What We're Reading This Week
Credit: Romanticizations of imperial conquest in Yangon sketched Joseph Moore, made available online by The Map House
Hayley Keon
Michael D. Higgins, “Empire shaped Ireland’s past. A century after partition, it still shapes our present,” The Guardian
In his opinion piece for The Guardian, Irish President Michael D. Higgins considers the role of memory in commemorating the partition of Ireland on its 100th anniversary and reflects upon how empire continues to shape the country’s place in the world today.
Fan Yiying and Zhang Shiyu, “Shanghai normally empties for Spring Festival. But not this year,” Sixth Tone
In 2020, Mainland China celebrated the Lunar New Year in lockdown. One year on, Fan Yiying and Zhang Shiyu capture Shanghai in yet another moment of stasis, as a recent resurgence in Covid-19 cases has left many migrants alone in the country’s major cities.
Pankaj Mishra, “What are the Cultural Revolution’s lessons for our current moment?” The New Yorker
The storming of the US Capitol Building in the first days of January 2021 inspired a series of potent analogies, including comparisons to China’s Cultural Revolution. In his article for The New Yorker, novelist Pankaj Mishra considers the utility of this controversial comparison and ruminates upon what modern Chinese history might teach us about American politics in the wake of the Trump era.
Tiger Zhifu Li
Roland Oliphant, “General warns civil servants ‘to stop striking’ in Myanmar,” The Sydney Morning Herald
The military leader of Myanmar, General Min Aung Hliang, has warned civil servants striking in protest against his coup that they will face consequences if they fail to return to work.
Deepti Hajela and Lindsay Whitehurst, “‘I am a child!’ Outrage grows in US after police pepper spray nine-year-old black girl,” Stuff
As the US undergoes a new reckoning on police brutality and racial injustice in the wake of George Floyd’s death last May, outrage grows in the US after police pepper spray a nine-year-old African American girl in February 2021. The girl's treatment illustrates how even young children are not exempt.
Xinhua, “Xi extends Spring Festival greetings to all Chinese,” People’s Daily
As Chinese New Year becomes a more and more important celebration for many people around the world, Chinese President Xi Jinping, on behalf of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council, used his Spring Festival speech to highlight China's achievements in 2020.
Sarah A Bendall, “Randle Holme's The Academy of Armory (1688) and late seventeenth-century women's dress terminology,” Sarah A Bendall: A blog about early modern fashion from a historian
In the western world, the 1680s was a decade of change in women’s fashion.