Since the 1990s, the number of U.S. students enrolled in university-level Chinese language classes has grown exponentially. Learning Chinese has become increasingly important to those students’ academic studies, professional success, and personal development. However, despite these students’ eagerness to master Chinese, they face an inevitable challenge to their progress: developing reading fluency and comprehension skills in Chinese. A common experience among those students is that learning to read in Chinese is labor-intensive and frustrating, and it takes much longer than the time they would have to spend on learning to read in alphabetic languages such as Spanish, French, and German. In response to this issue, a small but growing body of research has started to investigate the ways American learners view and comprehend Chinese texts. To contribute to this line of research, the present study examined the process of reading Chinese as a second language (L2 Chinese reading). In particular, this study looked closely into the following key questions: (1) What strategies did L2 Chinese readers use when reading a Chinese expository text? (2) What difficulties did they encounter and how did they solve these problems? (3) What factors influenced their reading process? (4) When, how and why did they shift to thinking in their native language, English? To describe these readers’ approaches to text comprehension and also to understand their own perceptions, this study adopted a few qualitative research methods, including think-aloud reports, recall protocols, post-reading interviews, semi-structured interviews and background surveys. Participants of this study were five American students enrolled in intermediate- and advanced-level Chinese language classes at a Midwest U.S. university. Data collected from these participants were analyzed qualitatively through both an intuitive, holistic approach and a structured, systematic approach. A qualitative data analysis software—NVivo 12—was used to facilitate the coding and analysis process. Results of the study show that L2 (Chinese) reading is primarily a language-based, cognitive-constrained, and individualized process that involves multiple interactive factors. Those factors include but are not limited to linguistic, psychological, textual, environmental, and background factors. In addition, regarding the use of the native language in L2 reading, results of the study show that readers’ L2 language proficiency influences the frequency and effectiveness of their use of their native language. The ways of using the native language also differed across readers with different L2 language proficiencies and reading styles. These results have implications for theories of L2 reading in general and theories of L2 Chinese reading in particular. Pedagogical implications and directions for future research are also discussed at the end of the dissertation.

The Communist Party of China CCP) controls all political, economic, and military issues in China. In the absence of elections, the only route of recruitment at higher levels of the political hierarchy in the Party is an official promotion. The scholarship on promotions offers two main explanations for advancement inside the Communist Party of China: (i) informal connections between high officials and candidates, and (ii) merit of candidates. This scholarship disregards, however, the importance of achievement of political targets by the candidates, specifically, their ability to deliver social stability. Like every authoritarian regime, the CCP faces threats from the masses over which the elites rule. Reducing social mobilization is a key component of the CCP’s rule. In the past decade, labor strikes have become offensive in nature with workers demanding better conditions and espousing democratic values, thus challenging the Party’s dominant position in Chinese society. In order to minimize collective activities of Chinese citizens, provincial officials use censorship of the media, including posts on the social media websites, threats of job termination, as well as threats of deportation from urban areas. For that reason, those provincial officials who minimize the number of labor protests increase their chance of promotion to the Politburo. Furthermore, avoiding unrest should matter more for the promotion of party secretaries than governors, whose domain is economic growth. To evaluate my argument, I analyze promotions of provincial leaders to the Politburo in 2003-2017. The data yield that—consistent with my argument—provincial leaders’ ability to minimize labor strikes increases their chances of promotion. In addition, positive economic performance matters more for the promotion of governors than of party secretaries.

L2 learner's use of communication strategies (CSs) has received an attention since 1970s (Faech & Kasper, 1983; Tarone et al., 1983). Previous studies have focused on identification and classification of CSs, the effectiveness and teachability of CS, the uses of CSs by different proficiency levels in different tasks, and individual differences in CS use. In spite of the varieties in focus of the previous researches, no research has address whether the use of CSs affects L2 acquisition over and beyond the level of sustainment of communication. Recent studies in classroom acquisition have shown beneficial effects of negotiation during peer conversation on L2 grammar acquisition. However, previous studies in peer interaction focus primarily on how a listener's negotiation move or corrective feedback helps a speaker to repair his/her erroneous utterances. One the other hand, CS research concerns with a speaker's voluntary action to make him/her understood at the time of communication difficulty. In other words, both negotiation strategies and CSs occur in the same conversational context. Even so, no research has ever investigated the relationship between them. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship between the use of CSs and negotiation strategies on L2 acquisition. Twenty four students enrolled in the intermediate and advance Japanese language courses are asked to engage in two types of communicative tasks, and their development of vocabulary and grammar knowledge are examined through pre- and posttests of the target linguistic items. Also, conversations during the tasks are transcribed and qualitatively analyzed to examine the pattern of CS use and the rate of successful repair moves. The results indicate that some CSs such as appeals and code switching are beneficial, with or without a negotiation move from the interlocutor, but others may be detrimental to L2 development.

New woman, a new word and concept put forth during the New Culture Movement beginning from 1919, when China was in the process of political, economic and cultural transformation which strongly influenced almost every aspect of society, was loaded with nationalistic connotations from the beginning and soon became a public venue to venture various discourses. Much research has been done on this topic, from the historical perspective of women’s emancipation, by studying it in the context of China’s modernization, from the angle of gender norms and sexuality, and so on. What sets my research apart is that I use New Woman--a 1934 film made in Shanghai which is especially dedicated to the image of new woman-- as my primary text and single out major themes in the film, such as “new woman” and nationalism, new woman’s struggles. In my research, I combine fictionalized narratives about new woman in literary works and films with historical discourses on new woman, and real life experiences of new woman such as Qiu Jin and Ruan Lingyu. My particular interest is to grasp the major sentiments expressed in the film and to investigate of the social and cultural context that had given rise to these sentiments. With no intention to be complete or exhaustive, this paper would consider its goal fulfilled by being able to grasp the main sentiments surrounding new woman and her place in Chinese society in the 1920s and 30s.

This dissertation examines a range of popular contemporary texts in a post-Saidian context. It begins with an analysis of Orientalism, as that text influences almost any discussion of representations of Easmest relations. Now, almost twenty years after Orientalism was first published in 1978 it is still a crucial text, and it still needs to be understood and argued with. The other texts looked at in this dissertation include novels, drama, films, opera, a musical, and the print and electronic mass media. They are texts that either represent or comment on EastIWest relations. The main texts I examine fall roughly into two categories: ones that are clearly orientalist and ones that are postorientalist. Those that are orientalist repeat the same myths of Orient Said describes in Orientalism. Those that are postorientalist challenge those myths by repeating and elaborating them, reversing and displacing the orientalist gaze. The methodological approach is an eclectic blend of cultural studies and literary criticism. Such an approach enables analysis of a variety of texts, fiom classical nineteenth century books and myths through to contemporary postmodern representations, that deal with identity politics. My thesis is that contemporary postcolonial representations that deal with East and West and that use and displace the very terms such categories rest upon, can be called "postoriental".

This dissertation is a study of how Buddhism informed development projects as they were emerging in Bodhgaya, located in the Indian state Bihar. Bihar had a national reputation for being corrupt, prone to outbreaks of violence, and for having high rates of illiteracy, poverty, and child mortality. It was thus positioned as a place in dire need of development. In recent years, particularly since the Mahabodhi Temple, the temple marking the site of Buddha's Enlightenment 2500 years ago, was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002, the Bihar state government has sought to intensify international tourism to Bodhgaya as a means to ameliorate Bihar's underdevelopment. Drawing on sixteen months of ethnographic research with Bihari and foreign NGO workers, villagers, streetvendors, foreign Buddhists, and others, this study explores the two varieties of development in Bodhgaya most often discussed and publicized -- large-scale projects pursued by the government and grassroots projects pursued by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). / The foremost government project, the City Development Plan for Bodhgaya, was an urban renewal and development plan that envisioned transforming Bodhgaya into something of a Buddhist theme park over a fifty year period, and was developed by a committee of non-local Indian businessmen, government officials from the central and state governments, foreign development experts, and Buddhist monks and ambassadors from Thailand, Myanmar, Tibet, Japan, and Sri Lanka. During my research period the pursuit of this project involved the forced removal of villages, the destruction by paramilitary and police of homes and long-standing local businesses, and the removal of street vendors, all of which were met by vigorous protests. As a counterpoint to the government-led development projects, this study explores how Buddhist practice informed the shape of grassroots development projects pursued through the more than 500 NGOs registered in the Bodhgaya area. I pay particular attention to how conflicts and miscommunications between foreign donors and Bihari NGO staff were constitutive of NGOs as both sites through which Buddhists could pursue socially engaged practice and Biharis could pursue work in a part of India where currency is increasingly needed but wage earning occupations are scarce. / So as to illuminate how contemporary power relations in Bodhgaya relate to the ongoing emergence of geographically disperse networks of exchange, this study approaches these varieties of development as a part of the history of Buddhism and the ongoing emergence today of a "Buddhist world," one that has spread, diversified, and been forged and reforged for more than 2000 years. At a moment when much international media attention is given to Islam and Christianity, this perspective, drawing inspiration from postcolonial approaches to history, views Buddhism as a global force of non-European origin mobilizing hundreds of thousands of people, informing international and national policy, and compelling state interventions to facilitate the movement of capital. Through this Buddhist worlding process, a process I approach as an assemblage of historically contingent cultural practices and relations, international connections are forged as national boundaries and local sovereignties are varyingly contested and affirmed in the pursuit and production of desires for such things as modernity and varieties of mobility. In particular, I consider the role of NGO development projects in constituting the form that Buddhist social engagement has taken in Bodhgaya while also being the product of Buddhist desires to pursue social forms of spiritual practice. Further, this theoretical approach helps me to consider the government led tourism project not simply as the inevitable outcome of neoliberal capitalism, hut as a cultural project constituted by a diverse array of cultural processes.

Bangladesh has been part of the globalized readymade garment (RMG) industry since the early 1980s. In 2008-09 there were 4,825 RMG factories in Bangladesh employing 3.1 million people. This workforce included 2.38 million women and is an illustration of a globalization process termed the feminization of labour. Bangladesh's RMG industry has flourished because its workers are among the lowest paid garment workers in the world. / This dissertation is a longitudinal case study of labour unions and labour movements in the RMG industry in Bangladesh between 1980 and 2009. The research and analysis are informed by insights from classical Marxist theory, world-systems theory, and Ronaldo Munck's influential "globalization and labour" thesis. / In the early years of the RMG industry there was relatively little resistance by the workers to their abject exploitation. The reasons that workers failed to resist included the harsh tactics of factory owners who would terminate, sue or arrange to have local leaders assaulted by paid thugs or the state police; the failure of civil society organizations, with the exception of a few leftist unions, to support the workers' struggles; and the fact that the garment workers were 'first generation' rural migrants to the city who lacked any knowledge of workers' rights. / In May 2006 there was a massive protest by RMG workers that secured a significant increase in the minimum wage and the first tripartite agreement in the industry's history. This victory for workers was partially undermined by unions that work collaboratively with the employers' association. Nevertheless the May 2006 upsurge changed the terrain of struggle as evidenced by the 2007 concession that legalized labour unions organizing in the export producing zones. My conclusion is that until the state changes its elite-centered policy, until the owners change their feudal mindset and abide by the labour laws and ILO conventions, and until international labour organizations are free from any hidden, protectionist agendas, militant labour movements are the only way that Bangladesh's RMG workers will be able to successfully pursue their demands.

In the context of China's growing HIV epidemic, men who have sex with men (MSM) have become a population of special interest and male sex work has emerged as an area of particular concern. Dominant narratives about men who sell sex to men in China from Chinese gay communities, health workers, and the general population have variably framed them as rural-to-urban migrants, questioned the authenticity or appropriateness of their homosexuality, and emphasized their role in driving the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections among MSM and to the broader population. Despite the quasi-legal and socially stigmatized status of sex work, changes in labor and economic policies and the broadening visibility of gay entertainment scenes have seemed to open up more spaces for the evolution of male-male commercial sex. / From 2007 to 2009 I conducted multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in China. My fieldwork activities included semi-structured life history interviews with men who sell sex to men and individuals connected with the male sex industry, extensive observation in the spaces of male sex work, migrant labor markets and organizations involved in HIV-prevention among MSM, and historical inquiry into the evolution of the male sex industry. / I find that the existing framings of male prostitution in China do not adequately incorporate consideration of the social and economic processes that are shaping male sex work and men's participation in this industry. I argue that male sex work is more accurately seen by the men themselves as a job, whether temporary or professional, which for some offers the opportunity to engage in China's emerging urban gay communities and express sexual identity; and for others requires the inconvenience of (unwanted) sex in a process---not of survival in absolute terms---but of urban advancement and participation in modern, cosmopolitan China. I argue that the current growth and structure of the Chinese male commercial sex industry cannot be understood separately from its historical development, emergent issues surrounding gay or tongzhi identity formation and expression---including negotiating HIV/AIDS---and struggles for economic success within China's post-socialist market economy. I show how accounting for these connections and broadening the public health focus beyond government sponsored efforts on HIV-testing and education provides a more inclusive view of subpopulations of male sex workers.

Beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s the expansion of neo-liberal development policies that focused on the liberalization of markets and the creation of export-oriented economies produced large disparities of inequality throughout many countries resulting in a massive increase massive increase in the number of people from Southeast Asia and South American immigrating to Japan. During this period there was a sharp increase of female migrants causing a feminization of international migration drawing into care-based sectors involving work in the entertainment industry and increasingly nursing and elderly care. / The changing demographics of Japan's aging population and declining birth rate have led to public discussion and debate about the future of the country. Over the past twenty years civil society has grown in strength and number with numerous nongovernmental organizations advocating and supporting immigrants and migrants in Japan. This thesis is a multi-level analysis of the impact of migration in Japan. Based on in depth ethnographic field work conducted during the summer of 2010 this thesis also provides a close examination of twelve nongovernmental organizations supporting migrants in the Kanto and Kansai regions and focuses in depth on three case studies. This research shows that Japanese society is directly impacted by the work of these organizations. They organizations not only support migrants in their most vulnerable moments but they also work to promote and educate Japanese society about the positive possibilities of a multicultural co-existence.

Composer and educator He Luting (1903-1999) became one of the most influential musical figures in China's history. Trained in the Western classical tradition, He Luting promulgated the musical techniques of the West while dedicating himself to raising the standards of music in modern China. His outspoken advocacy of Western classical music rendered him a target during the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), causing him to become a victim of one of the earliest and most vicious attacks of that campaign. His bravery and defiance garnered him national attention, and he achieved legendary status for thousands of Chinese intellectuals terrorized by that regime. This document will show the effects of the ever-changing political climate of Maoist China on Chinese musicians, as reflected in the life and career of He Luting. A thorough examination of the humble beginnings and life experiences of He Luting will clearly portray the ways in which the changing polemics of the Communist Party influenced the musical education and compositional style of prominent Chinese musicians. This document also depicts how the writings of Claude Debussy attracted the notice of those in the highest levels of government, and how He Luting's subsequent defense of Debussy's writings resulted in what they deemed "the most serious counterrevolutionary incident prior to the Cultural Revolution." He Luting's subsequent interrogation and violent abuse (which had the distinction of being the only live, televised struggle session during this regime) is portrayed, as well as its effects on intellectuals throughout China. A detailed account of the sufferings of prominent musicians in Shanghai and their persecution by the government is also given in comparison with the case of He Luting. Other issues explored will include the importance of music in Maoist China, and why many musicians were persecuted for defending a musical culture that was not their own.