Monthly Archives: July 2007

new book on bilingual education in China

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Last month saw the release of Bilingual Education in China: Practices, Policies and Concepts, edited by Anwei Feng (University of Durham).

I have not seen a copy of this yet but thought it might be of interest to some readers of Pinyin News. Here’s the publisher’s description:

This work compares and contrasts two strands of bilingualism in China, one for minority nationality groups, the other for majority. It examines the history, policy, philosophy, politics, provision and practice in bilingual, trilingual or multilingual education involving Mandarin Chinese, English, and minority languages. This volume brings a mixed group of researchers together to discuss issues in bilingual or trilingual education for the majority and minority nationality groups in China and to explore the relationship between the two. Articles range from reports of bilingual or trilingual education projects in remote minority regions to discussions about Chinese-English bilingual education in major economic centres.

For a list of articles in the book, see the table of contents (PDF).

hardback:
ISBN: 1-85359-992-1
13 Digit ISBN: 978-1-85359-992-7

paperback:
ISBN-10: 1853599913
ISBN-13: 978-1853599910

Japanese and attitudes toward kanji

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Ken of What Japan Thinks has helpfully translated into English the results of a recent poll of 1,010 Japanese adults on their attitudes about kanji ability.

A total of 95 percent of those polled said they believe the kanji ability of elementary and middle school children is “undesirably low.” Of those giving this response, 56 percent associated the problem with a drop in school education levels.

A slight majority (52 percent) of all those polled reported a lack of confidence in their own kanji ability.

Here are the questions. For the responses, see the translation or the poll results in Japanese (『漢字力』などに関する調査, Goo Research, June 27, 2007):

  • Do you feel that elementary and middle school children’s kanji ability is sufficient?
    • It’s undesirably low
      • Why do you think that?
    • It’s not a problem
      • Why do you think that?
  • Do you have confidence in your own kanji ability?
    • Yes
    • No
      • Why don’t you have confidence in your own kanji ability?
  • What do you do when you cannot produce a kanji character?

    SPP: Ch’an/Zen Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism

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    Sino-Platonic Papers has rereleased Buddhist Influence on the Neo-Confucian Concept of the Sage, by Pratoom Angurarohita.

    This is issue no. 10 and was first published in June 1989.

    Here’s an excerpt from the introduction.

    There are three lines of thought that can be traced as the main sources of Neo-Confucianism. The first is Confucianism itself. The second is Buddhism, via the medium of the Ch’an [Zen] sect, for of all the schools of Buddhism, Ch’an was the most influential at the time of the formation of Neo-Confucianism. The third is the Taoist religion, of which the cosmological view of the Yin-Yang school formed an important element. The cosmology of the Neo-Confucianists is chiefly connected with this line of thought.

    Since Buddhism had become an intimate part of Chinese intellectual life for several centuries, it was impossible for the Sung reformists to replace Buddhism entirely by their new philosophy. While using concepts found in the Confucian Classics, the Neo-Confucianists interpreted them in the light of Buddhist understanding. To limit the topic of study, this paper will examine only the influence of Buddhism on the Neo-Confucian concept of the sage, focusing on sagehood as an attainable goal and self-cultivation. The study of the concept of the sage in Neo-Confucianism will show not only the Buddhist influence, but also the development of the concept from early Confucianism.

    The full essay is also available as a PDF (1.6 MB), which preserves the look of the original printed issue.