Asian History Commons^™

Evasive Writing: Resistance To The Government And Modernization Hidden In Taiwanese Fiction, Harrison Paul

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

Sometimes, it is best not to speak the truth—at least not directly. Under an authoritarian regime, the truth—whether of events or opinions—often hurts the one who reveals it more than anyone else. For this reason, writers throughout the world have long employed evasive writing tactics not only to avoid censorship of their ideas but also to escape imprisonment or execution at the government’s hand. Taiwanese writers under the period of Nationalist-imposed martial law were no different. Nativist writers, characterized by “use of the Taiwanese dialect, depiction of the plight of country folks or small-town dwellers in economic difficulty, and resistance …

The Contradictions Of Kitabatake Chikafusa's Jinno Shotoki: How The Jinno Shotoki Shows That Japan Is Not Shinkoku, Adam Wheeler

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

It is widely held by Japanese and non-Japanese historians alike that Japan has enjoyed an uninterrupted reign by a single royal family for at least the last 1,500 years, if not longer. This unprecedented system of government has given rise to much investigation as to how such a feat could have been accomplished and has also given rise to the belief that Japan is Shinkoku, or “divine land.” Theories on the longevity of the Japanese imperial family have been based on the relationship between them and surrounding families of influence, as well as the tenuous relationship that existed between …

Genre Paintings, Elisa Allan

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

Artistic responses to the changing socio-political stability in Korea during the eighteenth-century indicate the growing disillusionment and dissatisfaction with yangban (gentry class) consolidated control, the thinning control of Confucianism over class, and the blossoming of contending ideas.

Grounding "Language" In The Senses: What The Eyes And Ears Reveal About Ming 名 (Names) In Early Chinese Texts, Jane Geaney

Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Scholarship on early Chinese theories of “language” regularly treats the term ming 名 (name) as the equivalent of “word.” But there is a significant difference between a “word” and a “name.”¹ Moreover, while a “word” is often understood to mean a unit of language that is identifiable in its sameness across speech and writing, there is reason to believe that a ming was mainly used to mean a unit of meaningful sound.² Analyzing the function of ming is a prerequisite for understanding early Chinese theories of “language”—if such a term is even appropriate. Such an analysis will also …

A Song Unto Itself: How Rabindranath Tagore, Ram Gopal Varma And The Supreme Court Of India Hear The National Anthem, Ananya Vajpeyi

History Faculty Publication Series

Every Indian schoolchild knows - or ought to know that Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), India’s “national poet”, wrote our national anthem Jana gana mana. The song, 52 seconds long in the singing, was first presented by Tagore to a session of the Indian National Congress in Calcutta in 1911; in 1919 it was taken up by Principal James Cousins of the Theosophical College, Madanapalle, in South India, as a college prayer that he called the “Morning Song of India”. The song was debated throughout the 30s and 40s on a variety of occasions, attracting both support and criticism. In January …

Mandarins And Martyrs Of Shanxi In Late-Imperial China, Anthony E. Clark

History Faculty Scholarship

Ricci Institute Series: Sowing the Field of Christian Missions

Tianjin Report 2, Anthony E. Clark

History Faculty Scholarship

Research report on the Roman Catholic Vincentian Library in Tianjin, China. Closed in 1951 by the Chinese government.

Al-Amn Al-Fikri Fi Al-'Asr Al-'Abbasi Al-Awwal (132h-232h)., Suhailah Siqqani

Student Works (2010-2019)

This research studies the ideological challenges that confronted the Abbasid state in its first period and the positions taken by the caliphs in parrying them and guarding Islamic thought from breaches in the established principles of Islam and the beliefs of the Muslims. The effects of these policies on preserving the dominance of the Abbasid state and the integrity of Muslim society are also clarified. This entails an exposition of the most important non-Islamic sects and movements that made their appearance on the stage of ideas and the political arena in that era and which strove to criticize Islamic dogma …

The Sixth Tseten Zhabdrung, Jigme Rigpai Lodro, Nicole Willock

Philosophy Faculty Publications

(First Paragraph)

Jigme Rigpai Lodro ('jigs med rigs pa'i blo gros), the Sixth Tseten Zhabdrung (tshe tan zhabs drung), was born on May 31, 1910, the twenty-second day of the fourth month of the iron dog year in the fifteenth rab byung cycle. He was the second youngest of eight children born to his father Yang Cai, whose Tibetan name was Lobzang Tashi (blo bzang bkra shis), and his mother, Lhamotar (lha mo thar). His birthplace, Yadzi (ya rdzi), is more commonly known today by its Chinese name, Jishi Town (Jishi zhen 积石镇) in today's Xunhua Salar Autonomous County of …

Empire, Horses And Trade: An Examination Of Sixteenth Century Portuguese Efforts To Control Trade In Arab And Persian Horses Across The Arabian Sea, Chandra R. De Silva

History Faculty Publications

[First paragraph] Portuguese dominance over the trade in horses across the Arabian Sea from West Asia to the western littoral of India lasted approximately from the Portuguese capture of Goa in 1510 to their loss of Ormuz to the Persians in 1622. As will be evident from the subsequent discussion, Portuguese control was incomplete and its significance varied from area to area and also from time to time. Nevertheless, a study of their attempts to control this trade is useful for three major reasons.

Aspek-Aspek Sejarah Dalam Karya Sastera Di Zaman Kerajaan Islam Acheh Pada Abad Ke-19., Hanafiah

Student Works (2010-2019)

This Dissertation is entitled “Aspects of History in Literary Works of the 19th Century Acehnese Kingdom.” This study is aimed at figuring out historical aspects in the literary works of Aceh (hikayat) during the era of Islamic Kingdom of Aceh. The significance of this research is that it can inform on the historical events that took place in Acheh in the age and the information could be utilized by historians for history writing. Some of the historical events are found in the literary works (hikayat) of Aceh. All the problems were studied by employing inductive and qualitative methods. For data …

Suna No Onna: An Absurd Reading, Charisa Player

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

Woman in the Dunes (Suna no Onna), written by Kobo Abe, readily lends itself to analysis as an existential novel, which is described as a work that “subverts and ridicules traditional genres of realistic fiction, asserting its non-mimetic autonomy over against the conventional expectations and interpretative customs of the reader” (Goebel). However, because of the way in which the novel presents its world, and the way that the narrative ends, Suna no Onna finds itself in a somewhat separate category from other existentialist texts. In his article “Kobo Abe: Japan’s Kafka,” Goebel explains Abe’s writing in Suna no Onna is …

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BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

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