Chinese Studies Research Group Lunch Seminar 8th August 2008

Chinese Studies Research Group Lunch Seminar

Date: Friday, 8th August, 2008

Location: Tutorial / Committee Room, Ground floor, Baillieu Library.

RSVP to Bick-har Yeung bhy@unimelb.edu.au by 1st August 2008 for catering purposes.

Program

09:45 - 10:00

Registration and morning tea

10:00 - 10:05

Welcome (Jonathan Benney, President, Chinese Studies Research Group; Ph D Candidate, Asia Institute )

10:05 - 10:45

Topic: The Missing Link between Creativity and EFL Writing of Chinese Students.

Speaker: Ye, Hong, PhD candidate, Faculty of Education, The University of Melbourne.

Summary:

As part of a bigger project, the study addresses the issue of creativity education in Chinese EFL writing context. By investigating into the E nglish writing practice s of Chinese learners , the study aims to examine the connections between creativity and English writing in Chinese educational and sociocultural context, in order to explore how greater levels of creativity might be fostered. It is expected gaps will be identified in the conceptualizations and practices of creative pedagogy for EFL writing education between the West and China , and the Chinese sociocultural issues w hich influence their creative approaches to EFL writing will be disclosed and discussed. Practical suggestions as to how creativity can be encouraged and enhanced through English writing will be offered to Chinese educators and policy-makers. Implications will be drawn to deepen the understanding of theory and practice in writing in a broader context, such as L1 and L2 writing for students in other countries, or in other literacy levels.

10:50 - 11:30

Topic: Public Space and Social Life in the City of Hangzhou: the Capital of Southern Song (1127-1279) China.

Speaker: Jia Xu, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning.

Summary:

Hangzhou, being the capital of China during the Southern Song Dynasty, is labeled by Mote as a typical hybrid city. It bares many distinct differences from capitals located in north China, such as less planned and more integrated into its natural topography. By examining the public space and social life in and out of the city, my study tries to explore the underlying factors influenced its space morphology. Three kinds of space institutions will be looked into in my research, which are marketing places and entertaining precincts, gardens and temples. In my speech, only the last institution will be covered.

11:30 - 11:45 Tea Break

11:45 - 12:25

Speaker: Weichen Gu, Visiting Professor, Asia Law Centre of Melbourne Law School; Legal English Center of Foreign Studies College of Hebei Normal University, China.

Summary:

The historical titles, the ownership, acquisition and transfer, land-rent and development, compensation to the original land title holders all are different between Au and PR China. The presenter hopes to illustrate the details of the differences and find sth behind and the merits of each legal system to the other as reference.

12:30 - 1:10

Topic: Chinese Calligraphy.

Speaker: Pietro De Laurentis PhD, Naples Oriental University.

Summary:

The Relationship between Characters and their Strokes in Classical Chinese Calligraphy

Considering Chinese characters only for their visual component, leaving aside their meaning and pronounciation, we can easily acknowledge the five main calligraphy scripts: zhuan 篆 , li 隸 (clerical), kai 楷 (regular) , xing 行 (semi-cursive), cao 草 (cursive). Consequently we can also realize how no definitive image of any character can actually exist, for each character is imagined only when configured in one particular script. Furthermore, the final written example of a character is determined by the communicative circumstances governing the text within which that particular character occurs, such as its position in the column, its relations with the other characters and the space around it in general. This brief presentation attempts a preliminary discussion on the relationship between the character and its strokes according to the theory of sign articulation developed in semiotics. This discussion therefore tries to describe, using examples of classical calligraphy, the strokes (syntagms) underlying the configuration of each character (sign) according to the various scripts (codes) used to produce a specific calligraphy (text).

1:15 - 2: 00 Lunch

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