Representations of Children and Success in Asia

Shih-Wen Sue Chen (PhD, ANU) is an Associate Professor in Writing and Literature at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.Sin Wen Lau (PhD, ANU) is Senior Lecturer in the Chinese Program at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

"Representations of Children and Success in Asia is a remarkable collection of essays. All the essays carefully address and argue the unique constructions of childhood and success in Asia by accounting for the historical, political, and religious or philosophical bases. It provides both a much-needed background for scholars who are unfamiliar with Asian children’s texts and a foundation for deeper discussion among scholars from the regions. It is indeed a successful collection of study on success."--Chrysogonus Siddha Malilang, Malmö University“All the chapters of this book present an interesting and multifaceted approach to success, which is often situated as the expression of adult desire and their uncompromising expectation towards the behaviors and goals of children and young people. By offering an impressive cross section of the complex ways in which success is conceptualised in Asian cultures through the materials of children’s culture, this volume will interest educators, parents, and cultural researchers.”--Joanna Karmasz, University of Warsaw

• Chapter 1: Dreams of Success: Young People, Agency, Values, and Citizenship in AsiaShih-Wen Sue Chen and Sin Wen Lau I. Educational SuccessChapter 2: The Grace in Failings: Reading Failure as Success in SKY Castle and Assassination Classroom Sambhabi Ghosh Chapter 3: Success at Any Price: Exam Hell and Morita Yoshimitsu’s The Family GameKelly Hansen Chapter 4: Unfulfilled Dreams of IIT: Notions of Success in Five Point Someone and 3 Idiots Rizia Begum Laskar II. Cultural Politics of Success Chapter 5: Representations of Money and Success in Contemporary Chinese Children’s Literature Ying ZouChapter 6: Hope, Oppression, and the Indian Urban Poor: Portrayals of Success in Trash! and Dear Mrs. Naidu Shriya Kuchibhotla Chapter 7: Disappearing Girls: Gendered Success and the Reproduction of the Singapore Family in Jack Neo’s FilmsShih-Wen Sue Chen and Sin Wen Lau III. Success and the NationChapter 8: To Be Red: Child Propagandists and Their Success in the Cultural Revolution Yi Ren Chapter 9: Reaching for the Stars: Identity and Success in Three Indonesian Children’s FilmsNia Nafisah Chapter 10: Becoming Indonesian: Political Constructions of Successful Children in Aku Ingin Menciummu Sekali Saja and Denias Senandung di Atas AwanSatrya Wibawa Chapter 11: Messages of "Success" in Popular Taiwanese Children’s Books Agnes Tang and Ivy Haoyin Hsieh IV. Success in the WorldChapter 12: Youth Ecoagency in Two Chinese Science Fiction Films on Environmental Disasters Fengxia Tan and Claudia Nelson Chapter 13: Saviors of the World: Impersonality and Success in Shinkai Makoto’s Animated Films Katsuya Izumi Chapter 14: Cultivating Dreams: Becoming Middle-class and Affluent in Globalizing Urban Vietnam Catherine Earl Chapter 15: Semiotic Representations of Success in English-Language Picturebooks for Young Korean ChildrenJennifer M. Graff and Eun Young Yeom