Upcoming Events
Past Events
The Great Transformation: China’s Road from Revolution to Reform, 1969-1984
Zoom
This joint book project with Professor CHEN Jian attempts to provide an easily accessible survey of key developments in what is arguably the most important political, social, and economic transition of the 20th century: China's road from an isolationist revolutionary state to a pragmatic market-oriented regime. By reviewing both China’s domestic and international affairs during its ‘long 1970s’ – from the Ninth Party Congress and the Sino-Soviet clashes in the spring of 1969 up to the Twelfth Party Congress and the opening to the outside world in the early 1980s – the project intends to stress three key themes: The end of the revolutionary phase in Chinese Communist politics, the beginning of a new international orientation for the PRC, and the creation of a new economic system, built from above and from below, that set the stage for the remarkable growth of the 1980s and ‘90s. READ MORE...
The Good Immigrants: How the Yellow Peril Became the Model Minority
Zoom
Conventionally, US immigration history has been understood through the lens of restriction and those who have been barred from getting in. In contrast, The Good Immigrants considers immigration from the perspective of Chinese elites—intellectuals, businessmen, and students—who gained entrance because of immigration exemptions. Exploring a century of Chinese migrations, Madeline Hsu looks at how the model minority characteristics of many Asian Americans resulted from US policies that screened for those with the highest credentials in the most employable fields, enhancing American economic competitiveness. The earliest US immigration restrictions targeted Chinese people but exempted students as well as individuals who might extend America’s influence in China. Western-educated Chinese such as Madame Chiang Kai-shek became symbols of the US impact on China, even as they patriotically advocated for China’s modernization. World War II and the rise of communism transformed Chinese students abroad into refugees, and the Cold War magnified the importance of their talent and training. As a result, Congress legislated piecemeal legal measures to enable Chinese of good standing with professional skills to become citizens. Pressures mounted to reform American discriminatory immigration laws, culminating with the 1965 Immigration Act. The Good Immigrants examines the shifts in immigration laws and perceptions of cultural traits that enabled Asians to remain in the United States as exemplary, productive Americans. READ MORE...