Chinese Studies Commons^™

A Critical Reflection On And Construction Of Modern Chinese Literary Theory, Yichuan Wang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This essay attempts to survey and critically reflect the development of modern Chinese literary theory. It summarizes the heritage of modern Chinese literary theory in the form of domestic stand that incorporates Western thoughts, modern position that revitalizes Chinese tradition, union between individuals and the mass, the priority of material over mind in the symbiosis of thought and art, and the necessary tension between interior intellectual system and exterior ideological institutions. The history of modern Chinese literary theory also leaves us some lessons to learn, especially such fixations as inclination to dialectic thinking, thinking taking priority over being, over-appropriating, xenophobic …

A Positioning Of China In The Global Space: Reflecting The Overseas Debate On Chineseness And Sinophone, Xiayun Yu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This paper tries to reveal the ideological structure and cultural manipulation behind those discussions around the recent debate on Chineseness in the overseas world. It points out that intentional misuse should be further distinguished from the misuse in the discourse of Chineseness, and that the refinement of Chineseness should not be confined in the political field but be opened to include the cultural inheritance and renovation in the native land as well as the cultural progress through the dialogue between worldwide Chinese and Western. With the dialogue seeped through the debate, Chineseness may then be curbed from degenerating into a …

Classic Literary Genres And The Canonization Of Literary Genres, Fenran Jia

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This paper explores the historical process during which Chinese classic literary genres of poetry and prose are canonized. The paper maintains that the identification and support from the mainstream culture is the most important among the various factors contributing to the canonization of the genres of poetry and prose. The values promoted by the mainstream culture points to the directions of literary creation and criticism and allows for the space for the poetry and literary prose to develop. As a result, genres, subjected to the influence from mainstream culture, have no choice but accept the values supported by the mainstream …

Mo Yan's Polarizations: An Interpretation Of HisBig Breasts And Wide Hips, Yong Zhao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Before writing Big Breasts and Wide Hips, Mo Yan has already formed a fixed mode of polarized thinking and perception, and the mode is reflected in his choice of subject matter. One the hand, he dredges from memorized history and writes with a confirmative force; on the other hand, he criticizes the realistic history and writes with a negative attitude. Big Breasts and Wide Hips displays as the reasonable extension of both polarities and shows that it is both a grace deconstruction of the memorized history and a parody of the realistic history. The characters are designed to fall into …

On Liu Gangji's Practical Ontological Aesthetics As An Advance Of Practical Aesthetics, Liyuan Zhu, Wenying Zhang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

In 1980s, Liu Gangji put forward and established practical ontological aesthetics as a result of reflection and critique of mechanistic and perceptual materialism. He re-interpreted the Marxist view of practice as that which is participated by both the subject and the object, and elevated practice from epistemological level to ontological level. In this way, his conceptualization surpassed the dichotomy between subject and object and transcended the material ontology in the track of old materialism which to this day is still followed by some scholars. Liu Gang Ji's concept of practice not only initiated an advance in Marxist aesthetics of practicum …

Postmodernity, Hegemony, Sexuality, Alderson David

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Michel Foucault influentially dismissed 'Freudo-Marxism' in his History of Sexuality, vol. 1. This paper, by contrast, proposes a critique of postmodern theory, as well as theories of postmodernity, in proposing a return to the preoccupations of Herbert Marcuse in relation to sexuality. Specifically, the paper suggests that we must take account of the transformations in capitalism that have taken place since Marcuse's time when revisiting his work, but that his category of the performance principle is now even more relevant than it was when he elaborated it. Nonetheless, his theory of repressive desublimation is revised as repressive incitement, and a …

The Concept Of "Tianji" In Ancient Chinese Literary Criticism Under The Perspective Of Phenomenology, Jing Zhang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This paper attempts to reflect the concept of "tianji (Heaven's secret)" from the perspective of phenomenology. It claims that "tianji" is an important concept in literary creation theory, and it maintains that the understanding of the concept should focus on the following five elements: 1) the accidental moment of spirituality in the aesthetic subject, 2) artistic vitality, 3) the intrinsic aesthetic formation, 4) the aesthetic intention within the aesthetic subject, and 5) the secret power of universe and nature. The paper claims that quite a few concepts in phenomenology can be used to illuminate our understanding of "tianji." The theory …

The Mythistorical Pattern In The Studies On Origins Of Civilization, Qian Wang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The concept of mythistory is developed in the period of the New Historiography, and it is closely related to the changing concept of history. Mythistory takes mythology as a narrative origin of history, and thus the fundamental confrontation between mythology and history is dissolved. In the research on the origins of civilization, the mythistorical pattern aims to explore how myths enter history, and to investigate the shaping function of myths in the formation of civilization. Advocators of this pattern generally agree that the mythology as metahistory is the narrative dynamic mechanism behind the emergence of history.

The Rhetoric Of "New Manchu": With A Focus OnNew ManchuMagazine In Puppet Manchurian State, Xiaoli Liu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Manchukuo, a puppet state of Japan in the northeastern part of China, tried to create an ideology of New Manchu. This paper explored how Manchu was turned into New Manchu, and then discussed the imperialist logic behind the rhetoric of New Manchu. The logic implied that Japan was advanced, civilized and attractive but Manchu was underdeveloped, inferior and uncivilized. Further to the assumption was that Manchu needed to be educated and transformed by Japan. The paper proceeded to discuss who could be the happy subjects under the governance of Manchukuo, and from there the paper tries to deconstruct the hypocritical …

On Liu Xizai's Paradox About The Exhaustibility Of Meaning, Xingchuan Tao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Liu Xizai in his General Principles of Arts proposed a paradoxical idea about exhausting the inexhaustibility of meaning with the inexhaustible, and this paper claims that his idea points at the fundamental function of aesthetic creativity. The ideas developed in Liu's book cover two sides. On the one hand, the book explicates the concept of the inexhaustibility of meaning from three aspects: the infiniteness of the macro and the micro dimensions, the incompatibility between language and meaning, and the infiniteness in the finiteness. On the other hand, the book explains the approaches to exhaust the inexhaustible from three aspects: writing …

Theoretical Traces Of Raymond Williams' "Structures Of Feeling" And "Cultural Materialism", Jifang Duan

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

"Structures of Feeling" is an important concept in Raymond Williams' aesthetic theory of "Cultural Materialism", and it is the starting point of his Marxist aesthetics and underlies the different stages of his theoretical development. The concept of "the structure of feeling" provides both an anchor point for retrospective criticism on his cultural materialism aesthetics and a point of departure for delineating the trajectory of his theoretical development and implications. The paper advocates a close reading of theory as it may provide an important approach to understand Williams' Marxist cultural theory as that it represents a way to break away from …

Critique Of Foucault's Theory Of Discourse, Xian Zhou

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

"French theory" is another expression for the post-structuralist thought in France, with Foucault's theory of discourse being the most influential, and constructivism lies at the core of the theory. On the one hand, the theory of discourse highlights the function discourse performs in constructing subjectivity and the reality; on the other hand, it aims to reveal the symbiotic relation between the power and knowledge behind discourse. Thus, the theory dissolves the cognitive agency of the subject while foregrounding the subject's construction of discourse, and it highlights the representational practice of discourse while forecloses the social material practice of the non-discourse. …

Dialectics Between Politics And Literature: On Overseas Studies In Chinese Literature, Jin Ji

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This paper surveys and reflects on the overseas researches on the relationship between Marxism and modern Chinese literature. Through critical analyses of major studies on Left-Wing literature and writers as well as case studies sinicization of Marxist aesthetic ideology, the paper tries to expose the struggle between knowledge and power and reveal the complexity of mutual stimulus between internal and external factors. The paper points out that the study of the sinicization of Marxism should discard the grand historical narrative with one dominant voice and be re-positioned into the multiple voiced historical site. The paper concludes that overseas studies have …

Four Characteristics Of Ancient Chinese Aesthetics, Fa Zhang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The paper maintains that four characteristics can be observed about Chinese ancient aesthetics. The first one is concerned with the Chinese view of the cosmos, the second with Chinese view of the human world, while the third is concerned with the fact that Chinese theoretical norm is developed through a culture emphasizing on its totality instead of differentiality, the fourth with the cultural variety during the historical development.

Genre Criticism In Ming Dynasty And Zhu Yao'sThe Genre Of Ancient Rhapsody, Shihai He

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Zhu Yao's Gufu Bianti (The Genre of Ancient Rhapsody) is not only an important anthology of fu (rhymed prose, rhapsody) but also a comprehensive critical work on rhapsody. The anthology encompasses a selection of rhapsody texts and essays on the history and genre of rhapsody. It presents a systematic genre criticism which takes the six principles of poetry and exposition of personal sentiments as its criteria while taking prefatory notes and titular interpretation in ancient critical tradition as its approach, and its criticism is rich in content and logical in organization with valuable theoretical insights. The work has exerted a …

Literary Debates And Paradigm Shifts In Overseas Studies Of Modern Chinese Literature, Zhang Yingjin

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

By way of reviewing paradigm shifts as manifested in three literary debates, this paper contends that overseas studies of modern Chinese literature never contain only one single voice but rather follow a trajectory similar to institutional changes and paradigm shifts in the humanities in Euro-America. As theories come and go inside and outside China, Chinese experiences have been pluralized and complicated by today’s fast development of globalization and therefore demand an exploration from multiple and even mobile perspectives.

On Plato's Religious Justice And Artistic Justice, Yun Wang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The paper aims to probe into Plato's thoughts on religious justice and artistic justice through a critical reading of his Republic in terms of its contributions to the theory of justice. Plato's conceptualization of justice refers not merely to the justice in social life but also to religious justice and artistic justice, despite the fact that these term are not used explicitly per se. This paper argues that Plato's theorization of justice in The Republic proves to be the most distinctive and most valuable by putting justice in different perspectives from different areas.

Sinophone Literature And World Literature In Chinese, Fengliang Li, Ping Hu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Recent discussions regarding Sinophone literature demonstrate that overseas Chinese literary research circle is attempting to claim discursive power from the American sinological field and is making its way from the margin to the centre. Meanwhile, these overseas researchers, by adopting a decolonizing and decentralizing approach, try to contest with mainland China's academic circle for dominant discursive power. Beneath the discussions is a strong sense of discursive politics. Sinophone literature and world literature in Chinese are remarkably different in terms of their respective value positions, theoretical approaches and research objectives, but researches on Sinophone literature can inform the formation of modern …

Technology, Apparatus And Meaning: Two Approaches To Myth Interpretation, Jing Rao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This paper reflects on the "Davos Debate" between Cassirer and Heidegger and attempts to put it into the perspective of mythical thinking. In the debate, Heidegger refuted Cassirer's latent transcendental subjectivity that underlay the discourse on the science-myth dichotomy. On the other hand, Cassirer's subjectivity is closely related to Heidegger's reflective critique on technology. Myth and technology are homological in the sense that they are both implicitly constructed in the "Gestell" (apparatus), and the double origins of apparatus open up two approaches of myth interpretation. Although the true meaning of myth interpretation lies in the dimension of existential renewal instead …

The Fragmented Ancient Chinese God System, Dake Zhu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Ancient Chinese mythology is different from those in other civilizations in its fragmentariness, and the fragmented nature is the result of the collective destruction of historical documents in the pre-Qin feudal states burnt down all historical documents, on top of the massive burning of books and the burying-alive of Confucian scholars during the reign of the First Emperor of Qin. This silent "cultural revolution" in the pre-Qin and Qin era resulted in the destruction of the first generation of Chinese mythology. During the wave of Asian emigration, myth fragments from India, Iran and West Asia constructed the second generation of …

The Meta-Ethical Traits: Nothingness, Différance And Spectrology, Hongsheng Wang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

One of the foremost problems that contemporary narrative ethics must respond to is whether meaning exists. This paper reviews the different Western versions of the death of God and the various understandings of "nothingness" among Chinese and Western thinkers, attempts to distinguish "nothingness" from "nihilism", and hopes to pin down the location of the meaning formation from multiple perspectives. It proceeds to investigate Derrida's "différance" and "spectrology" and positions deconstructionism in the meta-ethical dimension of post-philosophical thinking. The paper has also summarized the basic features of the meta-ethical dimension.

The Primitive State Of Antique Chinese Elenchus In Spoken And Written Style, Dalei Hu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

In antique Chinese writing, elenchus as a form of debate prose takes the form of spoken and written styles, and this paper takes this approach to examine the primitive state of the genre. The paper demonstrates three main aspects of the genre of elenchus in the ancient China. The first concerns with the context, setting and scene of elenchus and there are some principles in the oral elenchus. The second concerns with the functions of elenchus. The third concerns with the connotation of elenchus exhibited in the different styles of the genre. The genre of elenchus comes into being, the …

The Return Of Beauty?, Welsch Wolfgang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This paper argues that the so-called return of beauty propagated in the aesthetic discourse is actually a return of the topic "beauty." The paper puts forward three claims in support of the argument. 1) The opposition to beauty that we find in art theory from mid-nineteenth century onward and especially in the twentieth century was not directed against beauty in general, but against specific conceptions of beauty. 2) Contemporary pleas in favor of beauty have dubious reasons and effects. 3) The talk about the attractiveness of the beautiful or the sublime, breath-taking beauty and its universality is conspicuously absent from …

Taiwanese Language Medical School Curriculum: A Case Study Of Symbolic Resistance Through The Promotion Of Alternative Literacy And Language Domain Norms, Philip John Sweeney

Dissertations and Theses

In contemporary Taiwan, Mandarin language proficiency and literacy in Han characters are not only key skills needed for success in academic institutions and employment markets, but they also carry meaning as symbolic markers of national and supranational Chinese identity. This study examines how Taiwanese-language medical studies curriculum planners are promoting alternative linguistic practices as a means of resisting the influence of Chinese nationalism in Taiwan and striving to replace it with a rival Taiwanese nationalism. I conducted research for this study during the 2010-2011 school year in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. I collected data for this study by engaging in participant observation …

Live Confucian: The Newsletter Of The Confucius Institute Of Pace University January 2013, Confucius Institute Pace University

Live Confucian

A newsletter of the Confucius Institute, Pace University.

The Confucius Institute at Pace Universi­ty is dedicated to providing Chinese lan­guage and cultural education, resources,and services to meet the needs of people from all backgrounds.

Review Essay: Negotiating The Traditional And The Modern: Chinese Women's Literature From The Late Imperial Period Through The Twentieth-Century, Li Guo

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

The three books above complement each other in their coverage of Chinese women's literary genres from the late fourteenth through the early twentieth century. The authors' theoretical inquiries invite consideration of the following questions: what meaning, if any, might a feminist imagination or approach have in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) eras, early and late Republican China (1911-1948), and beyond? What do these works have in common regarding the resituating of women's literary status, the reclamation of feminine agency, and the empowerment of female subjectivity in China's literary tradition? These books can be considered in dialogue with Western feminism …

《庄子》中关于身体的诸概念" (Concepts Of The Body In The Zhuangzi), Deborah A. Sommer (司馬黛蘭)

Religious Studies Faculty Publications

In this essay Sommer explores how the Zhuangzi uses such terms for the body as gong 躬, a sanctimonious ritualized body; shen 身, a site of familial and social personhood; xing 形, an elemental form that experiences mutations and mutilations; and ti 體, a complex, multilayered corpus whose center can be anywhere but whose boundaries are nowhere. The Zhuangzi is one of the richest early Chinese sources for exploring conceptualizations of the visceral human form. Zhuangzi presents the human frame as a corpus of flesh, organs, limbs, and bone; he dissects it before the reader's eyes, turning it inside out …

蜚語 (第九期), 嶺南文社

嶺南文社 : 蜚語

樂

蜚語 (第八期), 嶺南文社

嶺南文社 : 蜚語

白

早期 '地' 和 '土'之观 (Concepts Of Earth And Land In Early Chinese Texts), Deborah A. Sommer (司馬黛蘭)

Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Many studies have explored conceptualizations of heaven (tian 天) in early Chinese thought, but few if any have explored understandings of heaven's later cosmological counterpart, earth (di 地). This article examines Chinese understandings of earth and land (tu 土) in pre-Qin 先秦sources. In ancient texts such as the Book of Odes (Shi jing詩經) and Book of Documents (Shang shu尚書), the earth is not yet the paired counterpart to heaven that it will become in later Warring States (fifth-third centuries BCE) texts. Older works often depict earth and land as passive recipients of heaven's …