The aim of the thesis is to investigate the development of female consciousness under the impact of Western feminist ideologies in Chinese female writings by examining specific works of Hong Ying and Li Bihua using a feminist and a postfeminist approach. By analysing the earlier and later works of Hong Ying and Li Bihua, one is able to recognise the shifts from feminist to postfeminist ideas that are apparent in the works of the two authors. The thesis is divided into four main sections and will include; the feminist and post-feminist ideologies of the two aforementioned authors' works, the different representations of women in the authors' original texts with their sequential movie and TV adaptations, and finally the impact of internet weblogs on Chinese women writings. In the first two core chapters, I use both feminist and post-feminist approaches to scrutinize the earlier and later literary work of Hong Ying and Li Bihua. Despite the fact that the two authors have very different writing styles, their common interest is to rewrite Chinese historical women with a hint of feminist rationale. Therefore, through comparing and contrasting the feminist ideologies in both writers' works, the development of feminism in and the impact of Western Feminism on China can be revealed. Apart from literary texts, owing to the widespread movie and TV adaptations of the two authors' literary writings, I examine the ramifications caused by the difference between the original and the adapted forms of representation of feminist ideas in the works of the Hong Ying and Li Bihua in the third core chapter. Seeing that both authors also maintain Internet weblogs (blogs), which are accessed by numerous Internet users, especially in China, therefore, in my last core chapter, I employ a cyberfeminist approach to read the blogs of the authors in order to show how feminism works different on the Internet.

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In this dissertation, I argue that Taiwanese classical theatre was formed during 1895 to 1937, the Japanese colonial period before the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). My argument is that Taiwanese classical theatre was formed through concept construction, the modernization of content, the emergence of new genres and the Taiwanization of language and themes. Japanese colonization launched modernization in Taiwan, which in turn brought about theatrical modernization. Japanese researchers introduced modern approaches to studying classical theatre in Taiwan, and therefore established a modern systemic approach to it. Based on this, the concept of "Taiwanese classical theatre" was constructed. Modernization further formed the contents of Taiwanese classical theatre. The Japanese introduced modern media to Taiwan. Meanwhile, the achievements of theatre reform and the realist aesthetic were introduced from Japan and China. Classical theatre troupes in Taiwan took advantage of modern media and learnt modern theatrical style. This in turn resulted in the emergence of a new genre, Taiwanese reformed theatre/Taiwanese opera. Realist aesthetics performed by Japanese and Chinese troupes further stimulated Taiwanese audiences to call for realism within a Taiwanese context. Classical theatre troupes in Taiwan responded to the demand, beginning a process of Taiwanization in language and themes. Taiwanese reformed theatre/Taiwanese opera was the last stage in the linguistic Taiwanization of classical theatre. It reflected concurrent and realistic language of Taiwanese people in daily life. Thereafter, classical theatre troupes, especially those of Taiwanese reformed theatre/Taiwanese opera, began to compose plays with Taiwanese themes. These plays reflected Taiwanese environment, history, society, customs, and so on, and showed modern characteristics as well. Taiwanization in themes was the final step; through it, the formation of Taiwanese classical theatre was completed. The formation of Taiwanese classical theatre is a mirror of newly-shaped Taiwanese culture in the colonial period and is also a crucial transition between traditional theatre and modern theatre in Taiwan.

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My thesis discusses the gendered interpellation of women into the ideal future Utopian order in Kang Youwei, the late 19th and early 20th century Chinese reformer and scholar. Current literature on Kang Youwei does not tend to specifically focus on discussing his views on gender, nor does it tend to focus on contextualising these views both in terms of the long tradition of gendered culture in China, and in terms of the degree to which he influenced later gender ideology and policy in China. Taking seriously my own positionality within current national/geo -academic and -political context, I wish to understand how Kang Youwei reformulates the schema of questions regarding gender and related concerns of power and authority. Kang does not merely offer a model to be accepted or dismissed, but he also destabilises the landscape of previously acceptable questions, answers, responses and framing strategies.

This thesis argl:les that the foreign interventions in the Taiping civil war were a key turning point in. nineteenth century Sino-foreign relations. The interventions shaped foreign ideas about the application of international law to China. When the prospect of intervention was raised foreign observers and foreign officials discussed how such involvement was justified under 'the law of nations'. The direct collaboration between the Qing and foreign states in suppressing the Taiping, however, led to a change in foreign perceptions about China's place in the state system. Noting what they perceived to be deficiencies in Qing statecraft, foreign observers began to suggest that Qing China was outside of the international system comprised of 'civilised' states. As a result, they suggested that international law was not applicable in China. This revises our understanding of the development of international law in the nineteenth century by suggesting that it was structured as much at sites of empire by foreign officials and communities as it was in the work of European . jurists. Secondly, the thesis takes the Taiping interventions as a case study for exploring the 'negotiation of sovereignty' in China. Sovereignty in China was fractured by the foreign right to extraterritoriality, or exemption from Qing law. The various foreign interventions against the Taiping, including the interventions of British and French state armies and foreign mercenaries, as well as foreign projects to transfer technology to China, raised questions about the extent of foreign sovereignty within the Qing empire. For example, were foreign mercenaries in the service of the Qing still foreign subjects and hence exempt from Qing law? In order for the Qing and foreign agents and states to collaborate in suppressing the Taiping the limits of foreign sovereignty had to be negotiated and these disputes had to be resolved.

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