Chinese Studies Commons^™

Experience And History: Hoggart'sThe Uses Of Literacy, Xiangyu Cheng

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Richard Hoggart's The Uses of Literacy is generally taken to be an initiation of English cultural studies, and it also became one of the starting points of the "cultural controversy" emerged from the "first" New Left. The focal issues include whether Hoggart and this work fall under Leavisism, and what historical situation his work was born, but the historical specificities and implications have not been given due examination so that the research literature on Hoggart has fallen into an either-or cycle. The paper takes into consideration the historial background of Hoggart's The Uses of Literary and reveals the historical specificities …

Fiction As Illocutionary Act: John Searle's Theory Of Fiction, Qing Feng

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

According to John R. Searle's Speech Act Theory, fiction assumes to be real illocutionary acts and Searle claims that fictional discourses imitate and parasitize on ordinary discourses. Gregory Currie and Gérard Genette criticize Searle's arguments and revise his theory of fiction. This paper contents that Searle's theory of fiction can prove to be a humanist philosophical perspective that emphasizes on the author's intentions, meanings of utterances and the context. The paper proceeds to argue that further research on the essential features of fiction can be done on the basis of investigating the merits and demerits of Searle's theory.

On "Real Author" And "Implied Author", Yuyu Liu, Yanni Lei

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Ever since its proposition by Wayne Booth,the concept of "implied author" has been drawing constant attention amongliterary critics. The term has been attributed different, and even competing, meanings, including "the second self" of the real author and the assumed image of the author inferred purely from the text. This paper on the one hand argues that the implied author is neither the conscious creation of the real author nor his/her second self. On the other hand, the paper attempts to propose a more possible interpretation for the"implied author," based on a derivation and revision of Eco's theory of textual interpretation. …

Potential Of Poetic Dialogue: Guo Xiangzheng's Innovative Appropriation Of Li Bai, Tingting Zhao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Guo Xiangzheng (1035-1113) was a prolific poet of the Song Dynasty who was hailed as a protege of poetry and whose incredible imagination resembled that of Li Bai. Unfortunately,many literary scholars have oversimplified Guo's work as a mere derivative of Li Bai's. This paper intends to renew scholarly interest in Guo's poetry by illustrating his innovation and sophistication in utilizing Li Bai's poems and style. Through his use of different poetic devices, Guo creates varied dialogues with his audience across a broad span of time in order to achieve political and personal purposes. During his years between nineteen and twenty-six, …

The Evil Of Rhetoric: A Critique Of Augustine's Criticism On Rhetoric In Confessions, Xiaobai Chu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The classical rhetors, from Gorgias to Cicero, all considered that the rhetoric can create a refined community through the use of philosophical truth. However, St. Augustine denied this optimistic view. This paper tries to analyze what St. Augustine saw as the evil of rhetoric and examines his interpretations of the consciousness of community formed by rhetoric.

The Transformation Of The Self-Congnitive Mechanism In The Left-Wing Intellectuals After The 1927 Revolution, Guanghai Zhang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

With the rapid emergence of the petty bourgeoise ideology following the failure of the Great Revolution in 1927, left-wing Chinese intellectuals were widely engaged into debate and reflection on issues about the petty bourgeoisie. The movement was on the one hand rooted theoretically on Marxist theory and on the other hand originated from the reflection over the failure of the 1927 Revolution, while at the same time it was swayed by CCP's class policy. Petty bourgeoisie's revolutionary potential came to be under question following the failure of the 1927 Revolution, and its original sin was overemphasized. However, differences existed among …

All Good Things Must Come To An End: China Beat’S 1,000th Post, Maura Cunningham, Kate Merkel-Hess, Ken Pomeranz, Jeff Wasserstrom

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

With much gratitude, the China Beat editors say goodbye.

What a difference four years can make—for a blog, a country, and a planet. (“Blog, country, planet” might have made a nice coat of arms if we’d thought of it…) When China Beat launched early in 2008, blogs seemed like relatively new kids on the block, at least to academics. Four years later, the genre is old hat, sharing a landscape with newcomers like Tumblr, Twitter, and other microblogging platforms, and we’re increasingly catching up on China news not on computers but on devices that fit in our palms.

The blog …

Book Review: A Passion For Facts By Tong Lam, Maggie Clinton

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Tong Lam’s engaging new study A Passion for Facts analyzes the processes by which modern modes of apprehending and ordering the social world were forced upon and ultimately embraced by Chinese political and intellectual elites during the late Qing and Republican periods. Lam focuses on the rise of the “social survey” (shehui diaocha) as a means of knowing and constituting a new object called “society” (shehui), as well as the epistemological violence of imperialism that rendered the social survey a seemingly natural way of investigating the world. By the time the Nationalists assumed state power in 1927, Lam argues, “seeking …

香港現代主義文學與思潮 : 以「香港現代文學美術協會」為視點, Lei Zheng

Lingnan Theses

在為冷戰陰雲籠罩的上世紀五、六十年代，香港因特殊的殖民政策而游離於中國大陸與台灣的威權政治之外，其文學藝術紮根的土壤可謂貧瘠卻又豐富。放逐於政治意識形態邊緣的香港文學，不但兀自生長出不同於中國現代文學敘事傳統的城市文學，更在此一失落與追尋中逐漸完成一套極富特色的文學/ 藝術敘述模式。而這套敘述模式的起點，正始於五、六十年代風行一時的現代主義思潮與文學實踐。

以香港現代文學美術協會為視點，不只是以該社團為一文學場域探索其運作與香港現代主義文學、思潮發生、發展之關係，更旨在以這一社團整體訴求為經，以每個個體於社團活動前後之不同境遇、經歷及創作為緯，編織第一代本土作家以來，「現代主義」與香港文學建構的譜系。在釐清協會成員的早期活動、人事往來和知識結構之後，本文先以六十年代現代主義運動最為矚目的成就——理論批評入手，試從香港的報刊生態闡釋這一批評論在文學理論貢獻之外更為重要的社會、文化及文體意義，並以存在主義思潮為例深入探討此類評論的傳播效果。後半部分則由具體文本入手，包括各種文體的文學及繪畫作品。 首先探討「香港現代主義文學」與都市文化的密切關係，在逐漸本土化的敘述中「東方」的意義及其表現，以及詩與畫之間的跨媒介創作的特點。而後進一 步以崑南及蔡炎培的創作為對象縷析這一代作家的浪漫精神及其時代意義。

Book Review: Superstitious Regimes By Rebecca Nedostup, Stefania Travagnin

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Superstitious Regimes is an interdisciplinary work that sheds new light on the interaction between the state-body and the religion-body in early twentieth-century China, with a focus on the Nanjing Decade (1927-1937). Nedostup develops her analysis from both a diachronic and synchronic perspective. The author underlines shifts and continuities between a few historical periods: Sun Yat-sen’s time, the early years of the Nanjing Decade, the late years of the Nanjing Decade, and the post-Nanjing Decade.

Nedostup’s interdisciplinary study is of interest for a large readership: students and scholars of Chinese studies, Chinese politics, Chinese religions, and Chinese history would all benefit …

Disease And Humanity: Ba Jin And His "Ward Four: A Wartime Novel Of China", Haili Kong

Chinese Faculty Works

"Family" as Ba Jin’s intense concern seems to be a central icon of his literary works, carrying through from his Family (1933) to Cold Nights (1947). After briefly reassessing Ba Jin’s literary contribution in his early phase, this essay will focus more on Ba Jin’s novels written in the 1940s, particularly his Ward Four, which rarely attracts critical attention. For Lu Xun, mental disease in China was more crucial than physical disease. Ba Jin uses both mental and physical diseases to explore humanity in a wartime hospital. Ba Jin’s early novels were infused with more radical ideas, but as a …

The Use Of Variation Theory To Enhance Speech-Impaired Students’ Learning Of Putonghua, Pei Ying, Peggie Ho

Practical Social and Industrial Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

Critical Explication Of "Rectified Words" InThe Literary Mind And The Carving Of Dragons, Qing Gui

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

In The Literary Mind and The Carving of Dragons, Liu Xie quoted from Explications on The Book of Changes and The Book of Documents that "zhengyan (proper words)" and "tiyao (stylistic priority)" are the essential criteria of a piece of good writing. The criterion of "zhengyan" refers to the diction, which can be defined as the appropriate use of words to express what is intended, and as an issue concerning expression, this is essentially about the ideology of the content. When "zhengyan" is combined with "stylistic priority," it may be equivalent to "air" as in "air and bone," which refers …

Existentialism In Hong Kong: Reading From The Perspective Of Mass Culture, Lei Zheng

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

During the late 1950s and the early 1960s, the popularity of existentialism in Hong Kong played a significant role in the local modernism movement, which was represented in both criticism and literary works. The introduction and dissemination of existentialism in Hong Kong was much affected by the local environment of newspapers and the magazines. Representative figures became popular cultural icons, and their changing views brought about the changes in important concepts, which in turn changes the existentialism in Hong Kong. While holding their elite position, the intellects who advocated modernism were deeply involved into the current change through their contest …

From The Sacred World Of Rituals To The Imaginary World Of Literature And Arts, Dakang Ma

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Primitive ritualistic activity is the matrix in which literature and art are produced. In these ritualistic activities, the concept of deities formed, and the spiritual space of the human world was then constructed, and provided the decisive condition for the primitive symbolic imagery activities to evolve into literature and art activity. In the primitive ritualistic activities, the distinction between the performers and the audience, together with the centralization, intensification and generalization of ritualistic activities, help to establish literature and art as a separate activity from those ritualistic sacred world. Devoid of the existence of the deities, the theme of literature …

Origin, Truth And The Structure Of Messianic Time: On Theology Of Walter Benjamin's Philosophy, Guoping Hu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Theology is one of the core issues of Benjamin's philosophy. Even after the completion of the Marxist turn, Benjamin is still trying to transform the potential of theology with "profane illumination". The sustained attention for origin and truth, and the desire for the redemption of the Messiah, are revealing his theological attitude. At the same time, Benjamin also tries to examine the tension between modernity and theology. In Benjamin's philosophy, the tension in the structure of the Messianic time is not only the entrance for the reflection of modernity, but also the power source of history itself.

Cultural Poetics And Cultural Creativity, Jinyao Shen, Jizhong Lin

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The fundamental nature of cultural creativity is to cultivate and perfect oneself, which differs from the so-called popular creative cultural industry. Cultural poetics, based on historical perspective, interdisciplinary research strategy and holistic thinking, is returning to the totality of culture, thus, opening up a vast area and great possibilities. Inherited from the Chinese traditional poetic concept — "it is by the Odes that mind is aroused", we could find that the mutual construction of literary texts and life reality is an effective way to realize cultural originality. The cultural originality of cultural poetics is fulfilled with poetic.

Literature Filtering Through Life Reality, Xuan Wu, Yuanyuan Qiao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Life reality exists as a contrasting concept of "the reality of idea," and it dominates the reality of idea and reason with its content including people's desires, senses and emotions. The process by which literature filters through life reality shows first of all in that literature should respect people's desire, senses and emotions, and expose the interrelated process between life reality and the reality of idea. Secondly, it shows in that literature should turn people's desires, senses and emotions in life reality into the raw material and re-order them. The unique structure of literature can then be realized through the …

Phenomenological Interpretation Of Chinese Creation Myth Of Pangu, Qian Wang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This paper is a phenomenological interpretation of Chinese myth of creation centered around the mythical figure Pangu. It takes Pangu myth as an imaginary representation of of the primitive relation between body experience and the world. Mankind constructs a meaningful and inhabitable world from an alien space through his body experience. On the one hand, the world is constructed by body experience; on the other hand, the world is transcendental and preexistent as a basis to accommodate man's life. The contemporary implications of Pangu myth may include that people should trust body intuition while understanding the world, respect the transcendental …

The Dissemination Of Translated Novels In Modern China, Dakang Chen

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Translation of foreign novels in the modern time in China plays a significant part in the transformation of Chinese novels from the classical to the modern. The majority of these novels, however, may be termed as creative translation as the translators incorporate in the translated texts a varying degree creative embellishment. Foreign novels zigzag into Chinese reading field against the reading habit developed over centuries among Chinese readers. Promoted by the booming press industry, translated novels saw a rapid development in the late Guangxu Years, which has not been given sufficient academic attention so far. While tracing the progress of …

The Predicament Of Literary Theory Teaching In The Era Of Pictorial Reading And Its Solutions, Xiaoping Liang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The predicament of literary theory teaching in the era of pictorial reading results from many respects. Literature environment in the electronic media has far exceeded the explanation scope of existing literary theory, and a gap also exists between literary theory and recent literature practice among contemporary audience. The general decline of reading and understanding classic texts among readers born after the 1990s leads to the failure of communication in the teaching of literary theory. At the same time, more work still needs to be done in the recontextualization of both Western theories and Chinese classical literary theories into contemporary Chinese …

Politics Or Aesthetics? —— T. J. Clark's View Of Social History Of Art, Yubing Shen

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The paper discusses T. J. Clark's social history of art, claiming that as a development upon the traditional version. Traditional social history of art assumes a simplistic relationship among class, ideology and art form, such as Hauser's notion of class identification as the determinant of artistic style. Clarks asserts that "class" and "ideology" may not be manifest in paintings but can be shown only when these external domains have exerted an influence on the visual structure of painting and changed the established concepts of painting such as tradition and convention in painting.

The Method Of Phenomenology And The Recent Development In Chinese Contemporary Aesthetics, Xuguang Liu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The method of phenomenology has promoted the development in Chinese aesthetics and theory of literature, and brings about some new developments over the literary theory based on the theory of reflection. These developments include the practical-existential aesthetics, ecological-existential aesthetics and theory of literary activity. Anti-essence, the thought of becoming, the replacement of ontology with existentialism, and the undermining of dualism have all imbibed the method of phenomenology and been implied into the theories of literature and art to form a new trend in aesthetics. These development help to expand the scope of methodology and create new playground of the discipline …

A Buddhist Inquiry Into The Phrase Bunkyo Of Kūkai'sBunkyo Hifuron, Shaoxin Shi

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Kūkai,who had intended to study in Tang for 20 years, got abhiksema given by Master Huiguo and was instructed to return to Japan soon, so that he left China after two-year study to spread Tantric Buddhism. Kūkai devoted himself to exercising and spreading Buddhism and left us many Buddhist works, among which there is a book on the writing art of poems and composition, that is, the famous Bunkyo Hifuron. why did he edit such a book? Surely it shows his love of Han Culture. What's more,the uique title and structure speaks out his minds of buddhism. This article is …

Childishness, Consumption And Sovereignty: Georges Bataille On Writers And Poets, Sheng Zhang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This paper aims at exploring Georges Bataille's view on writers or poets by describing what characteristics he believes contribute to a writer. These characteristics include childishness, consumption in the life style and the lofty sovereignty in the spiritual pursuit. Bataille argues that a writer can be a real writer because of these three characteristics when he can creates his own works.

Theories Of Literature And Art And The Information Theory Since 1980s, Yongfang Qi

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The period of 1980s saw an upsurge of adaptation of scientific theories, such as system theory, information theory and cybernetics to the theories of literature & art in China. This paper probes the relationship between information theory and the theories of literature & art to identify the resulting achievements and failures in integrating the former into the latter, and describe the role of information theory in the expansion of theories of literature & art. This paper examines from three aspects the contributions of information theory. Firstly, information theory breaks the duality of the beautiful and the ugly in aesthetics. Secondly, …

On The Poetry Of The ChineseAnd Early Overseas Dissemination Of The Chinese Classical Poetry, Yan Wang, Yan Fang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The book On the Poetry of the Chinese was the first monograph attempting to introduce and translate Chinese classical poetry comprehensively and systematically in the history of British Sinology. With its popularity and significant influence in Europe, the book was regarded as the foundation stone on the research of the Chinese poetics in the West. It attaches great importance to the Chinese folk poems, and displays undue favor toward Western-style poems written by Chinese, it also involves some initiative and highly constructive views on Chinese epics, pastoral poetry and poetic dramas. Especially, the view that the Chinese has no epics …

Narratology As A Discipline: An Interview With Gerald Prince, Guoqiang Qiao, Prince Gerald

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This interview with Professor Gerald Prince conducted by Professor Qiao Guoqiang centers on such contested topics and difficult issues in recent years as narrative, implied author, narrativity, narrativehood, etc. Other issues discussed in the interview include general trends in narratological studies in the United Statate and the modified or 'hyphenated' narratologies such as structuralist narratology, postclassical narratology, postmodern narratology, socionarratology and psychonarratology.

The Linguistic Refashioning Of An Internal Exile: Duoduo And His Pre-Exile Poetics, Chee Lay Tan

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This paper investigates Chinese Misty poet Duoduo's early pre-exile poems. As Duoduo uses punctuation abundantly in an orderly structure and dates his poems, his works projects themselves as being more transparent than obscure or misty. Even Duoduo himself denied writing Misty poetry, although most critics classified his works as "Misty" and described them as "weird" and "difficult". This paper will examine such confusion by focusing on Duoduo's pre-exile linguistic refashioning via musicality and juxtaposition of unrelated images, which I regard as his main constituent of Mistiness.

Theory Of Western Literature: Multiple Names, Entangled Content And Complicated Development, Fa Zhang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Western literary theory was initially named "poetics," and modern times saw the decline of the use of "poetics" and the rise of the use of criticism. Criticism produced literary criticism the English-speaking world and Literaturwissenschaft in the German-Russian speaking world. The late period of 20th century, literary theory was used as an umbrella term by scholars in English-speaking to unify the Western theories on literature, resulting in three names referring to the same field: literary theory, literary criticism and critical theory. Nowadays, the science of literature in German-Russian world and literary theory in English-speaking world co-exist and develop in their …