Knowledge, Power, and Networks. Elites in Transition in Modern China

In the past decades, the world has watched the rise of China as an economic and military power and the emergence of Chinese transnational elites. What may seem like an entirely new phenomenon marks the revival of a trend initiated at the end of the Qing. The redistribution of power, wealth and knowledge among the […]
Prostitution in Shanghai

Shanghai’s nightlife, from the mid-nineteenth century until the victory of the Communist Party in 1949, was dominated by the world of prostitution. Henriot portrays the Chinese sex trade, from the sophisticated life of the courtesan, to the common life of street prostitution. He examines the extent to which these worlds were integral to Chinese social […]
Shanghai 1927-1937

In 1927, China’s newly ascendant Guomindang (GMD) regime had a fragile hold on authority in the country at large. Shanghai, China’s most prosperous city, thus became a key place for the regime to establish control. In examining the policies of the Shanghai Municipal Government from 1927 to 1937 and their impact on daily life, Christian […]
Visualising China, 1845-196

How does China project its image in the world? Why and how has the world come to form certain impressions of the Chinese and their way of life? These are issues that preoccupy Chinese citizens in the globalizing 21st century as they travel overseas, riding on the capacity of the country s newly acquired economic […]