Document Actions
Transnational China Project
- KEY PEOPLE
- PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
-
The Transnational China Project seeks to expand the study of the influence of the transnational circulation of people, technologies, commodities, and ideas on contemporary culture in Chinese societies by sponsoring original commentary and analysis, developing curriculum materials, and fostering networks of scholars.
The mission of the Transnational China Project is to develop innovative approaches to the study of contemporary China through the use of advanced technologies and by means of new forms of both personal and inter-institutional collaboration. The central goal of this interdisciplinary effort is to identify, bring together, make accessible, and analyze the multiplicity of views emerging from the complex interplay between the forces of both global and local change. In so doing, this initiative seeks not only to clarify the issues involved in these debates but also to contribute to the debates themselves.
Research on the Growth of a Transnational Chinese Middle Class:
In the area of research, the project is currently focused on exploring how economic globalization is changing the ways Chinese identify with and work with each other. As China and the Chinese societies of the diaspora integrate into the global economy, will the members of the emerging transnational Chinese middle class come think of themselves primarily as grounded residents of the new global cities, as citizens of a great nation, or as the consumers of a mobile, transnational middle class? These changes in the ways the Chinese peoples identify with each other may affect their participation in solutions to local, national, and international problems. These include the provision of public services, education and healthcare, and the creation of intellectual property right regimes, capital markets, and a stable and secure energy resource infrastructure.
In order to understand the appeals to Chinese to join these local, national, and transnational associations, we have gathered digital images of consumer advertisements and public service announcements in the streets and subway stations of ten Asian cities: Beijing, Fukuoka, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, Osaka, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei, and Tokyo. With support from the Henry Luce Foundation and Rice Information Technologies, more than 4,000 images of advertisements appearing since 1998 in the subways of Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Taipei have been collected and organized into a pioneering, prototype image archive. Analysis of this collection will be used to design a survey of Chinese urbanites that will try to determine how Chinese are responding to these competing appeals.
The Transnational China Project also works closely with groups of Rice University’s Asian studies faculty to support their research on other important aspects of contemporary Chinese culture. One group brings together faculty and students from Rice’s departments of religious studies and history and researchers from the Baker Institute to examine the ways that transnational population migration has influenced Asian religious practices, including religious pilgrimage and religious tourism. Another supported faculty group examines the historical aspects of the globalization of Chinese culture, bringing together women and gender studies and comparative literature studies faculty to examine the forgotten role of women authors and essayists in guiding reforms in China at the end of the Qing Dynasty.
Developing Pedagogical Resources:
In the area of pedagogy, the Transnational China Project primarily supports the creation of web-based resources for the study of changes in contemporary Chinese culture. In addition to the pioneering digital image archive of advertisements from public spaces in Chinese cities, we have transcribed and translated many academic talks, roundtables, and discussions by world authorities on Chinese culture.The Transnational China Project’s website has been listed as an invaluable resource for the study of contemporary Chinese culture by the Association for Asian Studies, the Center for Research Libraries at the University of Chicago, the Asia Society, the Internet Guide to Chinese Studies, and the Encyclopedia Britannica online. Many of these materials are available on the bilingual website of the Transnational China Project.
Public Education and Community Outreach:
In the area of community outreach, the Transnational China Project works with the Program in Asian Studies at Rice University and national and local civic and education organizations to teach the American public more about the many ways Chinese societies are adapting to globalization.
