Chinese Studies Commons^™

Shock And Immersion: The Complex Aesthetic Experience Of Chinese New Mainstream Film, Xiaofang Lu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The new mainstream cinema in China, instead of providing a simple mixture or hybrid of artistic styles and genres, advocates that audiovisual spectacles created by film technologies should "break into" the established experience of audiences and their customary protective mechanism of consciousness so as to produce a psychological strike. Meanwhile, new mainstream cinema also creates an aesthetic experience, through which the audience are drawn deeply into the film thanks to their surrealistic sensory and emotional engagement. The surrealistic sensory experience brings "shock" to the audience, while emotional identification results in "immersion." Provided with such aesthetic effects, the new mainstream film, …

The Significance Of Concept Differentiation, Dakang Chen

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Concept is a fundamental element in literary studies, and concept differentiation may influence the content, methods and judgment of the studies. This article discusses three kinds of concept uses, which determine the research direction, value estimation and time connotation, and further expounds on the significance of concept differentiation.

The Establishment Of Modern Art Law Of "Do Whatever You Want" And The Reconstruction Of Pan-Art Category: Case Study Of The Ready-Made Works Of Marcel Duchamp, Weisheng Xiao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The ready-made works of Marcel Duchamp made it impossible to define art, which actually implied the possibility of "artistic freedom." This was the new artistic principle determined by the ready-made, a principle that has established the modern art law "do whatever you want." This law makes art a judicial "precedent" event. It only stipulates a form consistent with the universal, so its judgment is a reflective aesthetic judgment. By restoring the tradition of pan-art, Duchamp brought language art back into the category of fine art so that paintings once again served the human thought. This particular strategy of returning to …

"Writers Should Learn Philology First": The Genesis Of A Common Sense In Literature, Feng Lin

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

"Writer should learn philology first" was first presented by the Tang writer official Han Yu (768-824), and became an influential proposition of literature in the Qing dynasty. Qing textualists' effectively reinterpretation of it enabled the proposition to become a classic statement to demonstrate philology’s importance to literary creation, and the position gradually developed into a common sense recognized by various literary schools in the late Qing period and finally entered the literary history and textbooks during the Republican period. To describe the course of how the proposition emerged, disseminated and developed into a common sense will illuminate the understanding of …

Deleuze's Affect Theory And Becoming-Literature, Yue Ge

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Despite the multi-disciplinary scholarly attention it has drawn, affect theory is subject to various contestations. An in-depth examination of Spinoza's and Deleuze's respective theory of affect reveals that Spinoza's concept of affect is a reflection upon the passive reactions of the body and mind, whereas Deleuze de-contextualizes the concept of affect so as to construct an approach to breaking down the power discipline and restoring the potentials of life. Deleuze opines that symbols are the primary vehicle for power transfer. From the perspective of "affect," he captures multiple effective ways of power disintegration in the field of literature, creatively proposes …

From Commitment To Uselessness: On Georges Bataille's Concept Of Literature, Tianshu Zhao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This article aims to analyze George Bataille's concept of literature by comparing it with Jean-Paul Sartre's opposite view of committed literature. Sartre considered commitment to the world as core of literature, requiring literature to serve society, convey meaning, and advance the progress of society and history. In response to Sartre's view, Bataille argued that literature is useless. He recognized literature as a sovereign activity of expenditure and argued that it should only present the unknown of the world, which sheds light on unemployed negativity as the core of literature. In this sense, Bataille's concept is a reflection on modernity. Literature, …

The Image Of Characters In Twentieth-Century Chinese Fiction, Zidong Xu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Scholars generally believe that the most important characters in modern Chinese literature are intellectuals and peasants, and their relationship is central to the literary theme of "reforming national character". However, in the late Qing Dynasty and contemporary fictions, officials become the third important image of characters. The complicated triangular relationship between intellectuals, peasants and officials in fictions is since formed. If the relationship between intellectuals and peasants can be summarized as "enlightenment and national salvation", the process of "mutual transformation" between intellectuals and officials in twentieth-century Chinese fictions and the historical evolution of the "contradictory and interdependent" relationship between peasants …

Feminist Perspectives On Gender And The Sublime, Rong Chen

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The paper reinterprets the conceptual history of sublime theory from a feminist perspective. Besides exposing the deep imprint of patriarchal discourse in the classical version of the sublime, contemporary feminists make great efforts to remold the aesthetical category to incorporate the female experiences, subjectivity and ethics. Therefore, the concept of the sublime enjoys an expansion to include possibilities of transgressing borders, embracing emotion, upholding heterogeneity and advocating intersubjectivity. This is the new dynamic that feminism brings to the theoretical field of sublime aesthetics.

Ideas Of Photography Studies In France: Reflections On Three Contemporary Paradigms, Yichen Lu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The ideas of photography, different from photography, are constituted by a network of concepts that emerges out of its dissemination and reception, and features the regularity of the indicative discourses of photography as a practice and an image. The shift from photography to the concept of photography is not only a change in concepts, but also one in photographic historiography. This shift constantly questions and deconstructs the traditional history of photography, whose models closely follow technical progress or the beautiful images produced by great photographers, emphasizing the spectators/recipients of the photographic image that were marginalized in the mainstream history of …

The Perceptional Foundation Of Impressionism, Haiyan Li

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

As a revolutionary painting school, impressionists develop a special plane configuration that deserves phenomenological description and critical reflection over the philosophical assumptions behind it. Impressionists claim to represent impressions as they are, so it strictly restricts the object to be represented within the field of the physical world, and in the process of painting, they try to remove all the processing activities that are external to the original impression and to use separate color blocks and rough brushstrokes so that they may represent the instant impression in the picture. By analyzing this plain configuration, this article explores the special concept …

Early Reading Theories Of Louis Althusser And The Misjudgment Of Surface Reading, Jianzeng Zhou

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

There are three reading theories in Louis Althusser's early works: intuitive reading, expressive reading, and symptomatic reading. Intuitive reading puts emphasis on the intuitiveness of the mind towards given content, which tends to make the text transparent and shallow. The second is the theory of expressive reading, which stresses the revelation of a single meaning on the surface of the text through rational thinking, insisting on an exclusive and closed distinction between surface and depth. Symptomatic reading promotes a dialectical thinking that analyzes the dual content hidden beneath the textual surface in pursuit of an open adjoining distinction between surface …

Natural History And The "Scientific Discourse Community" Of The Three Zhou Brothers, Jianrong Liao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

As the mainstream of modern science, natural history has developed from Foucauldian epistemological discourse to the important discourse of "scientific discourse community," which has become the basis of legitimacy for a new culture and new thought that promoted the New Culture Movement. As the scientific discourse of the three Zhou brothers, natural history influenced Lu Xun's (Zhou Shuren) "saving the nation through science" and "biological truth", Zhou Zuoren's "biological reference" and "naturalization of ethics", as well as Zhou Jianren's "national evolution" and related ideas of new culture. Zhou Brothers' scientific discourse of natural history witnessed the unremitting exploration of Chinese …

On Death And Hope In Lu Xun's "Upstairs In The Tavern", Hong Zhang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Lu Xun's short story "Upstairs in the Tavern" brings to a new phase the problematic of soul in the modern man, which is first addressed in his "New Year Sacrifice". Through the reunion between the narrator "I" and his old friend Lü Weifu in the tavern, the problematic of soul in modern intellectuals resurfaces. Lü, a modern rationalist, was exposed to two events of death, which shook the ground of his materialistic view of life, making him feel sinking and bored as love and hopes were shattered. This is also the fundamental theme of Lu Xun's works during the period …

The Literati Identification Of Wang Shizhen And Its Significance, Xiang Xiong

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Wang Shizhen (1526-1590) had a strong reaction to the stigmatic identification of literati. Wang's stance towards literati transformed gradually from a critique on "literati being impractical" to the lament for literati's fate as well as an appeal to sympathy for literati among his peers. . Faced with the claim that literati were not virtuous, he emphasized that literary talent should be the inherent measurement in identifying literati. This idea was distinctive from the view of Tang Shunzhi (1507-1560), and the theory of emotion. Wang Shizhen’s literati identification and consciousness of community were driven by the intertwining but also conflicting constellations …

The Modern Origin Of Animation And The Intermediality Of Animation Art, Xueqin Feng

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Giannaberto Bendazzi, an Italian historian of animation, believes that Emile Cohl and his Fantasmagorie are the origins of animation art. Bendazzi's view is problematic as he considered the origins of animation and film share the same genealogy, ignoring the significant differences on media basis. From the perspective of intermediality of art, Emile Reynaud's Luminous Pantomimes presents the media difference between animation and film, representing a heterogeneous origin of animation in the modern era. Analyses of this origin will provide an insight into the ontology of animation, which is a cross-media art.

Triple Dimensions Of The "Temporal Turn": Theories Of "Contemporaneity" In Western Contemporary Art And Their Problems, Lihui Dong

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

In recent years, contemporaneity, a term with specific and changing connotations, has stirred up continuing debates in the West, as part of the attempt to theorize contemporary art. Although these theories have different ways of argument focusing on different aspects, discussions on contemporaneity are all based on the Latin word tempor, which means time, with an attempt to escape from the modern concept of time and to launch a contemporary "temporal turn". Among these theories, Giorgio Agamben, Boris Groys and Peter Osborne's arguments exemplify three typical approaches to explore the “temporal turn”, and they claim that contemporaneity lies in its …

Views On Yuefu Among Literati In The Song Dynasty And Volumes Of Yuefu In Their Collected Works: A Case Study Of Wen Tong's Yuefu Zayong, Haiyan Liang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Wen Tong's Yuefu Zayong from Collected Works of Danyuan demonstrated his art of yuefu with old titles. Using the old titles from yuefu poems of the Han, Wei, and Six dynasties, the poet paid special attention to guci (extant lyrics of yuefu before the Song dynasty), benshi (content of yuefu, namely, historical legends and folk tales) and historical situations that gave rise to tunes, which were all his sources of inspiration. Some of his works featured deliberately unpolished simplicity, following the poetic ideal promoted by such intellectual movement as fugu (return to the ancients), while some featured elaborate depiction and …

Cfl Teachers’ Intercultural Communication Competence Through Case Analysis, Shunqin Li, Ting Shu

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

The demand for Chinese learning in the world puts forward higher needs for the competence of a CFL (Chinese as a Foreign Language) teacher. A CFL teacher’s intercultural communication competence (ICC), as a unique and critical part, needs to be concerned more. Inductive and descriptive approaches were used to analyze 86 ICC cases identified from "Cases and Analysis of Cross-cultural Communication" and "Detailed Explanation of Classic Cases of International Chinese Teachers." The cases were categorized into seven cross-cultural communication elements: environmental adaptation, cross-cultural integration, cross-cultural communication, self-regulation, communication, foreign language, and team spirit. Typical cases of each category were selected …

Improving Chinese Language Learning Through Collaborative Kahoot Mode, Hongmin Yu

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

This study used quantitative methods to assess students' Chinese language learning attitudes and learning habits on Kahoot, a game-based learning platform. Kahoot enables teachers to transform bland Chinese vocabulary memorization into exciting, game-like situations. It makes Chinese language learning fun and interactive. The study aims to compare Kahoot team play mode with individual play mode. Sixty-four fifth graders participated. In the experimental group, students grouped by themselves or teacher to compete with one another. They enjoyed working together to share what they knew and learned from each other. Students were tested prior to the course (pretest) and following the course …

The Use Of An Elicited Imitation Test To Measure Global Oral Proficiency Of L2 Chinese At The Postsecondary Classroom, I-Huei Lee

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

With a growing number of foreign language studies on proficiency outcomes, it is imperative to address the challenge of measuring students’ proficiency development in a language program where standardized proficiency testing is not readily available. This article reports administering a Chinese elicited imitation test (EIT) by an instructor to track students’ global oral proficiency development in a small language program in a mid-size U.S. public university. The test results from the EIT of second language (L2) Chinese suggest that this tool can provide the instructor with valuable insights into students’ oral proficiency. This study also discusses the potential practical value …

Producing Podcasts In A Chinese Classroom: A Digital Humanities Project, Dongdong Chen

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

This paper describes an experiment that engages students taking the second part of an Introductory Chinese course with an assignment to create podcasts in the form of an interview. Requiring students to integrate the aural, oral, and textural information via technology so as to carry a conversation with an interlocutor challenges them to convey their thoughts from the language they think in into meaningful ideas using the target language. In this way, students are "pushed" to convert their listening, speaking, and writing from being isolated components into a more dynamic and cohesive mode of communicating. As they explore expressing their …

Table Of Contents, Huiwen Li

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

Table of Contents

The People Of The Pla 2.0, Roy Kamphausen Mr.

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

The 27th annual People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Conference—“The People in the PLA” 2.0—revisited a theme first explored at the 2006 conference but understudied since. This volume examines how the structure, education, training, and recruitment of PLA personnel have changed in the last decade and in the Xi Jinping era.

Structural changes in the PLA have centered around two poles: improving the warfighting readiness of the PLA and strengthening Communist Party of China (CPC) control of the PLA. Reforms to the political work system, the evolution of the Second Artillery into the Rocket Force, and expansion of the PLA’s foreign-based force …

中國古典美學範疇之“淡”, Zhou Cao

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

上個世紀七十年代，羅蘭·巴特（Roland Barthes）以“平淡的場域”表達了對中國的整體感觀，而後荷蘭漢學家余蓮（François Jullien）以“淡”總論中國思想與美學，兩位學者從跨文化的視野指出了“淡”在中國古代美學思想體系中的重要性。若從“淡”的歷史流變來看，不同理論流派與藝術門類的論述跨越了數個研究場域，而非限於範疇體系中“風格”論的一種表現。故此，本文嘗試超越以往視“淡”為“審美風格”的局限，著重研究“淡”在不同理論之間的流動，探尋“淡”如何從味覺現象發展為哲學、道德概念並演變為文藝美學範疇，從材質、心性、詩歌、詩歌批評、詩學理論五個角度梳理其理論漸進的過程與發展史的重要節點；同時，鑒於古代範疇隨步移行的特點，本文在微觀細讀的基礎上深入辨析一些由“淡”構成的重要概念或術語，界定它們的內涵與外延，並以文史哲結合的方法釐清其各自的理論語境與淵源，進而反思“淡”在不同時期意涵變遷的歷史文化原因。本文通過重要節點勾勒“淡”的發展史，透視古代美學思想各個場域之間的會通，希望能夠重新描繪“淡”在整個範疇體系中的位置，發現“淡”成為古典文藝審美理想的深層原因。

Writing Gender In Early Modern Chinese Women's Tanci Fiction, Li Guo

Purdue University Press Book Previews

Women’s tanci, or “plucking rhymes,” are chantefable narratives written by upper-class educated women from seventeenth-century to early twentieth-century China. Writing Gender in Early Modern Chinese Women's Tanci Fiction offers a timely study on early modern Chinese women’s representations of gender, nation, and political activism in their tanci works before and after the Taiping Rebellion (1850 to 1864), as well as their depictions of warfare and social unrest.

Women tanci authors’ redefinition of female exemplarity within the Confucian orthodox discourses of virtue, talent, chastity, and political integrity could be bourgeoning expressions of female exceptionalism and could have foreshadowed protofeminist ideals …

Imperial Crossings: Chinese Indentured Migration To Sumatra's East Coast, 1865-1911, Gregory Jany

Student Work

A 2020-2021 Williams Prize for best essay in East Asian Studies was awarded to Gregory Jany (Jonathan Edwards, '21) for his essay submitted to the Department of History, “Imperial Crossings: Chinese Indentured Migration to Sumatra's East Coast, 1865-1911" (Denise Ho, Assistant Professor of History, advisor).

Gregory Jany’s thesis, “Imperial Crossings: Chinese Indentured Migration to Sumatra's East Coast, 1865-1911,” is elegantly written, deeply researched in multiple archives—British materials, Dutch archives, and Qing documents—and uses several languages beyond English: Bahasa Indonesia, Dutch, Chinese, and Classical Chinese. Grounded in the literatures of the late imperial China, the Chinese diaspora, and colonial Southeast Asia, …

Tongcheng School's Criticism Of Anti-Order Writing: On Annotative Criticism In Classical Prose Anthologies, Xinping Yang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

"Anti-order" is an important theoretical category in Chinese traditional culture, often compared with the category of "fro-order." As the categories of "anti-order" and "fro-order" develop, two value orientations are formed in the process, that is, the orientation that favors "fro-order" over "anti-order" and that puts more merit on "anti-order" than "fro-order." The preference to "anti-order" has exerted greater influence and given rise to the concept of "anti-order writing" in theoretical criticism of classical Chinese literature. It is a common aesthetic aspiration in literary criticism of the Qing Dynasty that values the "anti-order." The Tongcheng school, for instance, makes detailed comments …

On The Edition Criticism Of New-Era Novels And Its Academic Value, Xianhai Luo

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Different versions of novels in the new era through the writers' revision or rewriting has not been paid due academic attention. Different versions of novels are produced in three periods particularly. Among these revisions and rewritings, the "substantive textual variants" center round expressions that are politically sensitive or that are concerned with sex scenes. Other changes are made concerning artistic perfection and socio-historical requirements. Apart from political factors, literary awards, commercialization, film and television adaptation, copyright, regional culture, network and new media, as well as changes in the context of globalization, are also contributing reasons for textual modification and variation. …

Physical Instruments And Image Art, Tian Li

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

From cavern fresco to easel painting, from photograph to computer-generated imagery (CGI), the physical instruments for capturing and creating images have constantly evolved thanks to the progress of technology. Accordingly, the development of image art has undergone three stages, that is, those of simulation, reproduction, and generation. Following the popularization of painting software and the Internet is the seamless integration of simulation, reproduction, and generation, which gives rise to an unprecedented prospect of visuality as well as more profound aesthetic thinking. This article, with a reference to the changes in drawing tools and a focus on the relationship between technical …

Pleasure And Aesthetic Experience From The Perspective Of Neuroaesthetics, Jun Hu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The study of the relationship between cognition and emotion in the common aesthetic mechanism of human brain is subject to debates. Oshin Vartanian, among others, suggests that cognition and emotion play an equally important role in the aesthetic process. He brings the concept of "pleasure" to the forefront in aesthetic experience and attempts to build a theoretical framework of neuroaesthetics that can link the study of emotion and that of cognition. Based on the aesthetic experience processing patterns, the emotional experience theory, as well as aesthetic experiential cases, Vartanian speculates and illustrates how "pleasure" plays a role in aesthetic experience. …