Interpretations of the Nationalist Revolution in modern Chinese history, especially the so-called “Nanjing decade” (1927-1937) are dominated by theoretical notions which see the state as autonomous in its relationship to society. This autonomous state model, the dissertation argues, finds its roots in the voluntaristic ideas of Talcott Parsons. Arguments based on Parsons’s ideas view the Nationalist Revolution as abortive. The dissertation rejects these views and develops an alternative perspective based on the construction of a quasi-market model of social relations. The theoretical underpinnings, in contrast to Parsons’s ideas, are termed “de-voluntaristic.” These arguments suggest that individuals participate in, and have influence on, the operation of the state. The application of a quasi-market model suggests that there was a major transformation in Chinese society during the Nationalist period. The dissertation argues that the Nationalist Government after 1927 did not continue to achieve the initial objectives of the Nationalist Revolution which, it is suggested, aimed to build a quasi-market society. The revolution, however, was not abortive. It transformed the political system. In the Imperial tradition of government, local elites protected local communities against state encroachment through their involvement in property management. After 1927, the Nanjing Government adopted a “free market” approach to political affairs, and centralized the use of military and legal power to protect property against labour and the peasants. Peasant demands for rights to the land they tilled, a key element in Sun Yat-sen’s programme for the revolution, questioned the brokerage market economy, in which local elites acted as the intermediaries of contractual partners. Workers, in the context of industrialization, and with support from Communist organizers, attempted to improve working conditions. Peasants and workers contested the power of active elites that grew in the new political order established by. the Nationalist Government. The Nationalist State abandoned the traditional role of the Chinese state to protect the well-being of society. Deeply influenced by new elites, it protected capital accumulation and safeguarded the sanctity of contracts. The Nationalist Revolution ultimately failed as it was unable to resist the invasions of the Japanese, or the alternative social formulations of the Communist movement.

During the Sino-Japanese war of 1937 to 1945, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Shandong Province in North China achieved an unnoticed but historically significant success in financial affairs. From that time onward, the CCP in Shandong not only controlled economic affairs within its territory, but also obtained access to territories under enemy occupation through manipulation of currency exchange rates and by controlling the trade in staple grains, cotton, salt and peanut oil. As a result, trade with occupied China and with the Japanese invaders became the principal source of revenue of the CCP in Shandong as early as the second half of 1943. By the time of Japan’s defeat in August 1945, about 80% of the CCP’s revenue in Shandong came from trade beyond the areas under its control. Moreover, the CCP in Shandong deliberately carried out a policy of controlled inflation to increase its financial power. The key to this achievement was the CCP’s success in establishing exclusive zones for its banknotes in August 1943. The exclusive use of CCP currency developed in the course of many years of armed conflict among Japanese, CCP and Nationalist (GMD) forces in the province. The CCP’s ii banknotes were backed by Communist military power and military success. From their first days, the banknotes were intertwined with the military power of the CCP in Shandong and the supporting administrative institutions that Party authorities established in the province. The establishment of exclusive currency zones reflected the maturity of the CCP’s party-state. Because external trade was their principal source of revenue, CCP leaders in Shandong lacked the incentive to carry out social reform in Shandong. Moreover, justifications for the CCP’s program of agrarian revolution as carried out elsewhere were not found in Shandong. Rather than seeking social and economic transformation, the CCP built up power with a view to achieving a favourable position vis-à-vis the GMD before the end of the war against Japan. / Thesis (Ph.D, History) -- Queen's University, 2008-10-02

No description available.

This thesis provides an institutional study of three elements of the systems of military logistics in the Song dynasty (960--1278 A.D.): the procurement of horses, the military agricultural colonies, and the imperial ordnance industry. While one of the main objectives of this thesis is to throw light on the importance of the logistical efforts of the Song army, this thesis also attempts to reveal the connections between the military establishment and the political and socio-economic realities of the Song period. On the basis of an examination of the effects of commercialization on Songs logistical agencies as well as these agencies' political relations with civil officials, this thesis argues that the civil officials' attempts at maintaining political dominance over the military establishment as well as certain effects of commercialization of the Song economy were the two most prominent factors that undermined the operation of the Songs military logistical systems.

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1984. / Bibliography: leaves 243-247. / Microfiche. / ix, 247 leaves, bound 29 cm

在30年代主流文化界和知識界繼續熱誠地、全然地追求現代性時，一些現代傾向（modernist）的文化知識份子在電影和其他媒體中更多元地實踐着五四時期菁英知識份子的"全盤反傳統主義"(Totalistic Antitraditionalism)，他們將這種熱情訴諸于積極塑造以新興的知識女性為代表的中國"新女性"身上。 然而，在對電影這樣新興舶來品的媒介使用和對西方一些基本"電影語言"（cinematography）的效仿中，某些源于儒家的中國核心傳統價值和審美觀念，被有意識或無意識地挪用到電影人物形塑和審美韻味的建構中。這樣，不僅傳統經典的"儒家閨秀"藉着當代知識女性的新身份被重新包裝和再現，一些極具中國美學特色的電影處理技巧也在其中雛形漸現。更重要地，傳統閨秀的美學特點解釋了新的受教育女性謂之"新"的原由。本文（1）將從"美德"這一概念的傳承和模糊性入手，追溯禮教、道德之于傳統人物建構的意義和時代困境；（2）通過淺論閨秀人物與儒家美學思想的關係，以梳理多重道德審美的層次，並提煉"節"、"止"、 "制"的傳統美學建構機理；（3）通過提煉的這套可以參照施行的電影分析途徑，分析相關電影並蒐集分析證據；（4）借用銀幕內外的實踐策略來梳理和回應"傳統與現代"不同層次的矛盾衝突、協作重構，最後不僅可以進一步探究以30年代電影人為代表的人物思想矛盾，還可以辨析中國現代性的駁雜深刻之處。 In the 1930s when dominant intellectuals were cordially and overtly aspiring over modernity, a bunch of modernist intellectuals diversely practiced Totalistic Antitraditionalism inherited from MFM (May Fourth Movement) elite, on silver screen and other media. The educated women are both mediated representatives of Chinese "new" women and bearers of modernists' passion and dreams. Nevertheless, while accessing the film (as exotic and "new" medium then) and imitating western cinematography, some traditional core values and aesthetic ideologies rooted in Confucianism are consciously or unconsciously appropriated in constructing characteristic and auratic aesthetics on silver screen. Hence, not only the classic Confucian guixiu has been repacked and represented with new identity as contemporary educated women, but also some Chinese aesthetical patterns have emerged in film. More importantly, the aesthetics embedded in classic guixiu explain why new educated women are representatives of the "new". This paper (1) starts with the inheritance and ambiguity of the concept "meide (virtue)", before deploying how conventional Li (rites) and Daode (moral) contribute to both constructive significance and chronic dilemma of characters. (2) By virtue of analyzing classic guixiu and Confucius aesthetics, it is further enacted how moral aesthetics are enriched with multiple layers. Moreover, a type of constructive mechanism related to abridge (jie), stop (zhi) and restraint (zhi) is generalized. (3) Then, it deduced some framework that could be approached to filmic analysis as well as collecting data. (4) Lastly, the question about "traditional and modern" will be echoed with on and off screen strategic practices, in terms of contradiction, conflict, collaboration and reconstitution on different levels. Thus, not only the rooted dilemma in the 1930s could be revealed by means of analyzing contradictions of filmic people, but also the hybridity, heterogeneous and profundity of Chinese modernity could be further indicated.

19世紀下半葉，留聲機的發明與唱片產業的崛起，大幅催化了世界各地音樂與文化的交流，隨之而興的流行歌曲也自然成為了無數歷史信息、群體情感與個人記憶的載體；雖或因族群、階級、學派中的各種歧見而初未能得到公正評價，但到多元思想起而與商業邏輯拮抗的1990年代以降，從大眾、文壇到學界，已有愈來愈多人肯認了流行歌曲在文學、音樂與社會等各方面的研究意義與價值，有關華語流行歌曲的研究，亦形成了一個新興的學術領域，本論文即為其中一環。本文緒論首先針對既有論著，提出以「文學、音樂、社會」三面與「知識、技能、情感」三向為之分類，述評其方法成果。其次，採取文學面、技能向的立場，在研究方法上，提出「以作品所預設之目的來評判作品」及「以『合樂』的考量探討辭章、聲韻」的原則，並且說明了華語歌曲所固有的聲韻問題，提出裨益實際創作的研究主張，而不僅將流行歌曲作為某學科議題的資料。正文則以傳統文學「知人閱世」的進路，採詞話形式，在1970-2013年台灣的國語流行歌詞之中，選錄特別流行、創新，或能代表時勢演變之作，介紹其背景、主旨與流傳情形，分析其觀念、技法與影響，以貢獻於當代中文世界「流行詞學」典律的建立，俾讀者從中建起一個大概的演變圖景 = The invention of gramophone records and the rise of music industry in late 19th century have greatly catalyzed the global interaction of cultures, and subsequently contributed to the emergence of pop songs. However, owing to various ethnical, class and academic differences in various cultures, the importance of pop songs as carriers of historical data, collective sentiments and personal memories has not been adequately appreciated. Only in recent years have the musical, sociological, and cultural significance of critical research in pop songs and lyrics gained wider recognition among academics, intelligentsia, and mass consumers.Born in the confluence of political intervention, social stereotypes and commercial interests in the Shanghai International Settlement since 1927, Chinese Pop songs had produced lasting classics and fading stars with ebbs and flows of historical personages and political dynasties. More studies were made amid the antagonism between commercial logic and cultural pluralism during the 1990s. A new academic field was thus brought into being. This dissertation is meant to provide a critical link in this field. The dissertation introduces a framework to analyze Chinese Pop songs in three dimensions: literary, musical, and social, as well as the involved three aspects : knowledge, skills, and emotions. Relevant writings and discourses are categorized, with their methods described and their achievements commented upon. It then considers the aspect of skills within the literary dimension by following the methodology of traditional lyrics studies, and expands beyond its pure academic critique of creative writings to the principles of generating creative writings. This framework is then used as a basis to analyze the evolution of concepts and techniques in the creation of Chinese Pop songs. This dissertation aims at providing researchers and writers a set of flexible methods to comprehend and utilize the creative enterprise from an objective vantage point.

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The purposes of this thesis are to present a study of the agrarian policy of the Taipings as enunciated in the "Land System of the Heavenly Dynasty", to trace, through events during the existence of the T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuo, salient attitudes toward the agrarian policy and to suggest, so far as possible, the degree to which the policy was successful. To accomplish these purposes in Chapter I and II, I have briefly discussed the ideological sources of the "Land System" - its origin, its nature and its sociological implications. Because there is neither a complete nor satisfactory translation of this document I have included my own translation of it. In Chapter III, I undertake to follow the course of the agrarian policy as it developed and changed during the period of the rebellion. Included in this section are descriptions of these shifts, while possible reasons for their occurrence are also offered. Because there are no Taiping documents dealing in detail with their overall economic policy during the early stages of the rebellion I have included a translation of Chapter 10 of Tsei-ch'ing hui-tsuan, by Chang Te-chien, a contemporary. As a study of the views of mainland Chinese and Soviet historians reveals considerable divergence of opinion on the implementation and intention of the agrarian policy I have included in Chaper V a survey of some of these views. / Arts, Faculty of / Asian Studies, Department of / Graduate

Of the many themes in the history of China, an important one is the persistence and effectiveness with which the Chinese managed to rule their huge country and keep it unified. Many explanations for this have been given, such as the diffusion of Confucian ideology, and the integrative powers of the civil service examination system. However, there was one phenomenon which influenced the longevity of the Chinese empire which has not received as much attention as it deserves, that is, Chinese theories of different types of local government. To be sure, there have been some studies on this topic. But the studies which have appeared have basically dealt with the institutional aspects of local government. Few, if any, have explored this topic through a case study of the thought of one crucial historical individual. This thesis does not offer a synoptic examination of seventeenth-century local governments, but tries to achieve a better understanding of it through the study of the thought of Ku Yen-wu (1613-1682), a key figure during the transitional period of early modern China. Ku was chosen not only because of the historical significance of his time and his crucial importance during his lifetime, but also because his thought about the problems of local power was the centerpiece of his political theorizing. The thesis begins with an introduction which presents the general setting of seventeenth century China and the historiographical issues which it raises. This is followed by a chapter discussing Ku's family background and the great events in which he was involved during his formative years, and their effects upon him. The next three chapters are concerned with Ku's theoretical assessments of the development of different kinds of local power structures, and the.relevance of such local power structures as he saw it to the dilemmas of China at the time of the Manchu conquest, which Ku Yen-wu hated. In these chapters, I shall examine Ku Yen-wu's views of the ideal and the real roles in the social order of such pivotal figures as the yamen clerks (hsli-li), and the local licentiates (sheng-yuan). More important, I shall attempt to elaborate Ku's basic anxieties about, and his solution to, the problems of the defense of China, which he related to the strengthening of the localities. In other words, the focus of this study is on the interaction between Ku Yen-wu himself and the rapidly changing China of the Manchu conquest. I will argue that many of the proto-bourgeois ideas which have been attributed to Ku were actually Confucian reactions to the corrupted social customs, an increasingly despotic central government, and the foreign conquest of China, rather than the pioneering declarations of the arrival of an era of "sprouting" capitalism which some scholars, both foreign and Chinese, have seen them to have been. The significance of Ku in the history of China is discussed in the last chapter. This thesis attempts to specify some of the specific social features which a great scholar like Ku Yen-wu thought should be associated with a system of strong local power in seventeenth-century China. I hope this study will provide a better insight into the thought of Ku Yen-wu and the society in which he lived. I hope also to suggest briefly how Chinese actions and reactions towards the Western challenge since the middle of the nineteenth century may have owed something to the thought of Ku Yen-wu. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate