All across the globe, populist movements appear to be gaining momentum. Whether aligned with the left or the right, espousing views of anti-elitism or xenophobia, these populist movements and their leaders threaten the status quo. At a two-part event on February 10 at Columbia University titled “Nationalism and Populism Around the World: Is Japan an Exception?” scholars … [Read more...]
Memoir of China’s Past Offers Lessons for Present
A newly translated memoir by the Chinese business leader Lan Yan provides an eye-opening view into China’s past. Published more than 50 years after the start of China’s Cultural Revolution, The House of Yan: A Family at the Heart of a Century in Chinese History reveals the Yan family’s painful memories of that significant historical upheaval. Yan, who is vice … [Read more...]
Interview: Maria Adele Carrai on Sovereignty in China
Sovereignty has become something of a modern buzzword, used by world leaders and diplomats in the United Nations and other international settings to further states' political goals. But where did this concept come from? Is it still relevant today? And how have interpretations of this concept evolved, particularly in China, one of the world's most vocal proponents of … [Read more...]
Alumni Feature: Mike Fu, translator of Stories of the Sahara by Sanmao
In 1973, a Taiwanese woman by the name of Sanmao made her way to the turbulent Spanish Sahara. She trekked through cultural and linguistic barriers, romance, solitude, and mirages, before publishing her experiences of the desert in the form of a book. Now, more than four decades after its original publication in Chinese, Sanmao's groundbreaking 1976 debut Stories of the Sahara … [Read more...]
Michael Davis writes Nikkei Asian Review opinion piece on new Hong Kong leadership
In a recent opinion article in the Nikkei Asian Review titled "Listening should be first job for Beijing's new man in Hong Kong," WEAI Research Scholar Michael C. Davis highlighted "troubling signals" that Beijing is seeking to "increase control over Hong Kong by cultivating a 'correct' view of the country among local officials and youth to strengthen national security" as Luo … [Read more...]
