The Long Road to Becoming Taiwanese: History and Identity Formation on an Offshore Chinese Island/Nation

As Taiwan was settled by waves of Han-Chinese from the Minnan speaking areas of Fujian and the Hakka-speaking areas of northern Guangdong, a sense of both local, regional and island – wide identity began to develop. By the 1870s, Taiwan had become a province of the Qing Empire, thus reinforcing the people’s sense of being … Read more

Determinants of Fat-Related Dietary Behavior in Chinese Americans

Heart disease is the leading cause of mortality for all Asian/Pacific Islander American groups in the United States. Epidemiological studies and mortality data provide evidence to support the growing concern about heart disease and its risk factors in Chinese Americans. The purpose of this survey research was to determine the usefulness of variables from psychosocial … Read more

The Influence of Hinduism on Literature

The earliest reference to the influence of Sanskrit literature and Hinduism can be traced back to Greece. Greece was lured by the Indian wisdom with the advent of Alexander in the western region of India in the fourth century BC. The earliest reference to the influence of Sanskrit literature and Hinduism can be traced back … Read more

“Modern” Education vs. “Traditional” Culture: The Ford-funded Community Colleges in China Project

The Community Colleges in China Project was conceived as a way of introducing American community college concepts to China.  It was felt that community colleges were both great engines of mass higher education, nimble promoters of new technologies and spurs to local economic development, just the things needed and wanted by a China making the transition from planned … Read more

Bible and Gun: Christianity in Modern China

This lecture is based on a book that Dr. Lee has recently published ‘The Bible and the Gun: Christianity in South China, 1860-1900’ (2003). Drawing on unpublished Chinese archival materials and ethnographic data collected by him at several Christian villages in Guangdong Province, he argues that Christianity became far more indigenous in China than has … Read more

Off the Wall: Critiquing a Controversial New Study of Creativity and Language

The familiar debate over language and thought rears its head again with the publication of William C. Hannas’s controversial book, “The Writing on the Wall: How Asian Orthography Curbs Creativity” (University of Pennsylvania Press).  In brief, Hannas contends that the writing systems of China, Japan, and Korea are inherently deterrent to abstract construction and those … Read more