Asia NotesNewsletter from the

Reflections Upon Retirementby Frederick Brandauer

On June], 1997, the Department ofAsian Languages and Literature held aretirement dinner at the Four SeasRestaurantfor Professor Frederick PBrandauer Asked to compose for thispublication, an overview of his careeiProfessor Brandauer graciously gave usthe following “memoir”

Ata reception held this Spring for

University retirees, PresidentRichard McCormick said that instead oftalking about “retirement,” which tendsto be misleading for most of us, we

I ought rather to speak in terms of“freedom” aml “renewal.” My marriagepartner, Marie, and I both retired fromour teaching positions in June andPresident McCormick’s words seemwonderfully appropriate for us. In thesense of withdrawal from regularprofessional college and universityresponsibilities, yes, we are retiring:This is not to be understood, however,as a movement away from those areas ofinvolvement which have been central to’us for many years. Rather, retirementoffers an opportunity now for both of usto move into new areas of activityconnected, in Marie’s case, withcounseling and, in my case, withChinese studies. Hopefully, we caneven combine the two and worktogether as a team, something notpossible when both Of us held full-timejobs.

hina has always been a central partofmy life and I cannot conceive of

a time when this will not continue to beso. I am often introduced as someonewho was born in China. This is reallynot true, although I long ago stoppedcorrecting people on this point. .1 wasactually born in New York City to acouple that was already at that time

)reParin to go to China as missionar

ies. These were the years of the GreatDepression and due to a shortage ofMission Board funds, the trip to Chinahad to be postponed until 1935, when Iwas one and a half years old, I supposeI could say that had it not been for theDepression I would most likely havebeen born in China.

With the exception of several yearsdvring World War II when I lived

with relatives in Philadelphia, I spentmost of my boyhood years in China,returning to the United States at thetime of the Communist “liberation” in1949, when I was fifteen. All of myearly memOries are of China. As wasthe custom in those days, my parentshired a Chinese “amah” (nanny) to takecare of me, and my mother later oftenreminded me that my first languagereally was Chinese. While Mother andDad were learning Mandarin at thelanguage school in Beijing, I waslearning it from my “amah” and my‘Chinese playmates. Later when wemoved to Hunan in central China, theprocess continued and I can honestly saythat China has always felt like home tome.

I value this early intimate connectionwith China.. China is simply a part of

me. it is in my blood and bones andalways will be. It was therefore naturalfor me to maintain the Chinese’connection all through my life, first byworking in Hongkong throughout thedecade of the ‘60s, and then byimmersing myself in academia in the‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s.

The University of Washington and inparticular its Department of Asian

Languages and Literature have played avery important part in my life and I amdeeply grateful for the privilege I havehad to serve on the faculty here. I wantto take this opportunity to express myprofound thanks to all who have made

this possible. My twenty-four years inthis institution have been immenselysatislying and rewarding. What a joy ithas been for me to be able to work withcolleagues and students who haveshared my deep interest in and love forChina and its people. What a wonderful opportunity for a person, with myunusual background, to be able to spendthe best part of my life reading,studying, discussing, and writing aboutChinese literature with those of similarinterests.

Ofcourse,I have been able to make

good use of my background in mywork. At a very practical level I havebeen able, perhaps more easily than’some, to ‘establish my credentials with

• students, particularly undergraduateChinese Americans, who’ have wondered what this Caucasian male with adistinctly German name could possiblyknow about China. I confess thatoccasionally I have deliberately resortedto the technique of making reference inclass to spmething in my background(such as life in Beijing in the 1930s) togain the upper hand in a classroomsituation. Over the years I haveassembled a whole bag full of storiesfrom my past, and on Occasion I havedrawn on these for various purposes inclass.

At a deeper and more profoundlevel, however, my past has given

me a gut-lcvel feeling for China and itspeople, and this has helped me greatlyin my work. I believe that my experiences have made possible a personalperspective on China, and particularlyon its history in the 20th century, whichgoes beyond book-learning andacademia.

Continued on page 2.

Department ofAsian Languages and Literatureat the University ofWashington

Volume 3, No. 1 Autumn, 1997

JuSt at the time that the Britishtransfrred control ofHong Kong to

China, Michael Shapiro transmitted thechainnanship of this Department to me.Although we did not have a formalhand-over ceremony, the transfer of theauthority is now complete. I would liketo take this opportunity to pay tribute toMike for the splendid job he didrunning the Department during the pastfive years. One of Mike’s foremostachievements was the improvement ofthe undergraduate Program. He wasable to develop a series of lower-division courses that are intended tointroduce Chinese, Japanese, and SouthAsian literature to non-specialists. Weexpect enrolhnent in these courses toincrease over the next five years asdemand for general education coursesgrows. Mike Shapiro also should belauded for his success in adding staff inKorean. Largely thanks to his efforts,the Department has both a tenure-travkposition (filled very ably by ProfessorAnn Lee) and a full-time lecturet It isnever easy to add positions, and Mikeshould be given full credit for using hisconsiderable powers of persuasion withtheUniversity administration on behalfof the Korean program. During histenure, Mike played a leading role in

I gaining University support for thewidely acclaimed Buddhist texts projectundertaken by Richard Salomon andCollett tôx, Mike also worked hard onestablishing the Andrew Markus

Endowment, named after the lateProfessor Andrew Markus who passedaway suddenly two years ago. Fundswill be used to support an annuallecture by a distinguished scholar inAsian Languages and Literature. I wantto thank Mike for his dedicated serviceover the past five years. His will be adifficult act to follow, but fortunatelyMike has put the foundation of the.Department on such a firm basis, myjob will be much easier. D

“Reflections,” continuedfrom page 1.

i saw what China was like during the‘30s and ‘40s. To be sure, this wasseen through the eyes ofa bo’, but theimpressions nevertheless were real, andpowerful, and I believe accurate. I sawthe poverty and suffering of the Chineseboth during the Japanese war and laterduring the Communist-Nationalist civilwar. I saw the sick the lame, thewounded, and the poorbegging for foodor any kind of help at bus stops andtrain stations, Isaw refugees fleeingfrom the ravages of war and fromunbelievable destruction. 1 am sure thatIt made little difference to mostcommon people what kind of uniformswere worn by those responsible for allthe cruelties. Later, in the ‘60s, I wasin Hongkong when masses of starvingrefugees poured in from the famine-stricken mainland.

Motherused to tell people thatwhile we.were in Changsha, in

one three-year perind from 1937 to1940, we experienced sixty-seven actualJapanese bombings. Some of myearliest memories are of waking up in abomb shelter in my mother’s arms tothe sound of the droning and whining ofJapanese bombers flying overhead. Tothis day any sound that resembles aWorld War II air raid siren triggers anuncontrollable and powerful response offear in me. For years after I sufferednightmares connected with thesebombings. -

I have often told students about the.great Changsha fire of 1938 and the

terrible suffering and destruction thiscaused. The Japanese were threateningthe city.but Chiang Kai-shek’s general

got the message wrong: the Japanese itwas said were only 30 Ii (it should havebeen 300 Ii) from the city. And soChiang’s scorched earth policy was putinto effect and the entire city, with itsmillions of people, was set on fire bythe Nationalist soldiers. The day is stillremembered every year by the people ofChangsha as an example of the manystupid and terrible things done by theNationalists, In one day the wholepopulation of a huge city was madehomeless and forced to flee and this inthe context of an intense and threatening war-time situation. As an Americanmissionary family, we lived in a hugecompound full of Western-stylebuildings in. the center of the city. Whatwere we to do at a time like this? Weknew we had to get out of the city, andindeed, as it turned out, most of ourmission compound was destroyed in thefire. We did what most other Westerners did atthat time in similar situations.

- We sought the pràtection of themilitary--not the Chinese military, butour own Western military. At that timethere was a BritIsh gunboat anchored inthe middle of the Xiang River presumably watching out for the interests of theWestern community, and it is to thisgunboat that We and the other Westerners in the city fled. I was only fiveyears old at the time, but to this day Ican still remember what we saw fromthe decks of that British gunboat—apanoramic view of the entire city ofChangsha going up in flames: Later myfather and the other missionary menreturned to the city to rebuild the burntout compound and to set up rice gruelkitchens for the starving and thehomeless. In later years my fatherwould sometimes show with peat pridethe decoration he received from theNationalist government for his efforts tohelp the needy in Changsha.

Jynng the civil war period when welived in Yuanling in the mountains

of Western Hunan, on several occasionsI saw the dead bodies of men andwomen butchered b the Nationalists asCommunists or as Communist sympathizers, These corpses were simply leftin the streets; sometimesfor days, asexamples of what would happen tothose whose loyalties were found to beon the wrong side. And when traveling

Continued on page 7.

Notesfrom Our LanguagePrograms

Congratulations to Professor WilliamC. Boltz, recently promoted to fullprofessor.

On September 15, 1997, ProfessorJerry Norman took part in the

inaugural ceremonies for the new Inter-University Program Chinese languagecenter at Tsing Hun University inBeijing.

This new language center isthe successor to the older IUP (popularly known as the Stanford Center)which was located on the campus ofTaiwan University for more than thirtyyears. The new IIJP will be administered by a board with representativesfrom fifteen American Universitiesunder the chairmanship of ProfessorStephen West at Berkeley. For the nextseveral years the on-site director of theTsing Hua Center will be Dr. VivianLing, former director of the center inTaipei. Present at the inauguralceremony were several high rankingofficials of Tsing Hua University andrepresentatives from the AmericanEmbassy in Beijing. The AmericanBoard of Directors was represented byProfessor Norman and ProfessorStephen West. There are twenty-fivestudents in the first class at ‘Using Hua,hailing from a wide range of NorthAmerican and European universitiesand from various academic disciplines.Information on attending the Centermay be obtained from ProfessorNonnan, Department of Asian Languages and Literature, or from theOffice of International Programs andExchanges, 516 Schmitz,oipeu.washington.edu.

A cooperative project has been.tl.arranged between the University ofWashington and the Oriental and IndiaOffice Collections of the British Libraryto study and publish the library’s uniquecollection of fragments of Buddhistscrolls written on birch bark in theKharosthi script and the GandhariPrakrit language. These twenty-ninefragments, acquired by the library in1994, probably date from the early firstcentury A.D., which makes them theoldest surviving Buddhist documents.The project is being led by ProfessorsRichard Salomon and Collett Cox;

other participants are Tim Lenz, JasonNeelis, and other graduate students, aswell as Dr. Mark A lion (Additions tothe Faculty, page 6), who has recentlyjoined our department as a post-doctoralfellow to work with the project team.The first volume of a projected series ofpublications, presenting a survey andpreliminary evaluation of the manuscripts, has just been completed by Prof.Salomon and will be jointly publishedby the British Library and the UW Pressnext year. Subsequent publications willconsist of detailed studies of individualscrolls from the collection. Tim Lenz’sstudy of a fragment of the Dharmapadaand a collection of avadana texts, andProfessor Salomon’s edition of the“Rhinoceros’ Horn Sutma” scroll arealready in progress and scheduled forcompletion next year. Editions of othertexts are also being planned by Prof.Co and Dr. Allon. -

The 1997 Inaugural Conference inTextual Studies was held on the

UW campus between October 29 andNovember 1. The theme was “Voice,Text and Hypertext at the Millennium.”The conference considered the state oftextual studies at the millennium,offering international and interdisciplinary perspectives on texts in variousmodes, genres and periods. Topicsincluded writing systems and othermeans of inscription and coding; thecomposition, transmission, andreception of texts in various media; thehistory of book culture; and the severaltheories of textuality--historical,cultural, postmodernist—that underwritethese critical operations. Prof. MichaelShapiro chaired “Textual StudiesAround the World: Session II” onOctober 31; after a Conference Banquetat the Faculty Club, Prof RichardSalomon and Prof. Coliett Cox spokeon “Recovering a Lost Canon: Editingand Interpreting the Newly DiscoveredGandharan Buddhist Manuscripts of theFirst Century.”

Dr. Naseem Hines

Cap & Gown

- he Spring, 1997 Reception forGraduates and Awards Ceremony

Wok place in a beautifully refurbishedParrington Hall. Professor MichaelShapiro, Chairman of the Department,

I welcomed students and faculty wannly,and offered the floor to Professor JerryNorman for convocation remarks.

9’he mastery of a foreign lailguage,I even inthe’incipicnt stages of such

mastery (Professor Norman admits that.after forty years study of Chinese ‘hestill feels as though he has scarcelybegun) is a truly transforming experience, greatly transcending pragmaticconsiderations. In an attempt toelaborate some of the complexity oflanguage transmittal, Professor Normansketched the broad outline of thecultural impact of the migration oflanguage from one setting to another:In the Third Century AD. two greatcivilizations met when Indian Buddhismwas introduced to China. Over thecenturies an enormous quantity offluddhist scriptures were translated intoChinese, an undertaking whichpresented unprecedented difficulties.Not only. did the Chinese have toabsorb a vastly different way of thinkingabout the world, they also had towrestle with the problem of languageitselE Sanskrit with its incrediblydifficult pbono1o,, moiphology and

snytax confronted in Chinese a language thatfor all intents and purposes lacked anymorphology and whose phonological systemdiffered in almost every respect from that ofSanskrit. Something uite similar occurredwhen Asia came into intimate contact with atechnically superior European. civilization.The linguistic problems were enormous. AllAsian languages were ‘confronted with theproblem of developing new means- ofexpression in which the important scientificand philosophical ideas of the West could bemade meaningful. The resulting westernized

form of Chinese is what we learnin our modem language classes.Students are amazed by thedifferences between ModernChinese and the Classical literarylanguage.

()nce a person has becomeimmersed in another

language and culture, ProfessorNorman pointed out, he or shebegins to see his own culture in a‘different iight. It is an experiencewhich should be an integral partof everyone’s education.

achelor of Arts degreesarned in th Department of

Asian Languages and Literatureare as follows: In Chinese: Mr.Niokolus Chau, Ms. Hannah hi,Mr. Charles Cox, Mr. Chee LeeFu, Ms. Scheherazade Lam, 14r.Daniel Malsom, Ms. Jae WonLee Mm, Ms. Ten Ching Son,Ms. Vicki Tobias, Ms. Sue GeeYang. In Japanese: Ms. MeganBarrett, Mr. Quinn Bracken, Mr.Roy Burkholder, Mr. MarkDaniels, Ms. Tania Heikkinen,Mr. Ronald Hicke;i, Mr. Yoon HoKim, Ms. Emiko Knowlton, Ms.Kay Krumenacker, Mr. RichardKubota, Ms. Pci (lao Lin, Ms.Linda Meñde, Mr. JeffreyMielke, Ms. Rebecca Morley,Mr. Ryan Morris, Mr. KentOtaki, Mr. Baron Reynolds, Mr.JosephRollin, Mr. Remy‘Sherman. ‘In Thai: Ms. AlisaLedbetter.

asters of Arts, Doctoralaxdidates, and Doctors of

PhilosOphy were introduced andcongratulated by the Departhient’sGraduate Program CoordinatorProfessor William Boltz. Masters.of Arts graduates include: Mr.Paul Anderson, Chinese, Mr.Kurt Beidler, Chinese, Mr.Christopher Dakin, Chinese, Mr.Paul Davidson, Japanese. Ms.Mary Hirsch, Chinese, Mr.Stephen Snyder, Japanese, Ms. .

Newell Ann Van Aüken, Chinese,Mr. David Williams, Chinese,Mr. Yeow-Chong Wu, Chinese.Two students achieved the status

Continued on page II.

I

Other Student Activities“Innocents Abroad” and

Ms. Lan ita Grice, graduate studentin Chinese, is adapting to life in

China this year. Ms. Grice was offered aposition teaching English for one year ata business college in Beijing (BeijingDelta), and jumped at the chance toimprove her spoken Chinese and to buybooks for her library. She writes us alively account of her experiences todate, and graciously gives her permission for its inclusion in our 1997/98newsletter.

Ms. Grice writes, “1 finally made itto Beijing after nearly six weeks

of waiting for a visa. The school whereI will be teaching English is a jointventure between a Canadian companythat runs a large number of languageschools in Canada [Delta BusinessInstitutci and the Electric PowerCollege of Beijing in the universitydistrict of Haidian. We are on thecampus of the University but have aseparate administration, staff andfaculty. I live in the Haidian districtjust north of the Beijing Zoo andnorthwest of Xizhimen on GaoliangqiaoBoulevard; It is only a five minute walkfrom a huge market that rivals the PikePlace Market in size and in the numbersof people that shop there, But theaverage shopper at the local market

i here is not a tourist, but a local residentSo my light brown hair and my heightare something of a novelty. I amalready known as “congtou” (onion)because of a rather loud and hilariousconversation I had Monday with avendor of that fragrant orb. Tuesday,when I walked down that aisle, all thevendors shouted “Congtou, congtou!” Ihave also learned how to ask for alength of fabric to make a pair of thepajama-like pants that so many womenwear here. After considerable discussion about which color would besuitable, it was decided that I would

- require an extra third of a meter inorder to make them long enough. As Ileft, the woman who sold me the fabriccalled out, “Man zou!” (literally, “Walk

I slowly!” i.e., “Take care!”)

Anyway, 1 am having a great time. Mystudents think it is a great joke that 1can speak Chinese. So far, nobody

seems to find my Chinese to beincomprehenSible--unfortunatelY, Icannot say the same for my owncomprehension of everything I hear.But this is only my fifth day and I ambecoming more confident every day andcan hardly wait to get up and get out onthe street each morning to spend a fewhours in China before 1 come back tomy Canadian school to speak English.

T am about to take my 9:00 p.m. lab(this school stays open until 10:00

p.m.! and there is a teacher in the lab atall times except an hour each for lunchand dinner).”

Ms. Grice includes her address andemail for any who would like to

commwiicate with her throughout theyear:’ delter@public3.bta.flet.cn (alwaysinclude her name in the subject box);Lanita Grice, do Delter BusinessInstitute, 44 Gaoliangquao Xiejie,Haidian, Beijing, China 100044,

Way to go, Lanita!

Mr. Stephen Snyder, graduate- student in Japanese, has been

studying at Hokkaido University inSapporo on a Monbusho Scholarshipsince autumn, 1996, Mr. Snyder isresearching a modernist writer of the‘20s and ‘30s, Yokornitsu Riichi, andstudying (with Professor KideoKamei)the different writing styles of thelate 19th century and their relationshipto kanbun writing, and the latertransformation to the modem colloquialstyle found at the beginning of the 20thcentury. Mr. Snyder will return to theUniversity in the Spring of 1998.

Among the steadily increasingnumbers of undergraduates

studying in Asia this past year (bothmajors and non-majors) were: Mr.William Rollins -(BA., Japanese,August, 1997), studying at AoyamaGakuin; Mr. Rainier Trinidad,Japanese major, at Keio University;Mr. Ryan Morris, Japanese major, atOsaka; Mr. Cameron Cramp, Chinesemajor, Central University for Nationalities (through the Oregon State Systemof Higher Education—OSSHE); Mr.Larry Xethakis, Chinese major, atCentral University of Nationalities;Ms. Sarah Kahi, Chinese major, at the.Inter-University Program in Taipei.

Ms. Valerie Ritter, graduate student inSouth Asian languages and literatures(Hindi)will spend the upcoming year inIndia. Ms. Ritter is the recipient of aFulbright, and of a pre-dissertationgrant from the Social Science ResearchCouncil.

GPSS representatives for 1997/98 areMs. Lanita Grice and Mr. JasonNeelis; Department Representatives,Mr. Matthew Carter and Mr. TimothyMiller..

Mr. Russell Wasden, graduatestudent in Japanese, has two

translations to his credit, the first ofBanana Yoshimoto’s Ainrita, publishedJune 1, 1997, simultaneously by GrovePress in the United States and Canada,Faber & Faber in England, andFukutake Shoten in Japan; and thesecond of Parasite Eve, the latesthorror novel of Hideaki Sena, thepublication rights of which have beensold, but a publisher not yet chosen.This past summer Russell taught asurvey course in modern Japanesechildren’s literature at MiddleburyCollege.

In June, 1997, Ms. Mary Hirsch,graduate student in Chinese, took

hundreds of slides of the almostunknown collection of shadow puppetfigures from Beijing that have beensitting quietly fir many years in thevaults of the Avery Brundage Collectionin the Dc Young Museum in GoldenGate Park, San Francisco. With thehelp of the curatat, Michael Knight,whose art history courses at the UWprovided the Impetus for her desire todiscover the identities of Chineseshadow puppet figures, , Ms. Hirsch

The Department WelcomesNew Faculty

he Department welcomes to itsranks new faculty in the South

Asian, Chinese, and Japaneseprograms this year. -

ssistant Professor Ulrich Pagelteaching courses in Tibetan

language and Tibetan Buddhism.He received his Ph.D. in IndóTibetan Buddhism from theDepartment of the Study ofReligions at the School of Oriental andAfrican Studies, London, in 1992(dissertation: “TheBodhisattvapitaka: Its Doctrines,Practices and their Position in Mahy na Literature”). Aller a brief spellas co-editor of Buddhica Britannicaand The Buddhist Forum (SOAS),he took up the position of Curator ofthe Tibetan Collections in theBritish Libra working towardsthe first descriptive catalogue of theentire British Library Tibetica. Hisresearch interests include Mahy naBuddhism, Kanjur Research, andthe Bodhisattva Ideal in the hidoTibetan Tradition and the CentralAsian Buddhist cultures. He is alsoengaged in a number of high-profileprojects,. including the LhasaArchives Project and the TibetanDatabase Initiative;

ssistant Professor Andrewones, teaching courses in

modern Chinese literature andculture, received his Ph.D. from theUniversity of California at Berkeleyin the Spring of 1997 (dissertation:‘Popular Music and ColonialModernity in China, 1927-1949”).He received his A.B. from Harvardin 1991, and hisM.A. fromUCBerkeley in 1993. Jones is theauthor of two books: Yu Hua, “ThePast and the Punishments”, 1996,and Like a Knife: Ideology andGenre in Cbntemporary ChinesePopular -Music, 1992.

ewlo the Japanese languagerogram this year are Lecturer

Yuki Matsuda (Ph.D., Linguistics,University of Southern California,LA, 1997) and Teaching AssociateSachiko Itoh (MA., JapaneseLanguage Pedagogy, University ofOregon, 1997). Ms. Matsuda isteaching a new course this year,Japan 306, Advanced JapaneseGrammar, and Thfrd-Year Japanese; Ms. Itoh is teaching First-Year Japanese.

ostdoctoral Research AssociateMark Allan (Ph.D.. University

of Cambridge, St John’s College,Cambridge, England) is-a newmember of the “Buddhist scrolls”team working with ProfessorRichard Salomon on the publicationof the Buddhist texts belonging tothe British Museum (story. page 3).

he Chinese language prograniwelcomes the return ofAfflllate

Professor Taiping Chang, who isteaching Third-Year Chinese, Dr.Chaiig received her Ph.D. from theUniversity of Washington in 19.81,having studied iznler emeritusProfessors Paul L-M Srruys andFrederick Brandauer, and Dr.Isabella Yen. Dr. Chang has taughtat the University of Puget Sound,Pacific Lutheran University, andTunghai University, as well as at the

University of Washington’s AsianLanguages and Literature Department (1984-86). Dr. Changfounded and published the AsiaPacfic Business Journal between1988-1993.

Last year Asia Notes included indditions to the Faculty Visiting

Assistant Professor Heidi NikaMaria Pauwels. Beginning thisautumn, Professor Pauwels joins thepermanent faculty, teaching agraduate course in Medieval BrajLiterature, and in Hinduism (inJSIS/Comparative Religion).

he Department welcomesVisiting Professor Ken-Ichi

Takashirna from the Department nfAsian Studies, University of BritishColumbia. Professor Takashima(Ph.D., UW 1913) is teaching Chin540, Seminar on Chinese Linguistics; and Visiting Lecturer MartinKern (Ph.D., Cologne University.Department of Philosophy), whotaught Chin 461, History of ChineseLiterature, Autumn quarter. C

“Reflections, continuedfrom page 2.

on the Yangtze River once during thoseyears I remember the honor of seeingboatloads of dead and dying Nationalistsoldiers, ëasualties, all of them, of thegreat communist “liberation” movement.

rfhese were very difficult years forChina and the Chinese people.

Later, while at Yale University, Iremember witnessing the enthusiasm ofChinese caught up in the idealism of theCommunist movement. Friends of minewillingly and enthusiastically returnedto China to throw themselves into thegreat task of building a new and justChina based on Maoist principles ofegalitarianism and altruism. How sadthat the idealism was so short-lived andthat by the end of the ‘50s China hadonce again entered a period of intenseturmoil and suffering, brought about insuccession by the anti-rightist movement, the famine connected with theGreat Leap Forward, and then the ill-conceived and disastrous CulturalRevolution.

My experience of growing up in aWestern missionary family has

helped me better to understand why theChinese revolutions àf the twentiethcenturylomehow seemed necessary.When the Communists talk aboutWestern imperialism and Western semi-colonialism, I do not dismiss theseterms as merely more examples ofmisguided Marxist jargon. I myself amto some extent a product of thisimperialism and semi-colonialism. As amissionary family, whether we liked itor not, we were part of the second of thethree “M’s,” which have characterizedthe Western impact on China in the last400 years (merchants, missionaries, andthe military). Unfortunately, with fewexceptions, the Western attitude towardChina was one of superiority andcondescension. We felt that somehowwe were superior to the Chinese inculture, politics, and religion. Very fewWesterners, including missionaries,sought to learn in depth what China waslike, or to assimilate themselves intothe life of the Chinese. I have oftenspeculated with students on howdifferent our history with China wouldhave been had Westerners (includingmissionaries) adopted the policies ofacceptance, respect, and accommodation

practiced by the 16th and 17th centuryJesuits, most famous of whom was thepioneer scholar-priest Matteo Ricci.

As a boy I was waited on by Chineseservants, lived in huge Western-

style houses, and ‘attended an Americanschool where very little.attention wasgiven to China or the Chinese. All mylife I have had to deal with thecontradictions and ambivalencegenerated by this past. The bestexample of this came most recently inmy reactions to the return by. the Britishof Hongkong to the Chinese. On theone hand, I rejoiced with my Chinese

friends at the final rectification of thehorrible injustice of British colonialism.During my years in Hbngkong Ifrequently found myself angry at theimpact of the pervading colonial doublestandards on the Chinese. Yet, on theother hand, Hongkong as a colony alsobecame apart of me early on in my life.I went to high school there and laterworked there for eight years, and insome strange way, at a very deep levelin my inner being, I was sad to see theBritish leave The reason for this surelyis That.l have lived in both worlds, theChinese and the Western, and all soylife have claimed both as equally myown. The unavoidable consequenceshave been feelings of ambivalence, andexperiences ol’ contradiction and’paradox.

I shall never forget the experience ofgoing back to the mainland for the

first time after 1949. This was with agroup of faculty from the University ofWashington led by the then provost,Irving Sham. Sham had a keen interestin China and arranged for us to visit thePRC. in Januaiy and FebrOery of 1977.This was only four months after MaoZedong died, the Gang of Four wasoverthrown, and the Cultural Revolution’came to an end. How surprised Iwas to find that this time I met adifferent kind of Chinese. These werenot the Chinese of my boyhood years.These were not the products of thesemi-colonialism which I. knew as a boy.These Chinese now had self-respect(what the Chinese call zizunxin), Theycould look me straight in the eye, andfor the first time I felt that I was able torelate to them as equals. From this timeon I realized that it is impossible tounderstand the 20th century revolutionsin China or to comprehend the reasonswhy these were necessary without anadequate sense of the humiliation andinjustice of the earlier pre-revolutionaryperiod. -

I mentioned that all my life 1 have -

been straddling two worlds. This hasclearly offered benefits in the teachingof Chinese literature. Because I havefelt so much a part of both worlds Ibelieve 1. have been able, at times, torespond at a deep level to materials 1have encountered in the literaturecommonly read with students. I givejust one example here. In my modern

AssL Professor Ulrich PageL , -

..,-.-‘ -

ProfessorFrederick R randauer

1

AssL Professor Andrew Jones. Beijing, 1936: Brandauer & Nanny

Continued on page 8.

6 7

‘Reflections.” continuedfrom page 7.

Chinese literature classes I have, over theyears, often read the Chinese novelRickslurw. This is Jean James’ translationof Lao She’s famous work Luotuo Xiangzi(Camel Xiangzi). In this novel, which wasoriginally published serially during 1936-37, lan She tells the tragic story of arickshaw puller in Beijing named Xiangzi.The story begins around 1934 and much ofthe novel has to do with rickshaws, and thesub-culture surrounding the life of rickshawpullers. Although most Americans todayhave a hard time even imagining what arickshaw really was like, these were verymuch a part ofmy life as a boy. During theyears we lived in Changsha, it was commonwhen traveling around the city for mymother and me to ride in a rickshawtogethet My futher either rode in a secondrickshaw or he walked along beside us. Werode rickshaws all year round and in allkinds of weather. For me rickshaws wereclassified in terms of quality; the worstwere the ones with the metal bandedwooden spokes and wheels (you neverwanted to ride in this kind), and, the bestwere the ones with shiny metal spokes andreal pneumatic rubber tires. Occasionallywe would see a really fancy rickshaw,probably owned by a wealthy Chinesebusinessman, with its shiny fenders, itskerosene lamps, its “ding-dong” pedal

I operated bell. Its puller would be runningstraight and tall and would be wearingleggins, and a neatly pressed white andblack shirt and pants outfit. As a boy Ireally admired these rickshaw pullers.They were strong and muscular, marvelous

specimens ofyoung manhood, and 1would often think how wonderful itwould be if I could someday grow upand pull a rickshaw like they did.Imagine how overwhelmed andelated I was when one day I camehome and found there a special giftfrom my parents--my own littlewickerwork rickshaw. Made oftough rattan, it was a fully finetional miniature rickshaw andduring our remaining years inChangsha, I and my Chineseplaymates spent many happy hourspulling each other around in theDongpailau compound. When Iread Lao She’s novel I can appreciate the description of the young andhandsome Xiangzi, I can understandhis obsession to own and pull hisown rickshaw, and I can experienceat a very deep and gut level thetragedy of his downfall. After all, Iwas a rickshaw puller once myself.

Marie and I have retired andhave given up our profes

sional responsibilities, but for methis does not mean leaving theUniversity nor does it meandropping out of my involvementwith China. Marie and I willcontinue to live here in Seattlewithin walking distance of thecampus and in fifteen or twentyyears from now, when we no longerhave the strength or inclination tokeep up our home, we will moveinto University House. This is aretirement home in Wallingford, run

by the University of WashingtonRetirement Association, and we havealready paid our deposit and placed ournames on the list for future occupancy.The University, in response to thegenerous recommendation of ourDepartment, has granted me professoremeritus status. For this honor I amdeeply grateful. I want to continue tofeel connected with this Departmentand this great University in the future.

It is clear that China will always be avery imponant part of my life. When

my father died in 1986 our family set upa non-profit corporation called ChinaFriendship in his honor and memory.The corporation owns the house (GraceHouse) next to our own house (MariaHouse) on N.E. 55th St. and for the lasteleven years we have provided low-costhousing and friendshlp to approximately150 Chinese visiting scholars andgraduate students. At present there arcten Chinese living with us, although inthe pastwehave had as many asfourteen. Of course, through all of this,we now have a very large network offriends and contacts in China. We willmost likely return to China againsometime within the next year andalthough it is not clear in just exactlywhat directions our lives will move inthe future, we will probably seek todevelop new programs for ChinaFriendship, to continue our contactswith many friends on Ihe mainland andexpand our involvement with variousChurch and educational organizations irlChina. We believe very much in thefuture of China and the Chinese peopleand want to do what we can to promoteunderstanding, friendship, and goodwill. D -

“Programs” continuedfrom page 3.

literary, the other linguistic. Approvedchanges to the major place greateremphasis on the tracks by adding 5credits to each, and requiring prospective majors to choose one or the otherearly on in their study. New and recentcourses for the linguistics track include“The Japanese Language” (Japan 342),“Japanese Language in Society” (Japan343), “Introduction to JapaneseLinguistics” (Japan 440),

“Innocents,” continued from page 5.

the anonymous players with the playsthat were once so extremely popular,but are now all but gone from both thePeople’s Republic of China and theRepublic of China.

n June, (1996), Mr. JeffreyCrosland, graduate student in

Chinese, presented a paper, “Question‘patterns in Southern Mm,” and washonored as one of three finalists for theYoung Scholar Award (open competitionfor scholars aged 35 and younger) at the

I Fifth International Conference onChinese Linguistics in Taiwan--theother two finalists are both assistantprofessors and ethnic Chinese. Mr.Crosland also received a scholarship toparticipate in the first GUAVA (Groupof Universities for the Advancement ofVietnamese Abroad) language program

H in Hanoi, Vietnam, in the summer of1996.

r. Keith Dde, graduate studentn Chinese, back from a year of

field work in the Xining area of Qinghaiprovince, Was the only graduate studentadmitted to present a paper (“Anablative postposition in the Xiningdialect”) at the Fourth Symposium ofthe Chao YuenRen Center for ChineseLinguistics convened at the City

• University of Hong Kong, in March,1997. lIe also presented a paper(“Disyllabic tone sandhi in the Xiningdialect”) at the Yuen Ren SocietyMeeting in Seattle in March and wasinvited tO give a paper (“The Anidodialect of Labrang”) at the FirstInternational Conference on Anido Tibetat Har ard University in May.

Ms. Andrea Lingenfelter, graduatestudent in Chinese, has provided

subtitles for Temptress Moon (directedby Chen Kaige—Yellow Earth, FarewellMy Concubine), which showed at theSeattle International Film Festival in

ecent graduate (Ph.D., Chinese,ping, 1997) Mark Asselin has

an article in the July-September, 1997issue of Journal of the AmericanOriental Society, titled “The Lu SchoolReading of ‘Guanju’ as Preserved in anEastern Han Fu.” Dr. Asselin is

Visiting Asst. Professor of Chinese thisyear in the Department of ForeignLanguages and Literatures at Lewis andClark College, Portland, Oregon.David Branner (Ph.D., Chinese,Summer, 1997) organized a set ofpanels on the history of Sinology at theAnnual Meeting of the Western Branchof the American Oriental Society,October, 1996; in April of this year heand Dr. Richatd Simmons (Asian L&LPh.D., 1992) participated in amultidisciplinary conference on thelocal languages and local cultures ofChina at the University of Pennsylvania,and hope to continue the discussions infuture meetings. Dr. Branner will teachclassical Chinese and introductoryChinese linguistics and literature duringthe upcoming year at the University ofMinnesota, the Institute of Linguisticsand Asian and Slavic Languages andLiteratures. -

On April 19, 1997, thu graduatestudents conducted their annual

Graduate Student Colloquium,keynote speaker Professor FrederickBrandauer, who spoke on “Persona].ReflectiOns on Academia, ChineseFiction, and Transcendence.” Participants included Ms. Mary Hirsch,.“Chinese Shadow Puppetry Seen fromBoth Sides of the Curtain,”Ms.Virginia Vandyke (Political ‘ -

Science) “Competing Constructions ofWomen Within Hindutva,” Ms. RachelDiNitto, “Changing Genres or JustChanging Jobs? Kanagald Robun andLiterature in Early Meiji,” Mr. TimLenz, “Monks,’ Manuscripts and a TeaParty with the Buddha,” Mr. JasonNeélis, “Kharosthi and BrahmiInscriptions from Hunza,” Ms. MelekOrtabasi (Comparative Literature),Japanese Literature and Modernity:Narrative Strategy in Yanagita Kunio’sT no monogatari,” and Ms. NewellAnn Van Auken, “Some Negatives inWarring States Texts,” Copies of thesepapers, and of previous editions of theColloquia, may be found itt the mainoffice of the Department.

“Programs,” continued from page 8.

“Morphology and Syntax of Japanese”(Japan 442), and “JapaneseSociolinguistics” (Japan 443). The firsttwo of these courses are open to studentswith any level of Japanese background,providing opportunity for students atlower levels of language proficiency tolearn more about the Japanese languageand culture. A new course in literaturedrawing considerable interest fromstudents is “Topics in Japanese PopularCulture & Literature” (Japan 460).

Thispast year the Japanese language

program was selected to participatein the Language Mission Project(involving faculty, teaching assistants andover one hundred students), whichsurveyed a sample of languages taught onthe UW campus to see how languagecourses fit student language learninggoals and expectations The resultsshowed a good match at all levels of theprogram, from first through fourth-yearlevels. IJ

New Graduate Studentsfor 1997/98

Five new

Donors 1996/9 7

Daniel HsiehMichael & Joana Shapiro

Ming-Jiun & Shu-Shen H. WuChing I & Sabrina S. TuSaraswathy Ramanathan

Pang-Hsin & Chen Chi TingKenji & Patricia M. YamadaLawrence &VLois S. Markus

Sylvia Markus MohnLauretta M. Grill

Albert & Dorothy MardenG. Tselos

Ted T. & Margaret YasudaTakeshi & Fumiko Morita Imai

Florence M. FujitaHany M. & Noriko Tatsumi

Lawrence L. & Margie A. GriffinKatherine H. Huber

Gregory H. Sherry L. Schuler

William L & Nancy Norton MacDonald

Administrative AssistantDepartment of Asian Languages and Literature

Box 353521V University of Washington

V

Seattle, WA 98195

Cap & Gown, continuedfrom page 4.

Vof DOctoral Candidate, both in Chinese:

I Mr. Ramiro Casafias, Ms. XiaorongV Zheng. Doctors of Philosophy incLude:

Mr. Mark Asselin, “VA SignificantV

Season,’ Literature in a Time ofV

VV

Endings: Cai Yong and a FewV

V Contemporaries,” Mr. David Prager

V

V

V

VBranner, “Wann’an Dialects of Longyan

V County, Fukien and Their Place WithinV the Miin Branch of Chinese,” Mr.

James Dorsey “Kobayeshi JVideo and aV

VModern Japanese Critical Discourse,”•

VMs. Naseem Hines, “The Sufi Elements

VV in the Indo-SufI masnavi, with specific

V

V reference to Maulana Iaud’s V

V

V Candayán,” Mr. Woo-Kwang Jung, “AStudy of The Han Garden Collection:New Approaches to Modern Chinese

VPoetry 1930-1934,” Mr. T)ouglás V

V Slaymakór, “Existentialism in VostwarV

V

Japan Nama Hiroshi, Oc Kenzaburo,and Yukio Mishima.”

Eachyear, the Department of Asian

VLanguages and Literature grants

awards to students whose achievementV in language acquisition attests to morethan ordinary effort and success. Thisyear’s awardees are: Mr. David Smith,South Asian languages (Hindi andSanskrit), the Departmental Book

V

Award; Mr. Jonathan Perkins (firstyear graduate student in the JacksonSchool of International Studies/JapanStudies), Mr. Ryan Morris (B.A.,

Department of Asian Languages andLiterature, recently admitted to thegraduate program in the JacksonSchool of International Studies), andMs. Heeson Pyori (undergraduatemajor in Japanese language andliterature and in Business Administration), the Henry P. Tatsumi Award;Ms. Rachel DiNitto (graduate studentin the Department of Asian Languages and Literature/Japanese), theTurrell V. Wylie Memorial Scholarship Award. Congratulations to eachof these outstanding scholars! I]

n April. our new secretary; Ms.ridget A. D. Warbington, arrived in

Seattle— amidst a downpour of cherryblossoms and rain--leaving behindtheUniversity of Colorado at Boulder whereshe received her B.A. in English Literature. Ms. Warbinglon, her husband, andtheir kitty, Calliope, live in the University

District. The Department welcomes hermany skills and unflagging smile!

V

V

The Department ofAsian Languages and Literature gratefully acknowledges the generosity ofitsdonors over the past year:

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Prof Michael Shapiro congratulatesDepartmental Book Award recipient,David Smith. V

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UW Department ofAsian Languages and LiteratureYou may wish to support the Department ofAsian Languages and Literature by making a contribution to one of ifs specific

fimds. You can do this by sending a check made out to “University of Washington Foundation” with one ofthe frnds listedbelow designated on the memo line ofyour check Please send the check along with this form to

Please check the appropriate fOnd(s):V

V

V

VV

V

V

V

V

O Friends of Asian Languages and Literature Fund: used for discretionary purposes to support ongoing cultural programsand activities, some general services to the Department and other special events which require the use of non-University funds.

V Henry S. Tatsumi Endowed Scholarship Fund: honors the late Professor Tatsumi and rewards excellence by students inI the study of the Japanese language at the University of Washington. V

O Yen Fu Endowed Scholarship Fund: honors the great Chinese translator Yen Fu and provides assistance to students whoV have demonstrated a knowledge of or interest in the Chinese language and culture.

o Turrell V. Wylie Endowment Fund: honors former Chairman and Professor of Tibetan Turrell V. Wylie and providesscholarships to graduates or undergraduates in the Department.

0 Andrew L. Markus Memorial Endowment Fund: honors the late Professor Markus and is used to support library

acquisitions in the area of Classical Japanese. V

Ms. Rachel DiNitto recipient of theTurrell 1 Wylie Memorial Scholarship V

Award V

V

V

Tatsumi awardees: Ms. HeesonV

Pyon, Mi Jonathan Perkins, MiRyan Morris.

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Asia NotesEditor: Lauren HusseyProduction and Design: Lauren HusseyPhotography: Timothy J. Lenz