East Asian Languages and Societies Commons^™

Cultural Diplomacy With North Korean Characteristics: Pyongyang’S Exportation Of The Mass Games To The Third World, 1972–1996, Benjamin Young

Research & Publications

During the 1970s and 1980s, the communist government in Pyongyang sent Mass Games instructors to the Third World in order to improve the image of North Korea abroad and promote its version of socialist modernity. The Mass Games, a huge choreographic gymnastics event of 100,000 performers, artistically exhibited the North Korean idea of "ilsim-dangyeol (single-minded unity).” In the era of decolonization, postcolonial leaders in the emerging Third World turned to East Asia for developmental inspirations and some leaders, notably Idi Amin of Uganda, admired the North Korean model of collectivism and discipline. The Mass Games, epitomized the communalistic values of …

Islamic And Middle East Area Studies Librarianship, Walid Ghali, Waseem Farooq, Paul Auchterlonie, Arnoud Vrolijk

Abdou Filali-Ansary Occasional Paper Series

The three papers collected here are based on a seminar on Islamic Studies Librarianship held on 31 January 2019 at the Aga Khan Library (AKL), in conjunction with the Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC). Curators, area studies directors, and collection librarians, who are currently involved in this field, gathered to discuss common challenges and to identify strategic areas for collaboration.

Modernity In Miniature: Maoism And The Beijing Department Store, Samuel M. Hellmann

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis examines the Beijing Department Store as a contradictory structure embedded in the world’s largest Communist revolution. By looking at the urban planning decisions behind constructing a colonial form in the center of the socialist capital, I attempt to unravel the complex intersection of economic development and egalitarian mass action in the early Maoist period. Constructed in 1955 during the first Five Year Plan, the Department Store sheds light on the specific parameters of post-revolution modernization campaigns. Furthermore, by looking at the conceptualizations of the building by the Party, architects, and the workers inside the store, I examine how …

The Chinese Calligraphy Stone Gallery, Yingying Xie

Student Works (2020-2029)

This dissertation studies the reshaping of cultural memory in helping to increase cultural self-confidence and to gain cultural identity. Nirvana Group placed great emphasis on promoting Chinese culture and on the basis of respecting culture; it has established the Chinese Calligraphy Stone gallery. This dissertation found that the Chinese Calligraphy Stone gallery which is specially constructed through the installation of represented structures of China showcased the Confucian principles and Taoist thought. Cultural memory has been reconstructed based on the permanent collection of diachronic masterpieces of the elite culture of calligraphy tradition. I would like to say that the spirit of …

The Darker Sides Of The Isekai Genre: An Examination Of The Power Of Anime And Manga, Curtis Lu

Master's Projects and Capstones

This study illustrates characteristics of the isekai genre, presents connections between this genre and social problems commonly found in Japanese culture and society, and demonstrates the widespread impact of Japanese popular media. By analyzing some of the most popular forms and categories of isekai, this research pinpoints important characteristics – in the form of certain themes, characters, and plots – that contribute to social problems like suicide and shut-ins. Escapism is a central theme in many isekai works, and while escapism is healthy to a certain extent, some take the concept too far, often getting lost in their own …

The World’S Greatest Hero: An Examination Of Superhero Tropes In My Hero Academia, Jerry Waller

Master's Projects and Capstones

In this paper the author explores the cross-cultural transmission of genre archetypes in illustrated media. Specifically, the representation of the archetype of American superheroes as represented in the Japanese manga and anime series, My Hero Academia. Through examination of the extant corpus of manga chapters and anime episodes for the franchise, the author draws comparison between characters and situations in the manga series with examples from American comic books by Marvel Comics and DC Comics. By skillfully incorporating foundational themes of American superhero comics into the shonen manga genre, My Hero Academia joins a growing collection of media that draws …

A Changing Tea Culture, A Changing China: Variations In Conceptions Of Gift Tea Among Tea Sellers, Tiana Wang

Student Work

A 2019-2020 Williams Prize for best essay in East Asian Studies was awarded to Tiana Wang (Ezra Stiles College '20) for her essay submitted to the Department of Sociology, "A Changing Tea Culture, A Changing China: Variations in Conceptions of Gift Tea Among Tea Sellers” (Jeffrey Alexander, Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor of Sociology, advisor).

Tiana Wang’s essay, “A Changing Tea Culture, A Changing China: Variations in Conceptions of Gift Tea among Tea Sellers” makes substantial use of original interviews and observations with twenty tea sellers across Jinan, Shanghai, and Beijing to show that tea culture is changing with new …

Redefining Through Remembering: China’S Political Objectives As Reflected In Chinese State Commemoration Of The Korean War, 1950 - 2010, Yoojin Han

Student Work

A 2019-2020 Williams Prize for best essay in East Asian Studies was awarded to Yoojin Han (Berkeley College '20) for her essay submitted to the Department of History, "Redefining through Remembering: China’s Political Objectives as Reflected in Chinese State Commemoration of the Korean War, 1950 - 2010” (Denise Ho, Assistant Professor of History, advisor).

A highly analytical and engaging senior essay grounded in an impressive array of both primary and secondary sources, Yoojin Han’s thesis, “Redefining through Remembering: China’s Political Objectives as Reflected in Chinese State Commemoration of the Korea War,” utilizes Chinese “leadership speeches” made and published during …

A New Exploration Of The Title Of "Cheng Xiang" In Xunzi, Chaobin Zou

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The meaning of the title "Cheng Xiang" in Xunzi is controversial. Through close reading, this paper analyzes "Cheng Xiang" in Xunzi from such new angles as evolvement of literary style and cultural integration. It is found that "Cheng Xiang" in Xunzi consisted of three relatively independent articles when Xunzi originally wrote them. "Cheng Xiang" was not simply titled by using several characters in the opening passage. Instead, it was consciously named after its literary style. "Cheng Xiang" as a literary style resulted from the integration of rites and music culture in the court of the Zhou dynasty and folk ballad …

Indefinability, Mystique And Theological Implication In Adorno's Natural Beauty, Ting Wang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

In Adorno's aesthetics, there is a natural beauty with a particular form: it has no clear concept, but only undefinable and impalpable characteristics. This distinguishes it from rational things, for the essence of natural beauty is unconditional and transcendent. Being transcendent, it is beyond reason. Since indefinability and mystique are appearances presented at its experience level, natural beauty can only be referred to through detour and negation. The rationale for Adorno's set of natural beauty originates from Kant's aesthetics. Like Kant, Adorno distinguishes knowledge from beauty; he differs from Kant in that Kant draws natural beauty from experience and leads …

"Istoria" In Leon Battista Alberti's Painting Theory: An Application Of The Method Pseudomorphosis Into The Study Of Renaissance Aesthetic Concepts, Xi He

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Della Pittura (On Painting) by Italian humanist Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) is considered as one of the most important works in the history of Western art theory. In this book, Alberti constructed a system of terminologies and a set of principles, in order to structurally describe the content of paintings, to accurately convey the technique of paintings, and to systematically understand and evaluate the meaning and value of paintings. With the method of "quasimorphosis", this paper explores Alberti's artistic term "istoria" in three steps. Firstly, it traces the origin of the term back to the Classical Age; secondly, it describes …

Is "Place" Ended: Dialectical Thoughts On Space Theory, Jun Zhu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Globalization has reshaped our sense of place and this reshaping has profound impact on human aesthetic experience. Modern transportation, media, mass culture and theme — parkization of cities accelerate the proliferation of the aesthetics of placelessness. Facing the crisis of “the end of Place”, Marxist theorists on space believe that “place” has become increasingly important due to its multiple deformations. Place not only reshapes the structure of senses but also reconstructs urban situation and social structure. This paper claims that there is at present a need to discard the narrow understanding of place while retaining the aesthetic appreciation of particularity …

Reportage As A Non-Fictional Narrative Mode, Xiaoyuan Ding

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Reportage is a literary genre emerged out of modern journalism, featuring its blending of news, literature, and political commentary. With the changing of time, particularly due to the advent of the "Age of Omnimedia", its function to report news has significantly declined. Writers of reportage begin to develop its non-fictional narrative aesthetics, in order to accommodate themselves to the reader-objects and rising reader expectation. Reportage, as it stands, has shifted from its original style of reporting to a new genre of "literary reportage", a non-fictional narrative mode with distinctive features such as non-fiction, narrativity, and literariness.

The Characteristics Of Chinese Creative Culture And Its Form Of Existence , Xuan Wu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Chinese creative culture intersects with modern Western culture in the following aspects. First, Fuxi's xiantian bagua (Prenatal Eight Trigrams Numbers), "creating symbols of humanity via nature," and the idea of "respecting Confucianism while creating philosophy of individualism" discussed in the Records of the Grand Historian and The Yi Commentary of Su Shi all represent the Chinese-style implicit creative experience of "respecting and transforming reality." Such experience — "creation of the individual within the whole" — is distinguished from creation out of binary opposition in the West. Second, the worship of vitality and the cherishing of life in ancient times, which …

The Emergence And Development Of Poetic Treatises During The Ming Dynasty, Miaomiao Zheng

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Among literature on poetry during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) there was poetic treatise, which focuses on theoretical and systematic expounding on the basics of poetics. This type of writing evolved through three stages of emergence, improvement and maturation. Li Dongyang's Poetry Commentaries from the Foothill Studio and Xu Zhenqing's On the Art of Poetry were two key works in the first stage. Li's work presented a gradually strengthened emphasis on the systematicity of poetry criticism, while Xu's work substantially centered on poetry criticism, marking the formation of poetic treatise. In the second stage, Wang Shizhen's Rambles in the Garden of …

The Political Dimension Of Vernacular Fictions During The Ming Dynasty As Exemplified By Fictions On Major Historical Events, Qingchuan Wan

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The deterioration of political ecology during the Ming dynasty led to intense conflicts among various political powers and interest groups. Due to the development of publishing technology and Dibao Gazette, lower classes of the society were increasingly involved in political activities. The varying degrees of involvement of different social classes in political struggles influenced related writers' fiction writing and dissemination. In this sense, fiction, especially those based on major political events and historical figures, gradually became an auxiliary vehicle for political struggle. Through the selection and (re)interpretation of historical materials, authors expressed their political views and appeals, attempting to influence …

The Postmodern Or The Present: Time As The End, Yaojun Zhang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The postmodern is not a concept with definite historical times, but is still related to time, especially to the present. There are two different concepts of the postmodern in Lyotard's writings, which correspond to the present of two different kinds. One is the finished status of modernity, which embodies an eternal present that leads to the "inhuman" depressions on humans. The other is an instantaneous moment that has burst out emotionally, which not only reflects on the former kind of the postmodern, but also forms a particular style of postmodern existence.

A Synopsis Of "Symposium On The Review And Prospect Of Chinese Literary Theory Over The Past Seventy Years & The Founding Of The Phenomenological Literary Theory And Aesthetics Branch Of Chinese Association Of Literary And Art Theory", Xinxin Cui

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

No abstract provided.

Erasure And Whitewash: A Critical Analysis Of Two Non-Ecological Rhetorical Functions Of Environmental Discourse, Kuiying Zhao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

A critical analysis of environmental discourse from the perspective of "ecological rhetorical discourse criticism" reveals that the non-ecological rhetorical function of environmental discourse is mainly demonstrated in "erasure" and "whitewash". Erasure in environmental discourse works in two directions: one is the erasure of the natural existence, while the other is the erasure of the agent. The two main rhetorical strategies to erase the agent are "passive voice" and complicated "nominalization". The rhetoric strategy to erase the natural world is mainly manifested in "objectification" and "personification", and the use of "hypernym" and "hyponym", etc. The rhetoric of whitewash is mainly euphemism, …

From Hades To Heimat: Quo Usque Tandem? — The Travels And Travails Of Critical Theory, Weber Samuel

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

In their book, Dialectics of Enlightenment, written during the Second World War in their exile in the U.S., Adorno and Horkheimer portray Ulysses in the Odyssey as the exemplary Western figure. Focusing on an event that occurs as he takes his revenge not just upon the suitors but upon the women who collaborated with them, the authors raise the question of just what a return home can mean in the Western tradition. They emphasize the violence involved in reclaiming one's "property," as Ulysses' son, Telemachus, executes the women in the most brutal fashion. This allows the author to discuss the …

Political Polyphony And Folk Carnival: Historical Symptoms Of The Theory Of Peasant Literature In The 1930s, Bo Feng

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The discussion on "peasant literature" among different parties and people around the 1930s was actually a continuation of the petty bourgeois issue in the 1920s Chinese revolution. This is because after the Communist-Kuomingtang spirit, the proletarian party could only reaffirm its political subjectivity when the petty bourgeoisie were distinguished from the peasants. Besides, Nonpartisan intellectuals also needed to highlight the unique significance of enlightening the more popular peasants, because they were different from the petty bourgeoisie, who, to a certain extent, was more directed at the intellectual class. However, the reception of theoretical resources from Soviet Russia and Japan inevitably …

The Disappearance Of Aura And The Formation Of Dialectical Images: A Discussion Focused On Walter Benjamin's Concept Of Technology, Peijie Chang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The transition from "aura" to "dialectical image" is a key to trace the trajectory of Walter Benjamin's aesthetic thoughts. Benjamin repeatedly specified the connotations, the prerequisites for emergence and the reasons for the disappearance of "aura." As far as artistic problems are concerned, the appearance of aura is closely related to "the semblance of beauty", trance experience and authenticity of things, and the key to this is that the aforementioned factors could ensure the essential distance between the aesthetic subject and the aesthetic object. However, these conditions do not stand under mechanical reproduction technology and aura is destroyed and disappears. …

A Critique Of Su Manshu From The Perspective Of Modern Buddhist Literature, Guilin Tan

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

After the New Culture and May Fourth movements, three major strands were present in the field of Su Manshu study: the coterie of the Southern Society, writers of the "New Literature", and authors on the new Buddhist literature. Among them, authors on the new Buddhist literature primarily focused on such dimensions as (1) Su Manshu's character projection as a Buddhist, (2) Su's contribution to the development of Buddhism, (3) the affinity between Su's personalities and his art, and (4) Su's literary appeal to young Buddhist, etc. The significance of their research was several-folded. They argued for Su Manshu's due position …

A Parody Of The Romance Of The West Chamber In The Plum In A Golden Vase, Yuanyuan Feng

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The parody of The West Chamber runs through the narrative of The Plum in the Golden Vase. This parody is demonstrated in the words and actions of characters, as well as in the descriptions of specific scenes and plot. The so-called "parody" is not only a degradation, de-coronation and desecration of the original text, but also a subversion of the narrative of gifted scholars and beauties, with characteristics of "deconstructionism" and "irony". The aesthetic style thus formed shows exactly the real symptoms of the time-carnival of the body and disappearance of taboo.

Confucianism, Ancient-Style Prose And Current Affairs: The History Of Chinese Ancient-Style Prose From The Perspective Of Japanese Sinology, Weizhao Chen

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

From the Tang dynasty onwards, ancient Chinese literature and literary theories have influenced the Sinophone cultural sphere, especially in East Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. During the Edo and Meiji periods, conceptions of Chinese ancient style prose were also incorporated into the framework of Japan's intellectual and cultural constructions. Yet, Japanese writers acceptance of and rejection to the paradigms in ancient style prose were closely related to their current affairs in socio political, economic, and cultural dimensions. Remolded by Japanese culture, Chinese literary theories became localized and started to influence the literary creations and theories in Japan. …

Distanciation And Artistic Practice: How The Concept Of Masses Was Constructed In Althusser's Literary Criticism, Ju Huo

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

One of Louis Pierre Althusser's contributions to Marxism was to clarify the concept of the political "masses", affirming that the masses of all classes united in struggle functioned as both the departure of action and the end of theory. He thus loomed as a unique presence in the intellectual development of Western Marxism. From the perspective of literary criticism, this paper focuses on Althusser's re-positioning of issues such as author, form and defamiliarization in contemporary critical theory, and on his using the distanciation theory to explicate howideological practice surrounding mass movement intervenes reality and functions in it. The paper tries …

Innovation In Temporal And Spatial Narration Of The Plum In The Golden Vase And Its Significance To The History Of Fiction, Jinju Wang, Zhiwei Du

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Although The Plum in the Golden Vase is a derivation of the episode “Wu Song kills his sister-in-law” in The Water Margin, its temporal and spatial narration breaks through the restrictions of the original text. In terms of historical background, The Plum in the Golden Vase intentionally blends the Song and the Ming dynasty, which sets a precedent for profound reflection of the times in popular novels. The coherent chronological narrative and the continuous festival writing in this work also demonstrates the ups and downs as well as the prosperity and decline through the comparison of before and after. The …

Liveness And Mediatization: Theater In The Age Of Media, Qian Li

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

This paper focuses on the transformation of discourses on liveness and mediatization in theatre studies and theatrical productions, and tries to describe their historical contexts, intellectual backgrounds and social implications. It attempts to clarify the historical context in which the discourse of liveness is constructed, and claims that, for the theatre in an age of media, liveness and mediatization have shared theoretical constructs, and together they bring forth the richness of theatrical performances. In the current age of media, not only had liveness been drastically changed by media but also the live experience has been mediated, while the tension between …

On The Theory Of Literary "Craftsmanship" During The Six Dynasties, Dongxiao Yang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The literary theories during the Six Dynasties often compared writers to "craftsmen", who were proficient in handicraft. Referring to the well developed art theory during this period, the connotation of "craftsman" can be considered in four dimensions: (1) a close adherence to the norm of literary styles, (2) an emphasis on language skills, (3) a balance between expressions of literary talents and emotions, and (4) a combination of conformance to rules and spirit of change. The theory of literary "craftsmanship" not only demonstrated an emphasis on writing techniques, but also disclosed its interactions with the lyrical and aesthetic functions of …

T. J. Clark's Modernist Art Theory, Yi Zhuge

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Sticking to Marxism, art historian T.J. Clark analyzes modern art from perspectives of politics and society. Through comparative analysis, this article extracts his theory on modernist art. According to Clark, modernism arose, developed and declined in the historical coordinate system which consisted of the bourgeoisie, technological reason, the society of spectacle and socialist movement. As a response to modernity, modernist art was a structural model to examine the representation of modernity by visual form, which also explored and embodied the origin of the experience of modernity. Modernist art intended to signify the social reality in the crisis of representation, and …