An Abstract of a Book on China

choi

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Jeffrey Wasserstrom, The Myth of One China; To understand the contradictions
and internal conflicts of Asia's rising superpower, you have to understand
its incredible diversity. Foreign Policy, Apr. 13, 2010.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/04/13/the_myth_of_one_china

Quote:

"U.S. notions of Chinese homogeneity gained a new lease on life during the
first decades of the Cold War. This was a time when many World War II images
of Japan, as a militaristic land in which everyone conformed to the wishes
of the madmen in charge, were simply transposed to China, while the Japanese
, now allies of the United States, were envisioned as diverse and peaceful."

"Further complicating the issue is that people from various Chinese regions
often view one another through a lens of difference. Residents of Beijing
view their counterparts in Shanghai as utterly unlike and inferior to them -
- and Shanghai residents return the favor.


My comment:
(a) This article is online only, and does not appear in the print.
(b) The article is an excerpt of

Jeffrey Wasserstrom,  China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know
. Oxford University Press, 2010.

(c) The title of the article "The Myth of One China" haas nothig to do with
Taiwan, or its independence movement. It (title) merely indicates China is
not a monolith.
(d) George Paloczi-Horvath, Mao Tse-tung: Emperor of the Blue Ants.
Doubleday, 1963.
(e) Borg (Star Trek)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg_(Star_Trek)
("The Borg have become a symbol in popular culture for any juggernaut
against which 'resistance is futile.' The Borg manifest as cybernetically
enhanced humanoid drones")
(f) capacious (adj): "capable of holding much; spacious or roomy <a
capacious storage bin>"  Dictinary.com
(g) The article states "more than one-fifth of Chinese were never alive in a
China that did not have a large divide separating those who have benefited
most from the reforms that have occurred and those who have been left behind
by them." This refers to the younger generation: "more than 20 percent were
15 or younger" (in 2007).
(h) George Orwell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell
(Eric Arthur Blair (1903-1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell,
was an English author and journalist. He is best known for the dystopian
novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)).

(i) Eton College
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eton_College
(a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18; founded in 1440 by
King Henry VI; located in Eton, north of Windsor Castle)

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