DOCSLIB.ORG

Creative Spaces Within Which People, Ideas and Systems Interact with Uncertain Outcomes

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Creative Spaces Within Which People, Ideas and Systems Interact with Uncertain Outcomes GIMPEL, NIELSE GIMPEL, Explores new ways to understand the dynamics of change and mobility in ideas, people, organisations and cultural paradigms China is in flux but – as argued by the contributors to this volume – change is neither new to China nor is it unique to that country; similar patterns are found in other times and in other places. Indeed, Creative on the basis of concrete case studies (ranging from Confucius to the Vagina Monologues, from Protestant missionaries to the Chinese N & BAILEY avant-garde) and drawing on theoretical insights from different dis- ciplines, the contributors assert that change may be planned but the outcome can never be predicted with any confidence. Rather, there Spaces exist creative spaces within which people, ideas and systems interact with uncertain outcomes. As such, by identifying a more sophisticated Seeking the Dynamics of Change in China approach to the complex issues of change, cultural encounters and Spaces Creative so-called globalization, this volume not only offers new insights to scholars of other geo-cultural regions; it also throws light on the workings of our ‘global’ and ‘transnational’ lives today, in the past and in the future. Edited Denise Gimpel, Bent Nielsen by and Paul Bailey www.niaspress.dk Gimpel_pbk-cover.indd 1 20/11/2012 15:38 Creative Spaces Gimpel book.indb 1 07/11/2012 16:03 Gimpel book.indb 2 07/11/2012 16:03 CREATIVE SPACES Seeking the Dynamics of Change in China Edited by Denise Gimpel, Bent Nielsen and Paul J. Bailey Gimpel book.indb 3 07/11/2012 16:03 Creative Spaces: Seeking the Dynamics of Change in China Edited by Denise Gimpel, Bent Nielsen and Paul J. Bailey First published in 2012 by NIAS Press NIAS – Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Leifsgade 33, 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark Tel: +45 3532 9501 • Fax: +45 3532 9549 E-mail: [email protected] • Online: www. niaspress. dk © NIAS – Nordic Institute of Asian Studies 2012 While copyright in the volume as a whole is vested in the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, copyright in the individual chapters belongs to their authors. No chapter may be reproduced in whole or in part without the express permission of the publisher. All rights reserved. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Creative spaces : seeking the dynamics of change in China. -- (NIAS studies in Asian topics ; 51) 1. Social change--China. 2. Literature and society--China. 3. Culture and globalization--China. I. Series II. Gimpel, Denise. III. Nielsen, Bent. IV. Bailey, Paul John, 1950–. 303.4’0951-dc23 ISBN: 978-87-7694-097-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-87-7694-098-0 (pbk) Typesetting by Donald B. Wagner Printed in the United Kingdom by Marston Digital Gimpel book.indb 4 07/11/2012 16:03 Contents Figures vi Acknowledgements vii Contributors ix Editors’ Notes xii Introduction Denise Gimpel 1 1. Confucius ver. 2.0 or Confucian Whatever-ism? A Preliminary Inquiry into the Constructs of a Cultural Conciliator Bent Nielsen 24 2. An English Missionary’s Contribution to the Historical Memories of Hangzhou: A Study of Arthur Evans Moule’s Writings and Photographs Shen Hong 48 3. Cultural Interaction, Globalisation and ‘Creative Spaces’ in the early 20th Century: Li Shizeng (1881–1973) and the Chinese Francophile ‘Lobby’ Paul J. Bailey 66 4. Writing from In-Between: The Transformative Space of Chen Hengzhe’s Fiction Denise Gimpel 92 5. The Narrator in Transit: Writing Between Self and Others in Ma Yuan’s ‘Lure of the Gangdisi’ Peter Damgaard 127 6. Beijing Bicycle: Stories from a Transformative Space Mai Corlin Bagger-Petersen 156 7. A Western NGO Goes East and Meets Up with Other Stories Cecilia Milwertz and Wang Fengxian 177 8. Speaking Bitterness and Pleasure: The Vagina Monologues in the People’s Republic of China Cecilia Milwertz and Bu Wei 203 Index 228 v Gimpel book.indb 5 07/11/2012 16:03 Figures 2.1 The old Pagoda of Six Harmonies 59 2.2 The Pagoda of Six Harmonies today 59 2.3 Ba 坝 or portage on the way to Hangzhou (1885) 60 2.4 Pavilion on the West Lake, Hangzhou (1885) 61 2.5 An entrance to the Yue Fei Temple (before 1900) 62 2.6 CMS church and mission house in Hangzhou (1879) 63 vi Gimpel book.indb 6 07/11/2012 16:03 Acknowledgements Getting a book manuscript ready for printing is a daunting task and one that takes much patience and attention to detail. It more often than not also entails the guiding and, at times, disciplining of individual contributors to ensure a publication that appears as quickly as possible and has something genuine to add to and enhance our knowledge of a particular area of schol- arly investigation. Having said this, however, it has to be admitted that the activities leading to the appearance of this book have been marked by col- legial cooperation and disciplined and constructive involvement on the part of all participants. The result, we feel, is a new look at old questions as well as the provision of insights into topics little known or addressed in studies to date. We feel that we have indeed made a contribution to the continuing research into transnational phenomena in their many guises. The results, of course, did not appear overnight; it has taken many years of cooperative involvement to bring these pages to fruition. It all began some six years ago in the autumn of 2006, when, at the invitation of Shen Hong, Paul Bailey and Denise Gimpel attended the first Sino-Western Conference in Hangzhou, and it continued in 2008, when they, together with Bent Nielsen and Peter Damgaard, attended and co-organised the second confer- ence in Hangzhou. Thus the very productive cooperation between Zhejiang University, Durham University and the University of Copenhagen began. This cooperation has meant new friends and colleagues for researchers and new opportunities for study abroad for students in each of the universities. For this we are very grateful and look forward to further common research and educational activities. We are especially looking forward to the upcom- ing third conference in Hangzhou in November this year and the possibility of a future conference in Durham. This book was also brought about as a result of support from the University of Copenhagen, in particular of the Asian Dynamics Initiative (ADI), which supported our workgroup on two occasions in 2010 and 2011. Here we have benefited from and been grateful for the highly professional advice and help of ADI coordinator Marie Yoshida. We also thank the Department of Cross- Cultural and Regional Studies at Copenhagen University for providing us with the facilities for our symposia. The Department, moreover, as its name vii Gimpel book.indb 7 07/11/2012 16:03 viii Acknowledgements suggests, has been unfailing in its support of our Sino-European and cross- cultural endeavours. As editors we must also express our gratitude to the contributors to this volume and for their willingness to continue with the project over a long period of time. We are proud of the fact that they include both experienced Chinese and European scholars as well as young and promising scholars at various stages of their academic careers. We are also proud of the fact that we have been able to bring together many different disciplines within the scope of our activities and the pages of this book. It almost goes without saying – but must be said – that we may not have had the opportunity to express our pride and pleasure without the faith and trust placed in us and our endeavours by NIAS Press and its editor-in-chief, Gerald Jackson. Gerald’s generosity and good humour are unfailing. Finally we must extend our appreciation to Jessica Chabert Jensen without whose hard work and dedication the passage from idiosyncratically formatted manuscript to uniform book would never have gone so smoothly and profes- sionally. As a patient, reliable and meticulous copy editor, Jessica’s contribu- tion, though hidden from sight, has been absolutely invaluable. Gimpel book.indb 8 07/11/2012 16:03 Contributors Denise Gimpel has a background in modern literature and in Asian Studies. She read German and French in London and Chinese and Japanese at the University of Marburg, Germany. She is currently associate professor of Chi- nese history and culture at the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, Copenhagen University, where she is also Deputy Head of Depart- ment. She has published on early 20th-century Chinese literature and early translation activities, gender and body culture, intellectual history, and issues of knowledge transfer and cultural translation. She is presently completing a book on Chen Hengzhe as a transnational intellectual and developing a cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural project on ‘Diverse Realities: Strategies and Significance of Cultural Boundary Drawing in Asian Societies’. Bent Nielsen is associate professor of Chinese civilisation and culture at the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, Copenhagen University, where he teaches Chinese history, intellectual history and classical and modern Chinese texts. Bent Nielsen is the author of A Companion to Yi jing Numerol- ogy and Cosmology: Chinese Studies of Images and Numbers from Han (202 BCE–220 CE) to Song (960–1279 CE) (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003) and guest editor of Contemporary Chinese Thought (Vol. 39.3, Sharpe, 2008). Shen Hong is professor of English from the School of International Studies, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. He received his academic degrees from Peking University (B.A., 1982; M.A., 1985; Ph.D., 1990) and has been a visiting scholar to Oxford University, Harvard University, University of Toronto, and University of Bristol. Currently he is vice chairman of the Translators Association of Zhejiang, as well as executive director of Zhejiang Association of Foreign Languages and Literatures.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • UNIVERSITY COURT 21 September 2015 Minute Present: Mr Steve
    UNIVERSITY COURT A1 21 September 2015 Minute Present: Mr Steve Morrison, Rector (in chair) The Principal, Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea Sheriff Principal Edward Bowen Dr Anne Richards, Vice-Convener Ms Doreen Davidson Dr Alan Brown Mr Ritchie Walker Dr Marialuisa Aliotta Professor Sarah Cooper Professor Jake Ansell Dr Claire Phillips Mr David Bentley Dr Robert Black Lady Susan Rice Ms Alison Grant Mr Jonny Ross-Tatam, President, Students' Representative Council Ms Urte Macikene, Vice-President Students' Representative Council In attendance: Mr Sandy Ross, Rector’s Assessor University Secretary, Ms Sarah Smith Mr Hugh Edmiston, Director of Corporate Services Ms Leigh Chalmers, Director of Legal Services Mr Gavin Douglas, Deputy Secretary, Student Experience Mr Gavin McLachlan, Chief Information Officer & Librarian to the University Dr Ian Conn, Director of Communications & Marketing Mr Gary Jebb, Director of Estates & Buildings Ms Leigh Chalmers, Director of Legal Services Ms Zoe Lewandowski, Director of Human Resources Ms Kirstie Graham, Deputy Head of Court Services Dr Lewis Allan, Head of Court Services Vice-Principal Professor Dorothy Miell, Head of the College of Humanities and Social Science (for Item 5) Professor David Argyle, Head of The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies (for Item 5) Professor Graeme Reid, Dean of Learning & Teaching, College of Science & Engineering (for Item 5) Mr Luke Reeve, Partner, Ernst & Young (for Item 7) Mr Dave Gorman, Director of Social Responsibility (for Item 10) Apologies: The Rt Hon Donald Wilson, Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh Mr Peter Budd Dr Chris Masters Ms Angi Lamb Mr Alan Johnston 1 Minute Paper A The Minute of the previous meeting held on 22 June 2015 was approved.
    [Show full text]
  • The End of the Queue: Hair As Symbol in Chinese History Michael Godley
    East Asian History NUMBER 8 . DECEMBER 1994 THE CONTINUATION OF Paperson Far EasternHistory Institute of Advanced Studies Australian National University Editor Geremie R. Barme Assistant Editor Helen Lo Editorial Board John Clark Mark Elvin (Convenor) Helen Hardacre John Fincher Andrew Fraser Colin Jeffcott W. J. F. Jenner Lo Hui-min Gavan McCormack David Marr Tessa Morris-Suzuki Michael Underdown Business Manager Marion Weeks Production Helen Lo Design Maureen MacKenzie (Em Squared Typographic Design), Helen Lo Printed by Goanna Print, Fyshwick, ACT This is the eighth issue of East Asian History in the series previously entitled Papers on Far Eastern History. The journal is published twice a year. Contributions to The Editor, East Asian History Division of Pacific & Asian History, Research School of Pacific & Asian Studies Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Phone +61 62493140 Fax +61 62495525 Subscription Enquiries Subscription Manager, East Asian History, at the above address Annual Subscription Australia A$45 Overseas US$45 (for two issues) iii CONTENTS 1 Mid-Ch'ing New Text (Chin-wen) Classical Learning and its Han Provenance: the Dynamics of a Tradition of Ideas On-cho Ng 33 From Myth to Reality: Chinese Courtesans in Late-Qing Shanghai Christian Henriot 53 The End of the Queue: Hair as Symbol in Chinese History Michael Godley 73 Broken Journey: Nhfti Linh's "Going to France" Greg and Monique Lockhart 135 Chinese Masculinity: Theorising' Wen' and' Wu ' Kam Louie and Louise Edwards iv Cover calligraphy Yan Zhenqing �JU!iUruJ, Tang calligrapher and statesman Cover picture The walled city of Shanghai (Shanghai xianzhi, 1872) THE END OF THE QUEUE: HAIR AS SYMBOL IN CHINESE HISTORY ..J1! Michael R.
    [Show full text]
  • The Discourse of Guohua Inwartime Shanghai
    European Journal European Journal of of East Asian Studies 19 (2020) 263–296 East Asian Studies brill.com/ejea The Discourse of Guohua in Wartime Shanghai Pedith Pui Chan School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, London, UK [email protected] Abstract This article looks at artists’ engagement with artistic activities carried out in wartime Shanghai, with a particular focus on guohua (lit., ‘national painting’). Drawing on pri- mary sources such as archival materials, diaries, paintings, magazines and newspapers, it explores the layered meanings attached to and social functions of guohua and the institutional structure of the Shanghai art world from the gudao (solitary island) period to the advent of full occupation from December 1941 onwards. As a symbol of Chinese elite culture, guohua continued to dominate the Shanghai art world with support from Wang Jingwei’s regime and the occupying Japanese, and was deemed the root of East Asian art and one of the crucial pillars of the East Asian renaissance in the discourse of the new order of East Asian art. Through closely examining the discourse of guohua in occupied Shanghai, this article advances our understanding of the production and consumption of art in wartime Shanghai by going beyond the paradigmatic binary of ‘collaboration’ and ‘resistance’. Keywords art – guohua – Second Sino-Japanese War – Shanghai – occupation 1 Introduction China’s Nationalist government relocated its capital from Nanjing to the city of Chongqing in the southwest of the country as a result of the Second Sino- Japanese War (1937–1945). Artists and resources from major cities such as Shanghai and Beijing migrated westward—either to Chongqing or elsewhere in the southwest, or to communist base areas in the northwest—resulting in an institutional reconfiguration of the Chinese art world.
    [Show full text]
  • Xiaoping Lin, Children of Marx and Coca Cola, Honolulu, University of Hawai’I Press, 2010
    Xiaoping Lin, Children of Marx and Coca Cola, Honolulu, University of Hawai’i Press, 2010 Paola Voci (University of Otago) Xiaoping Lin’s Children of Marx and Coca Cola offers an impressive display of scholarship that confidently moves from acute film analyses to insightful art criticism and in-depth examinations of the most recent theorizations of Chinese contemporary social and cultural changes. By focusing on a rich selection of visual texts chosen among the most representative works of both the Chinese avant-garde artists and independent cinema’s filmmakers, Lin provides a convincing overview of the main tropes that have characterized the artistic reflection on the transition from socialism to capitalism in China. Such transition, the author notes, is better understood via Slavoj Žižek’s notion of trauma (p. 23) as this transition was imposed to rather than chosen by the Chinese people and has resulted in painful contradictions and social inequalities. The book’s main appeal is indeed in Lin’s strong voice, which engages the reader at the same time in a rigorous academic exploration and a personal conversation. The writing style successfully combines critical reviews of relevant scholarship and the author’s own life experiences (including his first encounter with Andy Warhol as his translator when he visited China in 1982). Similarly, the discussion of the primary texts benefits not only from Lin’s first-hand knowledge of the various exhibits and artworks as well as his subtle “insider” understanding of both the on-screen and off-screen realities explored by independent cinema, but also from his references to the larger critical discourses in which they have been analyzed (by scholars such as Dai Jinhua, Geremie Barmé, Gao Minglu, Liu Kang and Zhang Zhen).
    [Show full text]
  • The Second Circular
    The 24th World Congress of Philosophy Title: The XXIV World Congress of Philosophy (WCP2018) Date: August 13 (Monday) - August 20 (Monday) 2018 Venue: Peking University, Beijing, P. R. China Official Language: English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Chinese Congress Website: wcp2018.pku.edu.cn Program: Plenary Sessions, Symposia, Endowed Lectures, 99 Sections for Contributed Papers, Round Tables, Invited Sessions, Society Sessions, Student Sessions and Poster Sessions Organizers: International Federation of Philosophical Societies Peking University CONFUCIUS Host: Chinese Organizing Committee of WCP 2018 Important Dates Paper Submission Deadline February 1, 2018 Proposal Submission Deadline February 1, 2018 Early Registration October 1, 2017 On-line Registration Closing June 30, 2018 On-line Hotel Reservation Closing August 6, 2018 Tour Reservation Closing June 30, 2018 * Papers and proposals may be accepted after that date at the discretion of the organizing committee. LAO TZE The 24th World Congress of Philosophy MENCIUS CHUANG TZE CONTENTS 04 Invitation 10 Organization 17 Program at a Glance 18 Program of the Congress 28 Official Opening Ceremony 28 Social and Cultural Events 28 Call for Papers 30 Call for Proposals WANG BI HUI-NENG 31 Registration 32 Way of Payment 32 Transportation 33 Accommodation 34 Tours Proposals 39 General Information CHU HSI WANG YANG-MING 02 03 The 24th World Congress of Philosophy Invitation WELCOME FROM THE PRESIDENT OF FISP Chinese philosophy represents a long, continuous tradition that has absorbed many elements from other cultures, including India. China has been in contact with the scientific traditions of Europe at least since the time of the Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), who resided at the Imperial court in Beijing.
    [Show full text]
  • C. Bibliothèque Municipale De Lyon Collection Notes
    Saturday, June 19, 1993 BM Page 1 BM : 1 Keyword #1 : Anarchists Keyword #2 : Propaganda Author # 1 : Hua Lin Keyword bio : Western Hills Author# 2 : Author# 3 : Author# 4 : Title : Zhongguo Guomindangshi [History of the Revolutionary Party) Place of Pub : Shanghai Publisher :shangwu Pub . Vol. : Number: Date of Pub : 1928 Pages: Library# : Notes : Section on CCP . Includes a section supporting the Western Hills faction excludin!;Jthe Commu nists. BM : 10 Keyword #1 :Third Party Keyword #'2 : Philosophical Author # 1 : Luo Longji Keyword bio : Political Theory Author#2 : Author# 3 : Author# 4 : Trtte : Zhengzhi Lunwen [Political Essays) Place of Pub : Shanghai Publisher :.)(inri Shudian Vol.: Number: Date of Pub : 1932 Pages : Library# : Notes : Ten essays on the nature of politics by one of the leaders of the Third party politics, editor of Yishi bao. Saturday , June 19, 1993 BM Page2 BM: 11 Keyword #1 : Education Keyword #2 : Educational Author# 1 : Zhang yunquan Keyword bio : 1930 Author# 2 : Author# 3: Author# 4 : Title : Guoji yundongshi [The International Movements] Place of Pub : Shanghai Publisher :shenzhou Guoguang Vol . : Number : Date of Pub : 1930 Pages : Library#: Notes :A nice overview of Socialist and Communist development, statistics, etc. BM:12 Keyword #1 : Western Hills Keyword #2 : Propaganda Author # 1 : Xiao Qing Keyword bio : 1924 Author#2 : Author# 3 : Author#4 : Title : Gongchandang yinmou da baolu Place of Pub : Guangzhou Publisher :Guangzhou sanmin julebusung Vol.: Number : Date of Pub : 1824 Pages : Library#
    [Show full text]
  • The Chinese Phonetic Transcriptions of Old Turkish Words in the Chinese Sources from 6Th -9Th Century Focused on the Original Word Transcribed As Tujue 突厥*
    The Chinese Phonetic Transcriptions of Old Title Turkish Words in the Chinese Sources from 6th - 9th Century : Focused on the Original Word Transcribed as Tujue 突厥 Author(s) Kasai, Yukiyo Citation 内陸アジア言語の研究. 29 P.57-P.135 Issue Date 2014-08-17 Text Version publisher URL http://hdl.handle.net/11094/69762 DOI rights Note Osaka University Knowledge Archive : OUKA https://ir.library.osaka-u.ac.jp/ Osaka University 57 The Chinese Phonetic Transcriptions of Old Turkish Words in the Chinese Sources from 6th -9th Century Focused on the Original Word Transcribed as Tujue 突厥* Yukiyo KASAI 0. Introduction The Turkish tribes which originated from Mongolia contacted since time immemorial with their various neighbours. Amongst those neighbours China, one of the most influential countries in East Asia, took note of their activities for reasons of its national security on the border areas to the North of its territory. Especially after an political unit of Turkish tribes called Tujue 突厥 had emerged in the middle of the 6th c. as the first Turkish Kaganate in Mongolia and become threateningly powerful, the Chinese dynasties at that time followed the Turks’ every move with great interest. The first Turkish Kaganate broke down in the first half of the 7th c. and came under the rule of the Chinese Tang 唐–dynasty, but * I would like first to express my sincere thanks to Prof. Dr. DESMOND DURKIN-MEISTERERNST who gave me useful advice about the contents of this article and corrected my English, too. My gratitude also goes to Prof. TAKAO MORIYASU and Prof.
    [Show full text]
  • The Great Wall at Sea: China's Navy in the Twenty-First Century
    Christopher R. Hughes Book review: the Great Wall at sea: China’s Navy in the twenty-first century; China, the United States, and twenty-first-century sea power: defining a maritime security; China’s new diplomacy: rationale, strategies and significance partnership Article (Published version) (Refereed) Original citation: Hughes, Christopher R. (2010) Book review: the Great Wall at sea: China’s Navy in the twenty- first century; China, the United States, and twenty-first-century sea power: defining a maritime security; China’s new diplomacy: rationale, strategies and significance partnership. China review international, 17 (4). pp. 424-430. ISSN 1069-5834 © 2010 University of Hawaii Press This version available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/45737/ Available in LSE Research Online: September 2012 LSE has developed LSE Research Online so that users may access research output of the School. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LSE Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the URL (http://eprints.lse.ac.uk) of the LSE Research Online website. 424 China Review International: Vol. 17, No. 4, 2010 join me in campaigning against this technological abortion. So far I am a lonely voice. Diana Lary Diana Lary is the author of The Chinese People at War (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010) and Chinese Migrations: The Movement of People, Goods, and Ideas over Four Millennia ( forthcoming).
    [Show full text]
  • Distribution Agreement in Presenting This
    Distribution Agreement In presenting this thesis or dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree from Emory University, I hereby grant to Emory University and its agents the non-exclusive license to archive, make accessible, and display my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known, including display on the world wide web. I understand that I may select some access restrictions as part of the online submission of this thesis or dissertation. I retain all ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. Signature: _____________________________ ______________ Tianyi Yao Date Crime and History Intersect: Films of Murder in Contemporary Chinese Wenyi Cinema By Tianyi Yao Master of Arts Film and Media Studies _________________________________________ Matthew Bernstein Advisor _________________________________________ Tanine Allison Committee Member _________________________________________ Timothy Holland Committee Member _________________________________________ Michele Schreiber Committee Member Accepted: _________________________________________ Lisa A. Tedesco, Ph.D. Dean of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies ___________________ Date Crime and History Intersect: Films of Murder in Contemporary Chinese Wenyi Cinema By Tianyi Yao B.A., Trinity College, 2015 Advisor: Matthew Bernstein, M.F.A., Ph.D. An abstract of
    [Show full text]
  • Liu Xiaobo BT 20 3
    Liu Xiaobo 1955- Chinese Writer and Human Rights Activist Winner of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize BIRTH Liu Xiaobo was born on December 28, 1955, in Changchun, China, a large, industrial city in the northeastern part of the country and the capital of Jilin province. His parents were intellectuals, and his father was employed as a university professor. He has an older brother, Liu Xiaoguang, and a younger brother, Liu Xiaoxuan, who heads the engineering college at the Guangdong University of Technology. YOUTH Little information is available about Liu’s early life. After middle school, he followed his parents to a rural area in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region in northern China, where they lived from 1969 to 1973 during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution—a social movement initiated by Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong to align the areas of education, art, and literature with communist ideology. As was typical of the educated youth of his generation, he was sent to the countryside at age 19 and spent two years laboring in a people’s commune in his home province of Jilin. Referencing this time in Liu’s life, his close friend Yang Jianli, now in exile, told the Guardian: “Some took it as suffering and thought they should reward themselves when they had power and money later. Liu Xiaobo took it as experience that helped him understand the real suffering of the Chinese people at the hands of the Chinese government.” In 1976 Liu got a job as a construction worker in his hometown of Changchun, the automotive hub of China.
    [Show full text]
  • Teaching Post-Mao China Not Connected
    RESOURCES FILM REVIEW ESSAY documentary style with which filmmaker Zhang Yimou is normally Teaching Post-Mao China not connected. This style—long shots of city scenes filled with people Two Classic Films and a subdued color palette—contribute to the viewer’s understand - ing of life in China in the early 1990s. The village scenes could be By Melisa Holden from anytime in twentieth century China, as the extent of moderniza - tion is limited. For example, inside peasants’ homes, viewers see Introduction steam spewing from characters’ mouths because of the severe cold The Story of Qiu Ju and Beijing Bicycle are two films that have been and lack of central heating. However, when Qiu Ju travels to the ur - used in classrooms since they were produced (1992 and 2001, respec - banized areas, it becomes obvious that the setting is the late twentieth tively). Today, these films are still relevant to high school and under - century. The film was shot only a couple of years after the Tiananmen graduate students studying history, literature, and related courses Square massacre in 1989. Zhang’s previous two films ( Ju Dou and about China, as they offer a picture of the grand scale of societal Raise the Red Lantern ) had been banned in China, but with The Story change that has happened in China in recent decades. Both films il - of Qiu Ju , Zhang depicts government officials in a positive light, lustrate contemporary China and the dichotomy between urban and therefore earning the Chinese government’s endorsement. One feels rural life there. The human issues presented transcend cultural an underlying tension through Qiu Ju’s search for justice, as if it is not boundaries and, in the case of Beijing Bicycle , feature young charac - only justice for her husband’s injured body and psyche, but also jus - ters that are the age of US students, allowing them to further relate to tice supposedly found through democracy.
    [Show full text]
  • Historical and Contemporary Development of the Chinese Zheng
    Historical and Contemporary Development of the Chinese Zheng by Han Mei MA, The Music Research Institute of Chinese Arts Academy Beijing, People's Republic of China, 1995 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (School of Music) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA October, 2000 ©HanMei 2000 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. I 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. The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada DE-6 (2/88) ABSTRACT The zheng is a plucked, half-tube Chinese zither with a history of over two and a half millennia. During this time, the zheng, as one of the principal Chinese instruments, was used in both ensemble and solo performances, playing an important role in Chinese music history. Throughout its history, the zheng underwent several major changes in terms of construction, performance practice, and musical style. Social changes, political policies, and Western musical influences also significantly affected the development of the instrument in the twentieth century; thus the zheng and its music have been brought to a new stage through forces of modernization and standardization.
    [Show full text]