Looking for a great read for over winter break? Check out the newest publications by NYU Shanghai faculty members this year, from Professor Chen Jian’s book examining China’s transformation in the 70s, to a newly translated edition of Provost Joanna Waley-Cohen’s work looking at China's connections with the rest of the world.
The Great Transformation: China's Road from Revolution to Reform
By Chen Jian and Odd Arne Westad (Yale University Press)
Published in September 2024
Following his Zhou Enlai biography published earlier this year, Distinguished Global Network Professor of History Chen Jian joins forces with the Elihu Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale University Odd Arne Westad for a book on China’s dramatic transformation in the “long 1970s” as it moved from political upheaval to unprecedented economic growth and social changes. The two offer a compelling portrayal of the country's efforts and progress, while exploring the nation's gradual and steady embrace of the outside world. They focus on the shifting power dynamics and political agenda of the leadership, and the contributions of various figures – from China’s own everyday people to overseas Chinese entrepreneurs and American engineers, from Japanese scholars to German designers, etc. It is a story of revolutionary transformation that neither the Chinese people nor foreign observers had expected.
The Sextants of Beijing: Global Currents in Chinese History (北京的六分仪：中国历史中的全球潮流）
By Joanna Waley-Cohen, translated by Wang Jingya and Zhang Ge (Jiangsu People’s Publishing House)
Published in August 2024
First published in 1999, NYU Shanghai Provost Joanna Waley-Cohen’s book has a newly translated Chinese edition. A historian specializing in early modern Chinese history, Waley-Cohen provides an insightful examination of China’s interactions with the rest of the world, spanning from the Silk Road to the present day. She argues that long before Europeans arrived in East Asia, China was already intricately connected to a vast network of commercial, intellectual, religious, and cultural exchanges. Waley-Cohen portrays China as an open and cosmopolitan country, actively participating in exchanges with other cultures and societies.
Study Gods (学神：走向全球竞争的中国年青精英）
By Yi-lin Chiang (CITIC Press Group)
Published in June 2024
Originally published in English in 2022, this must-read gets a Chinese edition. Drawing on eight years of fieldwork, Assistant Professor of Sociology Yi-Lin Chiang provides a unique perspective on how Chinese youth from socially advantaged backgrounds prepare to be globally competitive. Chiang explores how high-achieving Chinese high schoolers aspire to become “study gods” (xueshen) – students who excel academically not just through sheer hard work, but by mastering the unwritten rules of status and success. Chiang discovers how these youth use their understanding of societal hierarchy to adjust their behavior, aligning with valued traits while avoiding those that could lower their standing. She observes them as they transition to university life and their careers, relying on their resourceful parents and external help to overcome obstacles and navigate professional relationships, while expecting preferential treatment. Study Gods highlights how this new generation is emerging as a powerful force in the global arena.
Co-opetition (竞合战略)
By Adam Brandenburger (Penguin Random House Beijing)
Published on October 2024
This 1996 Business Week bestseller by Director for the Program on Creativity + Innovation Adam Brandenburger and Milton Steinbach Professor at the Yale School of Management Barry Nalebuff gets an updated Chinese language edition. Co-opetition offers a theory of value in business. It argues that to create value, people need to act cooperatively. At the same time, in claiming value, there is an inherently competitive element. These two processes are brought together in this book via the notion of “co-opetition” — a fundamental duality at the heart of business.
Weird Confucius: Unorthodox Representations of Confucius in History
By Zhao Lu (Bloomsbury Academic)
Published in March 2024
While Confucius is widely recognized as a philosopher and a wise teacher, Associate Professor of Global China Studies Zhao Lu’s new book examines lesser-known unconventional portrayals of him as a prophet, demon hunter, villain in 19th-century American media, and symbol of feudal oppression during the Cultural Revolution. Zhao looks at how these alternative depictions challenge the established images of Confucius, showing how they reflect the specific anxieties of different groups. His work reveals not only the diverse ways Confucius has been perceived, but also how his image has been used to address fears, legitimize power, reinforce stereotypes, and shape historical narratives.
Make the World Your Major: The Journey of NYU Shanghai (让世界成为你的课堂）
By Yu Lizhong (East China Normal University Press)
Published in October 2024
NYU Shanghai Chancellor Emeritus Yu Lizhong has published yet another book. By recounting the University’s establishment and how it has grown into a full-fledged global research university in the past 10 years, the founding chancellor, a lifetime educator, also reflects on cultivating youth, higher education reform, and bridging cultural differences through education.