Thai Journal of East Asian Studies

Current training and fostering of physical education teachers following the plan-do-check-act model at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam elementary schools

Dinh Sang Giau, Duong Minh Quang — Mon, 30 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0700

This article explored the current status of physical education teacher (PET) team development in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam elementary schools. Awareness of the meaning and significance of developing a PET team; and the current status of training and fostering PETs according to the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) model were also examined. Data was collected by questionnaire from 522 managers and teachers and by interviews with 30 Ho Chi Minh City elementary school managers and teachers. Results were that PET team development was strongly influenced by internal and external factors, including educational innovation, policy mechanisms, school culture, human issues, cognition, managerial capacity, and teacher individualities. The most significant managerial issue was to control negativity and promote positivity. Simultaneously, managers must constantly improve PET training and fostering to ensure development of sufficient high quality instructors meeting international standards.

British Burma and its policy towards Yunnan in the 19th century

Nittayaporn Prompanya — Mon, 30 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0700

This article explores the political background, influences, and results of British Burma’s policy towards Yunnan in the 19th century. It also delves into the repercussions of the British colonial government’s policies towards Yunnan in Burma, using a historical methodology that primarily analyzes British diplomatic documents. While previous studies focused on the power competition between the French colonial government in Indochina and the British in Burma, the present article argues that two specific factors drove British Burmese policy towards Yunnan: 1) the perception of Yunnan as a rich and flourishing region and 2) French commercial influence in Burma. As a result, the British colonial government in Burma began to expand trade relations with Yunnan even further.

Faith and rights in the smart city: Preserving the significance of the Chao Mae Tuptim shrine amidst gentrification of the Sam Yan neighborhood of Bangkok

Xi Tang, Gil Turingan — Mon, 30 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0700

The Chao Mae Tuptim shrine in the Sam Yan neighborhood of Bangkok has profound spiritual and symbolic significance for Thai Chinese people and the Sam Yan community. It is at risk of being demolished as part of the Sam Yan Smart City project by the Property Management of Chulalongkorn University (PMCU). PMCU plans to use the land to build a retail mall and a 1,800-unit residential building for university staff and student dormitories under a mixed-use project, Block 33. This qualitative case study highlights the spiritual and symbolic significance of the Chao Mae Tuptim shrine. It addresses the impact of gentrification on the shrine’s Thai Chinese cultural and spiritual aspects. The study emphasizes the role of the Sam Yan community in preserving the shrine’s cultural, spiritual, and symbolic significance in the face of gentrification. Data is gathered from news articles, online interviews, and observations of the extant and new Chao Tuptim Mae shrine installations. Data is analysed thematically in the context of Henri Lefebvre’s Right to the City concept to underline the community’s ongoing faith and commitment to safeguarding the shrine despite the advancing Smart City project.

Poet-Monks: The Invention of Buddhist Poetry in Late Medieval China

Benjamin Ivry — Mon, 30 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0700

This book examines how poet monks tried to unify Buddhist and literary practice in the late Tang dynasty (860–960 CE), contradicting a general view of the time as one of artistic decadence. Yet Buddhism was seen by critics of this era as out of place in the literary domain.

Poetry by monks expressing religious sentiments was derided by numerous contemporary readers as being a potential distraction from pious observance.

Extending this disdain, posterity in the form of anthologies and textbooks of classical Chinese poetry have tended to neglect poems by Buddhist monks, while general histories of Tang poetry likewise largely overlook them. Yet Guanxiu and a contemporary writer, Qiji deserve attention today for their prolific efforts to unify their experiences with life and religious faith.

For many generations, the literary flourishes of Qiji and Quanxiu made their fellow Buddhists suspicious of their preoccupation with literature.

At the same time, Chinese literati did not find the effusions of the poet monks to their taste. Indeed, the Classical Prose Movement (gǔwén yùndòng) of the late Tang dynasty and the Song dynasty advocated clarity and precision rather than the florid parallel prose style that had been popular since the Han dynasty.

In this context, poetry readers found justification for rejecting the poet monks for using unrefined language in verse as well as an old-fashioned style.

Guanxiu, Qiji, and other poets failed to dissolve the opposition between literary and Buddhist practice in their works in past centuries, but they are nevertheless worth reading today for the light they shed on poetics and worship in a Buddhist context.

The dilemma of architectural conservation policy and practice versus sustainable tourism: The case of the Great Shangqinggong Temple in Jiangxi Province, People’s Republic of China

Xin Liu — Mon, 30 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0700

This qualitative research addresses the dilemma of architectural conservation policy and practice versus sustainable tourism goals through a case study of the Great Shangqinggong Temple. The goal is to determine how local agencies manage heritage places such as archaeological ruins to fulfill the demands of sustainable tourism, retaining authenticity in architectural conservation policy while presenting heritage to attract tourist consumption. Whether to commercialize an archaeological site for tourist entertainment or focus on interpretation and education is a question central to site management. Data was gathered by a literature review of Chinese Taoist history and participant observation of the Great Shangqinggong Temple compared to the Xiandu Female Taoist Temple, Magu Mountain. The result was that an architectural conservation policy, practice, and sustainable tourism requires authenticity to maintain equilibrium.

A Study of the Culture of Five Relationships: The Cultural Soft Power of China and the Overseas Chinese

Anatchaya Changjaroen — Mon, 30 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0700

This article focuses on the study of China’s cultural “soft power,” particularly in terms of the “Five Aspects of Relationship-Based Culture,” or in Chinese, “Wu Yuan Culture (五缘文化).” It describes the nature of interpersonal relationships that constitute social networks within Chinese culture, comprising: kinship culture (亲缘文化), geographical culture (地缘文化), religious culture (神缘文化), professional culture (业缘文化), and object-related culture (物缘文化). These cultural forms are central to the social and cultural networks of the Chinese people, helping to deeply understand the relationship between the overseas Chinese and the Five Relationships Culture. This study provides a clearer picture of the relationship between the overseas Chinese and the Five Relationships Culture, which is considered a form of China’s cultural soft power. It demonstrates and reflects the distinctive Chinese culture through the lives of overseas Chinese in foreign lands.

Evolving Japanese civil-military relations during the Prime Ministerships of Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe

Muskan Jha — Mon, 30 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0700

This study examines Japanese civil-military relations during the prime ministerships of Shinzo Abe and Junichiro Koizumi to discern the impact of administrative and legislative reforms. The goal is to see how legislative and administrative changes of the respective regimes affected military autonomy and decision-making procedures in Japan as well as interactions between leadership initiatives, constitutional restraints, and ensuing changes in civil-military relations. Data was drawn from the historical foundations of Japan’s pacifist constitution and limitations placed on Self-Defence Forces (SDF) by Article 9. The findings contribute to the discussion of military governance in postwar Japan, emphasizing the critical role of administrative procedures and reforms in determining the nature of national defence policy.