East Asian Languages and Literatures Theses and Dissertations

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Browsing East Asian Languages and Literatures Theses and Dissertations by Author "Chan, Roy"

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    Between Sovereignty and Coloniality--Manchukuo Literature and Film
    (University of Oregon, 2018-09-06) Chen, Yue; Chan, Roy
    This dissertation studies the cultural imagination of Manchukuo the nation (1932-1945). As a nominal nation-state imposed upon Chinese Manchuria by the Empire of Japan, Manchukuo is a contradiction between sovereignty and coloniality, both due to the historical competition of geopolitical powers in the region and its multiethnic composition of the national community. In its short political life, Manchukuo bears witness to an unprecedented flourish of literary and film production. This textual corpus remains understudied and its relationship to Chinese literature and culture or Japanese literature and culture is insufficiently explored. Armed with postcolonial and minority discourse, this project examines how Manchukuo cultural production mediates the notion of the nation and sovereignty in the context of Japanese imperialism. The close reading and critical interrogation of this body of literary and filmic texts shall generate provocative questions for the reconstruction of Chinese literary studies and East Asian studies. The body of the dissertation consists of four interrelated arguments. Framing the reading in the context of recent scholarly debate on “the Sinophone,” Chapter two considers Manchukuo literature as a “minor literature” whose distinction lies in its writers’ use of “deterritorialized” Chinese, Japanese, and Russian. Multilingualism and multiethnicity are therefore the (trans)national features of Manchukuo literary production. This literary “sovereignty” is then re-examined through the representation of Manchukuo’s women and family in Chapter three. Interpreting coloniality through reading gender relations, this chapter highlights the unusual progressive portrayal of women in Manchukuo. This discovery of Manchukuo women’s autonomy and mobility is reinforced in the interpretation of Manchukuo’s dramatic feature films. Working through feminist critique of gender division and looking into magazines of the era, chapter four and five analyze the films’ explanation of a contradiction within Japanese imperialism. This contradiction of “sovereignty” and “submission” gets further elaboration in Chapter five. An interpretation of the star text of Ri Kōran reveals her stardom and Manchukuo film musical provides a unique anti-romantic “affiliation” of the Manchukuo nation.
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    Revolutionary Melodrama: Tales of Family, Kinship, and the Nation in Modern China
    (University of Oregon, 2022-10-04) Xiong, Shuangting; Chan, Roy
    Revolutionary Melodrama: Tales of Family, Kinship, and the Nation in Modern China investigates the seemingly paradoxical pairing of “revolution” and “melodrama” and the vital role the melodramatic mode played in shaping modern aesthetics in China. Where melodrama is commonly understood to disavow revolutionary change and maintain the status quo, I argue that revolutionary melodramas function as emotional pedagogies in which abstract revolutionary ideas and ideals are made emotionally legible, and political solidarities more possible, to the masses. By deploying melodrama as an analytical category, this dissertation focuses on three representative manifestations of revolutionary melodramatic aesthetics at the micro-level of individuals and families. Each chapter of my dissertation draws together different media across three key historical moments in twentieth century China: the iconic May Fourth novel Jia (1933), the music-drama The White-Haired Girl (1945) created in wartime Yan’an, and the model opera film The Red Lantern (1970) produced during the height of the Cultural Revolution. In their reappropriations of the melodramatic mode, these texts deploy the affective trope of family and kinship to articulate alternative affiliations and create a passionate revolutionary collective capable of making socio-political change. Revolutionary Melodrama shows that aesthetic texts can be more than a mere reflection of what people’s thoughts and feelings at a given historical moment; they are also mediated experience of history and modernity that can actively shape the affective meaning of family/kinship and transform existing structures of feeling at the same time. On the other hand, while the melodramatic mode provided a powerful, dichotomized trope that can be mobilized in different historical circumstances for varied ideological purposes, it ultimately failed to transcend these sets of dichotomies. Revolutionary melodrama oscillates between personal si feelings and public/social gong passions, between the particularities of familial and kinship bonds and the universality of the nation-state, and yet is never able to truly transcend such dichotomies.
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    Save the Children: Nation, Childrearing, and the Modern Self in Republican-Era Chinese Literature 1911-1949
    (University of Oregon, 2020-09-24) Chou, Yu Chih (Clay); Chan, Roy
    My dissertation examines the modern ideological concept of children and individualism in Republican Chinese literature. It draws upon eugenics discourse, ideological essays and fictional stories to examine the emergence of the modern individual amid the tensions within the ideological call to revolutionize the traditional Confucian family in order to build a modern Chinese nation. Linking Chinese nation building with evolutionary thinking and eugenics discourse, my research explores how parenthood was inevitable for modern Chinese men and women and how the experience of raising children revealed conflicts between self, family, and nation in Chinese modernity. In response to the perception that China was the “Sick Man of Asia,” intellectuals developed what I call a developmental eugenics narrative about the need to produce a generation of children who are biologically and spiritually advanced so that China could defend itself against both imperialist and colonialist encroachment. This developmental eugenic thinking, I argue, permeated Republican fictional stories in which children organically arrive in a modern conjugal relationship between a man and a woman. Contradicting the notion of the modern family as both the building block of the modern Chinese nation and the producer of future Chinese citizens, the fictional modern family often struggles to meld its two functions. These fictional men and women face their new parental responsibilities as they also struggle to uphold their recently acquired modern personhood. Despite their focus on “saving the children,” a famous slogan coined in Lu Xun’s “A Madman’s Diary,” Republican writers often depict the act of parenting as a sacrifice that modern individuals do not want to make. In consequence, the fictional modern family fails to transform into the imagined nation-building modern family. My research reinforces and advances current ideas about the convoluted and paradoxical nature of individualism in Chinese modernity. It points out the reproductive imperative within the family revolution discourse coinciding with Chinese nation building. Analyzing the fictional stories written by Republican radicals through the lens of the developmental eugenics narrative suggests that Republican radicals struggled to surrender their individualism for the sake of Chinese nation building when it came to parenting the next generation.
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    TRANSGRESSING THE STAGE: FEMALE XIQU PERFORMERS AT THE TURN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
    (University of Oregon, 2024-08-07) Deng, Xiaoyan; Chan, Roy
    This dissertation explores a previously overlooked aspect of xiqu history - the role of female xiqu performers in fin-de-siècle China. Focusing on the transitional period between the late Qing and the early Republican era (1870-1937), it argues that female xiqu actors were not merely marginal figures but played a crucial role in shaping the stagecraft and culture of xiqu, on par with their male counterparts. The study begins by examining the performances of female xiqu actors in foreign concessions in Shanghai and Tianjin during the late-Qing period. It highlights how these performers demonstrated their exceptional stagecraft, which was comparable to that of the top male performers of the time. This challenges the notion that female performers were inferior in the xiqu tradition. Moving on to the 1910s in Beijing, the dissertation explores the significant contributions of female players like Liu Xikui and Xian Lingzhi. These performers challenged the traditional sheng players of the previous generation, showcasing their talent and pushing the boundaries of gender norms within xiqu. The study then delves into the 1920s, a period when female players such as Zhang Wenyan, alongside nandan stars, formed the first star culture in modern China. This highlights the importance of female performers in shaping the entertainment industry and popular culture of the time. Contrary to popular belief, the dissertation argues that the triumph of Republican nandan stars over their female counterparts was not solely due to the male players’ alleged artistic superiority. Instead, it suggests that various forms of social prejudice against women placed the female actors at a disadvantage in their competition with male players. This sheds light on the complex dynamics of gender and power within the xiqu tradition. Overall, this dissertation aims to rectify the neglect of female xiqu performers in the study of xiqu history. By highlighting their significant contributions and challenging traditional gender roles, it seeks to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the role of women in shaping the stagecraft and culture of xiqu during the Qing-Republic transition.