The development of Buddhism in modern China is really a big issue to deal with, especially for a short Master thesis. In order to narrow down my subject, I would like to focus on the posts on Sina...Show moreThe development of Buddhism in modern China is really a big issue to deal with, especially for a short Master thesis. In order to narrow down my subject, I would like to focus on the posts on Sina Weibo regarding Buddhism. Chinese Buddhism always tries to apply new media technologies to promote its teaching. For Sina Weibo is one of the most active online platform in China, taking a look at the Buddhist elements on it must be interesting. There were a lot of non-humorous Buddhist anecdotes about the Chan Master on Weibo. But from several years ago, the Buddhist jokes which share the similar structure with those anecdotes began to prevail Weibo. Although these jokes also spread on other online platforms, because of the large user base of Weibo, Sina Weibo is the biggest gathering place for these jokes, and users of Weibo continue to create new jokes about the Chan Master on it. In my thesis, I would like to find out, what the characteristics are of the Buddhist anecdotes and the Buddhist jokes posted on Weibo? How did Buddhist jokes develop over time? What are the possible reasons for the popularity of those anecdotes and the appearance of those jokes? In order to answer these questions, I first collected relevant posts about Buddhist anecdotes and jokes on Weibo and made them into a corpus for research. I have translated them into English and attached them to the end of this thesis. I then analyzed them, which led to the following chapters of my thesis. Chapter 1 is the present Introduction. Chapter 2 discusses the Buddhist anecdotes. It outlines their main characteristics and gives possible reasons for their popularity. Chapter 3 centers on the Buddhist jokes. All the jokes are divided into three categories according to the time order: “Pre-Chan Master Style” jokes, “Chan Master Style” jokes and “Post-Chan Master Style” jokes, and they are analyzed respectively by the theories of jokes and humor. In addition, a case study is done on one specific joke in order to reveal the big social context of these jokes. At last, Chapter 4 gives out a brief conclusion.Show less
This dissertation assesses the impact of sustainable development and livelihood strategies on the indigenous communities of Maolin National Scenic Area (NSA) in Taiwan. I examine the relationship...Show moreThis dissertation assesses the impact of sustainable development and livelihood strategies on the indigenous communities of Maolin National Scenic Area (NSA) in Taiwan. I examine the relationship between the directives of indigenous policy relevant and the sustainability indicators for small islands proposed by Jesinghaus (2002) to answer the leading question: What is the influence of sustainable tourism strategies present in the CIP policies on the Maolin NSA indigenous communities in the matters of land conservation practices, heritage protection and risk management? This dissertation offers two leading hypothesis: [1] the sustainable development indicators for Maolin are the same as for all Taiwan, [2] the sustainable development strategies should not be evaluated per se, but only in relation to the particular case study. The aim of this dissertation is to present how the indigenous policies inspired by the Taiwan's cultural transition, indigenous rights movement and idea of sustainable development influenced Maolin NSA. Synthesizing the most relevant theories in indigenous tourism studies and sustainable development studies, this research attempts to show Maolin’s case study in a broad context. The most important contribution of this thesis is explaining new tendencies in Taiwanese inbound tourism on the example of recently established protected area. Using Maolin NSA case analysis, this research explored the role of the indigenous policy implementation in the process of protected area establishment and management. This dissertation offers an insight into the latest tendencies in indigenous tourism development and management in Taiwan.Show less
The diverse and intense usage of the Ganga has caused a big pollution problem to the river. Because the local communities interact with the river on a daily basis, they should be able to reduce the...Show moreThe diverse and intense usage of the Ganga has caused a big pollution problem to the river. Because the local communities interact with the river on a daily basis, they should be able to reduce the pollution.Show less
In 1956, the Chinese government began to encourage people all over the country to speak Mandarin in accordance with government policy. This policy was regarded as an effective way to remove...Show moreIn 1956, the Chinese government began to encourage people all over the country to speak Mandarin in accordance with government policy. This policy was regarded as an effective way to remove linguistic barriers among the different provinces, but later it was found that it was also one of the most important reasons behind the vanishing of dialects. Shanghainese 上海话 (Shanghaihua), is the indigenous language in Shanghai. It developed rapidly in the first half of the last century and is regarded as a cultural symbol by the local people of Shanghai. It enjoyed a dominant position in the area until the implementation of the national language policy. After 2000, more and more local people in Shanghai have begun to speak Mandarin in daily life. This thesis aims to study political, social and cultural factors which have led to this kind of linguistic change. I will explore the social function of Shanghainese and give an analysis on why and how people speak specific languages in various social domains. After demonstrating that the social function of Shanghainese is at present rather limited, I will investigate the prevalence of the awareness that favors saving the language and promoting local culture in Shanghainese for the goal of retaining local uniqueness. The thesis will consist of five chapters. The first chapter will include the introduction of Shanghainese, the interdependent relationship amongst languages, society and people and the central question and research methods. The second chapter will be the literature review. Then, I will discuss about how the social context has impacted peoples’ attitudes to Shanghainese and Mandarin and explore incentives behind the switching of languages. Different public and private space, including schools, governmental institutions, media, work places, home and so on, will be analyzed respectively in the third chapter. In ‘Chapter Four’, I will sketch how people consider Shanghainese to be a key part of their cultural identity. The last chapter will be the conclusion of thesis.Show less
It is well known that Thailand’s official historiography paints Burma as their cruel enemy. Even in this era of ASEAN regional integration, where the Socio-Cultural Community’s goal is to create a...Show moreIt is well known that Thailand’s official historiography paints Burma as their cruel enemy. Even in this era of ASEAN regional integration, where the Socio-Cultural Community’s goal is to create a mutually understanding society conscious of its ties of history, investigation into current history textbooks and recent popular representations reveal little to no change. It is argued in this thesis that the Thai-Burmese war episodes have been embedded with a specific set of desirable Thai values, keeping them politically persistent despite the ASEAN talk. However, a look into online communities and the results from the electronic survey conducted for this research show that the ASEAN discourse, nonetheless, is making a positive impact on the society, prompting, among Thai people, more questioning and increased interests in traveling and learning about Burma. This seems to bring about improved, positive attitudes towards Burma, and an increasing contestation towards the Thai official narration.Show less
This research investigates the progress of Indonesia as a technological state during the New Order era, with the aerospace industry in particular, and focuses on the current situation in Indonesia...Show moreThis research investigates the progress of Indonesia as a technological state during the New Order era, with the aerospace industry in particular, and focuses on the current situation in Indonesia to see if there are any similarities with the past notable.Show less
This thesis raises the point that incorporating bottom-up understandings of psychology in Chinese society can give us a more complete outlook on the level of development of psychology in the nation...Show moreThis thesis raises the point that incorporating bottom-up understandings of psychology in Chinese society can give us a more complete outlook on the level of development of psychology in the nation. This is done by using academic stress as the focus of research. By looking at Chinese internet sources of everyday situations of academic stress and analyzing these with the help of Foucauldian thought and the theory of “Interpretive Perspective”, these results are compared to the current state of psychology as an academic discourse in China. It is concluded that psychology is indeed much more developed in China than top-down academic discourse may give it credit for. Furthermore, a more complete account on how academic stress is experienced by students in China is given by integrating primary internet sources with secondary literature and finds that academic stress is not expressed the same by all students.Show less
In the last few decades the internet has become an indispensable part of people’s lives. Especially the younger generations have a broad knowledge of how digital devices work and the advantages and...Show moreIn the last few decades the internet has become an indispensable part of people’s lives. Especially the younger generations have a broad knowledge of how digital devices work and the advantages and conveniences of using the internet. According to Golub and Lingley, the Chinese government has always viewed the internet with ambivalence, because on the one hand it is a sign of modernity, but on the other hand it provides access to a different world view, different opinions, and additional information, which might not conform to the government’s view (2008). However, the number of internet users in mainland China has increased from 620.000 in 1998 to 649 million people at the end of 2014, it is the world’s fastest–growing online population (Stewart 2010; CNNIC 2015). About 55% of those users are below 30 years old. In the same year, China had a total of 366 million online gamers and the largest game population in the world (CNNIC 2015). Online gaming has become a popular way for children, adolescents and adults alike to spend their free or not so free hours. However, with the gaining popularity of online and offline gaming, it often replaces other more social activities, like playing sports or real-life socializing. Gaming addiction also has become a very serious issue, which has a profound impact on society. Since 2002, there have been many cases of aggression and bizarre behavior caused by gaming addiction. Golub and Lingley (2008) mention a few in their article, such as an obese man dying after a marathon gaming session, and a 13-year old jumping of a building after playing Warcraft hoping to “join the heroes of the game” (62; Xinhua News Agency 2006). Although, in a lot of countries, there is still an ongoing debate about whether gaming addiction is an addiction at all, China was one of the first to label problematic online gaming as a clinical disorder and is together with South Korea, the Netherlands, Canada and the United States, one of the few countries that has treatment centers for internet addiction, the first being opened in 2004 (CCTV International 2009). In my thesis I will discuss different stakeholders and how they look at the phenomenon of online game addiction among Chinese youth. I will use Foucault’s theory on power relations as a supporting framework for my research (Foucault 1981). I define Chinese youth as the age group between 12 and 30, but with a focus on high school and higher education students. I define online gaming as using an internet connection while gaming, often on a computer, instead of offline gaming on a console, and focus mainly on Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMO) as they are believed to be the most addictive online games and they are the most widespread in China.Show less
An overview and analysis of the Small and Medium Enterprise policies of the Japanese government during the period 2006-2013 and of the effect of the 2008 global financial crisis on these policies.
The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) growing economic power has been frequently linked with its growing political and military power. Academic articles and Indian newspapers interpret China’s...Show moreThe People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) growing economic power has been frequently linked with its growing political and military power. Academic articles and Indian newspapers interpret China’s Maritime Silk Road (MSR) policy in threatening and in a non-threatening ways. The dominant discourse interprets the MSR from realist (strategic competition) and liberalist (economic cooperation) perspectives. However, the picture is not as clear-cut as it seems: the literature lacks a constructivist and poststructuralist approach. This paper attempts to fill this gap and considers the study of media representations as an important tool for understanding international relations and the promotion of foreign policy in India. It uses a poststructuralist discourse analysis as a method in the case study on the ‘China threat’ and MSR discourse in four online Indian newspapers. In line with French poststructuralist Foucault, it demonstrates the importance of discourse, identity, knowledge and power. The discursive construction of China as Other in the Indian media is based on historical identity formations. Identity is at the heart the ‘China threat’ discursive foundations: the ‘String of Pearls’ (SOP), India’s neighborhood, China-Pakistan relations and the ongoing Sino-Indian border dispute. In representing the ‘truth’ about the MSR as a future threat to India, the Indian media fails to address China’s participation in global anti-piracy missions. The ‘China threat’ discourse is produced and reproduced for India to domestically implement a strong strategic IOR policy, to invest in the army, and transnationally to deepen diplomatic ties with neighboring IOR countries and to establish a security alignment with the US and Japan.Show less
Difficulties women experience in career development have been widely discussed and are a worldwide issue. This becomes evident when looking at, for instance, the number of women in management...Show moreDifficulties women experience in career development have been widely discussed and are a worldwide issue. This becomes evident when looking at, for instance, the number of women in management positions. Companies’ top functions are still mainly dominated by men and research has shown that Japan, among others, is a country which is still very much behind in placing women in top positions. This paper is aimed at the relation between the form of welfare state in these two countries and how these models work for combining care of children with a career. In which form of welfare state would women be most successful in combining a career with family care tasks?Show less
In recent years, there has been a resurgence of attention towards the Tibetan oral epic Gesar in the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.). On the surface, it appears that Gesar re-enters the sight...Show moreIn recent years, there has been a resurgence of attention towards the Tibetan oral epic Gesar in the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.). On the surface, it appears that Gesar re-enters the sight of the general public in China after the Chinese application to UNESCO was successful in 2009, by which the Gesar epic tradition is accepted and inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Immediately following the recognition from UNESCO, the Chinese publication of, on, and about Gesar exponentially thrived. All these celebrations of Gesar sounded so merry and joyous that it almost seemed a natural gesture by UNESCO, without taking into account the role of the Chinese State Apparatuses. Therefore, it is necessary to contextualize this event within the long and winding six decades of history of Gesar study in China, which has always been impossible to separate from political intentions. Constituted and powered by a gigantic and complex socio-cultural and political mechanism, which has been in motion behind the scenes long before 2009, many of these seemingly natural and spontaneous progressions of the modern image or representation of Gesar as a collective whole have always been carefully crafted. The main goal of the thesis is to identify the national ideology governing Gesar, and to show how the three main active sectors, which consist of the government, academia, and the publishing world, interact, function as, and formulate themselves into what Althusser describes as Ideological State Apparatuses, in order to reterritorialize Tibet and Tibetan culture through representing Gesar. Lastly, the final chapter is dedicated to efforts made, no matter how feeble, scattered, or spontaneous, struggling to deterritorialize the Chinese representation supported and endorsed by the hegemonic Ideological State Apparatuses.Show less
This thesis discusses the paradox of tourism and culture in Bali. In the face of globalisation the island has changed over the years, often favouring economic values above cultural values. The main...Show moreThis thesis discusses the paradox of tourism and culture in Bali. In the face of globalisation the island has changed over the years, often favouring economic values above cultural values. The main research question will focus on how tourism has changed Balinese cultural diversity and to what extent.Show less
This thesis tests a hypothesis of Joost Cote. Joost Cote wrote about Indisch Dutch that moved to Australia. Among these migrants were binnen- and buitenkampers. Cote argues that the incarceration...Show moreThis thesis tests a hypothesis of Joost Cote. Joost Cote wrote about Indisch Dutch that moved to Australia. Among these migrants were binnen- and buitenkampers. Cote argues that the incarceration experience consolidated the sense of ‘European-ness’ amongst the Dutch and the Eurasian internees. According to Cote, this difference in war experience shows a fracture within the Indisch community: the Indisch Dutch versus ‘the Hollanders’. This thesis investigates to what extend this fracture was actually present and to what extent this fracture originated in the wartime experience.Show less
A pantun is a poem of four very short lines, consisting of four word clusters that have only two or three syllables. Most pantun have ABAB as their rhyme scheme. Research on pantun has...Show moreA pantun is a poem of four very short lines, consisting of four word clusters that have only two or three syllables. Most pantun have ABAB as their rhyme scheme. Research on pantun has traditionally focused on the structure and meaning of these poems. However, there has not been a lot of research on how the pantun is used in everyday language. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the function of pantun in Malay speech. For this study, I have used a pantun-database called ‘Melayu Online’ to collect pantun. From this database, I have selected two pantun for analysis. For the analysis the following methods were used: - ethno pragmatics: based on the assumption that there are cultural keywords, these are explained using Wierzbicka’s Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM); ethno pragmatics is focused on the cultural part - meaning space theory: models of mental space by Turner and Brandt & Brandt are used in a cognitive-semiotic framework to reconstruct meaning from a phenomenological perspective; meaning space theory focuses on the utterance and what this means This thesis is a first step to further research into the function of pantun in Malay speech and how the pantun is used in everyday language. On the basis of the this pilot study, it can be assumed that Malay people express themselves with a pantun in a way that is respectful of their cultural values and avoids any kind of friction. This assumption can be confirmed by extensive research through fieldwork. That is why I recommend participant observation in Malaysia in order to properly analyse the function of the pantun.Show less
Physiognomy, reading fate or character from a person’s face, is now discredited but was once seen as a teachable skill. This thesis presents a cross cultural study of physiognomic knowledge in...Show morePhysiognomy, reading fate or character from a person’s face, is now discredited but was once seen as a teachable skill. This thesis presents a cross cultural study of physiognomic knowledge in three distinct early modern cultures (Europe, China and Mughal India), as represented in figurative art. Artworks studied are mainly paintings, but also some sculpture and printed material, including physiognomic manuals. Using Clifford Geertz’s anthropological approach of identifying how art functions within a “cultural system”, the subsequent interactions are divided into two categories: representations of the Self (elite male patrons, or the artist himself), and representations of the Other (women, the poor, and the foreign). Representations of the Self are found in portraiture. Given the largely unspoken nature of physiognomy, it is necessary to examine how its use may be recognized within portraits. Anxieties surrounding appropriate representations of physiognomy are also important in understanding how art and physiognomy interacted. Conversely, representations of the Other are found in genre paintings and some portraits. The overall impact of physiognomy in these artworks is to emphasise innate differences between the patron Self and his Other. Ultimately, the resulting prevalence of physiognomy in figurative art suggests its transcultural importance within the early modern world.Show less
From the perspective of food, I describe the identity changes of the Taiwanese people from 1949 to 2013: in the Japanese colonial period, Taiwanese preferred Chinese food and showed their Chinese...Show moreFrom the perspective of food, I describe the identity changes of the Taiwanese people from 1949 to 2013: in the Japanese colonial period, Taiwanese preferred Chinese food and showed their Chinese identity. After 1945, followed by accepting mainland food, mainlanders became an ethnic group of Taiwan. From 1988, Taiwanese began to hybrid the food in Taiwan and create its own Taiwanese cuisine. Local people that labeled themselves as Taiwanese instead of Chinese were guided by the government and other mediums. When it comes to the step of global promotion, it can be found from the food festivals and night markets that Taiwanese want to sell its food culture to the foreign tourists. Food, as uniqueness in Taiwanese minds, is chosen to identify what is Taiwanese and to be consumed by others.Show less
