Asian History Commons^™

Up Close: An Interview, Madi Vorva '17

EnviroLab Asia

A long-time US activist against the deleterious impact of oil-palm deforestation in Southeast Asia learned a great deal about the indigenous peoples’ struggles there to gain control over their lives and livelihoods.

[Review Of The Book Mao And The Sino-Soviet Partnership, 1945-1959: A New History, By Z. Shen & Y. Xia]., Austin Jersild

History Faculty Publications

[Introduction] Soviet General Secretary Nikita Krushchev was in Beijing in the fall of 1954 to celebrate the five-year anniversary of the Chinese revolution, open a huge exhibit designed to facilitate socialist bloc collaboration with Chine, and establish a positive tone and relationship with Chinese leaders who had reason to be wary of historic Soviet objectives in the Far East. In a speech before he left to mark the anniversary of the revolution, he focused on the sensitive question of colonialism in Chinese history, and the importance of the revolution in the creation of a new and independent china free of …

Battle For Dominion Over Time: War Of The Calendars In Thailand, Ronald J. Brown

New York School for Career and Applied Studies (NYSCAS) Publications and Research

My annual January “get out of cold New York City” vacation was effectively ruined in the lounge of the Unification Theological Seminary. Shortly before I left for Thailand at the end of December 2016 I was describing my plans for a month in sunny Thailand when a student said “Oh, you’ll be in Bangkok for New Year’s. That should be wild!” Another student chimed in “And the Chinese New Year’s too!” “Double the fun and double the pleasure,” I responded, and everyone laughed.

The comment that ruined my vacation and turned it from a month of cheap red wine, beaches, …

The Absence Of Public Libraries In Imperial China: An Alternative Interpretation Of Chinese Writing, Junli Diao

Publications and Research

The purpose of this article is to explore Chinese writing and its connection with libraries in Imperial China. From the perspective of analyzing Chinese writing and its cultural, social and political impact, this article attempts to deliver a tentative and speculative exploration concerning why public libraries did not automatically emerge from Chinese civilization. This article discusses how Chinese writing, characterized by the art form Calligraphy, was intimately associated with Chinese classical texts, knowledge classification, bibliographers and imperial libraries, and eventually with an elite culture empowered by the socio-political repertoire of scholar-officials. It particularly focuses on the discussion of how “public” …

The Rhetoric Of Transgression: Reconstructing Female Authority Through Wu Zetian's Legacy, Rachael Rothstein-Safra

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study examines representations of Wu Zetian in the biographical tradition of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, as well as within the subsequent vernacular literature of the Ming and Qing periods. I analyze the traditional use and construction of female stereotypes (and female-oriented flaws and vices) in the rhetoric of official histories and fictional narratives and their application to representations of Wu Zetian. I argue that authors, anxious of discord engendered and caused by women occupying positions of political authority, sought to delegitimize Wu Zetian’s reign and subsequently cultivated a “rhetoric of female transgression.” I further argue that the …

To Stand Against The Company: A Study Of The British Honourable East India Company And Piracy In The Indian Ocean World, Circa 1680-1760, John Ridge

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

This study attempts to explore the multi-faceted challenges and hindrances brought upon the British East India Company by piracy in the Indian Ocean World. European and American pirates in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries influenced economic, political, and social factors in the Indian Ocean. The Angrians in the eighteenth century did the same, constituting an indigenous piratical threat. These forms of piracy encouraged the British East India Company to gradually bolster military strength to mobilize against them. With their own built up strength, Royal navy support, local Mahratta allies, and internal-conflict within the Angres, the British East India …

11_風俗習慣, 賽馬會香港歷史學習計劃

專題展覽

風俗習慣是人們透過長年累積、代代相傳的生活經驗而形成的行為模式和慣例，不同地方會因應地區社會和文化的差別而有所不同。由於風俗習慣的形成和地區的文化和社會有密切關聯，因此會隨著時代變遷以及和其他文化的接觸而改變。由於香港同時受到東西方文化影響，其風俗習慣亦發展出獨特的風格，既體現出中國文化的強烈影響，又體現出多元文化並存的特色。

09_光影歲月, 賽馬會香港歷史學習計劃

專題展覽

李小龍、成龍、周潤發、張曼玉，全盛時期的香港電影造就顆顆巨星，至今仍為人津津樂道。香港電影是香港文化的重要象徵，更是中文電影的先駒。要細說香港電影的發展可追溯至1896年洋人將電影傳入本港開始，之後香港成立了首間電影製作公司，正式開啟了本地的電影市場，可惜1925年的省港大罷工和1941年開始的日據時期，令電影業一再受挫。幸而香港電影在光復後迅速復興，百花齊放，出品了許多膾炙人口之作，甚具本地特色。本展覽將帶大家一同回味這120年來光影交錯的歲月。

13_寨城風雲, 賽馬會香港歷史學習計劃

專題展覽

「九龍寨城」曾經是一個神秘的國度，也是罪惡的標籤。是甚麼原因令寨城一直背負著各種污名？寨城裡的人又過著怎樣的生活呢？要查探寨城的真相，必需從歷史中翻尋蛛絲螞跡。

九龍寨城的爭議源於1898年《展拓香港界址專條》裡的一項條文，中英兩國自此為了寨城的治權爭持不下，糾纏了近百年。英國、中國、香港三地政府因此難以在寨城裡執法，以致形成「三不管」的局面，寨城亦變成黃賭毒的集中地。本展覽將由19世紀開始，帶你經歷九龍寨城百多年來的風雨，為你揭開寨城神秘的面紗。

Drowning In Rising Seas: Navigating Multiple Knowledge Systems And Responding To Climate Change In The Maldives, Rachel Hannah Spiegel

Pitzer Senior Theses

The threat of global climate change increasingly influences the actions of human society. As world leaders have negotiated adaptation strategies over the past couple of decades, a certain discourse has emerged that privileges Western conceptions of environmental degradation. I argue that this framing of climate change inhibits the successful implementation of adaptation strategies. This thesis focuses on a case study of the Maldives, an island nation deemed one of the most vulnerable locations to the impacts of rising sea levels. I apply a postcolonial theoretical framework to examine how differing knowledge systems can both complement and contradict one another. By …

12_航通世界, 賽馬會香港歷史學習計劃

專題展覽

現時，香港與世界各地交往頻繁，航運業為本土經濟帶來可觀收入。早在唐代開始，香港已經與外國有海上貿易的來往。後來香港開埠，各國人士，以至華僑都對中國貨品有一定需求。為開發這個龐大市場，南北行應運而生，進一步推動香港航運貿易的發展。現時，香港國際航運規模宏大，港口的輔助設施眾多，政府海事處亦負責為各類船隻提供協助。此外，貨櫃碼頭的發展亦跟航運增長相輔相成－隨著社會進步，碼頭苦力不復存在，現時的貨櫃碼頭都設有先進機械，裝卸貨櫃的效率相應提升，吸引更多貨船使用香港的港口服務。

14_大眾傳播, 賽馬會香港歷史學習計劃

專題展覽

香港市民之所以能對四方八面的消息瞭如指掌，全賴本地蓬勃的傳播媒介。本港報業及廣播事業（電台與電視）發展迅速，加上香港擁有最先進的電訊科技，因此吸引了不少國際通訊社以及報章和廣播公司，在香港設立亞太區總部或辦事處，從而確立了香港作為區域通訊中心及廣播樞紐的重要地位。現時本港主要的傳播媒介有52份日報，三家本地免費電視節目服務持牌機構、一家政府電台，以及三家聲音廣播持牌機構等，為本地觀眾和聽眾提供不同種類的資訊和節目。本展覽會介紹本地主要傳播媒體的發展。

A Turn To Realism And Humanism From Propaganda: Chinese Photojournalism Practices Between 1976 And 1988, Shi Li

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

China’s photojournalistic field undertook great transformations in the 1980s. While the conservatives continued to cling to the propagandistic doctrine, a more progressive trend was emerging. The tension between these two forces had its historical roots and would go on to shape the way Chinese photojournalism developed. Based on archival research and in-depth interviews, this paper revisits the history of Chinese photojournalism practices between 1937 and 1988 and identifies the key features of these three periods: the wartime propaganda of 1937—1949, the intensification of propaganda of 1949 —1976, and the transformation to realism and humanism in 1976—1988.

The Rise And Fall Of The Zaibatsu: Japan's Industrial And Economic Modernization, David A. C. Addicott

Global Tides

Throughout the past century, the rise and fall of the zaibatsu and the operations of their direct successors has not only shaped Japan’s economic and financial landscape but also has been instrumental in the modernization of the world economy. Many of these corporations traced their roots to Japan’s premodern era, and were directly responsible for the transformation of a nation of rice farmers into an industrial powerhouse in the years prior to World War II. Following Japan’s defeat, these monopolistic corporations were dismantled by the Keynesian economists of the Allied occupation and were reorganized into the keiretsu system, which exists …

The Hopes And The Realities Of Aviation In French Indochina, 1919-1940, Gregory Charles Seltzer

Theses and Dissertations--History

My dissertation examines how and why the French employed aviation in the five constituent parts of French Indochina (Annam, Cambodia, Cochinchina, Laos, and Tonkin) during the interwar period of the 1920s and 1930s. I argue that the French, believing that the modern technology of powered flight possessed seemingly endless potential, saw aviation as a vehicle for extending, consolidating, developing, and protecting their interests both within the colony and around Southeast and East Asia. Aircraft, whether civil or military, were viewed and used as a multi-purpose tool of empire. Indeed, planes were employed for a variety of tasks in Indochina: transportation …

Remembering 1965: Indonesian Cinema And The 'Battle For History', Espena Darlene Machell

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Using four films to probe the transformations in Indonesia’s historical memory, this paper examines how the Indonesian society remembers, interrogates, and comes to terms with one of their nation’s most traumatic episodes: the widespread communist purge that followed the failed coup on 30 September 1965. It also demonstrates how they reflect various perspectives on the 1965 killings that are—to an extent—part of the “Battle of History” (van Klinken 2001) in postSuharto Indonesia, wherein different historiographic traditions introduce new actors, reveal the nuances, and challenge longstanding dominant understandings of 1965.

Red Lights, White Hope: Race, Gender, And U.S. Camptown Prostitution In South Korea, Julie Kim

CMC Senior Theses

U.S. military camptown prostitution in South Korea was a system ridden with entangled structures of race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality. This thesis aims to elucidate the ways in which racial ideologies, in conjunction with gendered nationalist ideologies, materialized in the spaces of military base communities. I contend that camptowns were hybrid spaces where the meaning and representation of race were constantly in flux, where the very definitions of race and gender were contested, affirmed, and redefined through ongoing negotiations on the part of relevant actors. The reading of camptown prostitutes and American GIs as sexualized and racialized bodies will …

Life And Seoul Of The Party: South Korea’S Brief Occupation Under Communist North Korea, Catherine Rose Graham

All Master's Theses

This thesis analyzes the North Korean occupation of Seoul through the oral histories of the men and women who experienced the event. At the beginning of the Korean War, North Korean forces successfully captured and held the South Korean capital for three months. Despite the occupation’s interesting premise, it has received little attention from Korean War scholars. Interviews with the people who lived through the Korean War though, demonstrate that from their point of view, the occupation was a particularly significant part of their war experience.

The Amoy China Mission Of The Reformed Church In America, 1937-1951, Jame E. Bell

Grand Valley Journal of History

This article analyzes how successful the Reformed missionaries operating in Amoy and the surrounding region were in accomplishing their objectives of evangelism and the establishment of an indigenous Chinese Church from 1937 to 1951. Through a combination of evangelism, education, and medical work the missionaries sought to spread their faith to the lay population of Fujian province. The missionaries’ work became much more difficult in the late 1930s with the Japanese invasion, World War II, and the eventual Communist takeover. In spite of this, their efforts, in conjunction with other missions, built a dedicated Chinese Christian community that proved hardy …

10_公共安全, 賽馬會香港歷史學習計劃

專題展覽

由百多年前成立至今，警察和消防都是社會重要的公共安全機關。開埠後香港人口激增，罪案和火災頻生，但因早期社會資源有限，警隊和消防隊在維持治安與滅火工作上遇到不少困難。為了改善服務質素以及應付社會上的需要，警隊及消防隊銳意改革，除了完善裝備外，亦改革內部架構及行政制度，逐步發展成龐大且專業的隊伍。警隊及消防隊亦肩負教育大眾的工作，透過不同的活動傳遞滅罪及消防安全的訊息。憑著警隊及消防隊從不間斷為市民服務，使香港成為全球最安全的城市之一。

Walking In The City: Koji Nakano’S Reimagining And Re-Sounding Of The Tale Of Genji, Isabella Ramos

Scripps Senior Theses

Imagined Sceneries is a work written by composer Dr. Koji Nakano of Burapha University, Thailand for two sopranos, koto, light percussion, narrations, soundscapes recorded in Kyoto, Japan in December 2015, and digital projections of Ebina Masao’s 1953 print series Tale of Genji. Imagined Sceneries’ reimagining and “re-sounding” of Heian Kyoto relies on a balance between what is imagined and what is experienced in performance. Its many elements collectively explore multiple layers of Japanese histories, soundscapes, environments, and sensibilities. Using Michel de Certeau’s concepts of the city, this thesis journeys through Nakano’s imagined spaces.

The State, The Gentry, And Local Institutions: The Song Dynasty From A Longue Durée Perspective, Song Chen

Faculty Journal Articles

Review essay on five books:

• Cunshe chuantong yu Ming Qing shishen: Shanxi Zezhou xiangtu shehui de zhidu bianqian 村社傳 統與明清士紳：山西澤州鄉土社會的制度變遷(Village Worship Associations and the Gentry in Ming and Qing Times: Institutional Transformations in the Local Society of Zezhou, Shanxi). By DU ZHENGZHEN 杜正貞. Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe, 2007. 348 pp. CNY 30.00 (paper).
• The Destruction of the Medieval Chinese Aristocracy. By NICOLAS TACKETT. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2014. xiv + 281 pp. $49.95 (cloth), $25.00 (paper).
• Kin Gen jidai no kahoku shakai to kakyo seido: Mōhitotsu no “shijin sō” 金元時代の華北社会と 科挙制度―もう一つの「士人層」(Society and the Examination System in North …

The Japanese Experience In Virginia, 1900s-1950s: Jim Crow To Internment, Emma T. Ito

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis addresses how Japanese and Japanese Americans may have lived and been perceived in Virginia from 1900s through the 1950s. This work focuses on their positions in society with comparisons to the nation, particularly during the “Jim Crow” era of “colored” and “white,” and after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. It highlights various means of understanding their positions in Virginia society, with emphasis on Japanese visitors, marriages of Japanese in Virginia, and the inclusion of Japanese in higher education at Roanoke College, Randolph-Macon College, William and Mary, University of Virginia, University of Richmond, Hampden-Sydney College, and Union …

Oceans Of Space, Stephanie Steinbrecher '16

EnviroLab Asia

"Oceans of Space" relates my observations of the 2016 EnviroLab Asia Clinic Trip to Singapore and Sarawak, Malaysia. In this meditation, the concept of space serves as a lens to examine assumptions of geopolitical, historical, and philosophical positioning—regionally and globally. At the center of my inquiry is EnviroLab's connection to the Dayak communities in Baram, Sarawak. This region is experiencing dramatic social and ecological change as a result of industrial development. By triangulating my subjective impressions of this space, various knowledge systems, and the qualitative data EnviroLab gathered in Southeast Asia, I aim to untangle some paradoxes that complicate the …

Challenging Filipino Colonial Mentality With Philippine Art, Francesca V. Mateo

Master's Theses

For 350 years, the Philippines was colonized by Spain and the United States. The Philippines became a sovereign nation in 1946 yet, fifty years later, colonial teachings continue to oppress Filipinos due to their colonial mentality (CM.) CM is an internalized oppression among Filipinos in which they experience an automatic preference for anything Western—European or U.S. American—and rejection of anything Filipino. Although Filipinos show signs of a CM, there are Filipinos who are challenging CM by engaging in Philippine art. Philippine art is defined as Filipino-made visual art, literature, music, and dance intended to promote Philippine culture. This …

More Sieve Than Shield: The U.S. Army And Cords In The Pacification Of Phu Yen Province, Republic Of Vietnam, 1965-1972, Robert John Thompson Iii

Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the meaning and execution of pacification during the Vietnam War in the Republic of Vietnam’s Phu Yen Province. Vietnam War scholarship never defined the term, an unsurprising fact given those that directed the war itself never agreed on a lasting interpretation. Void of an analysis of the word, pacification is erroneously discussed as a separate facet, rather than the foundation, of the war. When discussed, pacification is often seen solely as the developmental aspect of the war and one far removed from the battles waged by conventional armies. On the contrary, two dissimilar and tangentially related wars …

Mythbusting Park Chung Hee: A Reexamination Of Park And His Coup, Justin Malzac

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Park Chung-Hee is a divisive figure. For some he is a saint that rescued his country from the brink of collapse and helped it rise into modernity. For others he is a devil, an iron-fisted dictator who cared more about his own power than his people. Both of these are politically slanted myths promoted as part of a corresponding political agenda. But even politically neutral writings on Park unwittingly conduct a mythmaking of their own. This paper is an attempt to show that Park Chung-Hee has become a mythological figure in Korean history because the scope of his power, agency …

Acquired Tastes 洋味香港, Carol Chow

AMBROSIA 客道 : The Magazine of The International Culinary Institute

Hong Kong's restaurant landscape hasn't always been as cosmopolitan as it is today. Co-founder of the city's earliest Chinese-owned French restaurant, as well as Maxim's Group, Dr James Wu traces the evolution of the local F&B industry and explains why professional training has been crucial to success.

今日香港餐飲界多彩繽紛，各國料理薈萃，但並非一直如此國際化。身為美心集團及香港首間華人開辦的法國餐廳聯合創辦人，伍沾德博士與我們回顧本地餐飲界的發展，闡釋專業廚藝訓練是成功關鍵。

Research And Study Of Fashion And Costume History Spanning From Ancient Egypt To Modern Day, Kaitlyn E. Dennis Miss

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Through a generous donation to Morehead State University, research has been conducted on thousands of slides containing images of artwork and artifacts of historical significance. These images span from Egyptian hieroglyphs to the inaugural dress of every first lady of the United States. The slides are in the process of being recorded and catalogued for future use by students in hopes of furthering academic comprehension and awareness of the influence of fashion and costume history through the ages. Special thanks to the family of Gretel Geist Rutledge, faculty mentor Denise Watkins, as well as the Department of Music, Theatre, and …

06_從德輔道中看香港的歷史軌跡, Ka Kin, Kelvin Chow

專題講座

昔日德輔道中建有不少古味盎然的英國及歐陸式建築，極富殖民地色彩。現今兩旁商業樓宇林立，人群穿梭其中，往往忽略這裡既是香港政經中心，亦是文康之地。德輔道中不只展現出香港商業發展的成果，亦蘊藏著大小不同的故事，見證香港人辛勞的足印。