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A Historical Study of Early Modern Chinese Fictions (1890—1920)
by Pingyuan ChenThis book contains a classic guide to historical study of early modern Chinese fiction from the late Qing Dynasty till early republican China. It does not merely study the new fiction writing in China, which was strongly influenced by the western fiction, but also draws a comparison between classical Chinese fiction and the early modern Chinese fiction. This book is an excellent reference in the study of early modern Chinese literature since it conveys a point of view to the readers with abundant and solid historical materials. At the heart of the book, it is the matter of a specific value in trans-cultural studies between the western world and China.
Social Order through Contracts: A Study of the Qingshui River Manuscripts
by Jian QuThis book is the first Western-language monograph on the study of the Qingshui River manuscripts. By examining over 3,000 contracts and other manuscripts, this book offers constructive insights into the long-standing question of how and why a society in late imperial China could maintain a well-functioning social system with few laws but many contracts, i.e., Hobbesian “words without sword.” Three interrelated questions, what contracts were, how and why they worked, are explained successively. Thus, this book presents a non-stereotypical “contract society” in southwest China, arguing that the social order which provides predictability and regularity for economic prosperity could be formed and maintained through contracts even under the condition of relatively weak influence of governmental and legal authorities.This book benefits readers who are interested in law, society, and history. While presenting the socio-legal landscape of a frontier area in late imperial China for historians, this book provides a novel and empirical interpretation of the supposedly well-known contract device for legal researchers, thereby proposing materials for an integrated theoretical explanatory framework of contracts in general. By employing the innovative theory of blockchain in its key argumentation, the book offers a creative interpretation of historical and social phenomena.
The Chinese Dream and Ordinary Chinese People
by Mai LuThis collection of interviews explores how the Chinese Dream is fueling the aspirations of individuals in China today and presents 40 representative cases that showcase the journeys that ordinary people undertake in pursuit of their dreams as well as their extraordinary achievements. The authors identify autonomy, self-awareness, and hard work as the most fundamental driving forces in individuals taking control of their own lives and achieving their dreams, with family and social support as further important factors. Despite the vast differences in the interviewees’ dreams and experiences in pursuing them, there is a common thread in their stories, namely the impact of major changes in the country on their lives. The future of individuals is closely linked to the future of the country: a bright future for the country means a good life for all. People’s longing for a better life is the basis and a central element of the Chinese Dream, which is the dream of the nation and the dream of every citizen. This book will appeal to a wide audience, including ordinary people.
Communication and Libertarianism
by Pavel Slutskiy"This is an outstanding contribution to both libertarian political philosophy and communication theory. It is far and away the most comprehensive work on communication issues in libertarian theory ever published. The author has integrated successfully the libertarian insights of Mises, Rothbard, Block, Kinsella and others with the philosophy of language as developed by Austin, Searle and Grice. He has done so in a unique and unprecedented way. The book would appeal to students and scholars interested in libertarian theory and more generally, to philosophers and political scientists interested in high-level scholarship.” - David Gordon, libertarian philosopher and intellectual historian, Ludwig von Mises Institute.
Archives, Accountability, and Democracy in the Digital Age (SpringerBriefs in Political Science)
by Keiji FujiyoshiThis book is the first attempt to introduce the current status of archival practices in Japan as well as the basic views of the populace on making records accessible to English readers. In general, Japan has not paid sufficient attention to keeping and utilizing records except in the field of historical research. This book thus examines Japanese attitudes about history, records management, information acts, the status of archivists of the constitution, and genealogical research practices and a description of archives. Consequently, such investigations clarify how both private and public archives function or fail to do so in those spheres of Japanese society. In addition, this book presents the efforts in wartime record keeping in Australia, which is significantly different from how the Japanese deal with such records. This book therefore provides a clear and concrete picture of the status of current archival practices in Japan and the thinking that underlies them. On the basis of such examinations, this book enables readers to understand to what extent and how the past affects the present through archives, to recognize the importance of archives, and to respect the past in order to maintain and develop perspectives in people’s lives.
The Syntax of V-V Resultatives in Mandarin Chinese
by Jianxun LiuThis book addresses the three fundamental properties of V-V resultative constructions in Mandarin Chinese: their generation, their syntactic structure, and their alternations. This book is original and new in the following aspects. First, adopting the ‘inner vs. outer domain’ theory, it provides new analysis and evidence that these compounds are generated in syntax, not in lexicon. Second, this book argues that the two subclasses of V-V resultative constructions, object-oriented vs. subject-oriented V-V resultatives, actually have different structures. Their syntactic contrasts have not been observed in the literature before. Third, this book is new in determining the syntactic structure of the V-V resultative constructions through their adverbial modification properties. It demonstrates that the previous isomorphism analysis of the syntactic structure of Chinese V-V resultatives does not hold. Finally, this book provides a new analysis of the issue of the alternations of V-V resultatives. In contrast to previous analyses, which generally view the causative alternation as the idiosyncratic property of particular V-V compounds, this book provides a principled analysis. This book makes a substantial improvement of the current understanding of the issues in the syntax of Mandarin Chinese and gives new support to certain theories of the generative grammar from the perspective of Mandarin Chinese.
Pedagogies to Enhance Learning for Indigenous Students: Evidence-based Practice
by Robyn Jorgensen, Peter Sullivan and Peter GrootenboerThis book describes research undertaken by leading Australian researcher in Indigenous communities. While the chapters are Australian in their focus, the issues that are discussed are similar to those in other countries where there are indigenous people. In most cases, in Australia and internationally, Indigenous learners are not succeeding in school, thus making the transition into work and adulthood quite tenuous in terms of mainstream measures. The importance of being literate and numerate are critical in success in school and life in general, thus making this collection an important contribution to the international literature. The collection of works describes a wide range of projects where the focus has been on improving the literacy and numeracy outcomes for Indigenous students. The chapters take various approaches to improving these outcomes, and have very different foci. These foci include aspects of literacy, numeracy, curriculum leadership, ICTs, whole school planning, policy, linguistics and Indigenous perspectives. Most of the chapters report on large scale projects that have used some innovation in their focus. The book draws together these projects so that a more connected sense of the complexities and diversity of approaches can be gleaned.
Everyday Youth Literacies: Critical Perspectives for New Times (Cultural Studies and Transdisciplinarity in Education #1)
by Kathy Sanford Theresa Rogers Maureen KendrickTestifying to the maturity of the youth literacy education field, this collection of papers displays the increasing sophistication of research on the subject, and at the same time offers pointers to its potential for development in the next decade. The contributors track the rapid proliferation of youth literacies in today’s digital age, from video games to social media and film production. Drawing on detailed research and an intimate knowledge of youth communities in nations as diverse as Canada and Uganda, they provide notable examples of digital literacies in situ, and challenge conventional wisdom about literacy education.The chapters do more, however, than merely offer reportage of a crisis in literacy education. The authors embrace the core challenge faced by educators everywhere: how to incorporate and utilize new modes of literacy in education, and how to realize the potential benefits of heterogeneous modern media in youth literacy education, especially in marginalized, remote, and disadvantaged communities. This volume expands our view of digital communications technologies and digital literacies to include complex understandings of how media such as translated videos can serve as learning tools for youths whose access to literacy education is limited. In particular, a number of contributing scholars provide important new information about the praxis of teachers and the literacies adopted by young people in Africa, a continent largely neglected by literacy researchers. This book’s global perspective, and its ground-level viewpoint of youth literacy practices in a variety of locations, problematizes normative assumptions about researching literacy as well as about literacy itself.
Literacy and Language in East Asia: Shifting Meanings, Values and Approaches (Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects #24)
by Marilyn Kell Peter KellThis book critically explores why some Asian nations are on top of the world in students’ achievement tests in reading and literacy, yet governments and industry in these nations are anxious about a crisis in education. Why are governments anxious about the capabilities and skills of school and university graduates in a global economy when there is a Asian economic boom? The authors explore questions about how the Asian countries value test-based examination curriculum and its influence on the practices of teaching learning and the lives of young people in Asia. The authors describe the challenge of change for East Asian nations to develop more relevant approaches to literacy and language and more inclusive societies focussed on the needs of young people and not exam results.
Adaptivity as a Transformative Disposition: for Learning in the 21st Century (Education Innovation Series)
by David Hung Kenneth Y. T. Lim Shu-Shing LeeThis volume introduces the concept of ‘adaptivity’ as occurring when, say, individuals cross boundaries. Through illustrations from both formal and informal learning, the book seeks to provide learning designs and frameworks for adaptivity. This book is unique as it ties together: a) social-individual dialectics; and b) adaptive learning as it relates to creativity and imagination. It highlights case studies from social / new media contexts, school learning milieux, and formal and informal situations. It approaches adaptive learning from the perspectives of students, teachers, school leaders, and participants in social media and other digitally mediated environments. The book is a valuable resource for practitioners and academics who are interested in adaptivity as a learning disposition.
Communicative Action: Selected Papers of the 2013 IEAS Conference on Language and Action
by Tzu-Wei HungThis book focuses on the connection between action and verbal communication, exploring topics such as the mechanisms of language processing, action processing, voluntary and involuntary actions, knowledge of language and assertion. Communication modelling and aspects of communicative actions are considered, along with cognitive requirements for nonverbal and verbal communicative action.Contributions from expert authors are organised into three parts in this book, focussing on language in communication, action and bodily awareness and sensorimotor interaction and language acquisition.Readers will discover various methods that have been employed in investigations presented here, including neurological experiment, computational modeling and logical and philosophical analysis.These diverse expert perspectives shed light on the extent to which a mechanism for processing actions also facilitates the processing of language and the authors’ work prompts further interdisciplinary investigation of the relationship between language and action.This book is written for readers from different academic backgrounds; from graduate students to established academics in disciplines ranging from neuroscience to psychology, philosophy, linguistics and beyond.Earlier versions of the selected essays in this book were presented at the 2013 IEAS Conference on Language and Action, held in Taipei, Taiwan.
Knowledge-augmented Methods for Natural Language Processing (SpringerBriefs in Computer Science)
by Meng Jiang Bill Yuchen Lin Shuohang Wang Yichong Xu Wenhao Yu Chenguang ZhuOver the last few years, natural language processing has seen remarkable progress due to the emergence of larger-scale models, better training techniques, and greater availability of data. Examples of these advancements include GPT-4, ChatGPT, and other pre-trained language models. These models are capable of characterizing linguistic patterns and generating context-aware representations, resulting in high-quality output. However, these models rely solely on input-output pairs during training and, therefore, struggle to incorporate external world knowledge, such as named entities, their relations, common sense, and domain-specific content. Incorporating knowledge into the training and inference of language models is critical to their ability to represent language accurately. Additionally, knowledge is essential in achieving higher levels of intelligence that cannot be attained through statistical learning of input text patterns alone. In this book, we will review recent developmentsin the field of natural language processing, specifically focusing on the role of knowledge in language representation. We will examine how pre-trained language models like GPT-4 and ChatGPT are limited in their ability to capture external world knowledge and explore various approaches to incorporate knowledge into language models. Additionally, we will discuss the significance of knowledge in enabling higher levels of intelligence that go beyond statistical learning on input text patterns. Overall, this survey aims to provide insights into the importance of knowledge in natural language processing and highlight recent advances in this field.
Information Security and Cryptology: 19th International Conference, Inscrypt 2023, Hangzhou, China, December 9-10, 2023, Revised Selected Papers, Part I (Lecture Notes In Computer Science Ser. #14526)
by Chunpeng Ge Moti Yung
Information Security and Cryptology: 19th International Conference, Inscrypt 2023, Hangzhou, China, December 9-10, 2023, Revised Selected Papers, Part I (Lecture Notes In Computer Science Ser. #14526)
by Chunpeng Ge Moti Yung
Rene Girard, Law, Literature, and Cinema: The Legal Drama of the Scapegoat
by Eric M. WilsonThis book is the first monograph to critically evaluate the work of the literary scholar René Girard from the perspectives of Law and Literature and Law and Film Studies, two of the most multidisciplinary branches of critical legal theory. The central thesis is that Girard’s theory of the scapegoat mechanism provides a wholly new and original means of re-conceptualizing the nature of judicial modernity, which is the belief that modern Law constitutes an internally coherent and exclusively secular form of rationality. The book argues that it is the archaic scapegoat mechanism – the reconciliation of the community through the direction of unified violence against a single victim – that actually works best in explaining all of the outstanding issues of Law and Literature in both of its sub-forms: law-as-literature (the analysis of legal language and practice exemplified by literacy texts) and law-in-literature (the exploration of issues in legaltheory through the fictitious form of the novel). The book will provide readers with: (i) a useful introduction to the most important elements of the work of René Girard; (ii) a greater awareness of the ‘hidden’ nature of legal culture and reasoning within a post-secular age; and (iii) a new understanding of the ‘subversive’ (or ‘enlightening‘) nature of some of the most iconic works on Law in both Literature and Cinema, media which by their nature allow for the expression of truths repressed by formal legal discourse.
The ‘Hidden Curriculum’ of Vietnam’s English School Textbooks (SpringerBriefs in Education)
by Thi Duyen Phuong Raf VanderstraetenThis book analyzes the basic ideas and premises underlying the English textbooks used at the higher secondary school level in Vietnam from the 1980s to the present, from a sociological perspective. The dataset, upon which this book builds, consists of a collection of 18 textbooks, which belong to five sets of locally developed English textbooks for grade 10 to grade 12 students. These series were used in all public schools from the mid-1980s to the present. During this period, schooling expanded rapidly in Vietnam, while English also gained increasing prominence within the school system.This book examines the curricular content of these textbooks and presents a long-term analysis of the ‘hidden’ curricular content in light of Vietnam’s recent history and its government’s concerns about national identity.
Studies of Literature from Marginalized Nations in Modern China, with a Focus on Eastern European Literature
by Binghui SongThis book presents the first systematic study of the 100-year history of translation, research, reception, and influence of Central and Eastern European literature in China from the late Qing Dynasty to the end of the twentieth century. This study of Eastern European literature from the perspective of Sino-foreign literary relations is based on extensive research into the translation and reception of Central and Eastern European writers such as Milan Kundera, Sándor Petőfi, Henryk Sienkiewicz, Julius Fucik, and Bertolt Brecht. Since the late nineteenth century, the major Chinese writers have paid special attention to the literature of the marginalized Eastern European nations when they have to translate from translations since few of them understand Eastern European languages. The book seeks to identify what attracted the founders of new Chinese literature to Eastern European literature and to define its unique significance for the construction of modern Chinese literature.
Lawyer Evaluation in Chinese Courtroom: A Social-Semiotic Perspective
by Liping ZhangThis book focuses on the speech style of lawyer talk in contemporary Chinese courtrooms. The topic is intriguing to readers who may wonder how lawyers compete with their opposing counterparts in an adversarial trial system in China. The legal tradition in Confucianism, which advocates harmony in interpersonal relationships, has historically guided the practice of law in China. The book analyses how lawyers manage to compete in this system. Applying the social semiotic view of language in the Hallidayian sense, specifically systemic functional linguistics and its appraisal theory, this study interprets the subjectivity of legal language by lawyers. The speech style in legal argument presentation is described as 'rational'. The exploration of the rational speech style of lawyers is a theoretical and discursive topic. It draws upon Habermasian philosophy of intersubjectivity in legal argumentation and considers the cultural and legal contexts of China as contextual constraints. The keyconstruct of lawyer evaluation is fully captured in this discussion. As a linguistic phenomenon and unit of analysis, discourse can be examined both within local clauses and in larger stretches of talk beyond clauses. Additionally, it serves as an effective means for constructing a rational speech style for lawyers. Most importantly, discourse is a discursive act that negotiates legal arguments in the dynamic speech exchanges of a court trial, which is embedded in a wider social and cultural context. The book showcases instances of lawyer talk in well-documented trials in China and offers a good opportunity for readers to gain a general understanding of courtroom discourse in the Chinese context. It introduces readers with special interests in legal language and the law to the solidarity dimension of legal language and arguments, an alternative to the confrontational or hostile lawyer talk in trials in countries with a common-law system. The analysis presented is refined and the language used is clear, concise, and objective.
A Contemporary Turkish Prison Diary: Reflections on the Writings of Said Nursi and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn
by Ismail AlbayrakThis book explores the religious experiences of two notable figures who endured severe trials under authoritarian regimes: Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (1877–1960) within the Islamic tradition, and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) within the Russian Orthodox Christian tradition. Against the tumultuous backdrop of the twentieth century’s spiritual, social, political, and intellectual upheavals, both Nursi and Solzhenitsyn grappled with immense hardships because of their beliefs. Despite immense tribulations, both individuals demonstrated unwavering faith and resilience in the face of adversity, continuing their scholarly and literary activities. The current study centers on the dichotomy of spiritual confinement and expansiveness, illustrating how people can experience spiritual distress even without physical restraints. It explores the historical and conceptual aspects of imprisonment within Christian and Muslim perspectives, explores the reasons for Nursi and Solzhenitsyn's incarceration, examines their coping mechanisms in the face of hardship, and underscores the role of faith and spirituality. The author integrates personal experiences, particularly his own incarceration during the aftermath of the 2016 Turkish staged coup attempt, within the context of the narratives of Nursi and Solzhenitsyn. The book addresses court proceedings, release, departure from Turkey, and resettlement in Australia. Throughout, the author draws parallels between their own observations and those of Nursi and Solzhenitsyn, contributing to the broader discourse on individual spirituality and collective consciousness. The book offers insights into spiritual resilience in the face of adversity, utilizing the lives of these figures to illuminate shared human experiences. A unique collation of personal narration and scholarly reflection, it is relevant to academics and students in history, political science, sociology, Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, and to social scientists researchingthe phenomenon of exile and prison in different countries across the world. It also speaks to the work of activists and policymakers in human rights.
Linguistic Entrepreneurship in Sino-African Student Mobility
by Wen XuThis book explores African international students’ lived experience within Chinese higher education, including their language ideologies, investment in Chinese language learning and the (re)shaping of identities and aspirations. Whilst high English proficiency has been sought by globally mobile students to play the ‘class game’ and gain entrée to the circle of elites, considerably less attention has been paid to how shifting global structures and China’s semi-peripheral position shape its language learners’ investment and identity construction. Drawing upon a series of interviews, the book deciphers African students’ logics of linguistic exchanges within the geopolitical and geo-economic context of China-African relations. The students invested heavily into Chinese language learning and use, while displaying perfectionism, linguistic entrepreneurship and linguistic insecurity. As the value of their Chinese linguistic capital increases, they reassessed their sense of themselves and produced different social identities, which includes the idea of ‘the world is my oyster’, contributing to Africa’s sustainable development and the disposition to ‘tell China’s story well’. This work transgresses monolingual dominance (i.e. English) in the existing body of international student mobility and second language acquisition (SLA) research, as great importance is assigned to Chinese as linguistic capital in South-South student migration. The book is of interest to researchers in international higher education, international student mobilities, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, languages education, and Chinese language teaching and learning.
Selling Public Policy: Rhetoric, Heresthetic, Ethics and Evidence
by Joseph DrewProfessor Drew’s latest work makes the case that even great public policy needs to be deliberately and strategically sold in order for it to ultimately be considered a success. However, it seems that most people charged with the task of selling public policy simply do not have the requisite skills to do so.Selling public policy is an art that draws on disparate strands of scholarship spanning the political sciences, economics, sociology, ethics and the classics. To perform the art of selling public policy one must first master the lessons from the greats in the field. Following this, it is necessary to learn how to apply the knowledge to real-world complex scenarios in such a way that the policy is indeed sold and stays sold over the implied returns period.This book is unique in the corpus of scholarly literature because it provides both the knowledge and real-world case studies required for students, scholars, and policy practitioners to master the art of selling public policy.
Handbook of CALL Teacher Education and Professional Development: Voices from Under-Represented Contexts
by Dara Tafazoli Michelle PicardThis comprehensive handbook provides an overview of current trends in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) teacher education and professional development across the globe. It highlights theories and practices in CALL teacher education and professional development in five sections, such as English language teaching, including pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, teacher educators, material developers, course designers and researchers. It explores the role of CALL teacher education and professional development in many underexplored countries such as Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. It stresses the critical role of professional development programs, from the use of technology in its generic sense. The theoretical and empirical chapters in the book provide a more inclusive and comprehensive picture of various aspects of CALL teacher education and professional development globally. It offers context-specific approaches and strategies to language teachers and teacher educators. It provides pedagogical implications and suggestions for promoting digital literacy and autonomy in online education. This book provides valuable insights for researchers, teacher educators and teacher trainers in applied linguistics.
Information Literacy Education of Higher Education in Asian Countries (Learning Sciences for Higher Education)
by Chao-Chen Chen Mei-Ling Wang Samuel Kai Wah Chu Emi Ishita Kulthida Tuamsuk Mohamed Shuhidan ShamilaThis book focuses on information literacy in higher education from Asian countries. It explores the changing concepts, philosophies, learning environments, and technological environments of information literacy and discusses how information literacy education in universities should be carried out in the context of the information literacy framework. It also analyses the research focus and trends of information literacy education in universities in the past ten years worldwide and Asia by using the bibliometric method as well as the information literacy education models of universities in Asian countries. In addition, this book also explains the current status of information literacy education and related issues in Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.The target audience of this book is mainly university librarians, school librarians, the faculty and students of library and information sciences, information education and technology education related departments worldwide.
Hallucinatory Realism in Chinese Literature: Essays on Mo Yan and His Novels in China
by Lin JiangThis edited collection of 14 essays presents the most enlightening research findings on Mo Yan and his novels. The authors of the contributions are renowned Chinese scholars and critics from Mainland China, Chinese Hong Kong, and Taiwan like Li Jingze, vice president of Chinese Writers Association, Guo Jie, doctoral supervisor and vice president of South China Normal University, Cheng Guangwei, professor and doctoral supervisor of Renmin University of China, etc. In the book, a large range of topics have been discussed and explored, such as Mo Yan and the Chinese spirit, the revelation of Mo Yan, hallucination and localization, and folkness in The Transparent Carrot, Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out, Red Sorghum Clan, Big Breasts and Wide Hips, The Republic of Wine, Sandalwood Death, and Frog. This collection provides English readers and researchers the opportunity to learn what Chinese scholars and critics have argued about Mo Yan's styles and themes, as well as his relationship to the long canon of Chinese literature. Such a collection with fluid and yet accurate translations, the first of its kind in English, brings to the Western world the Chinese sensibility and critical analysis of this living Chinese Nobel laureate and his novels.
Computer Assisted Music and Dramatics: Possibilities and Challenges (Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing #1444)
by Ambuja Salgaonkar Makarand VelankarThis book is intended for researchers interested in using computational methods and tools to engage with music, dance and theatre. The chapters have evolved out of presentations and deliberations at an international workshop entitled Computer Assisted Music and Dramatics: Possibilities and Challenges organized by University of Mumbai in honour of Professor Hari Sahasrabuddhe, a renowned educator and a pioneering computational musicologist (CM) of Indian classical music. The workshop included contributions from CM as well as musicians with a special focus on South Asian arts. The case studies and reflective essays here are based on analyses of genres, practices and theoretical constructs modelled computationally. They offer a balanced and complementary perspective to help innovation in the synthesis of music by extracting information from recorded performances. This material would be of interest to scholars of the sciences and humanities and facilitate exchanges and generation of ideas.