East Asian Languages and Societies Commons^™

The Interaction Of Yin And Yang: Ouyang Xiu's Idea Of Music And His Poetics, Wei Cheng

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Ouyang Xiu regarded poetry as derived from music and he would prescribe poetry with his idea of music. His idea can be traced back to "Records of Music (yue ji)" in The Book of Rites, as he argued that music is originated from the vital energy (qi) of Yin and Yang. However, he abstracted the materiality from poetry and thus attributed emotional appeal to both music and poetry as their main function. In Ouyang's view, the imbalance of vital energy between Yin and Yang manifests in the diversity of emotions in music and poetry, while the circulation of the vital …

The Political Dimension Of "Empty Signifier": From Levi-Strauss To Žižek, Weijing Xiao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The political dimension of signifier is a hidden clue that runs through structuralism to post-Marxism. Empty signifier has no specific signification but can embrace all signifiers. Its theoretical foundations are the difference and arbitrariness of language systems, the signifier chain, anchor point, and object a as developed by Lacan. Levi-Strauss' analysis of the "excess of signifier" and "Mana" in treatment of shamanism has the connotation of empty signifier. Laclau believed that the process of cohesion from floating signifiers to the master signifier with "links" is the process of leadership competition and formation, where the dominant signifier has to absorb the …

The Politics Of Form: The Correlation Between Formal Reconstructions In Free Verse And Anarchism, Guohui Li

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Formal reconstruction was a common phenomenon in the early stage of the Third Republic of France and in Britain during the First World War when free verse passed its stage of formal liberation. Rather than differentiating free verse from prose, the deeper rationale of formal reconstruction is that free verse has been contaminated by the "mauvais sang (bad blood)" of aesthetic anarchism that satisfied the poets' craving for anti-formal poetry in the early stage. As anarchism did not fare very well under the press of political conservatism in the late 19th-century France and 1910s Britain, free verse, as a result, …

The Shift From "Thought" To "Spirit" In Lu Xun Studies Since 1976: A Case Study Of Wang Furen's A Mirror Of China's Anti-Feudal Ideological Revolution, Jian Wang, Guoen Chen

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

It is commonly accepted that 1976 was a turning point for Lu Xun studies, but what remains obscure is through what ways the shift eventuated. This article, by focusing on Wang Furen's study of Lu Xun, attempts to outline the shift with the two keywords "thought" and "spirit", and highlights his contribution of integrating factors of intellectuals and reality into Lu Xun studies, which is inspired by the epistemological turn. This attempt becomes the origin of a more individualized and enlightenment-oriented approaches to Lu Xun. It is in this latter period that the concept of "spirit" is emphasized, because it …

Toward "Rhapsodie": On Jean-Pierre Sarrazac's Modern And Contemporary Dramatic Poetics, Yinghui Zhao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Central to Jean-Pierre Sarrazac's dramatic thought is "rhapsodie", a concept with united heterogeneities. The original meaning of this word is "stitching," and Sarrazac uses it to define modern and contemporary theatre, aiming to highlight the characteristics of comprehensiveness, flexibility, and heterogeneous unity. He takes modern and contemporary theatre as a continuation of and an exploration into contemporary theatre after the so-called "theatre crisis" at the end of the 19th century, and maintains that as theatricality is intertwined with the elements of "epic" and "lyric," once excluded from Aristotelian theatrical theory, traditional theatre has been developing toward an open artform. The …

The Interwoven Existences Of Official Catholicism And Magical Practice In The Lived Religiosity Of A Transylvanian Hungarian Village, Cecília Sándor

Journal of Global Catholicism

During the last five years I have been doing field research in a Transylvanian Hungarian village, Sânsimion (Hu: Csíkszentsimon). I present my research on this religiously homogenous, Catholic community’s worldview. Based on interviews conducted with members of the village’s various age groups, I map religious and magical knowledge passed down through the generations, using the theoretical frame of collective memory and religious transmission. Second, I highlight two different but coexisting “constructions of reality” in this rural community. By “constructions of reality,” I mean interpretations of reality expressed in narrative discourses and local magical practices that are closely and inextricably interwoven …

The Sage Without A Country: The Political And Literary Life Of Dr. Shih-Shun Liu (劉 師 舜) (1900-1996), Caleb Yung-Jen Liu

History

Shih-Shun Liu was my great-grandfather as well as a diplomat for the Republic of China from the late 1920s until 1958. While his life is relatively left unknown to many historians, his contributions to the Kuomintang are significant and help us to understand the inside workings of the ROC and its diplomacy during this time period. Liu was a beneficiary of the Boxer Indemnity scholarship provided by the United States and made use of his love for education and poetry to pursue a literary career that defined the second portion of his life. Liu’s life as a scholar and diplomat …

Useful And Effective Worksheets To Enhance Communicative And Reading Skills For Japanese Language Learners, Masako Nunn

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

The purpose of this project is to create useful and effective worksheets to accord with the current textbook (Genki I, published by the Japan Times) in the aim of enhancing Japanese language learners’ communicative and reading skills. Therefore, this project includes the following worksheets in learning Japanese language in accord with the current textbook, Genki I (2^nd edition) to enhance communicative and reading practice. This package includes the following: 1) worksheet; 2) worksheet answers; 3) vocabulary worksheet; 4) three PowerPoints with voice recorded; 5) reading supplement- PowerPoint with vocabulary and sentence practice; 6) reading supplement with auditory aid; 7) …

Why The Territorial Dispute Between Japan And China Cannot Be Resolved, Hiroshi Saito

Japanese Society and Culture

This essay aims to suggest that the different idea of war would be a legal ground of each one on the territorial dispute between two States. There are three different time stages for the idea about war. The first stage is “the present time” which the developed states including Japan belong to and armed forces cannot be used to resolve international problems. The second is” the past time” especially time before the World War Two in which some developing states including China use armed forces to international conflicts. The third is “the ancient time” in which dictatorial or collapsed states …

Daijosai And The Separation Of Religion And State, Thomas Makoto Naruse

Japanese Society and Culture

Daijosai, which is regarded as an indispensable ceremony for the accession of the throne, is a Shinto ceremony. Therefore, as Japanese Constitution defines separation of church and state, it is not held as a national ceremony (a state act) but held as a ceremony of the imperial house. On the other hand, since it is said to be an indispensable ceremony for the accession of the throne, government finds public significance, and the cost is covered by the national expenses. Criticisms that claim violation of separation of church and state arise, and many lawsuits were filed.

This article reveals …

What Does Corporal Punishment In Schools Mean? : Trend Of Case Law, Hitoshi Miyahara

Japanese Society and Culture

Since the Meiji era, school education statutes have consistently prohibited corporal punishment. However, corporal punishment never disappeared from schools. We have to consider the reasons why teachers are unable to avoid them. The Supreme Court of Japan has ruled that corporal punishment is illegal, but that teachers could adopt certain forms of “physical contact” in the course of instruction. Their conduct becomes illegal only when they abuse their power. Case law indicates that a decision on whether they abused it is made after considering all circumstances, for example the necessity to use force, purpose of instruction, and method of discipline.

The Aesthetic Society And Its Gatekeepers, Aaron Francis Ward

Japanese Society and Culture

The current study draws on Saito’s (2007) application to western context of the Japanese practice of appreciating the aesthetic and ethical aspects of everyday objects, examined through the complexity of aesthetic evaluation. Bourdieu’s (1984a) moderating variable cultural capital is used to advance an understanding of perceptual and linguistic complexity in daily aesthetic consumption. By engaging participants in a quasi-experiment of multi-sensory trials of everyday products (lemon squeezers), an examination was made of how language use reveals embodied knowledge of daily consumption practice. As the participants’ volumes of cultural capital increased, there was a greater tendency to categorize the stimuli according …

Foreword To Brian Victoria, Zen Terror: Portrait Of An Assassin, James Mark Shields

Other Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Daerim Dong As A Chinatown: Setbacks And Challenges, Wendy W. Tan

Publications and Research

While there is not a single Chinese paifang, or any establishment targeted for tourist attractions, Daerim Dong in Seoul, due to its high concentration of Chinese population and business activities, has been considered as an unofficial 2nd Korean Chinatown. However, at the same time, many indicators are also pointing to the discouraging fact that the path toward making this plan a reality is full of bumps. Why is this conflicting situation happening? To satisfy her own curiosity, the author did intensive literature research and also made a field trip to this district. This essay states some of her findings.

Ask No Questions, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Ask No Questions (2020), directed by Jason Loftus and Eric Pedicelli.

Writing, Rewriting, And Miswriting: Eileen Chang’S Late Style Against The Grain, Lina Qu

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article “Writing, Rewriting, and Miswriting: Eileen Chang’s Late Style Against the Grain,” Lina Qu reconstructs Eileen Chang as a Saidian late figure and formulates the poetics and politics of lateness immanent in her late self-writing. Drawing from Said’s theorization, Qu argues that Chang’s late style emerges and matures in rewriting her memories into numerous autobiographical accounts. The exposé of her dysfunctional family and turbulent life metonymically constitutes a counter narrative that disenchants Chinese modernity. In contrast to the dominant modalities of evolution and revolution, her involutionary discourse embodies a Deleuzian paradigm of artistic creativity and historical development. Qu …

Farmer, Priest, And Poet: Knowledge Transmission And Wisdom In Works And Days And Gelimu, Duoduo Xu

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

This paper aims at a comparison between a classic poem from ancient Greek literature, the Works and Days by Hesiod, and ancestral records of hemerology from Daba Culture, entitled Gelimu, collected during my fieldwork in South-West China. Both traditions use constellations to mark important dates throughout the year, providing similar instructions on how to deal with daily work in the fields. Moreover, their mnemonic strategies and formulaic verses reflect their origins from oral traditions passed down from generation to generation. Starting from these basic similarities, the author analyzed the roles of Daba priests, the calendars authors, and Hesiod, the …

Nature And The Spirit: Ritual, Environment, And The Subak In Bali, Hao Huang

EnviroLab Asia

No abstract provided.

Afterthoughts: Nature, Culture, And Shamanism In Inner Mongolia, Prc, Hao Huang

EnviroLab Asia

No abstract provided.

Gomyō And Kūkai In Early-Heian Intra-Buddhist Conversations, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

This paper is about the relationship between the famous Japanese esoteric Buddhist Kūkai and the less-famous Gomyō, who you've probably never heard of but maybe should have. My paper responds to the work of two recent scholars, Fujii Jun, who says that Kūkai was a Sanron (Japanese Mādhyamika) priest, and Matsumoto Gyoyu, who speculates about the origins of and thinking behind certain passages in Kūkai's Jūjūshinron. The paper points to the intellectual significance for Kūkai of his close relationship with Gomyō and other Yogācāra scholars of his day, and how this is reflected in the Jūjūshinron and Kūkai's thought broadly. …