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“This is Shanghai, a big city on Chinese soil.
How dare you call us Communist China.Communist China has become history.
Such a term no longer exists.”– PRC Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan,
to Taiwanese reporter,2001 APEC Meeting, Shanghai
“The Slumbering Red Giant”?
• Western obsession/ fantasy that China has to “catch up” to superior West
• Chinese certainty that the Middle Kingdom’s 2000 years of economic/ cultural/political superiority is more historically authentic than USA’s 60 years as #1
“Foreign languages and Shakespeare will be taught at Cal Poly over my dead
body.” – unnamed Cal Poly President, 1960s
The Grand Canal
Built 7th century (Sui Dynasty), 1200 miles long
A “wonder of the world” to Europeans 1000 years later …
The Cosmopolitan Tang Dynasty: Chang’an
• Cosmopolitan city of 1 million – world center of politics, culture, learning
• Multiethnic cities: capital, Guangzhou
• Influenced by Central Asia
• Influence spreading all over Eurasia• (1000 years later, the biggest
European cities have population of 100,000)
“Modern China” andthe Song Dynasty (960-
1279)• Problematize notion that “modern” =
Western• Emergence and growth of middle classes –
social mobility:• Merchant power: chambers of commerce,
foreign sea trade• Emergence of industry • Money economy (incl. paper money)• Expansion of exam system• Social legislation by state and Buddhists
• Invention of paper money: ~700 years before it appears in Europe in late 17th c.
• National credit market• Yearly trade in capital
Kaifeng, 11th c. = 50% more than London trade 18th c.
• 11th c. industry not matched by any European state until the 18th century
Military Technology
• (At right) Composite crossbow from Song – some are mounted and operated by 100 men
• [By the 2nd century BCE the Han Dynasty had fashioned long-range repeater crossbows with trigger mechanisms on rotating bases]
Zheng He’s Ming Armada
• Seven voyages: 1405-1433• First fleet: 317 ships, including 62 in
Treasure Ship class• Smaller ships range down to 200 feet• (Spanish Armada 1588 has 137 ships,
7 of 1000 ton burden)• Manufacture causes great
deforestation up Yangzi Valley
Power of the High Qing(late 17th – early 19th c.)
“Everything which the people need for their well-being and sustenance,
whether it be for food or clothing or even delicacies and superfluities, is
abundantly produced within the borders of the kingdom and not imported from foreign climes.”
- 17th-century European assessment of Chinese wealth and self-sufficiency
The Opium WarResulting hostility
towards West, not “foreigners”
Feng Guifen - “There is only one thing to learn from the barbarians, and that is strong ships and effective guns.”
“Mao offers you enterprise management tips you can’t get from any other business studies, especially Western ones.”– China Business (2003)
“Acclaim from the leader is a great source of affirmation and identification for the lower levels. – Mao Zedong Teaches us About Personnel Matters (2003)
“The books can help enable someone seeking self-improvement to learn from a person who has already notched up such great success.”– Central Party History Publishing House, 2003
My stomach is full nowMy brain is clear now tooBut don’t say this is a great favorThat can never be repaidWe are no longer pawns in a
chess gameFollowing lines drawn by othersWe try standing up ourselvesGet moving and take a look at
everything Reality is like a stoneSpirit is like an eggAlthough stones are hardEggs are lifeMother is still aliveFather is a flagpoleIf you ask us who we areWe are balls under the red flag
“Eggs Under the Red Flag”
“The Two Wangs,” April 2001
Wang Zhizhi,China’s first NBA
player
Wang Wei,pilot of downed fighter jet that collided with
EP-3 spy plane
Justifications?
“Our continued engagement with China is the best (and perhaps only) way for Google to help bring the tremendous benefits of universal access to all our
users there.”– Google, 2006
“One could walk away. But that would also be turning our back on the problem.”
– Microsoft, 2006
“The Workshop of the World”
• Manufactures two thirds of the world’s copiers, microwave ovens, DVD players and shoes
• World’s largest producer of coal, steel, cement• 2nd largest consumer of energy• 3rd largest importer of oil• Exports to US have grown by 1,600 percent
over the past 15 years• 2004 exported $18 billion worth of goods to
Wal-Mart (China has 5,000 of Wal-Mart’s 6,000 suppliers)
• Intel Science and Engineering Fair, 2004:Americans participating: 65,000Chinese participating: 6 million
Taiwan: The Renegade Province
• Facing 700+ nuclear-tipped PRC missiles
• 2006: PRC military budget increased by 14.7% (to US$35.3 billion) - because of efforts of “Taiwanese independence secessionist forces”
What’s at stake with Taiwan?
• (Recent panda politics)
• PRC’s historical supremacy & legacy
• “Domino effect” – Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia
• Japanese, US influence