Organizer: Mary B. Rankin, Independent Scholar
40 Years of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region: Remaking the Landscape
Stanley W. Toops, Miami University, Ohio
The theme of this paper is the transformations in Xinjiang's landscape over the past 40 years. The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, founded in 1955, has seen many changes as the landscape has been shaped to accommodate national interests. This paper is based on ten years of research on Xinjiang including two years of fieldwork.
Following the incorporation of Xinjiang into the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, the PRC embarked on a program to reorient Xinjiang to Beijing. This strong program revamped the economic landscape of the region, concentrating the forces of production on Urumqi, the capital. Policy also dictated the arrival of new Han migrants to the area which changed the distribution of population and ethnic groups. This reorientation of Xinyiang to Beijing had a significant impact upon the economic and cultural landscapes.
During the Reform Era, agricultural and urban developments, trade and transportation linkages have all changed the landscape. For example, the modernization of irrigation technology, expanding petroleum exploration, and growing trade across the border have transformed regional dynamics.
A reawakening of the relationship with Central Asia has linked the region to the outside. China's economic reform program has transformed the region. The resultant map of Xinjiang is the local response to the regional implementation of national policies in the face of international forces.
Exotic to Modern: Constructions of Urban Space in Shanghai Newspapers in 1890 and
1910
Nan-tsung Anna Kim, University of Heidelberg
Things do not take shape as they meet the eye but as they are put into words. In Shanghai, the city which invented modernity in China, much talking and writing was done. The new papers of Shanghai, the new city's own medium, didn't set out to describe urban space in the way a map or a city guide does. Daily reports on events in the city through their choice and focus present a perception of spatial and architectural structures which are not primarily concerned with representing the city. Thus, they give us an opportunity to gain a picture of the city as a working organism.
Based on a map of the city, not as it would appear in bird'e eye view representations, but as it can be put together from news and other items in the papers, highlights, zones of interest and blank spots can be identified. Subsequently, I discuss those features which gain symbolic meaning for the city and its inhabitants. By comparing the representations in two years-20 years apart-a qualitative change in the (self-) perception of the city as a construction in space can be illustrated. In 1890, the new city appears as an exotic place full of curious things and inhabited by eccentrics and fugitives. Twenty years later, by contrast, it has become a self-important place, which embodied modernity and whose inhabitants were at the forefront of progress.
Health, Real Wages, and the Standard of Living in Republican China
Stephen L. Morgan, University of Melbourne
This paper (poster) addresses a fundamental question in the discussion of the nature of economic growth in prewar China: who benefited from the growth? The innovations in methodology are, firstly, the creation of a new real wage series for north China based on the wage records of the Beiping-Liaoning (Beijing-Fengtian) Railway, and secondly, the application of anthropometric methods to Chinese data.
The debate about the nature of the economy in Republican China during the interwar years is less about whether growth occurred, than about the distributional effect of that growth. On one side, the optimists argue Chinese workers and peasants shared in the growth, while on the other side, the pessimists argue for immiserisation. My research supports the optimist argument. Using railway records I have constructed a real wage series for different skill levels of workers which demonstrate a sustained rise in real wages. Wage evidence from coal mines corroborate the railway series. Industrial workers in north China were better off in the mid-1930s compared with the late 1910s. However, real wages measure the wage rates of the workers in market-oriented wage labor deflated for price changes. It neglects income besides wages, payment in kind, the earnings of women and children, and the social wage paid by the company or the state. The paper (poster) will present a new way of looking at living standards in China, the application of anthropometric methods which provide an alternative, direct measure to that based on the adult-male wage.
Autonomous and 'Official' Forest Protection Committees in Bihar: Solutions to
India's Deforestation?
Sarah L. Jewitt, University of London
Particularly since India's independence, concern about forest decline and opposition by forest-dependent populations to a perceived neglect and exploitation of local forests by the Forest Department has resulted, in certain areas, in the establishment of autonomous village-level forest protection committees. In Bihar, attempts to overcome the antagonistic Forest Department relations that prevailed during much of the 1980s, plus a recognition of the need to involve local people in forest management and protection, have resulted in the establishment of a 'joint forest management' program. This aims to follow the example set by autonomous forest protection committees by setting up "village protection and management committees" in degraded protected forest areas.
This presentation, which stems from my doctoral fieldwork in the Jharkhand region of Bihar, will examine the issue of forest protection in light of three main issues. A first issue concerns the extent to which a strong historical sense of place and (particularly tribal) identity can be effective in mobilizing an interest in and concern for local resource management and protection. A second issue concerns the degree to which traditional, charismatic village leaders are important in overcoming intra-village tensions over resource use and promoting successful forms of community action. A third issue concerns the extent to which the above two factors are likely to be important in the success of 'official' forest protection and management committees.
The Sand Mandala of Vajrabhairava
Dan Cozort, Dickinson College
Mandalas are potent symbols in tantric Buddhism. Principally, they serve as templates for the unique tantric practice of "deity yoga" in which practitioners imagine themselves as Buddhas in special sambhogakaya-form and the aspects of the mandala as their the palace and grounds. But they also symbolize the entirety of the cosmos and are associated with Mt. Meru, the lotus, the stupa, the subtle body, the elements, etc., making them pan-Buddhist symbols.
The mandala of the BuddhaVajrabhairava is one often executed in sand. It is very intricate and often takes several weeks to execute. Relying upon textual and oral explanations of monks of the Tibetan Gelukba (dge lugs pa) order, in which the deity yoga of Vajrabhairava has particular importance, the poster will explicate in detail the elements of the mandala, using drawings and photos of a 1995 construction. It will explore the correspondences between the form of the mandala and its symbolic associations. It will also place the process of mandala creation in the context of the special training of monks of Namgyal Monastery, who created the mandala depicted, and describe how the mandala might be used in relation to a sadhana (practice manual). It will also raise questions such as whether or not the mandala-makers can be called "artists."
Sexualizing Chinese Mythology: Insights and Problems
Qing-yun Wu, California State University, Los Angeles
Scholars in and outside China often interpret Chinese mythology from a cultural and moral point of view. Zheng Sili, in his recent book The Sex Culture of China: A Thousand-Year-Old Enigma (Beijing, 1994), offers a provocative psychological reading of Chinese mythical tales. To some extent, he has demystified the Chinese collective psyche by sexualizing Chinese mythology. This paper examines the insights of Zheng Sili's new interpretations and analyzes the problems caused by his imitation of Freudian interpretive strategy and his own gender bias.
Zheng Sili regards sex, rather than culture and politics, as the original root of Chinese ritual and ethics. He explores the delicate correlation between sexual repression and political domination throughout Chinese history. By interpreting the myths of "Yi Shooting the Suns" and "Kuafu Chasing the Sun" as the killing of the libido and the son's defeat by the father, he offers insights on the essential difference between the Chinese civilization and the Western civilization that celebrates the son's defeat of the father and release of libido, as prophesied by the myths of Oedipus and Pandora's Box. Zheng also compares the birth of Houji to the birth of Jesus to reveal the matrilineal and group-marriage reality under the disguise of virginity. However, Zheng's new interpretations are inclined to disparage Chinese mythology and civilization, ignoring the positive values of those mythical tales in the development of Chinese literary and cultural history. Although throughout the book, Zheng offers sharp criticism of patriarchy and shows great sympathy for the Chinese women, his interpretation of "Nüwa Mending the Sky" is rather discouraging for the Chinese women. In his view, the myth of Nüwa foretells the permanent deprivation of female power. He even likens the myth of "Jingwei Filling the Sea," the fable of "the Old Man Removing the Mountains," and the drama June Snow to feudal tales for its deceitful impossibility. While the paper recognizes the value of Zheng's new interpretations in breaking the monotonous pattern of the interpretive history of Chinese mythology, it points out Zheng's weaknesses caused by completely negating the past and abandoning the positive values of Chinese mythical hermeneutics. Sometimes, Zheng has treated myth too pragmatically and literally, excluding its pluralistic and amibiguous nature in interpretation. Finally, the paper offers a criticism of Zheng's notion of China's backwardness caused by the yin over the yang, resulting from his mythical study.
Ginseng Culture in Asia: Roots of Medical, Agricultural and Economic
Interdependence
W. G. Bailey, Simon Fraser University
Ginseng is a herbaceous perennial plant that has been employed in the traditional medical practices in Asia for over four thousand years. At present, there are three separate species of the Panax family that play a role in the traditional Asian medical usage. Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) is believed to enhance the body's yang characteristics; North American ginseng (Panax quinquefolium L.) is believed to enhance the body's yin characteristics and South China ginseng (Panax notoginseng [Burk.] F. H. Chen) is employed for the blood circulation system.
Whereas Asian ginseng is native to northern China and Korea, and South China ginseng is native to southern China, North American ginseng is native to the eastern part of the North American continent. The major production in North America occurs in Wisconsin, Ontario and most recently British Columbia. Over the last 20 years, seed secured from North America has permitted a vibrant industry to develop and prosper in northern China.
Until recently, there has been little competition between the global producers of ginseng. However, as a consequence of technology acquisition, application and adaptation, production is dramatically increasing in the Pacific Rim. Whilst the plants are used for the enhancement and maintenance of human health, agri-business developments throughout Asia and the resulting economic competition will dictate future success. Issues of ginseng medical efficacy, technology challenge, choice and change, and marketing to the consumer will dictate the future existence and nature of these traditional medical and agricultural activities.
Communism, Confucianism and Catholicism: Ho Chi Minh and Ngo Dinh Diem
Marilyn A. Levine, Lewis-Clark State College
The issue of Vietnamese leadership in the history of twentieth century Vietnam has often been analyzed within the framework of non-Asian concerns. Issues such as winning or losing wars, highly charged debates on ideology and the cruelty of modern warfare itself have often obscured the historical realities of the post-World War II era. This paper examines two Vietnamese leaders who helped shape the history of the modern era in Vietnam-Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969) and Ngo Dinh Diem (1901-1963). Ho Chi Minh's organizational skills and ideological convictions led to the August Revolution in 1945 and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Ngo Dinh Diem had a similarly strong purpose and unexpected success in establishing the Government of Vietnam in 1954, which lasted longer than was expected at the time by most analysts. This paper presents the ideological development and early career of each leader, and some examples of their leadership while in power. Views of their leadership, such as the notion that Diem was a puppet of the United States, will be challenged. The conclusion argues that we need to answer a different set of questions, based on the actual cultural and historical context in Vietnam and more in-depth biographical information of each leader before we can arrive at meaningful interpretations of Asian leadership.
Street Corner and Neighborhood Maps in Japan: Historic Connections and Current
Functions
William H. Warren, University of Hawai'i, Manoa
Street corner and neighborhood maps are important elements of the Japanese cultural landscape. Such maps provide a window to view Japanese culture and civilization as well as their perception of the world. This research focuses on three topics: (l) styles and cartographic conventions used; (2) map functions; and (3) connections to earlier Japanese cartographic traditions.
The many styles evident include the use of Gyôgi-style balloon shapes and the bird's-eye view, both important conventions used in Japanese cartography for many centuries. Moreover, pictorial representations of landmarks, variable scales, poor planimetric accuracy, and busy, cluttered appearances are common stylistic elements. Newer maps are often planimetrically more accurate, less cluttered, but contain less information. These maps have important functions that require Japanese to be expert map readers. They are critical in overcoming a difficult address system and deciphering the dense public transportation network. Pictorial maps arouse interest in and direct people to local sights, and sort out the intricacies of Japan's parks, shrines, and temples, while in Hokkaido, maps express local sentiments on the "Northern Territories" issue. Additionally, map margins provide convenient locations for local business advertisements .
These maps represent a more humanistic way of portraying the landscape, one that emphasizes the known and familiar rather than the scientific and abstract. Perhaps the Japanese become excellent map readers because as young children they see maps as energetic and experiential. The Japanese have created maps that spring from daily life and touch their innermost sentiments and emotions.
Statistical Analysis of the Objectives of Japanese Aid
Kazuo Kuroda, Cornell University
Japan became the largest Official Development Assistance (ODA) donor country in the world. However, while the government claims its goals are humanitarian in nature, Japanese ODA has been criticized as serving Japan's own commercial interests. This study intends to analyze the controversy surrounding the objectives of Japanese ODA with a statistical approach to its geographical distribution. To characterize Japanese ODA, this study compares its geographical distribution of Japanese ODA with other donor countries' ODA: the United States, France, Germany, and Sweden, focusing on four factors: the equal distribution factors, the humanitarian factor, the economic relation factor, and the foreign pressure factor. Then, it analyzes the distribution of grant aid, loan aid, and technical cooperation, the three components of Japanese ODA.
The major findings are as follows: Japanese ODA is humanitarian and economic relation oriented compared to another donor country. U.S. ODA, for example, is not humanitarian oreconomic relation oriented. The economic relation factor is important for Japanese loan aid but not for its grant aid. However, as for the humanitarian factor, these two forms of ODA take similar geographical distribution.
Anatomy of an Execution: The Case of Omori Katsuhisa and Disciples of Capital
Punishment in Modern Japan
Vivian Herman, The University of New South Wales
In July of 1994 Omori Katsuhisa's final appeal against his death sentence was rejected by the Supreme Court. Omori's case and his wait on death row in the Sapporo Gaol may be intersected at a number of points to yield up what Foucault might have called an anatomy of the discourses, genealogies, and disciplines traversing the field of capital punishment in modern Japan and Omori's place within that field. This paper seeks to "flay" the flesh off the organs and bones of the Omori case in several ways: Convicted of the charge of bombing the Sapporo Prefectural Offices in 1976, Omori's death sentence reaches back into the 1970s encounter with left-wing radicalism in Japan. Additionally, the prosecution's uses of evidence and the negotiations of circumstantial evidence in the appeals process leading to confirmation of the death penalty for Omori mark out recent shifts in the juridical administration of capital punishment. Omori's time on death row in Hokkaido is spent in discipline both corporeal and spiritual, and these same disciplines of the contemporary Japanese penitentiary recover Meiji and Taisho reformulations of crime, the criminal, surveillance, discipline and punishment. Here Omori's case works us back to Meiji codification of the mode of execution, to the removal of execution from the public gaze, to the engagement of the Buddhist orders (especially Jodo Shinshu) in spiritual exhortation in prisons (kangoku kyokai) during Meiji, to what the involvement suggests about the dis-establishment of Buddhism, and to the remaking of criminal subjectivity in modern Japan.