Chinese Studies Commons^™

The Criticism On Su Shi's Poetry In Yuan Haowen's "Thirty Poems On Poetry", Huainan Liu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Yuan Haowen in his "Thirty Poems on Poetry" both confirmed Su Shih's poetic achievements and condemned Su's failure. The paper tries to delineate the reasons behind Yuan's problematic condemnations on Su Shi. Yuan's accusation of Su Shi's problems is wrong-targeted because on the one hand he attributed other poets' problem to Su Shi and on the other hand he did not distinguish between literary issues and political issues. The paper also maintains that Yuan had a limited understanding of the ideal content and practical development of "Fengya (airs and odes, the elegant)."

Library Impact Statement For Chn 485/486, Mona Niedbala

Library Impact Statements

Library Impact Statement for CHN 485/486 new course proposal. No new library resources are required to support this course. Responding library faculty member: Mona Niedbala. Requesting faculty member: Wex Xiong

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."

The Public Sphere And Literary Journals And Newspapers: Investigating The Discursive Formation Of The Utopia In Late Qing Dynasty, Man Leung Shuk

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This paper takes the utopian fiction in Late Qing Dynasty as a discursive formation, and investigates its production and operational mode of the utopian discourse. The paper examines how literary journals and newspapers served as a channel for the operation of the utopian discourse in the Chinese public sphere. By revising Habermas's notion of the public sphere, Rudolf Wagner is able to redefine Chinese public sphere and discovers that the structure of Chinese public sphere is constructed by the top and the bottom strata of the society. In light of Wagner's theorization, the paper takes the utopian novels as a …

On The Difference Over Literary Ideas Between China And The West, Qingbing Tong

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The paper reiterates the necessity of reflecting on the differences of literary ideas between China and the West. In classical Chinese literary theory, literature prioritizes lyricalism, and the essence of this literary idea is to express the ethos of individual and the society. Literary ideas in the West centering round Europe chooses to prioritize mimesis, and a literature developed along this idea sees itself as a vehicle for knowledge. The paper attributes the differences over literary ideas, themes and literary spirit between China and the West to the differences between Chinese humanistic sprit and Western humanism, between Chinese agricultural civilization …

On The Evolution Of Wang Yuanhua's Methodology For Literary Theory, Zhongyi Xia

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

When Wang Yuanhua was widely acclaimed as a distinguished literary theorist who excelled in both Chinese and Western theories before the 90s, scholars tended to neglect the fact that Zhdanovism which originated from the former Soviet Union had always been his guiding principle and methodology all through his academic career. When he first embarked on literary theory, Zhdanovism was his main theoretical anchor which can be evidenced by his works like Luxun and Nietzsche and On Realism which were produced in 1939 and 1940 respectively.He began to reflect upon Zhdanovism in 1943 for he found that Zhdanovism tend to impair …

On The Four Dimensions Of Cross-Cultural Aesthetic Appreciation, Qingben Li

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

According to Eliot Deutsch's studies in Comparative Aesthetics, the four dimensions of cross-cultural aesthetic appreciation are Cultural-Authorial Weltanschauung, Cultural-Authorial Aesthetic Preference, Formal Content and Symbolic Values. We will encounter many difficulties when appreciating the works of art from other cultures because of cultural differences. However, the four dimensions can help us overcome these obstacles, thus making possible our better understanding of the aesthetic features of the works of art. Comparative aesthetics is not to weigh the supremacy of the Chinese art or the Western art, nor to take the work of art as proof to cultural differences, but to find …

Reflections OnThe Cambridge History Of Chinese Literature: An Interview With Professor Stephen Owen, Min Wang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The author interviewed Professor Stephen Owen regarding The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature. The issues covered in the interview include the origins of the Western literary history and Chinese literary history, the stages and modes of writing Chinese literary histories,the interrelationships between literary historiography and intellectual history, and the new perspectives of literary historiography. The interview focuses on the new notions of "the Cultural Tang" and "discursive communities" proposed by Owen and elaborates their theoretical and methodological implications.

Review Of "Western Aesthetics In The Perspective Of The East" Summit Forum, Shenggui Song, Weina Yang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Jointly sponsored by the Institute of Aesthetics of Capital Normal University, the editorial board of Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, the College of Art of Inner Mongolia University and Anhui Education Publishing House, the Summit Forum on "Western Aesthetics in the Perspective of the East" was held in Hohhot during August 3-5, 2011. Over 30 specialists and scholars in the academic circles of aesthetics in China and Japan explored in depth the issues such as the relationship between Eastern and Western aesthetics, the history of the relationship,the possibility of eastern aesthetics, ethnic art and aesthetics in the perspective of …

"Nineteen Old Poems" And Metaphysics, Jiemo Zhang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

"Nineteen Old Poems" represent the transformation in poetics from the study of Confucian classics to metaphysics. The authors of this group of poems lived in the turbulent age of the late Han Dynasty. "Nineteen Old Poems" express the poetics of valuing life, which could be regarded as the first sign of metaphysics. The sense of time sequence, especially a sense of the present, which corresponds to the time consciousness of metaphysics, forms the basis of such poems. This paper holds that a sense of individual loneliness and awareness is the main theme of these poems. Hence Liang Qichao's viewpoint that …

"The Chinese Encyclopedia" In Foucault'sThe Order Of Things, Jinshan Che

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

In the preface of The Order of Things, Michel Foucault quotes and analyzes the classification of animals in a "certain Chinese encyclopedia" referred to by Borges, with which he initiates his brand new philosophical thinking. There are many discussions and interpretations by Chinese scholars on this part, but generally they understand Foucault from the perspective of the differences between China and the West, and they tend to blame him for these reasons. For example, they may think Foucault attached too much importance on the particularity of Chinese culture and the differences between Chinese and Western cultures, so he ignores the …

"Aestheticization Of Everyday Life" In China, Desheng Wang, Lei Li

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The concept of "Aestheticization of Everyday Life" cannot be readily transplanted from Western theoretical discourse. It has to reach an internal affinity with the socio-cultural transformation in contemporary China and over-generalized aestheticization so that it can integrate into the context of contemporary aesthetics research. The differences concerning the claim center round the different understanding of "everyday life" and "sensibility," while there is inherent theoretical continuity between the aestheticization of everyday life and the study of contemporary aesthetics and culture. The debates make it possible for the issue of "everyday life aesthetics" to become a new aesthetic discourse in reality.

"What Are Poets For?": An Interpretation Of Hesiod's Classical Poetics, Lei Peng

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

In the Proemium of Homogony, Hesiod distinctively extols the Muses, the lineage and the might of them as a hidden eulogy of the role of poets. This essay is a detailed reading of the proemium and an exploration into the classical poetics therein. Through an analysis of the lineage of the Muses, this essay shows the non-creative feature of classical poetics, then reveals the alternation Hesiod makes of the relationship between the poet and the Muses as in the three songs of the Muses, and finally,by interpreting Hesiod's depictions of kings and singers, demonstrates the role of Hesiod as a …

A Critical Review Of Researches Into The Poetry Of The Han, Wei And Six Dynasties In The First Half Of The 20th Century, Zhixi Qian

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The studies of the poetry of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties, which have developed in a new teaching and academic system, show a combination of classical scholarship and modern approaches and therefore have some representative significance in ancient literature studies. There is a long tradition of such studies and scholars have got new discourse from such fresh literary concepts as the theory of evolution, vernacular literature and popular literature to reconstruct or interpret the history of poetry, and discovered or discussed some new facts, thus making studies of yuefu poetry attract considerable academic attention. As such studies develop, facts …

A Reflection On German Classic Aesthetics And The Construction Of Contemporary Chinese Aesthetics, Fanren Zeng

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Contemporary aesthetics in China over the past 50-odd years developed partly because of the influence of classic German aesthetics, as can be seen from the fact that the most important form of aesthetics in contemporary China — practice aesthetics — is derived from classic German aesthetics, especially Kantian aesthetics. This is determined by the level of classic German aesthetics and China's particular needs. However, all theories are historical, and have to appear and disappear in history. The dramatic socio-economic transformation since 1949 determines that classic German aesthetics is no longer suitable to China, and practice aesthetics derived from it has …

A Study Of F. R Leavis's Cultural Criticism, Xiangchun Meng

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

F. R. Leavis was the most influential and controversial critic and one of the forerunners of cultural criticism in the 20th century Britain. His cultural criticism is the point of departure for his literary criticism, which in turn aims for cultural and social health. Leavis's cultural criticism comprises mainly of the conception of the "organic community", the theorization of "minority culture" and the promotion of "literary culture" and the criticism of the "Technologico-Benthamite" culture, the first three of which form the core of his cultural ideals. A better understanding of Leavis's cultural criticism may illuminate our reflections on the cultural …

Aesthetic Features Of China's Original Piano Music In The Early 20th Century, Wei Chen, Xin Chen

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The paper focuses on China's original piano music in the early 20th century, and through an analysis of several musical compositions, it tries to define the aesthetic features in this period as the combination of the composition techniques from the West, modernized rendition of Chinese traditional and classical music, and appropriation of the foreign repertoire. Under the guidelines of coming from practice and into practice, the musicians composed a big repertoire of music with reality concerns. Over the past fifty years, the change of aesthetic sensibilities charts the development of the modernity of Chinese aesthetics, and the tracing of the …

From The Subaltern To The Precariat, During Simon

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This essay argues that, given the global dominance of neo-liberal capitalism, the concept of the subaltern now needs to be replaced by that of the precariat, a term first used by Pierre Bourdieu. It further argues that the category of the subaltern emerged in key post-disciplines of cultural studies, postcolonialism and subaltern studies, all of which themselves belong to the aftermath of the West's 1968 revolutions. In our era of global capitalism, their usefulness is in decline. Indeed the precariat is a broader category than the subaltern since it covers not just those who live on the margins of the …

Homer's Epics In Lessing'sLaokoon, Hui Zhang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Laokoon by G. E. Lessing (1729-1781) has long been considered as a masterpiece of modern aesthetics pertaining to the limits of painting and poetry. However, this controversial book, in fact discussed more about Homeric epic than about Laokoon if we take its content into consideration. So Lessing himself mentioned in its introduction not without connotation that Laokoon was only seemingly (gleichsam) his starting point. The present paper tries to highlight the differences between the quietness in Winckelmann's sense and the crying in that of Iliad which Lessing specifically emphasized, and then purports to follow Lessing's way to understand the significances …

Li Bai As A Critic Of The Poetry Scene In Emperor Xuanzong's Reign, Qinghai Liu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

As a critic, Li Bai's critical practice consists of his comments on the poetry history and on the coeval poetry writing, which are inherently related with each other. Comparatively speaking, his insights into contemporary poetry writing rarely attract researcher's attention. His achievements in this field mainly include the following. Firstly, in Gu Feng No.1 [Old Airs], Li Bai expounds his view on coeval poetry writing which reflects his general understanding and positive affirmation of it. Secondly, besides aesthetical standards such as "restoring the ancient," "airs and odes" and "rectified sound," which are the basic guidelines of his commentary on the …

Lucretius's Poetic Enlightenment: A Reading Of De Rerum Natura, Xiaofeng Liu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Besides being the most important philosophical work during the era of the Republic of Rome, De rerum natura [On the Nature of Things] is also the earliest extant long poem in Latin. While its author Lucretius is not only accredited as the most important philosopher in Latin, he is also known as a major poet in ancient Rome. In De rerum natura, Lucretius illustrates obscure philosophical reasonings in lucid and euphonic poetical lines. Thus, it not only renders the sophiticated atomic materialism in a more approachable way, but also initiates a literary form for enlightenment. Based on a close reading …

Voicing And Devoicing Rules In East And Southeast Asian Languages, Siyu C. Zhang

Honors College Theses

Languages are composed of sounds that are produced by the vocal organs. These sounds can be split into two categories, voiceless and voiced. In general, based upon the International Phonetic Alphabet, there are more voiced sounds possible than voiceless sounds, with vowels, nasals, and approximants inherently voiced. After analyzing the separate phonetic inventories of 9 Asian languages representative of the major Asian language families (Arabic, Burmese, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil, Turkish, Vietnamese), it was found that all of them except Mandarin Chinese had far more voiced sounds than voiceless sounds as well. After isolating only stops and affricates, …

The Taiwan Elections In Historical Perspective, Sebastian Veg

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

During a recent trip to Taipei to observe the January presidential and legislative elections, like many people with little first-hand knowledge of Taiwan, I was struck by the unique traits of Taiwan’s democracy. The elections also seemed relevant to many debates in China, not only because they were closely followed and tweeted by critical voices on the mainland, but also because of their significance against the broader historical and geographical context of the history of modern China, a connection which holds true even if one subscribes to the view that Taiwan had no previous connection with this history before 1945 …

Book Review: Developmental Fairy Tales, Nicole Kwoh

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

At the 1996 APEC Economic Leaders Meeting, Jiang Zemin concluded his speech on economic development with a quote from Lu Xun: “For actually the earth had no road to begin with, but when many men pass one way, a road is made” (1921). This quote highlights the important role played by the first generation of modern Chinese literature in shaping the current rhetoric of building a road to progress. In Developmental Fairy Tales: Evolutionary Thinking and Modern Chinese Culture, Andrew F. Jones explains the construction of this ubiquitous concept of cultural and historical progress. With a focus on Lu …

Salvaging Memories From The Ruins Of The Three Gorges, Daisy Yan Du

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The Three Gorges Dam is the largest hydro-electric power station in the world. The construction of the dam began in 1994 and was completed in 2009. Proponents bill it as a symbol of China’s rise on the global stage, while critics worldwide see it as a huge humanitarian crisis that has the potential to worsen in years to come. The biggest controversy of this project concerns the forced migration of around two million people, who, due to the rising water, have been displaced from their hometowns along the upper reaches of the Yangzi River in Chongqing and Sichuan and Hubei …

Digital Chinese Whispers: Death Threats And Rumors Inside China’S Online Marketplace Of Ideas, James Leibold

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The Chinese internet is a wonderfully raucous and interesting place. It has greatly expanded the scope of public discourse and activity, despite the party-state’s extensive censorship regime. Not surprisingly, the world’s largest cyber-community exhibits tremendous depth and diversity: progressive cyber-activists and professional agitators; navel-gazing starlets and steam-venting gamers; mundane infotainment and the banal waxing of quotidian life; and, sadly, dark corners of fear, hatred and paranoia. It’s all there; it simply depends on where one looks. Like other technologies before it, the internet is normatively neutral, and thus can be put to good, bad and anodyne uses: individuals—not tools—shape the …

Behind Bo Xilai’S Halo, Xujun Eberlein

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

In the wake of Bo Xilai’s sudden downfall, shortly after what could be called an online carnival among China watchers—probably more in celebration of a rare, real-life political drama than anything else—international media is changing its tune and beginning to paint a more sympathetic image of Bo than previously reported, by focusing on Chinese people’s love of him. Reuters, for example, has a report titled “In China’s Chongqing, dismay over downfall of Bo Xilai” that quotes a working “stick man” (棒棒军, a porter-for-hire) who praises Bo as “a good man” that “made life a lot better here.” The Telegraph‘s Malcolm …

Book Review: Chiang Kai-Shek’S Interpersonal Relationships: Perspectives Across The Strait, Sherman Lai

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

This book brings together papers and panel discussions of a conference on Chiang Kai-shek held in Taipei in January 2011 with the joint participation of historians from both the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan. It reflects new scholarship on Chiang Kai-shek in the Chinese-speaking world and showcases the approaches that historians in the PRC adopt in handling challenges that their Western colleagues do not encounter. While Chinese historians have enormous audiences, they do not share the academic freedom enjoyed by their colleagues in the West and Taiwan. Because their careers and livelihood are dependent on the Chinese Communist …

Republican China, Kate Merkel-Hess

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Several years ago, I gave a talk on my research to a community group. My first slide included the words “Republican China” and as I waited to begin I heard a woman in the front row lean over and whisper to her neighbor, “I had no idea they have Republicans in China too!”

At this time of bruising primary battles, though, the China that the Republicans have seems more relevant—as China, imagined and real, has played a recurring role in the raucous Republican primaries. Here’s a rundown of some of the ways China has popped up on the campaign trail …

Hong Kong Identity And Democratic Values, Sebastian Veg

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

When Peking University Professor Kong Qingdong’s diatribe on Hongkongers and their lingering colonial infatuation swept over the Internet in late January, the widespread and growing uneasiness about mainland Chinese in Hong Kong suddenly had a face. Triggered by a viral video of a Hongkonger telling off a mainland family in the subway because their daughter was eating dry instant noodles, Kong’s interview sparked a wave of predictable but nonetheless justified outrage in Hong Kong. It took place against the background of the annual mainland shopping spree over Chinese New Year (in a previous episode, Dolce and Gabbana staff in Tsim …