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In this research I address the phenomenon of female fans’ fascination with online boys’ love fiction in China, and the discussion centers on the questions of why these women are interested in the boys’ love theme, why they prefer boys’ love to traditional heterosexual romance, and how they define and identify with male–male relationships in the boys’ love fiction. Through focusing research on a popular Chinese online-fiction website for women (www.jjwxc.net), I use historical review, online observations, and content analysis of online boys’ love fiction to collect data on my research questions. Understanding female fans’ expectation of and attitudes towards love and romance and analyzing the content of boys’ love fiction allow for a comprehension of the interactions of gender, sexuality, identity, and culture in shaping these women’s practice and choice of boys’ love genre in China. / text

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1990.

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This study explores the discursive construction of Chinese women in the Chinese reality show Sisters Who Make Waves, with a special focus on the discursive shifts and their relevance to the wider discourse of and about Chinese women. The analysis is carried out on two levels: the discursive construction of Chinese women in the said reality show and its recontextualisation across other discourses including in the public sphere and semi-private opinions of Chinese women.  This research discusses the discursive construction of Chinese women in the Chinese media field and the discrepancy between “top-down” and “bottom-up” discourse. The project uses a multi-layer theoretical framework situated in media and society, gender and media representation, celebrity culture and digital labour to explore the discursive construction of Chinese women. The study applies to the reality show as the primary context, media perceptions as the recontextualising context, interviews with female employees in the Chinese internet industry as the secondary context. In order to investigate the arguments and discursive strategies in different contexts, this study employs a multilevel model of the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) in Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA).  The findings discover that the said reality show focuses on the topos of age and the topos of beauty. These two main topoi cause different representations of social actors in Chinese media perceptions. As the representatives of female digital labour, the female employees in the Chinese internet industry construct three discursive strategies of self and relate their self-perception to those of other women. Furthermore, the study implies the discursive shifts in the discourse on Chinese women. This thesis contributes to understanding the discursive construction of women in the Chinese context, particularly the media and gender representations in the Chinese hybrid media system. In addition, this study stands outside the Western world and expands the understanding of the topic in a non-western setting.

Osteoporosis is a disease of the bone and skeletal system which weakens bone structure and results in fractures. The disease has caused a heavy economic burden in the U.S., especially among Americans over the age of 50. According to The Surgeon General's report on bone health in 2004 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (USDHHS), 2004), an estimated 10 million Americans over age 50 have osteoporosis, and another 34 million have osteopenia and are at risk of osteoporosis. The projected cost directly associated with osteoporosis is $34.0 billion in 2005 and will rise to more than $41.4 billion in 2025 (Vanness & Tosteson, 2005). Osteoporosis also results in serious and often devastating health problems for affected individuals (Riggs & Melton, 1995) because of the fractures it causes. Riggs and Melton (1995) estimated that each year 1.5 million people suffer an osteoporosis-related fracture. Unlike genetic risk factors that can be nearly impossible to modify, living on a calcium-rich diet is a lifestyle choice. Effective intervention programs can be useful tools to educate people to adopt a calcium-rich diet. Studies have shown that a calcium-rich diet can increase bone mineral density and intervention programs can facilitate the process of the lifestyle change (Wong, Lau, E.M., Lau, W.W., & Lynn, 2004; Lv & Brown, 2011). However, effective intervention programs against osteoporosis are limited for minorities, and specifically, for elderly Chinese women. The prevalence of osteoporosis in Chinese women is high but the knowledge level is low (Babbar et al., 2006; Lau, Woo, Leung, Swaminathan, & Leung, 1992), which provides an opportunity for intervention. A community-based intervention program was designed based on the modified health belief model (HBM). Its content was specifically tailored to the cultural background and the characteristics of the Chinese women living in the Greater Philadelphia area, based on the findings from previous studies. The intervention program was implemented and its effectiveness was evaluated in a 2-group quasi-experimental study. The study recruited eight (8) Chinese community organizations and assigned them to receive either the intervention program or the control program according to the timing of their agreement to participate and the balance of total participants recruited for each study group at the time. A total of 102 Chinese women were enrolled from the three (3) organizations that were assigned to the Intervention Group and 90 from the five (5) organizations that were assigned to the Control Group. Participants in the Intervention Group received a 30-mintue education session delivered in Chinese (Mandarin). The education focused on the Health Belief Model constructs in the context of osteoporosis intervention. It provided information about osteoporosis, including the functions of the bones, prevalence and risk factors. It highlighted participants' susceptibility to osteoporosis, the consequences and severity of the disease, and targeted messages to increase self-efficacy and decrease barriers. The contents were tailored to the study population. The osteoporosis education was delivered in plain language to suit the population's low educational level and used examples relevant to their cultural background. Participants in the Control Group watched a 30-minute video about liver functions and hepatitis B transmission and prevention. The study tested three (3) primary hypotheses that, compared with the Control Group, the Intervention Group at post-intervention would have 1) a higher knowledge level of osteoporosis, 2) a higher self-efficacy for adopting a calcium-rich diet, and 3) a higher intention level to consume more calcium-rich food items. The data were collected at three time points: baseline, post-intervention, and three months after the intervention. The scores of knowledge level and self-efficacy were analyzed by mixed linear regression models with adjustment of the baseline variables and accounted for the correlations among the participants from the same site. The intention stage was analyzed by a multinomial logistic regression model with adjustment of baseline intention stage and the baseline variables. The results for the study were consistent with all three primary hypotheses. The intervention program increased the knowledge level of osteoporosis and perceived self-efficacy in the Intervention Group. At post-intervention, the differences between the two study groups was 0.17 (95% CI: 0.02, 0.32; p-value<0.037) for the knowledge scores, and 0.34 (95% CI: 0.12, 0.56; p-value<0.001) for the self-efficacy scores. The results also suggested that the intervention program moved the participants in the Intervention Group to higher intention stages. The odds ratio (Intervention/Control Group) of being at a higher intention stage was 3.29 (95% CI: 1.23, 8.82; p-value=0.016). The study showed that the community-based and culturally tailored intervention program designed for the elderly Chinese women was effective. It increased the osteoporosis knowledge level and self-efficacy for adopting a calcium-rich diet and moved participants to a higher intention stage of consuming more calcium-rich food items. Additionally, the study showed that more than 50% of the participants had low bone mass. In conclusion, this intervention program reached a hard-to-reach population of elderly Chinese women and provided public health professionals a useful tool to work with. The high provalance of low bone mass in this population provided the public health agencies useful information to aid their decisions on resource allocation. / Public Health

The Chinese pipa has long served as a symbol of traditional Chinese culture throughout its nearly two-thousand-year history. In Chinese literary, performing, and visual arts, the pipa is almost always associated with women, even though historically, both men and women played the instrument. Since the 1990s, however, the number of female pipa players has increased sharply, to the point of dominating the field in number. Despite the feminine associations and current-day dominance of women as pipa performers, women's names rarely appear in academic works focused on the pipa arts. Women, moreover, hold an othered status within the discipline. This dissertation argues that the gendered associations of the pipa have reinforced a power structure that privileges men and excludes women from participation in the professional community by devaluing women's musicality and entertainmentizing their creative contributions. This study examines historical materials to uncover connections between the pipa and women in historical contexts. It focuses particularly on the often-overlooked context of Chinese courtesan culture as well as the role that courtesan culture played in the instrument's gendering. Furthermore, through field research, I analyze the artistic and life journeys of three generations of 20th and early 21st-centuries female pipa musicians. My personal perspective as a pipa musician and ethnomusicologist provides a first-hand account of how female pipa players interpret and construe gender identities and performances through music making.

O objetivo deste estudo é o investigar a presença de diferenças significantes da variável cultural na modalidade do coping religioso em mulheres, acima de 25 (vinte e cinco) anos, residentes na Grande São Paulo, no contexto religioso de igrejas protestantes históricas, 64 de origem cultural chinesa taiwanesa e 52 de origem cultural brasileira. Administrado o Questionário Geral e Escala de Aculturação nas mulheres de origem chinesa taiwanesa, obteve-se como resultado que 32% foram classificadas como \"pouco aculturadas\" e 40% como \"medianamente aculturadas\". As brasileiras responderam o Questionário Geral e ambos os grupos responderam a Escala Coping Religioso Espiritual-Breve (CRE- Breve). Os resultados mostraram uso maior da modalidade de coping Positivos em ambos os grupos, porém com diferença significativamente maiores na amostra de origem brasileira nos seguintes fatores: transformação de si/vida; busca de ajuda espiritual; posição positiva frente a Deus; e busca do outro institucional. Os resultados também apresentaram, diferença estatisticamente significante no Fator Negativo de coping quanto à reavaliação negativa do significado no grupo de mulheres brasileiras. Ao analisar individualmente as questões da Escala CRE- Breve, foram encontradas diferenças significativamente maiores nas mulheres chinesas taiwanesas nas questões: Questionei se Deus realmente se importava; Tentei lidar com a situação do meu jeito; Culpei Deus por ter deixado acontecer; Tentei lidar com meus sentimentos sem pedir ajuda de Deus; e Entreguei a situação para Deus, depois de fazer tudo que podia. As considerações finais levantam as possíveis interpretações das diferenças apresentadas, como demonstração do componente cultural chinês e do componente cultural brasileiro no coping religioso das mulheres participantes da amostra / The objective of this study is to investigate the presence of significant differences in the cultural variable in the ways of religious coping in women over 25 (twenty five) years, residing in Greater São Paulo, in the religious context of Protestant churches, 64 women of Taiwanese Chinese cultural origin and 52 of Brazilians cultural origin. To the women of Taiwanese Chinese origin were administered General Questionnaire and the Brief Acculturation Scale for Hispanic (SASH), the obtained result was that 32% were classified as low acculturated\" and 40% as \"moderately acculturated.\" The Brazilian women replied the General Questionnaire and both groups responded to the Spiritual Religious Coping Scale-Brief. The results showed higher use of Positive Factors coping in both groups, but with significantly greater differences in the sample of Brazilian origin in the following factors: transformation of the self/life, seeking spiritual aid; positive position before God, and search of another institutional. Similarly, statistically significant difference was found in the Negative Factor as the negative revaluation of the significance in the group of Brazilian women. When analyzing individually each question of Religious Coping Scale, significantly greater differences were found in Taiwanese Chinese women in the matters: I questioned if God really cared, I tried to handle it my way, I blamed God for letting it happen, I tried to deal with my feelings without asking for help from God, and handed the situation to God, after doing all I could. The final considerations raise the possible interpretations of the differences presented as a demonstration of Chinese cultural component in religious coping of women participants in the sample

本文共分五章。第一章緒論，約略敘述中國婦女解放運動發生的原因，和其強烈的救亡色彩，所產生的不利影響。第二章，討論魯迅及其所屬時代。從〈我之節烈觀〉對傳統貞節觀的批判，到〈娜拉走後怎樣〉經濟解放的時代宣示，魯迅小說《祝福》和《傷逝》中的女性也標幟著不同時代的變化。一個是肩負反傳統任務的苦難婦女，一個則不僅是象徵五四精神精神的中國娜拉，還身被對五四個性解放的反省。 　　第三章分析茅盾。茅盾個人的婦女解放觀和魯迅可以說是一脈相承。魯迅雖然提出經濟解放，卻沒有明示一條實行的道路，茅盾則直指革命，加入工農群眾，必須先達到社會解放，婦女才能得到解放。筆者選擇了《蝕》、《虹》兩部長篇小說和《野薔薇》□五個短篇小說集所創造的一系列的「時代女性」來分析。這些「時代女性」可以說是婦女史上自五四到五卅這段時期女性的具體圖像，她們不只是出走的娜拉，並且已是都市的「小資產階級女性」。在戀愛與革命之間，尋找自我的定位，最後茅盾以其男性的觀點，將婦女解放寄託在共黨革命上。第四章丁玲及其小說，丁玲是和這個男性主流意識妥協的典型代表。丁玲蜚聲文壇的作品《夢珂》、《莎菲女士的日記》，以一個女性對於愛與性的痛苦掙扎和需求，來探索女性的心靈狀態，呈現女性觀點的兩性關係。除了對父權社會的批判外，丁玲觸角伸到男性婦女解放觀點一個薄弱的層面：夫權的批判。自《夢珂》以後到一九二九年的作品，大都存有她個人的女性意識。但到一九三○年以後，為了順眾時代的潮流，她不期然地追隨了五四以來的「男性女性主義者」的道路，把婦女問題附屬在社會問題上。從《韋護》、《一九三○年春上海（之一）》、《一九三○年上海（之二）》到《水》，丁玲讓女主角們由女性自我向革命大眾妥協。包括她自己本身，也同時有了出路。 　　第五章結論，自戊戌以來，救亡圖存，政治、社會革命成為中國婦女解放運動主基調的結果，淡化了男性批判和女性的自我反思。儘管女性改善了社會地位和社會權利，但這並不是婦女解放運動真正精神內涵。唯有從女性自覺，以「性別」角度去揭開父權社會所加於中國婦女解放運動的重重障礙，方才能尋出女性在社會中的角色和定位，永遠不再陷入「娜拉走後怎樣」的循環夢魘中。

abstract: This dissertation focused on the links among micro-enterprise development (MD), social capital building, and the accompanying social lives of Chinese female entrepreneurs in two China's urban areas—Nanjing and Haikou. It engaged with a few important discussions concerning China’s liberal politics during the reform era, the global trend of neo-liberal capitalism, and the social construction of a new worker-subject—the Chinese urban female entrepreneur shaped by the hybrid marriage of state politics and global capital. The research findings from this research project contributed to the tradition of feminist theories, which endeavors to explore the relationship between neo-liberalism and gender. In particular, gender was found to concretize the ways in which neo-liberal ideological forces have attempted to capture and exploit the productivity of women’s labor Drawing upon the data from in-depth interviews, participatory observations, and secondary data gathering, I examined the diffusion of the Western-centric concept and phenomena of social capital building in order to answer the question how Chinese women's life was inscribed in the larger context of China's relationship to global capitalism. My research findings manifested that the respondents considered affections (e.g., inter-dependence, obligation, and mutual trust) to be the foundation of establishing and maintaining their social networks regardless of the government's emphasis on market principles and the utility-based social capital conception. This opened up a new way of re-theorizing social capital. This dissertation also focused on how China’s integration with the global economy has affected women’s social identity construction. It emphasized the interaction between gender and class as one of the most salient sites where ideal citizens of China are imagined. Drawing from the perspectives of the respondents, I found that femininity has never been eliminated by the Chinese government. It has existed in China’s MD to challenge the government’s attempt of promoting the agendered (gender-neutral), universal model of women’s participation in self-employment. Moreover, I asserted that class was individualized while penetrating into other dimensions of identity (especially gender). The transformed dimensions of identity constituted a set of stratification schemes that constantly reshuffled social stratifications for maximizing the state’s profits from the control of citizens. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Justice Studies 2015