The carnivals roll on: Nathanael Robinson hosted the last AHC, and did a very nice job. The next edition will be hosted by our very own Owen Miller in a week or so: get your nominations in soon! And we’re looking for more AHC hosts: we’ve got open spots from December on.
After a return engagement by founding host John McKay, the Carnival of Bad History is moving to England, where Natalie Bennett will be collecting historical turkeys for the pre-Thanksgiving edition.
As always, your best source for good history is the History Carnival, hosted this time at longtime contributor (especially to the Bad History carnival) Sergey Romanov. In two weeks, another edition: submit here. And the latest Early Modern edition of Carnivalesque features a tabloid cover and lots of great stuff. I believe they’re still looking for volunteers for hosts.
Almost forgot: The Cliopatria Award Nominations are open through November: Best Blogs (individual, group, new), Best Post (individual and series) and Best Writing. Pick your favorites and add ’em to the list!
And Now, the News…
Alun Salt has some nice thoughts and links on The Needham Question, one of the great driving forces of Sci/Tech history in Asia.
It’s not Chinese history, but Chinese historian Andrew Meyer has a strong argument in favor of US withdrawal from Iraq which deserves wider attention. I’m not entirely convinced, but it does point out the need for fundamental shifts in direction and method.
Bill quotes cyberpunk novelist Neal Stephenson on the tension between the Chinese state and new information technologies. This was written back in the early 90s, by the way….
Orville Schell’s review of Roderick MacFarquhar and Michael Schoenhals’ Mao’s Last Revolution is a detailed and very supportive piece. For a more literary take on the GPCR, there’s Da Chen’s new novel, which sounds very interesting, though I admit that I’ve never read any Da Chen before….
Jonathan Benda reports on a new movie about Taiwanese independence activists harassed by spies — Taiwanese spies, no less — in the US
HK Dave meditates on the last Communist regime to go nuclear.
Lots of new stuff up at the anti-Menzies site 1421 Exposed, including my personal favorite, Kirsten Seaver’s demolition of his North American East Coast colonies theories.[via]
The Great Wall’s been in the news a lot lately: attracting rowdy tourists, photographed by an English runner, and facing an official survey to determine its true scale.
Other Chinese archaeological discoveries include 4500 year old writing and Han-era tunnels under Imperial compounds.
Via wood s lot, guerrilla art in China and an exhibition of new Chinese video and photographic art
Friendship Store, a refuge for foreigners in Beijing since its founding just before the Cultural Revolution, is being upgraded, part of the ongoing Olympic facelift.
Harvard-Yenching Library, my old stomping grounds, has an online exhibition of photographs of Chinese Muslims from the 1920s and 1930s.
A new publication I really ought to pick up, given my research interests and family ties to the home of the World Series Winning Cardinals: Chinese St. Louis.
The richest person in China is recycling US scrap paper. There’s the global economy in a nutshell, eh?
Finally, because this is a Frog website, I have to share one of my son’s favorite sites, National Aquarium’s Frog Chorus. It’s like the blogging soundtrack we never had….
