Throughout her writing career, the Taiwan intellectual Lung Ying-tai (1952– ) has elaborated a distinct vision of how her country could realize the civic foundations of a democratic society. This ambition began with “Wild Fire,” an editorial column that ran in the Taiwan newspaper The China Times from 1984 to 1986, which was later compiled into a 1986 book, Wild Fire Collection. At this time, Taiwan’s political structure had just begun a process of liberalization. Under increasing international and domestic pressure, the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party eased its authoritarian control over the island. Lung took advantage of this unique moment, and, during Taiwan’s radical political reorganization, helped lay the foundations for a civil society based on democratic values. Lung’s vision of Taiwan’s burgeoning civil society centered on a strong democracy rooted in individual empowerment; an educated citizenry; and a native identity tied to the island. As Taiwan has continued its process of liberalization through the 1990s and into the 21st century, Lung has remained an outspoken voice in Taiwan’s political and cultural development. This thesis traces the themes that Lung first introduced in Wild Fire Collection through two later essay collections, Thinking Back on the Last Hundred Years (1999) and When Facing the Sea (2003). The issues that Lung discussed in “Wild Fire” have only become more relevant as Taiwan’s society puts into practice the democratic values that Lung called for in the mid-1980s. Meanwhile, globalization and China’s rise have brought the debate over Taiwan’s cultural identity to the fore.

This thesis focuses on the Huaihai Campaign (Nov. 6 1948 - Jan.10 1949) in the Chinese Civil War (1927-1936, 1949-1950). This war involved the Republic of China’s (ROC) Kuomintang Party (KMT) and the emerging Communist Party of China (CPC). Over the course of a few months and around one million combatants, the Communists pulled off a resounding victory dealing the final blow to the KMT which led to the CPC’s governance over mainland China. This case study of two key turning points in the Huaihai Campaign is analyzed using Sun Tzu’s five net assessments from The Art of War. Although the KMT appeared the much superior force on paper, they were dealt a decisive blow during the Huaihai Campaign. This thesis uses Sun Tzu’s five net assessments to explain the root cause of KMT decision failings. The KMT failures stemmed from ignorance of the most basic and vital military axioms of assessing advantages and disadvantages before going into battle.

The present work offers a critical analysis of Tao Qian’s political and religious thought from readings of his poetic works. Focused on Tao Qian’s writings about the “Way” and the crisis of the “Way”, I examine how he constructs his political utopia and religious utopia that stand out as his response to the multidimensional existential crisis. Chapter 1 provides a summary of Tao’s depictions of the “Way” and the crisis of the “Way”, which serves as the textual ground of this study. Chapter 2 introduces the interdisciplinary methods that I have adopted to read and understand Tao Qian. Basically this study is informed by ideas and insights from modern disciplines of political thought and religious studies. Chapter 3 focuses on Tao Qian’s political utopia and discloses the philosophical traditions and personal innovations of Tao's political thought. Chapter 4 introduces Tao Qian’s religious utopia, with focus on how he manifests the sacred world and how he proposes to get to the sacred.

Often hailed as “China’s Stephen King,” Chinese psychological suspense author Cai Jun occupies a position at the peak of the new wave of young authors flooding China’s popular literature market. In order to understand Cai’s popularity as an author, the impact his works and writing have on this market, and how he creates his particular brand of suspense fiction, it is both necessary to put his works into a larger context and analyze his writing. This thesis provides a brief overview of the recent literary scene in China, from the rise of internet literature and the comeback of genre fiction to the advent of mooks, the evolution of young adult literature, and the development of the author marketing industry, and also addresses the “pure vs. popular” controversy in China’s literary world, identifies how Cai fits into these trends, and determines who Cai is as a writer in terms of genre, story content, and literary reception through the translation and analysis of Cai’s short story “Kidnapped.”

Danmei, a genre of Chinese online fiction very popular among young Chinese females, refers to narratives of male-on-male romance. Studies of danmei, however, have been limited to the fields of Chinese language and literary studies. The genesis, development, and impact of danmei have not been systematically studied in a broader context. This thesis gives a detailed account of the emergence of Chinese danmei online fiction and its development by introducing studies of Japanese Boys Love culture, the source of danmei, and Western Slash Fiction. I also provide a case study of Beijing Gushi (Beijing Story), one of most influential Chinese danmei narratives and some other online danmei narratives in order to discuss Chinese young Chinese females’ thinking about gender equality, women’s rights, and the family. The rise and popularity of danmei fiction show that, while young Chinese females have already noticed the gender inequality in Chinese society and are eager for change, the patriarchal ideology still controls them. At the same time, danmei offers women a fantasy space to assert their subjectivity.

Gu Taiqing 顧太清 (1799-1877) is one of the most famous and prolific female writers in the late Qing. In this thesis, I focus on her poems and lyrics on three important subjects, self-portrayals, plum blossoms, and Qingfengge 清風閣 (Clear Breeze Pavilion), in her two poetry collections, Tianyou geji 天遊閣集 (Collected Poems of Heavenly Travels Studio) and Donghai yuge 東海漁歌 (Songs of the Fisherman of the Eastern Sea), in order to advance the current scholarship on this female author and Ming-Qing women’s writings and reveal the uniqueness of Gu’s poetry. My study addresses how she represents herself, recounts her life experiences, and engages in the poetic tradition established by men. By examining her voices and images embedded in her poems, I argue that she creates her own expressions of female voices as an elite woman, a mother, and a female companion for her friends and her husband through the incorporation of her life experiences, both inside and outside her inner quarters. Most female figures portrayed by male poets are desired, static, subordinate, and longing for their absent lovers in their boudoir. Differentiating from the common women’s image, Gu shows her literary creation and women’s subjectivity by taking an active role, as opposed to a passive one. She describes a self-contented life and creates a delightful atmosphere in the spatial setting of her inner quarters. She also writes about her activities outside her boudoir and narrates her travel experiences as a female poet in her poems, in which she constructs her image as a subject that appreciates nature and is emotionally attached to her family. Moreover, my study discovers the approaches that she takes to negotiate between her reputation as a talented poet and her image as a learned lady, given the high moral standard expected from the late Qing elite women. Constructing her image associated with Confucian morality, she highlights her dedication to womanly learning and suggests that women’s literary talent and virtue are reconcilable.

This thesis explores how traumatic memories of the Tangshan earthquake have been constructed in literature, documentary works, and films. Through analyzing the narrative construction of the Tangshan earthquake in the form of film and literature, this thesis studies the relationship between state power and individual agency in the representation of this natural disaster. It argues that the cultural representation of this natural disaster reflects a subtle shift: one from the dominant nationalistic narrative to the narrative centering on individuals’ psychological trauma. It suggests the high degree of state control and politicization is what is similar between a natural disaster such as the Tangshan earthquake and other political events. To some extent, the Tangshan earthquake has become a political event to promote the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) propaganda. Therefore, this thesis engages existing scholarship on political traumas to research the Tangshan earthquake. It is indicating a subtle shift because it is a slow-changing process and there is no mark to signal a radical departure from the earlier nationalism accounts. There also exists more interlaces and interconnections between the state and individual in the range of sources I have examined. And the overlay of the different narratives reflects the complexity of reality and history.

This thesis examines the role of the cultural discourse on the indigenous religious traditions of China and their place within an officially sanctioned construction of Chinese culture. It starts by examining the concept of culture as it developed in the modern era, its place within the construction of national identities, and the marginalizing effects this has on certain members of national populations. Next it turns to the development of the cultural discourse within China from the mid-1800s to the Cultural Revolution, highlighting the social and legal transformations as they restricted and reframed the practice and articulation of religious traditions in mainland China. Following these early articulations of a cultural discourse in China and the subjugation of religious traditions to secular standards of legitimation, it examines the official presentations and governmentally sanctioned forms of the Daoist tradition in post-Mao China during a “cultural revival,” through an analysis of official publications and online presentations. Finally, it examines the way teachers and administrators package Chinese culture for a foreign audience through the Confucius Institute. This thesis argues that, despite greater freedom to explore indigenous traditions previously written off as “superstitious” within the cultural revival of contemporary China, the official cultural discourse in China continues to operate within the parameters of a modern cultural identity that marginalizes ritualistic forms of religion, allowing these religious forms to survive in an official space only as exotic images, sanitized and secularized activities, or ethical ideals.

The research in this thesis will focus on China’s increasingly important role in the global film industry, including the dynamic between the Chinese government, the Chinese film industry, and Hollywood. The first chapter gives a comprehensive overview of the history of artistic trends in postsocialist Chinese film since 1979. The following chapter provides a history of the commercial and economic developments regarding the Chinese film industry after Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms and open door policy. In the third chapter, a detailed analysis of the different Chinese state entities and their functions provide insight into the history of the political and regulatory framework of the Chinese film industry. The fourth chapter examines Hollywood’s role and response to China’s burgeoning film industry and market including case studies of top western film companies that have been heavily involved with China. It also focuses on the challenges the domestic Chinese film industry faces in response to government censorship and competition from Hollywood. Finally, the conclusion offers predictions for the future state of the Chinese film industry, and discusses the implications surrounding the growing relationship between the China and Hollywood.

The concern of Chinese intellectuals with the "idea" of modern science from the West in the transition generation from 1895 to 1923 was fundamentally a concern about "national survival" and modernity. The value and meaning that accrued to science as "method" -- as a "thinking technique" -- and to the evolutionary ideas of Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer as the "science of choice" among Chinese intellectuals of this period, was due to belief or disbelief in the power of these ideas to describe, explain, or solve the problematic of "modernity" in a Chinese context.