Annotated Bibliography

Callahan, William A. " Nationalism, Civilization and Transnational Relations: the discourse of Greater China." Journal of Contemporary China 14(2005): 22.

An important point that William Callahan, author of “Nationalism, Civilization and Transnational Relations: the discourse of Greater China”, ties into a class reading on rhetoric and the identity and how we choose to define ourselves. “Historically, the key to peace was engagement with barbarians via trade and diplomacy that crossed the Great Wall, which existed more as an image than as an engineering feat”(12). There was a need for governments to draw a line that clearly defines boarders, as well as cultures. China, for centuries, has kept this separation between itself and the nomad “barbarians from the north”. These sought out divisions played a major role in the destruction of China as an economic superpower. Yesterday, a place of birth was linked to a person’s identity of who they were, and what there future held for them, for example, whether they might be a farmer or perhaps a fisherman. The “city folk” are too liberal and perhaps more educated, whereas, the rednecks, out in the country are too conservative. Today, a place of birth is just a location on the map, maybe even one that a person hasn’t visited in years.

The article is from the Journal of Contemporary China which provides information about Chinese affairs for scholars. Williams Callaghan is a Chair of International Politics and research director of the University of Manchester. The article is relevant to the class discussions about Identity and to my argument on how the Chinese will look to identify themselves on the world stage. “Identity is constructed not by who you are, or even where you are, but by what you do and who you associate with.

Dirlik, Arif. "Markets, Culture, Power: The Making of a Second Culture Revolution in China." Asian Studies Review, vol. 25 (2001): 33.

A main theme of the article, and a focus that I will use in my paper, is the author’s argument on McDonald’s, and through popularity and globalization the Chinese market has transformed the restaurant into what the author call an “haute cuisine”. This is a great point in the research paper’s counter argument, as the article states that China will not simply transform, die out or become a part of the western world. Rather it will slowly mutate into its own form of the global market and create a new hybrid world super power. This source also will help define the youth’s role in society and how it drives these “Cultural Revolutions”.

Arif Dirlik, the author, is a professor at the University of Oregon; however, the article was published by Duke University. The relevance of the source stems for the discussion in the text about China and its consumption and how China’s increase in consumption at the individual level will have a major impact at the collective level in the global economy.

Grumbine, Edward R. "China's Emergence and the Prospects for Global Sustainability." Bioscience . vol. 57 (2007): 8

The article, “China’s Emergence and the Prospects for Global Sustainability”, begins with an explanation as to the key drivers of the growth in China. Urbanization, a big question addressed in the article, is how fast will the “average Joe” in China become a full-blown consumer? Will it be a slow process or will it ever happen? The article also deals with the idea of a system of class, and although the division of wealth within the western world is apparent, it is clearly not as evident as in China. The author, Grumbine, illustrates the issues with consumerism and class, however, in a population as large as China, he asks the question; will Earth be able to sustain the needs of this massive country with resources at hand?

The publisher of the article is the magazine Bioscience and the author, Edward R. Grumbine, is the director of wilderness field studies at the Sierra Institute of the University of California-Santa Cruz. There is a lot of relevant information in this eight page article and it starts to move into a global argument on China’s growth and the impact that this will have at a global scale.

Lewis, Martin W., and Karen E. Wigen. The Myth of Continents a Critique of Metageography. Berkeley Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1997.

The Myth of Continents a Critique of Metageography explains the continents, countries and the people within their current boarders or boundaries and how these lines could be re-drawn into new geographical units based on historical connections rather than land forms. The text requests that the word, like the Orient, be carefully used, for this term could mean Turkey, Egypt or even part of Russia, as well as, China. It is in our nature to attach ideals and norms to a specific region or country. We group all the inhabitants within the given area, as having the same world views. The educated individual must look deeper to see that even countries are partly divided, there are boarders within, that can show us how different and even conflicting these ideals can be.

The text was published by the University of California Press, the book is co-written by two authors Martin W. Lewis who is an interim director for the program of International Relations at Stanford University and Associate Professor Karen E. Wiggen at Stanford University. The core of their ideas are easy to identify, although somewhat complex when applied on the world scale. The book assumes that the reader has a decent grasp on world history and picks up momentum throughout.

Peerenboom, Randall. China Modernizes Threat to the West or Model for the Rest? New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

The main points in this text explore china’s political standing today; it touches on globalization and human rights, and how poverty will effect the possible transformation of China into a democracy. The main audience for the text could be anyone who studies international politics to international business. The underlining topic could interest anyone, from an American looking to find a perspective on china, or a Chinese person wanting an outside opinion on how their culture could be viewed.

The book was published by Oxford University Press, which is an organization that has been publishing books since 1478. The book itself was published in 2007, which makes it a current source. http://www.oup.com/about/history/ The book’s author, Randall Peerenboom, is currently a professor of Law at University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) where he has taught since 1998. This is just one of several books that professor Peerenboom has written.

The main quote from this particular text helps the counter argument to my paper, that maybe the transition from Chinese culture to American might be more difficult and further away than one might think. Preeenboom points out that the existing individuals and institutions that currently own large parts of the Chinese market will prevent China from becoming a true democracy. The text is a great source and full of information that has great ideas and predictions for a research paper. It does, however, assume that the reader has some background on Chinese history and some of the growing pains this up a coming super power will need to address.

Perros, Theodore P. Marathon, Salamis, and Western Civilization. 2000. Hellenic Communications,LLC. 21 June 2007.www.athensmarathon.com

According to legend, after the battle at Marathon, an Athenian messenger by the name of Phidippides ran 24 miles to Athens to deliver the victorious news. In the article, Marathon, Salamis, and Western Civilization, written by Professor Theodore P. Perros, this legend gave news that the Athenians, as well as Spartans, had defeated the Persians. Therefore, the Greeks were able to establish the first recorded democracy and preserve customs that form many of the ideals within western civilization. Perros describes the events leading up to the battle at Marathon, as well as, the struggles that the Athenians were able to overcome in order to be triumphant over the Persians. He briefly describes the tactics that the Athenians used, which was unity through “common language and heritage”. This article proves historical background that a Marathon is ideally a western custom that aided in the spread of democracy as it told Athens they were safe to precede with their way of life, free of Persian influence. Perros addresses a historical timeline in order to provide the significance behind a 26.2 mile foot race which now presides in Athens, as well as other places around the world.

After researching the start of marathons, this article appeared to provide the most insight and historical background for the foundation of the race. The existence of the marathon first appeared in Athens and therefore, the current marathon residing in Athens has the link for which this article was found. The article may be connected to a different genre than I intended it was still written by a credible source as Theodore P. Perros is a professor that appears to have extensive knowledge on the Hellenistic period. Perros seems to be reliable; however, his writing seems to be much more geared the world of academia than marathon runners. I felt as though unless you received some background into Greek/Athenian history than this article was a little hard to follow, yet provided great insight into the Marathon as a Western idea.

Pfaff,William. "Unintended Consequences" Commonweal 134(2007):1.

The article speaks on modern day economics, as well as briefly explains the ideas of the 18th century economist, Adam Smith, and his idea for the need of government role in the economy. Further, it brings David Ricardo’s reservations of a completely free market for labor and how “conditions of labor abundance, depress wages – potentially to just above subsistence level”. Another interesting point is that skilled individuals in the workforce could possibly be replaced by their “foreign counterparts”. It talks about government protectionism which counters globalization and loss of domestic employment. A government, in the best interest of it’s people, will create a system of tariffs and or quotas, on the importation of foreign goods and services making it less cost effective for corporations to operate outside their country. Which brings up a possible rebuttal to my argument which needs the tighter grasp China’s role in globalization or the U.S.? If companies continue to strive for maximum profits through the use of the foreign job market, what will happen to our economy on a world scale, will it lead to the loss of our “super power” status?

Williams Pfaff is an author on American foreign policy and international relations; he has published many books on this subject. Commonweal is a magazine publication that was established in 1924 and published many articles on several of subjects and concerns in world politics. The brief text helps outline and breakdown possible concerns with globalization and the impact that this will have on countries within the market place.

Rosenthal, Elizabeth. Vandalism and ‘Improvements’ Mar the Great Wall. 12 June 2004. nytimesonline.com. 18 June 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/.

The destruction of the Wall is a slippery slope for many of the surrounding villages in the Chinese countryside, as it a symbol of national pride for some and economic survival for others. The article “Vandalism and ‘Improvements’ Mar the Great Wall’, written by Elizabeth Rosenthal, appeared in the New York Times on June 12, 2003. This article rallies around the need to preserve and conserve the national relic and the cherished landmark in the nine provinces that it traverses. Rosenthal states there are many reasons for the Wall crumbling, such as erosion in areas where the Wall is constructed of mud, however, blames human activity for most of the destruction. Many portions of the Great Wall located near Beijing have been given a facelift in order to attract tourists, “…it has been gussied to attract tourists by officials who regard the Great Wall as, well, boring and old”(1). This article suggests the need to implement a plan in order to save this deteriorating piece of history. It calls upon people who travel, residents of China and environmentalists to participate in saving one of the World’s great artifacts.

This article is published by the New York Times, therefore, should be credible in its research and validity. As for the author, Elizabeth Rosenthal, there is no reason not to trust her word, for if the New York Times is able to publish her works, than the reader should merely be able to critique it as fact. The article reiterates that notion that the destruction of the Great Wall is human doings, including tourism, which now includes the marathon. If providing a facelift, with the addition of the “alpine slide”, is prompting tourism and damage, than a marathon that hosts hundreds of sponsors, participants and family members surely partakes in this destruction. This source supplied limited information; however, the information was informative and provided insight into the international perception on the destruction of the Great Wall. It is a credible source and aided in proving a theme throughout the research paper that human activity is the primary cause for damage.