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SESSION 5A
Film (I)
CHAIR:
CHU Stephen, Prof. Dr.
The University of Hong Kong
VENUE:
Aula Magnum
5А Film (I)
CHU Stephen, Prof. Dr.
The University of Hong Kong
Main Melody, Soft Power and Chinese Cinema
Main melody films are indeed not new to Chinese cinema. Simply put, they used to be referring to the propaganda works that paid tribute to the nation. Thanks to the advent of global capitalism with Chinese characteristics and hence policy changes in the 21st century, Chinese main melody films have acquired different meanings. To borrow Chris Berry’s response to Amazing China, a 2018 Chinese documentary that praised China’s contemporary achievements: “it is a form of propaganda in the pursuit of soft power…[and] its attempt to win legitimacy in the eyes of its audience is based on quite similar values and styles of filmmaking to those used in the West.” It will be argued that Hong Kong filmmakers’ participation in main melody films has contributed to their “values and styles of filmmaking,” which would in turn enhance the soft power of Chinese cinema and its ability to lure overseas markets.
LU Xiaoning, Dr.
SOAS University of London
Revitalizing Film Art in Reform Era China:
Inspirations from the Central and Eastern Europe
Li Tuo and Zhang Nuanxin’s call for modernizing film language in 1978 has been regarded as the harbinger of the film modernization movement in Reform era China. This paper explores cultural and historical factors that contributed to the conceptual shift of Chinese cinema as an instrument of politics to an art with its intrinsic value. With special attention paid to the transnational connections between Central and Eastern European cinema and Chinese film industry throughout the 1960s and 1970s, it discusses the Chinese reception of films such as Walter Defends Sarajevo (Yugoslav), The Waves of the Danube (Romania) and Eighth in Bronze (Albania) as well as Hungarian film theorist’s Bela Balazs’ Theory of Film. The paper argues that Sino-Eastern European cinematic encounter fulfilled the Chinese audience’s ethical demands, provided them with sensual and intellectual pleasures, and offered an unusual space for cultivating new conceptions of film.
MENG Sijia, PhD Candidate
Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
Cinematic Representation of the Woman Warrior Hua Mulan
in the Construction of Chineseness
When the characterisation of women and the cultural consciousness of nation intersect, the figure Hua Mulan is arguably the most envisioned and mediated female persona in the history of China’s gender imagination. For centuries the story of Hua Mulan, the woman warrior who helps her old and sick father by taking his place in the army while dressed as a male soldier, has remained a popular source of literary works including films. In the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Hua Mulan story was first retold as a film in the 1956 Yuju (Henan opera) version, Hua Mulan 花木蘭. Yet Mulan’s story did not become familiar to global audiences until the release of Disney’s animated film Mulan in 1998. In 2009, the Mulan story migrated back to its homeland and was recast again in the Mainland-Hong Kong live-action co-production, Mulan 花木兰, with the purpose of reclaiming the Chineseness of the woman warrior. If the latest image of Mulan is made to be different from her PRC and Disney sisters, how does the 2009 Mainland-Hong Kong film version of Mulan’s story construct Mulan’s Chineseness and womanhood? By analysing and comparing the transformations of the above three versions of the Hua Mulan story, this paper shows that Mulan has been reinvented repeatedly so that her character represents different agendas in each retelling. The various film versions of the Mulan legend also reveal the construction of Chineseness and the idea about female roles and identities at different times, and ultimately recast the connection between women and the nation.
WANG Hui, Dr.
Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
Shaping and Reshaping the Hero Image of Monkey King in the Globalized world: a case study of Monkey King Hero is Back and its English Translation
This paper investigates how the heroic image of Monkey King is shaped in the Chinese film and reshaped in the animated Chinese and English films, Monkey King: Hero is Back, and its underlying factors, with a view to unfolding the reasons behind the journey of Monkey King from myth to reality. It starts with transcribing the visual and the verbal modes of the film with Baldry and Thibault’s (2006) multimodal transcription model, followed by comparative verbal (transitivity & modality) and visual analyses (distance, angle, gesture, and facial expression) of a 2-minute script of the film and its English translation. The research findings are then placed in the GILT (Globalisation, Internationalisation, Localisation and Translation) scenario for discussion in relation to economies of translation. The paper argues that having undergone an internationalization process by putting the human to the super hero, the film is further localized by adding more “complexity and humanity” to the image of Monkey King in the Chinese-English transformation process in order to be tailored to the needs of the audiences in the U.S. In so doing, it highlights the impact of the forces of film production and distribution in the global film industry on the translation activity and its product.
5B History (II)
SESSION 5B
History (II)
CHAIR:
TBD
( )
VENUE:
Yaitseto Hall
MARINOVA Maria, Assistant Professor
Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
Origin and Interpretation of the Custom of Placement of Objects
in the Mouth of the Deceased in Ancient China
Since remotest antiquity, funeral rituals have always been an important part of Chinese social life, reflecting the concepts of afterlife in ancient communities. The custom of placing an object into the mouth of the deceased （口含物）can be traced back to Neolithic times, since some burial sites of the Dawenkou Culture（大汶口文化）revealed small stones or pottery balls, contained in the mouth of the dead. By the time of the Shang and Zhou dynasties the placement of jade objects and shells in the mouth of the deceased is already a common practice, while during the next few centuries they are gradually replaced by coins. The present article aims at analyzing the available archaeological and written evidence in order to clarify the types, the functions and the semantics of this Chinese custom, as well as its origins and development in the course of history.
NEDYALKOVA Tsvetelina, PhD Student,
Assistant Professor
Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
Relations between the Zhou Dynasty and the Rong People
During the Zhou dynasty the Central Plain States were surrounded by many non-Zhou people, who were named in relation to the direction of the territory which they inhabited around the states. In the chapter “Wangzhi” 《王制》of the “Book of Rites” (《礼记》) we find: the tribes on the east were called Yi (夷), . . . those on the south were called Man (蛮), . . . those on the west were called Rong (戎) , . . . those on the north were called Di (狄).
The Rong and the Di were the “barbarians”, who were mentioned most frequently in the historical records, such as the “Book of Documents” (《尚书》), “Chunqiu” （《春秋》）, “Zuozhuan”（《左传》）, “Discourses of the States” (《国语》), etc.
The aim of this research is to read the political and cultural relations between the Central Plain and the Rong and Di peoples through the ancient chronicles. The more thorough view of the ethno political situation during the Zhou dynasty (and the previous periods), additionally supported by archeological evidence, would bring more clarification to the formation of the concept “Huaxia” and the view on “non-Chinese” people in ancient times.
5D Teaching (II)
SESSION 5D
Teaching Chinese as a second language (II)
CHAIR:
PETROVČIČ Mateja, Assoc. Prof. Dr.
University of Ljubljana
VENUE:
Conference Hall
PETROVČIČ Mateja, Assoc. Prof. Dr.
University of Ljubljana
The Potential of H5P Technologies in Pedagogical Process:
An Example of Study Materials for Chinese
This paper presents how H5P technologies can contribute to flexible and interactive Chinese reading materials, flashcards and other study materials. Since H5P content is appropriate for mobile devices, such materials are consequently very user friendly. There are several series of reading materials for learning English to encourage students to develop their reading comprehension, but not so many for Chinese. Moreover, due to financial reasons, the required reading materials should be available free of charge and easily accessed on several devices. Because our materials are not governed by the publishing houses, it is much easier to engage students to actively participate in creation of reading materials that they find attractive and useful. It is therefore a win-win situation. According to the posts on various social media, several teachers face the same problem and have posed similar questions and requirements, i.e. where one could find easy (and preferably graded) Chinese readers on the internet. This paper explores the options and demonstrates some examples of different materials using H5P technologies and freely accessible contents.
UHER David, Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Department of Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts,
Palacky University in Olomouc, The Czech Republic
Teaching Chinese Without Chinese Characters
The Bologna process forced us not only to divide study of Chinese Philology into two parts. It also posed two fundamental problems: how to teach Chinese in the first three years and what textbook to use. The answer to the first question was the accent on spoken language, and the temporary delay of written language. In finding the ideal textbook, we encountered three complications: English textbooks do not meet the needs of teaching Slavic language speakers; Chinese textbooks mostly shows “big nations” orientation; finally, none of the textbooks reflected the fact of weakening tones in standard Chinese nowadays. The natural result of these considerations was the intention to create own textbook. In 2007 and 2016 two volumes of the Textbook of Chinese Conversation were published. They became the axis of the bachelor degree of Chinese Philology in Olomouc. The advantages and disadvantages of this decision are discussed in this paper.
CHAO Dikai, PhD student
National Taiwan Normal University
Challenges and New Horizons in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language (TCSL) in Taiwan: Theoretical Issues and Pragmatic Approaches
Teaching Chinese as a second language (TCSL) has a history of more than 70 years in Taiwan; however, it became a major research topic only in 1995. In the last 25 years, TCSL research in Taiwan has focused on developing a theoretical framework and implementing practical teaching strategies mainly by drawing on pedagogical methods derived from research conducted in the field of teaching English as a second language (ESL). The present study aims at analyzing the current challenges in TCSL in Taiwan, by focusing on some theoretical issues and pragmatic approaches. The present research also aims at envisaging new horizons and putting forward concrete proposals for improving the current pedagogic patterns in Taiwan by considering recent research findings and advocating collaborative work amongst TCSL professionals, in order to close the current theoretical and pragmatic TCSL pedagogic gaps.
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