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Oct 14 • 3 tweets • 2 min read
#everythinghasahistory —thread on the Beijing protest banners
One point worth adding, since it seems likely the protester expected to be caught: in many settings, including China (from Qu Yuan’s time on) there are traditions of putting one’s life on the line (eg in hunger strikes), or even ending it, to draw attention to a grievance or goal
Since I brought up Qu Yuan in my last tweet on the Beijing banners, some background on this figure is provided here, in the always valuable on issues associated with dissent, censorship, and and many other things @chinaheritage site chinaheritage.net/journal/the-do…

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More from @jwassers

Jeff Wasserstrom Profile picture
Oct 13
Starting now ⁦at UCI, presenting ideas from her new book, is ⁦@maurashei⁩, a Qing focused session to be followed by one on the Mao era ImageImage
Details on the event (hybrid so you can join via Zoom) humanities.uci.edu/events/china-s…
. @maurashei promised she’d bring up big ideas from her book in her presentation—but things would get detailed and “nerdy” fast if/when she gets specific questions ImageImage
Read 12 tweets
Jeff Wasserstrom Profile picture
Oct 13
🧵1/4 A short historical thread on the two Beijing banners (playing off thread by @joshchin--how I learned of the protest). The references to COVID, to Xi, speed w/which they were taken down, spread on social media, etc., speak to this period, but some historical elements to note
2/4 Reference on 1 banner to three stoppages links up to sanba as a term for general strike that was used in Hong Kong in 2019 and long before that in Shanghai in 1919 & 1925; denouncing a dictatorial leader goes back to 1989, Democracy Wall, & the Republican era (1912-1949)
3/4 Hanging a banner on an overpass is a globally circulating 21st century protest move, but the placement and other elements of these seems in this context an inversion of official propaganda sloganeering; this sort of protest inversion happens in many settings.
Read 11 tweets
Jeff Wasserstrom Profile picture
Oct 13
Starting soon, with me taking part remotely from California...
Going on now, hosted by @SamyanPress, with @WasanaWW offering s valuable historically informed perspective on the Milk Tea Alliance
Read 4 tweets
Jeff Wasserstrom Profile picture
Oct 11
Starting soon college.lclark.edu/calendars/even… ImageImageImageImage
Learning the fascinating story of the early stages of Isabel Crook’s life from Jane Hunter, someone I’ve heard about for years but didn’t know much about ImageImage
Now on to China-based war correspondent Melville Jacoby, presented by @billlascher who first became aware that he was related to the important WWII reporter when he was a young journalist himself & his grandmother gave him a old typewriter & said it had belonged to her cousin Image
Read 4 tweets
Jeff Wasserstrom Profile picture
Mar 24, 2021
"The Good China Story?"--my latest for @TheTLS (paywalled) the-tls.co.uk/articles/land-…, focuses on @tepingchen's Land of Big Numbers, Ge Fei's Peach Blossom Paradise (Canaan Morse translation for @nyrbclassics), & David Der-wei Wang's Why Fiction Matters in Contemporary China
Thread on TLS essay--reviewing can be a solitary pursuit, but for this think piece I sought & got a lot of valuable advice (though none of those name are responsible in any way for the views in it), thanks especially to Christopher Payne @DaveHaysom @TobyLichtig & @JuliaLovell16
More thanks re TLS piece, for reading drafts &/or giving advice or reassurance (sometimes just suggesting others to contact), Carlos Rojas, @SabinaKnight1, Anjum Hasan, @HelenWangLondon, @NickyHarman_cn @Bairuiwen Peter Zarrow & @realNIsaacson (even though I left out the SF part)
Read 4 tweets
Jeff Wasserstrom Profile picture
Aug 10, 2020
1/2 This is a major development; it's worth noting that successive blows to Hong Kong civil society and local freedoms (this is the latest, earlier include cancelled elections) have been happening incredibly fast but spaced out over multiple news cycles, which means that...
2/2 ..for those on the spot (& those deeply concerned about Hong Kong following from afar), the speed & cumulative effect is deeply jarring, yet it doesn't grab global attention as much as it should as it's seen as separate stories rather than phases in a single ominous one
p.s. and of course whenever a major development in Hong Kong comes, there are important stories breaking in many parts of the world, relating to the pandemic, protests, and other things
Read 6 tweets

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