China beyond the Headlines - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0847698556 ISBN 13: 9780847698554

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2000

Synopsis

This unique book takes the reader Obeyond the headlinesO to explore a China few Westerners have seen. The authors argue that the great gap between what specialists understand and the general public believes has led to distorted and potentially dangerous misunderstandings of China. Seeking to bridge that gap, a group of prominent scholars and activists challenge readers to move past the usual images of China presented by the media and to think about the common problems shared by China and the United States. In a morally engaged spirit, they explore such issues as environmental degradation, unemployment, growing inequality, ethnicity, human rights, corruption, and changing images of women to bring to life the fabric of contemporary Chinese life and how it twines around the political consciousness of Americans.

About this title

About the Author

Timothy B. Weston is associate professor of history, University of Colorado at Boulder. Lionel M. Jensen is associate professor and chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures at the University of Notre Dame.

Review

This is a significant book that does more than bring together a number of apposite and informative papers to provide a comprehensive picture of China at the turn of the century. The volume as a whole engages with and interrogates the environments of information, political representation and policy choice behind the headlines or soundbites, popular perceptions of the 'other' and the role that scholars play in their production and interpretation. In this respect it is a self-reflexive volume of professional interest within and beyond the China field. (The China Quarterly)

Scholars and interested lay people who have never lived in China should read this book. So should politicians, journalists and government officials working on China. (The China Journal)

An intriguing discourse that abandons outmoded paradigms and rethinks China from a variety of new perspectives within and without the Chinese polity. . . . The essays make engaging reading for those who wish to probe deeper into the social fabric of everyday life in China. (Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly)

Engaged and engaging. . . . I know of no other text that wrestles so determinedly and effectively with the jingoistic drivel that our press typically dishes out about China. (Richard Kraus, University of Oregon)

Edition details

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0847698556
• ISBN 13: 9780847698554
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 392
• Editor: Weston Timothy B., Jensen Lionel M.