Chinese Studies Commons^™

Between Medusa And Nymph: On Agamben's Theory Of Image, Jiang Lan

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Image is born as a technology of memory, that is, the image realizes the possibility to access a disappeared past from the perspective of our finite present. However, the original image, as an object petrified by Medusa, has frozen a past which we cannot penetrate from our finitude. Indeed, Agamben doesn't think that the existence of image will thoroughly petrify our past; on the contrary, there are crevices between the petrified stones. It is in these crevices that lies the possibility to dialectically articulate the images, that is, Walter Benjamin’s dialectical image. Nevertheless, what fascinates Agamben most is not the …

Foucault And Damnatio Memoriae: An Introduction To The Mnemo-Government Of Cinema, Yang Li

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Foucault published several interviews and articles about cinema in 1970s, and he took the cinema as one of the dispositifs codifying the popular memory. The working class in 19th century invented many ways to write their own memory, but the cinema, by way of popular historical narration, ended the history of the people from the lower depths to write their memory. Foucault analyzed how the controversial (retro and erotic) films in 1970s represented desire and power in historical narration. This paper tries to combine Foucault's "dispositif of popular memory" with the biopolitics, and claims that the memory is also the …

Ideology In Narrative And The Surpass Of It: A Discussion Based On Ricoeur's Lectures On Ideology And Utopia, Xin Liu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This paper bases its discussion on Paul Ricoeur's Lectures on Ideology and Utopia and investigates how Ricoeur proposes his own dialectical conceptualization upon his own reading of Marx's classical texts and constructs his dimension of reflection in his poetics of narrative. Narrative, when bringing logic structure into events, becomes a process of rationalization or legitimization, and in this process the reality is distorted. Before it becomes absolute distortion, Ricoeur claims, the representation itself is one part of the materialistic and linguistic activities of a human person, a language of real life existed before distortion. When narrative links to such function, …

Gao Ershi's Concept Of The Refined And The Mundane In Calligraphic Art, Bin Zhou, Shuqiang Cui

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The concepts of the refined and the mundane are a pair of important category in calligraphic aesthetics and Gao Ershi's ideas on this are reflected in three aspects. The first is to regard the classical as the refined and the contemporary as the mundane. This is realized by reviving and studying the cursive style for official writing. The second is to regard the cultured to be refined and the crafted as the mundane. This emphasizes the cultural and aesthetic implications and attributes of calligraphy. The third is to take the clear to be refined and the turbid to be mundane. …

Ironical Appropriation Of Revolutionary Signs: For Memories Buried In Forgetting, Jiwu Zhou

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The ironical appropriation of revolutionary signs is a visual representation strategy widely used in contemporary art practice of China, with the purpose to transform invisible cultural trauma into visual text of remembrance. Amid the textual and visual narratives, hierarchical order of symbols and signs meets its deconstruction. Appropriation of revolutionary signs in contemporary art practice is evident in three aspects: 1) appropriation and contra-appropriation of visual signs; 2) displacement and transformation of visual images; 3) parody of visual texts. However, not all appropriation of revolutionary signs is ironical, and the criteria for irony should include semantic polysemy, contextual sharing, and …

Is Queer Theory Equal To Gay And Lesbian Studies？, Lanlan Du

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Queer theory is a field of post-structuralist critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of women's studies. Although it is related to gay and lesbian studies, it differs from and reacts to them. Since Chinese scholars tend to conflate queer theory with gay and lesbian studies, this essay hopes for a more accurate introduction of queer theory with an analysis of its main ideas.

Maximizing Communicative Competency In A Classroom, Yinshun Wang

Faculty Publications & Research

Developing students’ communicative competence is a primary goal of many language classrooms. This session will present various strategies to encourage learner agency. The presenter will introduce strategies to execute fast-paced communicative learning activities that bypass mechanical activities and task-based student assessments to measure students’ proficiency in interpretive, interpersonal and presentational modes of communication. Examples of lesson plans and student work from a high school Chinese classroom will be provided.

Live Confucian: The Newsletter Of The Confucius Institute Of Pace University October 2015, 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.

My Early Years At The University Of Chicago, Tai-Loi Ma

Journal of East Asian Libraries

No abstract provided.

Memories Of T. H. Tsien

Journal of East Asian Libraries

No abstract provided.

Chinese Internet Literature: Preserving Born-Digital Literary Content And Fighting Web Piracy, C. David Hickey

Journal of East Asian Libraries

This paper undertakes to define Chinese internet literature (CIL) and discuss the unique circumstances that make the subject of CIL content preservation so problematic. Copyright infringement and text corruption, in which the text is changed or adapted without author’s permission, are major problems in China. Text corruption mostly results from censorship or web piracy. A recently-developed type of anti-piracy scheme called “literary works fingerprinting” can protect the content of the works themselves, guarding them against plagiarism. If as many of the original CIL documents as possible are consistently archived and digitally fingerprinted, then the born-digital works that remain online will …

文苑 (重刊號第15期), 第十九屆嶺南大學學生會中文系系會 (凝暄)

文苑

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Theravada Buddhism, Identity, And Cultural Continuity In Jinghong, Xishuangbanna, James H. Granderson

Student Publications

This ethnographic field study focuses upon the relationship between the urban Jinghong and surrounding rural Dai population of lay people, as well as a few individuals from other ethnic groups, and Theravada Buddhism. Specifically, I observed how Theravada Buddhism and Dai ethnic culture are continued through the monastic system and the lay community that supports that system. I also observed how individuals balance living modern and urban lifestyles while also incorporating Theravada Buddhism into their daily lives. Both of these involved observing the relationship between Theravada monastics in city and rural temples and common people in daily life, as well …

A Tribute To T. H. Tsien, Eugene W. Wu

Journal of East Asian Libraries

No abstract provided.

A Critical Survey Of Four Concepts In Literary Theories Concerning "Ethics", Yuanqiao Li

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

In terms of the relation between ethics and literature, some key concepts have been frequently used but sometimes the supposed distinction has not been clarified. This paper tries to survey the following four important concepts concerning the ethics in literary theories: ethical turn, ethical criticism, narrative ethics, and ethical literary criticism. The ethical turn occurs in many fields, while ethical criticism mainly applies to the field of literature and arts. The uses of narrative ethics vary in different contexts, and ethical literary criticism is a neologism in Chinese context first used by Chinese scholar Nie Zhenzhao.

Historical Totality: The Plight Of Re-Enchantment: A Critical Review Of Jameson's Major Code Of Narrative Politics, Kaiyan Zhang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

As one of the major codes in Jameson's cultural and political hermeneutics, "the totality history," while yielding much insight, has a tendency of re-enchantment (mystification). Jameson thinks that the individual perceptual experience is not true for the totality history, while the totality history can not be recognized and grasped by any individual, so his theory has obvious mystification tendency and intrinsic paradox. Meantime, Jameson's totality history view also encounters severe query and challenge in the post-modern context. Solving the plight Jameson faced is not to deny the existence of the historical totality, but to absorb Chinese and western philosophers' wisdom …

A Discussion Of "Off-Site Requisition" In Literary Theory, Guoqiang Qiao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Since the 20th century, the adoption of methods in cross-disciplinary studies contributes to a dominant trend in the Western literary theory hat blurs the boundary between literary theory and other disciplines. Literary theory burdens itself with or rather, is "hijacked" by many irrelevant things such as politics, ideologies, moralities, etc. Zhang Jiang believes that contemporary Western literary theory is not "pure" due to the "off-side requisition" and therefore he proposes a return to literature and a redevelopment of literary theory within the literary system. This paper presents viewpoints different from Zhang, contending that literary theory is never "pure" from its …

The Transformation Of The Ci-Poetry Studies During Late-Qing And Early Roc Period As Exemplified By The Editorial Work On Wu Wenying's Poetry, Xuejun Chen

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The paper examines the phenomenon of the editorial work and critical annotations to Wu Wenying's Mengchuang Ci-Poems during the period from the Late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. During this period, four major scholars, namely, Wang Pengyun, Zheng Wenzhao, Zhu Zumou and Kuang Zhouni, studied Wu Wenying's poetry and, together with their disciples, promoted the fever of "Mengchuang Ci-Poems (Dreaming Window, the Art name of Wu Wenying)". These scholars and their disciples formed a lineage in criticism for Wu's poetry, which set an example for later compilation of ci-poetry anthologies and helped to establish the arguably last …

On The Generic Hybridization Between Fiction And Biography, Qinghua Wang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Biography as a literary genre comes between unofficial history and fiction, although closer to fiction. This paper examines the hybridization between fiction and biography with examples from the public and private catalogues since the Song Dynasty, and it analyzes the common ground between the two genres in terms of generic features, compilation approaches, and raw materials and investigates the boundaries of the genres in terms of functional value, thematic appeal and narrative approaches.

On Yao Nai's Poetic Quality And The Origin Of His Poetics, Yin Jiang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

It has been proposed since the early 20th century that the Tongchang School in the Qing Dynasty was a literary school of both prose and poetry, but the Tongcheng School's theoretical claims of poetry has not been given due explorations. This paper approaches Tongcheng School's poetic theory from an analysis of Yao Nai's (1731-1815) literary ideas and proceeds to examine how he developed his poetics upon Wang Shizhen (1634-1711). Then, the paper analyzes the poetic taste in New Style Poems and its illuminations to the poetics of Tongcheng School before concluding the paper with Yao Nai's theoretical and academic contribution …

The Boundaries, Implicit Speech, And Blind Areas Of The Narrative Of Love In The Red Classics, Yanbing Hui

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

In the narrative of love, "Red Classics" in contemporary Chinese literature have left many significant narrative traces, and these traces show in the changeable boundaries, abundant implicit speech and characteristic blind areas. Through these traces we can recognize the specific historical context of those literary works and the complicated interaction between literary narrative and the dominant ideology. Symptomatic reading of the love narratives helps us to evaluate the Red Classics more objectively and understand the intrinsic nature of contemporary literature better.

Theorization And Pluralism: A Study Of Danto's Idea On The End Of Art, Bing Zhang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This paper argues that two key words to grasp Danto's idea on the end of art are theorization and pluralism, and these two terms explain the exposition of the end of art in Danto's philosophy. Danto's argument for theorization may be the essence of his idea on the end of art, which means that art has become a philosophy while pluralism has become the existence mode of art after the end of art. The diversity of art's existence is the result of the end of art.

Weng Fanggang's Song-Dynasty Poetics In The Perspective Of Literary History, Yunyun Tang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

he relationship between the poetics of Weng Fanggang and the poetry of Song dynasty has been the research attention for many scholars. Weng's criticism focused on the texture of the Song-Dynasty poetry, and he regarded highly Su Shi and Huang Tingjian; however, his high regard was not grounded theoretically. From the perspective of poetic logic construction, Weng's Song-Dynasty poetics began with his criticism of The Anthology of the Song-Dynasty Poetry edited by Wu Zhizhen, while at the same time he revealed the essential features of the Song-Dynasty poetry. Weng grounded his criticism and argument on the logic of literary history, …

Culture Trauma, Morality And Solidarity: The Social Construction Of "Holocaust" And Other Mass Murders, C. Alexander Jeffrey

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Cultural trauma occurs when members of a collectivity feel they have been subjected to a horrendous event that leaves indelible marks upon their group consciousness, marking their memories forever and changing their future identity in fundamental and irrevocable ways. By constructing cultural traumas, social groups, national societies, and sometimes even entire civilizations, not only cognitively identify the existence and source of human suffering, but may also take on board some significant moral responsibility for it. Insofar as they identify the cause of trauma in a manner that assumes such moral responsibility, members of collectivities define their solidary relationships that allow …

Historical Changes Of The Concept Of Female Beauty In The Pre-Qin Period From The Appreciation Of Ugliness To Beauty, Yongzhen Cheng

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The concept of female beauty in the Pre-Qin period underwent a great historical change from the appreciation of "the ugly" to that of "the beautiful." The image of beautiful females in the prehistoric age was characteristically "ugly and muscular," highlighting the reproductive function and death function of the Great Mother, and could be argued to be the embodiment of the victory of "the mother principle." The beautiful and the ugly were blended in the image of the female beauty in the Xia-Shang period, which was mainly because the establishment of patriarchy had turned the female from aesthetic subject into aesthetic …

On The Connotations Of Hsia Chih-Tsing's Criticism With An Example From The Perspective Of Close Reading Of A History Of Modern Chinese Fiction, Wei Xia

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Hsia Chih-tsing's concept of literary criticism in his History of Modern Chinese Fiction is constructed around a group of concepts centered round moral concerns and supplemented with indirect comment and personality integrity. However, when these criticism are put into practice, personality integrity often than not takes precedence over the other concepts and sways Hsia's objectivity in evaluating literary works. The paper argues that Hsia had the edge of literary critic but was not sharp enough to be a literary theorist, although his achievements have been the most fortunate contribution to the study of modern Chinese literature.

Rethinking Camp: From Sontag's "Notes On Camp" To Camp Films, Wensi Li

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Susan Sontag's 1964 article "Notes on Camp" resurfaces to the reading public with the 10th anniversary of her death. As a term, "camp" became well known during the 1960s, yet its origin can be traced to the 17th century. As a notion of taste, the camp sensibility is active in all fields of nostalgic collections, avant-garde and independent art, rock music and fashion. As a genre of subculture, camp is closely linked with the development of the queer theory, the youth movement and the politics of homosexuality. Camp appreciation can also be seen in the film industry, which provides us …

香港九〇年代短篇小說中的「房子」, Fong Wong

Lingnan Theses

邁入二十世紀九〇年代，香港正式面對回歸中國的過渡期，並與全球一起面對二十世紀末的到來。這個時期的香港，不單充滿了過渡期的焦慮，還有全球化的衝擊，以及面對回歸不久便來臨的世紀末。九十年代的複雜語境，使得這時期的香港文學蘊含了豐富多彩的價值，十分值得關注。

文學中的空間，無論是對於敍述者或是讀者都起著重要的作用。然而，過往的研究中，時間敍事往往成爲研究的焦點，文學中的空間研究卻寥寥可數。在此情況下，實在有必要對文學中的空間多加關注。當代西方地理學家大衛‧哈維（David Harvey）肯定了「空間」研究的價值 ——「空間」可謂當今文學研究中的關鍵詞。他更提出：「掌握空間作爲一個關鍵詞的要點，是要辨認出這個概念如何更好的整合到既有的社會、文學和文化後設理論中，以及效果爲何。」

本論文欲從香港九〇年代的語境（九七回歸、全球化等）開始，梳理當時備受關注的主題（九七、女性、都市異化）。進而以「房子」作爲視角，透過分析香港九○年代的短篇小説，發掘「房子」此空間在不同主題中的意義，以及文學作品如何以「房子」此空間來敍述主題且敍述了主題的什麽面向。本論文試圖以「房子」爲例，嘗試將「空間」概念整合到文學分析中，發掘空間在文學中的價值。

張彝宣傳奇研究, Wing Yan Tsang

Lingnan Theses

張彝宣，一名大復，明末清初戲曲作家。現存九部傳奇，包括：《醉菩提》、《海潮音》、《釣魚船》、《吉祥兆》、《金剛鳳》、《讀書聲》、《快活三》、《紫瓊瑤》和《雙福壽》。是次研究期望達到兩個目標，一是評定張彝宣劇作的文學價值，二是衡量張彝宣劇作的戲臺演出價值。本文研究方法包括：排場關目分析、喜劇元素分析、行當角色分析、情節編排分析、主題思想分析等。

論文分七章：第一章為研究概況。第二章至第六章分論劇作。第二章討論《紫瓊瑤》與《雙福壽》的排場藝術，分兩部份：第一部份分析單齣排場。第二部份討論腳色人物的調配、關目情節與劇本體製的設計乃至內場與外場的配合。第三章討論《快活三》與《讀書聲》的民間娛樂色彩，分四層面：一、「娛樂」主旨、二、喜劇人物塑造、三、關目技巧、四、插科打諢的喜劇效果。第四章：《海潮音》與《醉菩提》佛教人物的臺上示現，包括妙善觀音與濟公和尚的形象改造，重要的是分析「因緣果報應」和「通神」的主題思想及其舞臺效應和濟公的玩世因緣。第五章討論《吉祥兆》與《金剛鳳》的敘事程式。第六章討論《釣魚船》對《西遊記》的改編及其意義，特別研究劉全夫妻之恩情重義及其意義。第七章是總結。

Anti-Theory And Theory: A Study Of F. R. Leavis's Concept Of Criticism, Xiangchun Meng

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

F. R. Leavis's critical practice has been habitually and conveniently labeled as anti-theoretical. His debate with Rene Wellek in the 1930s on "literature vs. philosophy" was a proof to his aversion to rigid theory and abstraction. Leavis maintained that literary criticism in practice should engage itself with elements such as human nature, life, morality and reality, which led to the labeling of him as a "practical critic." What Leavis was against in the so-called "anti-theory" is essentially the routinization, dogmatism and abstraction in literary criticism practice, and Leavis held up to the empirical tradition of literary criticism, emphasizing on literariness …