Hilary Ong - 4th year Asian Studies and Nutritional Sciences double major
One of the reasons I decided to major in Asian Studies is because of the phenomenal faculty that we have here at Cal! Professor Andrew Jones has been instrumental in helping me pursue my interests and has constantly pushed me to expand my horizons.
Interview conducted May 2nd, 2003.
Andrew Jones
HO: What sparked your interest in Chinese studies?
AJ: "I think a couple events were decisive. One of which was reading Hong Lou Meng --- The Story of the Stone, which became and remains my favorite book ever. The other was when I was a college student and traveled to China in 1989, which was fascinating."
HO: What made you want to become a professor?
AJ: "It seems like the appropriate life for someone whose greatest passions are thinking about things, writing, teaching and sharing. Teaching is the most enjoyable aspect of the job. It gives me the most satisfaction. Being at Berkeley, you are surrounded by wonderful colleagues and students. It's a great life"
HO: What are your research interests?
AJ: "I have a number of research interests. In the past I have worked mostly on contemporary Chinese fiction and contemporary Chinese popular music. A book that I wrote in 1992 was called Like a Knife: Ideology and Genre in Contemporary Chinese Popular Music. At that time, I wanted to figure out the historical origins of contemporary music. The more I looked into that the more I got interested in the musical culture in general in China and the reforms of the May 4th era and the impact of colonial culture and the transnational circulation of music. The new musical cultures created by the gramophone on a global scale are one example of that. That's what the second book, Yellow Music: Media Culture and Colonial Modernity in the Chinese Jazz Age, ended up covering. Besides that I am always interested in modern and contemporary Chinese fiction."
HO: Why were you interested in looking at music in China?
AJ: "I have always been interested in music in general. I'm always interested in the way music functions in culture. This field is often overlooked in cultural studies.
Musicologists have certain ways of talking about music. What often falls in between the cracks is popular music, and I have been interested in how sound plays a role in culture. This is one reason why I look at music. Another reason has to do with my upbringing.
My family is from Jamaica and music is a vital part of Jamaican culture. But it was also for me as a kid growing up, my conduit to understanding the culture of Jamaica.
It was pretty natural for me going to China and becoming involved in the music scene there and to learn about how music functions. Then it was particularly brought home to me in 1988-89. Even before the Tiananmen movement broke out, I had already begun to investigate the budding world of Chinese rock music and got to see one of the first major concerts of Cui Jian. It was clear to me, watching the movement unfold, that music played an interesting and complicated role in the movement and in the cultural ferment of the post-Mao period."
HO: Much of your research concentrates on modern fiction and contemporary music during the Republican era. Why the focus on this period?
AJ: "Media culture, literature, music, etc., all these flourished during this period. There were great figures such as Lu Xun, but also more fundamental changes in media technologies and urban culture. Something that I tried to do in my work in the past, as well as the book I'm writing now about children's literature and the figure of the child in Republican cultural history, is to bring out the interesting parallels between that era and post-Mao China. In many ways, looking at the Republican era helps us to meditate on what is being experienced now."
HO: Who's your favorite author in China right now?
AJ: "Not surprisingly, Yu Hua is my favorite contemporary author. Also, Wang Xiaobo. I think his stuff is really great. It's extremely funny and extremely intelligent."
HO: How does your research translate into the classes that you teach at Berkeley?
AJ: "Teaching is very important to me. Sometimes I teach some of the topics that I do research on. That's inevitable. But I often explore new fields and areas outside my specialization through teaching as well. The benefit of a research university is getting professors who are always at the forefront of their fields. It's a matter of keeping fresh, staying on top of things, and bringing new perspectives into the classroom."
HO: If a student wants to learn more about Chinese literature, what books do you recommend?
AJ: "For Chinese literature, The Story of the Stone, either in Chinese or the English translation by David Hawkes. Also, reading Lu Xun is always an essential starting point for modern literature."
HO: Any study abroad programs that you would recommend?
AJ: "Academically, the IUP [Inter-University Program] at Qinghua. It's open to both undergraduate and graduate students. EAP [Education Abroad Program] is also a strong program and is integrated into the UC curriculum."
HO: What's your favorite city?
AJ: "San Francisco and London. Chinese city? Shanghai."
HO: What's your favorite food/cuisine?
AJ: "Italian food and Sichuanese food."
HO: What type of music do you like to listen to? Favorite band?
AJ: "I don't have just one, because there are too many good ones [smile]. I like to listen to all different genres. I like the Beatles, the Clash, Caetano Veloso, etc."
HO: What do you like to do in your spare time?
AJ: "Read." [smile]
Eileen Chang, Written on Water. Translated by Andrew F. Jones with an introduction by Nicole Huang. New York: Columbia University Press. In press.
Liusheng Zhongguo (Phonographic China). Taipei: Commercial Press. Revised and expanded Chinese language edition of Yellow Music. Trans. Song Weihang. In press.
Yu Hua, Chronicle of a Blood Merchant. Translated with a postscript by Andrew F. Jones. New York: Pantheon Books, 2003.
"The Afro-Asian Century." A special issue of positions: east asia cultures critique. Co-edited with an introduction by Andrew F. Jones and Nikhil Pal Singh. positions 11:1 (Spring 2003).
Chinese 7B, "Introduction to Chinese Literature and Culture" (Spring 04)
Chinese 50, "War, Empire, and Literature in East Asia" (Fall 2003)
Chinese 80, "The Story of the Stone" (Spring 2001)
Chinese 156, "Modern Chinese Literature" (Fall 1999, Fall 2000, Fall 2002)
Chinese 181AB, "Chinese Literature in Translation" (Fall 2001, Spring 2000-2002)
Chinese 188, "Popular Culture in Twentieth Century China" (Fall 1999, Fall 2001)
Chinese 254, "Adventures in Modern Chinese Fiction (Spring 2002)
Chinese 257, "Modern Chinese Literature" (Fall 2003)
Chinese 280, "Modern Chinese Cultural Studies" (Spring 2000, Fall 2001)
East Asian 200, "Proseminar: Approaches to East Asian Studies" (Fall 2002)