Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
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Contrary to the stereotype that Zhang Shi 張栻 (1133-1181) always followed Zhu Xi’s 朱熹 (1130-1200) ideas, this thesis, by examining Zhang’s social origins, socio-political thoughts, and disciples,...Show moreContrary to the stereotype that Zhang Shi 張栻 (1133-1181) always followed Zhu Xi’s 朱熹 (1130-1200) ideas, this thesis, by examining Zhang’s social origins, socio-political thoughts, and disciples, argues that Zhang represents a transitional Neo-Confucianism, which is based on exiled bureaucrat and emphasizes military-fiscal skills and state activism. Zhang Shi learning provides an alternative to statism Wang Anshi 王安石 (1021-1086) learning in the Northern Song (960-1127) and typical Neo-Confucianism represented by Zhu Xi and Lu Jiuxuan 陸九淵 (1139-1191) in Southern Song (1127-1279) , which is based on local spontaneous elites and emphasizes the role of society and local volunteerism. The social origin and foundation of this transitional Neo-Confucianism was the former (potential) capital bureaucratic family who were exiled due to the fall of the Northern Song. They took the northern expedition to return to the capital as their goal and gave up the run of their hometowns and the local communities in which they lived. They were skeptical of Zhu Xi’s social program, such as the community compacts (xiangyang 鄉約), the community granaries (shecang 社倉) and private commercial publishing, which later became the typical behavior of Neo-Confucian. Based on the ideas of Mencius (Mengzi 孟子), Zhang Shi developed the theory of “spontaneous disinterestedness” (wu suowei er ran 無所為而然), which underpinned his ideas on the distinction between righteousness/public/king and profit/selfish/hegemon. Though Zhang learning relied on the state, it cut sharply with Wang learning in the aspect of “motivation”. For Zhang, the power of the state was not an end in itself, but rather the state should be consistent with the spontaneous disinterestedness from the heavenly principle. With a particular emphasis on military-fiscal skills, Zhang and his disciples sought to take over the state apparatus left behind by Wang Anshi’s reforms and to make this state act out of righteousness in the hands of Neo-Confucianism gentlemen. Zhang and his disciples proposed and participated in all the northern expeditions during the Southern Song period. However, the northern capital could never be returned, and the number of exiled bureaucrats who were the social base of Zhang learning (and of the Huxiang 湖湘 school in general) dwindled over time. Zhu Xi, who came from a family of low-ranking exiled bureaucrats, found a new world in the local community in the south, and endeavored to transform himself into a member of the local elite, stepping out from behind Zhang Shi. After Zhang’s death, the local students he left behind in Hunan 湖南 and Sichuan 四川 were eventually aborted by the emerging typical Neo-Confucianism (Zhu Xi and Lu Jiuyuan school) that spoke for the local elites. Zhang as a kind of transitional Neo-Confucianism eventually faded from history, completing the transition from the Northern Song learning to the later typical Neo-Confucianism. By reframing this transitional and alternative Neo-Confucianism, this thesis refines the Hymes-Bol’s localism paradigm about the explanation of why and how Neo-Confucianism raised.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
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This thesis is a study on how leisure industries operated under semicolonial circumstances in Republican China (specifically between 1919 and 1941). Taking place in Yantai, a medium-sized treaty...Show moreThis thesis is a study on how leisure industries operated under semicolonial circumstances in Republican China (specifically between 1919 and 1941). Taking place in Yantai, a medium-sized treaty port in China’s Shandong province, this study analyzes how leisure, in the form of sex work, was both “sought” and “provided” by different actors. This study specifically zooms in on two of these actors. Firstly, sailors of the United States Asiatic Fleet are analyzed, as this research explores how their intertwining pursuits of drinking alcohol and visiting sex workers impacted Yantai and its inhabitants. Secondly, this study delves into the lives of Yantai’s sex workers, and how their role within Yantai’s sex work industry operated during an era of semicolonial presence. This study reveals that Yantai provided sailors the opportunity to indulge themselves in vices without being judged by their surroundings in a way that they would back home. Furthermore, although their behavior was certainly not appreciated by both locals and nonlocals in Yantai, their pursuits were also tolerated by some, as they contributed to both the economic and military interests of those that interacted with them. Sex workers, on the other hand, were a demographic that underwent significant changes throughout Yantai’s Republican period, which can largely be attributed to the increasing demands for sex work by foreign sailors. Yantai’s sex work industry became notably more internationally-oriented, as shown by both international sex workers flocking to the city and the general services offered by sex workers gradually revolving more around sexual intercourse. Overall, this study reveals how demands for new forms of sex work reshaped the hierarchies of Yantai’s overall sex work industry. As a result, the industry became more asymmetrically skewed towards a foreign clientele under semicoloniality. Furthermore, Yantai’s smaller size and the relatively large number of visiting sailors made these developments more contrasting than in other cities, resulting in heavier contention, discourse and conflicts arising from these developments.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
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The thesis aims at situating "The Coconuts", one of the first Sino-Indonesian Chinese language works of fiction published in book form, by Zheng Tufei, in the history of Indonesian and Chinese...Show moreThe thesis aims at situating "The Coconuts", one of the first Sino-Indonesian Chinese language works of fiction published in book form, by Zheng Tufei, in the history of Indonesian and Chinese literature, by analyzing the main themes approached, the typologies of characters, the language and style, and the ideas promoted, in comparison with different bodies of literature (Malay, Indonesian, Sino-Malay, Sinophone, Chinese). The thesis also makes an account of all the biographical and bibliographocal data about Zheng Tufei available so far.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
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This thesis researches whether the apparent similarity that seems to exist superficially between divergence in Chinese ancient character shapes and phonological split holds up upon closer...Show moreThis thesis researches whether the apparent similarity that seems to exist superficially between divergence in Chinese ancient character shapes and phonological split holds up upon closer examination. It concludes that it does not, since it is not possible to frame Chinese character divergence in terms of the straight-forward, systematic patterns found in phonological split. Instead, Chinese character evolution appears to be rather unsystematic and capricious.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
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This thesis analyses the development of Ryukyuan narratives of political legitimacy under the influence of the imperial Chinese tributary system. For centuries, the Ryukyu Kingdom, which was...Show moreThis thesis analyses the development of Ryukyuan narratives of political legitimacy under the influence of the imperial Chinese tributary system. For centuries, the Ryukyu Kingdom, which was annexed by Meiji Period Japan in 1879 and is today divided among Japan's Okinawa and Kagoshima Prefectures, formed an important linking bridge between China and Japan, East Asia's two dominant political entities. Based on a close reading and partial translation of relevant passages from several historical documents, most notably the kingdom's two official histories Chūzan Seikan and Chūzan Seifu, the thesis investigates the socio-political shift in succeeding conceptualisations of Ryukyuan kingship, the monarch's political legitimacy, and the country's state doctrine that occurred from the late fifteenth and early sixteenth to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
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This thesis investigates different notions of space and the role they played in processes of colonization and religious conversion in Eastern Indonesia at the beginning of the 19th century....Show moreThis thesis investigates different notions of space and the role they played in processes of colonization and religious conversion in Eastern Indonesia at the beginning of the 19th century. Specifically, it focusses on the 1824 trip of the Dourga which re-instated political and religious ties between the Dutch administration in Ambon and the various island societies in the region. It proposes to treat space as medium of cultural exchange.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
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In this thesis, I focus the issue of alienation and estrangement of identity in the situation of Japan's cultural confrontation with the West, as (re)presented in the works of contemporary Japanese...Show moreIn this thesis, I focus the issue of alienation and estrangement of identity in the situation of Japan's cultural confrontation with the West, as (re)presented in the works of contemporary Japanese literature, from a postcolonial perspective. I refer to Frantz Fanon's theoretical narrative of the psychological alienation of (former) colonial subjects to construct my analytical framework, to examine the works of Fukuzawa Yukichi, Tawada Yōko and Mizumura Minae. In the case of Fukuzawa, one of the leading intellectuals in Meiji Japan, I unfold the complexity of local intellectual response to the invasion of Western civilization, to offer an overview of the historical background. In the case of Tawada and Mizumura, two distinctive figures in contemporary Japanese literature characterized by their transcultural writing that transgresses conventionally defined boundaries, I examine the theme of alienation and the distortion of identity in a situation where a Japanese is placed in confrontation with the overwhelming force of Western culture, as presented in their works.In my analysis, I hope reveal the resemblance between the situation that the authors in question deal with and the experience of the black population as is portrayed in Fanon's text, which hopefully would draw attention to the complicated picture of (post)colonial experience in Japan.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
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This thesis analyses the legitimation strategies of the Chinese authorities on social media platform Sina Weibo during the COVID-19 epidemic. Through a combination of computational and qualitative...Show moreThis thesis analyses the legitimation strategies of the Chinese authorities on social media platform Sina Weibo during the COVID-19 epidemic. Through a combination of computational and qualitative methods, it first highlights how Weibo’s digital design directly benefits central information control objectives. It then builds upon a theoretical model of disaster legitimacy strategies to demonstrate how official media make use of this design in their legitimation strategies. These strategies include age-old and highly familiar nationalistic frames, a recurring emphasis on positive energy, and strategic engagement and disengagement. This combination not only legitimises the authorities’ actions, but also delegitimises critical discourses. Nonetheless, this power is not absolute, and this thesis also presents instances in which actors “within” the system present challenges for the central authorities and force them to manage and re-frame ambiguous discourses.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
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This thesis assesses several 13th- and 14th-century Chinese and Tibetan histories which detail the Mongol conquests of these regions, scanning their contents and form for subjective views by their...Show moreThis thesis assesses several 13th- and 14th-century Chinese and Tibetan histories which detail the Mongol conquests of these regions, scanning their contents and form for subjective views by their respective authors. It finds that Tibetan historians, for several reasons, do not detail fighting or military expeditions in Tibet itself. Chinese authors, on the other hand, use their writing about the Mongols for several historic apologetics, as well as pejorative remarks against the Mongols themselves or other peoples, such as the Jurchen. In all, this topic remains vastly understudied and requires the attention of more scholars.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
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On the 17th of April 2019, Indonesia held the general elections. The President Joko Widodo (“Jokowi”) won 55,5% of the vote, beating the former general Prabowo Subianto representing Gerindra Party...Show moreOn the 17th of April 2019, Indonesia held the general elections. The President Joko Widodo (“Jokowi”) won 55,5% of the vote, beating the former general Prabowo Subianto representing Gerindra Party for the second time, the first in 2014. Less than two weeks after the victory, the re-elected President announced its intention to relocate the nation's capital from Jakarta, located in Java island, to a greenfield site on the island of Kalimantan. In this thesis, I use Twitter communication emanating from the Indonesian Ministry of National Development Planning and the office of the President to dissect the official rationale for this historic initiative and to investigate on the political and ideological discourse surrounding it. What is the Indonesian government trying to achieve through this project? What ideals and political priorities does it reflect? Is there consistency in the official discourse? My analysis is both quantitative and qualitative; it is quantitative because I used large numbers of tweets to measure the frequency which a variety of terms is used to describe both the desirable characteristics of the new capital, and the undesirable aspects of the old one. It is partly qualitative because I investigated and critically reflected on the results found on Twitter to understand better the motifs behind the decision of moving the capital, and be able to answer my research questions. The results show that Jakarta has been abandoned because it does not represent the Indonesian aspirations of modernity, reflected on the smart, sustainable and green imaginaries that the new capital will promote. Indeed, the tweet analysis revealed that these three elements are the most desirable features for the new capital of Indonesia and are the emblem of the type of modernity and progress that the Indonesian government is aspiring to. This is confirmed by the fact that the mentions to smart, green and sustainable are not clear nor justified. These terms appear to be used as buzzwords, almost as if it they were interchangeable. In conclusion, I argue that these features are all instrumental for expressing modernity and progress (Maju). This is the real objective of the government. “The city of dreams”, as I renamed it, imagines a flawless and perfect city, symbol of the progress of the whole country; the truth is that it is only a symbol, and the country will not progress in smartness, greenness, sustainability and equality if not through real policies and measures that tackle the local problems. Besides these attributes, the government claimed that the new capital would bring to more regional equality and economic growth. In this regard, the Indonesian government has also tweeted about Brasilia and its similarities with the new Indonesian capital, praising the design and the outcome of the project; like Brasilia, the new capital is seen as a means to cope with ongoing economic imbalance among the different regions of Indonesia. Although regional equality is, of course, an issue that the government needs to tackle, the increase of GDP outside Java will not benefit the whole population unless there is a real will to tackle inequality not only geographically but also across income groups. Besides, it is essential to remember that the gap between the rich and the poor in Jakarta is substantial and moving the capital will not represent a solution to this problem. Furthermore, the comparison with Brasilia was fundamental to notice a crucial vii paradox in the project of Ibu Kota Baru: by promoting a modern and futuristic capital, Ibu Kota Baru implicitly indicates a refusal of existing conditions of Indonesia, just as like Brasilia did. To conclude, it is important to mention that this thesis is about ideology. In essence, it does not seek to analyse the hidden personal interests and oligarchic business strategies on the project of the capital, although this has been briefly pointed out. The ultimate aim is to dissect the official rhetoric and rationale that surround this project to find the political ideals and desirable features that the project reflects, and inconsistencies in the discourse.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
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The term Manchu has always been a complex one. The Daiqing khans already struggled to define the Manchu community. After a century of silence, the Manchus are slowly crawling from under their...Show moreThe term Manchu has always been a complex one. The Daiqing khans already struggled to define the Manchu community. After a century of silence, the Manchus are slowly crawling from under their shells to form a new Manchu community in the contemporary world. By taking into consideration theoretical frameworks of imagined communities and transculturality, this thesis aims to define the cultural aspect(s) that help the Manchus imagine their community. It looks at different potential aspects and evaluates whether those are integrated within the social spaces (public, private, educational, occupational and virtual) of the Manchus.Show less
