Thesis--University of Washington. / Vita. Another copy has number: Thesis 27885. Bibliography: leaves [486]-509.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 369-389).

Cantonese opera, a Chinese regional operatic genre sung in the Cantonese dialect popular in the Pearl River Delta area and overseas Cantonese communities, has shown its vitality through absorbing various elements of theatrical art and culture, thus often moving between tradition and innovation. It is to be argued that adaptation has always been the most essential means of introducing changes to the genre, and it is precisely because of this need for change from the practitioners or the audience that innovation emerges.;The current thesis investigates how adaptation contributes to changes in Cantonese opera in different developmental stages of the genre by mediating the conflict between tradition and innovation. Focuses include the establishment of Cantonese opera by adapting other regional operas into paichangxi [episodic repertoire] and its re-adaptation to different media; the role adaptation and re-adaptation played in Cantonese opera reform in the 1930s in introducing new elements and establishing aesthetic traditions of contemporary Cantonese opera; how adaptation and re-adaptation promoted the canonization of Tong Tik-sang's works since the 1950s; and the role adaptation played in recently produced works for the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts aiming at training performers as well as searching for a possible path for the continuation of Cantonese opera. It presents a never-ending cycle of tradition formation and innovation absorption, catalyzed by adaptation, that shapes the constantly changing face of Cantonese opera.

Since 2004, the Chinese media scene has been dominated by what is called the “pan-reality television” trend. Reality television is capable of synchronizing the effects of all the political, economic, and cultural factors into the participants’ actions and becoming a powerful reconstruction of the social environment from which it emerges. The thesis takes Jiangsu Satellite TV (JSTV)’s golden hour reality televisions as the case to address the question of how they express, reflect and formulate the imaginations and understandings of urban living, focusing on the cultural, social, and political specificities of these reality television shows. The thesis is an attempt to bring into discussions ignored aspects of popular television culture that can be potential source for furthering the understanding of urban conditions in China. The thesis finds that the images, the discursive fields, and the procedures of the games in the reality television shows and the governmental regulations imposed on them are part of the mechanisms to dissemble a set of discourses into the colloquial, the practices of urban lives, and possibly the imaginations of urban lifestyles. Emerging out of this dynamic process is the formulation of a way of life in the context of urban China – specifically, the linear, individual progressivity. The main body of the thesis will empirically show how the linear, individual progressivity is installed and enacted in the shows and political implications of that.

No description available.

published_or_final_version / Asian Studies / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / China Area Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / abstract / Chinese / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Civil Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

Twenty-one women, lifelong residents of Xichang County, Sichuan Province, China, an area of very low soil selenium (Se), received tablets containing either 100 μg Se daily as Se-enriched yeast (+Se) or no additional Se (-Se), throughout the last trimester of pregnancy and the first three months of lactation. Diet was analyzed using diet recalls and proximate analysis of mixed diet samples. Milk and plasma samples were analyzed for Se content, glutathione peroxidase activity, and fatty acid profile and plasma alone was analyzed for vitamin E content and lipid peroxidation. At parturition and three months after delivery, milk and plasma Se levels and plasma GPx activities were significantly higher in the +Se women than the -Se women. Milk GPx activity did not change significantly with supplementation. Plasma vitamin E was not different between the treatment groups at either time. Plasma lipid peroxidation levels (TBARS) were significantly higher in the supplemented women at both time points. Fatty acid profiles at delivery and three months after delivery were similar in both plasma and milk between the two groups. The data suggest that this level and length of supplementation, when given to pregnant women of very low Se status, are not adequate to influence the fatty acids in milk. / Graduation date: 2000