published_or_final_version / Chinese / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Fine Arts / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Chinese / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Chinese / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This dissertation examines the cultural dilemma that Chinese intellectuals are forced to confront with between tradition and Western Scholarship in Late Imperial and Modern China. As a traditional poet and scholar, Huang Jie (1873-1935) believed that the Manchurian reign was the reason for China’s collapse during Late Qing Era, and Chinese traditional culture would be the only remedy for the rapidly decaying society. Therefore, Huang initiated the campaign named “Nationality Conservation” in the aim of overthrowing the Manchu Empire. While sticking to “conservative” values, Huang adopted foreign/ Western cultural concepts and attempted to rephrase them with Chinese scholarship. All these endeavors had made Huang’s cultural identity confusing. Hence, this dissertation attempts to deal with Huang Jie’s understanding of culture through analyzing his poetry writings and poetic studies. Immersed by Confucian doctrines about the relationship between poetry and politics, Huang paid special attention to the cultural cultivating function of classical poetry. This ideology of “Cultivation through Poetry” was specifically generated from the Mao Shixu in Eastern Han Dynasty, and then repeatedly expressed in Huang’s poetic works in order to change the corrupt Modern society. In spite of this, Huang still respected and paid serious attention to the literariness of poetry, either in poetry writings or poetic studies. He spent great efforts on the prosody and therefore was well commended among Late Qing and Early Republican poets. Hence, this dissertation thoroughly examines how Huang Jie negotiated the tension between political and literary aspects of classical poetry. After introducing his life history and the ideology of “Cultivation through Classical Poetry”, chapter two and three focus on themes and characteristics of Huang’s poetry. These two chapters explore how Huang established his own poetic style under the trend of Song Poetry Movement commencing from Late Qing. The last chapter investigates Huang’s view on the evolution of literature and focuses on his abundant studies of classical poetry. In the conclusion, this dissertation would like to demonstrate that as a poet and scholar, Huang Jie established the traditional cultural identity, same as his friends in Nanshe, while his faith of “Cultivation through classical poetry” was well challenged at that tumultuous Modern time. / published_or_final_version / Chinese / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Chinese / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Wang Tao (1828-1897) had significant contributions in various fields, including the press, education and translation. He spared no effort to introduce advanced western ideas to China. These contributions and his dramatic life aroused the interest of scholars. In recent years, scholars noted the achievements of his fiction-writing and and published a large number of papers on this topic. However, his achievements in poetry-writing did not receive much attention. In order to fill this gap, the present thesis focuses on Wang Tao’s poetry-writing, aiming to give a comprehensive survey of his poems written before his exile to Hong Kong in 1862. The thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter one illustrates the research background, the scope of the study and the research methodology employed. Chapter two is an analytical account of Wang Tao’s life with particular emphasis on how important events in his life influenced the styles of his poems. Chapter three illustrates Wang Tao’s concept of poetry-writing. Chapter four discusses the contents, artistry and styles of Wang’s poems in the specified period. Chapter five is the conclusion. It sums up the characteristics of Wang Tao’s early poetry and gives a critical account of the comments made by various reviewers. Wang Tao claimed that the style of his early poems was soft and plaintive（側媚）. It became “wild and unrestrained” （豪放粗獷）after he had experienced serious mishaps in his life. This drastic change has been fully addressed in the thesis. / published_or_final_version / Chinese / Master / Master of Philosophy

This thesis studies the Qing women’s writings on the Dream of the Red Chamber. Qing women’s comments on the novel formed an important aspect of the second high tide of women’s literature in late imperial China. By examining these writings, I intend to reveal how the women authors mediated with the Confucian morality and how they exerted influence on the literary tradition from its inside. I also intend to examine the women authors’ self-representations and their reflections on the actual world they lived in. The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter one introduces the historical background of the rise of women’s writings on the Dream of the Red Chamber, and proceeds to discuss women’s self-representations under the influence of the Chinese literary tradition, as well as the conflict between morality and literary talent they often felt. I will also briefly summarize previous scholarly works concerning this subject. Chapter two analyzes Qing women’s poetic works and literary activities concerning the novel. I will make a few observations on the general tendency of women’s responses to the novel by examining their writing conditions, communities, the points they wanted to articulate, and their literary skills. Chapter three and four investigate two women writers, namely, Wu Lanzheng and Gu Taiqing, respectively. Among the dramatic works adapted from the novel, Jiang Heng Qiu by Wu is known to be the only existing work written by a female author. In this part of my discussion, I will include Wu’s poetic works on the novel and her personal experiences to shed light on the dramatic work. On the other hand, Honglou Meng Ying (The shadow of the Dream of the Red chamber) by Gu is the most profound and extensive response to the original novel by a female author. Considering that Gu’s life was quite similar to the literary characters in the book and a variety of her writings have survived, I will conduct a detailed study of her poetic and dramatic works before I look into her novel. The closing chapter draws conclusions from the previous chapters in the following three aspects: first, the influence of the textual world on the reality; second, women writers’ tendency of adopting the values of morality and literary talent concurrently, as well as their contributions to the literary tradition; and, third, the significance of Gu Taiqing’s case and Honglou meng ying. To sum up, inspired by the Dream of the Red Chamber, the Qing women authors undertook a rich variety of literary activities which demonstrated the complex relations between self and writing, and these women’s life experiences and creative activities also constituted an earthly picture of the “red chambers”. / published_or_final_version / Chinese / Master / Master of Philosophy

toc / Chinese Historical Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Chinese / Master / Master of Philosophy