Academic literature on the topic 'Australian literature Chinese influences'

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine Vietnamese international students’ experiences with the campus learning environment by analysing differences in staff and student perceptions. Design/methodology/approach Two focus groups (n=12) and ten in-depth interviews were conducted with Vietnamese students and four in-depth interviews with the university staff (totalling 26). Findings The findings show a greater divergence of views between students and staff on teaching and learning than English language proficiency and student support services. These key differences were influenced by students’ prior expectations of their learning environment in Vietnam. Research limitations/implications This study is limited to one group of international students and to one Australian university. Practical implications The lecturers/administrators must have a good understanding of international students’ learning backgrounds and expectations to enhance their positive experience; appropriate teaching skills and practices are essential for teachers to meet the current needs of students. More effective training for international students to understand the multicultural nature of Australia is also essential. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by identifying the experience of Vietnamese international students in a western university, which is, a relatively under-researched nationality compared to other Asian nationalities such as Chinese and Indian.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between consumers’ cultural values and their functional food perception. Design/methodology/approach The research is qualitative in nature and uses the grounded theory method. The data were collected through in-depth interviews with three ethnic groups, Anglo-Australian, Chinese and Indian ethnic groups in Australia. The constant comparative data analysis approach was used to analyse the interview text. Findings The results indicate that there is a relationship between consumers’ cultural values and their functional food perception. Functional food perception depends upon the consumers’ predisposition towards their culture, their motives for functional food consumption and the level of perseverance towards functional foods. Research limitations/implications The study includes only three ethnic groups and is qualitative in nature, which may limit its generalisability to the universe. The inclusion of more ethnic groups and additional sources of data could form directions for future research. Practical implications Functional food marketers can assess the kind of cultural values the ethnic groups in Australia uphold and capture those values in their marketing strategies. The cultural values in the framework could be used for the segmentation of functional food consumers. In a multicultural setting like Australia, segmentation of consumers based on the standard values would be more feasible and effective to target consumers spread across different ethnic groups but who uphold similar values. Originality/value The research has attempted to fill the gap in the existing literature about the relationship between culture and functional food perception. The latent variables in the theoretical framework proposed by the qualitative enquiry can be a good starting point for understanding the influence of cultural values on functional food perception and the development of a more comprehensive theoretical framework for functional food behaviour.

Abstract The identities of Chinese immigrants and their organizations are themes widely studied in existing literature but the link between them remains under-researched. This paper seeks to explore the role of Chinese ethnicity in Chinese immigrants’ self-organizing processes by empirically studying Chinese community organizations in South Australia. It finds that Chinese immigrants have deployed ethnic identities together with other social identities to call different organizations into being, which exerts an important influence on the emergence and performance of the five major types of Chinese community organizations active in South Australia. Moreover, the ways in which Chineseness is deployed have been heavily influenced by three factors within and beyond the community. These factors are the transformation of the local ethnic-Chinese community, changing socio-political contexts in Australia, and the rise of China. In short, the deployment of ethnic identities in Chinese immigrants’ organizing processes is instrumental, contextual, and strategic.

Abstract “Scar Literature,” a literary movement in twentieth-century Chinese literature, encompasses a series of works written after the Cultural Revolution. The scar metaphor was taken from the title of a short story, “The Scar,” and characterized a series of works with common features. The outlines of “Scar Literature” are blurred, mixed and intertwined with other literary trends and movements. But while Chinese and foreign literary criticism claim that it was short-lived, its influences are visible in several works by contemporary authors. Based on the idea that literary works are prone to being analyzed as a form of persuasive discourse, this paper identifies typical rhetorical procedures of this literary trend and its influences in certain emblematic works: the recurrence of topoi (figures such as “rehabilitation,” peculiar to the Cultural Revolution); inductive reasoning (the construction of a historiographic reasoning via the exemplum); recourse to pathos; and the metaphorical figure of the scar bearing the value of the plotline. This analysis applies concepts of New Rhetoric and discourse linguistics, in particular, concepts developed by Olbrecht-Tyteca and Perelman, Amossy’s approach about pathos and the role of emotions and “figurality” in argumentation, and Plantin’s linguistic theory of the emotions.

Background.α-Synuclein (SNCA) and microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT) are the two major genes independently, but not jointly, associated with susceptibility for Parkinson’s disease (PD). TheSNCAgene has recently been identified as a major modifier of age of PD onset. WhetherMAPTgene synergistically influences age of onset of PD is unknown.Objective. To investigate independent and joint effects ofMAPTandSNCAon PD onset age.Methods. 412 patients with PD were recruited from the Australian PD Research Network (123) and the Neurology Department, Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University, China (289).MAPT(rs17650901) tagging H1/H2 haplotype andSNCA(Rep1) were genotyped in the Australian cohort, andMAPT(rs242557, rs3744456) andSNCA(rs11931074, rs894278) were genotyped in the Chinese cohort. SPSS regression analysis was used to test genetic effects on age at onset of PD in each cohort.Results.SNCApolymorphisms associated with the onset age of PD in both populations.MAPTpolymorphisms did not enhance such association in either entire cohort.Conclusion. This study suggests that, in both ethnic groups,SNCAgene variants influence the age at onset of PD andα-synuclein plays a key role in the disease course of PD.

In this article the author briefly traces some features in the emergence in Australia of legislation controlling “dangerous drugs” such as opium, morphine, cocaine and heroin from 1900 to 1950. It is argued that, in common with other similar countries, the first laws prohibiting the non-medical use of drugs were enacted as a symptom of anti-Chinese racism and not out of any concern for the health of users. It is further argued that later laws, which built upon that precedent, developed not through any independent assessment of the drug problem in Australia but rather in response to pressure from the international community. Australia's unthinking acceptance of the growing U.S.-led international consensus relating to “dangerous drugs” influenced legislation, policy and attitudes to illicit drug use. The structure of drug control which emerged incorporated and promoted the fears, values and solutions of other societies without any assessment of their validity or appropriateness.

Evidence suggests that parental mind-mindedness is important for children’s social-emotional development; however, almost all research exploring mind-mindedness has been conducted with families from Western backgrounds. The current study explored cross-cultural differences in mind-mindedness based on observed real-time interactions between urban Australian ( N = 50, M age = 30.34 years, SD = 3.14) and urban mainland Chinese ( N = 50, M age = 29.18 years, SD = 4.14) mothers and their toddlers (Australian: M age = 18.98 months, SD = 0.87; Chinese: M age = 18.50 months, SD = 2.25). Controlling for education, the Australian mothers used a higher proportion of appropriate mind-related comments and were less likely to use non-attuned mind-related comments than their Chinese counterparts, adjusting for total number of comments. Transcript analysis showed that the Australian mothers used more mental state terms referring to desires and preferences than Chinese mothers. Findings are discussed in relation to cultural influences in child-rearing goals, beliefs, and values and the need for cross-cultural validation of the mind-mindedness construct.

The Hollywood paradigm of screenwriting is claimed to be the universal approach to storytelling. The paradigm is said to be ‘in our DNA’ and override cultural difference. It is declared the most popular cinema narrative form with audiences internationally. These claims of universal application and appeal are challenged in this article via a case study of Australian feature films and their appeal to Australian audiences. Interviews with industry practitioners establish the dominance of the Hollywood paradigm at the government screen agencies and in industry discourse, but its weak uptake by some of Australia’s most successful screenwriters. A link between national mythology, national narratives and a distinctly Australian idiom in screenwriting is investigated. A contrast is drawn with the influence of American national mythology in shaping the Hollywood paradigm.

This thesis is concerned with the representation of Chinese people in Australian literature from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present. The range of texts selected for consideration includes many that have long been out of print, and so a major aim of this thesis is to bring these texts into visibility under the single theme of "The Representation of Chinese People in Australian Literature", a topic to which, as far as I know, no full length study has yet been devoted. Australian literary writings in the period of early colonization share the basic discourses inherited from Europe, creating themes and images of Chinese people according to the European myth of the 'yellow peril ' , which has influenced the perceptions of Chinese people by the 'West' for centuries. Central to this thesis is the argument that in Australian literature, the formation of perceptions and images of Chinese people follows the Western principles of ·the theory of orientalism, as formulated by Edward Said. The first known significant cultural contact between Australia and China took place when a considerable number of Chinese migrants entered Australia from the time of the 1840's. This contact was immediately interpreted as a cultural invasion by the then dominant literary discourse. It is argued here that the anti-Chinese attitudes which are heavily reflected in early literature and conventionally attributed to Australian racism, are the products of Western cultural hegemony, of which racism is a part. The anti-Chinese notions of early nationalism reflected in literature are also rooted in the discourse that spreads the fear of cultural contamination. Chapter One of the thesis produces a general profile of this situation by presenting relevant readings. In this situation, themes and images of Chinese invaders are formed to define the nature of Australia's Chinese contact. Images of negative and aggressive Chinese people are created according to the format of the traditional myth of the 'yellow peril', instead of through practical experiences. Chapter Two surveys a range of such images of invaders and draws the conclusion that those images are the products of texualization of orientalist discourse which can create 'truth' by textual accumulation, as in the case of Chinese goldminers. Chinese people are variously stereotyped by fictional texts. A selection of short stories published in The Bulletin around the turn of the century are brought together in Chapter Three to illustrate the formation of several stereotypes. This part of the thesis argues that various stereotypes of the Chinese can form a system of images which is centred on the vision of ? Chinese disease'. I explain this vision as a symbolic expression of the fear of a threatening and contaminating alien culture. I argue that the themes, images, representations and attitudes generated by this vision are all claiming a single idea which is that Australia is, and should remain. an extension of Europe. Nevertheless, in the history of Australian literary perceptions of China and its people. alternative perspectives have existed alongside the 'yellow peril myth. By surveying a range of texts collected in Chapter Four, the thesis brings this trend to people's notice. In some early sea romances, bush legends, and adventure stories of pioneering life, certain representations of Chinese people cannot be simply categorized as orientalist products, because these representations in relation to the Chinese reflect the consciousness of an independent Australia, which opposes, to some degree. Western discourses of power and cultural hegemony. It is noticed in this study that literary writings after the 1920's express stronger interest in. and pay more attention to aspects of Chinese culture, especially when the topic of the Australian nation is addressed. Chapter Five deals with this issue by presenting a collection of novels that narrate relationships between Australia and China in terms of cultural identity. This part of the thesis demonstrates that when Australia is seen as an independent cultural entity, its location in the orientalist world map can be shifted. Such texts exhibit Australia's movement away from the West towards Asia. Texts presented in the thesis so far indicate a duality in perceptions of China in that it is seen as either the yellow peril' or as a civilized entity associated in a positive way with the idea of an Australian cultural utopia. Chapter Six illustrates this duality by showing how the representation of gender differences can contribute to the construction of opposing images of China. In other words, perceptions of Chinese people can be highly contradictory even within an individual text. Contemporary texts demonstrate a critical break-through in relation to orientalist discourse. Texts selected for Chapter Seven are presented to show significant elements of change in Australian discourses on China. These texts are considered multiculturalist writings which are recognized by this thesis as providing the basis for reconstructing the Australian legend in such a way that Chinese people are included as an aspect of contemporary Australian social reality.

Speeding remains a significant contributing factor to road trauma internationally, despite increasingly sophisticated speed management strategies being adopted around the world. Increases in travel speed are associated with increases in crash risk and crash severity. As speed choice is a voluntary behaviour, driver perceptions are important to our understanding of speeding and, importantly, to designing effective behavioural countermeasures. The four studies conducted in this program of research represent a comprehensive approach to examining psychosocial influences on driving speeds in two countries that are at very different levels of road safety development: Australia and China. Akers’ social learning theory (SLT) was selected as the theoretical framework underpinning this research and guided the development of key research hypotheses. This theory was chosen because of its ability to encompass psychological, sociological, and criminological perspectives in understanding behaviour, each of which has relevance to speeding. A mixed-method design was used to explore the personal, social, and legal influences on speeding among car drivers in Queensland (Australia) and Beijing (China). Study 1 was a qualitative exploration, via focus group interviews, of speeding among 67 car drivers recruited from south east Queensland. Participants were assigned to groups based on their age and gender, and additionally, according to whether they self-identified as speeding excessively or rarely. This study aimed to elicit information about how drivers conceptualise speeding as well as the social and legal influences on driving speeds. The findings revealed a wide variety of reasons and circumstances that appear to be used as personal justifications for exceeding speed limits. Driver perceptions of speeding as personally and socially acceptable, as well as safe and necessary were common. Perceptions of an absence of danger associated with faster driving speeds were evident, particularly with respect to driving alone. An important distinction between the speed-based groups related to the attention given to the driving task. Rare speeders expressed strong beliefs about the need to be mindful of safety (self and others) while excessive speeders referred to the driving task as automatic, an absent-minded endeavour, and to speeding as a necessity in order to remain alert and reduce boredom. For many drivers in this study, compliance with speed limits was expressed as discretionary rather than mandatory. Social factors, such as peer and parental influence were widely discussed in Study 1 and perceptions of widespread community acceptance of speeding were noted. In some instances, the perception that ‘everybody speeds’ appeared to act as one rationale for the need to raise speed limits. Self-presentation, or wanting to project a positive image of self was noted, particularly with respect to concealing speeding infringements from others to protect one’s image as a trustworthy and safe driver. The influence of legal factors was also evident. Legal sanctions do not appear to influence all drivers to the same extent. For instance, fear of apprehension appeared to play a role in reducing speeding for many, although previous experiences of detection and legal sanctions seemed to have had limited influence on reducing speeding among some drivers. Disregard for sanctions (e.g., driving while suspended), fraudulent demerit point use, and other strategies to avoid detection and punishment were widely and openly discussed. In Study 2, 833 drivers were recruited from roadside service stations in metropolitan and regional locations in Queensland. A quantitative research strategy assessed the relative contribution of personal, social, and legal factors to recent and future self-reported speeding (i.e., frequency of speeding and intentions to speed in the future). Multivariate analyses examining a range of factors drawn from SLT revealed that factors including self-identity (i.e., identifying as someone who speeds), favourable definitions (attitudes) towards speeding, personal experiences of avoiding detection and punishment for speeding, and perceptions of family and friends as accepting of speeding were all significantly associated with greater self-reported speeding. Study 3 was an exploratory, qualitative investigation of psychosocial factors associated with speeding among 35 Chinese drivers who were recruited from the membership of a motoring organisation and a university in Beijing. Six focus groups were conducted to explore similar issues to those examined in Study 1. The findings of Study 3 revealed many similarities with respect to the themes that arose in Australia. For example, there were similarities regarding personal justifications for speeding, such as the perception that posted limits are unreasonably low, the belief that individual drivers are able to determine safe travel speeds according to personal comfort with driving fast, and the belief that drivers possess adequate skills to control a vehicle at high speed. Strategies to avoid detection and punishment were also noted, though they appeared more widespread in China and also appeared, in some cases, to involve the use of a third party, a topic that was not reported by Australian drivers. Additionally, higher perceived enforcement tolerance thresholds were discussed by Chinese participants. Overall, the findings indicated perceptions of a high degree of community acceptance of speeding and a perceived lack of risk associated with speeds that were well above posted speed limits. Study 4 extended the exploratory research phase in China with a quantitative investigation involving 299 car drivers recruited from car washes in Beijing. Results revealed a relatively inexperienced sample with less than 5 years driving experience, on average. One third of participants perceived that the certainty of penalties when apprehended was low and a similar proportion of Chinese participants reported having previously avoided legal penalties when apprehended for speeding. Approximately half of the sample reported that legal penalties for speeding were ‘minimally to not at all’ severe. Multivariate analyses revealed that past experiences of avoiding detection and punishment for speeding, as well as favourable attitudes towards speeding, and perceptions of strong community acceptance of speeding were most strongly associated with greater self-reported speeding in the Chinese sample. Overall, the results of this research make several important theoretical contributions to the road safety literature. Akers’ social learning theory was found to be robust across cultural contexts with respect to speeding; similar amounts of variance were explained in self-reported speeding in the quantitative studies conducted in Australia and China. Historically, SLT was devised as a theory of deviance and posits that deviance and conformity are learned in the same way, with the balance of influence stemming from the ways in which behaviour is rewarded and punished (Akers, 1998). This perspective suggests that those who speed and those who do not are influenced by the same mechanisms. The inclusion of drivers from both ends of the ‘speeding spectrum’ in Study 1 provided an opportunity to examine the wider utility of SLT across the full range of the behaviour. One may question the use of a theory of deviance to investigate speeding, a behaviour that could, arguably, be described as socially acceptable and prevalent. However, SLT seemed particularly relevant to investigating speeding because of its inclusion of association, imitation, and reinforcement variables which reflect the breadth of factors already found to be potentially influential on driving speeds. In addition, driving is a learned behaviour requiring observation, guidance, and practice. Thus, the reinforcement and imitation concepts are particularly relevant to this behaviour. Finally, current speed management practices are largely enforcement-based and rely on the principles of behavioural reinforcement captured within the reinforcement component of SLT. Thus, the application of SLT to a behaviour such as speeding offers promise in advancing our understanding of the factors that influence speeding, as well as extending our knowledge of the application of SLT. Moreover, SLT could act as a valuable theoretical framework with which to examine other illegal driving behaviours that may not necessarily be seen as deviant by the community (e.g., mobile phone use while driving). This research also made unique contributions to advancing our understanding of the key components and the overall structure of Akers’ social learning theory. The broader SLT literature is lacking in terms of a thorough structural understanding of the component parts of the theory. For instance, debate exists regarding the relevance of, and necessity for including broader social influences in the model as captured by differential association. In the current research, two alternative SLT models were specified and tested in order to better understand the nature and extent of the influence of differential association on behaviour. Importantly, the results indicated that differential association was able to make a unique contribution to explaining self-reported speeding, thereby negating the call to exclude it from the model. The results also demonstrated that imitation was a discrete theoretical concept that should also be retained in the model. The results suggest a need to further explore and specify mechanisms of social influence in the SLT model. In addition, a novel approach was used to operationalise SLT variables by including concepts drawn from contemporary social psychological and deterrence-based research to enhance and extend the way that SLT variables have traditionally been examined. Differential reinforcement was conceptualised according to behavioural reinforcement principles (i.e., positive and negative reinforcement and punishment) and incorporated concepts of affective beliefs, anticipated regret, and deterrence-related concepts. Although implicit in descriptions of SLT, little research has, to date, made use of the broad range of reinforcement principles to understand the factors that encourage or inhibit behaviour. This approach has particular significance to road user behaviours in general because of the deterrence-based nature of many road safety countermeasures. The concept of self-identity was also included in the model and was found to be consistent with the definitions component of SLT. A final theoretical contribution was the specification and testing of a full measurement model prior to model testing using structural equation modelling. This process is recommended in order to reduce measurement error by providing an examination of the psychometric properties of the data prior to full model testing. Despite calls for such work for a number of decades, the current work appears to be the only example of a full measurement model of SLT. There were also a number of important practical implications that emerged from this program of research. Firstly, perceptions regarding speed enforcement tolerance thresholds were highlighted as a salient influence on driving speeds in both countries. The issue of enforcement tolerance levels generated considerable discussion among drivers in both countries, with Australian drivers reporting lower perceived tolerance levels than Chinese drivers. It was clear that many drivers used the concept of an enforcement tolerance in determining their driving speed, primarily with the desire to drive faster than the posted speed limit, yet remaining within a speed range that would preclude apprehension by police. The quantitative results from Studies 2 and 4 added support to these qualitative findings. Together, the findings supported previous research and suggested that a travel speed may not be seen as illegal until that speed reaches a level over the prescribed enforcement tolerance threshold. In other words, the enforcement tolerance appears to act as a ‘de facto’ speed limit, replacing the posted limit in the minds of some drivers. The findings from the two studies conducted in China (Studies 2 and 4) further highlighted the link between perceived enforcement tolerances and a ‘de facto’ speed limit. Drivers openly discussed driving at speeds that were well above posted speed limits and some participants noted their preference for driving at speeds close to ‘50% above’ the posted limit. This preference appeared to be shaped by the perception that the same penalty would be imposed if apprehended, irrespective of what speed they travelling (at least up to 50% above the limit). Further research is required to determine whether the perceptions of Chinese drivers are mainly influenced by the Law of the People’s Republic of China or by operational practices. Together, the findings from both studies in China indicate that there may be scope to refine enforcement tolerance levels, as has happened in other jurisdictions internationally over time, in order to reduce speeding. Any attempts to do so would likely be assisted by the provision of information about the legitimacy and purpose of speed limits as well as risk factors associated with speeding because these issues were raised by Chinese participants in the qualitative research phase. Another important practical implication of this research for speed management in China is the way in which penalties are determined. Chinese drivers described perceptions of unfairness and a lack of transparency in the enforcement system because they were unsure of the penalty that they would receive if apprehended. Steps to enhance the perceived certainty and consistency of the system to promote a more equitable approach to detection and punishment would appear to be welcomed by the general driving public and would be more consistent with the intended theoretical (deterrence) basis that underpins the current speed enforcement approach. The use of mandatory, fixed penalties may assist in this regard. In many countries, speeding attracts penalties that are dependent on the severity of the offence. In China, there may be safety benefits gained from the introduction of a similar graduated scale of speeding penalties and fixed penalties might also help to address the issue of uncertainty about penalties and related perceptions of unfairness. Such advancements would be in keeping with the principles of best practice for speed management as identified by the World Health Organisation. Another practical implication relating to legal penalties, and applicable to both cultural contexts, relates to the issues of detection and punishment avoidance. These two concepts appeared to strongly influence speeding in the current samples. In Australia, detection avoidance strategies reported by participants generally involved activities that are not illegal (e.g., site learning and remaining watchful for police vehicles). The results from China were similar, although a greater range of strategies were reported. The most common strategy reported in both countries for avoiding detection when speeding was site learning, or familiarisation with speed camera locations. However, a range of illegal practices were also described by Chinese drivers (e.g., tampering with or removing vehicle registration plates so as to render the vehicle unidentifiable on camera and use of in-vehicle radar detectors). With regard to avoiding punishment when apprehended, a range of strategies were reported by drivers from both countries, although a greater range of strategies were reported by Chinese drivers. As the results of the current research indicated that detection avoidance was strongly associated with greater self-reported speeding in both samples, efforts to reduce avoidance opportunities are strongly recommended. The practice of randomly scheduling speed camera locations, as is current practice in Queensland, offers one way to minimise site learning. The findings of this research indicated that this practice should continue. However, they also indicated that additional strategies are needed to reduce opportunities to evade detection. The use of point-to-point speed detection (also known as sectio

This thesis studies Oscar Wilde’s encounter with the idea of China in late nineteenth century Britain. After Marcartney’s embassy to the Qing court and the two Opium Wars, “China” became an increasingly negative idea in nineteenth century Britain. Wilde’s sympathy with China under such historical circumstances induces reconsiderations of the relationship among aestheticism, orientalism, and modernism. The story of how Wilde utilized and appropriated Chinese culture is at the same time a story about how orientalism was used by British aestheticism to protest against the late Victorian middle-class ideology and invent the politics of modernist aesthetics. This thesis contributes to the study of the idea of China in nineteenth century Britain in general and to the scholarship on Oscar Wilde, aestheticism and modernism in particular. Wilde’s reading of Chuang Tzu and his appreciation of the anti-realist Chinese aesthetic and visual power embodied in patterned blue and white china helped him articulate his aestheticism. The thesis examines Chinese influence on his aesthetic, social and political ideas against British middle-class ideology. The historical contexts of Wilde’s encounter with Chinese philosophy and material culture are also scrutinized to show that China, as an exotic-familiar antithesis to British bourgeois ideology, became a critical point of reference for Wilde to launch his trenchant criticism of Western society. Works and collections by other proponents of British aestheticism, such as James McNeill Whistler and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, are also included to further demonstrate China’s role in the British Aesthetic Movement. The thesis is based on three interrelated central arguments: first, British aestheticism was a reaction to the social problems and consumer culture in late Victorian Britain, and it aims to aestheticize not only art, but also life and society; second, the nineteenth-century British construction of China, especially in the translation and deciphering of Chuang Tzu in early British sinology in Chapter one, and in Chapter Two, blue and white china’s visual anti-realism widely discussed and condemned in the late Victorian mass media, crucially participated in Wilde’s theory of art and British aestheticism in general; third, Wilde’s aestheticism, by incorporating Chinese thought and aesthetics, had experimented with modernist aesthetics before it came to be known as such. Although Wilde and other British aesthetes were complicit in the orientalist construction of China when placing China and the West into a binary position, they revised the nineteenth-century British imperial discourse that subjugated and denigrated the Orient and invested in the kind of Sino-British communication advocating and incorporating the aesthetic values of Chinese culture.
published_or_final_version
English
Master
Master of Philosophy

This thesis demonstrates the close links between Australian literature and German thought and culture in Catherine Martin's An Australian Girl (1890) and Henry Handel Richardson's Maurice Guest (1908), and thereby provides a fuller understanding of the sophisticated literary and intellectual purposes of these two works. In examining the German elements in each novel, and the contexts from which much of that material is drawn, this study seeks to supplement the scholarly explanations provided in the two Academy Editions of these works. While Maurice Guest has received serious scholarly attention, An Australian Girl has been accorded relatively little. Despite generally favourable reviews on publication, both appear to have been undervalued over time. The study begins with a brief historical survey of German migration to Australia and the contribution German migrants made to the intellectual life and culture of the evolving nation. The examination of Catherine Martin's work includes: biographical details, particularly concerning her contact with German culture; an analysis of the form of the novel and a comparison of An Australian Girl with Goethe's Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister with regard to form, theme and characterisation; an analysis of German philosophical elements in the novel; and Martin's presentation of social conditions in Germany in 1888-90, and their role in the novel as a whole. The examination of Henry Handel Richardson's work encompasses: biographical details; the genesis of Maurice Guest; differences between the reception of the novel in England and Germany; the genre to which the novel belongs and parallels with Künstlerromane; an analysis of Richardson's description of the physical, historical and intellectual milieu of Leipzig, and its role in the novel; and finally her integration of German social customs and the German language into the text. Use has been made of five primary sources which have not been used before in any detail with regard to these aspects of either author: additional material from the Mount Gambier Border Watch; The Hatbox Letters, the family history of the Martin and Clarke families; the German translation of Maurice Guest; German reviews of Maurice Guest; and the correspondence between Richardson and her French translator Paul Solanges. The key argument of this thesis is that the German influence on both form and content, in the case of An Australian Girl, and on style and content, in the case of Maurice Guest, is deep and various, and that these German elements have proved to be an impediment to a full understanding and appreciation of these novels for many Anglo-Saxon readers and reviewers. In the two novels Martin and Richardson provide pointers to Australia's earlier interaction with the wider world and display a level of sophistication which makes these works worthy of greater recognition than they currently enjoy.

The present study argues for a generic approach to the study of the representation of Chinese society in a selection of Australian fiction and non-fiction writings, based on the assumption that how China is represented is as important as what is represented. The three works that will be used to represent travel literature, journalism and the novel are: The East Is Red by Maslyn Williams, Real Life China by Richard Thwaites, and the Avenue of Eternal Peace by Nicholas Jose, all of which have been written by contemporary Australian writers. The study re-examines the obligations and meanings inherent in each of these genres, and discusses .these writers' individual ways of experimenting with the genres in which they write in order to cope with the complexity, ambiguity, and the fictionally of reality. These works are analysed in detail within two frameworks: the writers' relationships to their writings, and the relationship between the text and the external world, leading to the realization of the increasingly important role writers' consciousness plays in reshaping and fictionalizing their personal experience, as well as the recognition of the increasingly important role fictionalization plays in the representation of Chinese society in both fiction and non-fiction writings.

This thesis explores cross-cultural encounters between China and three British left-wing writers – Harold Laski, W. H. Auden and Joseph Needham. The motivations underlying this study are the diversity and intensiveness of the British left’s engagements with China’s search for modernization in the twentieth century. Laski, Auden and Needham were all prominent British left-wing intellectuals, and each exerted a remarkable influence on the Chinese pursuit of modern democracy, literature, and science, the three important pillars of China’s modernization since the May Fourth period. Grouping them together, the thesis makes a contribution to the study of the international impacts of the British left in general and the study of Sino-British cultural exchanges in particular. The conventional view emphasizes Western influences on China in modern times as unilateral knowledge transplantation from the advanced West to the backward East, thus the important role of the Chinese intelligentsia as cultural agency is often marginalized. This thesis, by contrast, interprets the British left’s encounters with China as a process of interactive, dynamic, even dialectical transformation, from which both sides derived intellectual benefits. It not only demonstrates the initiative taken by the Chinese intellectuals in translating, interpreting, and applying Western knowledge to address their own particular problems, but also attempts to show the inspirations the British left-wing writers took from China in their own humanitarian struggle for a more liberal, equitable and peaceful world. The thesis is organized in chronological order with the earliest encounter discussed first. Chapter One examines Laski’s impact on Chinese liberals’ imagination and construction of an equitable and democratic China. It shows that the Chinese applications of Laski’s political theory to their local concerns were highly selective, and it was difficult for Chinese liberals to fully embrace Laski’s thought because of the inner conflict between the liberal and Marxist aspects of Laski. Chapter Two discusses Auden and Isherwood’s co-authored book Journey to a War (1939) in the critical tradition of travel writing. It argues that their ironic self-consciousness of the travel book genre itself makes the book unique in Western representations of China, but exposes them to the critical charge of immature frivolity. It also shows that Auden worked towards a symbolic solution for the conflicting demands of the public and private worlds by interpreting the China war into a global human history in his sonnets. Chapter Three focuses on the reception of Auden’s poetry in China. Exposing the limitations of the prevailing formalist-aesthetic approach, it unearths Zhu Weiji’s Marxist interpretation of Auden and proposes an ideological criticism to re-examine Auden’s influences on Chinese modernist poets. Chapter Four explores Needham’s conversion to Chinese culture and his influences on China’s understanding of its own science. By tracing various Chinese responses to the Needham Question, it argues that although Needham’s research boosted the confidence of Chinese in their scientific tradition, the Chinese hunger for modern science is closely associated with nationalism, which is contradictory to the socialist universalism that behind Needham’s intellectual project.
published_or_final_version
English
Doctoral
Doctor of Philosophy

This study focuses on fiction about female ageing since the 1970s as an important literary genre. By conducting a cross-cultural comparison based on the close-reading of the primary texts of two recent literary genres – Reifungsromane in the Australian context and Social Novels about Older Women in the Chinese context – this study contributes to the deeper understanding of female ageing experiences represented in contemporary literature.

Cette thèse porte sur l’analyse des relations intertextuelles entre des œuvres littéraires et philosophiques allemandes, notamment les textes de Novalis et de Rilke, et le recueil de sonnets de l’écrivain et traducteur chinois moderne Feng Zhi. Le but de cette étude est d’analyser et de discerner dans quelle mesure il est possible d’établir des relations « transtextuelles » entre la littérature primaire, la thèse de doctorat de Feng Zhi, qui a joué un rôle vital dans le développement de sa voix poétique, et son recueil de sonnets. Les textes analysés dans le cadre de cette étude visent à montrer comment certains indices transculturels de la poésie de Feng Zhi définissent la tendance poétique de l’écrivain en tant que postromantique et métaphysique, alors qu’une recherche plus approfondie et d’autres évidences transtextuelles encadrent sa production lyrique parmi les premiers exemples de littérature moderniste chinoise. Les profondes et énigmatiques réflexions contemplatives des sonnets font de Feng Zhi un poète métaphysique. La voix lyrique s'engage avec le monde extérieur et gagne de nouvelles expériences esthétiques à travers l'imagination, la méditation sur l'infini spatial et temporel, la reconnaissance de l'état mutable et permanent de la matière, et une finale réalisation existentielle de l'auto-accomplissement de l'homme à travers son état d'isolement. Cette étude analyse enfin l'idée conceptualisée de l'infini et de la transcendance poétique évoquée par le mysticisme orphique. Cette approche redéfinit la relation du sujet poétique avec le monde extérieur et sa perception constructive finale de sa position au sein de la communauté, de la nature et du cosmos dans son ensemble
The research conducted in this work focuses on the intertextuality between German literary and philosophical works, notably those of Novalis and Rilke, and the sonnet collection of the modern Chinese scholar and writer Feng Zhi. This study analyses the extent to which transtextual elements travel between the primary literature, the author’s own German doctoral dissertation, which ultimately played a vital role in the development of his lyrical voice, and his sonnets. Moreover, the texts analysed in this study attempt to demonstrate how given transcultural elements in Feng Zhi’s poetry define the writer’s apparent poetic tendency as a post-Romantic and metaphysical lyricist, whereas other closer transtextual investigations place his work among the first examples of Chinese modernist writings. The profound and enigmatic contemplative reflections of the sonnets make Feng Zhi a metaphysical poet. The lyrical self engages with the surrounding world and gains new aesthetic experiences through the power of imagination, the meditation on spatial and temporal infinity, the recognition of the changeable and permanent state of matter, and a final existential realisation of man’s self-completion through his state of isolation. This study finally also analyses the conceptualised idea of infinity and transcendence evoked by Orphic mysticism. This approach redefines the poetic subject’s relationship with the outer world, and the subject’s final perception of his position within the community, nature and the cosmos as a whole

This chapter surveys Woolf’s reputation in Australia from the 1920s to the 1970s as it was moulded by colonial cultural politics. The competing influences of cosmopolitanism and nationalism shaped the ebb and flow of Woolf’s reception in Australia during these decades. The rise of the more nationalist Leavisite curriculum in Australian universities from the later 1930s, coupled with ambivalent responses to Woolf’s death in 1941, led to more a more divisive reception of Woolf and modernism in Australia in the mid-century. Australian literary critics Nettie Palmer and Margaret (Margot) Hentze espoused a cosmopolitanism that they found reflected in Woolf’s work, a focus also embraced by Nuri Mass, who, in 1942, submitted the first student thesis on Woolf at University of Sydney. Finally, the chapter examines how three women Australian painters, including Grace Cossington Smith, were influenced by Woolf and the Bloomsbury group.

The Sinophone “new fiction from Tibet” (Ch. Xizang xin xiaoshuo) emerged during the 1980s as a hybrid cultural product encompassing writers of different ethnic background and their works, which absorbed and appropriated various influences, traditional and modern, Tibetan, Chinese, Western and other. As such, this kind of literature resonates with literatures that emerged from the (post)colonial conditions of many Asian, African and American countries during the twentieth century, not only by using similar strategies of representation of the Other (native or colonial), but also by imitating certain narrative strategies that evolved from the Western modernism. The notion of “literature from Tibet” (Xizang wenxue) appears to be a problematic one, as it is defined geographically, by the place of origin, not by literary, ethnic, or cultural factors. Thus, in itself, it pre-supposes a common condition of the authors and a kind of common identity hidden behind the texts, based upon the geographical location. In the broadest sense, the authors share a similar experience of living in Tibet and approaching it through the prism of the dominant (Chinese) culture and ideology. The aim of this article is to show that despite this fact, two different perspectives can be distinguished in the “literature from Tibet”, bespeaking the inclination of particular authors either to Chinese (dominant) or to Tibetan (minor) identity.

Culture and identity play a significant role in the education of Indigenous and non-Western doctoral students. While a substantial body of literature explores interpersonal communication in doctoral supervision, it remains largely silent about how history impacts on doctoral students' identities and their potential for unique knowledge creation. This book chapter draws upon postcolonial/decolonial theories and life history methodologies in order to more effectively contextualise Indigenous and non-Western doctoral students' identities in Australia. These life histories include those outlined by the Indigenous and Chinese members of this team of authors as well as one life history interview with a migrant Asian student. Through careful theorisation of the interconnections between the life histories of our participants and their supervision experience, an inventory of supervision strategies will be distilled to improve intercultural supervision.

Culture and identity play a significant role in the education of Indigenous and non-Western doctoral students. While a substantial body of literature explores interpersonal communication in doctoral supervision, it remains largely silent about how history impacts on doctoral students' identities and their potential for unique knowledge creation. This book chapter draws upon postcolonial/decolonial theories and life history methodologies in order to more effectively contextualise Indigenous and non-Western doctoral students' identities in Australia. These life histories include those outlined by the Indigenous and Chinese members of this team of authors as well as one life history interview with a migrant Asian student. Through careful theorisation of the interconnections between the life histories of our participants and their supervision experience, an inventory of supervision strategies will be distilled to improve intercultural supervision.

While China has the world’s largest Internet population, understanding of this huge group of Internet users still falls short. In this entry, the authors aim to provide an overview of literature on cyber behavior of Chinese Internet users. They focus on characteristics of Chinese Internet users, how they use the Internet and how the Internet influences them. The authors examine different aspects of their cyber behavior: (1) general Internet use, (2) use of specific Internet services such as blogs and social networking sites, (3) online communication and relationships, (4) problematic Internet usage, and (5) cross-cultural comparisons between Internet users in China and in other countries.

The purpose of this chapter is to empirically examine firms’ internal and external factors that can affect their foreign market mode choice. The model is comprised of internal factors such as control, domestic business experience, and industry type; and external factors in terms of culture of foreign markets and intensity of competition. A mail-out survey to Australian firms involved in international business generated 315 useful responses. The hypotheses were tested using direct logistic regression analysis. Among the five variables, industry type, domestic business experience, and intensity of competition were found statistically significant. While industry type and domestic business experience encourage non-export mode, intensity of competition favours export mode. The major contributions of this study are the discovery of a variable, domestic business experience that is new in the literature; and the reinforcement of the importance of examining both internal and external factors when making a foreign market entry mode choice.

This volume broadens understanding of the history of colloquial Chinese in the millennium following the age of Middle Chinese, from the seventh century onwards. The focus of the contributions is on the history of spoken Chinese and its reflection in the dialects, and its influences on the languages used and represented in texts. The chapters fall into two overlapping categories: “Chinese Dialects in Texts” examines textual reflections of the dialects and the nature of dialects and their influence in the texts; “Chinese Dialects and Their History” focuses on questions of language itself and how it evolved over time. The studies collectively reveal shared historical developments and related trends and influences that affected the dialects both internally and in their relationship to texts and the language of literature. The various chapters demonstrate that there was regular interaction between text and spoken Chinese that had a variety of effects on the composition of texts and on their reading or performance. While the spoken Mandarin koine was the dominant influence in the written vernacular, Wu, Min, and Cantonese also contributed to the tradition. Evolutionary developments in Mandarin also brought dramatic changes that are reflected in both the spoken and written traditions.

While numerous theories have been used to explain innovation, one found to be useful in recent years is cumulative causation. Its major focus on incremental and evolutionary change, the path dependent nature of change, and its circular and cumulative effects, make it particularly useful in helping to explain innovation. In this chapter the literature on cumulative causation theory is reviewed to highlight links between these characteristics of the theory and innovation, as well as influences such as problem solving, learning by using and doing, collaboration, specialisation and the clustering of industry in certain locations. These characteristics and influences are then used as a basis for reporting empirical research into the nature of innovation in manufacturing and processing in an Australian rural region, and the usefulness of the theory for explanatory purposes is evaluated.

Authentic public memorials did not appear in the Chinese public space until the late 19th century. As a result of Western influence, many war memorials were built during the Republic of China era (1912-1949). Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the government has invested much in developing public spaces. Also, the government placed many memorials in Chinese cities to shape collective memory and urban identity. The affection of solemnness, sacredness, and grandness is the main affection that most memorials are intended to embody, particularly those that commemorate famous people, the government’s achievement, and the deceased from natural disasters and wars. By taking the example of memorials built from 1942 to the present in Chongqing, China, this paper critically examines changes over time in the forms. In addition, taking the analysis result from memorial forms as a base and combining widely cited literature in Chinese and English, the paper further explores the negative impacts of the intensive focus of solemnness, sacredness, and grandness. This paper’s analysis identifies standard, persistent and symbolic features in Chinese memorials, despite the diverse landscape elements and advanced construction techniques. Key themes emerge from this research are solemnness, sacredness, and grandness. Also, it reveals the issues raised by the exclusive pursuit of these affections, including similar memorial forms, insufficient engagement of memorials, and the unitary research topics on memorials.

Construction significantly influences a country’s economy. The labour efforts are the lifeblood of construction operations. The construction industry has been facing many challenges due to skill shortages in many countries. This study aimed to compare the work-related skills of Sri Lankan labour against foreign labour forces. A qualitative study methodology was adopted through literature reviews and expert interviews to identify the labour skills which influence the productivity of construction operations. The interviews were conducted in two categories. The first category focused on identifying significant labour skills, the second category was conducted to compare the labour skills between Sri Lankan and foreign labour. Chinese, Indian, Bangladeshi, Nepalese, Saudi Arabian, Malaysian and Korean labour forces were considered in the pair-wise comparison process. Statement categories and codes were developed to perform this qualitative comparison. The overall results show the need of developing cognitive and self-management skills of Sri Lankan labourers, where the transferable skills are not much important. The study pointed up the importance of developing technical skills of Sri Lankan labour in concreting, bar bending, plastering, tiling, welding, electrical work and equipment handling, to reach the levels of leading foreign labour forces. Labourers’ commitment, punctuality, participation, self-motivation and problem solving were the significant self-management skills in this regard. Kappa statistics resulted in the inter-rater reliability of these findings at a substantial level. The study outcomes can be helpful for the skills development authorities to take actions for filling the skills gap, and also for some foreign construction sectors in similar scenarios

Background Australia is a multi-cultural society with increasing rates of people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. On average, CALD groups have higher rates of tobacco use, lower participation in cancer screening programs, and poorer health outcomes than the general Australian population. Lower cancer screening and smoking cessation rates are due to differing cultural norms, health-related attitudes, and beliefs, and language barriers. Interventions can help address these potential barriers and increase tobacco cessation and cancer screening rates among CALD groups. Cancer Council NSW (CCNSW) aims to reduce the impact of cancer and improve cancer outcomes for priority populations including CALD communities. In line with this objective, CCNSW commissioned this rapid review of interventions implemented in Australia and comparable countries. Review questions This review aimed to address the following specific questions: Question 1 (Q1): What smoking cessation interventions have been proven effective in reducing or preventing smoking among culturally and linguistically diverse communities? Question 2 (Q2): What screening interventions have proven effective in increasing participation in population cancer screening programs among culturally and linguistically diverse populations? This review focused on Chinese-, Vietnamese- and Arabic-speaking people as they are the largest CALD groups in Australia and have high rates of tobacco use and poor screening adherence in NSW. Summary of methods An extensive search of peer-reviewed and grey literature published between January 2013-March 2022 identified 19 eligible studies for inclusion in the Q1 review and 49 studies for the Q2 review. The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Levels of Evidence and Joanna Briggs Institute’s (JBI) Critical Appraisal Tools were used to assess the robustness and quality of the included studies, respectively. Key findings Findings are reported by components of an intervention overall and for each CALD group. By understanding the effectiveness of individual components, results will demonstrate key building blocks of an effective intervention. Question 1: What smoking cessation interventions have been proven effective in reducing or preventing smoking among culturally and linguistically diverse communities? Thirteen of the 19 studies were Level IV (L4) evidence, four were Level III (L3), one was Level II (L2), none were L1 (highest level of evidence) and one study’s evidence level was unable to be determined. The quality of included studies varied. Fifteen tobacco cessation intervention components were included, with most interventions involving at least three components (range 2-6). Written information (14 studies), and education sessions (10 studies) were the most common components included in an intervention. Eight of the 15 intervention components explored had promising evidence for use with Chinese-speaking participants (written information, education sessions, visual information, counselling, involving a family member or friend, nicotine replacement therapy, branded merchandise, and mobile messaging). Another two components (media campaign and telephone follow-up) had evidence aggregated across CALD groups (i.e., results for Chinese-speaking participants were combined with other CALD group(s)). No intervention component was deemed of sufficient evidence for use with Vietnamese-speaking participants and four intervention components had aggregated evidence (written information, education sessions, counselling, nicotine replacement therapy). Counselling was the only intervention component to have promising evidence for use with Arabic-speaking participants and one had mixed evidence (written information). Question 2: What screening interventions have proven effective in increasing participation in population cancer screening programs among culturally and linguistically diverse populations? Two of the 49 studies were Level I (L1) evidence, 13 L2, seven L3, 25 L4 and two studies’ level of evidence was unable to be determined. Eighteen intervention components were assessed with most interventions involving 3-4 components (range 1-6). Education sessions (32 studies), written information (23 studies) and patient navigation (10 studies) were the most common components. Seven of the 18 cancer screening intervention components had promising evidence to support their use with Vietnamese-speaking participants (education sessions, written information, patient navigation, visual information, peer/community health worker, counselling, and peer experience). The component, opportunity to be screened (e.g. mailed or handed a bowel screening test), had aggregated evidence regarding its use with Vietnamese-speaking participants. Seven intervention components (education session, written information, visual information, peer/community health worker, opportunity to be screened, counselling, and branded merchandise) also had promising evidence to support their use with Chinese-speaking participants whilst two components had mixed (patient navigation) or aggregated (media campaign) evidence. One intervention component for use with Arabic-speaking participants had promising evidence to support its use (opportunity to be screened) and eight intervention components had mixed or aggregated support (education sessions, written information, patient navigation, visual information, peer/community health worker, peer experience, media campaign, and anatomical models). Gaps in the evidence There were four noteworthy gaps in the evidence: 1. No systematic review was captured for Q1, and only two studies were randomised controlled trials. Much of the evidence is therefore based on lower level study designs, with risk of bias. 2. Many studies provided inadequate detail regarding their intervention design which impacts both the quality appraisal and how mixed finding results can be interpreted. 3. Several intervention components were found to have supportive evidence available only at the aggregate level. Further research is warranted to determine the interventions effectiveness with the individual CALD participant group only. 4. The evidence regarding the effectiveness of certain intervention components were either unknown (no studies) or insufficient (only one study) across CALD groups. This was the predominately the case for Arabic-speaking participants for both Q1 and Q2, and for Vietnamese-speaking participants for Q1. Further research is therefore warranted. Applicability Most of the intervention components included in this review are applicable for use in the Australian context, and NSW specifically. However, intervention components assessed as having insufficient, mixed, or no evidence require further research. Cancer screening and tobacco cessation interventions targeting Chinese-speaking participants were more common and therefore showed more evidence of effectiveness for the intervention components explored. There was support for cancer screening intervention components targeting Vietnamese-speaking participants but not for tobacco cessation interventions. There were few interventions implemented for Arabic-speaking participants that addressed tobacco cessation and screening adherence. Much of the evidence for Vietnamese and Arabic-speaking participants was further limited by studies co-recruiting multiple CALD groups and reporting aggregate results. Conclusion There is sound evidence for use of a range of intervention components to address tobacco cessation and cancer screening adherence among Chinese-speaking populations, and cancer screening adherence among Vietnamese-speaking populations. Evidence is lacking regarding the effectiveness of tobacco cessation interventions with Vietnamese- and Arabic-speaking participants, and cancer screening interventions for Arabic-speaking participants. More research is required to determine whether components considered effective for use in one CALD group are applicable to other CALD populations.