This seminar will be the second of four programs during the winter and spring of 2012-2013. We will begin with a brief presentation by the speaker to be followed by open discussion based on the questions of the participants. Therefore, it is essential that attendees read and prepare questions based on the reading which will be sent to all those who register. You do not need to participate in all of the seminars to attend an individual session. This seminar series is only for NCTA alumni and associates.
Our guest presenter will be Dr. Jing (Jay) Li, Associate Professor of History at Duquesne University. HE was first educated at Jilin University in the Northeast region of China. He served as a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing which was followed by his completion of a PhD at Rice University. Dr. Li arrived at Duquesne in 2002 where he teaches a wide variety of courses including East Asian Civilization, History of Japan, East Asia and the United States, History of Modern China, and the Chinese Revolution. Jay is a good friend to the NCTA program, providing occasional lectures to NCTA seminars and joining Diana Wood as co-leader of the 2005 study tour to China and Korea.
Jay's presentation will focus on his recent book, China's America: The Chinese View the United States, 1900-2000, published in 2011. Having grown up in China, Jay brings to the topic his personal perspective as well as extensive academic research.
Our discussion will explore the years from 1978 through the 80s when China began the process of "discovering" the U.S. This shift followed three decades of recurring ideological mobilization and economic hardship. Registrants will receive a copy of Jay's chapter seven: "Popular and Not-So-Popular America: The Chinese Masses and the U.S. in the 1980's". This reading covers the democracy movement of 1978-9 and the People's Voice publication, the dramatic expansion of media in China, especially TV, interest in novels and films, rising crime rate, and fascination with stories of economic success in the U.S. All these influences led one Chinese official to say, "Maybe the Americans arenot the way we used to describe them after all." (p. 189)