China news and notes, views and voices:

Rather like the special relationship the United States and United Kingdom enjoy (and that many of my British friends disparaged), there are special relationships in Asia, too. I’ve been enjoying Jonathan Fenby’s massive Modern China: The fall and rise of a great power, 1850 to the present. One thing I found enlightening is his explanation of the practical reasons for the renewal of relations between China and the United States in the 1970s. (I don’t remember anything about this, which is proof that I had absolutely no interest in politics as a kid, much as I loved global things, and read many books about and set in Asia.) Weapon sales to Taiwan, and U.S. support for Tibet, was an issue then, but as Jimmy Carter explained in 2007, “Beijing privately acknowledged that the US would continue to sell arms to Taiwan.” Fenby gives the full story.

By the way, the jacket copy of Modern China is as good a summary as I’ve seen of China’s recent history and the extraordinary disasters (some self-imposed) came before its breathtaking rise.

There’s been a lot of discussion lately about the appearance in Chinese publications of faked interviews with Western China scholars, so I’m going to read any quotations from Westerners more carefully now. Here’s an extract from an interview I happened across some months ago, which had some details that amused me. It sounded authentic, but I wouldn’t refer to it in a book without checking with Tony Saich (I am more casual on the blog, and trying to be clear about the provenance):

As an Englishman, Saich does not have a typical British accent; while as a foreigner, he speaks ‘Mandarin with tune’ (The tune in Mandarin is the most difficult part for Westerners when learning oral Chinese). This interview was conducted in English according to this reporter’s request, however, during the conversation Chinese special terms such as ‘ bao chan dao hu’ and ‘xiu zheng ji hui zhu yi lu xian’ kept running out from his lips. (Note: ‘Bao chang dao hu’ means ‘contracting output quotas to households with the production team’, and ‘xiu zheng ji hui zhu yi lu xian’ means ‘revise the political course of opportunism’).

From “Interview with Harvard Professor Anthony Saich: Optimistic and Pessimistic about China.”

A friend of mine is a school administrator in a wealthy suburban district. We had dinner in New York not long ago and she asked, “We don’t really need to learn Chinese, do we? They’re all learning English after all.” She knew I was going to disgree, I’m sure. The issue turned out to be that she, and the district, had tried to introduce Chinese and failed, and she was hoping that this wasn’t as bad as it looked. I’m now writing an article about why it’s essential that we learn Chinese, and feeling particularly conscious of how much I need to walk the talk, so to speak! I’ve been arranging meetings for and with a Chinese publishing delegation and know how much more I could help - and how much more fun I would have - if I could speak Chinese myself.

In the meantime this morning I’ve been updating the Chinese fonts and tools on my PC, something that I need to get someone here to write up so we can post our recommendations online.

After the May 2009 publication of Berkshire Encyclopedia of China, and with other China projects in development, we’re welcoming authors who want to share their work to write about it here at BAO Blogs. This group welcomes new voices, and at Berkshire we’re looking forward to finding ways to create fresh interchange of ideas, and especially to connect scholars in China with those in other parts of the world. As you can see from this map, it’s a farflung group! Contributors to the Berkshire Encyclopedia of China (2009)

The Encyclopedia was officially launched at a luncheon in New York graciously hosted by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relationss. where our friend Simon Winchester, another Berkshire Hills resident, enthralled the audience of China experts with a lively account of the life and work of Joseph Needham, whose Science and Civilisation in China series provided us with much inspiration. We look forward to being inspired in our future endeavors by the work of scientists, philosophers, political scientists, historians, art experts, and all who share our determination to build better understanding and more productive relationships with China and across the world.

BAO Blogs developed from an earlier group project connected with Berkshire Publishing’s monthly journal, Guanxi: The China Letter. While that project brought together Guanxi authors, Berkshire has many other authors writing and teaching about Chinese history, culture, and politics, In addition, we have been experimenting with blogs and other social media for the past couple of years, and our user-generated website LoveUSHateUS.com has got much attention. We decided to encourage our authors to share their China-related research and insights in an informal way by providing professional weblog hosting to selected scholars and other experts. These BAO Bloggers, who live in Asia and Europe as well as the United States, will share their own work, their stories of working in China, and their favorite resources with students, colleagues, journalists, business people, and anyone who is “China curious.” We’re providing IT and promotional support and editorial encouragement, while they provide us with great reading.

By the way, BAO is what we have named our new China-U.S. social networking efforts, with two meanings of the word in our minds: treasure bǎo 宝 and hug bào 抱. We trust that you will discover a treasure trove of knowledge as well as a warm embrace. Karen CHRISTENSEN 沈凯伦, CEO, Berkshire Publishing, 伯克夏出版集团股份有限公司 | 互联世界参照点.

BAOblogs.com is a source of insights from China educators based at universities around the world, who write on subjects ranging from media and education to technology and political science.