Jointly organized by the Cluster of LLCE, China Studies Centre and the Department of Chinese Studies, the University of Sydney
4–5.30pm 21 May, 2018
SLC Common Room 536, Brennan MacCallum Building A18
Disrupted Reciprocity: State-funded Projects and Problematised Village Governance
A Great Earthquake took place in Sichuan Province in 2008. The party-state has funded large reconstruction projects in the afflicted areas in order to stimulate infrastructural upgrade and economic development. Drawing on the collected materials about project implementations in one of the villages from 2008-2010, this paper elucidates how state-funded projects that were supposed to improve village governance have ended up paralysing the local institution that previously worked to facilitate the performance of village government.
Kai Zhang is a PhD candidate from the Department of Sociology and Social Policy.
The Yangzhou Pinghua Storytelling of Rogue Pi Wu
This story has been read as autobiographical, as most episodes directly came from his experiences and contemporary social life in Qing Yangzhou. Numerous performers of Pi Wu’s story in the last few hundred years enriched the story by inserting their thoughts and views on life and their comments on contemporary events and daily life experiences in the story. Thus, in history, the protagonist Pi Wu has two different images: martial Pi Wu and gentle Pi Wu.
Liu Liu is a PhD candidate from the Department of Chinese Studies.
Theatre as Business: A Study of Theatrical Performance in Shanxi Merchant Guild-halls
Shanxi merchants were one of the most powerful regional merchant groups in Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) times. They established guild-halls (huiguan) all over China as a venue for social gathering, business meeting and ritual performance. This essay examines theatrical performance in Shanxi merchant guild-halls. I argue that the theatrical performance in Shanxi merchant guild-halls was presented not only as a sacrificial offering to gods but also as a means for business management.
Hu Yunjie is a PhD candidate in the Department of Chinese studies.
A View of the Koreans of Pre-1949 China: A Narrative of Prosperity in a Korean Newspaper
Entering the twentieth century, Korean immigration in China had rapidly increased to over a million and a half people. This study focuses on the pre-1949 Chinese Korean society which is influenced by the neighbouring cultures and also Chinese communist governance. Based on an analysis of data in a China-based Korean newspaper, Yǒnbǒn ilbo (Yanbian Daily) published in 1948, the research particularly discusses the role it played in integrating the minority into the mainstream Communist liberated areas.
Xiaoliang Zhao is a MPhil candidate from the Department of Chinese Studies.
Respondents:
Dr Olivier Krischer is Deputy Director of the China Studies Centre. He is interested in modern and contemporary artistic relations between China and Japan, and recent networks of art activism in Hong Kong and East Asia.
Dr Lynda Ng is an Adjunct Fellow with the Writing & Society Research Centre at Western Sydney University and currently teaches in the Chinese department at the University of Sydney.
More information
Josh Stenberg
josh.stenberg@sydney.edu.au