John Delury
Professor of Chinese history and Sino-Korean relations, Yonsei University; Co-author of Wealth & Power: China's Long March to the 21st Century; Senior fellow, Asia Society; BA & PhD at Yale
Location Seoul, South Korea
Activity
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John Delury replied to Jeffrey Klose
Kang/Hyun book is splendid-- I've recently written a short article myself on the Park-Kishi relationship, going back to Manchukuo, and its legacy today, building on Kang/Hyun. Presenting some of those ideas at a conference here at Yonsei in a few hours in fact!
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John Delury replied to Kath C
Quite right, Katherine, to think about different generational meanings of historical events
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John Delury replied to Patrick Kearns
Astute to point out the complex ways in which a single image refracts across time and space and takes on multiple meanings to various audiences, both in the room and out
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John Delury replied to David Tian
Narrow meaning is official diplomatic recognition by two states, e.g., the US and China normalized relations in 1979. But the term can also be used in a broader sense of having a full range of economic and cultural ties and basically 'getting along'.
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John Delury replied to Alfred W Croucher
Wonderful portrait, thank you Alfred.
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John Delury replied to John Clayton
My 3 year old would love how many elephants we have found in the room! Very astute.
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John Delury replied to ROGER STEMP
1) My colleague Michael Kim's course will include a lot more South Korea, whereas I have focused on the North, a lot less China, and a lot more social and economic history. So it should complement our course very nicely. But we'll all have to take it to really find out!
2) Thanks for the recommendation-- looks fascinating. I will read with interest. -
John Delury replied to Kath C
All great reads, Cumings, Tudor and Halberstam. On Nanjing, the best general read is still probably Iris Chang's Rape of Nanking-- although historians have corrected some of her findings. There's a lot of excellent scholarship on Manchuria, although no single book leaps to mind for general read. Mike Meyer's In Manchuria, recently published, is travelogue, but...
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John Delury replied to David Hart
Thanks for link; Kim Jong Un is indeed making another big push at attracting foreign investment; risks to investors both geopolitically, legally & financially are insurmountable in most cases; but some Cowboys do give it a shot
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John Delury replied to Haeryun Kang
Glad you are enjoying it Haeryun
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Thank YOU
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John Delury replied to David Tian
NYT op-ed was by Victor Cha, an excellent Korea expert, but you are right he was a bit too quick out of the gates on this one! http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/opinion/will-north-korea-become-chinas-newest-province.html?_r=0. Ironically, Cha helps explain all the purging in Pyongyang when he wrote, "The “great successor,” as he has been dubbed by the state...
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John Delury replied to Kevin Shepard
"When you open the windows, some flies get in," was another pithy line attributed to Deng expressing his tolerance of opening up (even if he had misgivings too)
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John Delury replied to Glynis Drinkwater
Good observation
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John Delury replied to Stuart Munro
Empress Dowager Cixi was very much in a reactive position when the Boxer movement erupted in anti-foreign violence, whereas the Red Guards were initiated by Mao
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John Delury made a comment
Great discussion so far... Looking forward to hearing more thoughts.
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John Delury replied to ivan polunin
Interesting suggestion Ivan! The Japanese economy did profit considerably from contracts to support the US involvement in Korea... just as the Korean economy would later benefit from supporting the US involvement in Vietnam.
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John Delury replied to Tim Vincent
Good idea Tim. I will follow up with FL folks. Thanks
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John Delury replied to John Clayton
Great discussion all around. Max Hastings and Allan Whiting are still worth reading, but they are a bit outdated given what we've learned from documents acquired after the fall of the USSR. That doesn't mean all our questions about why Mao gave Kim a green light can be easily answered! But we should start with the kind of documents that Kevin Shepard...
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John Delury replied to Helen Mary Jones
Helen-- Jealous you got to study under the legendary Owen Lattimore! I recently re-read his most influential book, The Inner Asian Frontiers of China, on a trip to the northeast provinces, and it left me thirsty to drink up the whole Lattimore oeuvre some point soon when I can make the time.
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John Delury replied to Kath C
Great questions as always Katherine! I did warn you, historical knowledge often takes the form of questions rather than answers, as you demonstrate so well
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John Delury replied to Zoë P
One of China's best Cold War historians will be coming out with a book someday on Stalinism; add to the FutureReads list!
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John Delury replied to ROGER STEMP
Astute to point out this lacuna; some guesswork required re Kim's time in USSR, but for starters you can check out Sydney Seiler's book on the topic http://www.amazon.com/Kim-Il-Song-1941-1948-Creation-Building/dp/0819194670
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John Delury replied to Geoff Holland
Will take these suggestions into account next time:)
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Excellent questions! Not all of them will be answered-- and you'd need a course dedicated to modern Japanese history to really get at them. But hopefully you will get some insights into answers. One point up front-- the answer changes/ evolves with time. There was not a grand master plan to conquer China as of 1894. And even after such plans emerged, there...
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John Delury replied to Tim Vincent
Great question Tim. Debate raged among Britons over how to handle the Taiping, whether to see them as an ally, enemy, or something else. For more you could start with Steven Platt's superb book 'Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War'
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John Delury replied to Graham Hughes
Great observation, Graham. A ground-up, social history approach would indeed yield a very different set of historical insights and questions.
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John Delury replied to Helen Mary Jones
Though I am on Twitter, I've never done one of these Twitterchats myself! So not sure how it will all work. But I think FutureLearn plans to somehow 'capture' a bit of the discussion. Will let you all know. Otherwise, hope to see some of you there, so to speak.
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John Delury replied to Haeryun Kang
It's a very astute and fair criticism Haeryun. Someday I'll have to build a 12 week course that starts pre-Joseon/ pre-Ming...
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John Delury replied to David Hart
Good catch! Thanks
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John Delury replied to Maria Copley
The slave population was very large in Joseon Korea, estimates are 30%, but negligible in Qing China. The government taxed both land and labor (a headtax on farming families), but faced massive problems with tax evasion by landowners and corruption by local officials. Unlike European states, which started raising revenues through public debt in the 18th...
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John Delury replied to Keith McGraw
Daniel's book is great. He has also very recently co-authored a book about the other Korea, along with Reuters correspondent James Pearson, called North Korea Confidential. Also a great read.
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John Delury replied to Kath C
Fundamentally, Confucianism and Buddhism (and Taosim as well) were NOT mutually exclusive-- in this sense Chinese "religions" are usually contrasted with most monotheistic Western religions that demand exclusivity. So it was quite common for Chinese 'gentlemen' to combine Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist practices, and to study texts from all traditions. There...
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Great rec.
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John Delury replied to Ivan Uemlianin
Astute list
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John Delury replied to Hanan Rosen
Great question Hanan. Confucianism was deeply chauvinistic, assuming the world of men was more important-- and separate from the 'inner quarters' of women. Gender equality was not a goal. The father-son relationship was especially important because it was the model for the ruler-minister relationship, and politics was a male sport. All that said, Confucians...
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John Delury replied to Peter Beske
Wonderful back & forth! We can continue to debate this question throughout the course.
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John Delury replied to Eddie Provencher
Eddie, this is a very interesting point, and I'd never thought of it in that light, as condescending to non-Northeast Asians. Thanks for challenging my thinking. More important than what I think, is how Seulmi and Yao themselves prefer to have their names written! So I will doublecheck with them and amend accordingly.
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Thanks for sharing Jeffrey. Spence is a true master.
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Hang tight until week 6! In meantime, another optional book recommendation is brand new book North Korea Confidential, written by pals of mine, James Pearson and Daniel Tudor. Fascinating description of today's NK, including the real economy and rising consumerism, at least in wealthier cities like Pyongyang (where at least 10% of population lives)
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Many of the bicycles have been traded in for SUVs:)
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KLI is a great place to study Korean-- very glad you guys had a good experience!
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Ivan, I've heard great things about ChinaX and know some of the scholars involved, all of them absolutely first-rate. Look forward to your contributions to our course drawing on what your learned there!
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Glad to hear it!
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I'd guess many of you are intrigued by North Korea... we'll get there, but I hope you find that having understood a bit of the longer history will help you unlock the mystery of NK today.
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As an author myself, I always encourage people to buy books:)-- BUT I should clarify, the links to books are not required reading for the course... they are to make your own further intellectual adventures one step easier
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Stewart-- Thanks for this question & I will clarify this in a general email too-- links to readings, most of them via Amazon, are NOT required for the course. They are in lieu of citation, as you say, and also a way to direct you to more intellectual stimulation. For what it's worth, I'm a huge Joyce fan and have read Dubliners and Portrait of an Artist many...
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Welcome Helen! You will have a lot to contribute having seen China in the 1980s, and studied Chinese history earlier still.
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Great resources. Thanks for pointing them out for us.
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Benvenuto! Please no apologies for language mistakes. Making mistakes is a sure sign learning is happening, which is what this all about.
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Very astute observation, that a Western decade = an Asian century.
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Welcome Brian. My ancestors are from Cork, Mayo and Sligo. Lots of fascinating parallels between Irish and Korean history, actually. I may not bring them up in the course, but something for you to think about if you are so inclined.
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John Delury replied to Zhang M
Thanks Zhang and Alice. Applaud you for pointing out issue of Eastern vs. Western viewpoint. I always teach my students that 'bias' is inescapable. In fact, I encourage you to question my bias-- as a Westerner, an American, a China expert, someone living in Seoul, someone who has visited North Korea, etc.. As a historian, I always struggle to be dispassionate...
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Thanks Fred. You will discover there is a lot of Japan in this course! It could almost be called Korea, China and Japan in modern times.
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Welcome Earl! Alas, we don't really get into Hangul, the Korean alphabet. You are right it is an important and fascinating topic.
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Great question Enkhmaa-- I should explain the phrase in one of the articles! And thanks to KwangSu for pitching in. In Chinese, the full 4 character expression is 'if you lose your lips then your teeth will freeze' 唇亡齿寒. So 'lips and teeth' suggests closeness but also dependency. You will see over the next 6 weeks historical examples of how when the protective...
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John Delury made a comment
Wish there were a button to 'like' every comment on this step! Great group-- from the brand-new to China/Korea (often come up with the best questions) to those who've studied/lived in/worked in one or both countries from years, even decades (who can help field some of the questions). Delighted to have everyone on board. If you haven't yet, please share brief...
