It doesn't take much exposure to China to realize the pervasiveness of identity politics here. Indeed, whether in the Chinese government's occasionally hamfisted efforts to micromanage ethnic minority cultures or the Foreign Ministry's soft-power promotion efforts abroad, it seems that barely a day goes by without someone in the Chinese government confusing the idea of China (the state) with the Han ethnic diaspora.

This week, Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn are delighted to be joined by David Moser, director of the CET immersion program in Beijing, and Jeremiah Jenne, renegade Qing historian and director of The Hutong. We chat about what it means to be Chinese, where these ideas came from and whether anything is likely to change them in the future. So check out the show online, or download and share it here as a standalone mp3 file.
 said on
May 24, 2015
David Auerbach writes a column at Slate. Kaiser actually got it right the first time around.
 said on
May 28, 2015
Reading List:

Perry Link, What It Means to Be Chinese: Nationalism and Identity in Xi’s China

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2015-04-20/what-it-means-be-chinese

Alastair Campbell, Defining China’s “Civilization State”. Where is it heading?

http://sydney.edu.au/china_studies_centre/en/policy-papers/2015/Defining-Chinas-civilization-state.shtml

Dikötter, Frank. 1997. The construction of racial identities in China and Japan. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=677374.

Esherick, Joseph, Hasan Kayalı, and Eric Van Young. 2006. Empire to nation: historical perspectives on the making of the modern world. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield. [Esherick, How the Qing Became China]

Recommendations:

Jeremy: MInor Sites (blog)

Post on museum in France with biggest collection of Helenistic Buddhas

http://www.minorsights.com/2015/04/france-musee-guimet.html

Jeremiah:

Elliott, Mark C. 2001. The Manchu way: the eight banners and ethnic identity in late imperial China. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press.

Millward, James A. 1998. Beyond the pass: economy, ethnicity, and empire in Qing Central Asia, 1759-1864. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press.

Crossley, Pamela Kyle. 1990. Orphan warriors: three Manchu generations and the end of the Qing world. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.

David Moser:

Pye, Lucian W. 1988. The mandarin and the cadre: China's political cultures. Ann Arbor, Mich: Center for Chinese Studies, the University of Michigan.Pye, Lucian W. 1971. Warlord politics: conflict and coalition in the modernization of Republican China. New York: Praeger.

Kaiser Kuo: David Auerback, #JeNeSuisPasLiberal: Entering the Quagmire of Online Leftism

http://theamericanreader.com/jenesuispasliberal-entering-the-quagmire-of-online-leftism/
 said on
May 29, 2015
Who is the saintly soul who took the time to put up the recommendations? A thousands blessing up his or her head! - Kaiser
 said on
July 3, 2015
Agreed, thanks for the reading list! Now to get such added for every week's recommendations.
Mark Lesson Studied