World's largest business center is now located in East Asia, which is also the place of Confucian origin..Asian cultures influenced by Confucianism are known for their "inner strength" and stability. Trade in these countries flourishes as nowhere else in the world. The way of life and perception of social values, according to Confucian values significantly affected the business culture of these countries. This thesis describes the attitude and behavior in business and economic activities of Confucian citizens. How Confucianism contributed to the present form of business conduction, practices, culture and etiquette in China, Vietnam, Korea and Japan.

University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of Chinese

University of Macau / Faculty of Education

Résumé La démonstration qui est ici à l’œuvre s’apparente, dans une certaine mesure, à celle qu’élabore Amartya Kumar Sen dans 'The Argumentative Indian'. Dans cet ouvrage, Sen discute de l’héritage intellectuel et politique de l’Inde et de la manière dont cette tradition est essentielle pour le succès de la démocratie et des politiques séculières de l’État indien. Pour notre part, nous ne nous intéressons point à l’Inde, mais à la Chine, notamment à l’héritage intellectuel, politique et moral des lettrés confucéens de l’Antiquité chinoise et à la pertinence de revisiter, aujourd’hui, la réflexion confucéenne classique pour mieux penser et fonder les droits humains en Chine. Plus précisément, notre réflexion s’inscrit au sein du débat contemporain, qui a lieu à l’échelle internationale, entourant les soi-disant valeurs asiatiques et les droits humains. Pour les partisans de la thèse des valeurs asiatiques, les valeurs asiatiques seraient associées au modèle de développement dit asiatique, lequel se distinguerait du modèle « occidental » en étant en outre réfractaire aux droits humains. Ces droits ayant une origine occidentale et étant, à maints égards, en rupture avec les valeurs asiatiques, ils ne seraient ni souhaitables en Asie (notamment en Chine) ni compatibles avec les valeurs asiatiques (spécialement avec les valeurs confucéennes). Dans notre thèse, nous réfutons ce point de vue. Par l’entremise d’une analyse de la 'Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme' de 1948 et d’un examen des quatre textes fondateurs du confucianisme classique que sont : les 'Entretiens' (Lunyu), le 'Mencius' (Mengzi), la 'Grande Étude' (Daxue) et la 'Pratique du Milieu' (Zhongyong), nous démontrons que cette compréhension des choses s’avère injustifiée. Les droits humains ne sont pas incompatibles avec les valeurs confucéennes et leur adoption est souhaitable en Asie (notamment en Chine), tout comme elle l’est en Occident. De fait, la philosophie des droits humains et la pensée confucéenne classique ont de nombreuses affinités conceptuelles, axiologiques et normatives. Loin d’être en rupture, ces univers théoriques convergent, car ils ont tous deux à cœur l’être humain, ses besoins vitaux et son épanouissement au sein de la communauté. Notre démonstration s’appuie, pour une large part, sur l’analyse d’un concept phare de la pensée éthique et politique confucéenne, soit la notion d’humanité ou du sens de l’humain (ren) ainsi que d’une autre notion qui lui est étroitement liée, soit celle de l’homme de bien ou de la personne moralement noble (junzi). / Abstract The demonstration elaborated here is similar, to a certain extent, to the one developed by Amartya Kumar Sen in The 'Argumentative Indian'. In his work, Sen discusses India’s intellectual and political inheritance, and the way this tradition is essential for the success of the democracy and secular politics of the Indian State. For our part, our interest lies not with India, but with China, quite particularly with the intellectual, political and moral legacy of the early Confucian scholars, and the relevancy to revisit, nowadays, Classical Confucian teachings in order to conceive and establish human rights in China. More precisely, our reflection lies within the contemporary debate, which takes place on an international scale, surrounding the so-called Asian values and human rights. For the advocates of the Asian values thesis, Asian values would be associated with the so-called Asian development model, which would distinguish itself from the « Western » model by resisting for instance human rights. These rights, having a western origin and being, in many respects, in breach with Asian values, would be neither desirable in Asia (particularly in China) nor compatible with Asian values (specifically with Confucian values). In our thesis, we refute this point of view. By the intervention of an analysis of the 'Universal Declaration of Human Rights' of 1948 and an examination of four texts founders of the Classical Confucianism who are: the 'Analects' (Lunyu), the 'Mencius' (Mengzi), the 'Great Learning' (Daxue), and the 'Practice of the Mean' (Zhongyong), we demonstrate that this understanding of things is unjustified. Human rights are not incompatible with Confucian values and their adoption is desirable in Asia (including China), quite as it is in Western countries. Actually, the philosophy of human rights and the Classic Confucian thought have numerous conceptual, axiological and normative affinities. Far from being in opposition, these theoretical views converge, because they both care about the human being, his vital needs, and his self-fulfillment within the community. Our demonstration leans, for the most part, on the analysis of a key concept of the Confucian ethical and political thought that is the notion of humanity, or humaneness (ren) and the closely related notion of gentleman, or morally noble person (junzi).

Metaphors and their use as a rethorical vehicle are examined. Two texts, one in Chinese and one in Swedish, are compared and analyzed to determine the extent to which the associations they create successfully capture the author's intent. Seecondarily, a shift from the assumptions that rhetorical analyses often assume (read: antiquity and Aristotles) to a more abstract internal human platform is suggested. Neurological and cognitive research is cited in support of this shift. The essay examines the question: How can metaphoric contribute to conveying the communicator's intention? By comparing metaphorics used by an historical Chinese rhetor with those used by a contemporary Swedish rhetor. In the former, Zuozhuan describes how Ji Zha commented on Shijing in 770-430 BCE. In the latter, Johan af Donner defends himself in court in 2010. The study culminates in recommendations for a more poetic approach to metaphor. / Utgångspunkten för föreliggande uppsats är att undersöka metaforik. Syftet med studien är att undersöka användningen av metaforen som ett retoriskt medel, i ett kinesiskt exempel och i ett svenskt exempel, och att jämföra dem, samt att resonera kring vilka associationsfält dessa skapar och om de är framgångsrika eller inte. Sekundärt är det också uppsatsens syfte att föreslå en förflyttning av den plattform retoriska analyser ofta utgår ifrån (läs antiken och Aristoteles) till en mer abstrakt inre mänsklig plattform. Studien tar stöd i neurologisk och kognitiv forskning i detta. Uppsatsens frågeställning är: Hur kan metaforik bidra till förståelse för avsändarens intention? Studien jämför metaforer som används av en retor i en tidig kinesisk situation; Zuozhuan berättar om hur Ji Zha kommenterade Shijing, 770-430 f.v.t. och en retor från en svensk nutida situation; Johan af Donner försvarar sig i tingsrätten 2010. Studien mynnar ut i rekommendationer till ett mer poetiskt förhållningssätt till metaforik.

The purpose of this study was: (a) to examine the predictive utility of the achievement goal and Student Approaches to Learning (SAL) frameworks for characterizing Chinese students’ motivation and achievement, and (b) to investigate how Confucian-heritage culture (CHC) may combine with achievement goals or SAL to generate different learning processes and outcomes and to promote optimal motivation. A questionnaire was conducted during a two-week period with over 700 first-year students who took both of the two courses—college English classes for non-English majors and advanced mathematics classes for science students—at a university in northern China. The questionnaire consisted of students’ self-reported demographic information and the instrument that was designed to measure: (a) goal orientations, (b) attitudes towards the specified CHC values, (c) SAL constructs, and (d) two variables widely used in research in this field—metacognitive strategy and school well-being. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted to examine the consistency of the extracted factor solutions with the four goal constructs postulated by the 2 x 2 conceptualization, the two SAL contructs posited by the SAL framework, and the five cultural value contructs derived from the literature review. Standard analysis procedures were used to calculate the reliability of the scales and to determine which items should be retained for further analyses. Then regression analyses were employed to examine the relationship of the goal orientation framework and SAL framework to cultural values, school well-being, metacognitive strategies, and grades. Results indicated that the 2 x 2 achievement goal framework was an appropriate model for characterizing the types of achievement goals these Chinese students pursued and for predicting a number of achievement-relevant processes and outcomes, as was the revised two-factor SAL framework for characterizing the different ways students approached their learning and for predicting these learning processes and outcomes. The results supported Chinese students’ multiple goal pursuit in an additive goal pattern, an interactive goal pattern, or a specialized goal pattern to promote their optimal motivation and achievement. The results also provided evidence that CHC values combined with achievement goals or SAL either in an additive or interactive pattern to facilitate Chinese students’ learning processes and outcomes. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2008-07-31 12:20:50.812

Thesis (DAppLing)--Macquarie University, Division of Linguistics and Psychology, Department of Linguistics, 2009. / Bibliography: p. 246-275. / Introduction -- The research context -- Literature review -- Research methodology -- Case study 1 (Lily) -- Case study 2 (Ailing) -- Case study 3 (Xinyu) -- Cross-case study -- Conclusions. / Teacher cognition studies are rare in the mainland Chinese context; they are also rare in other contexts similarly defined by common features such as non-native speaking language teachers, large classes, publicly-funded institutions, and mandated curricula or materials. This broadly qualitative investigation of three tertiary-level Chinese English teachers sought to elicit views and beliefs about language learning and teaching, their sources, and their links with classroom behaviour. A cyclical series of data collection (including autobiographical writing, interviews, lesson observations and stimulated-recall interviews, documentary data, and a group discussion) was employed to produce four linked studies: three individual case studies and a cross-case study. Interpretive data analysis, achieved through a process of constant comparison, was employed to reveal each teacher's views and beliefs. In order to ensure an emic perspective, each teacher's 'voice' is given prominence through the presentation of data. The interpretation of data suggests the importance of various levels of context to teachers' thinking, including the background Confucian approach to education, previous experiences as learners and teachers, and the situation the teachers encounter at both classroom and institutional levels. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / 275, [140] p. ill

This dissertation explores the concept of shi manifested in traditional Chinese architecture by examining the efficacy of the traditional Chinese house doors. Three connotations of the concept of shi derived from different philosophical schools of thought during the Warring States Period: the advantageous shi, the authoritative shi and the self-so-doing shi, are re-engaged as the theoretical framework for this study. The three categories of shi correspondingly shed light on the understanding of the craftiness in architectural constructions, the embodied cultural meanings in building elements and the aesthetics achieved by the artful arrangement of building elements. This study also further reveals the essential nature of shi as weak and amorphous in parallel with the weak ontology proposed by Gianni Vattimo. It is this weak and amorphous nature of shi that results in the complexity, diversity and richness of traditional Chinese house doors. This new perspective of examining architecture through the lens of shi also provides a way for looking at the future development of Chinese architecture beyond the limitations of internationalism yet within the realm of a critical local modernity. / Ph. D.

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What makes real life contractual arrangements? How does the law influence real life contractual arrangements? These are everyday questions for businesspeople and commercial lawyers. The traditional ‘imperative’ view of law assumes that business people contract ‘in the shadow of the law’ and contractual arrangements conform to what the law says. But empirical studies on contract practice suggest that contract law may, in fact, play a very insignificant role in real life contractual arrangements. This thesis provides a sociological view of the role of contract law in real life contractual arrangements in the context of the Vietnamese market. Specifically, this thesis applies an institutional law & economics approach to investigate how social structures of the market influence contractual arrangements to marginalize contract law in the Vietnamese market. Drawing on two surveys of contract behaviour in the Vietnamese market, this thesis finds that real life contractual arrangements respond to the institutional structure of the market as a whole, rather than only ‘the shadow of the law’. Institutional changes in the Vietnamese market suggest that there exists a merchant law system, constituted of traditional moral norms and social structures in the market. This merchant law system continues to order contractual arrangements in the market, despite the introduction of a transplanted contract law system. Disagreeing with the imperative approach, this thesis claims that contract law reform should conform to the institutional structure of the market to reduce transaction costs of contracting and to provide an effective framework for real life contractual arrangements.