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Transnational China Project

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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 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 institutional collaboration.

The project is currently focused on exploring how economic globalization is changing the ways the 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.

The project supports the creation of original Web-based resources for the study of changes in contemporary Chinese culture. With the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, we have worked with more than 50 Rice University students and contributing scholars from Asia to translate, transcribe and code images of more than 4,500 commercial and public service advertisements from public spaces in Beijing, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, Shanghai, Singapore and Taipei from 1998 to 2003: the Rice Ephemera Archive of the Center for Digital Scholarship at Fondren Library. In years to come, we will expand the archive to include tens of thousands of images from these and 20 more cities, up to the year 2010. In addition, we have transcribed and translated many academic talks, roundtables and discussions by world authorities on Chinese culture. Many of these materials are available on the bilingual website of the Transnational China Project. The project also works with the scholars of the Chao Center for Asian Studies at Rice University as well as national and local civic and education organizations to teach the American public more about the many ways Chinese societies are adapting to globalization.

PUBLICATIONS
2009
Welcome to the Jungle: China and Taiwan
Sep 28 2009
Steven W. Lewis
Baker Institute Policy Report 42: Science Collaboration Across Borders
Aug 17 2009
Kirstin R.W. Matthews, Neal F. Lane
2008
Forgetting the Olympics
Aug 22 2008
Steven W. Lewis
China and Energy Security in Asia
May 06 2008
Steven W. Lewis
2004
The Future of Energy Security and Energy Policy in Northeast Asia: Cooperation Among China, Japan, and the United States
Sep 01 2004
Steven W. Lewis
2002
Beijing's Oil Diplomacy
Mar 31 2002
Amy Myers Jaffe, Steven W. Lewis
EVENTS