From The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, a review of Understanding China and India: Security Implications for the United States and the World by Rollie Lal; and a review of Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday. A review of The Dragon and the Foreign Devils: China and the World, 1100 BC to the Present by Harry G. Gelber. An interview with Susan Shirk, author of China: Fragile Superpower. Will human rights advocates bring home any medals from the Beijing Olympics? Ian Buruma investigates. Directors Zhang Yimou and Jia Zhangke's differences aren't just commercial, nor even merely stylistic: as 5th and 6th generation filmmakers, respectively, their competing visions are about national representation — and what can stand up against Hollywood popularity. From PINR, an article on the economic factors behind the Myanmar protests. Is a brutal crackdown about to happen in Burma? The junta's boxed in, and the lesson of history bodes ill for the demonstrators. And so it goes... (and more) Should it be Burma or Myanmar?
