American Studies in China: A Directory (review)

292 China Review International: Vol. i, No. i, Spring 1994 the Office for Political Reform, which occupied the upstairs portion, and Deng Liqun's "anti-liberalization" writing group downstairs in the same building in the Zhongnanhai Party Headquarters compound? Perhaps the foregoing concerns can be explained by the fact that most of the autobiography was written when Mr. Yan was under constraints and when he was still part of the establishment. Peter N. Lee The Chinese University of Hong Kong George T. Yu, Thomas B. Lee, and Kenneth K. Klinkner. American Studies in China: A Directory Lanham: University Press ofAmerica, 1993. viii, 173 pp. Hardcover $44.50, paperback $24.50. copyright1994 by University of Hawai'i Press Just as Americans have long been attracted to China, there has been a similar fascination with America among the Chinese. For at least a century, Chinese have wanted to learn about Meiguo—literally "beautiful country," though the name is actually an abbreviation of the phonic a met lijia for America, with no other meaning intended. The number ofpeople actually engaged in a formal study of the U.S., however, has generally been small, with considerable variation at different times, depending on the international political climate and fluctuations in the relations between America and China. From the time of the establishment of the People's Republic of China until the late 1970s, there was little in the way of formal study of the U.S. In a Cold War setting, what little was taught in Chinese schools or appeared in the media about the U.S. was invariably negative: reports of unemployment, strikes, crime, violence, racial discrimination and conflict, or denunciations ofAmerican actions in world affairs. After Deng Xiaoping's ascendence to power in the late 1970s, the adoption ofhis policies of"reform," and the "opening of China to the outside world," the situation changed. More favorable portrayals of the life and people of the U.S. appeared in newspapers, TV, and other media. Courses on American history, literature , society, economics, and law began to appear in the curricula ofvarious universities. Soon, American Studies centers and research institutions emerged. By the mid-1980s, American Studies had become one of the most visible, though still modest, products of China's educational reforms. Here it might be appropriate to clarifywhat is meant byAmerican Studies. As one ofthe past presidents of the American Studies Association notes,"the term 'American Studies' is as elastic and imprecise as it was when the (American Studies) movement got under way" fifty years ago (See Daniel Aaron, "American Reviews 293 Studies and the Chinese State," China ExchangeNews 18, no. 3 [September 1990] ). To many, the term may mean a number ofcourses on America taught in the traditional disciplines. This, essentially, is what American Studies means in most institutions in China today—not the interdisciplinary, integrated kind of study that most Americanists in the U.S. think of. It is American Studies in this sense that is dealt with in American Studies in China: A Directory. The directory provides detailed lists of Chinese Americanists, their respective disciplines, and the institutions with which each is affiliated. Units doing research or offering courses on America are listed according to their likely academic status, along with their areas of concentration. There is also a section of samplings ofwritings on America by Chinese scholars in the Chinese scholarly press, with a commentary by the compilers on each of the articles. This section, titled "Close-up of Chinese Scholarship on the United States," should be ofparticular interest to those who wish to know how the U.S. is portrayed, to see the images ofAmerica through Chinese eyes. In each of the disciplines ofhistory, literature , politics, and economics, as well as several others grouped under "Other," a dozen or so articles are chosen and sorted according to topic and tone, then examined for discernible patterns or trends in the particular discipline. The conclusions drawn by the compilers after their survey are noteworthy, parts ofwhich are quoted below: ... the composite survey suggests that the Chinese American specialists, both Marxist and gnostic, are able to present their ideas in the scholarly press. ... the existence ofclear political messages is as often fiction...