East Asian Languages and Literatures Theses and Dissertations

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Open Access
Acting the Role of Gods: Shinoda Masahiro's Cinematic Confrontations with the Absolute Image
(University of Oregon, 2014-09-29) Koble, Sean; Miyao, Daisuke
The narrative structure and formal style of the director Shinoda Masahiro's films reveal his ethical objective to encourage his viewer to engage with works of cinematic representation as the creative products of human agency that they are. Within his period films, Shinoda hopes to stimulate recognition of cinema's genealogical inheritance and reproduction of the absolutist propositions underlying traditional Japanese cultural forms. He posits that these have redirected essential human drives into masochistic self-effacement in tribute to a divine ideal imaged in the Imperial polity. By disrupting the illusion of cinematic realism which simply serves to reinforce Japanese culture's existent intertextual networks, Shinoda seeks to reground cultural expressions in their material and human origins. This acts as the first step to imagining a Japanese subject outside of the limited definitions posed by nostalgic absolutism and its reactionary antithesis in the equally self-destructive mode of global capitalism.
Open Access
Agency at Play: Impoliteness and Korean Language in Online Interactions
(University of Oregon, 2019-04-30) Kim, Ariel; Brown, Lucien
(Im)politeness research has often focused on either the importance of social norms or on the intentions of the speaker, overlooking the active role played by the recipient(s) in assigning social meaning. This limitation pertains particularly to so-called “discernment languages” such as Korean and Japanese. This work addresses this gap by focusing on recipient agency in interpretations/evaluations of impoliteness. Two sets of data are drawn from the naturally occurring computer-mediated communications that appeared in two popular internet portal sites in South Korea. Both sets of data contain metapragmatic discussions of impoliteness that involve recipient evaluation of a speaker’s actions and language use as offensive or not. I focus on how the recipients in the data agentively evaluate the language used by speakers, including inconsistent evaluations of non-honorific language, or panmal. The results show that variability in the interpretation of (im)politeness cannot be explained solely by social norms or intentions, and must also include the socially-mediated agency of the recipient(s).
Open Access
Akutagawa and the Kirishitanmono: The Exoticization of a Barbarian Religion and the Acclamation of Martyrdom
(University of Oregon, 2012) Bassoe, Pedro; Bassoe, Pedro; Webb, Jason
Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, one of the most widely read and translated authors of the Taishō period, wrote some two dozen short stories centered on the theme of Christianity during his brief career. In this paper, I examine these works, known as kirishitanmono, both in the context of the author’s oeuvre and the intellectual environment of his day. The kirishitanmono are examined for a pervasive use of obscure language and textual density which serves to exoticize Christianity and frame it as an essentially foreign religion. This religion becomes a metaphor for European ideology, which is criticized for its incompatibility with East Asian traditions and, in turn, presented as a metaphor for the impossibility of intercultural dialogue. Finally, I examine the image of the martyr, as presented in both the kirishitanmono and other religious stories, in which the convictions of martyrs are elevated as a pure form of ideology in defiance of modernity.
Open Access
An Outsider and Insider's Osaka: Osaka in Tanizaki Jun'ichirō and Oda Sakunosuke's Literature
(University of Oregon, 2018-09-06) Wei, Ran; DiNitto, Rachel
This thesis looks at the representations of Osaka from the 1920s to the 1940s in Tokyo writer Tanizaki Jun’ichirō and Osaka writer Oda Sakunosuke’s literature. I examine how Tanizaki and Oda approached issues of local and national and responded to the changing power relations between the local and the national order, as well as Osaka’s gradual subordination into a greater national entity. I argue that the Osaka outsider Tanizaki and the Osaka insider Oda’s literary responses to Osaka’s changing relation with the nation share certain similarities and differences: the similarities lie in their awareness of the changing power dynamics between Tokyo and Osaka, and their attempt to accentuate Osaka’s uniqueness, in addition to their treatment with the wartime censorship in the 1940s. The differences lie in the era they wrote of, their positions via and attitudes toward Osaka, and their focus on different social classes.
Open Access
Articulating Desire: Power, Identity, and Recognition in Modern Okinawan Literature
(University of Oregon, 2024-01-09) Wang, Xiaoyu; DiNitto, Rachel
My dissertation analyzes four Okinawan literary works to explore how desire and the struggle for recognition, as formulated by Hegel, unfold within the Okinawan context. Through examining the various manifestations of the Okinawan characters’ desire, my dissertation investigates what is ultimately desired by Okinawans as colonized individuals, and how this desire reveals a subjective domain of colonial deprivation that goes beyond political and material dispossession. The four stories, I maintain, reveal how colonial domination reproduces itself through a vicious cycle that feeds on the colonized subject’s desire to be seen and recognized for their human validity and value. This psychological mechanism of colonialism keeps producing a false sense of inferiority and dependence among the colonized, which in turn perpetuates the hierarchical power structure of colonialism. In the meantime, however, Okinawan subjects negotiate for themselves recognition they seek and reap certain benefits from the process, even if this recognition turns out to be deceptive and detrimental to their quest for true autonomy. The four Okinawan texts, I argue, question the nature of recognition that Okinawan subjects pursue under the colonial condition and indicate how self-alienation as well as loss of autonomy occur during the pursuit of such illusory recognition. In addition, I contend that these works depict a complex and nuanced image of Okinawans, which prompts a reconsideration of the relationship between Okinawa and its colonizers in terms of intimacy and collusion to go beyond the simplistic binary of resistance and oppression.
Open Access
Bai Juyi and the New Yuefu Movement
(University of Oregon, 2013-10-03) Gwyther, Jordan; Wang, Yugen
Centering my focus on a detailed translation of the poetry of Bai Juyi's New Yuefu, I will reconstruct the poet's world on the foundation of political allegory found within his verse. Bai Juyi once said that there are four elements that compose poetry as a whole: Likened to a blossoming fruit tree, the root of poetry is in its emotions, its branches in its wording, its flowers in its rhyme and voice, and lastly its final culmination in the fruits of its meaning. Moreover, I will carefully research Bai Juyi's correspondence with other members of the New Yuefu Movement such as Yuan Zhen. As a whole, the aim of this thesis is to illuminate what I view to be Bai Juyi's own unique brand of poetic theory as well as the sociological philosophy behind its creation.
Open Access
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.
Open Access
Binding a Universe: The Formation and Transmutations of the Best Japanese SF (Nenkan Nihon SF Kessakusen) Anthology Series
(University of Oregon, 2016-11-21) Hirao, Akiko; Freedman, Alisa
The annual science fiction anthology series The Best Japanese SF started publication in 2009 and showcases domestic writers old and new and from a wide range of publishing backgrounds. Although representative of the second golden era of Japanese science fiction in print in its diversity and with an emphasis on that year in science fiction, as the volumes progress the editors’ unspoken agenda has become more pronounced, which is to create a set of expectations for the genre and to uphold writers Project Itoh and EnJoe Toh as exemplary of this current golden era. This thesis analyzes the context of the anthology series’ publication, how the anthology is constructed, and these two writers’ contributions to the genre as integral to the anthologies and important to the younger generation of writers in the genre.
Open Access
The body in the politics and society of early China
(University of Oregon, 2007-12) He, Jianjun, 1970-
This dissertation discusses the political conceptualization and social practice of the body in early China through a close examination of the texts and documents produced from the Spring and Autumn period to the end of the Eastern Han dynasty. It demonstrates that, in addition to medical concerns, the body in early China was transformed into a political concept and a ritual subject that served indispensably in state construction and social control. It is divided into the following three chapters. Chapter one, "Physiognomy and the Body," examines the relationship between physiognomy and the body. Following a roughly chronological order, this chapter shows how physiognomy, a divination technique, read the body for political purposes. In addition to this, the chapter also discusses philosophical reactions to this political interpretation of the body by looking at criticisms in the works of Mengzi, Xunzi, Dong Zhongshu, Wang Chong and Wang Fu. Chapter two, "Politics and the Body," discusses the political theory and practice of the body in early China. It begins with a description of the metaphorical meanings of the body in early political discourse, focusing on their role in defining the competitive relationship between the ruler and the minister, as well as their significance in defending the political and ethical legitimacy of the state. The use of the body as an actual political tool forms the second consideration of this chapter. I demonstrate how the political symbolism of the body weighted significantly in Han China's foreign policy making. Chapter three, "Ritual and the Body," deals with the issue of ritualization of the body in early China. The chapter is organized in accordance with two issues concerning the body in early ritual theories: ritualizing the body and embodying the ritual. I show how ritual trains the body to be acceptable to the society and how the ritualized body facilitates the maintenance of a hierarchical social order.
Open Access
Chinese Idioms (Cheng-yu) for Second-Language Learners: Toward a Pedogogical Approach
(University of Oregon, 2011-06) Stellard, Lisa
This thesis considers the importance of cheng-yu (Chinese language-specific, idiomatic lexical-syntactic units) in second-language acquisition at the intermediate and advanced levels and examines current research in order to formulate an instructional approach. Informed by linguistic and pedagogical research on idioms generally, the study aims to apply research relevant to Chinese language idioms specifically. Main topics to be considered include: the importance of cheng-yu in higher-level discourse including the social significance of cheng-yu use; the patterned structure of cheng-yu; idiom teaching methods and a review of idiom content and presentation in commonly-used Chinese language textbooks; and the significance of corpus data in cheng-yu instruction. Results confirm the importance of cheng-yu in discourse and recommend practicable, research-based classroom strategies. Finally, a sample lesson is provided which encourages the use of corpus data and utilizes research findings on the structure of cheng-yu and on teaching practices thought to foster acquisition.
Open Access
Cinematic realism and independent filmmaking in China
(University of Oregon, 2011-06) Yang, Mei
Independent filmmaking in China, with the directors' reiteration of literary and cinematic realism carried on from May Fourth, reflects the nation's social uneasiness triggered by the enlarging division between the enlightenment indenture and the unidirectional modernization project. Resisting the national allegories and Hollywood-style big budget fantasies made by the Fifth Generation, independent filmmakers bring back to the screen the unadorned life of city inhabitants. The meaning of "independent" and "alternative" does not exclusively lie in the production and distribution venues but is galvanized by film directors' perception and cinematic depiction of what constitutes the social realities of contemporary China. The locality of hometown and the corporeality of the filmed subjects help to sustain a legitimate image-space for the socially underrepresented, at a time when the Party co-opts the discourse of nation-state to renew their regime. Directors employ the politics of sexuality, where body is the only thing remaining in their control, to usher in a redefinition of the Party and reassure the agency of Chinese intellectuals who were betrayed during the June Fourth massacre. The exegesis of the independent generation extends to the digital video (DV) filmmakers, whose cinematic language features the increased sense of interrogation between the camera and the characters. For the directors' claims of neither representing the people nor wrestling against the Party, nonetheless, DV films retreat to a safe but enclosed space, in which the aggrandized size of the body on screen displays a fractioned and diminished self cutting off from the outside world and falling short of its full potential. Independent filmmaking in China derives its policy-shaping capacity from its increasing participants (domestic audiences, amateur filmmakers, critics, and scholars) and multiplying operative channels (film funds, online forums, and non-official archives), collectively converting filmmaking from a privilege exclusive to the state apparatus and its elite delegates to a right of self-expression belonging to each individual.
Open Access
A Comparison of the Representations of Women in Zuozhuan and Shiji
(University of Oregon, 2012) Zheng, Xiucai; Zheng, Xiucai; Durrant, Stephen
From Chunqiu and Zuozhuan to Shiji, women have experienced a downgrade of their formal status in historical records. In Shiji, women, the wives of dukes, lost their formal equality with their duke husbands in terms of being written into state history, as we see in Chunqiu. Their activities, including marriage, returning home, visits, and death, disappeared from Sima Qian’s history for the Spring and Autumn period, which focuses on the activities of male members of ruling lineages. A positive representation of women’s wisdom, eloquence, and authority is no longer in the interest of nor taken as a ritual part of history writing in Shiji. In the terms of representation of women, especially those from the Spring and Autumn period, in Zuozhuan and Shiji, Zuozhuan gave fuller representation of women than Shiji and its attitude toward women was more positive in comparison to the latter. First, Zuozhuan in many examples presented women as having authority, agency and initiative; in the Shiji versions of these stories, the roles of women were reduced in order to strengthen the agency of and focalization through the male members of a ruling lineage toward a goal of a linear logic of succession. Second, Shiji stressed the disruptive role of women in state affairs by intensively preserving the stories in Zuozhuan that associated women with political disasters and emergencies. Third, Zuozhuan had a non-gendered approach to the effect of women’s wisdom, knowledge and eloquence; it left space for complexity of characterization for women. In contrast, Shiji and Lienü Zhuan, where these stories in Zuozhuan were transmitted, emphasized a patterned understanding of women and produced gender role types. With the representation of women in Shiji, the effect of the agency of women in history is patterned. In Shiji, women’s agency is more closely connected to political disasters and negative political situations. In the limited representation of positive heroines, their good roles came from their virtue in being self-restrictive and submissive. It implies as a historical teaching in Shiji that the limitation of the political autonomy of women is a way to promise the success of lineage and tradition.
Open Access
Conceptual Network in Creative Morphology: The Linguistic Representation of the Quality of Perception in Chinese
(University of Oregon, 2024-01-10) Hung, Hsiao-Hsuan; Jing-Schmidt, Zhuo
Sensory language, the linguistic conveyance of sensory perception and experience, has attracted considerable scholarly interest in linguistics and linguistic anthropology. In particular, recent anthropological research on the representation of qualia, the subjective or qualitative properties of sensory experiences, and the revival of linguistic research on mimetic language, including but not limited to sound symbolism, have greatly energized scholarly engagement with the linguistic representation of sensory perception and cross-modal conceptualization of senses. To this date, however, there is no systematic research that explores the role of morphology or word formation in the representation of qualia in Chinese based on large-scale usage data.This dissertation aims to fill this major gap in the research by exploring the dynamic and complex nature of perceptually based conceptualization in a family of reduplication-based mimetic morphological constructions in Chinese. Using a data-driven method, I show that the Chinese morphological pattern [A-BB] is a creative and productive linguistic device of qualia representation in a wide range of sensory perceptual and related experiential domains that form a complex, intertwining conceptual network. Taking a constructionist approach, which argues that the meaning of the whole is larger than the sum of the meanings of the parts, I demonstrate that the schema [A-BB] is associated with the function of psychomimetic conveyance of perceptual qualities. Using sophisticated methods of data analysis and visualization, this dissertation makes new discoveries in Chinese morphology in the representation of sensory perception. In doing so, this dissertation breaks a new path in Chinese sensory language research and offers rich and valuable datasets for future studies.
Open Access
Cross-Linguistic Perception and Learning of Mandarin Chinese Sounds by Japanese Adult Learners
(University of Oregon, 2017-05-01) Wei, Peipei; Idemaru, Kaori
This dissertation presents a cross-linguistic investigation of how nonnative sounds are perceived by second language (L2) learners in terms of their first language (L1) categories for an understudies language pair---Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. Category mapping experiment empirically measured the perceived phonetic distances between Chinese sounds and their most resembling Japanese categories, which generated testable predictions on discriminability of Chinese sound contrasts according to Perception Assimilation Model (PAM). Category discrimination experiment obtained data concerning L2 learners' actual performance on discrimination Chinese sounds. The discrepancy between PAM's predictions and actual performances revealed that PAM cannot be applied to L2 perceptual learning. It was suggested that the discriminability of L2 sound contrasts was not only determined by perceived phonetic distances but probably involved other factors, such as the distinctiveness of certain phonetic features, e.g. aspiration and retroflexion. The training experiment assessed the improvement of L2 learners' performance in identifying Chinese sound contrasts with exposure to high variability stimuli and feedback. The results not only proved the effectiveness of training in shaping L2 learners' perception but showed that the training effects were generalizable to new tokens spoken by unfamiliar talkers. In addition to perception, the production of Chinese sounds by Japanese learners was also examined from the phonetic perspective in terms of perceived foreign accentedness. Regression of L2 learners' and native speakers foreign accentedness ratings against acoustic measurements of their speech production revealed that although both segmental and suprasegmental variables contributed to the perception of foreign accent, suprasegmental variables such as total and intonation patterns were the most influential factor in predicting perceived foreign accent. To conclude, PAM failed to accurately predict learning difficulties of nonnative sounds faced by L2 learners solely based on perceived phonetic distances. As Speech Learning Model (SLM) hypothesizes, production was found to be driven by perception, since equivalence classification of L2 sounds to L1 categories prevented the establishment of a new phonological category, thus further resulted in divergence in L2 production. Although production was hypothesized to eventually resemble perception, asynchrony between production and perception was observed due to different mechanisms involved.
Embargo
Cultural Representations of the One-child Policy in Chinese Literature and Film since 1978
(University of Oregon, 2016-10-27) Wang, Li; Epstein, Maram
This dissertation focuses on the cultural representations of the one-child policy ever since 1978. The artistic discourses about the one-child policy provide a fantastic space to explore China’s post-socialist society and contending ideologies. It also sheds light on the intricate relation between aesthetics and politics and these among the state, family and individual. Moreover, as discourses, artistic narratives and images also participate in the redefining of reproduction/one-child policy. Therefore, inquiries into the interaction between aesthetics and politics enrich our understanding of how reproductive ideals are constructed, negotiated and transformed. This dissertation can be divided into five parts. In the introduction part, I introduce issues related to the one-child policy, materials which I use and my main approaches to interpret them. Chapter Two explores how post-1978 family planning films and novel envision the ideal reproductive lives of peasants through the construction of ideal reproductive subjects, especially ideal female models. These artistic works also show changed representations of the ideal role models. Chapter Three looks into the patriarchal reproductive subject in Mo Yan’s Frog which centers on the conflict between state power and traditional male-centric reproductive culture. Although there are ambiguities, the novel demonstrates that the state has failed to transform peasants’ traditional reproductive ideas. Chapter Four deals with women’s exploration of reproduction from the 1980s on. The writings of some female authors demonstrate a consciousness of independent female reproductive desire. In some works, we can even see the emergence of a new kind of female reproductive privacy. In these works, reproduction becomes the female protagonists’ personal, private matter and women’s subjectivity is seen in their ability to make reproductive decisions according to their own interests. In the Coda, I talk about my future research plans. Overall, in this dissertation, I trace the political, economic, cultural, and technical factors that contribute to the gradual emergence of pluralism in reproductive ideas and practices. My dissertation demonstrates the dynamic interaction among different forces affecting reproduction, one of the most strictly controlled realms in Chinese life. Although reproduction is still mainly dictated by the state current two-child policy, a push towards greater individual autonomy is starting to gain momentum.
Open Access
Decoding Anime: National Discourses and Identities of Japan and Taiwan
(University of Oregon, 2024-08-07) Chung, Ai-Ting; DiNitto, Rachel
This dissertation historicizes the transnational animation industry in Japan and its former colony Taiwan, and analyzes identity transformation in animation texts in the two countries from the late 1980s to the 2010s. I examine how the lingering colonial mindset is obscured in the current scholarly framework and by the global dominance of Japanese anime. By examining the deification of Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki Hayao, I analyze the hierarchical system in the animation industry inside and outside Japan and elaborate how the development of a national animation cinema in 1960s, 90s, and 2000s connects to the colonial history in East Asia. Breaking from the focus on labor in the current cinema and media industrial studies, I examine the coloniality of the outsourcing system in anime industry. Observing Taiwan as a case study, I analyze how Taiwanese animators turn their marginality into visibility in a market dominated by Japanese productions via shaping Taiwan’s colonial identity into a new national identity that differentiates Taiwan from China. Broadening current scholarly frameworks by decoding the bond between anime and “Japanese-ness,” my analysis contextualizes how the inter-Asian power relationship has shaped the animation industries, global reception, and the national identities of Japan and Taiwan. I argue that anime is paradoxically an extension of colonial power relationships, yet also an alternative art form to lead a decolonial turn. My project’s aim is to broaden the field of anime studies beyond the national. Providing a postcolonial story of anime beyond Japan. My intervention in this field is the first attempt in English-language scholarship to make visible the animation history in Taiwan and its struggles for national identity.
Open Access
Don't Believe a Word I Say: Metafiction in Contemporary Chinese Literature
(University of Oregon, 2011-06) Kaiser, Marjolijn, 1984-
This thesis focuses on the metafictional elements in selected works of the contemporary Chinese authors Gao Xingjian, Huang Jinshu, and Wang Xiaobo. I define metafiction as both a formal feature inherent in the text and the result of an approach towards that text. I argue that metafiction confronts us with the (postmodern) issues of 1) the ontological status of the text, 2) the figure of the author and reader, and 3) the (ambiguous) relationship between fiction and reality. Simultaneously, it accepts and celebrates this self-conscious and ambiguous character, encouraging readers to do the same. By combining elements from the indigenous literary tradition and international literary movements, contemporary Chinese metafiction is a valuable contribution to the study of metafiction. Ultimately, it shows what it means to write and read in a Chinese as well as in a global context.
Open Access
Effect of FFI Models on Chinese L2 Accuracy
(University of Oregon, 2013-10-03) Chen, Jing-Yun; Jing-Schmidt, Zhou
Previous studies of form-focused instruction (FFI) have examined the effect of various aspects of inputs, corrective feedbacks, and instructions on L2 learners' accuracy development. Although much research has suggested that L2 learners achieve high accuracy and communicative competence when they receive input enhancement, explicit instruction, and corrective feedback, limited work has been done on the effect of FFI in Chinese language. The thesis utilized qualitative and quantitative methods and tested the effect of two FFI models on two groups of learners' acquisition in Chinese adverbial phrases. Even though the quantitative results show that the group that received explicit treatment had significantly improved accuracy in the immediate and delayed post-tests, the interview results revealed that students have different learning styles. This further suggests that no one right instruction is the best, and teachers should implement various teaching approaches based on students' needs.
Embargo
Exhibiting Socialist Chineseness Abroad: PRC’s Audio-visual Propaganda in Cold War Hong Kong and Beyond, 1950s-1970s
(University of Oregon, 2024-08-07) Tao, Sabrina Y.; Groppe, Alison
This dissertation investigates how socialist Chinese audiovisual productions (especially cinema) that incorporate folklore, regional, and traditional Chinese cultural elements after socialist reform were exported internationally to win the hearts and minds of diasporic Chinese audiences via the intermediary of Hong Kong in the early Cold War era. In contrast with previous conceptions on PRC’s domestic propaganda that highlight revolution and class struggle, my dissertation argues that “socialist Chineseness” was an alternative as it blurred revolutionary messages in its audiovisual representations and marketing strategies for the purpose of circumventing censorship from the British colonial government and to construct a benevolent image of the new PRC to global audiences. Muting overt political themes while still shadowed by ideologies of socialism and anti-colonialism, these audio-visual texts created a nostalgic space of “cultural China” that blurred boundaries between regions, nationhood, social class, political and cultural identifications. In the meantime, they also had anti-colonial and anti-capitalist stances and acted as a contesting discourse against pro-rightist and pro-American culture in Cold War East Asia. By tracing these long-neglected transnational cultural interactions, this study hopes to reexamine the national boundary of Chinese cinema, as PRC films in the early socialist era were circulated in the broader regions of the Sinosphere. Meanwhile, by building a bridge between PRC and Hong Kong studies, this study explores the role of Hong Kong as a cultural nexus for the PRC’s audiovisual propaganda overseas. The dissertation not only reexamines how China presented itself to the world historically, but also explores how the socialist bloc conducted and responded to the global cultural Cold War in the realm of “soft power.”
Open Access
The Female Rewriting of Grand History: The Tanci Fiction Jing zhong zhuan
(University of Oregon, 2013-10-03) Zhang, Yu; Epstein, Maram
This dissertation has examined the tanci fiction Jing zhong zhuan, or A Biography of Dedication and Loyalty, authored by a gentry woman writer Zhou Yingfang in the late nineteenth century. I argue that by adapting the well-known patriotic story of General Yue Fei in Chinese history, Zhou Yingfang suggests new directions in grand historical narrative in her own voice and from her own perspective. Negotiating the writing conventions of earlier legends, she turns the stereotyped masculine image of Yue Fei into a hero in both public and domestic settings. In addition, she adds many detailed episodes from Yue Fei's family life and portrays virtuous women in a chaotic historical period, paralleling the conventional narration of wars and politics. Although often (mis)read as a text that inspires nationalism, Jing zhong zhuan actually redefines significant values in late imperial China, including the importance of family and the complex relation between filial piety and political loyalty. The tanci also enriches the notions of female virtues, expanding them from chastity to beauty, learning and management skills. Employing tanci, a unique genre that is closely associated with and quite dominated by women, Zhou Yingfang demonstrates her gendered consciousness in relationship to late nineteenth-century Confucian family dynamics and her self-representation and literary engagement within grand historical narratives. My dissertation sheds light on the dynamics between women's writing and historiography, as well as on the discourses of patriotism and emerging nationalism at the turn of the twentieth-century in China.