New Books in East Asian Studies

The podcast explores the complex reality of journalism in China, challenging the assumption that it is all propaganda. It delves into the diversity within the industry, highlighting the existence of investigative journalists and internal critics. The concept of 'post-truth' and its impact on the Chinese news sector is examined, as journalists struggle with changing business models. The chapter also discusses the tightening conditions faced by news makers in China and the shift towards new communication platforms.

Kin Cheung, a scholar of contemporary Buddhism at Moravian University, discusses his research on a Chinese-American community healer who reveals the limitations of current academic approaches to Buddhism. They explore code-switching as a feature of life for Asian Americans and Kin's father conducts a blessing ritual. They also highlight the need for representation of Asian American Buddhists and discuss the unexpected animal presence during a ritual.

Lucia Liu, expert on the effects of economic reforms and changes in the management of death in China, discusses the impact of funeral industry reforms on reshaping citizens. The podcast explores the resilience of traditional social conventions in end-of-life commemoration and challenges the assumption of a shift towards individualism. Other topics include the rise of personalized funerals, the role of religion, and the nationalization of funeral institutions.

Jieh-min Wu, author of Rival Partners, discusses the extensive Taiwanese investment in China despite political differences. He explores the impact of Taiwan's contribution to China's rise and the cooperative efforts between Taiwanese entrepreneurs and Guangdong officials. The podcast covers topics ranging from the Guangdong model to the challenges faced by Taiwanese businesspeople in China during the global financial crisis. Wu also delves into China's rent-seeking development model and its goals in chip-making, as well as the efforts of Western countries to contain China's high-tech development.

Chinese was the earliest truly global cuisine. When the first Chinese labourers began to sojourn and settle abroad, restaurants appeared in their wake. Yet Chinese food has the curious distinction of being both one of the world's best-loved culinary traditions and one of the least understood. For more than a century, the overwhelming dominance of a simplified form of Cantonese cooking ensured that few foreigners experienced anything of its richness and sophistication - but today that is beginning to change.In Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food (Norton, 2023), the James Beard Award-winning cook and writer Fuchsia Dunlop explores the history, philosophy and techniques of China's rich and ancient culinary culture. Each chapter examines a classic dish, from mapo tofu to Dongpo pork, knife-scraped noodles to braised pomelo pith, to reveal a singular aspect of Chinese gastronomy, whether it's the importance of the soybean, the lure of exotic ingredients or the history of Buddhist vegetarian cuisine. Meeting local food producers, chefs, gourmets and home cooks as she tastes her way across the country, Fuchsia invites readers to join her on an unforgettable journey into Chinese food as it is made, cooked, eaten and considered in its homeland.Weaving together historical scholarship, mouth-watering descriptions of food and on-the-ground research conducted over the course of three decades, Invitation to a Banquet is a lively, landmark tribute to the pleasures and mysteries of Chinese cuisine.This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

David Veevers explores the reality of British misadventures in the early days of the Empire, highlighting the power and resistance of Indigenous and non-European people. It discusses challenges in the Mediterranean and Asia, the decline of the Mughal Empire, and the impact of the American Empire in Hawaii.

Hansen and Gygi discuss 'The Work of Gender: Service, Performance and Fantasy in Contemporary Japan', examining affective labor and gender performance. They explore creating the book's framework, intimacy and authenticity in Japan, gender dynamics in street music performances, and the challenges of ethnographic research in the performance scene.

In 1644, after close to three centuries of relative stability and prosperity, the Ming dynasty collapsed. Many historians attribute its demise to the Manchu invasion of China, but the truth is far more profound. The Price of Collapse: The Little Ice Age and the Fall of Ming China (Princeton UP, 2023) provides an entirely new approach to the economic and social history of China, exploring how global climate crisis spelled the end of Ming rule.The mid-seventeenth century witnessed the deadliest phase of the Little Ice Age, when temperatures and rainfall plunged and world economies buckled. Timothy Brook draws on the history of grain prices to paint a gripping portrait of the final tumultuous years of a once-great dynasty. He explores how global trade networks that increasingly moved silver into China may have affected prices and describes the daily struggle to survive amid grain shortages and famine. By the early 1640s, as the subjects of the Ming found themselves caught in a deadly combination of cold and drought that defied all attempts to stave off disaster, the Ming price regime collapsed, and with it the Ming political regime.A masterful work of scholarship, The Price of Collapse reconstructs the experience of ordinary people under the immense pressure of unaffordable prices as their country slid from prosperity to calamity and shows how the market mediated the relationship between an empire and the climate that turned against it.Huijun Mai is an Assistant Professor in Medieval Chinese Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

Akiko Takeyama, author of 'Involuntary Consent: The Illusion of Choice in Japan’s Adult Video Industry', challenges the notion of consent in the adult entertainment industry. She explores the behind-the-scenes realities of coercion and pressure faced by sex workers in Japan. The podcast also delves into power dynamics, gender disparities, and marginalized discourses. Additionally, it touches on the Asian experience in racial discussions and the impact of microaggressions on ethnic groups in the Midwest.

Mingwei Song discusses his book 'Fear of Seeing: A Poetics of Chinese Science Fiction' and how science fiction engages with representing China. The book explores the aesthetics of science fiction, the poetics of the invisible, and the ambivalent relationship between new wave Chinese science fiction and state power. Topics covered include the influence of theorists on science fiction, the relationship between science fiction and literature, and the themes in Han Song's writings.