‘May You Live in Interesting Times’

School of Contemporary China Studies Assistant Professor David O’Brien looks ahead to what the Year of the Rooster might hold for China. There is a well-known supposed Chinese blessing that is in fact a curse – ‘may you live in interesting times’. Whether it will turn out to be a blessing or a curse it …

Has ‘Little Brother’ Gone too Far

By David O’Brien Assistant Professor, School of Contemporary Chinese Studies UNNC. Whether this week’s nuclear explosion detonated under a mountain just a hundred miles or so from the border with China was a hydrogen bomb or not the PRC’s relationship with North Korea may have been irreparably damaged. In perhaps its strongest ever criticism of …

When Chinese Eyes are Smiling

By David O’Brien Assistant Professor, School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham Ningbo For a small country we Irish box well above our weight diplomatically. And we take great pride in being masters of soft power. There is no other country in the world which has its national day celebrated with such exuberance and …

Situating China

By Jessica Brown, Studying History and Politics at the University of Nottingham, UK. A Western-centric notion is often applied when considering China’s role on the world stage. As the Asian giant grows internationally through its economic liberalization and consequent development, questions loom over what role it will play in international relations today. Will it develop …

Fighting Extremism in Iraq or Political ‘Free-Riding’?

By Dr David O’Brien, Assistant Professor, School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, The University of Nottingham Ningbo China. As America seems once again pulled into the mire in Iraq, President Barack Obama has hit out at what he describes as China’s ‘free-riding’ in that beleaguered land. Not surprisingly this had provoked an angry reaction in China, …

India’s election: The View from China

By Dr David O’Brien, Assistant Professor, School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, The University of Nottingham Ningbo China. As India’s mammoth and mind-boggling election draws to a close, the only other member of the one billion population club is paying attention, although not that closely. China has declared 2014 as the “Year of China-India Friendly Exchanges”, …

Building Images: exploring 21st century Sino-African dynamics through cultural exchange and translation

By Dr. Xiaoling Zhang, Head of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Associate Professor in Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham. The rapid expansion in Chinese involvement in Africa in the 21st century has been accompanied by conflicting discourses about what that interest means, both for Africa and for the …

The Rise of China: a threat to the world, or a model for the rest?

By Edward Pode, Studying Mathematics at the University of Nottingham UK. The question of whether China’s recent growth marks it as a model to be followed by other countries around the world or sets it up as a threat to them is dependent on several assumptions.  Firstly it presupposes that the two characteristics are mutually …

Soft Power Success

By Tony Hong, First Year PhD Student in Contemporary Chinese Studies. The University of Nottingham Ningbo China. It used to be said among the students of Contemporary Chinese Studies that once you have read one book or article on the “Rise of China”, you have read them all. In fact we would all do our …