotfully inplace. FromSeptember2008, theNationalLibrary of Australia provides all Australians, whohave registered with NLA, direct, seamless accessoff-sitetoallChineselanguageelectronicresources,includingelectronicbooks,journalsandnewspapers.Thismeansregisteredreaders,regardlessoflocation,canutiliseawiderangeofonlinedatabases24hoursaday,sevendaysaweek,withoutphysicallycomingtotheLibrary.

The Library’s Chinese e-Resources for remoteaccessinclude:

• E-Books:Apabie-Bookscollection• Digitalcollection:NewlydigitisedLMS

collection• E-Journals:ChinaAcademicJournals• E-Newspapers:ChinaCoreNewspapers

Database&RenMinRiBao (People’sDaily=人民日報)

If you wish to access to these subscriptionselectronicresourcesthatareaccessiblefromoff-site,youneedtoregisterforalibrarycard.Registration

From the NLAOnline anywhere in Australia:

Using the National Library of Australia’s Chinese e-Resources isavailabletoanyonewhoresidesinAustralia,freeofcharge,atwww.nla.gov.au/getalibrarycard.Ifyouare outside of Canberra, we can post your librarycardthroughthemail.

Once registered, just follow the eResourceslink located on the National Library homepageand log inusingyour library cardnumberand lastname. Resources available from offsite are clearlyidentifiedontheeResourcesportalwww.nla.gov.au/app/eresources/. In ‘Finda resource’,enter ‘China’or‘Chinese’tostartbrowsing.

If you have any specific research needs orenquires, please contact the Chinese Unit of theNationalLibrary.Wearemorethanhappytoprovideyouwithassistance.

Ourcontactdetails:MsDipinOuyang(歐陽迪頻)Phone:0262621613Fax:0262734327Email:douyang@nla.gov.auWeb:www.nla.gov.au/asian/lang/chin1.html

For more on the latest in Chinese-languageresources in Australia, check out the newsletterof the East Asian Language Resources Group ofAustralia at coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/NLA/EALRGA/newsletter.html.

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csaa newsletter 澳 february 2010 19

New publicationsA regular digest of new publications by CSAA members. If you would like your own publication to appear in this section, please forward book details and a cover image to the editor at daniel.sanderson@anu.edu.au.

Anita Chan, Richard Madsen, and Jonathan Unger

Chen Village: Revolution to Globalization (2009) University of California Press, BerkeleyISBN: 978-0-5202-5931-7

Thefirst twoeditionsofChenVillage presented an enthrallingaccount of a Chinese village inthe throes of Maoist revolutionfollowed by dramatic changes invillagelifeandlocalpoliticsduringthe Deng Xiaoping period. Now,more than a decade and a halflater,theauthorshavereturnedto

ChenVillage,andinthreenewchapterstheyexploreastonishing developments. The once-backwatervillageistodayacenterofChina’sexport industry,where more than 50,000 workers labor in modernfactories,ruledbythevillagegovernment.ThisneweditionofChenVillageilluminates,inmicrocosm,therecenthistoryofruralChinauptothepresenttime.

Anthony Diller, Jerry Edmondson, and Yongxian

Luo (eds)

The Tai-Kadai Languages(2009) Routledge, UKISBN: 978-0-7007-1457-5

With close to 100 millionspeakers, Tai-Kadai constitutesoneoftheworld’smajorlanguagefamilies.TheTai-KadaiLanguagesprovidesaunique,comprehensive,single-volumetomecoveringmuchneeded grammatical descriptionsinthearea.

It presents an importantoverview of Thai that includes extensive cross-referencingtoothersectionsofthevolumeandsign-posting tosources in thebibliography.Thevolumealso includesmuchnewmaterialon LaoandotherTai-Kadailanguages,severalofwhicharedescribedhereforthefirsttime.

Much-needed and highly useful, The Tai-Kadai

Languages is a key work for professionals andstudents in linguistics, as well as anthropologistsandareastudiesspecialists.

Elaine Jeffreys (ed.)

China’s Governmentalities: Governing Change, Changing Government(2009) RoutledgeISBN: 978-0-4155-4744-4

Since the Chinese CommunistParty (CCP) embarked on aprogramme of ‘reform andopenness’ in the late 1970s,Chinese societyhasundergoneaseriesofdramatictransformationsin almost all realms of social,cultural, economic and politicallife and the People’s Republic of

China(PRC)hasemergedasaglobalpower.China’spost-1978transitionfrom‘socialistplan’to ‘marketsocialism’hasalsobeenaccompaniedbysignificantshiftsinhowthepracticeandobjectsofgovernmentareunderstoodandactedupon.

China’s Governmentalities outlines the natureoftheseshifts,andcontributestoemergingstudiesof governmentality in non-western and non-liberalsettings, by showing how neoliberal discourseson governance, development, education, theenvironment, community, religion, and sexualhealth,havebeenraisedinothercontexts.Indoingso,itopensdiscussionsofgovernmentalityto‘otherworlds’andthelocalpoliticsofthepresent.

The book will appeal to scholars from a widerangeofdisciplinesinterestedintheworkofMichelFoucault,neo-liberal strategiesofgovernance,andgovernmentalrationalitiesincontemporaryChina.

Elaine Jeffreys (ed.)

Sex and Sexuality in China(2009) RoutledgeISBN: 978-0-4155-4697-3

Elaine Jeffreys exploresthe issues of sex and sexualityin a non-Western context byexamining debates surroundingthe emergence of new sexualbehaviours, and the appropriatenature of their regulation, inthe People’s Republic of China.Commissioned from Western and

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mainland Chinese scholars of sex and sexualityin China, the chapters in this volume are markedby a diversity of subject material and theoreticalperspectives, but turn on three related concerns.First, the book situates China’s changing sexualcultureandthenatureofitsgovernanceinthesocio-political history of the PRC. Second, it shows howChina’sshifttoaruleoflawhasgeneratedconflictingconceptionsofcitizenshipandtheassociatedrightsof individuals as sexual citizens. Finally, the bookdemonstratesthattheChinesestatedoesnotoperatestrictly to repress ‘sex’; it also is implicated in thecreationofnewspacesforsexualentrepreneurship,expertiseandconsumption.

Thiscomprehensivestudyisavaluableresourceforscholarsinthefieldsofsexualitystudiesandpost-socialistsocietiesandculture,directlyappealingtobothEastAsiaandChinaspecialists.

Andrew Kipnis

China and Postsocialist Anthropology: Theorizing Power and Society after Communism (2008) Eastbridge Books, Norwalk, CTISBN: 1-59988-010-5

China and PostsocialistAnthropology applies lessonslearnedfromsocialistgovernance,

especially in China, to the realm of social theory.Socialist governance explicitly draws on variousaspectsofMarxisttheoryandthusdirectlyilluminatesissuesasvariedas theorizingpower, imagining therelationship between continuity and discontinuityin historical process, utilizing the category of “thepolitical” when writing about culture and society,andconceptualizingcategorieslikeclass,thestate,the market, and citizenship. Many of the mostdestructiveepisodesofsocialistgovernancecanbelinkedtotwomajorthemesinMaoismandMarxism:a holistic conception of society; and a positivevaluation of politicization (in the forms of conflict,struggle,andpoliticaloppositionality).Boththemesplay an important role in the practical exercise ofsocialist governance and, in the process, generateanumberofrelatedsub-themes,orsocialistlogics.These two overarching themes come together inthepracticeandconceptofsocialistrevolution—anarmed struggle that transforms society from oneholistic form (capitalism) to another (socialism).China and Postsocialist Anthropology exploresanddevelopsformsoftheorizingaboutsocietyandpolitics which avoid the over-politicization, holisticlanguage, metaphors, assumptions, and logics soprevalentinsocialistgovernance.

Andrew Kipnis, Luigi Tomba, and Jonathan Unger

(eds)

Contemporary Chinese Society and Politics4 Volumes, (2009) Routledge, UKISBN: 978-0-4154-5748-4

Chinese society and itspolitical system are predicatedontraditionsofgoverningthataredeeplyalientomostreadersfromliberal, Western powers. Chinesegovernance reflects both a long,indigenous tradition of statecraftand the Leninist legacies ofthe People’s Republic’s ruling

Communist Party. As China becomes ever morepowerful—economically, diplomatically, militarily,andculturally—itbecomesincreasinglyimportanttounderstanditsgoverningdynamics.Buttowhatextentcansocial-sciencetheoriesofpoliticalrule,hierarchyandpower,classformation,economicdevelopment,urbanization,anddemographicandfamilytransition,whichweredevelopedinWesterncontexts,explainChina’ssocietalandpoliticaldynamics?WhatsortsoftheoreticallanguagehaveemergedfromthestudyofChinesesocietyandpolitics,andhowmightthesetheoriesenable social scientists to viewsocialandpoliticaldynamicsinotherpartsoftheworldinanewlight?

ContemporaryChineseSocietyandPolitics,anewfour-volume Major Work from Routledge, exploresand answers these and other urgent questionsby collecting the best foundational and cutting-edge scholarship on Mao-era and contemporaryChinesesocietyandpolitics.Thecollectionadoptsadualapproach.Ontheonehand, toaddresstheincreasing fascination about China among Westernscholarsandstudentsfromanumberofdisciplines,it collects the best work that empirically describesChinesesocietyanditspolitics.Ontheotherhand,toexaminethetheoreticalimplicationsofthestudyof Chinese society for Western social science, italso brings together the best work to have usedempiricalexaminationsof thePeople’sRepublic tointerrogatetheoriesdevelopedinWesterncontextsortodevelopnewtheoreticalpositions.Theeditorshave in particular paid especial attention to caseswhere debates have arisen about the proper waysofdescribingandtheorizingChinesegovernanceandsocialdynamics.

Contemporary Chinese Society and Politics isfullyindexedandhasacomprehensiveintroduction,newly written by the editors, leading academics inthefield,whichplaces thecollectedmaterial in itshistoricalandintellectualcontext.Itisanessentialwork of reference and is destined to be valued byscholarsandstudentsasavitalone-stop researchandpedagogicresource.

csaa newsletter 澳 february 2010 21

Anne McLaren

Performing Grief: Bridal Laments in Rural China(2008) University of Hawai’i Press, HonoluluISBN: 978-0-8248-3232-2

This is the first in-depthstudy of Chinese bridal laments,a ritual and performative artpracticed by Chinese women inpremodern times that gave thema rare opportunity to voice theirgrievances publicly. Drawing onmethodologies from numerousdisciplines,includingperformance

artsandfolkliteratures,theauthorsuggeststhattheabilitytomoveanaudiencethroughherlamentwasoneofthemostimportantsymbolicandritualskillsaChinesewomancouldpossessbeforethemodernera.Reviewershavehailedit“asanabsolutemustforanyonewhoisinterestedinthepositionofChinesewomenintraditionalsociety...andessentialreadingforanyoneworking in thefieldofChinesewomen’sliterature”(WiltIdema,HarvardUniversity).

Jonathan Unger (ed.)

Associations and the Chinese State: Contested Spaces(2008) M.E. Sharpe, ArmonkISBN (cloth): 978-0-7656-1325-7ISBN (paper): 978-0-7656-1326-4

WhatroledoChinesepopularassociationsplayintheexpansionofcivilsocietyanddemocritization?UnderMaofewassociationswerepermitted to exist, while todayover 200,000 associations areofficially recognized. Are theyimportant foundations of civilsociety, or vehicles for state

corporatismandcontrol?In this book leading China specialists examine

an interesting range of associations, from businessassociationstotradeunions,tourbanhomeownersassociations, women’s groups against domesticviolence,andruralNGOsthatdevelopanti-povertyprograms.Thecontributorsfinddifferent importanttrendsunderwayindifferentpartsofChina’seconomyandsociety.Theirfindingsarenuanced, insightful--andoftennotwhatmightbeexpected.

Georg Wiessala, John Wilson and Pradeep Taneja

(eds)

The European Union and China: Interests and Dilemmas(2009) Rodopi, New YorkISBN (bound): 978-9-0420-2741-1 ISBN (e-book): 978-9-0420-2742-8

This volume brings togetherthe best of contemporary criticalanalysis of EU-China relations,offeredherebyaninternationalteamof policy analysts, academics andpractitioners. The fifteen chaptersassembled in this book representawide-ranging investigationof thedevelopmentandframeworkofEU-

China relations and its wider geo-political context.Thisincludesanexaminationofkeyareasofconcern,suchashumanrights,economiccooperation,energysecurity, sports, maritime safety and media policy.ManyaspectsofEU-Chinarelationscoveredinthistitlehave,untilnow,notbeenavailableforsystematicscrutinybyawiderpublic.Importantly,thiscollectionpresentsanexaminationofthesignificanceofChina’srelationswithselectedglobalpartners–suchastheUS,Russia, IndiaandCentralAsia–forthefurtherevolutionofSino-EUinteraction.ItshouldbereadbyanyoneinterestedinEUforeignpolicies,thefutureof China-EU strategic partnership, China’s place inthe world, and the development of a multi-polarworldorder.

Zhou Shaoming

Funeral Rituals in Eastern Shandong, China: An Anthropological Study(2009) The Edwin Mellen Press, New York ISBN: 978-0-7734-3890-3

Funeral Rituals in EasternShandongisthefirstdetailedstudyintheWestofcontemporaryfuneralrituals in villages in north China.Drawing on rich ethnographicand archival data, it offers anilluminating portrayal of funeralrituals, encompassing the ritesof transformation and the rites of

disposal,atatimeofgreatsocialtransformation.ItisanimportantcontributiontothescholarshipofthesocialaspectsofdeathinruralChinaandwillbecomeessential reading for anthropologists, folklorists,social historians and all those with an interest insocialchangeincontemporaryChina.

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