Suchergebnisse

Abstract
American travel writing on China, The Journals of Major Samuel Shaw, the First American Consul at Canton With a Life of the Author, not only reflects the image of China in the mid-Qing dynasty from a Western perspective, but also presents the self-conception and identity construction of early Americans. Shaw's understanding of China prior to his arrival in China was influenced by public opinion, his community, and his reading experiences, leading him to approach his observations of China through a complex filter of romantic imagination and grandiose expectations, and commercial incentives, as well as malicious misinterpretations. While in China, his idealized vision of the Chinese market was tempered by his critical stance toward the Qing government and legal culture, which were closely linked to American interests. Shaw's journals deconstructed the image of China as a utopia and marked an important turning point in the history of American perception of China. This study explores the trajectory of this transition and reflects on the discursive construction of American national identity in the process, tracing Samuel Shaw's evolving perceptions of China and his influence on American politicians, businessmen, and the general public.

This article focuses on a participatory action research project as a process for improving social work practice and empowering mothers with hemophiliac children. Four stages of the action research are presented in this study. The research played a critical consciousness-raising and capacity-building role facilitating the mothers' transformation from passive victims to active subjects. In addition, participatory action research contributed to identifying the emerging needs of families with hemophiliac children and improving the quality of social work services. We concluded that participatory action research is an effective way to empower disadvantaged people. This research methodology also facilitates social work practice in a non-traditional field. It is argued that participatory action research as a way of empowering the vulnerable also entails risks as attempts to redistribute power may earn further stigmatization and discrimination, especially from those whose existing power is challenged. Social work, as a profession committed to a more just and equal society, should be wary of this further stigmatization and insist on principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility, and respect for diversity. The article concludes by examining the limitations of employing participatory action research and makes recommendations for future programs.

Hong Kong based Chinese artist Zheng Bo is committed to socially and ecologically engaged art. He investigates the past and imagines the future from the perspectives of marginalized communities and marginalized plants. He has worked with a number of museums and art spaces in Asia and Europe, most recently TheCube Project Space (Taipei), the Power Station of Art (Shanghai), the Sifang Art Museum (Nanjing), the Times Museum (Guangzhou), the Cass Sculpture Foundation (Chichester, UK), and Villa Vassilieff (Paris).

The past three decades have witnessed an unprecedented ecological crisis in China; however, there has been very little study of ecological concern in Chinese contemporary art. Ecological awareness has emerged in Chinese contemporary art since the early 1990s. This paper explores the various cultural factors that are involved. First, the rising ecological awareness in Chinese art in the 1990s is a corollary of ideological changes, both in social politics and in art. Chinese contemporary art in the 1990s experienced a constantly ongoing social turn to counter the dominance of the market and to continue the critical spirit. When this inner need in Chinese contemporary art encountered the thorough re-examination of the anthropocentric view caused by a severe environmental and ecological crisis, a group of artists started to focus on environmental and ecological wellbeing, as a primary concern. Secondly, the rising ecological awareness has been encouraged by a revival of Chinese traditional culture and art since the 1980s. This important factor has encouraged artists to focus on the traditional aspects of ecological concern and to reintroduce it into contemporary art. Thirdly, the rising ecological awareness reveals the impact of grassroots environmentalism in China. The analysis of the cultural environment behind the emergence of ecological consciousness in Chinese contemporary art provides considerable help in understanding the development of ecological art in contemporary China. ; peerReviewed

With 13 published novels and 5 children's literature books, which have been translated into 25 languages, Andrey Kurkov has been recognized as one of the most renowned Ukrainian writers in the world of literature, and Ukraine Diaries is his first non-fiction literary work. This paper attempts to focus on Kurkov's unique literary characteristics in the unusual combination of deceptive simplicity of style and the profound insights, coupled with acrid ridicule and subtle narration, which can all be attributed to the characteristics of "the Absurdist School". The writer regards his living condition, as the report from Kiev shows, as kind of dilemma, or paradox: on the one hand, he feels frustrated with Russia intellectually despite the affinity to traditional culture in emotion; on the other hand, he feels more indignant about the European Union who brought painful experiences to his country and his people, in spite of his closeness to western culture and political system.Keywords: Ukraine Diaries, Andrey Kurkov, Absurdist

AbstractThe Nanjing Massacre (1937–1938) has been rewritten by two controversial Chinese hits aimed at the global market: