Chinese Studies Commons^™

Narrative Of Habitus Distinction: From Fantasy Of Identity To Competition Of Elegance——Centering On The Image Of People Subject To Identity Transformations In Modern Fictions, Daizong Yu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Sociological or anthropological list of the habitus of people are from different classes, focusing on the strategy and function of habitus distinction in social struggles from the perspectives of political culture, economic level, and intergenerational reproduction. In contrast, modern fictions depict different forms of struggles from the perspectives of perceptual experience, emotional change, and taste preference. The narrative of habitus distinction in modern fictions shows the obstinacy of old habitus, the fragility of new habitus, and the aggressiveness of habitus in the struggles of classification. Its insight and aesthetic interpretation provide not only a more precise way but also a …

Socialist-Realist Art From The Perspective Of Gaze Theory: An Inquiry From Filmology To Iconology, Ying Lu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

"Socialist-realist gaze," linking gaze and socialist realist literary thoughts, refers to the visual communication of heroic figures on the external points off the screen in shooting Chinese revolutionary films. Such gaze, being invisible and with shared sight, returns to Jacques Lacan's gaze theory because of its intersubjective functioning. During its generation and function, socialist-realist gaze breaks the limitation of pictorial space, extends the boundary of screen as a "quilting point," and connects characters and audiences with ideological truth. As a performative image behavior, it arouses and strengthens the empathy between the viewers and the hero.

Fables Agreed Upon: A Comparative Study Of New Historicism And Alternate History, Feng Li, Yitzhak Lewis

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

New Historicism and alternate history raise similar questions regarding history and ideology. New Historicism reads every text as an alternate history narrative, while the narrative mode in alternate history can inspire a nuanced understanding of the critical positions promoted by New Historicism. The paper offers a comparative study of the two in terms of their conceptualizations of historical narrative, intertextuality, narrativity, non-linear structure and spatiality. It seeks to create dialogues between different voices in both the critical theory and the literary genre with respect to their attention to mundane matters, their allusions to the present and projections of the future, …

“Birth Of New Things From Old Things”: The Dialectics Of Ding Ling's “Transformation” In The Left-Wing Literature Movement During The 1930s, Shujie Wu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Written in the summer of 1931, Ding Ling's Flood is considered to represent her turn to the left-wing. This was the result of Ding Ling's transformation in thought and the construction in the organized movement of the League of Left-wing Writers. With the dialectical materialist method of creation, Feng Xuefeng reinterpreted Flood, turning it into a practice of the "November Resolution". This established new space of discourse and path of practice for the cultural struggle of left-wing writers in the new situation.

A Study Of The Relationship Between Zhou Zuoren And Takeuchi Yoshimi As An Overseas Student In Beijing, Wanming Liu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

From 1937 to 1939, Takeuchi Yoshimi studied in Beijing as an overseas student. During this time, he had adeveloped deep understanding of literature's inefficacy when confronted with Japanese invaders＇ political violence. At the sametime, through befriending Zhou Zuoren, Takeuchi was deeply affected by him, especially regarding his views on the relationshipbetween literature and politics, national character, cultural subjectivity, and modernization of East Asia. In the end, Zhou Zuoren became a bridge for Takeuchi Yoshimi to Lu Xun. By using the two key words, "ghost" and "sorrow of the East Asia people", to connect Zhou Zuoren and Lu Xun, Takeuchi expressed …

On The Relationship Between The Morality Advocating Campaign In The Qing Dynasty And Popular Novels, Caixun Chen

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Through the nationwide Morality Advocating Campaign, the Qing government brought novels into cultural management, which had a profound influence on the creation and dissemination of the novel. In such a political and cultural ecology, censership and banning of novels, which had formed an important part of the social Morality Advocating Campaign, became a top- down, national cultural conscious action in Qing Dynasty. On the one hand, in order to enhance the effect of advocating morality, some“moralist scholars”intentionally fictionized the moral-instruction books. On the other hand, some novelists consciously utilized popular novels to implement persuasion in order to cooperate with the …

A Comparison Of The Two Historical Narrative Approaches To Qi Baishi's “Late Life Transformation”, Zhongyi Xia

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The two historical narrative approaches to Qi Baishi's “late-life transformation” could be referred to as “the Sovietperspective” and “the non-Soviet perspective”. The former is characterized by “framing history with theory” and “substitutinghistory with theory”, while the latter “confirming theory with historical facts” and “constructing theory with historical facts”. Following the thread “constructing theory with historical facts”, one must valorize The Autobiography of Qi Baishi, because itssimple summary of “late-life transformation” is reliable as “history”, and as theory it is also superbly profound, which can shedlight on the absurdity of the Soviet perspective “framing history with theory”. Likewise, by following the …

Cento: The Categorizing Feature And Fictional Function Of Verse In The Vernacular Stories Of The Song And Yuan Dynasties, Chuyan Ye

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

In the vernacular stories of the Song and Yuan dynasties, centos of poems or ci-poems not only appear in the beginning of the story as a lead-in, but also widely exist in the rhymed texts of other parts. Judging by its content and form, the performance of centos is closely related to the art form of hesheng (a form of rhyme created upon sighting anything) in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. According to the audience's familiarity with the rhymed text, and the story-teller＇s categorization of knowledge and utilization of techniques, the centos in the story-telling scripts can be classified into …

The Aesthetics Of Witheredness And Artistic Creations In The Song Dynasty, Yun Dong

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

In the Song dynasty witheredness (ku) came to be the representation of a particular type of beauty, with the withered objects regarded as the object of aesthetic interest. The taste for witheredness manifests in various forms such as cold and thin, sparse and plain, old and strange, epitomizing the ancient-emulating aesthetics of the Song dynasty. Besides literary texts highlighting the withered objects, literati paintings constitute a unique world characterized by witheredness popularized with examples of withered objects such as dead trees, aged plum trees, and thin bamboos. The aesthetics for the withered reflects the taste and spiritual pursuit of the …

Yang Weizhen And The Changes Of Poetics In Late Yuan Dynasty, Fang Ding

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The history of poetry in Yuan dynasty is usually divided into three periods. In the early Yuan period, the poetic style of late Tang dynasty and late Song dynasty was prevalence. In the middle-Yuan period, the high Tang style was emulated, as was represented by the so-called the Four Great Yuan Poets who were officials and served in the court. Yang Weizhen, an influential poet in late Yuan dynasty for his poetics, however, advocated the Six-Dynasty poetry as well as the works of Li Po, Li Ho, Tao Yuanming, Wei Yingwu, Liu Zongyuan, Du fu, Li Shangyin, etc. Yang Weizhen …

Anthologies Of Ancient Chinese Fiction Compiled By Western Sinologists And The Construction Of The Literary Style Of Fiction, Lijuan Song

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Anthologies of ancient Chinese fiction compiled by Western Sinologists are an important channel for their textualization in the West. These fictive works exist mainly in three forms: selected translations of ancient Chinese fiction, selected works of Chinese literature, and histories of Chinese literature. Being translations, samples and selections at the same time, these texts also feature functions of in-betweenness, exhibition and criticism. Through translation, exhibition and criticism, those anthologies have not only textualized ancient Chinese fiction in the West, but also investigate Chinese fiction from Western perspective, which, regarding issues of translation, origin, and types of Chinese fiction, facilitated the …

An Analysis Of Chinese Fiction's Impact On The Joseon Conception Of Fiction, Weiguo Zhao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Based on the literature of Goryeo and Joseon fiction, this article aims to study ancient Korean fictive works written in Chinese, and explores the conception of early Goryeo and Joseon fiction from the lens of its reception of Chinese understanding of fiction. With the wide spread of fictive works such as Taiping Guangji and Jiandeng Xinhua on the Korean Peninsula, Goryeo and Joseon scholars began to understand and consciously create fiction. Then, Seo Geojung and Yi Seungso, who inherited the Confucian conception of fiction, put forward the“jesting theory”and“completing history theory”. These ideas not only laid the foundation for the development …

Narratives Of Journey To The West In Overseas Sinology, Hongbo Zhu, Xinxin Wang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Since the mid-20th century, in Japan, as well as some European and American countries, studies of Journey to the West have started to emerge, which, with rich content and fruitful achievements, are in themselves narratives of overseas Sinology on this novel. Besides being an important part of overseas Sinology, they are also an extension to the modern study of Journey to the West in China, which testifies to the significance of cultural exchange in the process of “Chinese culture going West”. At the same time, through examining and interpreting Journey to the West from the perspective of global and modern …

On Allegory, Metaphor, And Allegorical Interpretation, Longxi Zhang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

In the 4th and 5th centuries B.C., the rise of philosophy challenged the authority of Homer and many philosophers, notably Plato, dismissed Homer and poetry in the quarrel between poetry and philosophy. Some other philosophers, however, particularly the Stoics, came to the defence of Homer by proposing the idea of allegory and arguing that the Homeric epics contained a spiritual meaning beyond the literal sense of the text. Similarly, the Song of Songs in the Bible was also questioned by both Jewish rabbis and Christian interpreters because of its sensual language and eroticism. It was again allegorical interpretation that came …

Using A Smart Phone To Learn Spanish: Does It Work And Will Students Use It?, Andrew J. Demil, Alysha Assaf, Ryan Cragun

The Coastal Review

Over time, mobile devices have penetrated the classroom, requiring new and beneficial ways to implement classroom instruction. Research suggests that Short Message Service (SMS) based instruction is an effective tool for acquiring second language (L2) vocabulary and idiom knowledge (Hayati, Jalilifar, & Mashhadi; Lu,). Additionally, studies have found that students believe that mobile learning (m-learning) is beneficial to acquiring a second language (Cavus & Ibrahim; Hayati, Jalilifar, & Mashhadi; Lu, 2008). This study examined whether m-learning can lead to Spanish vocabulary familiarity and if sentence comprehension outperforms reading definitions. Participants were 29 native English speakers studying Spanish as a second …

What Are You, Really?/Afar, Gazing At The Holy Mountain By Du Fu, Michael Zhai

Transference

A translation and commentary of Du Fu's poem "Afar, Gazing on the Holy Mountain," with a worksheet for readers to produce their own translations of the poem.

The Zhongyuan Festival At West Lake By Zhang Dai And Two Poems By Tan Yuanchun, Andrew Gudgel

Transference

A translation of an excerpt from the late Ming Dynasty essayist Zhang Dai's "The Zhongyuan Festival at West Lake" and two poems by the Ming Dynasty poet and writer Tan Yuanchun.

Tracing The Past, Drawing The Present, Sixue Yang

Graduate School of Art Theses

The group of work, Rising Water, Floating Islands is inspired by traditional Chinese scroll landscape paintings. Such landscape paintings combine meticulous technique, compositional complexity, and tension between representation and abstraction to reveal an alternative universe that waits discovery amid our mundane existence. In “Rising Water, Floating Islands,” I explore the political and social ramifications of the ongoing cultural conflict between traditional and emergent contemporary values. By combining traditional Chinese elements and techniques with my own markings and gestural adaptation in my painting, I give the audience the opportunity to contemplate the implications of our present digital condition through traditional esthetic …

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 …

Etymologies Of Chinese Hànzì And Japanese Kanji: Explanations On Liùshū 六書 And Rikusho 六書, William P.M. Funk

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

This paper outlines Liùshū 六書 interpretations of Chinese character etymology to help co-create a better approach for educators in supporting character literacy development in students of the East Asian languages that utilize Chinese writing. The Liùshū 六書 Rikusho 六書approach to character instruction can be interpreted as a strategy to spark interest in western learners providing more detailed explanations that deal with the pictographic and compound nature of Chinese character formation. All non-English words are italicized or bolded, Chinese based terms are in Mandarin Pīnyīn 拼音, and Japanese terms are written in Romaji ローマ字 representing their differences phonetically to integrate foreign …

A Story To Tell… How To Integrate The Three Modes Of Communication Through A Story Time Program In French, Frederique Grim

The Coastal Review

Bilingual story time programs found in local community libraries not only benefit children, they can also serve a need for L2 college students: the development of their communicative skills in an authentic environment. In addition to linguistic benefits, experiential learning has proven to prepare students for real-world skills, such as networking, mock professional experience and a sense of community engagement. This paper recounts how a world language story time program supports L2 learners’ three modes of communication, as articulated by ACTFL, and necessary for language development. Based on students’ perceptions, this study highlights their increase in motivation and confidence in …

The Modern Formulation Of Chinese Art History And The Building Of A Nation In Early Twentieth-Century China, Chennie Huang

Dissertations and Theses

At the dawn of the twentieth century, the Chinese formulation of art history underwent dramatic changes. It moved away from the traditional narratives that did not follow a strict chronology to adopt the Western linear model which emphasizes progress and national identity. Based on the premodern tradition, the modern formulations of Chinese art history began as a political strategy for nation building amid the political upheavals, including military attacks on China that led to the end of Qing imperial rule and the beginning of the Republican era (1912-1949).

In the early 1900s, while exiled in Japan, Liang Qichao 梁啟超 (1873-1929), …

Transference Vol. 6, Fall 2018

Transference

Complete issue with covers of Transference Vol. 6, Fall 2018

Platonic And Confucian Theories On Music-Parallels And Differences, Christian Moreno

Honors Thesis

Music has always been an important part of humanity, and with the advent of the Axial Age, the period between the 8^th and 3^rd centuries BC where new ways of thinking emerged in a wide range of cultures, two of humanity’s greatest thinkers in Plato and Confucius, would apply their thoughts and theories to music. By examining their opinions of music in their written texts, especially Confucius’ Analects and Plato’s Republic, as well as modern scholarship on the subject like the work of philosopher Mark Muesse, one can gain an insight into the general thinking of these …

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.

Why Study The Chinese Classics And How To Go About It?, Sor-Hoon Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This response to Zongjie Wu's "Interpretation, autonomy, and interpretation" focuses on the "battle between East and West" which contextualizes Wu's proposal to counter the current Western domination of Chinese pedagogic discourse with an "authentic language" recovered from the Chinese classics. It points out that it is impossible and undesirable to reject all Western influences. The dualistic opposition between East and West over-simplifies and blinds one to the complexity of China's history and culture, and unnecessarily limits future possibilities. It challenges Wu's conflation of Confucianism and Daoism and his claim that the authentic "language of Tao" recovered from the "Analects" is …