Asian History Commons^™

Modified Motorcycles: Stories From Chiang Mai, Thailand, Erin Meyers

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

Motorcycles in Southeast Asia

Over the last two decades, a revolution has taken place on the streets of Asia. The ubiquity of motorcycles as a primary form of transportation has increased substantially. Since 1990, motorcycle ownership rates in Indonesia and Vietnam have increased by over 300 and 1,000 percent respectively (Muir and Brown 2011). Similarly, the number of motorcycles registered in Thailand has grown by over 280 percent, from 4,778, 220 vehicles in 1990 to 18,451, 518 in 2012 (Number). Asia has the highest level of motorcycle ownership in the world now (Barter 1999).

China's Use Of Economic Hard Power In The 21st Century, Taylor Shippen

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

China’s growing willingness to project military power may make the nightly news, but military power is not China’s greatest tool in achieving political ends. Since Deng Xiaoping began his reforms in 1978, economic influence has been the source of many of China’s diplomatic breakthroughs with the West. Although there is some dispute among scholars about what to call China’s growing influence (Klein 1994: 39; Huang 2013), for the purposes of this paper, China’s growing persuasiveness will be based on Joseph Nye’s definition of hard power, which he defines as “the ability to use the carrots and sticks of economic and …

Full Issue

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

No abstract provided.

Confucianism, Authoritarianism, And Democratization In South Korea, Andrew Selman

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

Many argue that principles of liberal democracy are generally not compatible with the values and beliefs of a society based on Confucian principles.1 Confucianism promotes loyalty and obedience to and respect for those in authority. If Confucian values form the foundation of a society, then the citizens will show deference to the leaders of that country and will be more likely to submit to authoritarian or even totalitarian governments. The continuation of authoritarian governments in China, Singapore, and Vietnam, all countries with considerable Confucian influence in society, seem to support this theory. Between 1948 and 1987, South Korea also saw …

Evasive Writing: Resistance To The Government And Modernization Hidden In Taiwanese Fiction, Harrison Paul

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

Sometimes, it is best not to speak the truth—at least not directly. Under an authoritarian regime, the truth—whether of events or opinions—often hurts the one who reveals it more than anyone else. For this reason, writers throughout the world have long employed evasive writing tactics not only to avoid censorship of their ideas but also to escape imprisonment or execution at the government’s hand. Taiwanese writers under the period of Nationalist-imposed martial law were no different. Nativist writers, characterized by “use of the Taiwanese dialect, depiction of the plight of country folks or small-town dwellers in economic difficulty, and resistance …

The Contradictions Of Kitabatake Chikafusa's Jinno Shotoki: How The Jinno Shotoki Shows That Japan Is Not Shinkoku, Adam Wheeler

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

It is widely held by Japanese and non-Japanese historians alike that Japan has enjoyed an uninterrupted reign by a single royal family for at least the last 1,500 years, if not longer. This unprecedented system of government has given rise to much investigation as to how such a feat could have been accomplished and has also given rise to the belief that Japan is Shinkoku, or “divine land.” Theories on the longevity of the Japanese imperial family have been based on the relationship between them and surrounding families of influence, as well as the tenuous relationship that existed between …

Genre Paintings, Elisa Allan

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

Artistic responses to the changing socio-political stability in Korea during the eighteenth-century indicate the growing disillusionment and dissatisfaction with yangban (gentry class) consolidated control, the thinning control of Confucianism over class, and the blossoming of contending ideas.

Suna No Onna: An Absurd Reading, Charisa Player

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

Woman in the Dunes (Suna no Onna), written by Kobo Abe, readily lends itself to analysis as an existential novel, which is described as a work that “subverts and ridicules traditional genres of realistic fiction, asserting its non-mimetic autonomy over against the conventional expectations and interpretative customs of the reader” (Goebel). However, because of the way in which the novel presents its world, and the way that the narrative ends, Suna no Onna finds itself in a somewhat separate category from other existentialist texts. In his article “Kobo Abe: Japan’s Kafka,” Goebel explains Abe’s writing in Suna no Onna is …

Full Issue

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

No abstract provided.

Valmiki And Hesse: Maya Through The Ages, Kevin Blankinship

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

The Vedic poet Valmiki could hardly have imagined that, with his discovery of shloka, or poetic meter, and the subsequent advent of literature as a separate aesthetic genre, Hindu notions of reality would lend expression of outrage to war-weary Germans thousands of years later. Or perhaps he did: Brahma’s benediction provided that, “so long as the mountains and rivers . . . stay on the face of the earth / So long will the story of Rama endure / So long will your fame remain.”1

Liu Na'ou And The May Fourth Tradition, Katie Stirling

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

According to Leo Ou-fan Lee, the city was, for Liu Na’ou, “the only world of [his] existence and the key source of [his] creative imagination” (191). Liu Na’ou stands among Shi Zhecun and Mu Shiying as writers preoccupied with the fast-paced life and materiality of the city of Shanghai in the 1930s. Considered to be one of the leaders of the Japanese-inspired neo-sensationist school in China, Liu pioneered the use of descriptions of sensory experiences and experimentations with time in narrative in order to create his cityscapes and develop the tension between fascination and repulsion with the city that characterizes …

Saikaku's Tales From Various Provinces, Josh Dalton

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

n 1685, Ihara Saikaku published his Tales from Various Provinces, a five-volume collection consisting of thirty-five short stories. Saikaku explained: “I went throughout the provinces in search of subject matter for my writings.” The result was a compilation of humorous and bizarre local legends. “Reflecting on the experience,” Saikaku wrote, “I can only conclude that people are all spooks.” By interweaving his own wit and imagination into the tales he gathered, Saikaku closed the gap separating fantasy from reality. As a result, he simultaneously emphasized both the unique nature of the human experience and the universal aspects that everyone can …

Writing Over Silence: The Asian-American In-Between Identity, Amy Scott

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

My daily routine is pure ritual and thus pure theatre. A routinely perfect production of a comfortable unwritten script: stage dark, save for a dim morning light; spot on tousseled black hair, white pillow, and a blanket nest. Wake up, pad into the bathroom; mise-en-scène a student’s sanctuary. In the bathroom, suit up: costume, makeup/mask, deliberately casual—as if any day could become a beach day. Flip on Elvis and dance while pouring milk onto cold cereal. The door opens, and the play begins en force.

Kim Chi-Ha's Poetry Of Yesterday And Today, Gerrit Van Dyk

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

I n the 1970s, the Korean poet Kim Chi-ha was perhaps the most internationally well known Korean artist. During this time, Kim wrote many poems speaking out against the Park Chung Hee regime which began with Park’s coup in 1961. One of Kim’s most famous works, “The Five Bandits” (The Golden-Crowned Jesus and Other Writings) was so politically charged that it began a series of incarcerations of the poet on allegations of communist sympathies. Many international organizations and dignitaries defended Kim and called on Park to release the poet from prison. After Park’s death, Kim was released, and …

Confucian Creatures, Sarah Cutler

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

From the tortoise shells used in ancient divination to the colorful camels of Tang tombs and from companionable oxen of the rice fields to singing birds in their cages, animals have been a significant part of Chinese culture. Perhaps most intriguing to the Western mind are the fanciful mythological animals of China adorning temple roofs, tomb walls, and traditional stories. Study of these creatures reveals a deep insight into Chinese culture for not only do the traditions about them indicate the ideas humans have about the animal world, but also the animals themselves are symbolic of various ideas maintained by …

Exploration Of Japanese Gothicism In Izumi Kyoka's World, Emily Mitarai

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

Kyoka draws upon his inspiration of the past and seeks, in his own words, “not to portray reality as reality, but to seek beyond reality for some more powerful truth” (Carpenter 154). Izumi Kyoka (1873–1939) was a prolific writer in the Meiji Era of Japan who depicted the literature of his past from the kusazoshi (illustrated fiction of the Edo Era), the ghostliness of Ueda Akinari, and the supernatural of the No Theater (Carpenter 154). Although a prolific writer, few of Kyoka’s works have been translated into English. His works are rich with imagery, yet the scenes are not in …