Chinese Studies Commons^™

Wen Yiduo's Translation And The Formation Of Metrical Poetics, Liming Chen

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Wen Yiduo translated English poems with different metrical forms, and consciously applied English metrical poetics in his poetry writing and the theoretical configuration of new Chinese poetry, as an attempt to resist the prevailing poetic trends during the May 4th New Poetry movement predominantly spoken vernacular in nature and to promote the modern Chinese poetics with contemporary metrics and prosody. Through an examination of Wen Yiduo's long neglected translation of Byron's "Isles of Greece," the paper demonstrates his metrical poetics was constructed in and by his practice of translation and creative writing. The paper argues that Wen's practice helped to …

On The Stylistic Construction Of Wang Guowei's History Of Traditional Opera In The Song And Yuan Dynasties, Yanlin Xu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Wang Guowei's pioneering work History of Traditional Opera in the Song and Yuan Dynasties is both a theoretical summarization of his studies on opera and a systematic exposition of his stylistic thoughts. Influenced by Western studies and inherited from Chinese academic tradition, the book reviews the classification, naming, features, origins of this genre and the debasing social attitude to it, and proceeds to highlight the genre with a strong consciousness of stylistics. It delineates the evolution of Chinese opera from the perspective of stylistics, and proposes that Chinese opera has integrated features of patterns, observable stylistic development from narrative to …

Reflections On The Post-Modernist Concept Of Literary History In A New Literary History Of America, Song Li

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Greil Marcus and Werner Sollers' New Literary History of America from Harvard University Press sets a new paradigm for literary history writing in the aspects of style, organization and methodology. It has the following major features. First, it holds a literary view of culture vision. Therefore, the connotation of literature is expanded greatly and the boundary between literature and culture is blurred. Secondly, it embodies the principle of dedifferentiation in post-modernism culture. Thirdly, it advocates a constructional view on literary history. Fourthly, it disassembles the meta-narrative of an ontological history and emphasizes on the micro-narrative of history transection. Lastly, it …

Singularities Of The Three-Body Problem, Or Chinese Logic In The Era Of Science Fiction Globalization, Jun Zeng

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This paper aims to analyze the singularity event of why Liu Cixin's Three-body Problem can single-handedly upgrade Chinese science fiction literature to the world prominence in the era of science fiction globalization. The paper argues that the scientific imagination in The Three-body Problem starts at the scientific frontier of "singularity" and expands on the spectacle of singularity. In The Three-body Problem, the essentialism of identity politics is transcended, which allows for the conceptualization of internal diversity of the post-human and the establishment of a cosmetic sociology on the principle of the dark forest. Therefore, it is possible for an analysis …

The Clash Of Civilizations And The Culture Self-Consciousness: Science Fiction And Social Reality In The Three-Body Problem, Qi Chen

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

From the perspective of the relation between science fiction and social reality, the core question of Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem Trilogy is the clash of civilizations between human and Trisolaran, which causes the future possibility of the end of human history. The narrative perspectives of the trilogy are the intelligentsia narrative of Wang Miao (Book I), the heroic narrative of Luo Ji (Book II), and the narrative of "the last man" of Cheng Xin (Book III). If the future civilization of the human beings is likely to encounter the cosmic catastrophe caused by the clash of civilizations between human …

Unfinished Subject: Empathy And Subject-Construction In Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep？, Simeng Miao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? not only invites us to think about the problems of androids' identity, but also forces people into rethinking the existence of ourselves. As the subject, a man recognizing himself is firstly concerned with "identification/distinction." In the constructed world of the novel, the core of identification/distinction lies in the identification between a human being and an android. Empathy plays an important role in subject construction, which indicates that the subject can grasp others through bodily experience to achieve self-construction. However, it is merely imaginary to grasp the subjectivity of others through …

A New Discussion On Kuang Zhouyi's Ci-Poetry Criticism, Keqiang Sun

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Some new findings about Kuang Zhouyi's critical materials on ci-poetry enable us to review and re-evaluate Kuang's theoretical contribution to ci-poetry criticism which include his explorations into the ci-poetry in the Southern and Northern Song Dynasties and his theoretical explanation of the concept of "big." The paper claims that Kuang should be given full justice as an important ci-poetry scholar in the late Qing dynasty.

Aesthetics In Cross-Cultural Perspective, Davies Stephen

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

In this paper I attempt reconcile two apparently opposed views: artworks are embedded in culturally relative art-historical contexts and cannot be fully understood without an awareness of these contexts, yet artworks trade in themes that are universally and perennially of human interest, such as war and peace, and shape these to cater to shared, biologically based perceptual systems. The first explains some of the difficulties we face in understanding and appreciating art cross-culturally. The second indicates why, nevertheless, a degree of cross-cultural artistic appreciation is possible. As well, our grasp of the challenges and possibilities of the media from which …

An Exploration Into The Logics Of Language Construction During The May Fourth Period, Wei Deng

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

In his History of National Language Movement, Li Jinxi discussed the process of language construction in the May 4th period with a focus on the pronunciation while putting the vernacular movement into his narrative of the national language movement history. On the other hand, Hu Shi paid high attention to written language and tried to construct the national language with "vernacular literature," hoping to use "a literature of national language" to create "a national language of literature." Hu Shi's endeavor showed the general logic of language construction during the May Fourth period, that is, to construct a modern national language …

Deconstructing Utopian Imagination: The Allegory Of Solaris And Others, Dan Chen

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Utopia is a socio-economic sub-genre of science fiction. The question of how to imagine a utopia is actually an issue of how to write out the image of a utopia. In Stanislaw Lem's Solaris, there is a formal strategy of "double inscription," which turns the limitation of utopian genre into allegory and critical merits. Thus, it is possible to refute it from the inside of its anthropocentric totality and to divert the interpretation into the field of political ethics. As a result, the surface binary opposition between self and the other is nullified, and the imagination of a zero-degree Utopia, …

Event-Truth And Literary Criticism: On Badiou's Reading Beckett, Cheng Tan

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Alain Badiou rejects the conventional idea that Samuel Beckett was a playwright associated with the Theatre of the Absurd. He points out that, in Beckett's writing, there is ideological transfer from "solipsism" to "event." As has been shown in Beckett's later works, he devoted himself to his reflection about "event," thus creating a text of "truth." Badiou, through his idea of Inaesthetics, attempts to understand Beckett in Beckett's own way. From the inherent ideological structure of the text, Badiou constructs critical concepts for the text, and consequently makes the truth of text appear in the form of concepts. He succeeds …

How Consumer Phenomenon Enters Literary Writing, Changzhong Wang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Representation of consumer culture is universal in literary writing and consumption has contributed an extensive content for literary works. When writing about consumer culture, literary production becomes an integral part of the culture. The paper argues that the consumption of literary writing implies an essentially literary discourse instead of consumer culture discourse. Literary writing about consumption shows distinctive characteristics of discursive presence: common and widespread capacity, localized and fragmented modality, and penetrative and interspersed mechanism. In view of the features such as the value, attributes, discursive features, it may be argued that the narrative strategies in literary writing about consumer …

Literature And History: On Hayden White's Theory Of Tropology And Its Effect, Zilu Yang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The paper focuses on Hayden White's theory of tropology, and tackles the issue of trans-boundary between literature and history. White's discourse upon the poetry of history relies on the revelation of the mechanism of tropology. This paper demonstrates the four key concepts, namely, metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche and irony, comprising in the connotation of tropology. This quadruple structure points to a certain internal continuity in human consciousness, and constitutes the main mechanism of historical discourse in meaning-production. Classical historians establish the basic forms of writing by way of tropology, and then influence the three layers of writing, namely, weaving of a …

Liu Cixin'sThe Three-Body Problem And The Desire To The Future, Feng Wang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Science fiction is a description to the possible world of the future, and the future is a special time dimension which cannot be reached but can only be treated as a vision upon reality. Liu's The Three-Body Problem provides us with the possibility of the evil in the future. The description of the future reveals in words a future not yet experienced, and it does so in a way that treats the unexperienced as a world already in existence, and therefore it is more an interpretation than factual description. The interpretation of the future in such description operates on the …

A Bridge Across The Pacific: A Study Of The Shifting Relationship Between Portland And The Far East, Michael Todd Gagle

Dissertations and Theses

After Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931, both Japan and China sought the support of America. There has been a historical assumption that, starting with the hostilities in 1931, the Japanese were maligned in American public opinion. Consequently, the assumption has been made that Americans supported the Chinese without reserve during their conflict with Japan in the 1930s.

The aim of this study is to question the accuracy of that assumption in the case of Portland, Oregon. An analysis of newspapers and print material specifically focusing on Japan and China from before the conflict reveal that the general American opinion of …

Spiritual Formation Of Young Adults In China: A Case Study Of Protagonists In Boxers And Saints, Xu Bian

Seattle Pacific Seminary Theses

The thesis examines the spiritual development of young adult protagonists depicted in Boxers and saints by Gene Luen Yang using the framework of six spiritual components and the approach of critical content analysis. It shows that the six elements, journey, transcendence, community, religion, mystery of creation, and transformation, are involved regardless of different religions people are converted to. In addition, religions provide an avenue for spirituality to mature given that spirituality is an intrinsic and universal characteristic of human beings regardless of their religious beliefs or lack of them. Finally, spirituality is not superior to religions because of the two …

Mulan And Filial Piety: Lesson Plan, Kitty Lam

Religion and Philosophy in the Ancient World

In this lesson, students will examine the relationship between gender roles and Confucian principles in pre-modern China by considering the extent to which the Mulan legend is compatible with the Confucian concept of filial piety. Students will read and discuss texts on filial piety by Confucian scholars, as well as three different works of Chinese literature based on the Mulan legend from three distinct time periods.

爐火升起, Ka Yan Wu

Dissertations from all years

文昇是一個在大牌檔工作了大半輩子的老員工。他性格忠厚，十五歲便入行工作，一直到三十五歲時，重遇了早年認識的大牌檔同行順哥。在那個經濟蓬勃的黃金時代，順哥藉炒賣樓房及股票而風生水起。這次重遇成為文昇一生的第一個轉折點——相信天道酬勤的他改變心態，與順哥合夥做生意，不料「九七」金融風暴把這一切覆滅，他一無所有。

在窮困潦倒時，文昇通過「假結婚」賺錢應急，因此認識了妻子碧英。可惜他的人生就如大牌檔的命運一樣一直走下坡，再無起色。到了文昇六十多歲時，政府因大牌檔生意慘淡而決定把地方收回。面臨著即將失業的危機，以及養育年幼兒子的負擔，他感到彷徨。

本文不僅是敘述這個普通員工的一生，更希望呈現透過他一生，反映香港時代的變化，以及大牌檔的興衰；借整理、回顧過去，表達我們身處在這個年代，面對一些本土事物、價值慢慢失去時，雖彷徨無力，卻仍持有堅韌的生命力繼續生活。面對時代的衝擊，不肯妥協的我們，該如何走下去？

Women, Gender And Family In Chinese History, Kitty Lam

Religion and Philosophy in the Ancient World

No abstract provided.

Silent Protest And The Art Of Paper Folding: The Golden Venture Paper Sculptures At The Museum Of Chinese In America, Sandra Cheng

Publications and Research

Housed in the Museum of Chinese in America is the Fly to Freedom collection of paper art, which were produced by a traditional folk method of Chinese paper folding. The 123 paper works were created by detainees of the Golden Venture, a freighter used to smuggle undocumented immigrants into the U.S. On the evening of June 6, 1993, the ship ran aground off the Rockaways in New York City and nearly 300 migrants, gaunt from the four-month ordeal at sea, poured out of the cramped windowless hold of the vessel. Several drowned that night, a few escaped, but the majority …