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Asian History

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Articles 1 - 30 of 155

Full-Text Articles in History

Han-Nationalism Throughout The Ages, Weiying Wu Jun 2023

Han-Nationalism Throughout The Ages, Weiying Wu

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

Beginning in the 1980s, a trend of traditional studies known as “guo xue,” (国学) meaning national studies, proliferated in the wake of socioeconomic changes in China. In particular, it encompassed the revival of Confucianism, giving rise to related activity such as the establishment of “national studies institutes” (国学院) and “Han study centers”. Yet despite its popularity, the legitimacy of “national studies” came under the critical scrutiny of historians who argue that that contemporary “national studies” have either consciously or subconsciously co-opted Han traditions and practices over other ethnic cultures that made up the social fabric of past and present China, …


“The Product Of That Finer Mould”: The Role Of Chinese Porcelain In The Making Of Early American Images Of China, Emily Meryn Hospodor May 2023

“The Product Of That Finer Mould”: The Role Of Chinese Porcelain In The Making Of Early American Images Of China, Emily Meryn Hospodor

Honors Theses

This thesis asserts that Chinese material culture, specifically porcelain, was instrumental in the development of American perceptions of China in the colonial period through the late 19th century. The first chapter examines how the quality, durability, and uniqueness of Chinese export porcelain led Europeans, and by extension American colonists, to view China as an advanced and abundant civilization populated with ingenious craftsmen. The second chapter addresses the emergence of negative views of China among American traders and scholars after the establishment of direct contact with China during the Old China Trade (1784-1844). In contrast, the third chapter demonstrates that Americans …


A Friend Who Does Me No Good: Aphorism In Matteo Ricci’S On Friendship, Maximilian Chan Weiher May 2023

A Friend Who Does Me No Good: Aphorism In Matteo Ricci’S On Friendship, Maximilian Chan Weiher

Asian Languages and Cultures Honors Projects

This paper argues that Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) designed his aphoristic compilation, Jiaoyou Lun 交友論–On Friendship (1595)–to serve the Jesuit mission of converting the Chinese to Catholicism and express the conflict he may have felt exploiting friends to forward the Jesuit mission. Utilizing friendships to allow for greater social influence was central to the Jesuit proselytization strategy in China. However, Ricci’s moral education from youth taught him to judge utilitarian friendships as immoral. The extant scholarship regarding Ricci’s On Friendship fails to acknowledge the significance of the aphoristic form to this work. To illuminate the value of aphorism …


Patterns Of Integration: A Network Perspective On Popular Religious Connections In China’S Lower Yangzi, 1150–1350, Song Chen Apr 2023

Patterns Of Integration: A Network Perspective On Popular Religious Connections In China’S Lower Yangzi, 1150–1350, Song Chen

Faculty Journal Articles

The spread of cults from their original homelands in the Song dynasty (960–1279) created crisscrossing ties between local communities and fostered social and cultural integration in Chinese society that transcended class and geographic boundaries. Scholars have produced numerous case studies on these translocal cults and their implications, but the pattern of connections across space created by these cults is yet to be explored. Using the data collected from local gazetteers that have survived from the Southern Song and Yuan dynasties, this article takes a bird’s‑eye view of the spatial distribution of popular cults in China’s Lower Yangzi region between 1150 …


Kowtowing And Paying Tribute To China: How China’S Self-Perception And The Mandate Of Heaven Shapes China’S Foreign Policy, Brock Bellinger Mar 2023

Kowtowing And Paying Tribute To China: How China’S Self-Perception And The Mandate Of Heaven Shapes China’S Foreign Policy, Brock Bellinger

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Throughout the course of history, the ancient Chinese notion of the Mandate of Heaven has played a fundamental role in guiding China’s foreign relations. The Mandate of Heaven is based upon the idea that the ruler of China has the authority to reign from Heaven. However, the Mandate of Heaven could be revoked if the Chinese leader did not adhere to strict moral guidelines, as evidenced by the fall of numerous dynasties throughout China's history. To better understand 21st century foreign relations with China, it is instructive to explore and recognize how China views itself historically. Through an improved …


Walking In The Steps Of The Emperors: Exploring Beijing's Forbidden City And Surrounding Hutong Neighborhoods, Beth Transue Mar 2023

Walking In The Steps Of The Emperors: Exploring Beijing's Forbidden City And Surrounding Hutong Neighborhoods, Beth Transue

Library Staff Presentations & Publications

A photographic exploration of Beijing's Forbidden City as told by a Messiah University librarian. Beth Transue has visited China three times, two of which were university cross-cultural courses for undergraduate students.


Tea As A Motivator For British Imperialism In China, Grayden R. Varisco Feb 2023

Tea As A Motivator For British Imperialism In China, Grayden R. Varisco

CAFE Symposium 2023

This poster is based on a research paper that sought to find out what influence the tea trade had on developments in Sino-British relations in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Through research, the paper concluded that the strong British desire for tea influenced British attempts to change its relationship with China, as a more "open" China would lead to more and cheaper tea for Britain. Ultimately, this desire led to Britain flooding China with addictive, illicit opium, and waging the imperialistic Opium Wars against China.


Cultural And Philosophical Beliefs In Tea Poetry, Julia M. Minor Feb 2023

Cultural And Philosophical Beliefs In Tea Poetry, Julia M. Minor

CAFE Symposium 2023

Tea is a commodity that has greatly changed the course of history. One example of the influence of tea is in poetry. This project analyzes some examples of tea poetry from China and Japan to understand how tea in poetry conveys cultural and philosophical beliefs of given time periods. China and Japan are looked at collectively because their histories are very entwined. In the two Chinese poems, tea is tied to hierarchical relations and the importance of Taoism. In the Japanese poems, tea is greatly related to nature and appreciating simplicity. Three of the four poems are a reaction to …


National In Form: Language Reform And Romanization In The Early People’S Republic Of China, Nicholas E. Demick Jan 2023

National In Form: Language Reform And Romanization In The Early People’S Republic Of China, Nicholas E. Demick

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.


Hall Family Collection - Index To Appendix 1, "Letters From The Attic" And Appendix 2, Postcards, Kyle Ainsworth May 2022

Hall Family Collection - Index To Appendix 1, "Letters From The Attic" And Appendix 2, Postcards, Kyle Ainsworth

Librarian and Staff Presentations

The Hall Family Collection can generally be described in two parts. The first part is Letters from the Attic, which are more than 5,000 documents that Andrena Hall Brunotte transcribed into 16 volumes. Brunotte’s transcription project established an “original order” to this part of the collection that the processing archivist does their best to adhere to. All of these materials were found in one large steamer trunk and organized by Brunotte in chronological order. Boxes 1 to 4 of the collection house the paper transcriptions (3,330 pages). Boxes 5 to 13 contain the documents, which are in chronological order. The …


What China’S Infrastructure Development Abroad Reveals About Its International Goals, Gillian Hodge May 2022

What China’S Infrastructure Development Abroad Reveals About Its International Goals, Gillian Hodge

Senior Honors Projects

China’s Belt and Road Initiative has resulted in a variety of investment and infrastructure projects around the world, especially in developing countries. This initiative is unique in its implementation strategy, particularly the hands-on approach China takes to each infrastructure development project. Projects are financed by Chinese national banks and built by Chinese corporations utilizing majority-Chinese labor. These projects are seen by many countries as mutually beneficial; China is able to provide gainful employment and business to its national corporations in exchange for lucrative infrastructure for the host countries in the form of advanced roads, rails, ports, etc. Other countries, especially …


The Difference Between Life And Death: Intellectual Appeasement And Ideological Remolding Of Philosophers In Mao-Era China, Rosalie Looijaard Apr 2022

The Difference Between Life And Death: Intellectual Appeasement And Ideological Remolding Of Philosophers In Mao-Era China, Rosalie Looijaard

Asian Studies: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

The Proletarian Cultural Revolution marked the near destruction of Chinese tradition and put intellectuals in China in danger – Chairman Mao Zedong stopped at nothing to ensure anything and anyone that opposed his politics would either be assimilated or removed. Some intellectuals chose to appease him – out of fear or naivete, while others stood firm in their beliefs. This paper examines the similarities and differences between the lives and fates of two philosophers during the rise and fall of Mao Zedong - Feng Youlan and Zhang Dongsun. Both philosophers were amiable towards socialism, even before Mao rose to power. …


The Influence Of The Thirty-Six Stratagems On Chinese Strategy In The Diaoyu Islands, Brent Schuliger Apr 2022

The Influence Of The Thirty-Six Stratagems On Chinese Strategy In The Diaoyu Islands, Brent Schuliger

Senior Honors Theses

The Diaoyu Islands are a small, uninhabited archipelago in the East China Sea which has begun increasing in strategic significance due to its advantageous location near Taiwan and along the First Island Chain. The islands are currently under Japanese administration, but the People’s Republic of China considers them historically Chinese and contests Japan’s claim to the islands. A careful examination of China’s actions in challenging Japan’s rule over the Diaoyus reveals the influence of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, a tome of ancient Chinese military wisdom which provides a framework onto which China’s current strategy corresponds. This thesis examines the historical …


What In Chinese Culture And Political Philosophy Makes It Difficult To Share Power At The Top?, Natalie Lyman Shields Jan 2022

What In Chinese Culture And Political Philosophy Makes It Difficult To Share Power At The Top?, Natalie Lyman Shields

BYU Asian Studies Journal

天高皇帝远, Tiān gāo, huángdì yuan, is an ancient Chinese proverb that translates to “Heaven is high and the emperor is far away.” Starting anciently in the Shang Dynasty, China typically had an emperor who ruled over his subjects, yet in a far away manner: “For two thousand years China had an emperor figure who was state power and spiritual authority rolled into one” (Wild Swans, 261–262). The most notable emperor was the first blazing Emperor Qin Shi Huang who unified the land around 247 B.C. Many emperors followed, claiming the Mandate of Heaven, until the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty …


Friendship In The Confucian Tradition, Andrew Lambert Jan 2022

Friendship In The Confucian Tradition, Andrew Lambert

Publications and Research

An overview of how friendship has been represented and assessed in the Confucian tradition, and particularly in classical Confucian texts such as the Analects and the Mencius. Themes covered include the relationship between the family and friendship, the ambivalence towards friendship in imperial China, and the connection between friendship and the Confucian ideal of personal cultivation. The chapter finishes by exploring novel conceptions of friendship and human relatedness suggested by the Confucian tradition.


Missouri Soybean Exports And The Democratizing Market Force, David D. Hammons Jan 2022

Missouri Soybean Exports And The Democratizing Market Force, David D. Hammons

MSU Graduate Theses

A commonly held assumption of America’s post-Cold War place in the world is that prolonged contact with American capitalism and democracy will lead to the adoption of these systems in all nations that participate in international trade. This paper attempts to verify or disprove that assumption by examining a specific traded commodity between two specific nations, the institutions that support this trade, and the people actively participating in it. The growth of soybean exports from the state of Missouri provides this vehicle for examining the trade history between the United States of America and China, and provides evidence that disproves …


Mansfield, Marines, And Mothers: The Politics Of Resistance To The American Intervention In North China From 1945-1946, James Robert Compton Jan 2022

Mansfield, Marines, And Mothers: The Politics Of Resistance To The American Intervention In North China From 1945-1946, James Robert Compton

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

At the conclusion of World War II, American citizens, including millions of deployed servicemen, reasserted the democratic freedoms they sacrificed to win the war. The American intervention in North China during the Chinese Civil War presented a ripe opportunity for civic restoration in late 1945. Controversial and seemingly at odds with the stated goals of the Second World War—namely the “Four Freedoms” and the Atlantic Charter—the US military presence in North China faced formidable domestic political obstacles. This thesis explores the nexus of domestic politics and foreign policy in the post-World War II era. Focusing on 1945-1946, this project steps …


Understanding Religious Tolerance In Yongchang, China, Liming Gao Oct 2021

Understanding Religious Tolerance In Yongchang, China, Liming Gao

Honors Theses

The formation of China is a process of national integration and a fusion of different beliefs. However, under Chairman Mao (1949-1976) and specifically during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), people were reeducated to focus on Communism and expel remnants of traditional Chinese culture including the various religions. Although, after the Cultural Revolution, China reinstated its policy of religious freedom, there were still strict laws against religion. Despite such circumstances, Chinese people still practice their religious beliefs. The Yongchang area, located in Gansu Province in the northwest of China is a typical region of Chinese culture. At the same time, compared to …


Expanding Horizons: China’S Perception And Management Of Globalization, Xiaofan Mu Aug 2021

Expanding Horizons: China’S Perception And Management Of Globalization, Xiaofan Mu

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

No abstract provided.


The Influence Of China/Asia On The West, Junli Diao Aug 2021

The Influence Of China/Asia On The West, Junli Diao

Publications and Research

This chapter provides a description of cultural communication between China and Europe before 20th century. It discusses the influence of Chinese materials to Western libraries, archives and museums.


Knowing China, Losing China: Discourse And Power In U.S.-China Relations, Shankara Narayanan May 2021

Knowing China, Losing China: Discourse And Power In U.S.-China Relations, Shankara Narayanan

University Scholar Projects

The U.S. government’s 2017 National Security Strategy claimed, “China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity.”[1] Three years later, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the U.S. foreign policy community’s discursive shift towards Realist competition with China, with officials from the past three presidential administrations coming to view China as a threat to democratic governance and America’s security posture in Asia. The discourse underpinning the U.S.-China relationship, however, remains understudied. During key moments in the relationship, U.S. policymakers’ Realist intellectual frameworks failed to account for Chinese nationalism, suggesting a problem embedded within …


Knowing China, Losing China: Discourse And Power In U.S.-China Relations, Shankara Narayanan May 2021

Knowing China, Losing China: Discourse And Power In U.S.-China Relations, Shankara Narayanan

Honors Scholar Theses

The U.S. government’s 2017 National Security Strategy claimed, “China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity.”[1] Three years later, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the U.S. foreign policy community’s discursive shift towards Realist competition with China, with officials from the past three presidential administrations coming to view China as a threat to democratic governance and America’s security posture in Asia. The discourse underpinning the U.S.-China relationship, however, remains understudied. During key moments in the relationship, U.S. policymakers’ Realist intellectual frameworks failed to account for Chinese nationalism, suggesting a problem embedded within …


From Memory To Present To An Uncertain Future: An Analysis Of History And Policy On Chinese Food Security, Justin Mascarin Apr 2021

From Memory To Present To An Uncertain Future: An Analysis Of History And Policy On Chinese Food Security, Justin Mascarin

Honors Projects

This paper seeks to analyze China’s historical relationship to famine to better understand contemporary Chinese policy on food security. The historical analysis focuses both at the political level and the level of the peasantry, with a particular focus on the Great Chinese Famine. This Chinese specific analysis in conjunction with an understanding of food security history helps to better understand two white papers on food security from the Chinese Government in 1996 and 2019. This paper finds these white papers to be response to deep rooted doubts in the ability for the Chinese Government to logistically support such a massive …


Translating Faith And Philosophy: The Engagement Of The Jesuit Strategy Of Accommodation In Chinese Syncretic And Anti-Heterodox Traditions And The Reception Of Chinese Ideas In Europe, Finn Kearney Feb 2021

Translating Faith And Philosophy: The Engagement Of The Jesuit Strategy Of Accommodation In Chinese Syncretic And Anti-Heterodox Traditions And The Reception Of Chinese Ideas In Europe, Finn Kearney

History Theses

This paper attempts to expand on the scholarship surrounding the Jesuit strategy of cultural accommodation in China by Father Matteo Ricci by examining the influence of Chinese intellectual traditions on its inception and development. It incorporates the works of Zhu Xi, Matteo Ricci, and Philippe Couplet among others to establish a connection between the native Chinese traditions of syncretism and anti-heterodox scholarship, the process of cultural exchange between the Jesuits and the Chinese literati, and the translation and transmission of Chinese ideas to Europe in the late 16th and 17th centuries. This paper also uses this common thread to explain …


North Korea: How Fear Is Used To Control A Nation, Ashley Clisby Jan 2021

North Korea: How Fear Is Used To Control A Nation, Ashley Clisby

Capstone Showcase

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, more commonly known as North Korea, is most commonly known for its possession and testing of nuclear weapons and threatening to use these weapons of mass destruction. Less commonly talked about are the human rights violations that are being experienced by the citizens of North Korea. Most, if not all, of the information regarding North Korean human rights that have been reported on comes from individuals who have escaped the Kim regime. There is very limited information traveling in and out of North Korea that is not heavily monitored by the government. These individuals …


An Umbrella Of Autonomy: The Validity Of The Hong Kong Protests, Ciera Lehmann Dec 2020

An Umbrella Of Autonomy: The Validity Of The Hong Kong Protests, Ciera Lehmann

Senior Honors Theses

Hong Kong has been fighting for democracy and to retain its autonomy from China, and the world has been watching. Over time, Hong Kongers have seen Beijing blatantly tighten its grip before time was up for the fifty-year agreement since the handover in 1997. In 2014, and again in 2019, hundreds of thousands of citizens filled the streets to participate in pro-democracy demonstrations with the protests only gaining momentum and influence. While there has mostly been support for Hong Kong’s independence movement, there has been argument that Beijing’s actions are completely justified. Should Hong Kong remain autonomous from China, and …


Isolation Versus Engagement: The Economic Factors In Sino-Canadian Relations, 1960s-1970s, Brendan Williams Nov 2020

Isolation Versus Engagement: The Economic Factors In Sino-Canadian Relations, 1960s-1970s, Brendan Williams

Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections

This essay seeks to present a historic overview of this relationship as it developed between the 1960s and 1970s and showcase how certain events impacted this development. Canada has had a steadily growing economic relationship with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) since the latter’s reform and opening up policy under Deng Xiaoping in 1978. The development of this relationship was not a forgone conclusion, as Cold War tensions initially heightened ideological tensions between Maoist China and capitalist democracies like Canada. The path of normalization was impacted by both domestic and international events involving both Canada and the PRC, which …


The ‘Real’ Outcomes Of Language Learning: The History Of English Language Education In China, Olivia (Jia Ming) Feng Nov 2020

The ‘Real’ Outcomes Of Language Learning: The History Of English Language Education In China, Olivia (Jia Ming) Feng

Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections

This paper examines the history of English Language Education (ELE) and its societal role in China from 1900 to 1990. Throughout different periods in China's modern history, ELE was associated with key issues, including the revitalization of the declining Qing dynasty, modernization during the Republican era, and Cold War competitions during the Mao era. To investigate the connections between ELE and the political trends and movements in modern China, my research examines textbooks written and used in 1913, 1976, and 1979 China. These texts were implemented under different regimes, showing that the historical and political trends shaped the development of …


China’S Illegal Organ Trade: From Executed Prisoners To Organ Tourism To Falun Gong, Adrienne Thompson Nov 2020

China’S Illegal Organ Trade: From Executed Prisoners To Organ Tourism To Falun Gong, Adrienne Thompson

West Virginia University Historical Review

As worldwide populations continue to rise, the constant necessity for life-saving organs for terminally and chronically ill patients has become extremely vital and profitable to medical centers across the globe. Since China’s preliminary debut in the international organ donation and transplantation system in the late 1960s, various scholars, journalists, and health professionals across the globe have demonstrated outright shock at the massive influx and seemingly endless supply of transferable organs emanating from Chinese transplant centers and hospitals. Investigations have shown that China has been actively harvesting organs from recently executed prisoners and incarcerated Falun Gong practitioners. Regardless of numerous outside …


Washing The River In Relation To Interpellation, Theatricality And Spectatorship, Patricia Miller Jun 2020

Washing The River In Relation To Interpellation, Theatricality And Spectatorship, Patricia Miller

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Patricia Miller's Master of Fine Arts Thesis Paper