DOCSLIB.ORG

Dynamics of Popular Nationalism in China's Japan Policy in Post-Cold

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Dynamics of Popular Nationalism in China's Japan Policy in Post-Cold DYNAMICS OF POPULAR NATIONALISM IN CHINA’S JAPAN POLICY IN POST-COLD WAR ERA By GUO YU A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Political Science and International Studies School of Government and Society College of Social Sciences The University of Birmingham May 2012 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT The principal aim of this thesis is to seek answers to the two core research questions: how has popular nationalism been instrumental in China’s Japan policy vis-à-vis its domestic politics since the end of the Cold War? And, how and to what extent has the Chinese government managed popular nationalism in foreign and domestic policy practices? Using Japan as an empirical subject, this thesis explores and investigates the complex interactive relations between popular nationalism, in particular emotions and sentiment, and foreign policy and domestic politics in post-Cold War China. The work takes a constructivist view, which popular nationalism, foreign policy and domestic politics are seen as mutually constituted. Taking two recent diplomatic frictions between China and Japan as case studies, the thesis critically examines the mutually constitutive effects of popular nationalism on China’s Japan policy in respect to its domestic politics. In addition, the work’s pioneering studies on the new ‘inward outcry’ syndrome in Chinese nationalism further highlights the mutual constitutive relations among popular nationalism, foreign policy and domestic politics. This thesis argues that the popular nationalism plays a dynamic role in shaping China’s Japan policy. On the one hand, popular nationalism may instrumentalise to serve China’s domestic and international objectives. On the other hand, popular nationalism has to be delicately managed in order to maintain social stability, amicable relations with Japan, and increasingly, China’s international image and reputation. To Mum and Dad: Guardians, Friends and My Eternal Love ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, my heartfelt thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Julie Gilson, whose devoted guidance, unyielding support, and sound advice at every step of my research, made this process an intellectually stimulating experience for me. I am deeply grateful for her professional and dedicated supervision. I also owe my genuine gratitude to Associate Professor Caroline Hughes, for her invaluable comments and advice that helped me paving out a correct path at the early stage of the project. Likewise, I am indebted to many other staff members and fellow PhDs in the POLSIS at the University of Birmingham. They create such an inspirational and motivating environment in which I feel honoured to have studied over the years. My thanks also go to the supporting staff at the department, who, over the course of my education, have always promptly dealt however small matters with a big smile, from room booking to toner replacing. My fieldwork in China would not have been possible without the patience and generosity of the intellectuals and analysts that I interviewed. Special gratitude offers to friends Dr. Jiagang Chen and Dr. Xiangning Wu, for helping me to organize and liaison with the interviewees in Beijing. I am especially grateful and appreciated for the immense understanding and moral support that my partner Lu, a fellow PhD herself, has constantly offered at my side throughout this “roller coaster” journey, making the lows more bearable and the highs more enjoyable. Finally, needless to say, this thesis would not have been possible without unparalleled support and great encouragement from my family. My beloved parents not only have made this work possible by generously sponsoring me with their hard-earned money, they also have been a constant source of joy and strength throughout this demanding research process. Therefore, above all, my biggest thank you goes to mum and dad, to whom this thesis is dedicated. Table of Contents Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. viii Notes on Chinese and Japanese Names .....................................................................xi Introduction........................................................................................................................1 Objectives, Questions and Definitions ................................................................................ 3 Theoretical Assumption .......................................................................................................... 7 Empirical Scope and Contributions ..................................................................................... 8 Research Design and Thesis Structure .............................................................................11 Chapter One: Nationalism and Foreign Policy—A Dialectical Paradigm..... 14 1.1 Nationalism: identity of a nation/state?................................................................15 1.1.1 Nationalism Unpacked ........................................................................................................16 1.1.2 ‘Who Are We?’-the Case of Post-Socialist States ......................................................22 1.2 Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA)...................................................................................29 1.2.1 Definition......................................................................................................................30 1.2.2 FPA Framework......................................................................................................................31 1.2.3 Level of Analysis.....................................................................................................................34 1.2.4 Domestic Politics and Foreign Policy............................................................................38 1.2.5 Action, Reaction and Interaction ....................................................................................43 1.2.6 Culture and Foreign Policy ................................................................................................47 1.3 ToWards A Constructivist Approach.......................................................................52 1.4 Interpretive Methods...................................................................................................60 1.5 Research Methodology................................................................................................64 1.6 Summary ..........................................................................................................................67 Chapter TWo: Chinese Nationalism – from Elites to Grassroots ..................... 69 2.1 Origins of Chinese Nationalism ....................................................................................70 2.2 State-led Nationalism and the Communist Party ...................................................73 2.3 The Rise of Popular Nationalism after 1989............................................................80 2.3.1 “Culture Fever” and Popular Nationalist Critique ...................................................82 2.3.2 Power of the Internet and the Rise of Cyber Nationalism ...................................90 2.3.3 The Pride/Humiliation Complex in Chinese Nationalism....................................95 2.3.4 The Pride/Humiliation Complex at Work...................................................................98 2.4 Summary........................................................................................................................... 101 Chapter Three: China and Japan – Near Yet So Far ...........................................103 3.1 General Introductory Literature............................................................................... 105 3.2 Issue Specific Literature .............................................................................................. 110 3.3 Ups and Downs................................................................................................................ 114 3.4 A Sensitive Matter?........................................................................................................ 125 3.4.1 Media: Nationalism Sells .................................................................................................126 3.4.2 The Internet: A Thermometer for Public Opinion................................................129 3.4.3 Public Opinion: Unpopular Japan ................................................................................134 3.5 Summary........................................................................................................................... 135 Chapter Four: The 2005 Anti-Japanese Protest .................................................137 4.1 Background...................................................................................................................... 138 4.2 The Anti-Japanese
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Nationalism, Internationalism and Chinese Foreign Policy CHEN ZHIMIN*
    Journal of Contemporary China (2005), 14(42), February, 35–53 Nationalism, Internationalism and Chinese Foreign Policy CHEN ZHIMIN* This article examines the role of nationalism in shaping Chinese foreign policy in the history of contemporary China over the last 100 years. Nationalism is used here as an analytical term, rather than in the usual popular pejorative sense. By tracing the various expressions of contemporary Chinese nationalism, this article argues that nationalism is one of the key enduring driving forces which have shaped Chinese foreign policy over the period; as China increasingly integrates herself into this globalized and interdependent world and Chinese confidence grows, the current expression of Chinese nationalism is taking a more positive form, which incorporates an expanding component of internationalism. In recent years, nationalism has been one of the key focuses in the study of China’s foreign policy. In the 1990s, several Chinese writers started to invoke the concept of nationalism, both in their study of Chinese foreign policy and in their prescriptions for the Chinese foreign policy. Likewise, in English-language scholarship the study of Chinese nationalism largely sets the parameters of the debate about the future of Chinese foreign policy and the world’s response to a rising China. An overarching theme of this Western discourse is a gloomy concern with the worrisome nature of recent expressions of Chinese nationalism. Samuel P. Huntington was famously concerned about China’s intention ‘to bring to an end the
    [Show full text]
  • The Case of Zhang Yiwu
    ASIA 2016; 70(3): 921–941 Giorgio Strafella* Postmodernism as a Nationalist Conservatism? The Case of Zhang Yiwu DOI 10.1515/asia-2015-1014 Abstract: The adoption of postmodernist and postcolonial theories by China’s intellectuals dates back to the early 1990s and its history is intertwined with that of two contemporaneous trends in the intellectual sphere, i. e. the rise of con- servatism and an effort to re-define the function of the Humanities in the country. This article examines how these trends merge in the political stance of a key figure in that process, Peking University literary scholar Zhang Yiwu, through a critical discourse analysis of his writings from the early and mid- 1990s. Pointing at his strategic use of postmodernist discourse, it argues that Zhang Yiwu employed a legitimate critique of the concept of modernity and West-centrism to advocate a historical narrative and a definition of cultural criticism that combine Sino-centrism and depoliticisation. The article examines programmatic articles in which the scholar articulated a theory of the end of China’s “modernity”. It also takes into consideration other parallel interventions that shed light on Zhang Yiwu’s political stance towards modern China, globalisation and post-1992 economic reforms, including a discussion between Zhang Yiwu and some of his most prominent detractors. The article finally reflects on the implications of Zhang Yiwu’s writings for the field of Chinese Studies, in particular on the need to look critically and contextually at the adoption of “foreign” theoretical discourse for national political agendas. Keywords: China, intellectuals, postmodernism, Zhang Yiwu, conservatism, nationalism 1 Introduction This article looks at the early history and politics of the appropriation of post- modernist discourse in the Chinese intellectual sphere, thus addressing the plurality of postmodernity via the plurality of postmodernism.
    [Show full text]
  • The Danger of Deconsolidation Roberto Stefan Foa and Yascha Mounk Ronald F
    July 2016, Volume 27, Number 3 $14.00 The Danger of Deconsolidation Roberto Stefan Foa and Yascha Mounk Ronald F. Inglehart The Struggle Over Term Limits in Africa Brett L. Carter Janette Yarwood Filip Reyntjens 25 Years After the USSR: What’s Gone Wrong? Henry E. Hale Suisheng Zhao on Xi Jinping’s Maoist Revival Bojan Bugari¡c & Tom Ginsburg on Postcommunist Courts Clive H. Church & Adrian Vatter on Switzerland Daniel O’Maley on the Internet of Things Delegative Democracy Revisited Santiago Anria Catherine Conaghan Frances Hagopian Lindsay Mayka Juan Pablo Luna Alberto Vergara and Aaron Watanabe Zhao.NEW saved by BK on 1/5/16; 6,145 words, including notes; TXT created from NEW by PJC, 3/18/16; MP edits to TXT by PJC, 4/5/16 (6,615 words). AAS saved by BK on 4/7/16; FIN created from AAS by PJC, 4/25/16 (6,608 words). PGS created by BK on 5/10/16. XI JINPING’S MAOIST REVIVAL Suisheng Zhao Suisheng Zhao is professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver. He is executive director of the univer- sity’s Center for China-U.S. Cooperation and editor of the Journal of Contemporary China. When Xi Jinping became paramount leader of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 2012, some Chinese intellectuals with liberal lean- ings allowed themselves to hope that he would promote the cause of political reform. The most optimistic among them even thought that he might seek to limit the monopoly on power long claimed by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
    [Show full text]
  • Governance and Politics of China
    Copyrighted material – 978–1–137–44527–8 © Tony Saich 2001, 2004, 2011, 2015 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identifi ed as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First edition 2001 Second edition 2004 Third edition 2011 Fourth edition 2015 Published by PALGRAVE Palgrave in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of 4 Crinan Street, London, N1 9XW. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave is a global imprint of the above companies and is represented throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978–1–137–44528–5 hardback ISBN 978–1–137–44527–8 paperback This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.
    [Show full text]
  • China Perspectives, 55 | September - October 2004 the Debate Between Liberalism and Neo-Leftism at the Turn of the Century 2
    China Perspectives 55 | september - october 2004 Varia The Debate Between Liberalism and Neo-Leftism at the Turn of the Century Chen Lichuan Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/417 DOI: 10.4000/chinaperspectives.417 ISSN: 1996-4617 Publisher Centre d'étude français sur la Chine contemporaine Printed version Date of publication: 1 October 2004 ISSN: 2070-3449 Electronic reference Chen Lichuan, « The Debate Between Liberalism and Neo-Leftism at the Turn of the Century », China Perspectives [Online], 55 | september - october 2004, Online since 29 December 2008, connection on 28 October 2019. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/417 ; DOI : 10.4000/ chinaperspectives.417 This text was automatically generated on 28 October 2019. © All rights reserved The Debate Between Liberalism and Neo-Leftism at the Turn of the Century 1 The Debate Between Liberalism and Neo-Leftism at the Turn of the Century Chen Lichuan EDITOR'S NOTE Translated from the French original by Nick Oates 1 From the beginning of the 1980s to the middle of the 1990s, three movements took centre stage on the Chinese intellectual scene: radicalism, conservatism and liberalism. This article sets out to retrace the debate between liberalism and neo-leftism by relying exclusively on the polemical texts of the Chinese writers1. How can we present an intellectual debate that is a process of questioning and clarification and that does not arrive at a consensual conclusion? How can we render intelligible the concepts debated in extracts from the original texts? How can we evaluate the impact that this debate has had on a society undergoing a profound transformation? These are just some of the difficulties with which we were confronted.
    [Show full text]
  • Dù Fǔ ​杜 甫 712–770 Ce Tang Dynasty Poet
    ◀ Dream of the Red Chamber Comprehensive index starts in volume 5, page 2667. DU Fu Dù Fǔ ​杜 甫 712–770 ce Tang dynasty poet One of the most prominent and influential of its proper function within courtly life. So he took up liter- Chinese poets, Du Fu expanded the reach of ary pursuits, supported by family and friends. poetic expression to include morality and his- Evidence from his poems suggests that it was during tory, along with literary concerns. He is often this period that he met Li Bai, who was a renowned poet by this time. However, Li Bai appears not to have assisted referred to as the “Chinese Shakespeare.” Statue of Du Fu, an eminent poet who lived he “golden age” of China is often associated with through the decline of the Tang dynasty. He is of- the Tang dynasty (618– 907 ce), especially with ten called “China’s Shakespeare.” Photo by Paul the reign of Emperor Xuanzong and three emi- and Bernice Noll. nent poets: Wang Wei, Li Bai (also Li Bo, Li Po), and Du Fu. Whereas Wang Wei and Li Bai wrote during the apex of the Tang period, Du Fu lived through the eventual de- struction of this golden era. Du Fu was born in Luoyang, in Henan Province, to a family of scholar-​­officials. From his earliest days, as was typical for a young man of his class, his education involved the rigorous study of the works of Confucius, the honing of writing skills, and the perfecting of poetry composed in various formal meters.
    [Show full text]
  • An Explanation of Gexing
    Front. Lit. Stud. China 2010, 4(3): 442–461 DOI 10.1007/s11702-010-0107-5 RESEARCH ARTICLE XUE Tianwei, WANG Quan An Explanation of Gexing © Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag 2010 Abstract Gexing 歌行 is a historical and robust prosodic style that flourished (not originated) in the Tang dynasty. Since ancient times, the understanding of the prosody of gexing has remained in debate, which focuses on the relationship between gexing and yuefu 乐府 (collection of ballad songs of the music bureau). The points-of-view held by all sides can be summarized as a “grand gexing” perspective (defining gexing in a broad sense) and four major “small gexing” perspectives (defining gexing in a narrow sense). The former is namely what Hu Yinglin 胡应麟 from Ming dynasty said, “gexing is a general term for seven-character ancient poems.” The first “small gexing” perspective distinguishes gexing from guti yuefu 古体乐府 (tradition yuefu); the second distinguishes it from xinti yuefu 新体乐府 (new yuefu poems with non-conventional themes); the third takes “the lyric title” as the requisite condition of gexing; and the fourth perspective adopts the criterion of “metricality” in distinguishing gexing from ancient poems. The “grand gexing” perspective is the only one that is able to reveal the core prosodic features of gexing and give specification to the intension and extension of gexing as a prosodic style. Keywords gexing, prosody, grand gexing, seven-character ancient poems Received January 25, 2010 XUE Tianwei ( ) College of Humanities, Xinjiang Normal University, Urumuqi 830054, China E-mail: [email protected] WANG Quan International School, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100029, China E-mail: [email protected] An Explanation of Gexing 443 The “Grand Gexing” Perspective and “Small Gexing” Perspective Gexing, namely the seven-character (both unified seven-character lines and mixed lines containing seven character ones) gexing, occupies an equal position with rhythm poems in Tang dynasty and even after that in the poetic world.
    [Show full text]
  • Governative Per La Tutela Dei Diritti Reali Delle Donne Nella Cina Contadina
    Corso di Laurea magistrale (ordinamento ex D.M. 270/2004) in Lingue e istituzioni economiche e giuridiche dell'Asia e dell'Africa Mediterranea Tesi di Laurea Le organizzazioni non- governative per la tutela dei diritti reali delle donne nella Cina contadina Relatore Correlatore Prof.ssa Laura De Giorgi Dott.ssa Sara D'Attoma Laureando Stefania Colucci Matricola 838887 Anno Accademico 2012 / 2013 INTRODUZIONE Il presente elaborato si pone l'obiettivo di analizzare il ruolo svolto dalle organizzazioni non-governative cinesi, con particolare riferimento a quelle che tutelano i diritti e gli interessi delle donne. L'interesse per tale argomento è nato dal desiderio di poter lavorare in tale ambito, facendo parte, ad esempio, di una NGOs italiana che opera in Cina. La tesi si compone di quattro capitoli. Nel primo si esamina il concetto di società civile in Cina, quale collocazione ideale del fenomeno associativo, il rapporto tra le NGOs cinesi ed il governo nonché la situazione finanziaria di queste ultime. Si è visto, in particolare, che fu con le riforme promosse da Deng Xiaoping nel 1978 che si assistette alla nascita dei primi spazi di partecipazione sociale idonei a favorire l'espansione del settore no-profit.1 Il decentramento del potere statale e la rinuncia, da parte dello Stato, al tradizionale monopolio nel settore dei servizi pubblici, furono le ulteriori cause della nascita sempre più frequente di nuove NGOs, che si sarebbero fatte carico dei problemi della società cinese. L'espansione delle organizzazioni femminili è stata, dunque, la prova dello sviluppo parallelo della società civile cinese e, nello stesso tempo, di un risveglio generale della coscienza femminile riguardo il problema di genere.2 Quanto ai rapporti con il governo, si è cercato di capire se esse siano nate per contrastare il ruolo dittatoriale del sistema stato-partito o se, invece, cerchino una collaborazione con esso al fine di risolvere i problemi che affliggono le donne cinesi, quali la disoccupazione, il fenomeno migratorio dalle campagne alle città e l'analfabetismo.
    [Show full text]
  • China Poet: Wang Wei Poem: Living in the Hills
    Poetry 2012: The Written World Resources for Teachers Country: China Poet: Wang Wei Poem: Living in the Hills Contents 1. About this Resource 2. ‘Living in the Hills: Impromptu Verses’ 3. The Poet & His Work (and His Translator) 4. Reading the Poem 5. Discussion: Urban & Rural 6. Research Activity: Translations 7. Creative Activity: Imitations 8. Further Reading & Weblinks About this Resource Activities in this resource are aimed at pupils in upper secondary school (S4–S6). Developing global citizens within Curriculum for Excellence These resources, featuring poems from around the world, can help realise certain key principles within this document, including • enabling learners to appreciate the values and opinions of others with particular reference to environments and cultures • motivating learners to engage in local, national and global issues • promoting the concept of shared humanity • actively engaging [learners] in exploring a variety of traditions and cultures from around the world This resource • helps pupils to develop an understanding of the complexities of language through the study of a range of texts • provides learners with the opportunity to analyse and evaluate texts • provides learners with the opportunity to create and produce texts from SQA’s ‘Key points for English’ www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/45672.html (accessed 21 May 2012) The ‘Discussion’ topic below may also relevant to Geography, in the context of “[bringing] together the natural and social sciences”. Living in the Hills: Impromptu Verses I close my brushwood door in solitude And face the vast sky as late sunlight falls. The pine trees: cranes are nesting all around. My wicker gate: a visitor seldom calls.
    [Show full text]
  • Aristocratic Culture
    Part 3: Cosmopolitan Tang: Aristocratic Culture 12: The Unified Empire: Cosmopolitan Tang Historical Overview Year Event 589 Reunification The Sui defeat of the Southern Dynasties ended the north/south split and the split between the ethnically Han and non-Han dynasties. Like the Qin it its time, this period of reunification, into the first years of the seventh century, sowed the seeds for the cultural and socio-political trends that would come to fruition in the Tang: Strengthening of central control over civil and military authorities. Economic links between N and S that led to the building of the canal. Expansion of the empire into SE and NE Asia Flourishing of Sinisized state Buddhism 630 Tang begins Amid the military overextension and environmental pressures that fomented the Sui civil war, the NE military became a dominant force. By 630, if I understood the lecture correctly, this force had achieved hegemony. The first century-and-a-half saw a new centralized aristocratic empire. Taxes were reorganized around the equal-field system, centralizing control over land and taxes. Non-Chinese people were integrated into the empire. 755-763 An Lushan rebellion Expansion into new areas taxed the Tang militia, requiring professional armies to staff the frontier posts. The An Lushan rebellion of 755-763, a frontier military rebellion, wreaked havoc on the dynasty and ushered in the developments we associate with Later Tang (but not the Later Tang Dynasty of 923). 760-918 Later Tang In this period, the tax system broke down along with relationships with the frontier kingdoms. The government retreated from commerce, opening the way for private enterprise.
    [Show full text]
  • "Angry Youth": What Does the Future Hold?
    CHINA-2009/04/29 1 THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION UNDERSTANDING CHINA’S "ANGRY YOUTH": WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD? Washington, D.C. Wednesday, April 29, 2009 PARTICIPANTS: Welcome: CARLOS PASCUAL Vice President and Director, Foreign Policy Keynote Address: KAI-FU LEE Vice President, Google Inc. President, Google Greater China Moderators: CHENG LI Senior Fellow and Director of Research, John L. Thornton China Center KENNETH LIEBERTHAL Visiting Fellow, The Brookings Institution Panelists: ANDERSON COURT REPORTING 706 Duke Street, Suite 100 Alexandria, VA 22314 Phone (703) 519-7180 Fax (703) 519-7190 CHINA-2009/04/29 2 EVAN OSNOS Staff Writer, The New Yorker STANLEY ROSEN Professor of Political Science, The University of Southern California TERESA WRIGHT Professor of Political Science, California State University, Long Beach XU WU Assistant Professor of Media and Public Relations, Arizona State University * * * * * P R O C E E D I N G S MR. PASCUAL: Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us today. My name is Carlos Pascual. I'm one of the Vice Presidents and Director of the Foreign Policy Studies Program here at Brookings, and I very much want to welcome you to this event that's jointly sponsored by the John L. Thornton China Center and Brookings Institution and its Foreign Policy Program that is focused on Understanding China's "Angry Youth": What Does the Future Hold? In the foreign policy community, a great deal of attention has been paid to the U.S.-China economic relationship, its military contacts, ANDERSON COURT REPORTING 706 Duke Street, Suite 100 Alexandria, VA 22314 Phone (703) 519-7180 Fax (703) 519-7190 CHINA-2009/04/29 3 climate change cooperation, just to name a few of these issues.
    [Show full text]
  • Li Shangyin: the Poetry of Allusion
    LI SHANGYIN: THE POETRY OF ALLUSION By TERESA YEE-WAH YU B.A., The University of Hong Kong, 1973 M.A., The University of British Columbia, 1977 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Asicin Studies) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA August 1990 (o) Teresa Yee-wah Yu, 1990 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. 1 further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Date DE-6 (2/88) ABSTRACT A major poet of the Tang period, Li Shangyin is highly regarded yet criticized because his work is densely allusive. Dazzling and rich in meaning, it is also difficult and obscure because of its pervasive allusiveness. Chapter I reviews critical opinion of Li's use of allusion. Many traditional critics see allusion as an ornamental rhetorical device and consider Li's profuse allusiveness an idiosyncrasy to be tolerated in an esteemed poet. Chapter II studies allusion broadly and precisely as a literary concept: generally, allusion is a "connector" of texts, a link between a poet's work and his literary heritage; specifi• cally, it is a linguistic device serving metaphorical functions.
    [Show full text]