East Asian Languages and Societies Commons^™

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 …

Clarifying The Conceptualization Of Empire: Is China's Belt And Road Initiative An Attempt At Empire?, Olivia Melvin

Honors Theses

Is 21st century China building an empire through the Belt and Road Initiative? Where do modern imperialist trends fit into the post-colonial world? This study explores different conceptualizations of empire used in previous academic studies and explores how the Belt and Road Initiative fits in this narrative of empire. Clarifying the discourse surrounding modern expansionist and imperialist behavior is a necessary first step in comparing phenomena that occur in very different historical periods. For example, when comparing former imperial dynasties of China to modern Chinese expansionist behavior, over 500 years of development divide these two historical periods. Newer terms such …

Islam In China: Uyghurs In Crisis, Isabella Baez

Senior Honors Theses

Islam has been in China for hundreds of years and has been the religion to ten people groups in China, including the Uyghur people group. The Uyghurs have been under China’s domain since the mid-1700s and since then have stood out among the fifty-five recognized minority groups due to their ethnic differences in comparison to the Han majority. The Uyghurs have a rich and distinct history and cultural heritage, which is different than the Han majority culture. Since 2001 there have been campaigns to curb religious freedom in China by controlling the Uyghurs’ autonomous region of Xinjiang, located in western …

Why The Territorial Dispute Between Japan And China Cannot Be Resolved, Hiroshi Saito

Japanese Society and Culture

This essay aims to suggest that the different idea of war would be a legal ground of each one on the territorial dispute between two States. There are three different time stages for the idea about war. The first stage is “the present time” which the developed states including Japan belong to and armed forces cannot be used to resolve international problems. The second is” the past time” especially time before the World War Two in which some developing states including China use armed forces to international conflicts. The third is “the ancient time” in which dictatorial or collapsed states …

Ask No Questions, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Ask No Questions (2020), directed by Jason Loftus and Eric Pedicelli.

Japan's War On Three Fronts Prior To 1941, Shaohai Guo

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

This paper argues that Japan fought a three-front war prior to 1941. Japan not only fought China in the Second Sino-Japanese War, but conducted military operations against the Soviet Union. The third front occurred within Japan, as military factionalism prevented Japan from focusing on either China or the Soviet Union. By 1941, weakened through years of war, Japan focused their attention on French Indochina. This ultimately led to U.S entry into World War II.

The Role Of The Chinese Communist Party In The Covid-19 Crisis, Matthew Farrell

Management Faculty Publications

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has received plaudits from international press and organizations for their handling of the COVID-19 crisis, with some describing it as a win for China in terms of propaganda. In this essay, I explore an alternative view: That the CCP is responsible for the origin and extent of the pandemic, and that much of their perceived altruism is carefully disguised opportunism and propaganda. Facts are drawn from scholarly work and the popular press to support my arguments. This essay carries strong implications for interpretation of recent events.

Zheng He And The American Liberal Arts Education: Contexts And Complications, Marla Lunderberg

Faculty Publications

Zheng He was a eunuch of Moslem family heritage who held great authority early in the Ming Dynasty, primarily under the Yongle emperor (reign: 1402–24), as he led seven maritime expeditions, of which three reached the eastern coast of Africa. Of recent English language projects on Zheng He, Henry Tsai (1996) explores the context of the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty in defining Zheng He’s work, and Edward Dreyer (2007) and Timothy Brook (2010) portray Zheng He within the context of the Chinese tributary system. However, other images also hold power over the Western imagination: Louise Levathes (1994) portrays Zheng …

Cultural, Social And Family Shadows: Finding A Place In The Rainbow, Lingfeng Xu

Master's Projects and Capstones

Due to Chinese traditions, certain living environments are not friendly towards the LGBT community in China, who experience immense pressure to keep silent in society. They often are discriminated against, and in the case of most, their families do not support them. It is difficult to have healthy self-identification for sexual minorities. Besides cultural and family pressure, and representation in media, the current legal framework and society are unfriendly to this community. There is no legislation on homosexuality in China at present, and China does not make any clear provisions on homosexual marriage.

In this environment, most LGBT people are …

The Rise And Fall Of The Fighters: Colonial Korean Exiles In China, Minseung Kim

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This thesis mainly aims to examine colonial masculinity, especially focusing on the national fighters for Korean independence during the Japanese colonial period. As China was a place that Korean exiles moved to, through an examination of Korean short stories by Chu Yosŏp, Sim Hun, and Kim Kwangju, this thesis traces back to the rise and fall of Korean exiles in China who participated in political movements during the 1920s and 1930s. In the 1920s, male intellectual characters in stories by Chu Yosŏp, and Sim Hun expressed their pride as national fighters while participating in Korean exile groups in Shanghai. The …

Daoism And Dialogism: A Dialogue Between China And The West, Xiaodi Zhou

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

In this paper, I explore Chinese Daoist theoretical connections with modern conceptions of dialogue and Western theories of psychology (Murase, 2008). I investigate and compare these lines of Western thinking (Strang, 2004) with classical Chinese thought (Zhang & Chen, 2009), noting the complexities in each. I discuss and disseminate how the Daoist principle of yin yang may be related to the dialogic understandings of Bakhtin (1981, 1984a, 1986, 1990, 1993). I also contend that the Western field of psychology, particularly the work of Carl Jung (2014), has incorporated Daoist principles of yin yang in its conception and practice. I argue …

The Antagonist Of The Sino-Children, Danielle Earley

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

My research declares that the One-Child Policy has had a huge impact on foreign adoption and causes Chinese adoptees to have similar patterns of behavior, such as unique identity issues despite different life experiences. In addition, I researched effective coping mechanisms for adoptees and hypothesized that conversing and openness with adoption is beneficial. This topic is crucial for aiding scientific understanding of psychological processes in adopted individuals as well as aid others and adoptees themselves on how to effectively cope with the unique adoption experience. I personally deem this topic important not only because I was born in China, but …

A Concise Consideration On The Legal Status Of Taiwan For Japan From The Perspective Of The Customary International Law Of Recognition, Hiroshi Saito

Japanese Society and Culture

Taiwan is one of the most important entities for Japan in the international relations and history. Beijing government has emphasized “One-China Policy” and doesn’t recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state until the present. The issue, whether Taiwan is a de jure state, is a legal issue for only Japan based on the international legal systems of recognition and treaty. In those systems, it is evident for Japan that two peace treaties exist until the present with the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China. The existence of two treaties means that two sovereign states who did battle against …

A Global Hybridity: Snakehead Influence On Identity And Migration, Teeana Cotangco

CMC Senior Theses

Through introduction of Fujian Province as home to the largest migrant population in the world, this article aims to address the negotiation of intersections between local and global forces that form new spaces throughout the diaspora. The "third space," a term coined by Homi Bhabha, addresses the fluid identity of Chinese-Filipino individuals that both acknowledges the traditional notions of "Chinese" while being influenced by a history of colonization in the Spanish Philippines. I incorporate my own personal experience as an American-born Chinese-Filipino navigating new spaces, and also the experience of my family members through interviews.

Asia Pacific Perspectives Vol. 16 No. 1, Fall/Winter 2018-2019, University Of San Francisco

Asia Pacific Perspectives

Contents:

Editor's Introduction by Melissa S. Dale

Within this issue, we share three examples of the latest research on cultures of dress, clothing, fashion and the formation of identity in the Asia Pacific region. These articles reveal the innovative work that scholars are currently pursuing in this area of research, ranging from the history of the tattooing in Japan, to fashion exchange between China and Mozambique, to the phenomena known as cosplay.

Fashioning Tattooed Bodies: An Exploration of Japan's Tattoo Stigma by John M. Skutlin

This article uses a cultural anthropological approach to examine tattooing stigma in contemporary Japan, particularly …

[Introduction To] Chinese Revolutionary Cinema: Propaganda, Aesthetics And Internationalism 1949-1966, Volume 48, Jessica Ka Yee Chan

Bookshelf

Engaging with fiction films devoted to heroic tales from the decade and a half between 1949 and 1966, this book reconceives state propaganda as aesthetic experiments that not only radically transformed acting, cinematography and screenwriting in socialist China, but also articulated a new socialist film theory and criticism. Rooted in the interwar avant-garde and commercial cinema, Chinese revolutionary cinema, as a state cinema for the newly established People's Republic, adapted Chinese literature for the screen, incorporated Hollywood narration, appropriated Soviet montage theory and orchestrated a new, glamorous, socialist star culture. In the wake of decolonisation, Chinese film journals were quick …

Treatment And Evolution Of Digital Rights: A Comparative Analysis Of China, Russia, The United States, And Germany, Karina Barbesino

Honors Program Theses

The internet and digital technologies allow for the recognition, advocation, and protection of human rights. People around the world have access to faster and exponentially more information than ever before. The possibilities for education, politics, healthcare, work, and equality have greatly expanded. The internet provides new opportunities for the progression of humanity, but not without a cost. The transformative power of the internet to both empower and infringe on human rights has not been lost on states. As a relatively new domain, the policies in cyberspace remain in their trial periods. Each state is implementing, redacting, and implementing again policies …

A Thesis Is A Product Is A Tracking, Yixue Li

Theses and Dissertations

In this work, I discuss how global products/ identities are made, transported and consumed, and the inevitable ‘mis-’ in acts of transmission. This research ranges from the miscommunication in languages and linguistics, to the gap between production and consumption. I investigate how things and humans are misread, mispronounced, misfit and mistranslated when they traverse social and cultural borders, arriving at a place in between languages, holding on to and letting go of things that are familiar to neither and both cultures. This work explores diverse media such as publications, videos and installations, and examines how they maybe used to address …

Sinolization Of Christianity: Increasing Gospel Relevance Or Distorting The Gospel Message?, L. Asher

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"This study aims to address the concept of the Sinolization of Christianity in light of cultural studies, biblical principles, and the Great Controversy perspective. It will then set forth some ideas on how it could affect the communication of the gospel in the Chinese context. It will attempt to see if Sinolization makes the gospel more relevant or further distorts the Christian message through the lens of the Chinese culture. The answers to these questions should help Chinese Christians, and especially Adventists, better understand their mission in China."

Friend Or Foe: Perceptions Of China In Africa, Shahn M. Savino

Student Publications

China's rush to Africa for resources and a sphere of influence has inspired much debate in the academic world. Many western scholars generalize China's Africa strategy or African perceptions of that strategy. These are both grave mistakes. While China's objectives in Africa are the same all over, the way it achieves that strategy varies from nation to nation. In addition, African perceptions of China vary from nation to nation. Using Algeria and Niger as main case studies, this paper will show that the wealth of a nation changes the way that the Chinese government and Chinese nationals interact with that …

What Drives Consumers In China To Buy Clothing Online? Application Of The Technology Acceptance Model, Zhenqian Wei, Min-Young Lee, Hong Shen

Retailing and Tourism Management Faculty Publications

An enormous number of Internet users have made China a profitable e-commerce marketplace, and clothing is one of the most frequently purchased items. This study explores the predictors of consumers’ motivation to buy clothing online in China by extending the technology acceptance model. Data were collected via an online questionnaire, resulting in 504 returned responses. The results indicate that perceived usefulness has a significant effect on consumers’ intention to buy clothing online; however, no direct relationship between perceived ease of use and buying intention was found. Furthermore, perceived convenience, perceived money saving, and perceived time-saving can explain why consumers perceive …

Great Powers Have Great Currencies: Popular Nationalist Discourse And China's Campaign To Internationalize The Renminbi, Michael Stephen Bartee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Why did the Chinese government begin promoting the internationalization of its currency, the renminbi, after the 2008 global financial crisis? Only a few years earlier, Beijing balked at U.S. demands to reform its currency regime, which would require dismantling many of the country's long-preferred tools for promoting growth and maintaining domestic stability. Similar concerns about the dilution of monetary policy independence motivated previous rising economies Germany and Japan to proactively discourage the internationalization of their currencies. While China's central bank had long explored promoting greater international use of the renminbi, and such a policy would generate some benefits for China, …

China And The North Korean Refugee Crisis, Christina Ahn

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

On 8 May 2002, shocking images of five North Korean refugees at a Japanese consulate in northeast China were captured. Although two members of the party—both men—successfully made it inside the consulate, two women and a child were dragged away from the gate of their safe haven by Chinese police (Gittings 2002). All five individuals were eventually detained—and though their fates remain unknown, it is likely they were immediately deported to North Korea, possibly the worst outcome for any North Korean defector.

Asia Pacific Perspectives Vol. 15 No. 2, Spring/Summer 2018, University Of San Francisco

Asia Pacific Perspectives

Contents:

Editor's Introduction by Melissa S. Dale

The editor reflects on this issue's new articles, which focus on climate change as it is being experienced across Asia, and the different local responses it has provoked. From China to India to Southeast Asia, the relationship of nature to each local worldview shapes how communities view climate change, its effects, and their responses to it.

Fengshui Forests as A Socio-natural Reservoir in the Face of Climate Change and Environmental Transformation by Christopher R. Coggins and Jesse Minor

Chinese lineage villages are social-ecological systems (SESs) designed according to principles of fengshui (“wind-water”). Fengshui …

[Introduction To] Language As Bodily Practice In Early China: A Chinese Grammatology, Jane Geaney

Bookshelf

Jane Geaney argues that early Chinese conceptions of speech and naming cannot be properly understood if viewed through the dominant Western philosophical tradition in which language is framed through dualisms that are based on hierarchies of speech and writing, such as reality/appearance and one/many. Instead, early Chinese texts repeatedly create pairings of sounds and various visible things. This aural/visual polarity suggests that texts from early China treat speech as a bodily practice that is not detachable from its use in everyday experience. Firmly grounded in ideas about bodies from the early texts themselves, Geaney’s interpretation offers new insights into three …

Will War's Nature Change In The Seventh Military Revolution?, F. G. Hoffman

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article examines the potential implications of the combinations of robotics, artificial intelligence, and deep learning systems on the character and nature of war. The author employs Carl von Clausewitz’s trinity concept to discuss how autonomous weapons will impact the essential elements of war. The essay argues war’s essence, as politically directed violence fraught with friction, will remain its most enduring aspect, even if more intelligent machines are involved at every level.

China And The Politics Of Cross–Cultural Representation In Interwar European Fiction, Carles Prado-Fonts

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "China and the Politics of Cross–Cultural Representation in Interwar European Fiction" Carles Prado-Fonts analyzes Joan Crespi's La ciutat de la por (The City of Fear, 1930) to illustrate the varied representations of China in interwar Europe. In the 1920s and 1930s, a plurality of views on China and the Chinese people became widespread across different parts of Europe, mainly shaped by English, French, and German representations. Contradictory images of China coexisted in literature, thought, and popular culture. Crespi's work exemplifies these contradictions: China appears as both an attainable reality and an unreachable fantasy, two tropes that prevailed …

Academic Freedom As A Human Right: The Problem Of Confucius Institutes, Jay Todd Richey

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Academic freedom is the ability to explore, research, and analyze any topic without prohibitions or repercussions. In the Anglo-American tradition, it is both a fundamental aspect of academia and, as this thesis argues, a fundamental human right. Although the United States embraces this core principle of academia within American universities, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) seeks to suppress the acquisition of knowledge through restrictions on topics deemed politically-sensitive to the Chinese government. Although human rights abuses pervade the PRC and academic freedom is suppressed, PRC-funded entities known as Confucius Institutes (CIs) are widely embraced at universities in liberal democracies. …

Xinghun: A "Cooperative Marriage" Ties Chinese Lesbians And Gays, Rongdian Zhu

Master's Projects and Capstones

In modern China, although the normality of homosexuality has been officially admitted, misconception and discrimination against homosexuals are still prevalent in the mainstream of Chinese society. Chinese LGBT people endure two main sources of pressure: one is from the external and another is from the internal. From the outside, Chinese LGBT people bear the suppression made by the normality of sexual orientation and the hegemonic culture of heterosexuality, in particular heterosexual marriage. And such discrimination is still occurring now in our society. LGBT people themselves are heavily tortured by the pain and pressure of self-denial. A lot of them cannot …

From A Traveling Daughter: A Photographic Memoir, Lilian Murnen

Honors Projects

“World sits outside the door, A voice in your heart is calling, The ends of the world await, Traveling daughter, Feel the sunshine on your face, Starlight guides your feet, Earth and Sky will carry you, Journey after journey, One mountain to the next, Voice in your heart is calling.” (Abigail Washburn, “Song of the Traveling Daughter” translated from Mandarin Chinese)

My family keeps me safe, but it is this safety that protects me from the discomfort that is necessary for growth. Like Abigail Washburn’s “voices,” my discontent and my curiosity call me to venture far beyond what I can …