Professor Mobo Chang Fan Gao

Biography/ Background

Professor Mobo Gao was born and brought up in a small Chinese village where there was no electricity until after he left the village. Gao did all kinds of farm work in the village, such as collecting night soil, cleaning pigsty and pushing a wheelbarrow. Gao did not leave the village until he went to Xiamen University to study English. He then went to the UK and had studied at Wales and Westminster universities before he completed his Master and doctorate degrees at Essex. Professor Gao has working experience at various universities in China, UK and Australia and has been visiting fellow at some of the world's leading universities, including Oxford and Harvard. Professor Gao teaches Chinese language as well as Asian studies courses. Professor Gao's charismatic style of lecturing was considered "legendary" at the University of Tasmania where he had worked before he was appointed the Director of the Confucius Institute at Adelaide in 2008. Professor Gao's research interest includes studies of rural China, contemporary Chinese politics & culture, Chinese migration to Australia and the mass media. Professor Gao's publications include four books and numerous articles. His latest book The Battle of China's Past: Mao and the Cultural Revolution is a reassessment of the Mao era and the Cultural Revolution.

Publications

Selected Publications

Books

The Battle of Chinaâ�^TMs Past: Mao and the Cultural Revolution, London: Pluto, 2008.

Mandarin Chinese: An Introduction, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2000, reprinted in 2002.

A Reference Grammar of Mandarin Chinese, Queensland: XACT Publications, 2000.

Gao Village: Rural Life in Modern China, (London: C. Hurst & Co. (Publisher) LTD; Hawaii: Hawaii University Press; Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press; Bathurst: Crawford House Publishers, Australia, 1999, reprinted in paper back by Hawaii University Press in 2007.

Book Chapters (since 1994)

“毛澤東：鮮為人知的故事》— 知識界的一大醜聞” in Gregory Benton and Lin Chun, eds., 傳記還是杜撰？— 海外學者評《毛澤東：鮮為人知的故事, Hong Kong: Dafeng chubanshe, 2008.

 

“启程：一个农村孩子关于七十年代的记忆” ，七十年代，北岛， 李陀主编，香港：牛津大学出版社，2008, 81-92页（“Start on a journey: memories of a child from rural China, in Bei Dao Li Tuo, (eds.) the Seventies,  Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 2008, pp. 81-92.

 

Chinese What Chinese: The Politics of Authenticity and Ethnic Identity,”  in Lee guan Kin, ed., 跨越疆界与文化调适 (National Boundaries and Cultural Configurations), 国家疆界与文化图像系列 南洋人文丛书, Singapore: Centre for Chinese Language and Culture and Global Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd, Nanyang University of Technology, 2008, pp. 257-287.

 

�China and Capitalism: If Market Capitalism Is Good for the West, Why Is Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics Bad?� Critical Perspectives on China's Economic Transformation, Introduction by Hari P. Sharma, Delhi: Daanish Books, 2008

�The Question of Land: An Alternative Model to Modernity?� in Joseph Cheng, ed., Challenges and Policy Programmes of Chinese Next Leadership, Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press, 2007, pp. 413-434.

�Memories of the Cultural Revolution: Deconstructing the Holocaust Discourse�, in Song Geng ed.,s Globalization and Chineseness: Postcolonial Readings of Contemporary Culture, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2006, pp. 247-260.

�Introduction�, in Eric Shaoquan Zhang, The Impact of ELT on Ideology in China (1980-2000), Shanghai, Central China Normal University Press, 2006, pp. 1-10.

�Chinese Media Coverage of 9/11�, with Ming Liang, in Tomasz Pludowski, ed., How the World's News Media Reacted to 9/11. Essays from Around the Globe, Spokane, WA: Marquette Books, 2007, pp 186-205.

�Writing History and Gao Village), in Luo Gang, Collected Writings on Ideas in 2004, Guilin: Guangxi shida chubanshe, pp. 266-273.

�The Rise of Neo-Nationalism and the New Left: A Post-Colonial and Postmodernism Perspective� in Leong Liew and Shaoguang Wang, eds., Nationalism, Democracy and National Integration in China, London: Routledge/Curzon, 2004, pp. 44-62.

�The Great Wall that Divides Two Chinas and the Rural/Urban Disparity Challenge,� in Joseph Cheng, ed., China's Challenges in the Twenty-First Century, Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press, 2003, pp. 533-557.

�Learn the Second language by Using the First Language�, in Zhang Dexing and Li Xiaoqi, eds., Teaching Chinese to Students Whose Mother Tongue is English), Beijing: renmin jiaoyu chubanshe, 2002, pp. 296-308.

�Influence of Native Culture and Language on Intercultural Communication: the Case of PRC Student Immigrants in Australia,� in Jens Allwood and Beatriz Dorriots, eds., The Diversity of Intercultural Communication, Papers in Anthropological Linguistics 28, Boteborg: Boteborg University, 2002, pp. 33-53.

�From One Extreme to Another: Is It Time to Adjust the Swing of the Pendulum?� in Yang Jianli, ed., Red Revolution and Black Rebellion�Boston: Twenty-First Century Book Series Foundation for China in the 21st Century, 1997, pp. 17-34.

�Welfare Problems and Needs for Migrant Workers in South China,� Chapter 6, in Wing Lo and Joseph Cheng, eds., Social Welfare Development in China, Constraints and Challenges, (Chicago: Imprint Publications), 1997, pp. 101-120.

�Self-Reference Materials: A Grammar Hand Book,� in Mary Farquhar and Penny McKay eds., China Connections: Australia Business Needs and University Language Education (Canberra: National Language and Literacy Institute of Australia), 1996, pp. 246-257.

�Migrant Workers from Rural China: Their Conditions and Some Social Implications for Economic Development in South China,� in David Schak ed., Entrepreneurship Economic Growth and Social Change: The Transformation of Southern China, (Queensland: Centre for the Studies of Australian and Asian Relations), 1994, pp. 21-38.

Articles (since 1990 and single author unless indicated)

�The Dilemma of Cultural Nationalism in China as Seen from the Debate on the TV Drama Shi Lang�, Portal, Vol 4, No 1 (2007), Special Issue: The Revival of Chinese Cultural Nationalism, http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/ojs/index.php/portal/article/view/355/356.

â�^~Decoding Historical Scripts in Chinese: the Tasmania Chungâ�^TMs from Xinhuiâ�^TM, with Wu Qianlong as the first author, Journal of Chinese Australia, no. 2 (October ) 2006,http://www.chaf.lib.latrobe.edu.au/jca/ issue02/14WuGao.html.

�Media Ownership: One Case Studies and Two Perspectives,� The International Journal of Humanities, Vo. 2, No. 3, 2004-2006: pp. 2103-2112.

â��Chinese biographical and Memoir Writings about Mao, the Cultural Revolution and the Emerging Counter Acts in the E-Media,â�^TM China Study Group, http://www.chinastudygroup.org/index.php?action=front2&type=view&id=174, 2006.

�China and Capitalism: If Market Capitalism Is Good for the West, Why Is Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics Bad?�, China and Socialism Roundtable, (invited contributor) Critical Asian Studies, Vol. 37, No. 3 (September 2005), pp. 469-472.

�Control, Freedom, Tendency and Justice), Dushu, Vol, 12, 2003, pp 99-107.

�National Sovereignty versus Moral Sovereignty: the Case of Australian Press Reporting of Taiwan,� with Stephanie Donald and Eric Zhang, Asia Media Vol. 30, No. 1, (2003): 22-30.

�Debating the Cultural Revolution: Do We Only Know What We Believe?� Critical Asian Studies, 34:4 (2002), pp. 419-434.

�Moral Conflicts Reflected in the Love Stories of Jingju,� (with Jingrui Guo as the first author), Asian Studies Review, Vol. 25, No. 4 (December) 2001, pp. 499-522.

�The Trojan Horse of English Language Teaching: The Contribution of ELT to the De-Radicalization of Political Discourse in China,� (with Eric Zhang as the first author) China Information, Vol. XV, No. 2 (2001), pp 114-130.

�Writing History and Gao village�, in Dushu, No. 1 (January) 2001, pp. 9-16.

�Human rights: what is the narrative?� Dushu, No. 7, (July) 2001, pp. 71-76.

�Depoliticisation in the Field of English Teaching in China: A Comparative Study of Two English Course Books,� (with Eric Zhang as the first author), Pacific Asian Education, Vol. 12, No. 1, 2000, pp. 60-74.

�The Chinese Cultural Revolution and Historiography: On Memoirs�, The Hong Kong Journal of Social Sciences, No. 16, Spring, 2000, pp. 151-166.

"Sino-US Love and Hate Relations." Journal of Contemporary Asia, vol.30: 4 (Oct.) 2000, pp. 547-561.

�Influence of Native Culture and Language on Intercultural Communication: the Case of PRC Student Immigrants in Australia,� Intercultural Communication, No. 4, (November) 2000, , pp. 1-12.

�China in Transition: Issues and Debates,� Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars (USA), Vol. 32, No. 3, (July-September) 2000, pp. 53-57.

�Manufacturing of Truth and Culture of the Elite,� Journal of Contemporary Asia (Manila), vol. 29: No. 3 (mid-August) 1999, pp. 309-327.

�Factional Politics in the CCP: A Case Study of the Rise and Fall of Li Qinglin,� China Report (New Delhi), Vol. 35, No. 1, 1999, pp. 41-59.

�Chinese Reality and Writings by Chinese Expatriates,� Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, Vol. 30, No. 3 (July-September) 1998, pp. 61-68.

�Rural Situation in Post-Mao China and the Conditions of Migrant Workers: the Case of Gao Village,� Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, Vol. 30, No. 4, (October - December, 1998), pp. 70-76.

â��From Student to Citizen: A Survey of Students from the Peopleâ�^TMs Republic of Chinaâ�� (PRC) in Australia,â�� (with Liu Xian), International Migration Quarterly Review (Oxford and Malden), Vol. 36, No. 1, 1998, pp. 27-48.

�A Report on Education in Shenzhen in the Early 1990s,� (with Colin Mackerras), Pacific - Asian Education (Canberra), Vol. 9, No. 2, 1997, pp. 7-20.

�Hai wai hua ren xue zhe wen ge tuan tao zhi wo jian� (Commentary on the Studies of the Cultural Revolution by Overseas Chinese Scholars), Ming Pao Monthly (Hong Kong), Vol. 31. No. 12, 1996, pp. 97-99.

�The Plight of Migrant Workers in South China,� China Rights Forum (New York), (Summer) 1996, pp. 42-45.

�The Ghost that still Prowls the Land: The Legacy of Mao and Chinese attitudes,� The Hong Kong Journal of Social Sciences, No. 7, (Spring) 1996, pp. 140-158.

�Asian languages in Australia,� The Babel (Adelaide), Vol. 31, No. 1, (April-June), 1996, pp. 14-17.

�The Circular Rural Development and the Possibility of a Breakthrough: A Case Study of Gao Village,� The Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies (Copenhagen), No. 10, 1995, pp. 40-68.

�Memoirs and the History of the Cultural Revolution,� Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, Vol. 27, No. 1, (1995) pp. 49-57.

�Maoist Discourse and A Critique of the Present Assessment of the Cultural Revolution,� Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, Vol. 26, No. 3, (1994) pp. 3-21.

�The Sharp End of China's Economic Boom,� China Rights Forum (New York), (Spring) 1994, pp. 12-27.

"On Their Own: The Plight of Migrant Workers," China Rights Forum (New York), (Fall) 1994, pp. 4-28.

"Dou as a Wide Scope Quantifier," Australian Journal of Linguistics (Canberra), Vol. 14, No. 1, 1994, pp. 39 - 62.

�QR at S-Structure and the Function of Dou at Its Process,� Proceedings of Leiden Conference for Junior Linguists, (The Netherlands: University of Leiden), 1990, pp. 1-18.

�Democracy, What Democracy? China's Road to Modernization,� China Report, Vol. 28, No. 1 (Jan.-March) 1992, pp. 13-26.

Other publications (since 1990)

�A Boom Financed by Taxes on the Poor,� New Statesman, Special Double Issue, January 2005: 10, 20.

�Communist Economic Model,� Thomas M. Leonard, ed., Encyclopaedia of the Developing World, Vol. 1, New York and Oxon: Routledge, 2006. pp. 385-387.

�Why Does China Matter?� Letter to Foreign Affairs, Vol. 79, No. 1, January-February 2000, p. 187.

�Research on the Cultural Revolution by the Overseas Chinese], Chinese News Digest, Chinese Magazine, No. 146 (Supplement), 12 March 1998, pp. 12-13.

�The Sad Situation of Migrant Workers in South China], translated into Chinese by Wang Yu, in electronic journal, China 2000 Forum), No. 1, 1997.

�Rural Life since 1949: Gao Village,� Australian-China Review, No. 12, August 1997.

�The Ghost that still Prowls the Land: The Legacy of Mao and Chinese attitudes�, China and World (electronic journal) No. 11, (September) 1997.

�Introduction,� to a special issue on the Chinese Cultural Revolution, China and World (electronic journal), No. 4 (Spring) 1996.

�A World of Difference,� Australia-Asian Society of Tasmania Newsletter (April), 1996.

�The Threat of China and International Politics,� Australia-China Review, Vol. 15, No. 6, 1995, pp. 5-7.

�Flaws in the Yellow Peril,� Letters to the Editor, The Australian (Sept.) 30, 1994, p. 10.

Entry last updated: Friday, 19 Jun 2009