Chinese Life Focus of Web Project

Chinese Life Focus of Web Project

BY PHILIP MONTGOMERY
Rice News Staff
Oct. 8, 1998

Two Rice professors needed to keep fresh scholarship on contemporary China flowing
into their classrooms, so they developed the Transnational China Project, a Web-based
experiment drawing upon the work of scholars throughout the world.

The Transnational China Project, the brainchild of Ben Lee, professor of anthropology,
and Richard Smith, professor of history, has been a success attracting scholarship
from the Peoples Republic of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and other nations.
The project is sponsored by the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
and funded by the Ford Motor Co. and Pricewater-housecoopers.

The purpose of the project is to expand the study of the influence across political
borders of people, technologies, commodities and ideas in Chinese societies.

"We wanted to do something that would impact both research and curriculum
development," Lee said. "The way we decided to do that was to create
this Web site-based project that would bring together colleagues from across the
United States, but especially from [Southeast Asia]."

The linchpin of the project is an extensive Web site maintained by Steve Lewis,
project director of the Transnational China Project. The site contains an archive
of papers in both English and Chinese.

"What we’re creating on the Web site are updateable current reports on different
cultural issues in these regions," Lee said.

Lee explained that scholars in contemporary studies can’t keep up with what is
going on in Southeast Asia and mainland China.

"Most of us go back maybe once a year," Lee said. "We have our
contacts but we’re really not in tune with current debates. [U.S. scholars] do
very good research, but if you want to find out what the hot TV show is you’re
going to have to talk to people there. We thought we could open up our site, gather
a lot more material from people [in China and Southeast Asia] working with people
here. This could directly feed into research and teaching. That is what happened."

Smith and Lee plan to use the Transnational China Project as a resource when they
team-teach their spring course on contemporary China.

The Transnational China Project is also hosting the following events, which are
free and open to the public:

Robert Kapp, president of the National U.S.-China Business Council, will speak
on the role of foreign corporations in Chinese societies at 7 p.m. Oct. 15 in
Baker Hall.

Tu Wei-Ming, professor of philosophy at Harvard University, will talk about
the Asian economic crisis and Chinese values at 2 p.m. Oct. 17 in the Baker
Building.

Lastly, Lee Kwan Yew will give a public lecture as part of the Shell Lecture
Series at 5 p.m. on Oct. 23 in the Baker Building. To visit the site go to http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~tnchina/.