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2020 Asian Education and Development Studies
doi: 10.1108/aeds-02-2018-0030
The purpose of this paper is to examine the efforts of an ethnic Miao migrant worker association to recreate and engage with festivals both in the host society of the Pearl River Delta and back home in Southeastern Guizhou province of Southwest China. It analyzes how and under what conditions the disadvantaged migrant workers collectively demonstrate and assert their cultural identity in festival activities, rekindling and strengthening their ethnic consciousness.Design/methodology/approachBased on ethnographic field data, this study focuses on the connections between migrant workers’ lives in modern host societies and their traditional culture back home. Special attention is paid to the temporal dynamics of migrant workers’ cultural identity and socio-economic development.FindingsThe leaders of the Miao migrants’ association created network linkages to channel the flow of labor, capital and culture between the host society and the migrants’ hometown, and made efforts to secure institutional embeddedness at both ends of the flow. Their use of festivals and related heritage as cultural capital has facilitated the cultivation of network linkages and institutional embeddedness for economic advancement and overcoming ethnic prejudices and institutional disadvantages.Originality/valueBy illustrating how the economic development has been imbricated with culture, this research enhances understanding about the role of network linkage and institutional embeddedness in the flow of labor, capital and culture between host society and home place of migrant communities.
2020 Asian Education and Development Studies
doi: 10.1108/aeds-01-2018-0012
This article traces the transformation of hát bội, a form of traditional opera in Southern Vietnam, from its primary role as entertainment into a religious activity after the Reform (Đổi Mới) were enacted in 1986.Design/methodology/approachThis research is based on ethnological fieldwork complemented by a review of historical documents and of the available literature on hát bội, cultural policies and on data collected from interviews with artists and spectators at the festival at the shrine to the Lady of the Realm.FindingsBefore 1986, hát bội was performed either as a stand-alone entertainment during the fair portion of community festivals or as part of religious ceremonies. The Reform and the accompanying relaxation of state control over religion and culture promoted the resurgence of popular religious fairs across the nation. New opportunities for hát bội to revive opened, artists left state-sponsored troupes to join private companies that catered to religious festivals. But almost exclusive involvement in religious rites has led to artistic stasis for private hát bội troupes.Originality/valueThis research constitutes novel insights of how the Reform in Vietnam affects the transformation of a traditional performance form.
2020 Asian Education and Development Studies
doi: 10.1108/aeds-01-2018-0014
Studies of Tianhou-Mazu cult have been focused on three themes: studies in Taiwan emphasize hegemonic order; studies in Hong Kong reveal a relationship of “sisterhood” alliances; and studies in Singapore highlight the important role of ethnic groups. The rebuilding of the goddess’s ancestral temple in early 1980s and her acquiring a world intangible cultural heritage status in the early twenty-first century facilitate the redefinition of overseas Chinese’s religious affiliation. The purpose of this paper is to discuss this global development of the cult from the 1980s and its ritual implication in overseas Chinese communities.Design/methodology/approachThis paper, by comparing the Tianhou-Mazu cult in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asian Chinese settlements, argues that from sisters to descended replicas, or from local alliances to global hegemony, the cult of Tianhou-Mazu since the 1980s has not only replaced local culture with an emphasis on “high culture,” but also represents a religious strategy regarding local people’s interpretation of correctness and authority.FindingsThis paper argues that despite the imposition of hegemonic power from various authorities, popular religion is a matter of choice. This reflects how local religious practice is construed according to the interpretation of global cultural languages by the elite Chinese; their decision of when and how to reconnect with the goddess’s ancestral temple or the “imperial state,” or to form alliances with other local communities; and the implementation of the local government’s cultural policy.Originality/valueThis paper is one of the few attempts comparing development of a folk cult in various communities.
2020 Asian Education and Development Studies
doi: 10.1108/aeds-01-2018-0015
The purpose of this paper is to trace the way in which a popular ritual became one of Vietnam’s most important festivals, elevated as a celebration of national heroism and charts its gradual transformation in modern society.Design/methodology/approachThis research focuses on the combination of a fertility rite and narratives of St Gióng based on nationalism or heroism created a special festival reflecting many traditional cultural characteristics of Vietnam and the Việt people and the transformation of St Gióng from a mythological to a national symbol of heroism in anti-invader history was recorded in texts.FindingsThe paper casts light on the mythologization and historicization of St Gióng in Vietnam’s particular historical context by decoding the Gióng symbol as a core element of the folktales and myths about St Gióng to understand the formation and development of St Gióng in the cultural history of Vietnam.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is not exploring the Gióng symbol within a larger cultural context of nationalism and ethnosymbolic approach in a comparison of national symbolism and heroism.Practical implicationsThe paper includes implications for advised scholars to conduct further exploration of the symbol and myth of not only St Gióng in Vietnam but also Kubera in India and Vaisravana in China to connect Kubera, Vaisravana and St Gióng under the connection of literal myth and heroic symbol.Social implicationsThe paper shows how processes of historicizing myth and mythologizing history are important features of Vietnamese socio-historical research.Originality/valueThe paper shows how a fertility rite became a historical festival and the figure of St Gióng became a symbol of patriotic heroism.
2020 Asian Education and Development Studies
doi: 10.1108/aeds-01-2018-0017
The purpose of this paper is to examine the performance of Zhuang shamanic narrative songs at three festivals to explore how and why a narrative song genre that originated with Zhuang shamans is separated from shamanic ritual contexts and re-contextualized at festivals under the cultural policies instigated by the People’s Republic of China in the post-socialist era.Design/methodology/approachThe research is based on a review of publications on Zhuang performance art and fieldwork data collected in southwestern Guangxi, China.FindingsThe de-construction of Zhuang shamanic narrative song melodies dates back to the late nineteenth century, when southwestern Guangxi literati used the melodies to compose popular songs. By the 1950s, the religious elements of these narrative songs had already been obfuscated, leading Chinese scholars to select them as representative of Zhuang performance arts. Since the enactment of China’s Intangible Culture Heritage (ICH) Law in the early twenty-first century, local Zhuang elites have re-constructed and re-introduced shamanic elements to narrative songs as they are performed at festivals as a means to further highlight the ethnic characteristics of the Zhuang people.Originality/valueThe paper provides detailed documentation of three cases of the restoration of shamanic elements to narrative songs sung by the Zhuang people. However, the research is limited to one community, inviting comparison with other cases, both inside and outside China, of how ICH policies impact grass-roots cultural practices.
2020 Asian Education and Development Studies
doi: 10.1108/aeds-01-2018-0019
Most of 823,000 ethnic Chinese people are living in Southern Vietnam among distinct dialectical groups. Each maintains its own pantheon of gods; the majority worships standardized Thien Hau. The Hakka in Buu Long are the only group that worships the craft-master gods. This difference creates a challenging gap between the subgroups and reveals the unorthodox nature of the Hakka’s traditions. The purpose of this paper is investigate the continuous efforts to achieve “evolving standardization” and solidarity through the charismatic efforts of the local Hakka elites in Buu Long by their liturgical transformation.Design/methodology/approachThe study further discusses the multilateral interaction and hidden discourses by applying Watson’s (1985) theory of standardization and orthodoxy as well as Weller’s (1987) concept of context-based interpretation.FindingsTruthfully, when facing pressures, the Hakka in Southern Vietnam decided to transform their non-standard worship of the craft masters into a more integrative model, the Thien Hau cult, by superimposing the new cult on the original platform without significant changes in either belief or liturgical practice. The performance shows to be the so-called “the caterpillar’s spirit under a butterfly’s might” case.Research limitations/implicationsThe transformation reveals that the Hakka are currently in their endless struggles for identity and integration, even getting engaged in a pseudo-standardization.Social implicationsThis Hakka’s bottom-up evolutionary standardization deserves to be responded academically and practically.Originality/valueThe paper begins with a setting of academic discussions by western writers in this area and then moves on to what makes the practical transformation, how does it happen, and what discourses are hidden underneath.
2020 Asian Education and Development Studies
doi: 10.1108/aeds-07-2019-0113
The purpose of this paper is to concern the community festival of a Jing minority village in the China–Vietnam border area. Since it was designated as a national-level Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2006, the festival has undergone many changes. The festival has steadily expanded and evolved, assuming characteristics of globalization. How is the globalized character of the Wanwei festival manifested? What are the forces behind the elevation of this local festival onto the register of national events and how did it turn into an event organized by the township?Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on the results of the author’s research on the culture of Kinh people in Wanwei from 2000 to the present. From the anthropological approach, the author mainly uses method of participant observation and in-depth interviews. The author has observed the Wanwei communal festival from 2000 to the present, interviewing about 40 villagers in Wanwei in depth, they can be leaders, intellectuals, civil servants, officials or working people.FindingsThe paper is a case study of the new aspect of globalization of a village festival. The author argues that globalization can lead to a spread of global flows but in this process of globalization, villagers also want to define the local identity, they reinvent the tradition, rewrite history, create new nuances for the gods with many different purposes. Practicing the current Wanwei village festival is a vivid example of globalization from below and the politics of tradition.Originality/valueThe paper adds a theoretical dimension to current globalization research. The paper also points out the political, economic and social dynamics that govern the transformation of a village festival in particular and the village culture in general in the border areas. The paper is a testament to the dynamism and flexibility of villagers when participating in the current globalization process.
2020 Asian Education and Development Studies
doi: 10.1108/aeds-08-2018-0140
The purpose of this paper is to assess the intra-party conflicts in Hong Kong’s Democratic Party (DP) and their implications for broader democratic processes in the territory. It also examines some other thematic issues including: the party’s policy decision-making process, candidate selection, party membership and mergers, and their overall relevance for democratisation in Hong Kong.Design/methodology/approachThe study gives a historical review of intra-party conflicts. The concept of factionalism is applied to better understand the DP in Hong Kong’s political space.FindingsHong Kong is unique and popular models of party conflicts are hardly applicable to the country. Intra-party conflict is an obvious, expected conflict because of differences in formation, leadership, manifestoes and ideologies. The present author tries to examine the case with a view to making a novel contribution.Originality/valueThe study of political factionalism is not uncommon in Hong Kong but this paper intends to study intra-party elite conflicts and self-democratisation of the Hong Kong DP as a case study which is seldom addressed. Consolidation is a possible scenario and its presence is evident when political elites increasingly demonstrate commitment towards creating a democratic regime and when they hold strong beliefs in democratic procedures and institutions as crucial to governing public life.
2020 Asian Education and Development Studies
doi: 10.1108/aeds-02-2019-0044
The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the brain circulation of Asian graduates of Japanese universities and Japanese companies by picking up China, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, which are among the top countries which send students to Japan and host Japan-affiliated companies.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaire responses of Japanese university graduates from four countries are compared, especially between those who work for Japanese companies in Japan and in their countries of origin (COO), coupled with existent data analysis, interviews of these graduates and human resources (HR) managers/executives of Japanese companies.FindingsA mobility of Japanese university graduates from Japan to their COO has been promoted by an increase in Japan-affiliated companies in their COO, which tend to offer better working environment than Japanese companies in Japan.Practical implicationsJapanese companies need to provide better working conditions to able local staff in overseas subsidiaries in order to recruit and retain the returned graduates of Japanese universities and to realize mutually beneficial brain circulation.Originality/valueThe role and constraints of study destination companies in relation with international students’ brain circulation were explored based on empirical study.
Spires, Bob; Howington, Eric; Rojewski, Jay
2020 Asian Education and Development Studies
doi: 10.1108/aeds-02-2019-0041
The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into the generalized self-efficacy (GSE) of youth in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Youth issues have been at the forefront of political discourse in the region and often youth are presented in the media as having fundamental deficits, which are tied to growing inequality and lack of social mobility. This study offers more perspective of the characteristics of Hong Kong youth to contribute to the literature as well as influence the discourse on youth and youth issues.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on a community survey of youth in the New Territories of Hong Kong with over 2000 respondents. The survey was based on a valid and reliable instrument on GSE to measure the GSE of youth in the region. GSE characteristics are analyzed using descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s α for internal consistency, factor analysis to verify the dimensional nature of the scale. The relationships between GSE and age and gender were analyzed using multiple linear regression model.FindingsFindings indicated that despite a slightly higher, yet statistically significant GSE scores for females, and little impact of age on GSE, Hong Kong youth have normal levels of GSE. This finding offers a counter to the pathologizing of youth’s individual characteristics, and implies the need for a shift in discourse toward more targeted examination of the structural issues that act as barriers to social mobility of today’s young people in Hong Kong.Research limitations/implicationsThe study focused on GSE, which is correlated with other constructs such as confidence, but not established in causal relationships with other variables. More research is needed to link GSE and confidence in these groups, as well as links to structural issues that may impact various youth characteristics.Practical implicationsThe study offers insight, which could be used to inform Non-Governmental Organizations and educational programs targeting disadvantaged youth. Programs that pathologize youth characteristics may be able to employ the findings to shift approaches toward more targeted skills-building as well as programming addressing structural barriers.Social implicationsThe study offers a counter-narrative to the contemporary deficit view of today’s youth in Hong Kong. This study provides basis for shifting the discourse away from situating social issues in Hong Kong at the individual level with youth, and toward structural, societal level influences on inequality and social mobility of younger generations.Originality/valueAlthough GSE has been measured across the globe, this study sought to target the GSE of a group that has been framed in the media and political discourse as lacking in a variety of important characteristics. This study’s findings offer a counter-narrative to the generally negative attitudes toward youth as shy, lacking in confidence, antisocial and without a strong work ethic.