By: Mark Petersen on June 14, 2018
The twentieth century in China was, to put it mildly, tumultuous. War, famine, revolution, and totalitarianism deeply impacted the Chinese in their daily lives for most of the century. Bringing social order was the Communist Party, and yet in bringing order and egalitarianism, many other orders were disrupted and tossed out. Jung Chang, in her…
By: Mike on June 14, 2018
Jung Chang’s Wild Swans is an intriguing love story about mothers; her mother, her grandmother, and her mother-country Communist China. Set in biographical format, Chang’s tri-generational review covers her experiences from binding feet and shoulders, to her membership in the Red Guard, to her earning a PhD from the University of York. The narrative is…
By: Jake Dean-Hill on June 13, 2018
Another fascinating read about real-life experiences in China, this time by author Jung Chang (not Chan as the schedule and reading list says J) Her book, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, was an amazing story that chronicled three generations of women and their wild experiences in China. The most heart-wrenching story was that of…
By: Jennifer Dean-Hill on June 13, 2018
When I was a history teacher, the development of Hong Kong was fascinating to teach from a historical perspective. In my opinion, Hong Kong could be described as an accidental, real-life social and economic experiment comparing capitalism to communism. Although it was originally Chinese territory, it became a British colony, came under Western influence, developed…
By: Trisha Welstad on June 13, 2018
I remember one of my friends in college, an exchange student from China pursuing fine arts, telling me about Mao and his father’s work for the government. At that time, I had no clue who Mao was or anything about the situation in China. Learning my friend was an only child and that parents were…
By: Mary Walker on June 13, 2018
Steve Tsang, professor of Contemporary Chinese Studies & Director of the China Policy Institute, wrote A Modern History of Hong Kong, detailing how Hong Kong developed from “a barren island with hardly a house upon it” to one of the world’s most spectacular cosmopolitan metropoles. (1) Tsang covers the period of British rule in Hong Kong…
By: Kristin Hamilton on June 12, 2018
I know I sound like a jerk when I say I have never been particularly fascinated with Asian countries other than Vietnam, Japan, and South Korea, but it’s sadly true. I know people who have moved here from these countries and most of my international students came from them. I did become more interested in…
By: Dan Kreiss on June 12, 2018
One advantage of being off the grid in Kenya for 3 weeks is that there is time to read thoroughly. None of this talking about books that have not been read nonsense. (My apologies to both Jason Clark & Mr. Bayard.) I am not certain how the rest of you managed to skim Wild Swans…
By: Greg on June 10, 2018
I don’t believe that the end justifies the means. To look at Hong Kong today, we see a thriving society and a highly developed economy. The British empire at the end of the 19th century was at its peak and spreading all across the world. Its influence was strong and the East India Trading company…
By: Christal Jenkins Tanks on June 9, 2018
As a part of my doctoral research, I have been studying the theology of Koinonia- fellowship, participation and community. Fellowship and community sit at the core of the Christian Faith. Fellowship and community are a part of the human condition. Within the creation narrative it is evident that communion with God and others was foundational…
By: Trisha Welstad on June 9, 2018
Steve Tsang’s A Modern History of Hong Kong is a comprehensive while accessible history, spanning just over 150 years. Tsang, born in the latter portion of Hong Kong’s modern era is a scholar and historian who writes to further the national and international perspective on Hong Kong. Taking more than a decade to compile his…
By: Jason Turbeville on June 8, 2018
As I was reading Steve Tsang’s book A Modern History of Hong Kong, one thing kept bothering me. What right did Great Britain have to demand what they did from China? I read statements like “The prestige, dignity and honour of the British Empire were now at stake, but this important development received no recognition from…
By: Shawn Hart on June 7, 2018
“A Modern History of Hong Kong is clearly written and easily read; it is fully referenced, but unobtrusively so. Tsang offers a mix of narrative and analysis, and covers social and economic history as well as politics .” This review by Daniel Yee seems to demonstrate the instructive benefits of learning the history of Hong…
By: Kyle Chalko on June 7, 2018
One Country, two Systems. How does all that work? It’s a confusing, and contradictory accident of history. A complex dance of competing political agendas and incompatible ideologies. Reading A Modern History of Hong Kong by Steven Tsang was eye-opening. Going into this I knew that Hong Kong was part of China, kind of, but…
By: Jean Ollis on June 7, 2018
It is fascinating to read Steve Tsang’s text, A Modern History of Hong Kong chronicling Hong Kong’s political and economic history when my own knowledge and understanding of HK comes from one person’s historical trauma and lived experiences (those of our exchange student, Keira). Keira lived with us for a total of three years (attended…
By: Stu Cocanougher on June 7, 2018
I had an interesting conversation last week. Last Sunday I talked with a Ph.D. student from Southwestern Seminary about theology and worldview. I was interested in her thoughts about some issues because she is a Korean woman. She attends a conservative seminary that strongly holds to a complementarian view of men and women. She asked…
By: Kristin Hamilton on June 7, 2018
I grew up in a Catholic parish with quite a few Japanese neighbors. That means my neighborhood looked a little bit like this: I loved it, but really all I learned about the statues and shrines is that they were ‘wrong’ because they meant the people inside ‘worshipped’ someone other than Jesus. I wish I…
By: Jake Dean-Hill on June 7, 2018
Surprisingly, Steve Tsang’s Modern History of Hong Kong, A: 1841-1997 was actually pretty readable for containing a boatload of history packed into one book. I learned some interesting facts about China and Britain that I will highlight and comment on. The first starts with the following: “At the height of its power in the early…
By: Jay Forseth on June 7, 2018
When I tell my friends and family that I get to study in Hong Kong this September, invariably the first question they ask is, “Why Hong Kong?” It has taken me a while to figure out how to answer their question, but this week’s book by Steve Tsang, Modern History of Hong Kong, A: 1841-1997, [1] has…
By: Mary Walker on June 7, 2018
An Asian theology is about the Christian faith in Asia. Simon Chan In his book, Grassroots Asian Theology: Thinking the Faith from the Ground Up, Simon Chan contends that most of what the West believes about Asian theology consists of what the “elitist’ Asian theologians have written. The elitist theologians do not take…
