This thesis questions whether dangling topics, also often called ''Chinese-style'' topics really only occur in Chinese. This is done by investigating Chinese (from mainland China and Taiwan),...Show moreThis thesis questions whether dangling topics, also often called ''Chinese-style'' topics really only occur in Chinese. This is done by investigating Chinese (from mainland China and Taiwan), Japanese, Turkish and Dutch. The results show that dangling topics in Chinese are only possible to a certain extent. Moreover, they are also acceptable in other languages (although mostly in marginal contexts).Show less
Secondary schools in the Netherlands have been offering Chinese Language and Culture as an official exam subject for three years now. Studies on Dutch students SLA of Mandarin are very limited in...Show moreSecondary schools in the Netherlands have been offering Chinese Language and Culture as an official exam subject for three years now. Studies on Dutch students SLA of Mandarin are very limited in number, and established literature often studies participants in their twenties with English as their L1. This study aims to look at improvement shown in tonal production by Dutch teenagers aged 13-17 who follow the relatively new Mandarin course in secondary school, to provide deeper insight into SLA of Mandarin by Dutch teenagers, and into the effectiveness of the course. There were two groups of participants: students with four months of experience in Mandarin, and students from the same school with three and a half years of experience. They were asked to produce a selection of both monosyllabic and disyllabic words. Their tones were visualized using Praat, and compared to both the tonal production of native speakers to identify errors. The production of the two different grades was then compared to one another to identify points of improvement. The results showed that female students showed improvement mainly in pitch contour, and to some extent even acquired tonal coarticulation. The male students showed improvement in pitch height, and very little improvement in pitch contour. For both genders the production of tone 3 appeared most difficult, followed by tone 4, then tone 2. Tone 1 was the easiest to produce.Show less
In this thesis, the phenomenon of dangling topic sentences in Mandarin is investigated. These topics can appear without obvious marking in sentence initial position and are not related to a...Show moreIn this thesis, the phenomenon of dangling topic sentences in Mandarin is investigated. These topics can appear without obvious marking in sentence initial position and are not related to a resumptive pronoun or a gap in the comment. The goal is to explain that these sentences are actually not exclusive to Mandarin, but also appear in many other languages. Furthermore, I provide evidence that suggests that these topics receive a topic marker that is part of the numeration and are thus not as "bare" as they appear to be at first glance. This marker can either be realized prosodically or by a particle.Show less
The focus of this thesis is on the categorization of handwritten Chinese characters. The main question is, ‘How can handwritten Chinese characters be categorized in order to make unknown characters...Show moreThe focus of this thesis is on the categorization of handwritten Chinese characters. The main question is, ‘How can handwritten Chinese characters be categorized in order to make unknown characters findable?’. Handwritten Chinese characters differ from regular or printed Chinese characters. Learning to read handwritten Chinese is not part of any university curriculum and it is usually not taught in language schools. There are only a few sources that can be used to find the corresponding regular form of an unknown handwritten character. Four sources are reviewed in order to explore and judge various methods. This research is based on the methods used in A Manual of Chinese Running-Hand Writing: Especially as it is Used in Japan written by Groeneveldt and De Saint Aulaire (1861), Dictionnaire des formes cursives des caractères chinois (1909) by Stanislas Millot, Sōsho Daijiten (1936) by Sukeyuki Endō and Chinese cursive script: An introduction to handwriting in Chinese (1958) by Fang-yü Wang. The product of this research will be a set of guidelines of what a user-friendly dictionary would look like.Show less
This study will first analyse the historical background of Shakespeare in China, which begun with the introduction of the English author as a storyteller during the late Qing dynasty (1640-1911),...Show moreThis study will first analyse the historical background of Shakespeare in China, which begun with the introduction of the English author as a storyteller during the late Qing dynasty (1640-1911), followed by the publication of official translations in Chinese at the beginning of the twentieth century , the posterior abrupt tragic decrease of the studies under the Communists and its complete death with the beginning of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) , which did not allow Shakespeare to resuscitate until the end of the 70s . The second chapter will be focused on the methods of translations and the theories put forward between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century in China, while the third chapter of this study aims at observing how Chinese translators overcame the historical, grammatical and cultural differences between Shakespeare and China, how they rendered the most important traits of the Shakespearean works in Chinese. To conclude, the fourth chapter will be concentrated on the comparison between the original English version of the famous drama of “Romeo and Juliet” and its Chinese.Show less
The present research is an attempt to explore the presented and hidden narratives, or non-disclosed behaviors, of the galleries of two art hubs located in Beijing: Caochangdi art village and 798...Show moreThe present research is an attempt to explore the presented and hidden narratives, or non-disclosed behaviors, of the galleries of two art hubs located in Beijing: Caochangdi art village and 798 art district. These two districts are perceived as radically different from each other: 798 is considered by many workers of the field as commercialized, whereas Caochangdi is deemed to be "about art." However, is there an actual difference between the galleries of the two art hubs? Thus the research question was easily defined: “What are the narratives the two Beijing’s Contemporary art district’s galleries use to present themselves and do the districts differ in it or are they similar? In which way would they be similar?” This research aims at answering this question through a series of interviews. These interviews were based on theory drawn from secondary sources and are aimed at defining commercial (innovative) or non-commercial (inventive) behaviors in the sample galleries.Show less
Grammatical gender is one of the ways in which many languages classify nouns. It is not a universal category: for instance, it is absent in Chinese Mandarin, as well as in many other Asian...Show moreGrammatical gender is one of the ways in which many languages classify nouns. It is not a universal category: for instance, it is absent in Chinese Mandarin, as well as in many other Asian languages. The aim of this research, focusing in particular on Chinese speakers, is to investigate to which extent speakers of genderless languages grasp the concept of grammatical gender. If they were asked to associate a noun with a gender, which strategies would they use? This thesis illustrates the results of the nominal classification made by Chinese respondents who were asked to select genders for forty nouns and to motivate their choice. The findings of this study may be helpful in two ways. On the one hand, they may provide information on how the human mind classifies nouns. On the other hand, they may give a new perspective for future studies on second language (L2) acquisition.Show less
This thesis compares similar phonological features across Táiwān Mandarin and Singapore Mandarin by measuring the acoustic properties of the variables in question. Despite both varieties’ official...Show moreThis thesis compares similar phonological features across Táiwān Mandarin and Singapore Mandarin by measuring the acoustic properties of the variables in question. Despite both varieties’ official claim of being identical to Běijīng Mandarin, they have developed a significant number of differences in parallel. I hypothesize that this is because both of these varieties grew out of having Mandarin imposed upon populations that were originally and largely Southern Mǐn speaking. To test this, I modified the Labovian sociolinguistic interview for an online survey format for easy distribution. I focused largely on four variables, the first three of which are theoretically available in both of the varieties of Mandarin under investigation: 1) dentalization of the retroflex sibilants, 2) dentalization of the velar nasal codas following mid to high front vowels, and 3) unrounding of the rounded high front vowel. The final variable under investigation was a possible fifth tone only available in Singapore Mandarin. Despite whatever ease this afforded in data collection, the online survey format also created a lot of disparity between recordings that could have been avoided by using a laboratory setting, or even just consistent recording equipment. Keeping this defect in mind, I found both the behaviours predicted in prior literature, but also its exact opposite, leading me to believe that an online survey format will need a lot of honing before it can reliably be applied to research based on measuring acoustics.Show less
The thesis examines the conflict resolution of the inhabitants of Makassar in the eighteenth century. In the focus are the Chinese and Wajorese ethnic groups. It concerns itself with the question...Show moreThe thesis examines the conflict resolution of the inhabitants of Makassar in the eighteenth century. In the focus are the Chinese and Wajorese ethnic groups. It concerns itself with the question of why the inhabitants of Makassar made use of the colonial courts of the VOC for arbitration. To this end, specific cases of dispute in the courts of the VOC are examined. The thesis concludes that none of the proposed theories and concepts on their own are able to explain the complex system of motivations, institutions, and trust. Rather, by taking different approaches into account, additional dynamics of conflict resolution in the city are revealed.Show less
This thesis discusses the properties of the current global language English, along with other three languages: Esperanto, Latin, and Classical Chinese who once were or close to be an international...Show moreThis thesis discusses the properties of the current global language English, along with other three languages: Esperanto, Latin, and Classical Chinese who once were or close to be an international language. This paper attempts to figure out if Chinese will replace English as the next global language by listing the properties of a global language following a comparison of the list with properties of Modern Chinese. In order to find out the properties of a global language, this thesis analyzes the reasons why each language became a global or a regional lingua franca and why some of the languages failed to maintain the status of being an international language. The result shows that being a global language often relies on colonial expansion, strong influence in multiple fields throughout the world and the easiness of acquiring the language. Chinese being the only language written with characters and the principle of “Peaceful Rise” of China makes Chinese less likely to be the next global language.Show less
Artistic freedom of expression has always been a hot topic both in the West and in the East. It is enough to think about the controversy of Richard Serra against the US government regarding the...Show moreArtistic freedom of expression has always been a hot topic both in the West and in the East. It is enough to think about the controversy of Richard Serra against the US government regarding the removal of Tilted Arc (1981) from the Federal Plaza in New York City in 1989 or the shutting down, in 2017, of the controversial Guggenheim “Art and China after 1989: Theatre of the World” exhibitions featuring abused animals. In the case of China, the issue becomes more complicated, because of what some perceive as the systematic censorship of everything that goes against the government’s narrative and criticizes it. But is this actually always the case? During my research, I encountered the book of a New York art journalist, Barbara Pollack, who for a ten-year long research focused on the Chinese contemporary art market. Here, she discussed the case of artist Wang Qingsong, arrested for pornography in 2006 and Chi Peng, an artist who made naked self-portraits having sexual intercourse in the same period but was reportedly never arrested. The author also reports of a conversation with former head of the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Feng Yuan, who specifies the “Four Nos” which would, according to him, always cause the censoring of art in China: “no pornography, no violence, no attacking the government or making fun of political leaders.” From this, a question spontaneously arises: “Why do some artist get censored and others do not, even while violating the Nos in similar ways?” In this research I focused on censored art in the period of the Harmonious Society Policy (2004-2014). Following from this, my research question is “Do censors’ and artists’ discourses from 2004 to 2014 suggest consistency and continuity in the enforcement of the Chinese art censorship or not?” This question’s answer will help define the state of art censorship in China in the abovementioned period, but also its development from the previous decades and into the current state. In order to research this issue, I will have to answer two sub-questions: “What elements of the artists’ and officials’ discourses could have caused the censorship?” This question is aimed at understanding what triggers censorship in controversial cases. The second one is “What elements of the artists’ and officials’ discourses could have helped them in avoiding censorship?” Thus, I will be discussing the possible triggering factors for censoring art works and the elements that saved other artworks from censorship by searching into primary and secondary documents. The case studies are censored and not censored artworks for each policy core concept exhibited in the period between 2004 and 2014. The case studies are solely regarding controversies (or the absence thereof) for artworks exhibited in Mainland China. The case studies are the following: Ren Hang’s Untitled (2012), Liu Wei’s It Looks Like a Landscape (2004) on the topic of pornography, Zhang Huan’s Giant no. 1-2-3 (2008), He Yunchang’s One Meter of Democracy (2010), for the topic of violence and Cao Fei’s RMB City: a Second Life City Planning (2007) and Zhang Dali’s Second History: Chairman Mao Reviews the Red Guards, 1966 (2005), regarding political criticism.Show less
In this thesis I will conduct research regarding the acquisition of the BA construction among native Dutch second language learners of Mandarin. I will look at the following research question: Are...Show moreIn this thesis I will conduct research regarding the acquisition of the BA construction among native Dutch second language learners of Mandarin. I will look at the following research question: Are native Dutch speaking learners of Mandarin as a second language faster in understanding certain features of the BA structure and in acquiring the BA structure then native English speaking learners of Mandarin? This question is suggested by the fact that English is an SVO language, while Dutch is basically an SOV language. Since the BA construction is an SOV structure, it could be possible that based on their first language, Dutch learners of Mandarin are faster than English learners of Mandarin in acquiring this structure. At the end of my research I expect to be able to show some interesting points regarding this question, which could be a basis for more research on this question.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
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This thesis investigates how the cities Yuan Shangdu, Dadu and Jining compare when looking at their locations, layouts, trading positions, and distribution of material objects that were retrieved...Show moreThis thesis investigates how the cities Yuan Shangdu, Dadu and Jining compare when looking at their locations, layouts, trading positions, and distribution of material objects that were retrieved at archaeological excavations. The three case studies on the three cities portray their significance during the Yuan dynasty, on cultural, economic and political level. The thesis compares two capital cities of the Yuan dynasty and one hinterland city. The case studies structurally compare the layouts, which are all three very different from each other. Material objects that were excavated at the archaeological sites of Shangdu and Jining, imply that Shangdu was not so much a trading city but rather served the Yuan court, whereas Jining was a trading city in the hinterlands of the Yuan where many ceramics and other material objects were excavated. Dadu on the other hand, played an important role on both imperial political as trading levels.Show less
Er komen continue nieuwe woorden in het Mandarijn terecht vanuit andere talen. Er zijn verschillende manieren waarop een woord in het Mandarijn terecht komt. De verschillende mogelijkheden die in...Show moreEr komen continue nieuwe woorden in het Mandarijn terecht vanuit andere talen. Er zijn verschillende manieren waarop een woord in het Mandarijn terecht komt. De verschillende mogelijkheden die in dit eindwerkstuk uitgelicht worden zijn, merknamen, grafische leenwoorden uit het Kantonees, Japans en Engels, leenvertalingen, fonetische leenwoorden, fonetische leenwoorden met betekenis aanduidend suffix, semifonetische semisemantische leenwoorden en combinatievormen.Show less
Following the abolition of the slave trade, colonial Cuba imported Chinese labourers to ensure a steady labour supply for their massive sugar production. After the Independence Wars that occurred...Show moreFollowing the abolition of the slave trade, colonial Cuba imported Chinese labourers to ensure a steady labour supply for their massive sugar production. After the Independence Wars that occurred between 1868-1898, the Chinese were heralded for their widespread involvement. Following U.S. annexation however, the Chinese were marked as a distinct 'other' which resulted in the Chinese Exclusion Act. This thesis traces the development from inclusion to exclusion and argues that Chinese labour exclusion in Cuba was facilitated by a two-fold dependency on sugar and the U.S., ultimately leading to extreme nationalist and anti-foreign sentiments that completely excluded Chinese labourers from the Cuban nation-state.Show less
Dit stuk behandelt de gaande discussie of woordsoorten in het Mandarijn bepaald worden door het lexicon van de taal of door invloed van syntaxis. In dit stuk wordt een korte introductie tot deze...Show moreDit stuk behandelt de gaande discussie of woordsoorten in het Mandarijn bepaald worden door het lexicon van de taal of door invloed van syntaxis. In dit stuk wordt een korte introductie tot deze discussie gegeven en worden beide zijden van deze discussie behandeld.Show less
With the boom in the Chinese economy and its increasing influence in the global world order, China adhered to a new strategy that focuses on improving its image in the world by relying solely on...Show moreWith the boom in the Chinese economy and its increasing influence in the global world order, China adhered to a new strategy that focuses on improving its image in the world by relying solely on soft power. China’s soft power strategy in the Middle East is little researched, however, the Middle East is of paramount global importance as the region is the world’s largest energy supplier. This thesis examines China’s soft power strategy and its key objectives in the Middle East through an in-depth analysis focusing on economic, cultural, political and military soft power initiatives. The findings of this research argue that China’s pivot towards the Middle East is primarily driven by its need to secure energy sources, as well as other economic interests. Its influence in the Middle East is rapidly increasing through these various soft power initiatives. Although China’s soft power strategy is mainly focused on economic and cultural soft power initiatives, political and military soft power initiatives have taken a larger focus in recent years. As China is gradually shifting from non-interference to limited-interference in the regions political and security affairs, it is committed to maintain and improve its image, which it attained solely through soft power, by not losing its neutrality while gradually becoming more proactive in the political and security field.Show less
The Qing government made at the end of its reign far-reaching changes in regard to its emigration policy. By establishing diplomatic relations, offering education and reforming emigration policies,...Show moreThe Qing government made at the end of its reign far-reaching changes in regard to its emigration policy. By establishing diplomatic relations, offering education and reforming emigration policies, the late Qing strengthened ties with overseas Chinese.The changes made by the Qing led to a new kind of relationship between the state and its overseas subjects. I argue that the Qing government established a shift in the representation of emigrations as they were previously stateless outlaws but now represented as overseas Chinese citizens. Furthermore, I argue that the Qing state started policy changes and strategies that further developed during the Republican era.Under the Republican governments, generating support from the overseas Chinese became increasingly important.Show less
