Chinese Studies Commons^™

The Transformation Of Urban Writing In Modern Fictions And Its Significance Of Fiction History: With A Focus On Shanghai And Guangzhou, Daqing Deng, Xun Sun

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

After the forced opening of such cities as Shanghai and Guangzhou for international trade, the traditional modes of culture in these cities were changed. Fiction, as one important literary genre closely associated with urbanity, also underwent transformations in terms of the urban writing in China. In modern Chinese fictions, the space of urban writing was continuously extended, with the descriptive focus shifting from the general coverage of landmark buildings to the detailed exploration of urban life, the protagonists shifting from traditional city dwellers into modern urban citizens, and the narrative form shifting from centering round time to centering round space. …

On Cao Xueqin's Idea Of Stylistics With Reference To The Stylistic Value Of Zhiyanzhai AnnotatedDream Of Red Mansions, Jingze Ren

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Cao Xueqin's idea of stylistics is systematic and can be understood in four main ways. The first is analyzing and complying with style. This shows in the two ways to differentiate the style of each literary work and each author. The second is appropriate and inappropriate style. This pair of concepts has rich implications and may be considered as a heritance from Cao Pi's theory of stylistics in the pre-Qin period. The third is the breaking and transforming of style, which shows in the stylistic innovation in such texts as "A Eulogy for the Lotus Girl." The fourth is the …

The Reconstruction Of Chinese Metaphysics, Xushu Zhang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The immortality of metaphysics originates in its human-attributed nature. The call for the reconstruction of Chinese metaphysics in the contemporary context should be understood as an intrinsic necessity of the modernization of socialism, and it should be taken as a significant component for new Chinese cultural tradition. The constant agency behind the reconstruction of Chinese metaphysics lies in the critical spirits and the courage of innovation of contemporary thinkers. Three major issues in the construction of Chinese metaphysics are the epistemological criticism of metaphysics, the views on a prior reason (a prior form), and the rebuilding of the spiritual homeland …

"New Scholar-Official Community" And Art Theory In The Tang And Song Dynasties, Qiang Tong

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The prosperity of Chinese culture in the Tang and Song Dynasties also means the maturity of Chinese art. The imperial examination and the civil office selection system result in the rise of a social group called "New Scholar-Official Community" who came to be the main force of artistic creations. The shared a similar background of education and civil service experience, and the similar cultural background cultivated similar artistic tastes. This community influenced the features and trends of artistic creations, as well as the development of art theory. To examine the relationship between art, art theory and New Scholar-Official Community during …

Beauty As An Action Of Art: From The Aspect Of Aesthetics Of Life, Baogui Zhang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

There are two ideas about the legitimacy of aesthetics as a discipline. Aesthetics of Elimination claims that beauty is an a prior super-concept which, absent of a corresponding super-reality, falls into the abyss of metaphysical essentialism. Hence, aesthetics is not a legitimate discipline. Metaphysical Aesthetics holds that beauty should be interpreted through Kantian purposiveness of aesthetics and claims the legitimacy of the discipline of aesthetics in its ideal-confirming value. This paper argues that metaphysical aesthetics, due to its theoretically self-enclosed nature, cannot allow aesthetic activities to take on realistic transcendent value. Aesthetics of Elimination, however, has its own major problem. …

Cognitive Mapping And The Adventures Of The Postmodern, Kellner Douglas

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

During the 1980s and 1990s, debates about the differences between modernity and postmodernity as historical epochs; modernism and postmodernism in the arts; and wars between modern and postmodern theory defined key theoretical problematics in intellectualized spaces of the West, like the University. Fredric Jameson was one of the initiators of debates over the postmodern, and introduced the concept of cognitive mapping to describe theoretical accounts of the contemporary moment. I discuss conceptions of theory and mapping in the modern and postmodern debates and sort out appropriate uses of the discourse of the postmodern, and the usefulness of the postmodern turn …

Contemporary Russian Literature And Art Policy And Ideology Reconstruction Against The Revival Of Orthodox Church, Gangjian Tian

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The literature and art policy in Putin's era epitomizes the "New Russian Idea" in the ideological field. To fill the ideological vacuum in the USSR, especially the Yeltsin era, the Russian government passed legislation on laws, education and diplomacy to introduce Orthodox Church into the reconstruction of national ideology. Through the core values of the Orthodox Church implanted into Russian literature and arts such as empire worship, eschatological salvation, community sense, etc, the policy of literature and art in the Putin government has performed important role in integrating societal thought, boosting the national spirit, curbing moral degradation, promoting national identity …

The Track And Off-Track Of Metaphysical Aesthetics: With A Discussion Of "Elimination" Of Elimination Aesthetics, Feng Wang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Metaphysical aesthetics appears to be a countercurrent to contemporary aesthetics, but it is actually an effort to find a direction in constructing aesthetic ideals, as a backwash and critique of the unfortunate fact that contemporary aesthetics has ignored metaphysics. From the perspective of aesthetic critique, this may be the right track of metaphysics. However, from the perspective of argumentation systems based on its theoretical resources, it may be conservative and foundationally unstable as it may lead to the establishment of an ideal aesthetics and further point to a setting up of some faith. What the Aesthetics of Elimination tries to …

Three Alternative Forms Of Ancient Chinese Fiction, Pengfei Li

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The paper proposes an alternative way to categorize ancient Chinese novels in terms of their representation and its effects of social customs, historical background, natural scenes and objects, and it argues for three categories to be the concrete representation, the abstract representation, and the half concrete half abstract representation. This categorization does not take the fundamental elements such as plot, character, and theme to be the criteria, and it may offer a new perspective to examine the artistic characteristics of ancient novels and the authors’ way of thinking.

Three Issues In Art Theory, Xian Zhou

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Art theory is both a contested concept and vaguely defined field of knowledge. The paper discusses three issues in art theory, trying to interpret art theory and its production of knowledge from different perspectives. First, the paper claims that art theory intermediates between aesthetics and subject theories of arts, and that, through self-criticism, the negative understanding of this intermediacy may be turned into positive construction to promote the development of art theory. Secondly, the paper examines from the perspective of field theory the origin, the institution and the symbolic capital of knowledge producer, and then it investigates the significance of …

Verbal Image And Image-Idea: A Divide Of Semiotic Interpretation Of Poetry, Xinshi Li

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This paper starts from the perspective of semiotic poetics and by introducing the poetic term "verbal image" and re-interpreting the traditional term "yi xiang" (image-idea), it tries to clarify the relationship between language, verbal image and image-idea in poetics. Verbal image and image-idea can be distinguished for the different natures of their symbolic objects. Verbal Image can be divided into physical verbal image and transferred verbal image. The combination of meta-language and connotative signification can illustrate the formation mechanism of verbal image. The difference in language use, aesthetic principle, and the definition of poetry between the modern and the classical …

The Autonomy Of Art And The Justice Of Aesthetics, Dai Xu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

To promote aesthetic justice is to re-incorporate contemporary aesthetics into the life world by way of ethnics and to bring out theoretical significance for the present. From the view of logic, the issue of "the autonomy of art" may be argued to be essential for the practice-oriented ethic aesthetics. Different views on this issue may be understood as what Wittgenstein called the misunderstanding of the words, and they do not conceal the essence of the problem and there has no fundamental confliction between these apparently chaotic views. The paper maintains that the investigation of aesthetic justice has to be preceded …

"Benjamin: Existence Toward Space": A Confluence Of Philosophy, Poetics And Messiah: An Interview With Peter Fenves, Sha Li, Fenves Peter

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Walter Benjamin was taken as a post-structuralist and a "left" cultural critic in Chinese academia since his thought was first introduced into China in1980s. To trace back to the origin and formulation of Benjamin's aesthetics, an interview is conducted with Professor Peter Fenves, whose German literary and philosophical researches have been based on his explorations and explanations of Benjamin's "Critique of Violence" (1921). The interview focuses on the source of his thought and its trajectory of development, discussing such philosophers and poets as Kant, Leibniz, Hölderlin, Husserl, Heidegger and Derrida who may have influenced Benjamin. In the interview, Professor Fenves …

Aesthetic Intuition And The Truth Of Art: A Phenomenological Interpretation Of "The End Of Art", Hongbin Su, Yusheng Liao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The end of art as a theoretical claim has been proposed in the Western aesthetics by Plato, Hegel and Arthur Danto. The reason for the repetitive raising of the claim is, the paper argues, that the Western thought is too rooted in the dualism between perception and reason to reach the truth of art. The paper thus proposes the replacement of the perception-reason dualism with the monism of intuition, on the ground that intuition is the original epistemic capacity and the origin of both perception and reason of human beings. Intuition is the capacity to grasp the essence of things, …

Reconstructing The Poetic Appeal Of Contemporary Chinese Prose: A Case Study On Zhao Lihong's Prose, Zhouwen Wu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The paper explores the poetic appeals in Zhao Lihong's 30-year prose writing from the following three perspectives: the positioning of the authenticity of the author's subjecthood, the choice of the approaches to poeticization, and the creation of the narrative form. The existence of these appeals proves that they reveal a problem unresolved for decades in contemporary Chinese prose. Critically inheriting the poetic tradition in May 4th Period and the First 17-Year-Period of Communist China, Zhao Lihong’s prose constructs a poetic discourse of prose aesthetics, which points to a way for the contemporary and the future prose in China.

Sade, Jouissance Of Reason And The Practical Reason Of Evil, Kailin Yang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The irreducible goal of Sade's writing does not concern erotism but the Idea, not desire but truth, not history but practice. This paper focuses on the passage from the empirical description to the transcendental idea, from pornography to pornology, or from fiction to truth. The central problem is: what, through his writing, is the enterprise of thought that Sade attempts to build? In Sade, the practical reason of evil is characterized by the experience of limit and the dialectical transformation. The stake of his writing does not, however, pertain to debauchery, crimes, profanation and so forth, as the most essential …

The "Invention" Of System In The Development Of Western Art, Manting Yin

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The development of arts in the 18th century reached a crucial stage in the Western art history, as it saw the gradual emergence of the modern art system. The system, though not shown in the drastic changes of artistic styles and tastes, was significant for the development of the ideas of arts. Different elements help to build an environment for the institutionalization of arts and to promote the establishment of the modern system of fine arts, and the elements include the institutionalization of art criticism, the emergence of modern art historical methods, and the establishment of Aesthetics as a discipline, …

The Changing Of The Person In The Narration In Modern Chinese Literature And Its Intellectual Implications, Huiying Xie, Weiwei Zhou

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The person used in narration is an essential factor of narrative rhetoric, and it plays an important role in the construction and representation of the "realness" in a novel. The choice of the person in narration may, on the one hand, abide by the implicit imperatives which the historical context enforced on "realness," and closely links to the identity of the intellectual group who undertakes the task of narrating. The novels during the May 4th Movement in 1919 correspond to the spirit of individual liberation, and the following two decades saw the transformation to popularization and nationalization. The paper demonstrates …

The Interaction Between Genres And Its Significance For Literary History, Zhongmou Zhang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Ancient Chinese genre system is relatively self-contained, with each genre representing a unique function of expression. The uniqueness is both the condition and the reason for its existence, while the genres within the system co-exist and complement each other, configuring the spirit, psychology, character and temperament of the Chinese as a cultural nation. Chinese genre system has considerable stability during a certain period of literary development, and it may be claimed that the evolution of Chinese literature is that of literary genres. When a new influential genre wedges in the system, it brings about an ecological change of the system. …

The Re-Enchantment Of Aesthetics: Back To Metaphysics, Xuguang Liu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Only through the perspective of metaphysics can the unique nature of transcendence and idealism of aesthetic activities be explained. Without the setting of idea and universality by metaphysics, engendering the judgment of appreciation is impossible; therefore, aesthetic is metaphysics' child. Only in the thinking of metaphysics, engendering aesthetic is possible. The absence of metaphysics must result in the lack of ideality, so art sink into live, and aesthetic descends to be pleasant sensation. The paper claims that aesthetic will be re-enchanted through re-instating the dimension of metaphysics into aesthetic appreciation.

The Significance Of Bai Juyi As "The Third Pole" In The Tang Poetry, Shijin Luo

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Bai Juyi was a monumental poet and a special cultural icon in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, which was also called "the centre of all dynasties" by Ye Xie. Bai Juyi initiated a turning point in literary writing and influenced the spiritual world and outlook on existence of the scholar-officials, and became "the third pole" of the Tang-Dynasty poetry and culture, along with the other two poles of Li Bai and Du Fu. If Li Bai presented an ethereal poetic prototype and a wayward personal image, while Du Fu composed formally subtle poems with a grave spirit of saving …

The Social Mores Of The Intellectuals In The Capital Of Beijing And The Spreading Of Changzhou Ci-Poetry Theory In The Late Qing Dynasty, Yan Xie

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The theoretical system of Changzhou Ci-Poetry School active in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, though constructed early, reached the mainstream ci-poetry circle as the result of changes in the learning and social mores of intellectuals in the late Qing Dynasty. The want for change was generally felt in the ci-poetry circle in early Daoguang Reign (1821-1850). This want for change corresponded to the political demands of the poet-officials who had newly entered the officialdom, which enabled the spreading of the Confucian idea of ci-poetry in the early Changzhou Ci-Poetry theory. This theoretical idea invested new implications into the ancient …

What Is Our Contemporary Art Theory, Jian Li

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The transformation of Chinese art theory from the classical to the modern takes place within the framework of multiple tensions between such elements as the inheritance and the innovation of traditional ideas, the introduction and reformation of Western resources, and the concerns and responses to the context of the times. The paper proposes that the connotation and features of the art theory in modern and contemporary China may be described with the help of the concept of modernity, as further analyses may be done at the disciplinary level on the logic of its development and on some micro issues. These …

An Investigation Of American Students’ Tonal Acquisition Towards Disyllabic Words With Same Or Different Tones, Yuan Yuan

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Mastering Mandarin tones is an indispensable path to achieving high Chinese language proficiency and a headache to a lot of American learners. Scholars keep studying this area, but this problem remains unsolved.

Through long-time observation of beginners, I found an interesting phenomenon: many students were able to correctly produce a certain tone (Tone X) which was contained by a monosyllable. However, when the students encountered a disyllabic word with the tone which they were skillful at (Tone X) and another different tone (Tone Y), the students showed no advantage on Tone X. This phenomenon motivated me to do research on …

Writing Women In Northeastern China: Melancholic Narrative In Mei Niang's Novellas, Li Guo

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Mei Niang (1920–2013), the pen name of Sun Jiarui, is a female fiction writer, translator, and editor of Funü zazhi (Ladies’ journal). In the semi-colonial Northeast China, Mei Niang’s exploration of melancholic narratives shore up manifold levels of socio-historical discourses that are constructive of women’s subjectivity. Melancholic narrative functions as an inverted mirror of both the author’s cultural displacement from her diasporic experience, and her portrayal of colonial domination of local elites by the Japanese in Northeast China. Also, the author’s depiction of feminine melancholia revokes the modernist ideology of love and its constitutive male-centered discourses, dismantles the social disenfranchisement …

Introduction To Forum: Nation, Gender, And Transnational Modernism, Ping Zhu, Li Guo

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

This forum, sprouted from a thematic panel at the 2013 Annual Meeting of Association for Asian Studies in San Diego, situates its theoretical focus on the intersecting relationship between gender and nation in early twentieth-century China within a transcultural framework. Viewing both "gender" and "nation" as centrifugal sites for discursive production in modern China, the five contributors of this special issue probe into the complex cultural mechanism which placed gender at the center of the nationalist discourse. Reciprocally, the authors explore how the instability of both discourses on gender and nation opens up space for creating subversive cultural imaginaries and …

Chinese Calligraphy: An American Chinese's Perspective, Bridget Gross Duann

Senior Theses

Humanities is the study of culture, history, literature and philosophy. Through a journey of self-­‐revelation and research, Chinese calligraphy will be introduced as more than just a form of art as Westerners see it. Having a basic practical knowledge of Calligraphy, I’ve researched and embellished upon that knowledge. Calligraphy is a long known form of writing, with many styles. Calligraphers from Ancient China reveal their feelings that it is an expression of who they are.

Imagining Female Tongzhi: The Social Significance Of Female Same-Sex Desire In Contemporary Chinese Literature, Ashley Mangan

Asian Languages and Cultures Honors Projects

In the wake of shifting cultural attitudes about gender and sexuality in Post-Mao China, new discourses have emerged about desires and subjectivities that had previously been denied visibility. This thesis takes one such emerging discourse as its focus, the discourse of female homoeroticism in contemporary Chinese literature. The project has three major purposes: (1) to investigate the historical and cultural conditions that have contributed to the emergence of this discourse in the 1990s, an era of profound ideological and cultural change in China, (2) to explore the local and global analyses that contribute to the discourse, and (3) to discuss …

The Influences Of The American Boxer Indemnity Reparations Remissions On Chinese Higher Education, Xiaojuan Zhou

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to consider the influences of the American Boxer Indemnity Reparations Remissions (ABIRR) on Chinese higher education. These remissions were used to establish two universities, to establish the American Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program (ABISP) to support Chinese students’ studying in America, and to support other higher education- related projects.

This study focused on higher education considering ABISP as an individual case. The ABISP students were selected from all the students who studied in America in the corresponding period in part because of the inconsistencies of research before 1949.

Through tracking 1,152 ABISP students of Type …

Looking Through Endgame: On Adorno's Conceptions Of Modernist Theatre, Cheng Lu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Beckett's theatre of absurd was regarded by Adorno as the most quintessential modernist artworks. In Notes to Literature, Adorno interpreted Beckett's Endgame against the background of the post-WWII historical and psychological crisis. Firstly, the meaningless living of the characters in Endgame leads to Adorno's delineation of a declining subject in a rational age. Secondly, Adorno found in Endgame some anti-existentialist literary elements, which prompted him to re-interpret the relations between subject and situation and endow Beckettian absurdity with novel theoretical significance. Thirdly, Adorno considered Endgame as a parody of traditional drama, which was, for Adorno, a deviation from the rational …