Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1972. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Zhongguo wen hua xue yuan. / Reproduced from typescript. Bibliography: leaves [152]-155.

The Rice Sprout Song, the first novel ever written in English by Zhang Ailing, was finished during the time when she resided in Hong Kong, namely, from 1952 till 1955. Forty-one years after she released the book and secured a firm position in the world of literature, she passed away in the USA in1995. According to Su Weizhen, it was Hu Shi that made the earliest comments on the novel. In his reply letter to its author, Professor Hu stated that ¡§from beginning to end, your novel focuses on famine, which might have been a suitable title if you had opted for it. On the whole, the story is described in an unadorned but natural manner.¡¨ Several decades later, Professor Xia Zhiqing offered the same commentary as Hu¡¦s, adding that the novel boasts considerable literary value. After making a probe into the background and inspiration of the novel, this paper dwells on its creative techniques, such as the multiple interpretations conveyed by the narratives, the skillful mastery of images in original writing, the presentation of colorful, concrete pictures, and the clever employment of irony. After that, this paper analyzes the music, mythology, drama, as well as ethical structure mentioned in the novel, and even investigates the standpoint from which the author shapes the characters successfully. Born at the turn of a new era and strongly influenced by both eastern and western cultures, Zhang Ailing is separate from her contemporaries in that she has stuck to her own writing style throughout her career. Nevertheless, as the masterpiece representative of her middle career, The Rice Sprout Song exhibits plainness and purity by basing its plot on real people and experiences. Being a member of Zhang¡¦s distinctly feminine creations, the novel differs from her early or late counterparts. For instance, one of her early hits, The Legends, is overly ornamental and brightly colored while two woks completed in her late years, The Discontented Woman and The Long-lasting Love, are genuinely refreshing and intriguing. Besides, it should be pointed out that the content of the novel is gradually shifted from the physical aspect to the ideological one. A writer trapped ¡§in the narrow corner of human history,¡¨ Zhang Ailing has only a little freedom to exercise her imagination. Therefore, it deserves deep thought that the uniquely rebellious author shows, out of humanitarian concern, sincere sympathy for the plight of Chinese peasants. Concentrating on the theme of rural poverty, she presents her observations in a direct and simple way and thus renders the novel different from her earlier works, which are characterized by a decorative and intricate style. Though described in easy language, the novel displays mature skills which demand heartfelt awe from its readers. No wonder Professor Wang Dewei recommends the novel as ¡§a vulgar model revolting against the modern trend.¡¨ In addition, what the characters say and do reflects the features of the man on the street rather than those of the upper class. As a result, it is fairly effortless for the readers to get exposed to ¡§true-to-life records of human history.¡¨ Keywords: Zhang Ailing (Eileen Chang), The Rice Sprout Song, symbolism, color image, anti-communism literature

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 212-226). Also available in electronic version. Access restricted to campus users.

The dissertation "Hu Shi's Theory of Social Immortality and Its Relation to Chinese Tradition" aims to map the influence of Chinese traditional thought and modern Western concepts on Hu Shi's theory of social immortality. It also seeks to answer the question whether the theory inclined towards China's own tradition or to the new Western ideas. It consists of four major parts. The first part concentrates on selected parts of Hu Shi's life, which had an impact on his thought and philosophy. This part is primarily built on Hu Shi's own autobiographical work as well as on literature by Western and Chinese authors. The second part of the thesis describes the theory of social immortality in detail. The third part analyses the influence of traditional Chinese concepts on this theory, as revealed in Hu Shi's own articles. The last part of the thesis analyzes reactions to Hu Shi's theory using contemporary sources and modern scholarly articles about Hu Shi and his theory of social immortality.

China has become a major contributor to world science today, with the largest number of qualified scientific publications in the world, a centralized government willing to sponsor the development of science, and pioneering scientists in all disciplines. Where did this scientific power emerge from historically and how did this history connect with the rest of the world? My dissertation suggests that comprehending the Sino-American intellectual exchange network since the early twentieth century is essential for us to grasp the development of science in modern China. It argues that a Sino-American intellectual exchange network through the China Foundation for the Promotion of Education and Culture (ie., the China Foundation) played a critical role in the development of modern scientific research and education from the 1920 to the 1940s. In the first half of the twentieth century, leading American intellectuals of the progressive era such as Teachers College’s educational scholar Paul Monroe and Columbia University’s prominent philosopher of pragmatism John Dewey frequently communicated with prominent Chinese intellectuals, many of whom were their former students in the United States. Such face-to-face interchanges across the Pacific ultimately influenced Chinese choices in shaping modern scientific education and research. The impact was generated primarily through the China Foundation. The China Foundation, financed by the second American remission of the Boxer Indemnity Funds, served as a sponsor of the development of scientific research, teaching and training in modern China. The trustees of the foundation, responsible for the custody and administration of the fund, included prominent Chinese intellectuals (most of whom had received western graduate training) such as Hu Shi (PhD, Columbia), Jiang Menglin (PhD, Teachers College), Zhang Boling (visiting fellow at Teachers College, 1917-1918), Ren Hongjun (H. C. Zen, MA, Columbia), Guo Bingwen (PhD, Teachers College), Ding Wenjiang (aka V. K. Ting, BA, University of Glasgow), Zhao Yuanren (aka Y. R. Chao, PhD, Harvard) as well as the American intellectuals and reformers Paul Monroe, John Dewey, Roger Sherman Greene and John Leighton Stuart. This dissertation researches the history of Sino-American intellectual exchanges in the China Foundation network, which were central to the establishment of science in modern China. It begins by tracing the cohort of leading Chinese intellectuals trained at American universities, who paved the way for its establishment. They invited leading American educators like John Dewey and Paul Monroe to China, and did the translation work that allowed for their reformist ideas of democracy, education and science to become popular in China. While the American intellectuals aspired to transmit a democratic education through introducing science, the Chinese intellectuals also developed their own rationales to pursue China’s scientific modernization. It also examines the political assumptions and tensions wound up in this Sino-American educational exchange network that illuminates the ways in which the intellectuals on both sides of the Pacific were mutually influenced by their intellectual exchanges. In asks the following questions: How did American intellectuals of the progressive era design and pursue a democratic vision for the Chinese scientific development, and what were their political assumptions undergirding the transmission of science? How did the Chinese intellectuals respond to the American knowledge of science, translate, and negotiate this transmission of science to China? What aspects of science did they absorb and incorporate for the Chinese national purposes? What ideas did they absorb from the United States, and what aspects did they deliberately eschew? In posing these questions, part of my goal is to shift the predominant narrative of transnational progressive era US intellectual history from “Atlantic Crossings” to a dense and constitutive set of exchanges of knowledge, ideas and practices of sciences across the Pacific.