Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Understanding Africa’S China Policy: A Test Of Dependency Theory And A Study Of African Motivations In Increasing Engagement With China, Nkemjika E. Kalu

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

African states are increasingly engaging with China--politically, socially and economically--especially through the machinations of the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). This dissertation asserts that Africans are willing partners of the Chinese, motivated by their state-centric belief that engagement with China is in their national interest. This assertion contradicts the assumption of most literature to date that appears to borrow from the logic of dependency theory and presents African nations as pawns, subject to the demands of a dominant and exploitative China, who is benefiting at Africa’s expense. Economic trends from the decade before the launch of the FOCAC and the …

Just Sing What You Want To Say: The Importance Of Linguistic Tone In Bai Songs, Lisa Andrews

Masters Theses

The Bai people, a minority group in the People's Republic of China numbering at least 1.6 million, live mostly in the Dali Autonomous Prefecture in northwest Yunnan. Historically, Bai from the central region would gather annually at the base of Shibaoshan Mountain to sing partner style love songs in search for a suitable marriage partner; today, this time is marked by a three-day festival officially titled "Shibaoshan." The annual song competition invites skilled singers to spontaneously compose melodies in response to their counterpart, crafting lyrics to flatter or tease their singing partner. The study quantifies the close relationship between Bai …

International Order After The Financial Crisis, Harold James

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs

How is international order built, and how is it legitimate, in a world in which political and economic foundations are rapidly shifting? What are the consequences of the rise of major new powers for the structure and the functioning of the international system? Great wars or great financial crises have in the past led to disorientation about the moral foundations of society, domestically and internationally. The paper examines parallels with the Great Depression, and in particular the weakening of multilateralism and of small political units, and the strengthening of large powers with hegemonic claims. The paper then turns to an …

The Balance Of Power, Public Goods, And The Lost Art Of Grand Strategy: American Policy Toward The Persian Gulf And Rising Asia In The 21st Century, Flynt Leverett, Hillary Mann Leverett

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs

An important driver of relative decline in America’s international standing is the failure of its political elites to define reality-based foreign policy goals and to relate the diplomatic, economic, and military means at Washington’s disposal to realizing them—the essence of “grand strategy.” For several decades, American policy has been pulled in opposite directions by two competing models of grand strategy. In one—the leadership model—America maximizes its international standing by adroitly managing regional and global power balances and promoting the processes of economic liberalization known collectively as globalization. In the second model—the transformation model—America seeks not to manage power balances but …

Ohs In China - Work In Progress, Diana J. Kelly, Rowan Cahill

Rowan Cahill

This paper explores the barriers and challenges to effective implementation of occupational health and safety regulation (OHS), and occupational exposure limits (OELs) in China in order to identify the lessons for social science scholars and activists. It finds that formal labour legislation, including occupational health and safety legislation is relatively extensive, but rarely effectively realised. This has partly been because of the pace of political and economic transformation in China. As a result, the soft infrastructure of skills and knowledge necessary for an active, effective and genuinely protective OHS system are inchoate, and often, as OHS awareness has grown, firms‟ …

Recovering China's Past: Missionary Photographs Of Late-Imperial And Republican China In Western Archives, Anthony E. Clark

History Faculty Scholarship

The Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, once wrote that, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” And Confucius noted: “Study the past if your would define the future.” Thus, to effectively prepare for the future, the past must be recovered, and among the most untouched sources of China’s late-imperial and Republican Era history are the many Western missionary archives, which contain large repositories of important imagistic history of Chinese persons and culture – political, artistic, religious, architectural, and scientific. This paper approaches historical questions regarding Sino-Foreign cultural relations and exchanges by exploring how missionary photographs help …

The Deng Xiaoping Legacy: Leading Changes And Transforming China, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

No leader of the 20th century had made greater impact than Deng Xiaoping. Under the late Chinese leader's tenure, which lasted from 1978 to 1992, hundreds of millions of Chinese were lifted from poverty. The chaos that was the Cultural Revolution gave way to steadfast economic development that turned China into a key player in the world economy.

Confucian Influences On Popular Values In China And Taiwan, Lukas Danner

Lukas K. Danner

No abstract provided.

White Snake, Black Snake Folk Narrative Meets Master Narrative In Qing Dynasty Sichuanese Cross-Stitch Medallions, Cory Willmott

Cory A. Willmott

The cross-stitch medallion in figure 1 was collected by my grandmother, Katherine Willmott, in the early 1920s when she was a missionary in Renshow, Sichuan Province, West China. Many years after I inherited it, I learned that it depicts a folk narrative called “White Snake; Black Snake” that was traditionally performed both on stage in the legitimate theaters and in Chinese shadow puppet dramas (Highbaugh n/d:6).

The story may be summarized as follows: There were two female snakes, White Snake and Black Snake, who were inseparable friends. They both changed into beautiful young women. White Snake got married and bore …

Haniwa: Constructing A Sacred Place For The Afterlife, Ashlyn Rawls, Clarissa Aliberti, Rylee Baisden

Featured Research

Haniwa are small, hollow terracotta statues that were placed on aristocratic graves during the Kofun period of Japan, which translates as “old tomb.” These unique figures were rather simple at the beginning of their creation, but over time they became increasingly complex taking the forms of people, animals, and other objects. These fascinating funerary objects serve a greater purpose than just ordinary tomb decorations. The haniwa tie into the Confucianist tradition of being made to be used and to protect the spirits of the dead. Influenced by Confucian tradition, in which “filial piety” is recognized as a high level of …

Ant Tribe, Yan Zhao

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

"Ant Tribe" describes the post-80s generation university graduates who live together in poor conditions without Social security in communities around China's major metropolises. They dream of a better life in big cities but struggle with low-paying jobs. These struggling "elites" have become the fourth weak Social group, after peasants, migrant workers and unemployed people. The reason why these college graduates are compared to ants is that they are like ants: clever, hardworking, politically weak and living in groups.

The real world is always different from the ideal world of the "Ant Tribe" in China. They often lose their purposes in …

Inspired Living, Gongke Li

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Inspired Living is a juxtaposition of old and new, contemplating the shift of values in contemporary China.

Patriotism used to be one of the key values in the Chinese people's minds, but those values have changed dramatically. Fewer people are thinking about or talking about patriotism, like sacrificing for the country or serving the people. In reality, getting rich and spending money to purchase all kinds of products, either absolute necessities or unnecessary luxuries, has become the key value of many Chinese people.

The images used in this project are all found and come from various sources, including books and …

Reforming The Chinese Sports System: A Case Study Of The Hebei Provincial Tennis Team - The Perspective And Analysis Of A Foreigner Working In The System, Matthew Bryan Haugen

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a case study of the Hebei tennis program, which works under the auspices of the Chinese governmental sports system. The research is intended to take the reader on a chronological journey through the Chinese sports system, beginning with the infrastructure of the program, the identification and selection process of players, the methodology of education, training, and competition, the benefits and hardships, and its future as a state-controlled entity.

It is a multidisciplinary thesis that uses the Hebei tennis program and my job as the head coach to provide analysis and perspective of daily life in the Chinese …

The Regime Legitimacy Of One-China: How The Vatican Can Make China Whole Again, Jonathan David Bradley

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Currently, the sovereign state of Vatican City does not formally recognize the People's Republic of China. Nor does the Vatican recognize the Chinese Communist Party as the legitimate regime over China. Instead the Vatican recognizes the Republic of China on the island of Taiwan. There are 23 countries in the world who share the Vatican's legitimization of the Republic of Taiwan. The largest concentration of those countries is in heavily Catholic Central America. This thesis looks at the dynamics of the Sino-Vatican relationship in three areas: political tension management of the Chinese people by the CCP, improved relations between the …

The Death Penalty In A Changing Socialist State: Reflections Of 'Modernity' From The Mao Era To Contemporary China, Elizabeth Lehmann

Honors Theses

In the past century, China has abandoned its feudal system, created a republic, ended the republic for a communist socialist society, closed its markets and then opened them; now, China is an established world power, has a strong economic base, and is often perceived as having an iron fist regarding domestic crime and punishment. Modern day China’s criminal law, in the context of capital punishment, has undergone many drastic transformations in the past sixty years. The death penalty has been so differently implemented in modern China that within a span of twenty years, the usage of the death penalty and …

Diagnosing The Roots Of Chinas Growth Miracle: An Examination Of Strategies That Have Most Influenced Chinas Economic Development In The Twenty-First Century, Katharine Manko

Honors Theses

There are significantly different views regarding what strategies underlie China’s economic growth and development in the past decade. An examination of these varied opinions will indicate the complexity of determining which strategies have been most conducive to China’s economic expansion. This paper will use data from several developing and developed countries along with an analysis of a number of strategies that economists and scholars have listed as aiding the economic growth process. The analysis of the scatter pot data will then be applied to China as a case study to determine which factors and strategies have been most conducive to …

The Fragmentation Of Collective Action In Contemporary China: Micro-Regions And Occupation, Jessica Sherrod

Honors Theses

Since the creation of labor markets in China, there has been a rapid increase in collective contentious action, such as striking and protesting, and this has attracted the attention of many scholars. Because the country contains such a myriad of diverse regions, scholars have commonly analyzed Chinese collective action through a “regional” lens. While that approach has been useful, this paper goes further by disaggregating Chinese collective action along two dimensions: by micro-region and by occupational sector. More specifically, this research disaggregates large macro-regions to show diversity at the city-level within regions. It also considers differences in collective action across …

Time To Cry Over Spilled Milk: An Investigation Into China's Food Safety System, Rachel Baker

Honors Theses

China is plagued with food safety scandals ranging from contamination of dairy, to exploding watermelons in the countryside. This thesis explores the four main reasons that China has many food safety regulatory issues: the wide dispersion of farms in China, the fragmentation of the food safety regulatory system, weakness of local implementation, and the poor structure of commerce. Using the case studies of the dairy and pork industries this thesis examines these four proposed flaws and proposed solutions for improving food safety in China. Governmental flaws and mistakes are mostly responsible for these problems, but the current structure of government …

King Of Masks: The Myth Of Miao-Shan And The Empowerment Of Women, Kevin Dodd

Journal of Religion & Film

King of Masks represents a particular type of mythic film that includes within it references to an ancient sacred story and is itself a contemporary recapitulation of it. The movie also belongs to a further subcategory of mythic cinema, using the double citation of the myth—in its original integrity and its re-enactment—to critique the subordinate position of women to men in the narrated world. To do this, the Buddhist myth of Miao-shan, which centralizes the Confucian value of filiality, is re-applied beyond its traditional scope and context. Thereby two prominent features of contemporary China are creatively addressed: the revival of …

Did The Hakka Save China? Ethnicity, Identity, And Minority Status In China's Modern Transformation, P. Richard Bohr

Headwaters

No abstract provided.

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.

The Successful Integration Of Buddhism With Chinese Culture: A Summary, Xinyi Ou

Grand Valley Journal of History

Buddhism has commonly been credited as the sole foreign religion to truly gain access to the hearts and minds of the Chinese people. Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam were likewise spread along the Silk Roads to China, yet these religions did not take root. What culminating factors played a role in the acceptance of Buddhism into Chinese culture? Is it possible that Buddhism should not be regarded as a foreign religion, but as a seed of thought that was nurtured by the missionary monks and the Chinese into a form almost unrecognizable from it's initial origins? Through a survey …

Mcintire, Tandie Lewis, 1865-1947 (Mss 396), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscript Collection 396. Correspondence to family, friends, and acquaintances of Tandie Lewis McIntire, Edmonson County, Kentucky. Collection contains educational material related to McIntire's career as a teacher in Edmonson County. Also includes tracts and pamphlets related to McIntire's involvement in religious organizations, particularly Baptist entities.

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 …

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 …

Mncs And Chinese Workers: The Foxconn Case, Lukas Danner

Lukas K. Danner

No abstract provided.

Village Elections And The Rise Of Capitalist Entrepreneurs, Yusheng Yao

Faculty Publications

This study examines a series of four direct elections and their impact in an industrialized Chinese northern village. It finds that direct elections empowered villagers and the new economic elite to remove the old, entrenched and corrupt leadership. However, the few capitalist entrepreneurs who dominated elections and the new leadership neither abided by the rules for political competition nor tried to govern democratically. On the other hand, villagers did not feel empowered to participate in the governing process or to make officials accountable. They either became politically apathetic or hoped for a return of a benevolent authoritarian leader. This study …

On Chinese Foreign Policy: A Big Stick, An Equally Big Carrot, Hannah K. Fishman

The Macalester Review

This paper attempts to provide a framework for analyzing China's newfound assertiveness. Does a rising China pose a systemic threat to the world order, or will Beijing's rise be characterized by what policy officials refer to as a "Peaceful Rise"? This paper argues that China is "building a bigger stick and a bigger carrot" to increase its hard and soft power capabilities; however, this policy won't necessarily pose a threat. The United States must strengthen Western-central international institutions and guide Beijing into this framework if the US wants to see a "Peaceful Rise."

Owens, John Stiles, Jr., 1918-1945 (Sc 242), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 242. Letter, 20 August 1945, written by John S. Owens, World War II pilot from Calhoun, McLean County, Kentucky, serving in the Far East to Mary E. Marks, a former teacher, regarding his flights from India to China, and the V-J Day celebration. Also, three examples of Chinese paper money from the period, and a 4 July 1969 letter from Miss Marks with information about Owens.

导论, 布雷特•麦考密克, 乔纳森• H• 平

Jonathan H. Ping

No abstract provided.