Ballard Bio Slated…by Everyone it Seems

Just before JG Ballard died in 2009 he published his memoir, Miracles of Life: Shanghai to Shepperton. In that book he said rather more about Shanghai and his childhood than he had cared to previously for many years. Publishing his own autobiography so near the end Ballard niftily rather stalled a flood of quickie biographies; indeed that may well have been his intention. However now they are appearing. John Baxter’s The Inner Man has just been published and, though I haven’t read it yet, appears to have been roundly trashed by everyone so far.

Robert McCrum in The Guardian certainly doesn’t like it

David Evans in The Independent is unconvinced

John Gray in The New Statesman says “A Model for Missing the Point of Biography”

All in all it’s hard to think of a book that’s had worse reviews across the board for quite some time!!

Who’s Afraid of China? – UK Events

My latest Asian Arguments author Michael Barr is doing a couple of events in the UK to promote his new book Who’s Afraid of China: The Challenge of Chinese Soft Power. Details below.

Newcastle

Café Politique: Who’s Afraid of China?

Michael Barr (Politics, Newcastle University)

Location: Urban Café, Dance City, Temple Street, Newcastle, NE1 4BR

Time/Date: 19th September 2011, 19:00 – 21:00

What role does China play in the Western imagination? Michael Barr will discuss how China’s rise as an alternative model to Western liberalism has created a fear that developing countries will stray from Western standards of democracy, transparency and human rights. He will challenge us to rethink our ideas on modernity, history, and international relations.

London

Chatham House China Programme: Who’s Afraid of China?

Michael Barr

Location: Chatham House, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 10 St James’s Square, London SW1

Time/Date: 22nd September 2011, 13:00-14:00

RSVP: contact@chathamhouse.org

If China suddenly democratised, would it cease being labelled as a threat? This provocative book argues that fears of China often say as much about those who hold them as they do about the rising power itself. It focuses not on the usual trope of economic and military might, but on China’s growing cultural influence and the connections between China’s domestic politics and its attempts to brand itself internationally. Using examples from film, education, media, politics, and art, Who’s Afraid of China? is both an introduction to Chinese soft power and a critical analysis of international reaction to it. It examines how the West’s own past, hopes, and fears shape the way it thinks about and engages with China and argues that the rising power touches a nerve in the Western psyche, presenting a fundamental challenge to ideas about modernity, history, and international relations.

Who’s Afraid of China? – the Latest from Zed Asian Arguments

As you may know I am editing a series of books for Zed Books in London. The series is called Asian Arguments and is composed of succinct (60,000 words or so) books on various themes in contemporary Asia. I’m enjoying the process of finding authors for the series and developing the titles as it allows me to stay abreast of contemporary issues in Asia and also to commission and publish books on subjects that interest me and that, I think, are under researched. Part of the aim of the series is to bring to light voices from below that are not often heard in these debates while also trying to bring academic research to a wider audience in a more accessible and readable form. We launched the series with Kerry Brown’s Ballot Box China, a great study of the state of democracy in China, last year.

Anyway, the second book in the series has just been published – Michael Barr’s Who’s Afraid of China: The Challenge of Chinese Soft Power. I think it’s a succinct and pointed round up of the efforts of Beijing to extend its soft power and Michael’s done a great job. Details below and some launch events in the UK to follow in a separate post.

If China suddenly democratised, would it cease being labelled as a threat? This provocative book argues that fears of China often say as much about those who hold them as they do about the rising power itself. It focuses not on the usual trope of economic and military might, but on China’s growing cultural influence and the connections between China’s domestic politics and its attempts to brand itself internationally. Using examples from film, education, media, politics, and art, Who’s Afraid of China? is both an introduction to Chinese soft power and a critical analysis of international reaction to it. It examines how the West’s own past, hopes, and fears shape the way it thinks about and engages with China and argues that the rising power touches a nerve in the Western psyche, presenting a fundamental challenge to ideas about modernity, history, and international relations.

‘One need not agree with every aspect of Michael Barr’s ‘Whose Afraid of China’ to benefit from his exploration of China’s use of ‘soft power’ and its attempt to exploit the global information space. China’s challenge in this dimension, its attempt to mis-position the West, to diminish Western values and appeal, reflect a maturing ‘battle of ideas’ about governance. Michael Barr offers interesting perspective on these dynamic questions. A good read for anyone concerned about governance, values and the increasingly informational dimension in which China increasingly challenges the West.’ – Dr Stefan Halper, University of Cambridge

”Who’s Afraid of China?’ by Michael Barr provides a very solid answer to the puzzle of why there is international fear of China’s rise. Both those advocating and opposing the theory of Chinese threat will understand why neither of their arguments holds water after reading this book. It is especially worth reading for those who plan to shape a friendly environment for China’s rise.’ – Professor Yan Xuetong, Tsinghua University, Beijing.

‘China’s rise has been generating so much breathless commentary that we now need more than just authors able to help us understand this complex country. We also need ones like Michael Barr who can shed light on the curious ways China is being fantasized about and feared. This short book provides not just a savvy analysis of Chinese soft power, but also a clear-eyed critique of the latest versions of Sinomania and Sinophobia.’ – Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Professor of History, UC-Irvine and author of ‘China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know’.

Shanghai Chai has Arrived Should You Want it

Here’s one in my occasional series of references to regurgitated efforts at Shanghai cool extending across the globe…sort of…

Popular Australian low end coffee, tea (the ridiculous concept of the Chai Latte predominating) and sandwiches chain Villa & Hut Kafe have just launched a new drink – a chai no less (basically tea) called the “Shanghai Chai” – which is, apparently, “straight out of Shanghai”. I didn’t try it – but they have opened a branch (their first in China) in Pudong in the lobby of a crummy new build bank skyscraper (very evocative of old Shanghai!). More on that here for anyone interested. Seems Shanghai still has the old magic in some places and with some products.

I Literally Stumble Across Another Plaque to Conrad

I’ve posted before about how Joseph Conrad monuments and plaques crop up in the oddest places – being a Polish-born English naturalised novelist who had sailed the seas for many years before literary fame mean all sorts of places, often in Asia, can claim a Conrad link. Singapore’s claim is pretty brazen – see here.

Seems Sydney has a Conrad plaque too – and just as Singapore used a few minor quotes of Conrad’s about the island so Sydney has dredged up a rather forgettable quote about Sydney Harbour from one of Conrad’s more forgettable works, Mirror of the Sea.

Still, you never know, might inspire someone to pick up Conrad and give him a read….

Midnight in Peking Comes to Shanghai – Glamour Bar – Sunday 18th – 4pm

Back home for a few days and so it’s time to launch Midnight in Peking in Shanghai to the home crowd (actually the launch in Peking last night was pretty, and I don’t use this word often, awesome with a crowd of modern day ex-pat Peking ne’erdowells in attendance wonderfully). And so it’s back to the lovely Glamour Bar at M on the Bund once more – a venue that’s never been anything but very generous and charitable to me over the years.

We’ll be delving into the Badlands, the old Legation Quarter, the white mischief and the scandal from 4pm

Charlie Chan’s in Sydney

Good to see that the old Yellow Peril characters live on down under and that Charlie Chan, ace Chinese detective and creation of Earl Derr Biggers remains well known. Of course this pub and pokie machines parlour close to Sydney’s Chinatown could just be owned by a bloke called Charlie Chan, but I somehow doubt it. And as it’s been a while since we’ve had a modern day opium den post (there have been others in the past such as here and loads here too) so it seemed time to post another old Yellow Peril follow on.

Julia Lovell and Opium at Asia House – Thursday 15th September

Julia Lovell is talking about her new book, The Opium War, at London’s Asia House on September 15th. Should be well worth listening to and attending to details as below. There was a good Q&A with Julia in Time Out Hong Kong recently also worth reading.

Beginning with the drama of the war itself, Julia Lovell explores its causes and consequences, and through this larger narrative, interweaves the curious stories of opium’s promoters and attackers. The Opium War is both the story of modern China—starting from its first encounter with the West—and an analysis of the country’s contemporary self-image. It explores how China’s national myths mould its interaction with the outside world, how public memory is spun to suit the present, and how delusion and prejudice have bedevilled its relationship with the modern West.

Julia Lovell teaches modern Chinese history at Birckbeck College, University of London. She is the author of The Great Wall: China Against the World and The Politics of Cultural Capital: China’s Search for a Nobel Prize in Literature. She writes for the Guardian, Independent and The Times Literary Supplement.

You can read the excellent Isabel Hilton’s review of Julia’s book in The Guardian here

£10/£8 concessions
Asia House Friends : £6

You can book via the website here