published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Comparative Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts

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This study investigates the extent to which the elements of Confucian thought, survive and are practiced in the curriculum of Hong Kong secondary schools. It briefly examines the historical background of Confucianism in moral education in China and Hong Kong, examines curriculum guidelines and reference materials issued by the Hong Kong Education Department, and reports on interviews with two supervisors, seven principals and twenty-five teachers. It includes their perceptions of the locus of responsibility for moral education, their assessment of recent curriculum trends, their views on the impact of Confucian values on youth and their speculations on the future of moral education as Hong Kong is reintegrated with mainland China. Overall the study finds that elements of Confucian thought continue to prevail in the teaching of some school subjects and in the quality of school life; however, teachers are generally apprehensive about the erosion of Confucian values in the face of alternative models of moral education and the forces of modernization.

Liberal human rights theory has informed Western political policy for decades. An ascending China challenges Western dominance in political theory and philosophy and forces Western theorists to respond. A comprehensive analysis of Western scholarship on human rights and the Confucian tradition makes it clear that there are many structural and systemic issues within this area of study. It also makes it clear that there have been many potentially useful observations and methodologies suggested throughout the literature that have been obscured. One such approach is applied that brings the political theory of John Rawls and Tu Weiming into conversation. As a result, a more nuanced understanding of the Chinese Confucian intellectual tradition in both Western and Chinese terms can be developed, while important questions are raised about human rights theory.

Liberal human rights theory has informed Western political policy for decades. An ascending China challenges Western dominance in political theory and philosophy and forces Western theorists to respond. A comprehensive analysis of Western scholarship on human rights and the Confucian tradition makes it clear that there are many structural and systemic issues within this area of study. It also makes it clear that there have been many potentially useful observations and methodologies suggested throughout the literature that have been obscured. One such approach is applied that brings the political theory of John Rawls and Tu Weiming into conversation. As a result, a more nuanced understanding of the Chinese Confucian intellectual tradition in both Western and Chinese terms can be developed, while important questions are raised about human rights theory.

This thesis examines the anti-Confucian theme in Shimazaki Toson's The Broken Commandment (1906) and Lu Xun's "Diary of a Madman" (1918) as representative examples of the historical necessity of vernacular language. Applying a Marxist literary critique, I argue that the complex resistance against Confucian morality was the main ideological motivation of literary language reforms among literati in Meiji Japan and early Republican China. The choice of a new written language was inspired by a modern concern for individual sensation as opposed to the spiritual constraints of Confucian morality. The prevalence of nationalism and modernity during the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries contributed to the reforms. Integrating socio-historical, biographical and textual analysis, my thesis demonstrates that the vernacular language was both a necessary medium to express inner struggle and an act of rebellion whereby writers abandoned the intellectual world which had been perpetuated by the use of classical language.

Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 237-244). / Electronic reproduction. / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / viii, 244 leaves, bound col. ill. 29 cm

This thesis begins with a critical overview of crosscultural psychology and a re-examination of the concepts of emic and etic. It argues that the time has come for cross-cultural psychology to free itself from the moorings of its Western, universalistic paradigm and take non- Western, indigenous psychology seriously, especially that of East Asia. To address the need for an East Asian psychology, the thesis presents an empirical study on the psychological influence of Confucianism on East Asians. It hypothesises that the Confucian values of filiality, propriety and harmony induce a strong need for approval and a range of approval-seeking behaviours in the individual. In contrast, the Western values of individuation, autonomy and conflict induce a strong need for independence and a range of independence-seeking behaviours. To test this hypothesis, a 26-item, 5-point Likert scale was developed and'administered to 1625 university students across East Asia, which include East Asian samples from China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan, as well as Caucasian samples from Australia, United Kingdom and the United States. The study has confirmed its hypothesis that the Confucian values of filiality, propriety and harmony characterise the approval-driven social behaviours of East Asians and that the values of individuation, autonomy and conflict characterise the independence-driven social behaviours of Westerners. However, it has also found that, contrary to many long-held assumptions, there are significant differences in the way Confucian values have exerted their respective influence on the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and other East Asians. The findings suggest not only that the culturally induced need for approval can be used as an overarching construct for the psychological study of East Asians from an indigenous perspective, but also that the innovative model used in this study can be applied to the study of other indigenous psychologies as well. More significantly, the study has found that, in contrast to the need for divine approval which has motivated the achievements of European Protestants in the past, the need for human approval is what characterises the achievement motivation and behaviours of Confucian East Asians today.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Murdoch University, 1997. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Social Sciences, Humanities and Education. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 305-313).

Thesis (M.C.S.)--Regent College, 1989. / Abstract. Vita. Includes glossary of Chinese characters. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-156).