Chinese Studies Research Group Lunch Seminar 11 May 2007

Chinese Studies Research Group Lunch Seminar 11 May 2007

Venue: Tutorial / Committee Room, Ground Floor, Baillieu Library

Program:

11 - 11:15

Registration and morning tea

11:15 - 11:20

Welcome and introduce keynote speaker (Professor David Holm, Professor of Chinese, Asia Institute )

11:20 - 12:00

Keynote Speaker: 张朋朋教授, 北京语言文化大学 (Professor Zhang Pengpeng, Beijing Language and Culture University)

Topic: 文字表 语说与文字表义说 --- 评两种不同的文字观 (The theory that Script Represents Spoken Language and the theory that Script Represents Meaning --- Evaluating Two Different Theories on the Chinese Script )

12: 05 - 12: 45

Speaker : Dr Haiqing Yu, PhD graduate, School of Culture and Communication

Topic: The Graying of Chinese Blogosphere: From Bloggers to Podcasters.

12:45 - 1: 30 Lunch

1:30 - 2:10

Speaker: Jonathan Benney, Ph D Candidate, Asia Institute

Topic: Rights defence and the virtual nation

2: 15 - 3:00

CSRG AGM (To be chaired by Emily Dunn, President, CSRG)

3:00 - 3:30

Afternoon tea

Remarks: RSVP to Bick-har Yeung bhy@unimelb.edu.au by 6 May 2007 for catering purpose.

Acknowledgment:
A sincere thanks is extended to Professor David Holm, Professor of Chinese, Asia Institute who will be chairing the Lunch Seminar.

****************************************************************

Program Details

11:20 - 12:00
Topic: 文字表 语说与文字表义说 --- 评两种不同的文字观 (The theory that Script Represents Spoken Language and the theory that Script Represents Meaning --- Evaluating Two Different Theories on the Chinese Script )

Keynote Speaker: 张朋朋教授, 北京语言文化大学 (Prof. Zhang Pengpeng, Beijing Language and Culture University)

Summary:

文字表语说认为，文字表现语言。文字表义说认为，文字不表现语言，是表示意义的。也就是说，文字和语言都是表达人的思想的。

本人认为，文字表语说不能解释中国的语言文字现象，而文字表义说能解释各国的语言文字现象，是具有普遍价值的一种学说。

The theory that ‘script represents spoken language' refers to the idea that the primary referent of the script is spoken language. T he theory that ‘script represents meaning' claims that the Chinese script does not primarily or directly represent the spoken language, but rather the meaning of each word. That is to say, script and spoken language are both used to express thought.

12: 05 - 12: 45
Topic: The Graying of Chinese Blogosphere: From Bloggers to Podcasters

Speaker : Dr Haiqing Yu, PhD graduate, School of Culture and Communication

Summary : This article examines blogging and podcasting as new phenomena in Chinese Internet culture in relation to the “graying” of Chinese culture. “Graying” refers to a mood and ambience among urban Chinese who infuse “red” (the color of communist China ) themes into their ironic, sarcastic, and sometimes nonsensical uses of language and new media technologies in their daily media practices. “Graying” also describes the tactic of these urban new media users in formulating an “amateur journalism” online in parallel with (rather than against) the professional journalism exemplified by the mainstream media. Through examining blogger “Massage Milk” and podcaster “Pang Dahai” within the context of the graying of Chinese blogoshphere, I argue that an “amateur journalism” has emerged in Chinese Internet culture. This amateur journalism is characterized by a playful re-articulation and deconstruction of the official discourse and represents a grassroots spirit. Its interplay with traditional journalism associated with the mainstream media such as television and newspaper determines the viability of the “public sphere” in China 's transition to a postsocialist society.

1:30 - 2:10

Topic: Rights defence and the virtual nation

Speaker: Jonathan Benney, Ph D Candidate, Asia Institute

Summary: The Chinese term weiquan, or rights defence, has been used for well over a decade, and it remains unfortunate that the morass of scholarship on the Internet in China has not yet been matched with a full and accurate analysis of the weiquan phenomenon. This paper provides an outline of weiquan as a concept, and aims to provide a structure of discourse by which the growth in use of the term can be partly explained.
In this structure, I argue, the expansion of weiquan's meaning is directly linked to the broadening of the media in which it is used. This flows into a discussion of the potential of the Internet in promoting rights defence, in which I analyse a number of weiquan activists who have used the Internet not only to promote their own causes, but also to promote rights consciousness and rights defence lawyers, and to facilitate discussion about all of the above. I conclude that a new and distinctive form of "virtual nationalism" is being used to address and overcome some of the government opposition to weiquan which has dogged campaigners over the past few years.