Author Archives: tp86kuta

Papers on Religion II

Buddhism
Tuesday
4:00 pm – 5:45 pm
Room F

  • Chaired by Stefania Travagnin
  • Laura Lettere, “The Missing Translator: A Study of the Biographies of the Monk Baoyun 寶雲 (376?–449)”
  • Anna Sokolova, “A Missing Buddhist Biography: Li Yong 李邕 (678–747) and His Stele Inscription for Daoxuan 道宣 (596–667)”
  • Xingyi Wang, “Yuanzhao’s Method of Meditation in Pure Land Practice”
  • Jin Sun, “The Relevance of ‘Ghost or Monster Pregnancy 鬼胎’ to Tantric Bhuddism”
  • Pi-fen Chung, “Ancient Indian Astrological Traditions and Tibetan Elements on the Tangut Astral Maṇḍala”

Laura Lettere, “The Missing Translator: A Study of the Biographies of the Monk Baoyun 寶雲 (376?–449)”

This study examines the biography of the monk Baoyun 寶雲 (376?–449) and lists all the titles of the translation projects in which Baoyun was involved. By comparing the information provided by different Buddhist catalogues, several discrepancies between the information on Baoyun provided by Buddhist bibliographer Sengyou 僧祐 (445–518) and by later accounts became evident. While in Sengyou’s catalogue Baoyun is incidentally mentioned as taking part in many translation projects and praised for his knowledge of Indic languages, later biographic accounts and catalogues do not provide recognition of Baoyun’s many contributions. By comparing the information provided by sixth-century catalogues and hagiographies, this study will evidence a shifting characterization of the monk Baoyun’s figure, with particular reference to the importance of his role as translator. This study will focus on these discrepancies and explain the possible reason that led to a marginalization of Baoyun’s role as translator. This study provides a list of Baoyun’s translations based on information derived by historical catalogues; by means of a TACL database search, it will trace internal evidence for Baoyun’s authorship of the translations, thus evidencing connections among apparently unrelated texts.

Anna Sokolova, “A Missing Buddhist Biography: Li Yong 李邕 (678–747) and His Stele Inscription for Daoxuan 道宣 (596–667)”

This paper explores the vinaya monastic community which was active in the prefecture of Zizhou 淄州 (Henan Province) during the mid-Tang dynasty. This community was led by hitherto unknown disciples of Daoxuan 道宣 (596–667) who is regarded as the de facto founder of the vinaya ‘school’ in China. The first recorded biography of Daoxuan was a stele inscription composed by the scholar-official Li Yong 李邕 (678–747). No longer extant, this inscription was the main biographical source on Daoxuan until the Song Dynasty as well as Zanning 贊寜’s (919–1001) primary source for his entry on Daoxuan in the Song gaoseng zhuan 宋高僧傳 (Biographies of Eminent Monks [Compiled] under the Song Dynasty). This paper investigates the intricate network in which Li Yong’s stele inscription for Daoxuan was commissioned and composed. I explore how Li Yong spent several years in Zizhou following his exile from Chang’an. I argue that a group of monks from Zizhou commissioned Li Yong to compose a number of stele inscriptions for Daoxuan himself as well as several of the latter’s disciples and associates who served as national preceptors in the court-sponsored monasteries of Chang’an. Moreover, I argue that some members of the Zizhou group entrusted Li Yong to add their own biographies to his eulogies for these prominent masters. The conclusion is that Zizhou’s monastic community not only helped to establish the vinaya tradition but also cemented Daoxuan’s reputation as a “patriarch” of the vinaya “school.”

Xingyi Wang, “Yuanzhao’s Method of Meditation in Pure Land Practice”

The belief and practice of Amitābha’s Pure Land, often traced to Lushan Huiyuan 廬山慧遠 (334–416) and cultivated through the efforts of Shandao 善導 (613–681), has long attracted scholarly attention. Yet the way in which Amitābha’s Pure Land idea and practice spread widely across all major Buddhist schools and showed considerable social mobilization in the Song, remains insufficiently studied. This paper is structured around Yuanzhao’s 元照 (1048–1116) writings on his sudden conversion and on his idiosyncratic understanding of Pure Land belief. I argue that Yuanzhao’s sudden awakening to Pure Land belief marks his most important divergence from Daoxuan 道宣 (596–667). Yuanzhao deemed that the observation of Vinaya rules alone had ceased to be regarded as adequate for liberation. Working out of his own experience of personal transcendence and influenced by the interest in seeking rebirth in the Pure Land shown by Tiantai thinkers in his circle, Yuanzhao created his own meditative practise of Pure Land Buddhism. He conceptualized the practice of following monastic behaviour codes together with Pure Land practices to form his unique vision of an ethical religious life. However, this combination of ethically disciplined self-formation with faith beyond good and evil was not without cost. When Yuanzhao’s works were brought back and studied by the Pure Land school in Kamakura Japan—which maintains a clear distinction between self-power (Jap. jiriki 自力) and other-power (Jap. tariki 他力)—he was seen as indecisive in his reliance on both.

Jin Sun, “The Relevance of ‘Ghost or Monster Pregnancy (鬼胎)’ to Tantric Buddhism”

“Having a connection with gods, ghosts or monsters 鬼交” is a disease name which was first seen in the Chinese traditional medical books in Wei and Jin Dynasties. The patients were mainly women. People with this disease will experience some symptoms of mental disorder, such as falling into a trance state, suddenly feeling sadness, irritability or fear, tending to be alone, talking to themselves, singing, or claiming to see or hear the voice of gods, ghosts or monsters. Therefore, the patient was thought to be having a connection with gods, ghosts or monsters. And the symptoms mentioned above were considered as the signs of being communicating with them. In many cases, the connection especially refers to sexual relationship.
The interpretation of this disease in medical books had changed slightly over time. For instance, in Song Dynasty, patient with irregular menstruation was thought to be pregnant with a ghost or monster`s child. And this situation was called “ghost or monster pregnancy 鬼孕 “at that time. According to the book Yi jian zhi 夷堅志, records of anomalies in Song Dynasty, woman who had a “monster pregnancy” was treated by reciting the Mahāmāyūrī-vidyārājñī tantra. This paper will discuss the relevance of the “ghost or monster pregnancy” to Tantric Buddhism.

Pi-fen Chung, “Ancient Indian Astrological Traditions and Tibetan Elements on the Tangut Astral Maṇḍala”

This paper approaches a significant and particular topic: astral image and atrological thoughts. It involves a series of cross-cultural issues: Tangut, Tibetan and artistic traditions, ancient Indian astrology, which have been little discussed in academic circles due partially to the relative obscurity of the primary sources. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to explore the possible explanation of the origin of Tangut mandala of Tejapraba Buddha and Nine Planets.
In 1908, Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov (1863–1935) and his companion made a most sensational discovery in the ruins of the Tangut city of Khara-Khoto in western Inner Mongolia, where they found over 3,500 paintings, scrolls, manuscripts and books. Amongst this vast collection of paintings, there was a peculiar type of depiction of astral images. Obviously, this study of astral images provides clues for exploring how the Tangut people adjusted their religion and culture through the acceptance of the knowledge of Buddhist art from China and Tibet, and then adapted the content to a new socio-political environment.
The astral maṇḍala exhibits an early Tibetan-inspired astral image based on its style and composition. It bears the distinctive Tibetan style, compositional scheme and ancient Indian iconography. In other words, the structure of this maṇḍala highlights close connection between Tangut and Tibetan artistic traditions.
The source of this maṇḍala has never been clear. An astral maṇḍala with such compositional features seems to have no Chinese or Tibetan precedent. Whether it should be considered as a copy from India or even a Tangut creation is still a moot point. It is difficult to assess because our knowledge of the Tibetan elements of Tangut astral paintings during the period is fragmentary.
It is worthy to note, however, that the astral maṇḍala originates from Vedic tradition of India and Babylonian astrology. Hence, the emphasis on the divergent theories aims to afford a complicated background to decode the schema and iconography of the Tangut astral maṇḍala.
To date, there are few texts in relation to the discussion of direction and colours of planets that hinder the investigation of the Tangut astral mandala. The solution to overcome the obstacle is to utilize Indian astrological works. They provide valuable knowledge to scrutinize the configuration of this astral mandala.

Papers on Religion I

Global
Tuesday
2:00 pm – 3:45 pm
Room F

  • Chaired by Jacob Tischer
  • Shyling Glaze, “A 17th-Century Caodong Monk: Yongjue Yuanxian and Humanistic Buddhism in Taiwan”
  • Anja Ahčin, “Dragon, Mythical Creature—Sacred Animal or Devastating Monster? The Comparison of the Chinese and the Slavic Dragon”
  • Sophie Ling-chia Wei, “The Many Lives of Shan Hai Jing—Jesuit Translators’ Re-Interpretation of the Classic of Mountains and Seas”
  • Katja Wengenmayr, “Towards a Global Philosophy of Religion: Searching and Finding Niches in Political-Religious Discourses in China”
  • Maja Maria Kosec, “Chinese Religion in Cuba: From Guan Gong to San Fancon and Back”

Shyling Glaze, “A 17th-Century Caodong Monk: Yongjue Yuanxian and Humanistic Buddhism in Taiwan”

Yuanxian’s life illustrates an initial Confucian who in his 40s determined to become a devoted Buddhist master and then further transformed into an unyielding upholder of Buddhism and altruist. He demonstrated an ideal of engaging both the Buddhist’s super-mundane and Confucian’s mundane teachings simultaneously for the well-being of the common people.
Yuanxian closely associated himself with communities; condemned the merciless practice of female infanticide and provided indispensable teachings for society through his prolific writings. Battles between the Qing and the Southern Ming troops raged continuously for many years around the Fujian area. This period of warfare caused horrible conditions of mass starvation with reports of the cannibalization of dead bodies and even small children stolen away to be cooked in cauldrons. Two years before his death at the age of 80, Yuanxian selflessly offered humanitarian aid to the war refugees in the Fujian area with food, medicine, and shelter. He and his disciples from the Gushan monastery buried more than two thousand of the deceased refugees and continued to offer humanitarian aid for more than a month despite his poor health and advanced age.
Yuanxian’s humane actions became the foundation of “Humanistic Buddhism” in Taiwan. He transformed the Mahayana Buddhist teaching of compassion into a reality for suffering people and had an influential impact on mundane society. I believe his merciful actions had great impact on later generations especially in the formation of “Humanistic Buddhism” in Taiwan.

Anja Ahčin, “Dragon, Mythical Creature—Sacred Animal or Devastating Monster? The Comparison of the Chinese and the Slavic Dragon”

The powerful divine dragon is deeply rooted in various facets of Chinese culture and society. It is known as a symbol of luck and prosperity and also as a symbol of imperial power. It is the controller of rain, rivers, lakes, seas. However, it is more than that. It is a divinity. In Slavic cultures, dragons are mostly bad omens, signs of a devil, and evil. Before Christianity, the dragon was an ambivalent creature. It was also the protector of livestock. Although the god Veles was showing himself as a dragon, people were not just afraid of him, but they also worshipped him. Nowadays, the dragon is connected with evil in most cases. This image derives from Christianity, which adopted the dragon as a terrible monster from Mesopotamian myth of creation. Chinese traditional thought is based on a holistic world view which does not separate dualistic concepts of matter from an idea, or the creator from the created. Moreover, the dragon represents nature, so with worshiping it Chinese also worship nature. Psychoanalytical, Jungian, approach among others comprehends the dragon as a shadow or our fears that we need to become aware of and integrate them into our personality, as only then we can become an integral, mature personality. With manifestation of the archetype of the dragon I wish to illuminate the latter perspective as well as to show the importance of leaning on the tradition and ancient symbols.

Sophie Ling-chia Wei, “The Many Lives of Shan Hai Jing—Jesuit Translators’ Re-Interpretation of the Classic of Mountains and Seas”

Shan Hai Jing 山海經 (The Classic of Mountains and Seas) is a classic which documented extraordinary geographical survey of elusive places, including mountains and rivers, in ancient China. Not only were rare and precious animals and plants listed and described but also the sacrificial rites toward the Mountain spirits were explained in detail. As the Jesuits set their foot in China and proselytized the monotheism in Christianity to convert Chinese people, it will be very valuable to investigate how they translated and transformed Shan Hai Jing in their encounters with this mysterious classic. The three dominating factors, geography, chronicles and myths, in Shan Hai Jing certainly attracted the eyes of the Jesuits. Gabriel de Magalhāes 安文思 (1609–1677) employed the geographical elements in Shan Hai Jing and wrote his Portuguese work, Doze excellencias da China 中國十二絕 (Twelve excellences of China), which was later translated and disseminated back to Europe. Matteo Ricci 利瑪竇 (1552–1610) might also make reference to the descriptions in Shan Hai Jing on his map, Kun yu wanguo quan tu 坤輿萬國全圖 (Great Universal Geographic Map). The next generation of Jesuits, the Jesuit Figurists in the Qing Dynasty, further adjusted their accommodation policy and they were obsessed with finding God’s symbols and mysterious messages embedded in Chinese classics. Especially Prémare and Foucquet,  the two main Figurists, linked the chronicles and myths in Shan Hai Jing with the Bible stories in their hand-written manuscripts and used it as a piece of historical evidence to parallel Chinese myths and history with the chronicles in the Bible. They aim to persuade Chinese readers to believe that the dawn of Chinese civilization has the same origin with the one in the West. Due to the lack of scholarship on the Figurists’ study and association with Shan Hai Jing, a further examination will be conducted in this paper and the Figurists’ accommodation policy could be re-assessed. A close-up examination of the passages these Figurists picked deliberately in Shan Hai Jing for their translation and re-interpretation reveals their inclination to align with the interests of Chinese readers and their priority on Chinese history and myths. Their concurrent efforts of interpreting the mythical elements in Zhuangzi 莊子 (Book of the Master Zhuang), Huainanzi 淮南子 (Book of the Master of Huainan), and Liezi 列子 (Book of the Master Lie) will also be analyzed in this paper. Shan Hai Jing thus has many lives, with its many facets transformed in the hands of the Jesuits, to fit their purpose of proselytization.

Katja Wengenmayr, “Towards a Global Philosophy of Religion: Searching and Finding Niches in Political-Religious Discourses in China”

After religious studies were re-established at Chinese Universities in 1979, Chinese scholars also focus on the revival of religions in the Post-Mao era. Some Western observers claim that religious studies have always been under the tutelage of the CCP. The Party mainly encourages the scholars to decrease the hegemony of Western knowledge and to study the valuable contributions of religions in China. This leaves the impression of scholars as passive receivers of political instructions. In my paper, I argue that this narrow description does not fit with the reality. In order to draw a more complex picture of the relation between religious studies, political and public sphere, I will analyse the activities of two religious studies scholars: He Guanghu 何光沪 (1950, Renmin University) and Wang Zhicheng 王志成 (1966, Zhejiang University).
Both scholars are active outside the religious studies sphere. He Guanghu engages with Christian and liberal intellectuals to express agenda on the further development of China and tries to establish himself as political adviser. Wang Zhicheng established his own Yoga institute and offers courses on yoga philosophy and practice. He Guanghu and Wang Zhicheng developed their own systematic approach on a global philosophy of religions to engage with official discourses on modernity and reinterpret the role of religion in China. They aim to show the global relevance of religion in modern societies and the global interconnectivity of religions in contrast to the propagated sinicisation of religions in religious studies and more currently in state discourses.

Maja Maria Kosec, “Chinese Religion in Cuba: From Guan Gong to San Fancon and Back”

The question of religious practices inside the Chinese diaspora in Cuba is becoming increasingly debated inside the field of Chinese studies in Latin America, with scholars such as Jose Baltar Rodriguez arguing the only case of Chinese religious syncretism in Cuba has been the Confucian ancestor Guan Gong, which became a new Sino-Cuban diety San Fancon. Frank Scherer later argued San Fancon was merely a result of decontextualised Confucianism within the project of re-ethnicization of the Chinese diaspora in Cuba. However, these works have not adequately addressed the issue of the understanding San Fancon from the perspective of Santeria, the religion it is actually forming a part of today. My paper addresses the issue of whether San Fancon, within Santeria, is even perceived as a worshiped Confucian ancestor. Specifically, I will be looking at the materials about Guan Gong produced in Cuba before the 1990’s and contemporary Cuban testimonies in order to show that the differences are noticeable. I will discuss the narrations of historical background of Guan Gong and its syncretisation process inside most sinological sources, and juxtapose them against the interpretations produced by the followers of Santeria, in order to reveal the previously neglected importance of the impact of social status of Chinese immigrants on this process. In conclusion, this article, by closely examining the actual believes and practices in Cuba, sheds new light on the neglected aspects of how San Fancon within the framework of Chinese studies is widely different from the San Fancon in Santeria.

Modulating Mahāyāna

Encountering Theravāda and Contesting Chinese Buddhist Tradition and Orthodoxy in the Southern Sinosphere
Tuesday
4:00 pm – 5:45 pm
Room 4

  • Organised by Jens Reinke
  • Chaired by Ann Heirman
  • Jens Reinke, “(Re)inventing the Past: Ven. Suifo 隨佛 and His Original Buddhism Society (Zhonghua yuanshi fojiao hui 中華原始佛教會)”
  • Melody Tzu-Lung Chiu, “Transnational Networks, Localisation, and Hybridisation: The Practice and Influence of Chinese Buddhism in Contemporary Myanmar”
  • Ester Bianchi, “Theravāda Practices within Contemporary Chinese Buddhism: The Case of mahasati Meditation in Sichuan Shifosi 石佛寺”

Buddhism is often portrait as a religion that is subdivided into distinct traditions, schools and lineages, each of them separated by impermeable boundaries. However, on the ground the situation is often more ambiguous. This panel considers the issue by examining three case studies situated within the southern sinosphere, a transnational space linking southern China, Taiwan, and the ethnic Chinese diaspora communities in Southeast Asia. The southern sinosphere is marked by a high degree of Buddhist cross-traditional diversity, encounter, and interaction. To explore these dynamics, the contributors to the panel investigate how a Taiwanese Buddhist organization (re)invents the “original Buddhism” of the historical Buddha by merging Theravāda, Mahāyāna, and modernist Chinese renjian Buddhist elements, they examine how Theravāda meditation is integrated into a Chinese Mahāyāna monastery in Sichuan, as well as look at how Chinese Buddhists in Myanmar negotiate the Theravāda mainstream society. The panel problematizes oversimplifying notions of Buddhist traditions as clearly separated entities. It approaches the issue through a sample of historical and ethnographic case studies. By looking at how Chinese Buddhists navigate notions of tradition and orthodoxy, the panel brings attention to the ways modern and contemporary Buddhist transnationalism shapes and reconstructs the religious identity of Chinese Buddhists today. It thereby creates new insights into the dynamics that inform the development of contemporary Chinese Buddhist religiosities under today’s global condition.

Jens Reinke: (Re)inventing the Past: Ven. Suifo (隨佛) and His Original Buddhism Society (Zhonghua yuanshi fojiao hui 中華原始佛教會)

Contemporary Taiwanese Buddhism in Western language scholarship is primarily represented by studies on Taiwanese renjian Buddhist mega organizations such as Fo Guang Shan, Tzu Chi, and Dharma Drum Mountain. However, these groups are not the only representatives of contemporary Taiwanese Buddhism. This presentation examines the endeavours of the monastic Suifo 隨佛 (Bhikkhu Vūpasama Thera). Suifo is an ethnic Chinese who is originally from Myanmar/Burma. He is ordained in the Theravāda lineage of the Burmese monastic Ledi Sayadaw U Ñaṇadhaja (1846–1923) and is the founder of the transnational “Original Buddhism Society” (Zhonghua yuanshi fojiao hui 中華原始佛教會) with branches in Taiwan, USA, Australia, and Malaysia. Suifo claims to have restored the original Buddhism of the First Buddhist Council convened in the same year as the historical Buddha passed away. His “original Buddhism” links elements from the Theravāda tradition, Chinese Mahāyāna, as well as modernist Chinese renjian Buddhism. This presentation will examine how Suifo and his organization negotiate the Mahāyāna/Theravāda divide in terms of doctrine, religious practice, and monastic regulations. It thereby aims at problematising conventional understandings of affiliations to Buddhist tradition but also shows the diversity of developments within contemporary Taiwanese Buddhism.

Melody Tzu-Lung Chiu: Transnational Networks, Localisation, and Hybridisation: The Practice and Influence of Chinese Buddhism in Contemporary Myanmar

Mahāyāna and Theravāda are the two major traditions of Buddhism in contemporary Asia. Although both traditions share many similar teachings, there are long-term disputes between the two, touching on doctrine, ritual, religious practices, and the ultimate goal, among other matters. Mahāyāna Buddhists have often termed Theravāda Buddhism as the “vehicle of the hearers,” reflecting the role of the Buddha’s early followers who sought to become Arhats through hearing and practising his teachings. On the other hand, Theravāda Buddhists typically hold strong views of their religious identity, taking their own traditions to be Orthodox Buddhism while criticising various aspects of the Mahāyāna tradition which they claimed lack doctrinal basis. The study explores the position of Chinese Mahāyāna monastics in current socio-cultural contexts of Thailand where the Theravāda lineage has been historically dominant. It is thus worth examining present-day Chinese Buddhist monks’ and nuns’ religious life, precept observance, and/or ritual practice via the multiple-case qualitative study in Yangon and Mandalay, Myanmar. This research significantly provides an overview of how the local Theravada ethos inevitably affects Chinese Mahāyāna Buddhists’ experiences of the religious minority in the host country. Another issue arising from this study involves localisation, assimilation, and hybridisation. It is worth noting that the indigenous Theravāda ethos inevitably affects the descendants of immigrants/overseas Chinese monks and nuns. Therefore, careful attention to cross-traditional interaction and adaptation (both Theravāda vs. Mahāyāna and Chinese vs. Burmese) is crucial to contextualising my study.

Ester Bianchi: Theravāda Practices within Contemporary Chinese Buddhism. The Case of mahasati Meditation in Sichuan Shifosi 石佛寺

In the last decade, a true fever for Theravāda meditation has arisen in China. In some cases, Theravāda meditation is being practised regularly in Chinese Buddhist monasteries, thus attempting to compromise with Chinese Buddhism rather than opposing it. In this paper, I will present the case study of the Shifosi 石佛寺, a Chinese nunnery located in Deyang Guanghan (Sichuan) and inhabited by a small community of Han Chinese nuns. Headed by Xuzhi 续智 (b. 1969), the nunnery has become the stable meditation centre of the mahasati meditation (zhengnian yunzhong chan 正念動中禪) in China since 2016. Mahasati is a modern form of dynamic vipassanā which was conceived by Luangpor Teean Jittasubho (1911–1988) from Thailand. Luangpor Thong (1939–), one of the two principal heirs of Luangpor Teean and Xuzhi’s personal master, devoted himself to the spread of the tradition abroad, also addressing the Sinitic world (Taiwan, Hong Kong, and eventually Mainland China). Inside the Shifo nunnery, mahasati is practised in a Chinese Buddhist context and within other Chinese Buddhist practices, insofar that the religious calendar, ordination, and Vinaya lineages, morning chanting services and ritual meals etc. are all taken from the Chinese Mahāyāna tradition. The aim of this study is to analyse and evaluate these practices which are developing in many Chinese Buddhist monasteries, thus favouring forms of hybridity in an ecumenical Pan-Asian perspective.

Political-Religious Relationship of the Contemporary Era in China

Tuesday
2:00 pm – 3:45 pm
Room 4

  • Organised by Tingjian Cai
  • André Laliberté, Chair
  • André Laliberté, “Religious Change in China: The Impact of Welfare Regime Retrenchment and Expansion”
  • Juliette Duléry, “’Go Ye into All the World, and Preach the Gospel to Every Creature’: The Politics of Evangelical Protestantism in the Chinese Context of State Surveillance”
  • Kaige Wang, “Confucianism in Modern China’s State-Building”
  • Tingjian Cai, “Four Scenarios for the Future of Political-Religious Interaction”

The Chinese modernisation and secularisation, i.e. the introduction of new terms like “religion” and new understandings on state-building, has not led to the full elimination of its tradition, but rather to a mixture of Chinese tradition and modern (socialist) state construction, the result of which could be clearly observed in the political-religious field, as religious revival causes intensified political-religious interactions. The purpose of this panel is to analyse the political-religious relationship in China against the background of the globalized trend of religious revival, according to, but not limited to, a variety of logic and dichotomies, such as the “state-lead vs. religion-follow”, orthodoxy-heterodoxy, religion-superstition, and the strengthening of the socialist-corporatist regulatory structure of the Chinese state. Different kinds of interactions between the state and certain religions e.g. Protestantism, as well as quasi-religious phenomena e.g. Confucianism, will be illustrated on the panel. On this basis, the functional logic of the current (problematic) political-religious interactions will be analysed e.g. from the perspective of relations among welfare state, economic development and religious changes and, the possible scenarios for the future political-religious interactions in China will be further presented. The panel will be organised by Cai Tingjian (University of Munich). The chair will be held by Prof. André Laliberté (University of Ottawa), and panellists are Prof. André Laliberté (University of Ottawa), Juliette Duléry (University Paris-Diderot), Wang Kaige (College of Chinese Culture), and Cai Tingjian (University of Munich).

André Laliberté, “Religious Change in China: The Impact of Welfare Regime Retrenchment and Expansion”

Theories of Chinese modernisation and secularisation discussing the religious question remain silent on one of the main drivers of secularisation and religious change observed in Western and post-colonial changes: the changes in religiosity related to the expansion and/or retrenchment of the welfare state. The enormous transformation experienced by China, from the encompassing welfare regime provided by the People’s Commune to the social dislocation experienced since the period of reform and opening, as the Communist Party social policies navigate behind the developmental and productivist approaches of the residual-liberal and corporatist-conservative, have coincided with significant religious change. While welfare state theories have explored how religious landscapes have shaped welfare regimes in Western societies, or how welfare insecurity regimes have influenced the growth of religions, such issue remains understudied in China. The paper argues that advances in the study of religion and in the study of welfare regimes in contemporary East Asian societies should help fill the gap. The paper calls for a theory that incorporates findings from the political economy of welfare regimes and the regulation of religious affairs in East Asia, grounded in general theories about the relationship between social insecurity and religiosity. The provisional conclusion of this theory-building effort is that it sheds light on the Communist Party’s changes of approach to religion in the delivery of social services. It suggests that in conditions of welfare retrenchment and increasing welfare insecurity caused by migration, a skewed sex ratio, and a rapidly ageing of the population, have accompanied the growth in religiosity.

Juliette Duléry, “’Go Ye into All the World, and Preach the Gospel to Every Creature’: The Politics of Evangelical Protestantism in the Chinese Context of State Surveillance”

The tensions between Protestant groups and the Chinese Party-State have been the object of many studies, which generally portray these actors as fundamentally opposed. Yet, their relationship is far from being monolithic, due to the existence of a galaxy of Protestant groups—from registered to underground congregations, and including para-churches groups and foreign-led communities. How do evangelical groups, usually characterised by their proselyte ambitions, propagate their faith in a context of religious surveillance? This study is based on participant observations in Protestant organisations in China and on 80 interviews of Protestant actors led in Beijing, Changsha, and Shenzhen. I argue that the interactions between Protestant groups and the State are based on tacit rules of (in)visibility. The official Chinese nationalist rhetoric emphasizes traditional values of Confucianism and seeks to limit the spread of religious “others”, namely Islam and Christianity. In this context, official but also unregistered Protestant groups usually make visible their allegiance to the State, and may even adhere strongly to those values. This does not mean that they are entirely dominated by the State, but rather that they pursue their sensitive activities through private channels. As a consequence of this ambiguousness, they manage to survive in an adverse context, but at the cost of some core attributes of evangelical Protestantism—such as visibility. By focusing on the Chinese case, this research aims to contribute to the knowledge of Chinese contemporary dynamics, but also to the broader discussion on the role of religion in the development of national identities.

Kaige Wang, “Confucianism in Modern China’s State-Building“

It has been widely accepted that Confucianism is both a religion and a philosophy, and also recognised as semi-religion and semi-philosophy. Different from the Western institutional religion, Confucianism can be summarised as a kind of diffused religion proposed by Yang Qingkun, as it runs through all aspects of traditional China from national ideology, spiritual temperament, political system, economic, and social thoughts to personal cultivation. Although Confucianism has been repeatedly criticised in modern China, in fact, the core logic of modern state-building follows the Confucian ideas to some extent. Pro. Tu Weiming once discussed the important role of Confucianism (emphasizing hierarchical authority, thrift and savings, education, and collectivism) on the industrialization of East Asia. It can also be found that after China’s reform and opening up, the southeast coastal areas where the countryside enterprises are the most developed are areas which have the most developed Confucianism and clan culture. China’s politics also advocates meritocracy rather than Western election democracy, etc.
In modern China, Confucian values must be implemented in a series of institutional constructions such as family, social groups, political facilities, economic systems, etc., to realise the creative transformation of traditional values, because institutions are the carriers of ideas. Let the value of Confucianism participate in the construction of the present humanistic spirit and secular ethics, to deal with the crisis and predicament caused by modern individualistic ethics, and let Confucianism truly play the role of a modern “civil religion”.

Tingjian Cai, “Four Scenarios for the Future of Political-Religious Interaction”

The Chinese modernisation and secularisation, i.e. the introduction of new terms like “religion” and new understandings on state-building, has not led to the full elimination of its tradition, but rather to a mixture of Chinese tradition and modern (socialist) state construction, the result of which could be clearly observed in the political-religious field, as religious revival causes intensified political-religious interactions. As the current political-religious interactions become more and more problematic regarding the contradictions between the rapid religious revival and political regulations, as well as between the people’s need to find a replacement for the “empty void” in the moral-spiritual sphere after Maoism and the state’s attempt to take this building of new religious-ideological agent under control, the question is raised about in which direction the political-religious interactions in China will proceed. This paper will present some scenarios for the future political-religious interactions: would China turn into a “neo-imperial sacral hegemony” which harbours great risks, but yet could settle political-social issues around a “nationalist nucleus”? Would it be a “gentle” path to recreate a Confucian framework of political-religious field, with a reactivated Confucianism subordinating and integrating religions? Less likely, but not impossible, would it be the implementation of the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom against any political loyalty or interventions? Or could it be a Chinese special path which amalgamates liberty and the state’s desire for political-social order?

China’s Minority Policies in Xinjiang

Stories, Narratives, and Ideology
Tuesday
4:00 pm – 5:45 pm
Room 3

  • Organised by Martin Lavička
  • Martin Lavička, “Narrating Xinjiang through the Lens of Governmental Whitepapers”
  • Vanessa Frangville, “’Xinjiang is Safe and Stable Now’”
  • Rune Steenberg Reyhe, “The Tip of the Iceberg: Connecting Traces to Ideology in XUAR”

The Chinese re-education camps in XUAR have gathered increased media attention within the last year. Stories of abuse from “escaped camp survivors” contrast sharply with those of dancing Uyghur youths in “vocational training centres.” In the Chinese narrative, the centres supposedly save them from Islamic radicalism, while Uyghur diaspora groups see them as part of a “cultural genocide”. Behind each story, there is a meta-story (narratives in our terminology) that connects it to a larger world view and ideology. This panel traces the narratives—between story and ideology—on China’s minority policies across different genres and sides. The interconnections span from government white papers across official newspapers, scholarly writing to advocacy work, novels and TV shows in both Chinese, English, Uyghur, Kazakh and other languages. We identify common themes, motives and, strategies in these texts and contextualise them within the broader eco-political frame.

Martin Lavicka, “Narrating Xinjiang through the Lens of Governmental Whitepapers”

Since 2003, when the first governmental whitepaper baipishu on Xinjiang appeared, another nine have been published by now. Since 2014, every year, there is a whitepaper concerning Xinjiang, signifying increased importance for the central government to address and reflect on various issues related to the region. However, the year 2019 has already brought three whitepapers on Xinjiang, showing the enormous attention Beijing gives to the coverage of the ‘Xinjiang problem’ as an answer to the recent international coverage and criticisms of its policies. Analysis of governmental whitepapers and their narrative can serve as a valuable source of information regarding the official ideology behind the worsening situation in the region. Moreover, it can provide some insight into the ideological backing of Beijing policies towards the region. The main focus of this presentation will be on the most recent whitepapers: The Fight Against Terrorism and Extremism and Human Rights Protection in Xinjiang published in March, Historical Matters Concerning Xinjiang from July, and Vocational Education and Training in Xinjiang published in August 2019.

Vanessa Frangville, “’Xinjiang is Safe and Stable Now’”

“Xinjiang is safe and stable now”—these words are those of a young Uyghur based in Beijing, in a series of short films released by CGTN (China Global Television Network) to promote young Uyghurs living in Mainland China who want to “change stereotypes about Uyghurs” because “things are much better now”. This paper focuses primarily on videos and images in relation to texts in articles about the Uyghurs published on CGTN’s website since 2017, in English, in French and in Chinese. The objective is to understand how, through this multimodal discourse, the Uyghurs and their region are represented in a mainstream media whose ambition is to “tell China’s story well”, in the context of a “media warfare” against “fake foreign journalism.”

Rune Steenberg Reyhe, “The Tip of the Iceberg: Connecting Traces to Ideology in XUAR”

“There is a problem with your thinking,” is the reasoning presented to many when they are sent to the so-called re-education camps in XUAR in northwest China. Something they have done or said, to the government, betrays the fact that their thinking is not in line with the party ideology. It is “infected” by “radicalist thought”, like separatism or religious extremism. From this, they must be healed in camps. The crucial issue is not just about the display of loyalty, but about surveilling and controlling ideology. This becomes especially obvious in the campaign to clamp down on “two-faced cadre”. As in Max Black’s interaction theory of metaphors, here, a given action or expression is seen as a “tip of an iceberg” indicating a deeper “sunken model”—the problematic ideology. The ideology and indicators are connected by an often implicit story—a narrative. This paper discusses this connection between ideology and expression through narratives. Narratives are employed by the Chinese government to see prayer or fasting as symptoms of radicalism in order to legitimize the camps in official videos. Activist groups and US government officials similarly take the camps to signify the inhumanity of Chinese people or of communists generally in order to push back against the BRI or Chinese tech-firms taking market shares. I explore the connections drawn by various actors between indicators, ideologies and policies concerning the network of camps and the extensive surveillance apparatus in Xinjiang.

Papers on International Relations I

Neighbours
Tuesday
2:00 pm – 3:45 pm
Room 3

  • Chaired by Franziska Plümmer
  • Franziska Plümmer, “Lost in Transition: Liminal Citizenship of Border Residents in the Sino-Myanmar Border Zone”
  • Siyuan Li, “China’s Soft Power in Africa: A Case Study of China’s Language and Culture Promotion Organisations in Africa”
  • Jelena Gledić, “We Go Back a Long Way: Interpreting the Sino-Serbian ‘Iron Friendship’ through Reus-Smit’s Theory on Cultural Diversity”

Franziska Plümmer, “Lost in Transition: Liminal Citizenship of Border Residents in the Sino-Myanmar Border Zone”

The existing literature on border residents largely analyses how territorial articulation of the nation-state coincides with the de facto realities of local residents, or in other words, how the authority of states is subverted, ignored or challenged at the border. This paper takes an alternative view, arguing that the concept of liminal citizenship explains how the notion of sovereignty is not challenged but becomes in fact invigorated at the border. Taking the Sino-Myanmar border as a case study, this article explores local practices of citizenship in the border area, asking how the category of border residents is constructed within the larger Chinese concept of citizenship. To do so, this article investigates the rationalities informing the inherently graduated citizenship regime and the legal and social implications of border residents. The article finds that in Chinese border prefectures, local authorities apply spatial strategies to selectively integrate Myanmar workers into the local economy producing a form of liminal citizenship. This strategy builds on local authorities establishing exceptional immigration rules to allow limited access for this specific group of foreigners. As part of this local legalization, the authorities issue border passes that allow their holders’ unlimited border crossing and qualifies them to obtain working permits. This way, the border zone has become a distinct administrative zone that is subject to exceptional regulation – a border disposition.

Siyuan Li, “China’s Soft Power in Africa: A Case Study of China’s Language and Culture Promotion Organisations in Africa”

Language, culture and other intangible resources are important elements of a country’s power resources. The People’s Republic of China has realised the importance of language and culture promotion overseas and its language and culture promotion organisation (LCPO) – the Confucius Institute – has been attracting the world’s attention since its establishment in 2004. Together with its extraordinary development, there exists a plethora of discussions, debates and research on it, among which the most commonly used term to describe the practical function of the initiative is Soft Power. Although more than 30 countries in the world sponsor a LCPO overseas and China even sponsors another LCPO – the China Cultural Centre (CCC), the focus seems to be on the CI. This article aims to examine the different stages and features of China’s language and culture promotion overseas in the past 70 years, compare the differences between the China’s two LCPOs – the CI and the CCC in Africa, and discuss their roles in promoting China’s national interest overseas in a broader sense of power in international relations.

Jelena Gledić, “We Go Back a Long Way: Interpreting the Sino-Serbian ‘Iron Friendship’ through Reus-Smit’s Theory on Cultural Diversity”

This paper focuses on the changes in discourse on the cultural ties between Serbia and China after the intensification of economic cooperation under the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. Empirical data is interpreted through Christian Reus-Smit’s theory on cultural diversity, showing that the examined case is an example of top-down governance of culture in order to facilitate economic and political cooperation, which is likely characteristic of Chinese foreign policy in the given domain.
In the past decade, Serbia has been standing out as the leading partner of China in Central and Eastern Europe in the context of implemented or announced Belt and Road projects. The two countries’ governments state that cooperation is rooted in a close and long-standing Sino-Serbian friendship. However, this research shows that the said narrative emerged or at least significantly intensified only after the start of closer economic cooperation. Being mostly present in the official discourse on the two countries’ cooperation, the notion of the so-called “Iron friendship” between Serbia and China is less a deeply-rooted historical reality and more an example of consciously forging a narrative. The idea of a deep friendship between the two countries has been actively managed and engineered since the start of the Belt and Road Initiative, emphasizing a long history and specific shared experiences, all in line with the presently projected respective national images. The results of this analysis provide lessons for interpreting Chinese foreign policy, international relations and new paradigms of development and order building.

Papers on Modern Literature I

Contemporary I
Tuesday
2:00 pm – 3:45 pm
Room E

  • Chaired by Federica Gamberini
  • Keru Cai, “Poverty and Squalor in Modern Chinese Realism”
  • Pei-yin Lin, Kaibin Ouyang, “Mu Xin as Icarus-Artist and His Romantic Bildung and Its Implications”
  • Sasha Hsiang-Yin Chen, “Honour and Power in Poetic Language and Ideology. Translation Studies and Transcultural Analyses of Russian-Soviet, Taiwanese, and Chinese Rock Music”
  • Daria Berg, Giorgio Strafella, “China’s New Media Superstars”

Keru Cai, “Poverty and Squalor in Modern Chinese Realism”

How do early 20th-century Chinese intellectuals sift through centuries of Western and Chinese literary history and compact them into new genres during a few decades of heady experimentation? I argue that modern Chinese realist writers frequently turned to the topic of material poverty—starving peasants, urban labourers, homeless orphans—to convey their sense of textual poverty and national backwardness. At odds with a literary and linguistic tradition that for thousands of years had been largely the purview of the scholar-official class, the radically new topic of poverty in fact enriched the nascent forms of Chinese fiction: by depicting poverty, writers innovated strategies of representing the nation, the social other, and time and space, while problematizing the ethical implications of deploying this weighty topic for aesthetic purposes. Though it was contact with Western cultures that produced their sense of backwardness, Chinese writers discovered within those foreign literary traditions—particularly Russian realism—the narrative tools to remedy China’s purported textual deficiency by writing about poverty. I examine why Russian literature, itself long preoccupied with a problem of belatedness vis à vis Western Europe, occupied a privileged place for Chinese intellectuals of this era. Comparing fiction about poverty by Lu Xun, Xiao Hong, Yu Dafu, Jiang Guangci, and lesser-known writers, to their Russian intertexts by Gogol, Andreev, Turgenev, and others, I show how Chinese writers drew and innovated upon themes (such as madness or human animality) and formal elements (such as metonymy or free indirect discourse) to invent a new, syncretic realism.

Pei-yin Lin, Kaibin Ouyang, “Mu Xin as Icarus-Artist and His Romantic Bildung and Its Implications”

Mu Xin (1927–2011) is an important yet understudied Chinese writer, poet and artist who grew up with the May Fourth inspirations, survived the Cultural Revolution, and rose to fame in 1980s Taiwan during his sojourn in New York. His work sparked what was called “Mu Xin fever” in 1980s Taiwan and Chinese mainland in this century. Appraisals of his writing to date, however, tend to lack historical analysis and cultural perspective. This paper argues that Mu Xin is highly relevant to modern Chinese culture and history, and to modernity at large, and this can be best illuminated through the angle of cross-cultural romantic subjectivity. Based on Literary Memoirs, Mu Xin’s lectures on world literature, this paper traces Mu Xin’s self-identity as “Icarus artist,” an archetype linking the 19th century European and modern Chinese Romanticism. It points out that the essence of Mu Xin’s romantic self-fashioning—the ideal of self-education, realisation and perfection through art—bears great affinity with the German tradition of Bildung, especially that in early German romanticism. It then discusses that Mu Xin’s early Bildung benefitted immensely from Republican China’s “aesthetic education,” and how he relied on his Bildung to survive the Cultural Revolution. It concludes that Mu Xin provides a fascinating case to revisit modern Chinese romanticism from a cross-cultural and post-revolutionary perspective. His Bildung under Mao’s totalitarianism not only miraculously extends modern Chinese romantic individualism, but also manifests his own unique Icarian image—a Nietzschean superman with Laozi’s wisdom and Wei-Jin aesthetics (魏晉風度).

Sasha Hsiang-Yin Chen, “Honour and Power in Poetic Language and Ideology. Translation Studies and Transcultural Analyses of Russian-Soviet, Taiwanese, and Chinese Rock Music”

This proposal studies the poetic language and ideology of rock music, showing the literary, musical and socio-political connections between rock musicians and their works in the Soviet Union, Taiwan and mainland China after the open policies in the 1980s. In conference presentation, I would target the three significant figures in the above-mentioned three areas, with specific reference to the songs of Boris Grebenshchikov, Xue Yue and Cui Jian, to show their ideological similarities and cultural differences under communism, socialism or collectivism and to demonstrate transcultural movements in the face of rising capitalism and commercialism. Providing such comparative and transcultural analysis of the contemporary texts of their songs in the 1980s enables a re-reading and scrutiny of the place of rock music in Russian-Soviet, Taiwanese and Chinese cultures and their relationship between musicians and their fans under the social transitions.

Daria Berg, Giorgio Strafella, “China’s New Media Superstars”

The paper aims to analyse the rise of authors, artists and cultural entrepreneurs (wenhua qiyejia) as China’s new media superstars. This study analyses changes in popular culture, gender roles and social dynamics in a globalising post-socialist China (1997–present). It examines how cultural entrepreneurs—including Anni Baobei, Xu Jinglei, Han Han, Guo Jingming, and Cao Fei—invent themselves as ‘consumption celebrities’ (Guy Debord, 1992) whose multi-media personae epitomise the many facets of China’s new culture of consumption. China’s Internet population reached 854 million in 2019 with a 61% penetration rate (CNNIC 2019). The digital media offer platforms for a new vernacular culture and competing discourses. This study analyses first, how China’s new stars fashion themselves as a new type of celebrity; and second, how their works create a media spectacle. This media spectacle exists on three levels: first, as the public spectacle of male and female self-fashioning, casting the new media celebrity; second, as literary or artistic reflections on China’s globalisation and rise to superpower status; and third, as the epitome of the rise of women as China’s new cultural entrepreneurs. This paper aims to contribute to our understanding of celebrity culture, the tensions between official and unofficial discourses, China’s vernacular and officially ordained cultures, and also the rise of women as cultural entrepreneurs in China’s mediasphere. This research will shed new light on China’s new media superstars and changing cultural dynamics in the era of globalisation. This paper is jointly authored by Daria Berg and Giorgio Strafella.

Bridges of Meaning

Establishing Cross-Referential Patterns through Parallelism in Premodern Chinese Prose Texts
Tuesday
4:00 pm – 5:45 pm
Room D

  • Organised by Lisa Indraccolo
  • Chaired by Matthias Richter
  • Lisa Indraccolo, “Two Handles to Rule Them All—A Structural Analysis of Hánfēizǐ ‘Èr bǐng’ 韓非子 · 二柄”
  • Wolfgang Behr, “Plus c’est la même chose, plus ça change—Traces of Morphological Parallelism in Pre-Qin Prose”
  • Joachim Gentz, “Creating Complex Lines of Conceptual Argumentation Through Parallelisms in the Xunzi and the Zhuangzi”
  • Valérie Lavoix, “Carving Argumentation in Paired Dragons: Representations and Effects of Parallelism in The Wénxīn Diāolóng 文心雕龍 (ca 500 AD)”

“Parallelismus membrorum”, a term coined by Lowth (1778), has long been acknowledged as a pervasive feature of Classical Chinese literature (Gentz 2007), which is widely employed in different genres across the ages beyond the rich landscape of poetry. Its use is especially prominent in Chinese “Kunstprosa” (Behr & Gentz 2005) and post-Qin “parallel prose” (piántǐwén 駢體文). Parallelism in Classical Chinese poetry has been extensively studied, while less attention has been paid to its role in prose texts or to its description in indigenous meta-discourses so far. Like in many other literary traditions, patterns of phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic, or higher textual levels of recurrence, structural parallelism can be harnessed “strategically” to enhance argumentative force (Meyer 2011). In particular, parallelism assumes two closely interconnected functions: (a) it organises arguments following a deliberate conceptual design, according to specific internal organizational principles; (b) it establishes meaningful inter-and intra-textual cross-references within different sections of a text, or across chapters of a more extensive work, operating via a combination of cognitive facilitation, expectation subversion and emotional intensification (Menninghaus et al. 2017). The proposed panel, chaired by Matthias Richter (University of Colorado, Boulder), studies different types of parallelism (semantic, grammatical, phonological) through the analysis of pertinent case studies drawn from different kinds of Early and Medieval Chinese prose texts. It aims at providing new insights into the study of different forms of parallelism in premodern Chinese literature, promoting an integrated reading of classical texts that takes both their structure and content into consideration.

Lisa Indraccolo, “Two Handles to Rule Them All—A Structural Analysis of Hánfēizǐ ‘Èr bǐng’ 韓非子 · 二柄”

The “two handles” (èr bǐng 二柄)–‘punishments’ (刑 xíng) and ‘rewards’ (德 dé), are one of the core concepts and main government techniques of legalistic thought. They are explicitly acknowledged as the primary “tools” through which the ruler leads and controls his ministers (Pines, Goldin & Kern 2015). Through the promotion of law-abiding, obedient subordinates and the implacable punishment and purge of the neglectful, insubordinate ones, the ruler strengthens his grip on his entourage, thereby ensuring that the state is orderly run (Witzel 2012). The employment of such technique is discussed in detail in the corresponding chapter of the Hánfēizǐ 韓非子 (Graziani 2015). This deceptively simple, short chapter is actually a carefully constructed piece, both from the rhetorical and structural point of view, two aspects that are closely intertwined in early Chinese literature (Behr & Gentz 2005; Gentz & Meyer 2015). This paper studies the internal structure and the organization of arguments in the chapter ‘Èr bǐng’, with particular attention paid to the “strategic” use of parallelism and other rhetorical and literary devices, such as transition terms and historical examples. The aim is to show how such structural and rhetorical elements not only harmoniously complement each other but are also a constitutive component of the text that cannot be overlooked without comprising its hermeneutics, as they are deliberately distributed and arranged so as to support the development of the argument, enhancing argumentative force and highlighting and drawing attention to the most critical issues at stake.

Wolfgang Behr, “Plus c’est la même chose, plus ça change—Traces of Morphological Parallelism in Pre-Qin Prose”

Rhetorical properties of equivalence relations between sounds, sentence positions and lexical semantics in Chinese prose have been widely commented upon, aesthetically evaluated and didactically proscribed since the Han period (Yú Jǐngxiáng 2002, Shigehara 2014). The European study of Biblical Hebrew parallelism started with de Rossi (c. 1511–1578), received its canonical “tripartite” formulation by Lowth (1753, 1778) and is compared to Tang poetry in Davis (1830). Morphological parallelism, however, has remained largely unexplored since Schlegel’s “La loi” of 1896. This seems odd, considering the importance assigned to morphosyntactic parallelism and its “stereoscopic” effects in Chinese (Boodberg 1954) from Jakobson (1960, 1966) up to their recent rediscoveries as neural substrates in “empirical aesthetics” of European literature (Menninghaus’ group 2014–, tinyurl.com/rbo4ujr). It is due to the failure of sinologists, in and outside China, to recognize that Old Chinese, like other Trans-Himalayan languages, shows vestiges of derivational morphology. Like any other linguistic form, morphology is imbued with rhetorical force when sign-sign parallelisms are projected onto sign-meaning relationships. I will explore phenomena where iteration of affixal morphology in six-vowel systems of Old Chinese (Sagart 1999, Jin Lixin 2006, Schuessler 2007, Baxter & Sagart 2014) structures arguments and constructs intra-textual coherence in Warring States texts, aiming to show (a) how morphological parallelisms intersect with devices such as paronomasia, figura etymologica and constituent iconicity on a formal level and (b) how they promote different types of semantic oppositions (Chmielewski 1964), arguments (Gentz 2007) and textual structures (Spirin 1969, 1976).

Joachim Gentz, “Creating Complex Lines of Conceptual Argumentation Through Parallelisms in the Xunzi and the Zhuangzi”

While Chinese and Japanese scholars such as Liu Xie 劉勰 (465–522 CE) and Kūkai 空海 (774–835) have started to classify up to 29 different forms of parallelisms in Chinese texts 1500 years ago, European studies on parallelism and its different forms only started in the 18th century. And while Europeans have been aware of parallelism in (especially poetic) Chinese texts at least since 1830, little attention has been paid to the argumentative function of parallelisms in Chinese prose. In a short introduction, this paper will first point out a few stages of the early history of argumentative parallelism in Chinese texts starting from the formulaic rhetoric of contrasts in early Shangshu and Shijing texts, proceeding to discuss parallelisms as descriptive indicators of orders of classification in texts arranged according to catalogues such as the Hongfan chapter, numerous chapters in the Yi Zhoushu, the Xici zhuan as well as some excavated texts and finally looking at further developments of parallelist argumentation in the Masters’ literature. The main analytical focus of the paper will be devoted to the texts in the Zhuangzi and the Xunzi that start to play with the parallel form to create new and more sophisticated forms of argumentation. Among these, I will be particularly interested in the way parallelisms are used in both texts to introduce and define new conceptual terms in lines of argumentations and thereby serve to build up and structure arguments by means of complex analytical terminology.

Valérie Lavoix, “Carving Argumentation in Paired Dragons: Representations and Effects of Parallelism in The Wénxīn Diāolóng 文心雕龍 (ca 500 AD)”

As a book-length masterpiece of parallel prose (piántǐwén 駢體文) composed in the times of its full blossoming, by a literary critic advocating for literary talent to be a major criterion in the course of official carriers, the Wénxīn diāolóng 文心雕龍 (Dragon carvings on the core of literature, ca. 500 AD) may stand as a rare instance of integrated theory and practice. One of its fifty chapters being devoted to “Parallel phrasing” (Lìcí 麗辭 XXXV), distinguishes sponte sua, a fortiori and appropriate though occasional instances of pairing and parallelism in early texts, before defining the rise of (artistic) parallel phrasing under the Han in terms of “intensified ornamentation” and “distinguished euphony”. Liú Xié’s 劉勰 (ca 465–521) rather straightforward taxonomy of parallelisms emphasises referential types (be they contrastive or converging). To which extent and profit may his normative views be confronted to his own practice throughout the Wénxīn diāolóng? My paper will propose limited and tentative answers to this self-imposing question and will argue that, far from being reducible to a “discourse machine” leading to inconsistencies (Owen, 2001), the effects generated by textual structures—alternation between parallel and separate phrases, parallel variations in enumerative catalogues, taxonomies or hierarchies—do enhance the internal and implicit logics of Liú Xié’s argumentative and demonstrative discourse, which actually lie between its very lines and inter-textual references.

Papers on Premodern Literature I

Emotions
Tuesday
2:00 pm – 3:45 pm
Room D

  • Chaired by Angelika Messner
  • Marcin Jacoby, “The Subtle Power of the Narrative: Strategies of Persuasion in the Lüshi chunqiu”
  • Chi-Chu Ho, “Express the Self-Emotions under the Illness Description from Li Shangyin”
  • Tianjun Chen, “Survival, Tradition, Emotion—Exploring the Yuan Literati Group through the Story of Shuangjian and Suqing”
  • Giovanna Tsz Wing Wu, “Ending with the Disillusionment of Love: The Philosophy of Life in Tang Xianzu’s Eight-legged Essay and the Virtual Lives in The Legend of Purple Flute”

Marcin Jacoby, “The Subtle Power of the Narrative: Strategies of Persuasion in the Lüshi chunqiu”

Lüshi chunqiu (LSCQ) is a fascinating text bringing together various concepts of political leadership of the Warring States Period, which has only recently attracted more interest of Western scholars. The proposed paper concentrates on the analysis of persuasion strategies employed by the authors of the LSCQ from the point of view of literature studies. Different sections of the LSCQ in the “Views” and “Commentaries” parts are composed typically of a brief topic presentation, several historical exemplae and two to three narratives, mostly historical anecdotes, which illustrate the point presented in section title and the opening topic presentation. These anecdotes are used as tools of persuasion, in a very similar way as various narratives (anecdotes, parables, and fables) in the Zhuangzi, Han Feizi, or the Zhanguo ce. I argue that these historical anecdotes are often employed in the LSCQ as tools of indirect persuasion, and in this allegorical function can be compared to the use of parables in the Zhuangzi, a topic much better researched by scholars in China and in the West. Basing on the analysis of the LSCQ, I propose to depart from the understanding of the narrative in the Warring States Period literature in its anecdotal function, and concentrate on its persuasive, and often allegorical function instead.

Tianjun Chen, “Survival, Tradition, Emotion—Exploring the Yuan Literati Group through the Story of Shuangjian and Suqing”

This paper explores the Yuan literati group through analyzing their reception of Shuangjian and Suqing’s story as a stored allusion and a part of dramatic repertoire. The story has no stable version and the variation is built in the Yuan literati writers’ different way of narrating, appropriating and interpreting it. I will restore the major narrative systems of it, and analyze why literati writers choose one over another. Moreover, it is usually categorized into scholar-courtesan romance. Different from the traditional scholarship that described scholar-courtesan-merchant complex as a response to the uprising monetary power, I bring it back to shi bu yu (Scholar’s frustration) trope in poetic tradition. Some writers’ inherited the representation of poetic shi bu yu; yet others appropriated the tradition to incorporate with the contemporary aesthetic taste. By outlining the writers’ approach to the story, I explore their attitude towards qing (affection) and yu (desire). Neo-Confucianism of Song dynasty, represented by Zhu Xi, derogated qing and yu. They insisted that qing should be controlled and yu should be repressed. But in Shuangjian and Suqing’s case, the yu combined with qing and the qing based on yu are valorised to possess therapeutic function in the Yuan, which is a distinctive response to the Neo-Confucianism opinion. Through a historical, text-based, and evident study on the story, my paper presents the Yuan literati group in the aspects of moral and aesthetic belief, as well their relation to the past, particularly their association with the literary and philosophical tradition.

Chi-Chu Ho, “Express the Self-Emotions under the Illness Description from Li Shangyin”

Being sick is a good way of dissimulation in both career and literature. Li Shangyin (812–858) hid the true name and symptom of illness but revealed scholars image of the loneliness and solitary fortitude of emotions in his writings of illness. Li is one of the most famous poet in the History of Emotions in China, due to he is a representative of Tang Dynasty Literature with excellent writing strategies and graceful lyric poems to indicate the true self-emotions.
The characteristics of writing of illness, which are self-emotion expression and ambiguity language, have been found in the illness poems of Li Shangyin. The real emotions of illness in his poems are all meaningful arrangements to reveal the real scenes of life for readers. As comparison with Susan Sontag, the author of Illness as Metaphor AIDS and its Metaphors, she considered the illness was polluted by metaphors. Therefore, getting rid of the illness metaphors, which contains varieties of dark side facts of the society, is necessary. In contrast, the Chinese poets desired to adopt the allusions and metaphors to conceal with real illness. Li created the model of self-presentation to reveal the true emotions in euphemism by using the patient identity and the ambiguity of illness language. Especially, Li indicated the allusions from “Sima Xiangru 司馬相如 got Dispersion-Thirst illness” and Liu Jhen 劉楨 sickly lay” to present how he bear the suffering procedure of his career.

Giovanna Tsz Wing Wu, “Ending with the Disillusionment of Love: The Philosophy of Life in Tang Xianzu’s Eight-legged Essay and the Virtual Lives in The Legend of Purple Flute”

Tang Xianzu’s eight-legged essays and chuanqi operas are two essentials for studying his thoughts, yet the value of his essays has long been underestimated. “To speak for the sages” is the aim of composing eight-legged essays. Tang was trained as an essayist since his early years, so he became used to thinking in the way of Confucian sages. To fill the loopholes in former Confucian philosophers’ interpretations, Tang often introduced Buddhist and Daoist thoughts into his eight-legged essays. Dialogues between different thoughts provided him with chances to expound upon his philosophy of life. Tang’s contemporaries often criticized that the thoughts embedded in his eight-legged essays were not pure. These criticisms, based on the Cheng-Zhu school, reveal that Tang’s thoughts contradicted the Confucian orthodoxy. On top of this, do these criticisms inspire today’s study of Tang? Eight-legged essays have spotlighted the path through the world of Tang’s early thoughts. If the writing of the eight-legged essay provided Tang with space to re-think the meaning of life, then the chuanqi opera should be considered the field in which he put his thoughts into practice. This paper will focus on Tang’s eight-legged essays and his first opera, The Legend of Purple Flute. By comparing the rational thinking found in his eight-legged essays to the sentimental “practices” found in his opera, this paper re-interprets Tang’s thought during his early years and re-accounts for the value of The Legend of Purple Flute.

Papers on Premodern History III

Encounters
Wednesday
9:00 am – 10:45 am

  • Chaired by Christine Moll-Murata
  • Sebestyén Hompot, “Zheng He’s Missions: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Current Mainland Chinese Historiography”
  • Xiaobai Hu, “Exploring the Foreign Land: The Founder of Ming China and His Tibet Experiments”
  • Leiyun Ni, “Provision as a Negotiation Site: Sino-Anglo Encounters in Canton”

Sebestyén Hompot, “Zheng He’s Missions: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Current Mainland Chinese Historiography”

The present paper investigates the mainland Chinese academic discourse of the last 20 years on the Zheng He missions (1405–1433) of the early Ming period. The theory and methodology of the relevant research project is based on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), most notably the approach of the Duisburg School (Margret Jäger, Siegfried Jäger, et al.) and the Discourse-Historical Approach of Ruth Wodak et al., with further insights gained from scholarship on CDA in the Chinese context. The research project involves quantitative analysis relying on digital tools (publication statistics, citation networks, word frequencies), CDA-based qualitative analysis of a selected number of relevant academic works, as well as expert interviews as part of a research stay in China (March–April 2020). The research project is intended to explore the recent trends in mainland Chinese research on the Zheng He missions, the underlying global and domestic power relations and ideologies, in order to analyze the relevance of Zheng He historiography for the framing of national and global history in China, as well as for the country’s cultural diplomacy.

Xiaobai Hu, “Exploring the Foreign Land: The Founder of Ming China and His Tibet Experiments”

Between the two founders of Ming China, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, scholarly attention has been quite imbalanced when it comes to their relationships with Tibet.
While Zhu Di showed great enthusiasm toward Tibet and frequently invited Tibetan hierarchs to his court, Zhu Yuanzhang’s attitude for this westerly foreign land remained understudied. This paper examines Zhu Yuanzhang’s Tibet policies in the context of Yuan-Ming transition. Being a spiritual realm during the Yuan era where Mongol Khans’ theocratic legitimacy came from, Tibet was hard to position in the Ming founder’s imagined world. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang constantly improvised his Tibet policies in the wake of changing geopolitical situations and for different audiences and pragmatic reasons. The first section scrutinizes Zhu Yuanzhang’s early diplomatic contacts with Tibet and challenges the tributary interpretation that dominated the scholarship of Ming-Tibet relationship. The second section examines how Zhu Yuanzhang roped Tibet with the Mongol issue from 1375 to 1380 and resorted to military and coercion policies with an aggressive attitude; The third section studies the shift of Zhu Yuanzhang’s reliance from Tibetan secular rulers to spiritual leaders. By the end of the 14th century, Hezhou–Taozhou region was chosen to be the new Tibetan Buddhist centre in contract to the previous one at Lintao during the Mongol era. It is the back-and-forth in Zhu Yuanzhang’s Tibet policies that constituted his preliminary empire-building agenda and laid the foundation for Ming-Tibet interaction in the following centuries.

Leiyun Ni, “Provision as a Negotiation Site: Sino-Anglo Encounters in Canton”

This paper aims examines the structure of food supply system of the English East India Company in Canton and its role in the power dynamics between China and Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries. Previous studies on provision for EIC focused on its features as a trade and its impact on the entire Canton system. Rather than merely regarding the food supply as a business, this paper argues that it was the provision that linked different groups of people involved in this trade. Provision kept them alive, not just physically, but also politically, socially and culturally. Provisions were essential not only because they nourished human bodies, but also because of their cultural, social and political meanings and functions that channeled this trading system. Communications, negotiations and conflicts were permeable in every process of provision system. People involved in this trade had to tackle with linguistic, geographical and cultural barriers to ensure food and drink were provided sufficiently and satisfactorily. It involved interpersonal relationships but also international and global networks. By examining the system of provision, it will help us understand the complexity of the mechanism of this global trade. I will use travel writings of individual British merchants, officers and sailors, official records of EIC in British library and National Archives and some American company’s accounts. Dictionaries in both English and Chinese published by Westerners and Chinese will also be used as my primary sources.