Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2012, East Asian Languages and Literatures

Since the early 1980s, China has been experiencing a moderate Confucian revival. This has been evident in various aspects of society such as best selling books & television programs on Confucianism, various academic movements to popularize the Confucian classics, and the burgeoning “traditional learning craze” (guo xue re¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿) among others. This study is an attempt to provide a prefatory analysis of Confucian thought in contemporary China and various revival trends in Chinese academia, society, and politics. The analysis can be broadly separated into four parts: Firstly, I present signs of the Confucian revival in Mainland China, focusing on examples of Confucian resurgence in mainstream media and society. Secondly, I investigate the history of Contemporary “New Confucianism”, focusing on the philosophy of several main “New Confucian” figures with a critique of their conceptual implications. This follows with a historical analysis of cultural and political context that fostered the return of Confucianism to Mainland China during the late 1970s and early 1980s under the banner of “New Confucianism”. Thirdly, I share findings based on surveys and interviews with Shanghai Confucian scholars, professors, entrepreneurs, and young people during the 2011-2012 academic year. I present an analysis of these survey and interview results, attempting to highlight broad trends among the Confucian revivals. Lastly, the analysis introduces theories on the possible impact of these trends.

Committee: Jianqi Wang PhD (Advisor); Galal Walker PhD (Committee Member); Xiaobin Jian PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Asian Literature; Asian Studies; Foreign Language; History; Philosophy; Religion; Sociology

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2024, East Asian Studies

In Edo-period (1603-1868) playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon's The Woman-Killer and the Hell of Oil (1721), the central character Yohei murders an innocent young mother. Scholars have debated the root cause behind this heinous crime, with scholars C. Andrew Gerstle and Eiji Sekine arguing that Yohei's actions resulted from a lack of parental love. However, these perspectives have not adequately addressed the prominent presence and influence of mother figures in the play. My paper shifts the focus of the play away from Yohei and addresses this lack of scholarly attention to the female characters by focusing on the literary theme “giri (social obligation) versus ninjo (personal feelings)” that is informed by Neo-Confucian rhetoric and is used to justify characters' actions. In other words, historicizing motherhood during the Edo period allows the blame for Yohei's actions to shift away from his parents and more squarely on his own volition. Specifically, I will discuss the mother characters' virtuous invocations of giri and ninjo and juxtapose them against Yohei's misuse of these concepts to explore how Chikamatsu emphasizes and dramatizes his flawed protagonist's misconduct. I argue that Yohei's misuse of Neo-Confucian rhetoric is evidence of his immoral character rather than his misfortune due to a lack of parental care. In conclusion, this project, by closely examining how giri and ninjo are used in Neo-Confucian rhetoric, sheds light on the boundaries of ethics in Edo-period society, and explores the tensions between a woman's social obligation towards her husband and own family's well-being and her maternal inclination to care for her own child and others.

Committee: Naomi Fukumori (Advisor); Artem Vorobiev (Committee Member); Morgan Liu (Committee Member) Subjects: Asian Literature

BA, Oberlin College, 2022, History

This thesis focuses on Ebara Soroku's political actions, namely the strategy of moral respectability, in relation to Western powers in the 1910s. Ebara Soroku (1842-1922) was a Japanese ex-samurai, a Christian educator, and a politician of the Meiji and Taisho periods. Ebara's strategy of moral respectability was his way of showing Japan as a strong and modernized nation to the Western powers. Throughout the thesis, I argued that Ebara used his strategy of moral respectability as a rhetorical device to show Japan as a modernized empire to the Western powers. But Ebara also embodied his strategy through a moral education to the Japanese people. Ebara's use of the strategy of moral respectability was distinct from the approach that the Japanese government introduced to strengthen its nation. This distinction, I argue, highlights the importance of morality in thinking about Japanese foreign policy in the early 20th century as a pedagogical tool to improve Japan's moral status.In the first chapter, “Ebara Soroku's different identities; 1842-1912,” I argued that Ebara's moral respectability strategy resulted from the reconciliation of his different identities. As an ex-samurai and a Christian, his moral values were shaped by Neo-Confucian and Christian values. As an educator, he formed his pedagogy based on these moral values. I claim that Ebara's strategy of moral respectability was developed through his identity as an educator, amalgamating Neo-Confucianism and Christianity.The second and third chapters are case studies of Ebara's use of his strategy of moral respectability to the Western powers to demonstrate the strength of the Japanese nation in the international arena. In the second chapter, I focused on Ebara's visit to the United States in 1913 to protest the Alien Land Law enacted in California. Sent by the Seiyukai Party, the ruling party of the Japanese Diet at that time, Ebara's mission was to negotiate with politicians to stop the enactment of anti-Japanese (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Annemarie Sammartino (Advisor); Sheila Miyoshi Jager (Advisor); Pablo Mitchell (Committee Member); Leonard V. Smith (Committee Member); Renee Christine Romano (Committee Chair) Subjects: Asian Studies; History

MA, Kent State University, 2021, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy

Benevolent government is the central theme of Jeong Do-jeon's political philosophy, which in turn is primarily inspired by the Mencian view of human morality. Mengzi believed that all humans equally possess the capacity to become virtuous, and the role of the state will resemble that of a benevolent father, in that its primary function is to nurture and educate the people so they can adequately develop their moral capacities. Jeong's idea of benevolent government and the politics of peace of Sara Ruddick share certain similarities. In this thesis, I will argue that maternal thinking – as proposed by Sara Ruddick – is the underlying mode of thought behind Jeong's political theory. Such a connection can be established through a close reading of Mengzi and identifying the theme of maternal thinking apparent in the classical Confucian text, as interpreted by the contemporary scholar Joanne Birdwhistell. Some common aspects of both Jeong and Ruddick's philosophy is their stern opposition to blind obedience to hierarchy, and defense of respectful communications. I will reveal these common aspects by mainly focusing on the idea of remonstrance promoted by Jeong, and its resemblance to the emphasis on Ruddick's view of maternal thinking and politics.

Committee: Jung-Yeup Kim (Advisor); Michael Byron (Committee Member); Andreea Smaranda Aldea (Committee Member) Subjects: Philosophy

Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2019, East Asian Studies

The nushu script is a unique female writing style of Chinese created by the women of the rural village of Jiangyong in the Hunan province of Southern China. This thesis shows the complex cultural and historical circumstances that have led nushu women to take part in the creation of poetic narratives. Since the discovery of nushu by the Western world in the 1980s, scholars and the media have represented nushu women in a degrading and misogynistic manner, and so have trapped these individuals into generalized and false stereotypes, either as secret revolutionaries or as powerless actors in an androcentric, Confucian culture. Because of this, the actual women of Jiangyong are not having their stories accurately and respectively communicated. The thesis argues that the actual history and culture of nushu , rather than its current international representations, must be preserved. By analyzing how nushu women have utilized both the benefits of oral and written tradition, as well as how they worked with the Confucian system in order to gain authority over their own stories, work through their own pain, and have control in the shaping of their self, we can see that nushu women are much more complicated than their stereotypes suggest. While these stereotypes persist to this day, nushu is beginning to no longer be an isolated text, but a platform in which women's current stories and future stories can be heard and read.

Committee: Shelley Chan (Advisor); Jia Shi (Committee Member); Cynthia Richards (Committee Member) Subjects: Asian Studies; Folklore; Gender Studies; Language; Sociolinguistics; Womens Studies

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2017, East Asian Studies

In June 1915, the president of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai ¿¿¿ (1859-1916), attempted to reform China's state system into a constitutional monarchy, and assume the title of Emperor of the Empire of China. Although Yuan Shikai's “monarchical attempt” has been often cited in historical scholarship on the early Republican period (1912-1916), it has been oversimplified, and characterized as reactionary and conservative. Often, it is presented as part of a teleological account of the origins of the Warlord Period (1916-1928) in early Republican China. This thesis demonstrates that rather than a historical aberration, Yuan's monarchical attempt should be viewed as one of several efforts to reform Chinese political culture along constitutional lines during the early Republican period. It was rooted in late Qing and early Republican (1895-1916) reformist discourses and developments in religion and political ethics. An examination of contemporary government proclamations, polemical essays, and periodical articles illuminates the institutional, rhetorical, and religious foundations utilized by Yuan to enact the monarchical attempt. This analysis reveals that the monarchical attempt was influenced by republican-style institutional models, populist rhetoric, and the religious ethics of late-Qing Confucian populism rather than imperial tradition.

Committee: Ying Zhang PhD (Committee Member); Meow Hui Goh PhD (Committee Member); Christopher Reed PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Asian Studies; History; Political Science

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2016, East Asian Studies

Abstract This thesis investigates the Mind-Thing relation in Wang Yangming's philosophy from an existential-phenomenological perspective. As is well known, a critical step for Wang Yangming in detaching from Zhu Xi's system is his revision and reinterpretation of the Great Learning. Things, in Wang Yangming's hermeneutics, refer to the objects upon which the subjective intentionality dwells and discloses itself. In light of the resemblances between Wang Yangming's yi and Edmund Husserl's “intentionality,” this thesis scrutinizes Wang Yangming's renowned proposition that “nothing exists outside of Mind” and the metaphor of the quiescent flower in the mountain. It further analyzes Wang Yangming's position on the ontological relation between Mind and Thing “prior to” their synthesis based on the thought of Sartre and Heidegger. Drawing upon the renowned claims of Wang Yangming's that “Mind is Principle” and “unification of consciousness and action,” this thesis then provides an analysis of the ethical meaning of Wang Yangming's Mind-Thing relation, arguing that it can be better understood in light of existentialist notions such as possibility, ektasis and action.

Committee: Melissa Curley (Committee Chair); Ying Zhang (Committee Co-Chair); Tamar Rudavsky (Committee Co-Chair) Subjects: Comparative; Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2016, Theology

The principal goal of this dissertation is to demonstrate that the Confucian interpretation of xiao (“filial piety”) provides a fruitful hermeneutical lens for Christology in two respects. Most immediately, I argue the early Confucian xiao is a salutary resource for understanding, appreciating, clarifying, and amending the Christology of Hans Urs von Balthasar, who gave profound importance to Christ's obedience in his thought. More generally, I argue the Confucian reading of xiao can help theologians enter into the mysteries of the Church's Christological dogmas and doctrines in new and expansive ways. Consequently, the main argument of the dissertation is that through Balthasar and the early Confucian tradition, we arrive at a rich and compelling orthodox account of Christ's filial love and obedience. After situating the dissertation's theological approach to incorporating Confucian philosophy in chapter 1, the dissertation develops two sets of studies. The first is devoted to examining and exploring Balthasar's Christology on its own terms. The second is similarly devoted to analyzing themes in the Confucian treatment of xiao on its own terms. The final chapter of the dissertation undertakes a theological synthesis of these two studies, showing how the combination of Balthasar's theological vision and the Confucian philosophical distinctions produce fruitful reflections on how Christ's filial obedience functions within and expresses his life as eternal Son.

Committee: William Portier Ph.D. (Advisor); G. Alexus McLeod Ph.D. (Committee Member); Peter Casarella Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jana Bennett Ph.D. (Committee Member); Dennis Doyle Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Comparative; Philosophy; Theology

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2014, Cross-Cultural, International Education

The Tiananmen Square Demonstrations of 1989, the Taiwanese independence movement and the claims for Tibetan Sovereignty, collectively referred to as the Three Ts, are issues suppressed and censored within the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). The two research questions which anchored this thesis were 1) How is knowledge related to Tiananmen Square, Taiwan, and Tibet communicated? 2) To what degree does the government censored discourse involving Tiananmen Square, Taiwanese independence, and Tibetan sovereignty affect citizen perceptions of government and their role as citizens? To understand this phenomenon, a thorough literature review outlined the socio-cultural foundations of the PRC, the Chinese educational system, the historical background related to each of the Three Ts, and an overview of the Chinese media. An initial process of inductive grounded theory data collection, coding, and analysis yielded a categories and subcategories explaining the phenomenon from participant voices. Next, the grounded theory deductively coded through the lens of discursive analysis, cultural reproduction, and symbolic violence. The findings discussed how 11 Chinese citizens perceived these events and through which means was their knowledge of these events constructed. The core category, censorship, anchored the findings for both research questions. Regarding how knowledge of the Three Ts was communicated, categories of educational pedagogical authority, media pedagogical authority, and family and community pedagogical authority organized the findings. Regarding the second research question, subcategories of perceptions of the education system, lack of critical thinking, academic and social pressure, Internet, Japan, special treatment of minority groups, perceptions of government, and the role of democracy created a holistic understanding of a complex socio-cultural context.

Committee: Hyeyoung Bang PhD (Advisor); Bruce Collet PhD (Committee Member); Simon Marc PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Asian Studies; Comparative; Education; Ethics; Mass Media; Social Studies Education

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2013, Population and Social Gerontology

Filial piety is a Confucian concept that structures traditional East Asian cultures and one's role in the family and society. Family dynamics are evolving as a result of globalization and shift in care for elders as well as children-rearing by East Asian families should be at the forefront of research. This pilot study of Korean families living in Thailand uses qualitative ethnographic research method. Data collection techniques combine snowball sampling of 5 informants, in-depth interviews and participant observations. Data collection took place in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand. This study analyzes the definition of filial piety, definition of dutiful child/son/daughter, practices by Koreans living in Thailand, and aspects of the Korean community in Thailand. Results of this comparative content analysis show differing definitions of filial piety and dutiful child/son/daughter, adapted practices, varying emphasis on celebration of traditional holidays, and surprising aspects of the Korean community living in Thailand.

Committee: Kanokwan Tharawan Ph.D (Advisor); Jennifer Kinney Ph.D (Committee Member); Chai Podhisita Ph.D (Committee Member); Bencha Yoddumnern-Attig Ph.D (Committee Member); Jiraporn Kespichayawattana Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Cultural Anthropology; Gerontology; Sociology

PHD, Kent State University, 2011, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Studies

Current literature suggests that young children can socially construct gender identities when submitting to or resisting dominant discourses. In this study I sought to understand the gendered culture of contemporary Taiwanese kindergartens. I focused on how Taiwanese Children (NTC) and mainstream Taiwanese peers play together as they constructed gender identities in urban and rural classroom settings. I observed and interviewed five- and six-year-old NTC and their peers as they engaged in critical gender incidents related to male, female, and cross-gender play. The research addressed how NTC and their peers enacted multiple gender performances as daily experiences continually shaped and reshaped children's gender-doing, and investigated how NTC maintained and resisted gender norms under dominant gender discourse. The research questions asked: What constitutes children's gendered knowledge and how do children perform gender culture?; and How do children represent gendered social order in class? NTC's gender identity often represents multiple levels of gender power, which relates to issues of SES, ethnicity and family culture backgrounds. It is insufficient to examine individual NTC's gender-doing; only when her or his peer interactions have happened can gender incidents display local children's specific gender culture. As such, I explored how NTC persistently build gendered knowledge, gendered social orders and gender identities by tracking critical incidents within local school culture and family settings. This study reveals where NTC's gender identities intersect with gendered knowledge and classroom gender culture. From these conclusions, I highlighted the importance of classroom gender norms and gender education in early childhood education. The results indicate that the constellation of gendered classroom activities makes it difficult to create the most advantageous learning environment, and that teachers need to be sensitive to different social classes (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Janice Kroeger PhD (Committee Chair); Alicia Crowe PhD (Committee Member); Natasha Levinson PhD (Committee Member); Huey-Li Li PhD (Committee Member); Sara Newman PhD (Other) Subjects: Early Childhood Education

MA, Kent State University, 2011, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy

In this work I illuminate resonating themes in the Confucian and Meadean senses of self on the basis of their rejection of two fundamental assumptions found in some western models of self; namely, 1) that entities are independent and autonomous, and 2) that such entities are organized according to an overarching transcendent principles. Instead of thinking of subject and object as distinct and autonomous realms, George Herbert Mead demonstrates how the two interact and come together in the self: The self takes into account the objective by internalizing community attitudes and remains subjective insofar as it acts spontaneously. This interplay of community and individual maps well onto the Confucian sense of self, where community attitudes are embodied in traditionally prescribed ritual actions and novel or spontaneous action is required to address unique situations. For Mead, the self takes on the community attitude via the Me - similarly, the Confucian self takes on community attitudes in the form of li. The traditionally prescribed ritual actions, like Mead's Me, set the stage for the spontaneous expression of yi, which corresponds to Mead's I. Both the I and yi introduce novel attitudes of responding to situations into the community and thus alter the community, in the form of the Me or li, respectively. The Meadean and Confucian notions of self are similar in their use of the idea of extension and bidirectional authorship of individual and community. These similarities manifest a tendency in each author toward the use of intrinsic relations and self- organizing particulars – ideas which entail the rejection of the two underlying assumption of some western models of self.

Committee: Jung-Yeup Kim PhD (Advisor); Frank Ryan PhD (Committee Member); Michael Byron PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Philosophy

Master of Education (MEd), Bowling Green State University, 2013, Curriculum and Teaching

When coming to the U.S. to study, international students encounter more than just a language barrier, they encounter and must learn to cope with cultural differences as well (Zhou, Frey, & Bang, 2011). This study examines how societal and educational cultural differences affect international students form China and Taiwan when they came to study education at a Midwestern university in the U.S. The main research question was how do societal and educational cultures affect the U.S. educational experiences of students from China and Taiwan? Data was collected by interviewing four research participants in three different formats: a questionnaire, an individual interview, and a group interview. The researcher also used a researcher journal and reflections of observations of the participants. The data showed that these students were very aware of how the culture from their home countries effected their interactions in the U.S. These cultural influences were Confucianism, face, humbleness, educational restrictions due to culture, and differences in educational values. Implications of this study show that culturally relevant pedagogy is important in the graduate classroom, or any classroom, and that international students need to be aware of what cultural differences they will encounter so they may better participate in their studies.

Committee: Sharon Subreenduth Ph.D (Advisor); Savilla Banister Ph.D (Committee Member); Tracy Huziak-Clark Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Education Policy; Educational Psychology; Educational Sociology; Teaching