2021 ACPSS Conference

Chair: Geoff Foy

Papers:
Understanding and Supporting Chinese Families during the COVID 19 Pandemic
Yan Xia, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Cixin Wang, University of Maryland, College Park

Behind the cruel and violent attacks on Asian Americans
Jingyi Song, SUNY at Old Westbury

Forever “Others”—Racial Discrimination Against Asian Americans
Linda Wang, USC Aiken

Exploring Chinese International Undergraduate Students’ Cross-cultural Adjustment to US Colleges and Universities during the Covid-19 Pandemic
Ningsheng Huang, Dunwoody College of Technology

Exploring the Outcomes of Adopting OER Materials in Sociology online classes
Ting Jiang, MSU Denver (Virtual Presentation)

Yan Xia, Ph.D., Professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Cixin Wang, Ph.D. Associate Professor, University of Maryland, College Park

Understanding and Supporting Chinese Families during the COVID 19 Pandemic

A surge of racism and xenophobia towards Chinese Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic has led to high levels of stress within the Asian American, particularly Chinese American community. During this presentation We will discuss common myths about Chinese American families, their strength, and stress (e.g., language barriers, acculturative stress, experience with racism/discrimination, financial difficulties, family conflict). We will also discuss the history of anti-Asian racism and present recent data on racism targeting Chinese and Chinese Americans during COVID-19. Participants will learn how to help Chinese American parents talk to their children about race and promote Chinese family strengths, parent-child communication and emotional wellbeing. Racial-ethnic socialization is defined as parents’ transmission of messages about race to their children, including cultural socialization (i.e., teachings about culture, history, and heritage), preparing for bias, promotion of mistrust (i.e., negative messages about other races), and maybe minimization of race, including avoidance of discussions about race (Atkin et al., 2019; Hughes et al., 2008). Facing current horrific violence against people of Asian descent, we need to acknowledge the problem and understand the strengths and stresses of the Asian American families. Racism against Chinese and other Asian American families is deeply rooted. This is not something new. It is intensified because of COVID and rhetoric directed against Asian and Chinese people. This is something ACPSS and Chinese community members, lawmakers, and scholars and social science and health professionals need to face and address.

Jingyi Song
Professor of History
Dept. of History and Philosophy
SUNY at Old Westbury

Behind the cruel and violent attacks on Asian Americans

Racist attacks have soared against Asian Americans and their communities amid the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Between March and December last year, the organization, Stop Asian American and Pacific Islander Hate, recorded nearly 3,000 reports of anti-Asian hate incidents nationwide. Recent stabbing of a Chinese American in New York’s Chinatown is one of many hate crime violent incidents directed at Asian Americans in the past year (Landsvert, CBS News, Feb. 27, 2021). The killing of 6 Asian women by a white man with a self-described sex addiction on March 16, 2021 in Atlanta is the culmination of years of racism reflecting the deeply rooted stereotypes of Asian women. Basketball star Jeremy Lin, who was born in California and became the first Asian American player to win an NBA, said to CBS News that he was called “coronavirus” on the court (Lenthang, ABC News, February 27, 2021). This paper provides a historical analysis on the issues behind the cruel and violent attacks on Asian Americans and the persistence of racism against Asian Americans in the United States of America. This paper will also demonstrate the indomitable fights of Asian Americans for racial equality. The “China virus” and “disease carriers” run in the same historical groove, stirring hatred, racial antagonism and social conflicts. It has been one and a half centuries since Congress passed the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act which was quickly extended to other Asian immigrants. The Gentleman’s Agreement of 1907, the Oriental Exclusion Act of 1924 and the Executive Order of 9066 in 1942 were part of federal restrictions against Asian immigrants. However, the reckless accusations and racially discriminatory legislation against Asian Americans did not go without opposition and resistance. They pursued justice through the judiciary process, rallied and petitioned to voice their demand for racial equality and, more importantly, continued their participation in social, political and economic activities, claiming themselves to be Americans.

Linda Wang, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Sociology/Geography
University of South Carolina, Aiken

Forever “Others”—Racial Discrimination Against Asian Americans

Asian immigration to the U.S. has hundreds of years of history and there are many generations of native born Asian Americans who have little to no ties to their ancestors’ homeland countries in Asia. Yet Asian Americans as a general group, native-born or otherwise, have been chronic targets of subtle or blatant racial discrimination in the American society. This has been most obvious and brutal in times of social, economic, or political tension. The distinct physical features of Asian Americans make them easily identifiable and make it impossible for them to escape from any racially targeted and racially motivated violence against them. This presentation discusses some of the violent acts against Asian Americans in the past and present. Three different time periods are to be highlighted to elaborate that intensified racial violence against Asian Americans tends to coincide with rising social, economic and political tension: the years after the completion of the American transcontinental railroads in the late 19th century; the 1980s’ economic recession; and the current times of Covid-19 pandemic. During each of these times, racially motivated violence against Asian Americans escalated with the damaging effect of implicating Asian Americans as the persistent “others,” picked up as scapegoats by various interest groups in American society.

Chair: Erik Hammerstrom

Papers:
Social Reference Theory: Exploration of a New Sociological Perspective
Jie Zhang, SUNY Buffalo State

The Nomenclature and Spread of Chinese Medicine Dahuang
Dongyu Yang, Shaanxi Normal University

The Concept of No Birth in Mahayana Buddhism: Perspectives from Buddhist Philosophy and Buddhist Theology
Bill Chu, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Zen Aesthetics: A Successful Fusion of Buddhism and Chinese Thought – The Contributions of Wei-Jin Metaphysical Interpretation
Yonggang Huang, Brooklyn College, CUNY

Wang Yangming’s Notion of Ultimate Knowing (良知) and Inseparability of Knowing and Practice (知行合一).
Aiguo Han, Rowan University (Virtual Presentation)

Zhang Jie Ph.D
SUNY Distinguished Professor
Director, Center for China Studies
Department of Sociology, SUNY Buffalo State

Social Reference Theory: Exploration of a New Sociological Perspective

This is an exploratory article. It takes Social Reference Theory, based in Western sociological perspectives, as a foundation for the exploration of Chinese culture. Different from the existing, classical, and traditional sociological thinking, Social Reference Theory has reached beyond other theories. This Theory emphasizes the importance of the reference on perception, with four propositions. These are, simply put: 1) any given perception is based on reference, 2) if there is no reference, there can be no perception, 3) changing reference results in a change in perception, and 4) people can perceive a given matter or thing differently because they each have a different reference.

Dongyu Yang, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Shaanxi Normal University

The Nomenclature and Spread of Chinese Medicine Dahuang (Rhubarb)

Rhubarb has a long history in Chinese medicine, and it has been recorded in the early Western Han Dynasty. It is one of the main export medicinal materials from ancient China to modern times. In the meantime, the name of rhubarb is commonly used in various places, and, with the change of transportation and distribution, the name change can trace the development of the local language. This paper briefly discusses the importance of rhubarb and the relationship between the different names, names arising from inside and outside of the paths of dissemination, as well as the use of minority medicine (Uyghur traditional medicine), and finally more modern medicine used for clinical and experimental research. I believe that with the in-depth research we can also be looking forward to more good applications.

Bill Chu, Ph.D.
Professor
University of North Carolina at Charlotte

The Concept of No Birth in Mahayana Buddhism: Perspectives from Buddhist Philosophy and Buddhist Theology

Realization of “No Birth” is a hallmark of Mahayana Buddhist teaching. The Buddha pointed out that people’s suffering is caused by wrong perceptions and views. If one can fully realize those objects of mind have never been born, one can be relieved of his/her suffering. However, historically there have been conflicting interpretations of the concept of “No Birth”. This paper summarized such interpretations into three categories: 1. Objects and concepts have no birth and no death. 2. The idea of “birth” is meaningless from a philosophical perspective. 3. What people believe to exist is a complete illusion, nothing has ever been born. This paper analyzes these interpretations and points out that they come from the perspectives of either Buddhist Philosophy or Buddhist Theology.

Yonggang Huang, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Brooklyn College, CUNY

Zen Aesthetics: A Successful Fusion of Buddhism and Chinese Thought – The Contributions of Wei-Jin Metaphysical Interpretation

This essay attempts to describe the metaphysical discussions of the Wei-Jin period that took up the first breakthrough of Zhuangzi’s aesthetics and did the work of paving the way for deep integration of Buddhism and Chinese culture, the greatest achievement obtained being the formation of Zen Buddhism. With the Buddhist concept of karmic emptiness at its core, combined with the Taoist concept of affinity for nature and a focus on practice, Zen Buddhism became a successful example of cultural cross-fertilization, embodying the brilliant results of the combination of Chinese and Indian wisdom, and exerting an incomparably profound influence on East Asian culture. The article covers: I. Zhuangzi – the first breakthrough in Chinese aesthetics; II. Wei-Jin metaphysical discussions prepared the acceptance of Buddhism; III. Zen – the second breakthrough in Chinese aesthetics; and IV. the influence of Zen on various aspects of Chinese culture and art.

Aiguo Han, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Rowan University

Wang Yangming’s Notion of Ultimate Knowing (良知) and Inseparability of Knowing and Practice (知行合一).

In recent years, there is a revived interest in the thoughts of Wang Yangming (1472—1529), a Confucian scholar and thinker of China’s Ming Dynasty. With a profound knowledge of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, Wang Yangming was considered one of the most influential thinkers in Chinese history. His discussion of “ultimate knowing” 良知 and the “inseparability of knowing and doing” 知行合一 has led to different interpretations and debates among scholars and laymen alike. This presentation intends to explain and discuss the notion of 良知and its logical connection with 知行合一,as well as its relevance to learning in the contemporary college classroom.

Chair: Zhou Jun

Papers:
The Cultural Context, Interpretative Standpoint, And Influence of English-Translated Tu Fu’s Poetry in the 20th Century
Lan Jiang, St. Peter’s University

Roles of (Social) Media in China’s International Communication
Shuming Lu, City University of New York-Brooklyn College

The Power of Political Slogans in Chinese Revolution and Construction
Shaorong Huang , University of Cincinnati

An Experiment on Teaching Chinese Characters Effectively
Daliang Wang, High Point University

Lan Jiang, Ph.D.
St. Peter’s University

The Cultural Context, Interpretative Standpoint, And Influence of English-Translated Tu Fu’s Poetry in the 20th Century

In 1929, the English texts dedicated to the introduction of Tu Fu and his poems appeared, breaking the long-standing situation in the field of English translation of Tang poetry that Li Po is far superior to Tu Fu. Two literary translators, Mrs. Ayscough and Mrs. Underwood, made pioneering contributions to this phenomenon. In 1952, Chinese scholar William Hung completed a systematic academic translation of Tu Fu based on traditional Chinese poetics. His work has corrected various errors and misunderstandings made by Western translators before and established Tu Fu as “China’s greatest poet” for Western readers. Subsequently, the literary translation and utilization, academic translation and research of Tu Fu and his poems complemented each other’s strengths and steadily developed to this day. The different interpretation perspectives of different translators further enrich the world-literary significance of Tu Fu’s poems, and successfully achieve the effect of cross-cultural and cross-lingual literary communication.

Shuming Lu, Ph.D.
Professor
Dept of Communication Arts, Sciences & Disorders
City University of New York-Brooklyn College

Role of (Social) Media in China’s International Communication

With China’s rise on the global stage, China’s international communication has come to the forefront of its relations with other countries, especially the western world which has been defining roles and functions of international media. In recent years, China has realized the importance of strengthening its strategies, and improving its modes of international communication, such that it can better adapt to its changing position in the world and more effectively respond to increasing pressures and dominant voices from western countries and media. Based on ethnographic observations and analysis of news reports by Chinese and western media (including social media) about some major happenings in China, specifically about Covid-19 in Wuhan, human rights in Xinjiang and recent flooding in Henan Province, this paper attempts to reveal major differences between Chinese media and western media in their understandings and practices of principal guidelines of news coverage such as truthfulness, objectivity and neutrality. It is hoped that such discussions, by comparing and contrasting approaches by major news organizations in their outlets and venues of social media, will help western media and newscasters to understand what useful guidelines they should follow when reporting on Chinese events, and also recommend to Chinese officials and news people what resources they can utilize and what strategies they should try to employ when conveying their stories and messages to the western audience.

Shaorong Huang , Ph.D.
Professor of English
University of Cincinnati

The Power of Political Slogans in Chinese Revolution and Construction

Slogans are as old as language itself. They can be found in sacred texts such as the Bible, where they are used as a means of moral persuasion, disseminating propaganda during times of war, or as instruments of popular persuasion in advertising and political campaigns. As a particular form of public discourse aiming to unify public thoughts and agitate public actions and reactions, slogans can simplify complicated ideas, express group ideology and goals, create identification, provoke violent confrontations, and fulfill hopes for the future. Effective slogans are usually short and easy to remember. For example, Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign slogan was “Yes We Can,” while Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign slogan was “Make America Great Again.” Political slogans have been widely used in Communist China. Most of these political slogans are short, simple, clear and straightforward. During the times of revolution, the Communist Party of China (CPC) called the poor peasants to “fight the local tyrants and divide the fields.” During the Cultural Revolution Movement, the major slogan was “to rebel is justified.” In the era of Opening-up and Reform, one important slogan was “let some people get rich first.” Today, the slogan proposed by the CPC headed by Xi Jinping is “Chinese Dream.” As a special form of rhetorical language, political slogans in the period of Chinese revolution and construction have been used by the Communist Party and the government to publicize their policies and strategic directions, to disseminate their guidelines, and to mobilize their people in coordinated actions. They are very powerful and effective. This paper will briefly analyze the persuasion power, the mobilization power, the governance power, the propaganda power and the communication power of this particular kind of slogan.

Daliang Wang, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
High Point University

An Experiment on Teaching Chinese Characters Effectively

For English speakers, learning Chinese characters is one of the most difficult and time-consuming tasks in mastering the Chinese language. Beginners get frustrated in writing and memorizing logographic words which are significantly different from English. The situation worsens with all the restraints associated with COVID-19. To efficiently teach and motivate students to learn Chinese characters has been a focus of research. However, not much has been done on quantitative testing the effectiveness of those alternative methods of teaching Chinese characters. Instead of using the traditional pen-and-paper method to teach students to write characters, this research prose to reduce the amount of time invested in learning characters by combining writing basic (独体字) characters and typing complex ones (合体字). The research thus tests one hypothesis, that students will learn more effectively with hand-writing fewer characters and perform better on other aspects of language learning, including speaking, listening, and reading. The subjects are first-year students enrolled in a fall term. After learning one term of Chinese, their performance will be assessed by tests including quizzes, midterm, and final exams. Data will be collected to analyze if they perform better than students from the previous year when the traditional characters teaching method was used. Statistical analysis, including chi-square and T-test, was performed to compare the effectiveness of student learning in the two different settings. Preliminary results show that students in the test group performed slightly better than students from the previous year. A discussion for further research will be provided at the end of this paper.

Chair: Mikel Edwards

Papers:
Navigating Sports Career through Political Storms and Market Economy: Two Fencing Coaches Lu Quan and Xu Guangli
Yuxin Ma, University of Louisville

Regulating Nature: The Chinese Communist Party’s Controlling of the Yellow River in Mao’s China
Xiaojia Hou, San Jose State University

Chinese Peasants and Peasants’ China
Zhiyuan Chen, Appalachian State University

Winning Hearts and Mind by China?– Xinjiang’s Role in BRI Construction and Its Meaning for Border Security
Xiaoxiao Li, University of Central Oklahoma (Virtual Presentation)

Changes in Rural Clan Culture and Communities during China’s Urbanization
Zongli Tang, Department of Sociology (Virtual Presentation)

Yuxin Ma, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, History Department,
University of Louisville

Navigating Sports Career through Political Storms and Market Economy: Two Fencing Coaches Lu Quan and Xu Guangli

This paper investigates the experiences of two fencing coaches, Lu Quan (1940-) and Xu Guangli (1936-2018), both of whom were graduates of Beijing Sports Institute and emerged as elite provincial coaches in the 1980s. As such they are good case studies for answering some basic questions from a historical perspective, such as: How did early socialist sportsmen and sportswomen navigate their sports career with political storms, personal interests, family obligations in the 1950s-60s? How did they explore sports-related opportunities to change their lives, fulfil their family obligations, and advance their careers through domestic and international contests in the 1970s-80s? This paper also examines how sports empowered female coaches to succeed in the context of competition, but also were sidelined in their efforts through patriarchal sports management and the politics of parochialism. This paper challenges a nationalist understanding of sports professionals by arguing that they did not forgo their personal interests, nor did they agree on socialist politics or its sports culture. Instead, they held onto their expertise in and love for sports as a means to make a living and find meaning and satisfaction in their lives.

Xiaojia Hou, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
San Jose State University

Regulating Nature: The Chinese Communist Party’s Controlling of the Yellow River in Mao’s China

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) claimed to have conquered nature, yet nature frequently proved difficult to overcome. One such example was the CCP’s programs addressing the Yellow River problem. The Yellow River had long been a source of sorrow in China’s history, but it has become a symbol of nationhood in the CCP’s rhetoric. This essay introduces the CCP’s, particularly Mao Zedong’s, views of the Yellow River, and their official policies regarding the river. It examines several CCP’s attempts to regulate the river, such as reconstructing local administrations for flood control, building massive hydroelectric dams, as well as analyzing the consequences that resulted. Through these cases, this essay explores complex interactions between nature and human actions, tensions between central and local administrations, and differences between the original intention of policies and their actual impacts.

Zhiyuan Chen, PhD
Appalachian State University

Chinese Peasants and Peasants’ China

Throughout the 5000 years of Chinese history, peasants or farmers have been the central part of the Chinese society; they have been playing the main role in the social development, and they have been the ones who constitute the central corpus of the decision makers of the Chinese destiny. The history of China has been written by the Chinese farmers precisely because of their efforts. The uprising of peasants’ movements always contributed to the changes of all the previous Chinese dynasties. The Chinese sciences and technologies were also created by Chinese agricultural workers including moon calendar, astronomy, mathematics, hydraulic engineering, agricultural technology, Chinese written system, and life-philosophy, etc. They have been also the ones who created the Chinese intellectual culture including literature, traditions, academies, including the Chinese philosophical thoughts. Since the May 4th New Cultural Movement in 1919, Chinese intellectuals started to follow the Western “democracy” and “science” as part of the so-called “Enlightenment”, whose central ideology is Western style “Modernization” and its nature is anti-peasant-culture and pro-city-state-business culture. However, under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the Chinese communists manage to overthrow the millenary Imperial Power through the armed and organized Chinese peasants, who attacked the city power from the countryside, and to establish a New China. Only in this way, China finally challenged the 20th and 21th Century. Instead of following Western path, China followed Marxism and Leninism with the full support of Chinese peasants. Since the 80s of the last century, China entered the period of capitalization, urbanization and modern industrialization, and increased 180 times its GDP also with the great efforts of Chinese Peasant-workers. Chinese farmers also constitute the main force of modern Chinese history. Therefore, the Chinese government’s main goal should focus on Chinese peasants’ interests, by giving them more benefits and equal opportunities in its future planning. Now China is facing the third wave of social benefit distribution in order to provide them with more equality in acquiring social material goods. Instead of continuing to build more super urban areas, China should focus more on creating a new socialist rural society by eliminating the old policy of household contract, so that the Chinese farmers may have the opportunity for a more decent life in an organized manner. I believe that the further social-political development of China should pay more attention to the countryside and to the building of a real socialist rural society. Under the current several international environments, the reconstruction of Chinese rural society is the key for its further development toward modernization.

Xiaoxiao Li, Ph.D.
Professor
University of Central Oklahoma

Winning Hearts and Minds by China?– Xinjiang’s Role in BRI Construction and Its Meaning for Border Security

China started its Belt and Road Initiative from 2013. At the initial stage, many programs were projected in the neighboring countries in China’s west border such as Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan. After the collapse of the former Soviet Union and during the transition from planned economy to free market economy, these countries encountered various difficulties in their own economic development plans. China’s BRI not only helps these countries with their infrastructure construction but also enhances their economic activities in every sector. The War on Terror led by the US in Afghanistan from 2001 put heavy pressure on terrorist groups in the region. They spread out to avoid direct attacks by the US led alliance army and caused many terrorist-related incidents and attacks in Xinjiang Autonomous Region and the surrounding countries. Promoting and bringing the success of the BRI to the region made Xinjiang an important hub and security base. This presentation will look into China’s Stability Maintenance policy in Xinjiang and briefly analyze Xinjiang’s role in BRI Construction and its meaning for China’s border security. In conclusion, the presenter holds that China’s BRI Construction is not only an economic program but also a sustainable strategy for China to win hearts and minds along with the successful operation of BRI Construction programs for the grand goal of establishment of a Community of Common Destiny for all Mankind.

Zongli Tang, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Sociology
Auburn University at Montgomery

Changes in Rural Clan Culture and Communities during China’s Urbanization

Whether driven by market forces or by the government, urbanization has become an irresistible trend in China. It is reported that more than 274 million peasants are now working and living in cities and towns and the size is growing daily. China’s urbanization has attracted scholars in various fields, including humanities, social sciences,and natural sciences throughout the world. It is our responsibility to report this event and analyze the process and influence. Using materials collected in survey and fieldwork conducted in 2009, 2014, and 2017, this research examines urbanization and its impact on rural clan culture and clan communities, emphasizing normative changes with regard to clan sentiment, family values, filial piety, ancestor worship, decent relations, gender relations, marital relations, patriarchal power, and rituals, which have been long neglected by pioneer studies. As revealed, urbanization has weakened traditional influence among villagers, especially the well-educated youths. But the impact is limited in scope and intensity. Migrant workers are still in their rural roots. The current urban development is not sufficient to completely separate them physically and mentally from native clan communities. Traditional culture remains not only in their memory but also in their daily life. China’s urbanization is distinguished from the European model because of a changed technological environment today. New technical conditions in transportation and information make the distance between migrant workers and their villages relatively shorter. Their spiritual communication with their family members, relatives, and local clans is not loosened. Their various links with home-villages do not cut off, but continue to be close and smooth. Urban effects move slowly on them. In the survey, a majority of the respondents express traditional viewpoints regarding ancestor worship, xiao (or filial piety), loyalty, clan rituals and clan genealogy, reflecting historical continuity of culture. Although villagers are shifting from the big jia to the small jia, and individualism is rising, jia, being the foundation of the Chinese society and Chinese culture, continues to be of more importance than individuals. Cultural changes bear strong Chinese characteristics.

Chair: Qiang Fang

Papers:
The pursuit of national rights: Li Dazhao in Japan”
Patrick Fuliang Shan, Grand Valley State University

China’s Civil Code
Shiping Hua, University of Louisville

One after Another Suicide in Colleges: What Is Going on?
Ronghua Ouyang, University of North Florida

Worthy vs Unworthy Victims of Sexual Violence in Postsocialist China
Tiantian Zheng, State University of New York, Cortland (Virtual Presentation)

Patrick Fuliang Shan, Ph.D.
Professor of History
Grand Valley State University

Li Dazhao in Japan

My paper examines Li Dazhao and his Japan experience from 1913 to 1916 and argues that his odyssey in the East Asian country had exerted a great influence upon his life. He was impacted by Yuan Shikai’s reform before his departure from North China, but he became an anti-Yuan fighter in Japan, which was a significant change. His exposure to new ideas opened his vista of seeing Western civilization and Japanese civilization. The Japanese harsh demands on China in 1915 urged him to be an activist to defend China’s national interests. Consequently, his nationalism was strengthened. Whether he accepted Marxism in Japan as some scholars have assumed, it requires further scholarly exploration. It is fair to argue that he might have read communism-related literature, as he was interested in socialism when he was studying at Waseda University. Unfortunately, he was expelled from Waseda University as he skipped his classes during the anti-Yuan war while returning to Shanghai for a few weeks. Overall, Li’s Japan experience remolded him to be a new individual and pave his way of being a radical intellectual, then a democrat, and ultimately a communist.

Shiping Hua, Ph.D
Calvin & Helen Lang Distinguished Chair in Asian Studies
Professor of Political Science
Director of Asian Studies Program
The University of Louisville

Civil Rights Chinese Style: China’s Civil Code

This paper argues that China’s Civil Code has been completed in the midst of the situation when China’s economy has experienced a decline of growth for half a decade, as well as an increasingly challenging international environment exemplified by the U.S.-China trade war. The Chinese regime intends to give the public more breathing space in those areas that don’t hurt the state monopoly of power, e.g., protecting civil rights among non-state actors. This situation is similar to that of post 1989 Tiananmen Massacre period, when the political control was tightened, while other areas such as the control of the economy were loosened, a period symbolized by Deng Xiaoping’s 1992 Southern Tour. [1] The promulgation of the current Civil Code is also a reflection of a more modernized Chinese society.

Dr. Ronghua Ouyang, Ph.D.
Professor
University of North Florida

One after Another Suicide in Colleges: What Is Going on?

Another doctoral student has committed suicide in a well-known university in China recently. In total, there have been 5 graduate student suicides in the same university from September 19, 2020, to May 11, 2021. Suicide is also a serious problem on campuses in the United States. In 2019, there were three students who committed suicide in a single semester on an eastern university campus. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide has become the second leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-olds in the United States. We expect universities and colleges to be places of learning new knowledge and skills, pursuing personal fulfillment and happy living, conducting research to educate for well-being, and serving society. Nonetheless, suicide on campus is a major problem. What are the causes? How to approach prevention? The answers to these questions are multiple and based on the differences between eastern and western cultures. Beyond expressing sympathy for the dead, there are those who complain about the campus environment, or criticize professors’ performance and behaviors, or blame medical services. There are also those looking for accountability from governmental organizations. This paper looks at suicide beneath the surface level, analyzes its internal and external factors, and discusses ways to improve youngsters’ self-control in order to reduce the occurrence of suicide in universities and colleges.

Tiantian Zheng, Ph.D.
SUNY Distinguished Professor, Anthropology
State University of New York, Cortland

Worthy vs Unworthy Victims of Sexual Violence in Postsocialist China

Drawing on women’s lived experiences of sexual violence and sexual coercion in their lives, this paper uncovers the cultural system of power hierarchy that creates injustice and inequity. Women in my research who have experienced sexual coercion by their partners have chosen not to report it in court. In their minds, the damage and contamination to their bodies have been done. Publicizing their names with a public sex scandal can only intensify and expand the damage to their lives. Their sense of disgrace and shame runs so deep that they are afraid that publicizing it can invite condemnation and humiliation and ruin their social reputation. Tarnishing their moral status can undermine and jeopardize their family relationships, future romantic relationships, and professional jobs. Such fear perpetuates and reinforces public silence and social tolerance of this issue. Cultural discourse also blurs the boundary between sexual coercion and consensual sex in a relationship and dichotomize the unworthy vs worthy victims of sexual violence. This worthy vs unworthy victim distinction embodies the cultural system of gender hierarchy and a politics of sexuality that polices and regulates women’s bodies and sexuality.

Chair: Jingyi Song

Papers:
From Allies to Adversaries: Sino-US Relations Since Nixon’s Visit in 1972
Qiang Fang, University of Minnesota Duluth

The Rise and Fall of Confucius Institute in North America–Internal Challenges of Chinese Language and Culture
Iris Xu, Troy University

The Confucius Institute—A Culturally Cyclic Game
Rui Feng, Troy University

Beijing’s Strategic Shift and US-China Relations
Xiaobing Li, Central Oklahoma University (Virtual Presentation)

Disillusioned Diplomacy: U.S. Policy Towards Wang Jingwei’s Reorganized National Government, 1938-1945
Travis Chambers, University of Central Oklahoma (Virtual Presentation)

Qiang Fang, Ph.D.
Professor
University of Minnesota Duluth

From Allies to Adversaries: Sino-US Relations Since Nixon’s Visit in 1972

Ever since the Chinese Communist Party took over mainland China and established the People’s Republic in 1949, the United States government had continuously treated the PRC as an ideological enemy and a satellite state or ally of the Soviet Union. After the two nations clashed in the Korean War in the early 1950s and especially after Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalin and adopted a more moderate and conciliatory policy of co-existence vis-à-vis the US, American leaders from Truman to Johnson regarded the PRC as a more dangerous and willful adversary than the USSR. However, soaring casualties in Vietnam and the ascendancy of Soviet assertiveness plus its gaining edge in arms race compelled Nixon to seek China’s help in the 1970s. The erstwhile foes turned to allies overnight against their common enemy: the USSR. The alliance, however frail and porous, thrived in the 1980s and, more correctly, until the collapse of the Soviet in 1992. Without a common enemy, the alliance between China and the US lost its main pillar. While trade and economic collaboration were growing in the late 1990s and early 21st century, political frictions over human rights, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet and other geopolitical issues such as the South China Sea gradually but steadily weighed on the bilateral relations. In this paper, I am going to discuss the ups and downs of the Sino-US diplomatic history from the pre-Nixon era to the death of Deng Xiaoping. Unlike other studies that mostly blame Xi Jinping for the deteriorating Sino-US relations, I argue that the two countries have fundamental problems due to their longtime ideological enmity and political conflicts over Taiwan and other so-called “core interests.” The ostensible rapprochement from 1972 to the late 1980s was not possible without the common threat from the USSR. Once the Soviet ceased to exist, all covert hatreds and distrusts between the two countries surfaced that would hound the two nations for years to come.

Dr. Iris Xu, Director of Center for International Languages & Cultures/Confucius Institute at Professor of Second Language Instruction of College of Education
Troy University

The Rise and Fall of Confucius Institutes in North America—Internal Challenges of Chinese Language and Culture

The first Confucius Institute (CI) was initiated at the University of Maryland in 2004. Fifteen years later, CIs have gone through vicissitude from testing the water to their plateau in about ten years, until nearing annihilation. Their future is uncertain. This presentation analyses the declining process of the CIs from the perspective of the Chinese language, its culture, and human factors with the following cases: 1. Language determines the cultural awareness, 2. Principles of for modelling Confucius Institutes, 3. Unplanned but overspeed construction of CIs, 4. Professional Development without Defined Purposes, 5. Beaten educational model lacking innovation, 6. Easy to come but quick to go, 7. Respect for the Chinese culture, 8. Respect for the local culture overseas, 9. “Viewing Chinese language and culture from a local perspective”, and 10. The future of uncertain water needs more testing.

Dr. Rui Feng, Associate Chair and Distinguished Professor of Second Language Instruction of College of Education,
Troy University

The Confucius Institute—A Culturally Cyclic Game

Evolutionary Game Theory (EGT) builds on the fundamental intuition that in games that are played very often, strategies that lead to a high payoff at a point in time are more likely to be played in subsequent games than less successful strategies. This paper takes this theory and applies it to the phenomenon of the Confucius Institute program. In reality, some Confucius Institutes have encountered participants whose payoff depends on the actions of all other participants, often having something to lose in their daily routines. Their accumulated selfishness has exerted a great deal of difficulties in the healthy cultivation of the Confucius Institutes. Using accumulated and shared information gathered over a period of more than ten years, this presentation will depict case studies of some Chinese language teachers from China whose behaviour has exposed their less than desirable intentions or lack of professionalism, ending up in a culturally cyclic game in which winning is a maze.

Xiaobing Li, Ph.D.
Professor
Don Betz Endowed Chair in International Studies
Central Oklahoma University

Beijing’s Strategic Shift and US-China Relations

Xi Jinping repositions China by creating a new center of gravity in the Asia-Pacific region, even though his unprecedented demands faced new challenges and created new problems. There is a possibility of a tragic repetition in the development of a new cold war between the United States and China, if the latter continues its effort in creating “one world, two systems.” In Beijing’s bi-polar world, one system is the existing American-centric global community; the other is a China-centered international system. With no single enemy to unite against, and with the PRC emerging as a major economic power, the relationship between the US and China arrives at a historical crossroad. Miles M. Yu, China policy advisor to Secretary Michael Pompeo, emphasized that President Donald Trump has made a fundamental change in US policy toward China by terminating “common ground” policy principle and stopping playing “China card.” China became the major threat to the United States, which should fight back against China as its potential enemy whenever it could. After took over the office, President Joe Biden continued Trump’s hardline policy and described China as the “strategic competitor” of the US. As his signature project, Xi’s “One-Belt and One-Road” plan intends to connect China with Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America by exploring energy sources, constructing modern transportation, and building new channels for trade, finance, and communication. The different approaches between Mao and Xi’s strategy is a shift of the active defense from engaging in land wars to preparing naval warfare. The core of Mao Zedong’s active defense strategy was to defend China outside its territory in neighboring countries like Korea and Vietnam. Xi Jinping adopts the active defense strategy by projecting the next war in the Taiwan Strait, East China Sea, and South China Sea.

Travis Chambers, M.A. History
Professor
Department of History & Geography
University of Central Oklahoma

Disillusioned Diplomacy: U.S. Policy Towards Wang Jingwei’s Reorganized National Government, 1938-1945

This chapter interprets and lays bare a new perspective on US-China relations by analyzing official American policy towards Wang Jingwei’s Reorganized National Government, from 1938-1945. Scholarship has overwhelmingly focused on relations between the United States, Jiang Jieshi, and Mao Zedong. However, historical research overlooked the complicated dynamic presented by Wang Jingwei’s establishment of an alternate, Chinese nationalist government during World War Two. Wang’s government at Nanjing was largely ignored by both historiography and US policy because it was deemed a “puppet” government of Japan. Shortly after signing the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, Japan, Germany, and Italy were the only major powers to officially recognize Wang Jingwei’s government as the legitimate representative of the Chinese nation. The United States, Great Britain, France, and other Allies viewed the Abe-Wang Treaty, signed November 30, 1940, as Wang’s definitive submission of Chinese sovereignty to the Axis powers and a threat to Allied interests in China. This chapter examines the intricate diplomatic network present in China and narrates the evolution of US policy towards Wang Jingwei; from the initiation of his relations with Japan, to the establishment of the Reorganized Government, and to the official policy formulation of the US State Department. American policy towards Wang Jingwei was one of non-recognition, categorizing his government as “traitorous,” and implementing similar policies as adopted for other “puppet” states like Manchukuo. Analysis and interpretation of US policy towards Wang Jingwei completes a missing history in US-China relations, provides a more nuanced historical narrative, and demonstrates the effects on American foreign policy, towards China, up to the twenty-first century.

Organizer and panel chair: Prof. Li Jieli, Ohio University

Panel Participants:
Yuxin Ma, new editor-in-chief, American Review of China Studies, the official journal of
ACPSS, hosted by University of Louisville.

Shipping Hua, editor of book series Asia in the New Millennium, University Press of Kentucky.

Jieli Li, Co-Editor of book series, “海外華人學者中國研究文叢“, 香港城市大學出版社。

Qiang Fang, Editor of the book series “China: from Revolution to Reform,” Amsterdam
University Press.

Xiaobing Li, Editor of Chinese Historical Review, Chinese Historians in the United States
(Virtual Presentation)

Organizer and panel chair: Prof. Li Jieli, Ohio University

Panel Participants:
Prof. Ma Yuxin, new editor-in-chief, American Review of China Studies, the official journal of ACPSS, hosted by University of Louisville.

Prof. Hua Shipping, editor of book series Asia in the New Millennium, University Press of Kentucky.

Prof. Li Guoqing, Co-Editor of book series, “海外華人學者中國研究文叢 (Collections of Chinese Studies by Overseas Chinese)“, 香港城市大學出版社。

This panel has a three-fold purpose: (1) introduce to ACPSS members Prof Ma Yuxin, new editor-in-chief of American Review of China Studies, the official journal of ACPSS; (2) Prof Hua Shipping will talk about the manuscript submission guidelines for his edited book series Asia in the New Millennium; and (3) Prof. Li Guoqing will introduce and talk about the new books series on overseas Chinese studies published by Hong Kong City University Press.