Chinese Studies Commons^™

Lu Xun’S Imagery And Its Visual Representations, Naiwu Zhang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Lu Xun’s imagery refers to the visual construction of Lu Xun. Different images of Lu Xun are constructed via visual presentations such as biography, animation and spectacle. The process of shaping Lu Xun’s images is marked by heterogeneity, and particularly by the escape of images as the most prominent feature in their dissemination. Although Lu Xun’s image and Lu Xun himself are closely related, the transition from the literary world to the verbal-pictorial world forms a unique context of image as well as image modeling. “Serenity” and “spectacle” are the two faces of Janus of the image modeling of Lu …

The Influence Of Emanuel Swedenborg’S Mysticism On William Blake’S Poetics, Pengfeng Zhang, Shukui Zhan

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Mysticism is regarded as a poetic worldview and methodology, which has a wide connection with Western cultures and literary works. The mystical thoughts of Emanuel Swedenborg, a prominent Swedish scientist, theologian and mystic, had a huge impact on William Blake’s poetics. He integrated Swedenborg’s mystical thought into his poems and, through rich imagination, formed his own religious mystical poetics using symbolism and myths. Blake’s poetics exerts tremendous and far-reaching influence on later English poets as well.

The Paradigm, Features And Limitations Of “New World Literature”, Lan Hao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The beginning of the 1990s saw a fundamental change in ontology, epistemology and methodology in the theory of new world literature. It is no longer stable and essentialist, but turns into a relationship, a network and a process of occurrence. Its epistemology is no longer dualistic, but pluralistic, transcending the boundaries of nationality and language to emphasize the translated text as a phenomenological ontology. Due to “the bankruptcy of philology” in the study of humanities and the increased complication of world literature, researchers advocate cooperation and the use of interdisciplinary methods. Digital humanities, in particular, emerge in the age of …

On The Core Scope And Self-Consistency Of Media Art And Literature, Qing Yan

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Media art and literature has formed a new set of rules for textual production and symbolic control out of the logic of communication. With an inherent structure of significance and dimension of temporality, media art and literature not only provide a new form of development for art, but also offer more possibilities for artistic imagination to engage in social life. According to the process of communication, the communication of literature and art via media involves three domains: “media” at the level of production, “story” at the level of content, and “senses” at the level of aesthetics. Due to the interconnection …

Transforming Anecdotes Into Fiction:Zeng Pu’S A Flower In A Sinful Sea And The Study Of Anecdotes In The Late Qing Dynasty And The Republic Of China, Quan Wei

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

From the perspective of New Literature after the May Fourth New Culture Movement, Liang Qichao’s “new fiction”, Lu Xun’s “satirical fiction” and old scholars’ fiction from “the School of Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies”, are all classified as old literature. Yet from the perspective of both fiction studies and feminism, Zeng Pu’s A Flower in a Sinful Sea is a new, instead of an old, novel. Its literary practice of “transforming anecdotes into fiction”, by integrating the style of the chaptered novel, note-form fiction, as well as western fiction, connects the old and new literature during the late Qing dynasty and …

After-Poststructuralist Image Theory: Jacques Rancière’S Reconstruction Of Roland Barthes’S Photography Theory, Tiantian Wu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Roland Barthes’s photography theory is mainly manifested in his poststructuralist work Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. It is not devoted to disenchantment of images as he did in his earlier work Mythologies, but highlights the affective power of images through the proposition of punctum (as a contrast to stadium). In the view of Jacques Rancière, Barthes’s punctum theory enchants images and gives rise to fetish and the theology of incarnation. Rancière reconstructs Barthes’s photography theory based on his own understanding of the aesthetic regime and language-image relationship. This reconstruction provides insights about image theory, but also reveals some misinterpretations of …

Behind “Not A Single Word”: On The Relationship Between Lu Xun And His Grandfather, Junlin Gao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Lu Xun wrote many reminiscences about his life, which concern all kinds of people whom he met at different life stages, including teachers, friends, disciples and family, but he wrote “not a single word” about his grandfather Zhou Fuqing. This essays holds that Lu Xun has been deliberately evading the issue of his grandfather’s imperial examination because it had led to a series of misfortunes and humiliations in Lu Xun’s early years. This essay further probes into the differences between Lu Xun and his grandfather in terms of ideological and cultural concepts, code of conduct, literary and aesthetic taste, and …

Can Faith Heal The Cracks In Cultural Politics? On The Theological Turn Of Terry Eagleton In The New Century, Jian Wang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

With the increasing prominence of religious issues, the “theological turn” in Eagleton’s theory has gradually drawn attention of academics in China. In his theory, Eagleton constructs a god who values creativity, cares for others, and bears the responsibility of crime. Through interpretation of ideal theology, Eagleton constructs a common culture that can be jointly built and shared. This practice continues and develops the attempt of the New Left in Britain to explore the socialist goal through “cultural politics.” The theoretical innovation originates from the conundrum of practice. Compared with Raymond Williams, Eagleton needs to find the power to transform theoretical …

Performing The Melancholy Of City: Body, Death, And Photography, Xiao Cai

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Roland Barthes makes it clear in Camera Lucida that the relationship between theatre and photography is the fetish of “loss” and “death”. This extends the essence of photography to the temporal trauma of flow and stillness. As stillness in time is captured by the camera, every shot contains a double death. However, photographers’ bodily intervention not only brings movement in the photo, but also imprints “ruins” on it. As dying things, the intertextuality between the body and the ruins registers the imperceptible process of slow declination of every urban locale in time. Such is a new reflection on space in …

Reversion And Subversion: The Internal Logic And Cultural Dynamics Of The Historical Transformation Of Luxury Consumption, Shiping Jiang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

In the history of consumption, luxury consumption is always the marked, and the cultural dynamics of its development is in the markedness of its text and name. Luxury consumption has experienced two waves of popularization, and the markedness of luxury text also changes with the two updates in the form and connotation of luxury. In the era of material consumption, the markedness of luxury is one of symbols. The first popularization of luxury not only turns symbols into the mainstream of consumer culture, but also subverts traditional luxury. With the second popularization of luxury consumption in the era of symbolic …

The Artistic Field During The Yongle-Xuande Reign The Ming Dynasty And The Writing Of The Ministerial Style, Xianpo Yuan

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The ministerial style (taigeti), which emerged in the early Ming period (1403-1435), is not only a concept of writing, but also a concept of painting and calligraphy, reflecting the prevailing aesthetics of the time. Due to the promotion of palace-style painting and ministerial style calligraphy, high officials interwove a space of landscape with calligraphy and painting as carriers, through literary and artistic productions of poetry, essay, calligraphy and painting. Distinct from the political space at the imperial court, this is a space for relaxation in their leisure time, when they had freedom to enjoy the leisure interest of mountain and …

The Characteristics And Significance Of Ouyang Xiu’S “Guest As Host” In His Ancient-Style Prose, Guang Xu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Critics since the Song Dynasty, inspired by Soto Zen theory, developed the concept of “host-guest” to analyze the composition of the ancient-style prose. Ouyang Xiu’s ancient-style prose is the representative of applying the concept of “guest as host,” or “guest before host,” or “reciprocal betwen guest and host,” or “hierarchy of guest and host.” Compared with Han Yu and Su Shi, Ouyang Xiu is better at expressing rich and fine emotions with the concept of “guest-host.” In the ancient-style prose, “guest” is prioritized over host, when the prose writings need to establish turns and twists in the textual composition and …

The Interplay Between Traditional Literary Theory And Marxist Literary Criticism In The Past Hundred Years, Wei Han

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

China’s mainstream literary criticism discourse since the 20th century is actually the product of the Sinicization of Marxism. Traditional Chinese literary view of “conveying truth” and Marxist literary criticism’s valorization of “practice” have promoted each other, laying the foundation for the dialogue between ancient and modern theories. The first half of the 20th century witnessed a spontaneous interplay between traditional theory and Marxist criticism in the prevailing popular discourse. The experimental understanding of traditional critical principles and terms in this period by some literary scholars has enhanced the development of literary criticism after the founding of the People’s Republic of …

The Realm Aesthetics Of “Quick” In Su Shi’S Poems, Chunjie Zhu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Su Shi’s advocacy and pursuit of the “quick”(kuai) aesthetic is a phenomenon that should not be ignored in the history of poetry. By appreciating the cheerful poems, imitating the “quick” poetry by literati of previous generations, and promoting the writing of such poetry, he was an early advocate who proposed and perfected the theory of “quick” poetry. In his writings, he combined cheerful and joyful feelings with writings uninterrupted by measuring and weighing the phrases, and tried to construct a “quick” aesthetic realm of poetry. Meanwhile, he injected into this realm new elements of humor and vigor, which established a …

Sino-Indian Border Disputes In An Era Of Strategic Expansions, Roman Muzalevsky

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

The June 2020 clash between the People’s Republic of China and India in the disputed Ladakh border area resulted from the strategic expansions of both powers. Like two bubbles expanding in a contained space, these expansions were bound to collide and cause friction. This article explains how the expansions precipitated the incident and might exacerbate border disputes in the future. In pondering implications, it recommends Washington pursue a Eurasia-focused policy embracing the disputed region.

Broken Nest: Deterring China From Invading Taiwan, Jared M. Mckinney, Peter Harris

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Deterring a Chinese invasion of Taiwan without recklessly threatening a great-power war is both possible and necessary through a tailored deterrence package that goes beyond either fighting over Taiwan or abandoning it. This article joins cutting-edge understandings of deterrence with empirical evidence of Chinese strategic thinking and culture to build such a strategy.

社而賦事與賦法的早期生成, Shenggao Cao

嶺南學報 Lingnan Journal of Chinese Studies

魯文伯之母敬姜所言的“社而賦事”，點明了在社祀時賦事功能的方式，可以作爲觀察賦事制度運行的入口。周代賦政系統中，賦職事、政事的實踐不斷功能化、抒情化，促成了賦法的完善。《夏書》所言的“賦納以言”傳統，强化了賦言的藝術性。賦政、賦事機制對賦法、賦詩的促成，是研究賦法起源與形成不可忽略的歷史語境。

She er fu shi, said by Jingjiang, the mother of Wenbo of Lu, points out the functions and fashions of assigning duties during communal worship, which can serve as the entry point for observing the working of the system of duty assignment. The increasing functionalization and lyricization of the assigning of official duties and government affairs in the administrative system of the Zhou Dynasty had contributed to improving the fu fa (rhapsodical technique). The fu na yi yan (heeding verbal advice) tradition recorded in Xia shu (Book of Xia) emphasizes the artistic quality of fu yan (the use of …

論潘之淙《書法離鈎》的書法美學中心思想, Hanglun Zhan, Shuling Huang

嶺南學報 Lingnan Journal of Chinese Studies

明代學者潘之淙《書法離鈎》一書所表述的書法美學中心思想是“取法”與“離法”之間的辯證關係，潘之淙所描述的書法家從“得鈎”、“吞鈎”到“離鈎”的過程，展示出藝術修養的三段式規律：即立志取法→精通法則→離開法則，最後到達無法而法的高妙境地。這與禪學修養的三段式規律是密切相通的。

Ming-dynasty scholar Pan Zhicong’s Shufa ligou (Calligraphy Off the Hook) emphasizes the dialectical relationship between qufa (acquire the rules) and lifa (desert the rules). Pan describes a caligrapher’s three-step process from degou (on the hook), to tungou (master the hook), and to ligou (off the hook), which demonstrates the three phases of his artistic accomplishment: from adopt, to master, and to desert the rules and finally achieve the highest form of artistic freedom. This is closely related to the three stages of Zen Buddhist cultivation.

唐代比興觀辨析 : 以詩格爲中心, Wanmin Zhang

嶺南學報 Lingnan Journal of Chinese Studies

比興是一個本義和衍生義層疊交織而形成的觀念。唐代的比興觀，除了陳子昂、殷璠等人的論述之外，詩格中有更爲豐富的呈現；詩格之中，除了“物象比興”之外，還可見到起興、感興等議題。本文以詩格爲中心，力圖避免以後來的視角解釋古人的觀念，希望回到唐代詩格文本的脈絡，分析唐人如何看待詩歌發端之“興”、尤其是如何看待現代學者重視的原始歌謡式“起興”，又如何看待感興中的心物關係、尤其是現代學者重視的由物及心式“感興”。

The concept of bi xing (analogical and affective image) evolves with the dynamic relation between the original meaning and the derived meaning. Its development in the Tang dynasty could be examined better in Shige (Rules of Poetry), then prevailing poetic manual, than in the writings of Chen Zi’ang, Yin Fan, and others which have attracted most attention, as the former contains the discussions of different types of xing such as qi xing (image that raises the affect) and gan xing (image that stirs the affect). This article avoids explaining the early concept in terms of later usage and modern …

隱士逸民與出處進退 : 清儒論“隱”, Kat Hung Cheng

嶺南學報 Lingnan Journal of Chinese Studies

本文試論中國傳統隱士逸民，動機並非純粹的出世，而多牽纏於功名節操等世俗價值的考慮，終而産生矛盾掙扎的心情。隱逸始終擺脱不了士大夫靈魂中經世致用的宿命，故未出仕時因盼望帝王賞識而患得患失，改朝换代時則身不由己，藉隱退以保存名節。出處進退，多糾纏於世俗的政治取態與表態，造成了避世的不徹底、不純粹。他們退隱心情的主旋律，既非對山林自然的嚮往，亦非對生命價值的解放，而是出於世俗牽絆，帶有政治理想、動機、價值的曲折投射。有清一代儒者面對滿洲部族政治壓抑，提出貞隱、學隱、尊隱三種觀念，從不同角度作新詮解，部分印證了隱逸的世俗羈絆，同時亦有發前人所未發的意義新境。

This paper reexamines the rationale of eremitism in the Chinese political tradition and argues that the recluses’ considerations were highly pragmatic rather than idealistic. Ever since ancient times, jingshi (ordering the world), the pursuit of a career in the officialdom so as to ameliorate the state and society, had been the ultimate goal of the literati. Before they entered government service, their speculations and thoughts on yin (withdrawal) were often the results of their anxieties over the emperors’ potential actions concerning official selections and appointments. When facing a new regime, the literati’s original identity with the fallen dynasty motivated …