East Asian Languages and Societies Commons^™

Childishness, Consumption And Sovereignty: Georges Bataille On Writers And Poets, Sheng Zhang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This paper aims at exploring Georges Bataille's view on writers or poets by describing what characteristics he believes contribute to a writer. These characteristics include childishness, consumption in the life style and the lofty sovereignty in the spiritual pursuit. Bataille argues that a writer can be a real writer because of these three characteristics when he can creates his own works.

Theories Of Literature And Art And The Information Theory Since 1980s, Yongfang Qi

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The period of 1980s saw an upsurge of adaptation of scientific theories, such as system theory, information theory and cybernetics to the theories of literature & art in China. This paper probes the relationship between information theory and the theories of literature & art to identify the resulting achievements and failures in integrating the former into the latter, and describe the role of information theory in the expansion of theories of literature & art. This paper examines from three aspects the contributions of information theory. Firstly, information theory breaks the duality of the beautiful and the ugly in aesthetics. Secondly, …

On The Poetry Of The ChineseAnd Early Overseas Dissemination Of The Chinese Classical Poetry, Yan Wang, Yan Fang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The book On the Poetry of the Chinese was the first monograph attempting to introduce and translate Chinese classical poetry comprehensively and systematically in the history of British Sinology. With its popularity and significant influence in Europe, the book was regarded as the foundation stone on the research of the Chinese poetics in the West. It attaches great importance to the Chinese folk poems, and displays undue favor toward Western-style poems written by Chinese, it also involves some initiative and highly constructive views on Chinese epics, pastoral poetry and poetic dramas. Especially, the view that the Chinese has no epics …

Narratology As A Discipline: An Interview With Gerald Prince, Guoqiang Qiao, Prince Gerald

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This interview with Professor Gerald Prince conducted by Professor Qiao Guoqiang centers on such contested topics and difficult issues in recent years as narrative, implied author, narrativity, narrativehood, etc. Other issues discussed in the interview include general trends in narratological studies in the United Statate and the modified or 'hyphenated' narratologies such as structuralist narratology, postclassical narratology, postmodern narratology, socionarratology and psychonarratology.

The Linguistic Refashioning Of An Internal Exile: Duoduo And His Pre-Exile Poetics, Chee Lay Tan

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This paper investigates Chinese Misty poet Duoduo's early pre-exile poems. As Duoduo uses punctuation abundantly in an orderly structure and dates his poems, his works projects themselves as being more transparent than obscure or misty. Even Duoduo himself denied writing Misty poetry, although most critics classified his works as "Misty" and described them as "weird" and "difficult". This paper will examine such confusion by focusing on Duoduo's pre-exile linguistic refashioning via musicality and juxtaposition of unrelated images, which I regard as his main constituent of Mistiness.

Theory Of Western Literature: Multiple Names, Entangled Content And Complicated Development, Fa Zhang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Western literary theory was initially named "poetics," and modern times saw the decline of the use of "poetics" and the rise of the use of criticism. Criticism produced literary criticism the English-speaking world and Literaturwissenschaft in the German-Russian speaking world. The late period of 20th century, literary theory was used as an umbrella term by scholars in English-speaking to unify the Western theories on literature, resulting in three names referring to the same field: literary theory, literary criticism and critical theory. Nowadays, the science of literature in German-Russian world and literary theory in English-speaking world co-exist and develop in their …

Translated Literature In The Narrative Of Modern Chinese Literary History, Binghui Song

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Since around the turn of 19th century, China has seen a large corpus of translated literature, and its great influence on Chinese literature has led to the intensive discussion of its classification, its relationship to local literature and its entrance into Chinese literature from the perspective of comparative studies, translation and cultural studies, and Chinese literary history studies. The paper starts from literary "categorical concepts," "mediation", and "indeterminacy" to clarify some literary conceptual premises to prepare for the literary historical narration of translated literature.

Yan'an Lu Xun College Of Art Before And After "The Rectification Movement", Siyun Zhao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

"Yan'an Rectification Movement" has become an important watershed in Yan'an period and the 20th Century Chinese history. The education policy, aesthetic idea and mores of Lu Xun College of Art changed drastically after rectification movement, and it became the miniature of literature education under wartime conditions. As Yan'an in 1930s is a typical society of wartime communism modal, Lu Xun College of Art focuses on political disciplines more than cultural inheritance. The purpose of education is not to cultivate academic talent with an independent spirit of scientific and truth pursuit, but to develop the better tools of war. The way …

Book Review: Dream Of Ding Village By Yan Lianke, Mike Frick

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Unsurprisingly, the Chinese government levied a “three nos” ban—no sales, no distribution, and no promotion—against Dream of Ding Village after its publication in 2005. Though the storytelling relies heavily on dream sequences, Yan takes little poetic license when exposing the depth of the state’s culpability in spreading HIV among poor, medically-naïve farmers. He is just as uncompromising when detailing how officials denied responsibility for the ensuing AIDS epidemic, even as they profited from its human tragedy. No one in Ding Village receives medical care, mental health counseling, food assistance, or a chance to hold the blood heads legally accountable. Cast …

Whisper Out Loud: Forbidden Topics In China, Meng Shui

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Whisper Out Loud, Forbidden Topics in China, is an exhibit of art works based on forbidden topics in China mostly around 2010 and 2011. The exhibited collection consisted of two paintings, three sculptures and two installations. The reflective essay talks about the creation of each piece, the stories and meanings behind them, as well as the inspiration, organization and impact of the show as a whole, including images and documentations of the art works.

Chinese International Students' Cross-Cultural Adaptation And Online Communication, Chen Wei Wu

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored Chinese international students' computer mediated communication with both Americans and Chinese during their studying in the U.S. based on a Cross-Cultural Adaptation theory. The specific purpose of this study was to test five theorems of the theory with a sample of Chinese international students and to explore how Chinese international students' intercultural transformation, adaptive personality, host communication competence, and their interpersonal and mass communication with both host and ethnic groups associate together.

Philosophical Influences In The Art Of War Found In The Romance Of The Three Kingdoms, Nathaniel Ethan Clark

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

“Philosophical Influences in The Art of Warfound in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms” is an examination of Sunzi’s philosophy about leadership in The Art of War as applied to the moral character, or lack thereof, of historical Han Dynasty leaders, Liu Bei and Cao Cao. In Luo Guanzhong’s The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the two are fictionalized with oppositional personalities and corresponding philosophical bases. I explore the ways in which their actions embody or reject the philosophy found in Sunzi’s The Art of War.

Does Race Influence Executive Compensation In Chinese Firms?, Elizabeth Mahoney

Business and Economics Honors Papers

In this study, we considered the effects of Chinese cultural and political influences on executive compensation in Chinese firms. The chief focus of this study is on whether the race of executives or the racial composition of the compensation committee affects the average compensation of executives, though other factors such as sales, industry, and compensation committee size were also included in the model. Data was collected from Chinese firms listed on the New York Stock Exchange, with data for the companies gathered for the year 2009 and executive salaries collected for the year 2010.

Changsha: Photographs By Rian Dundon, Rian Dundon

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Rian Dundon, whose photographs have previously appeared at China Beat, will soon be releasing a new book of photography on China, Changsha. Dundon’s book will feature a forward written by friend of the blog Gail Hershatter and includes his photos of and essays on the Hunan province city of Changsha. For more information, and to pre-order a copy of the book, see the book’s website (pre-sales of the book are part of a crowd-funding campaign raising funds for its first run with the publisher, Emphas.is). Below is a special teaser of Changsha material that Dundon has prepared for China Beat …

Review: James W. Heisig, Thomas P. Kasulis, And John C. Maraldo (Eds), Japanese Philosophy: A Sourcebook (Hawai'i, 2011), James Mark Shields

Other Faculty Research and Publications

Book Review: James W. Heisig, Thomas P. Kasulis, and John C. Maraldo (eds), Japanese Philosophy: A Sourcebook (Hawai'i, 2011)

Review: Christopher Ives, Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugen’S Critique And Lingering Questions For Buddhist Ethics (Uhp, 2009), James Mark Shields

Other Faculty Research and Publications

Review of Christopher Ives, Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugen’s Critique and Lingering Questions for Buddhist Ethics (UHP, 2009)

Pure Land And The Social Order In Twelfth-Century China: An Investigation Of "Longshu’S Treatise On Pure Land", Trevor Davis

Student Work

A 2012-2013 William Prize for best essay in East Asian Studies was awarded to Trevor Davis (Saybrook College '13) for his essay submitted to the History Department, “Pure Land and the Social Order in Twelfth-Century China: An Investigation of Longshu’s Treatise on Pure Land.” (Valerie Hansen, Professor of History, advisor.)

Davis' essay makes a powerful argument about the Pure Land Buddhist Wang Rixiu's understanding of Southern Song (1127-1279) society. Although Pure Land Buddhism is often thought to be egalitarian - or at least to challenge traditional hierarchies - Trevor shows that for Wang Rixiu, an egalitarian Pure Land coexists …

Behind The Silk Screen A Critical Analysis Of Translators, (In)Visibilty, And Alternative Translation Environments, Justin Charles Sprague

Institute for the Humanities Theses

The act of translation is one that is riddled with difficulties, and the labor that the translator performs is equally as difficult. Translators must simultaneously grapple with linguistic issues from languages being incongruent as well as the aspects of language embedded with culture. These complexities have given rise to the study of translation and the struggles that translators face. What often goes unnoticed, however, are the ways in which the habitus of translators informs their cultural labor. Likewise, their position as cultural intermediaries between a target and source culture illuminate challenges that are not explicitly answered or even addressed in …

Teaching English Language Learners From China, Abigail Pavlik

Honors Theses and Capstones

This research paper attempts to provide American teachers with important background information for teaching English language learners from China. The research is presented primarily for ESL teachers, but much of it would also be useful for any teacher or professor working with students of this description. The paper proceeds by exploring similarities and differences between 1. Chinese and English, 2. Chinese and American culture, and 3. Chinese and American education or "classroom culture," considering all along the way the implications for teaching and working with these students.

The Human Flesh Search Engine: Democracy, Censorship, And Political Participation In Twenty-First Century China, Vincent Capone

Graduate History Conference, UMass Boston

The Human Flesh Search Engine is a recent, unique phenomenon on the Chinese internet. Comprising of thousands of forum, micro-blog, and entertainment websites and mobilizing the overwhelming number of Chinese internet users, or netizens, the search engine is able to quickly find obscure information and identify seemingly anonymous internet personalities. These websites allow netizens to have their voices heard in an otherwise restrictive government, however these websites also become a hotbed for dissent, with web users highlighting stories and figures which they deem harmful to society. Through clever investigative work, netizens hunt down an individual's identity with the goal of …