Chinese Studies

La découverte au tournant du xxe siècle de milliers de documents dans l’oasis centrasiatique de Dunhuang fut comparable, par son retentissement scientifique, à celle des manuscrits de la mer Morte ou de la Genizah du Caire. Si les nombreux documents religieux, littéraires et économiques de Dunhuang ont été bien étudiés, les neuf manuscrits de géographie locale qui en proviennent l’ont été au seul prisme de la géographie historique.
Dans une perspective d’histoire sociale et culturelle, le présent ouvrage s’attache à comprendre ce que ce corpus restreint mais cohérent nous apprend des pratiques géographiques dans les confins de l’empire chinois, entre les viie et xe siècles. Ces documents témoignent tout à la fois de la grande codification et de la richesse typologique des savoirs géographiques locaux, à l’aube de la dynastie des Song (960-1279), une période traditionnellement considérée comme celle de l’essor de ces phénomènes.

The tragic events of 11 September 2001 allowed the United States to reframe its pursuit of global hegemony as ‘War on Terror’ which is styled on Islamophobic rhetoric and action. To counter this campaign of Islamophobia, Pakistan has adopted a consistent and well-planned stance. The essential contours of Pakistan’s stance on the ‘War on Terror’ are the need to: condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations; defend Islam and Muslims; support the right of self-determination of oppressed people particularly, Palestinians and Kashmiris; respect international law; address the root causes of terrorism; and promote peace and harmony among cultures, civilizations and followers of diverse religions all over the world through promotion of a robust dialogue and  criminalization of  defamation of religions.

My poem THE STATESMAN WHO REMAINS SILENT is a literary experiment to combine thought through the art of poetry without imagery to convey a more meaningful philosophical idea.  The small poem was influenced by the works of Sun Tzu. 

Luis Lazaro Tijerina, Salina, Kansas

This Special Issue of Education Sciences will examine key topics associated with the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on teaching and learning in K-12 and postsecondary education. AI is rapidly expanding in both capacity and usage in the field of education. However, there is variance in what educators and students know about best practices with implementing AI into teaching and learning. In this formative stage, there is a need for experimental results and case studies on the effectiveness of AI technologies to guide ethical practice. Researchers, educators, and practitioners are invited to contribute manuscripts to this Special Issue. The authors will ground their research in current and seminal literature and utilize quantitative and/or qualitative research methods to investigate their selected topic. Clear findings that exhibit the impact of AI on teaching and learning will be presented, including recommendations for practical usage of AI in K-12 and/or postsecondary educational settings.

This study analyzes Russia's Eurasian aspirations and strategic reach toward South Asia. It focuses on the important implications that regional connectivity can bring. The research investigates how Russia engages with South Asia and how it shapes the geopolitical landscape that increases the opportunities for regional connectivity. The paper also examines the aim of Russia presented by its strategies and presents initiatives for strengthening its presence in the region. Considering both economic and security elements of infrastructure projects spanning the Eurasian landmass, with particular attention to their influence on Pakistan and India, it assesses the strategic relevance of regional connectivity in Russia's foreign policy. Finally, given the rise of China and the retraction of U.S. power following the departure of its troops from Afghanistan, this paper hypothesizes about Russia's future trajectory in respect. It explores how these worlds events might affect Russia's attitude to South Asia and its more general Eurasian policy, therefore changing the scenario of regional connectivity  .

Хүннү нарын археологи, генетикийн ул мөр бүхий ардын аман зохиолын элементүүдийг Евразийн бүс нутгийн хаанаас ч олж болно. Энэ нь Азиас гаралтай хүннү нар суурин соёл иргэншилт ард түмэнд нөлөөлж, гүн гүнзгий ул мөр үлдээж байсныг нотолж байна. Археологийн дурсгал төдийгүй хүннүчүүдийн барьж байгуулсан өв маш элбэг. Тухайлбал энд, Ордосын Тунванчэн хот, Хай Бао Та Инчуан (Нинся) хотуудыг дурдмаар байна. Хүннүтэй холбоотой археологийн дурсгалууд Баруун болон хойд Европоос ч элбэг олдсон байдаг. Сүүлийн жилүүдэд олдсон гавлын яс нь одоогийн Герман, Францын нутаг дэвсгэрт Хүннүчүүд байсныг илтгэнэ. Түүнчлэн Скандинавын зарим хэсэг хүннүчүүдийн захиргаанд байсан нь археологийн олдвор, генетикийн дээж, домогт элементүүдээр нотлогддог. Аттила бол Герман, Скандинавын туульсын чухал дүр юм.

Yang Guorong is a contemporary philosopher with little need for introduction-and not only because he has been introduced here before. 1 Professor Yang's decades of prolific scholarship cover nearly all major fields of Chinese philosophy, from the pre-Qin Masters to neo-Confucian metaphysics on to modern academic philosophers. That scholarship is accompanied by a series of major works laying out his own original philosophy, comprised principally of his "concrete metaphysics." 2 Most recently he has expanded on that theorizing by formulating the philosophy of "affairs" introduced in the essays collected here. This introduction outlines and contextualizes their main arguments. So what is a philosophy of affairs? "Affairs" translates the Chinese shi, a most commonplace term. You shenme shi? (What's up?) You shi ma? (Everything all right?) Zhe shenme shi? (What's this?) Yet despite its everyday nature, the term itself is strikingly difficult to render into Englishand this is in fact a defining feature of the philosophy. Yang argues that "affairs," shi, offers a view of the world that is distinctively Chinese. It belongs to "Chinese philosophy," shaping and shaped by a unique metaphysical outlook and, most importantly, giving us a unique philosophical framework for understanding our understanding. While we might identify this with the Chinese nation or tradition or ethnicity or culture, in the most deeply important sense Yang describes the ideas and arguments he puts forward here as Chinese in the sense of being deeply rooted in Chinese language and the particular philosophical systems that grew within and through it. We can thus say it is distinctively Chinese philosophy in both the sense of being a philosophy of China and its culture, zhongguo zhexue, and being a philosophy that operates in ways distinctive to and shaped by Chinese language, hanyu zhexue. In fact, it integrates the two in a way so inseparable that it calls into question the contemporary push to distinguish the two. The philosophy of affairs, that is, is shaped by the unique conceptual schemes of its original language; it was also a force that shaped the language itself. Perhaps the most troublesome thing about translating the term shi here is that its closest English equivalent is the informal, slang use of the word "thing": wo you shi (I have a thing-in the sense of some engagement); zhe zhong shi (this kind of thing). But a main point of the essays that follow, in laying out the basic framework of the philosophy of affairs, is precisely the distinction between affairs and things, shi and wu. The core argument of the philosophy of affairs is to point out that it is necessarily through affairs that we engage with things in meaningful ways. Affairs must be conceptually

Inner peace (An, 安) holds profound significance in Chinese and broader East Asian cultures within the Sinosphere. In Confucianism, peace arises from reducing uncertainty through virtuous hierarchies and the conscientious fulfillment of moral obligations that embody Ren (仁), or human-heartedness. Yet such peace is inherently fragile and unsustainable if human-heartedness deviates from the Dao—the natural order of the universe. In contrast, Zhuangzi’s vision of peace, centered on spontaneity, wu-wei (無為), and the rejection of rigid social norms, offers a pathway to genuine freedom and enlightenment. Employing the Granular Interaction Thinking Theory (GITT), this study provides a scientific elaboration of Zhuangzi’s philosophy of inner peace, as expressed in Free and Easy Wandering (Xiao Yao You, 逍遙遊), and examines how such a state may be achieved through cultivating Nature Quotient (NQ). Ultimately, we propose that Daoist philosophy—especially Zhuangzi’s—can underpin a modern paradigm of inner peace that nurtures harmony within individuals, societies, nations, and the global community.

The influx of Chinese in East Africa presents churches with an opportunity to engage in cross-cultural evangelism right in their own neighborhoods. East African churches are well equipped to engage in evangelism and discipleship, yet Chinese immigrants in these urban areas are largely overlooked. This qualitative study seeks to understand the barriers and cultural bridges that East African church leaders identify regarding outreach to their Chinese neighbors. While language and cultural distance cause barriers, church leaders say they can bridge the distance with some extra cultural knowledge and the help of mediators. We conclude that church leaders’ understanding of reaching Chinese people is a good start—though incomplete—and can be informed with more exposure to cross-cultural strategies and issues related to contextualizing Christianity within Chinese culture.

Using a sample of 14 million $\psip$ events collected with the BESII detector, branching fractions or upper limits on the branching fractions of $\psip$ decays into $\gamma\ppb$, $\gamma 2(\pip\pim)$, $\gamma \kskp$, $\gamma \kap\kam\pip\pim$, $\gamma\kstarz\kam\pip+c.c.$, $\gamma \kstarz \kstarzb$, $\gamma\pip\pim\ppb$, $\gamma2(\kap\kam)$, $\gamma3(\pip\pim)$ and $\gamma2(\pip\pim)\kap\kam$ with hadron invariant mass less than 2.9$\gev/c^2$ are reported. We also report branching fractions of $\psip$ decays into $\gamma\ppb\piz$, $\ppb\piz\piz$, $2(\pip\pim)\piz$, $\omega\pp$, $\omega f_2(1270)$, $b_1^\pm\pi^\mp$, $\piz\kskp$, $K^\pm\rho^\mp\ks$, $\piz2(\pip\pim)\kap\kam$ and $\gamma\piz2(\pip\pim)\kap\kam$.

Using the data of about 33 pb -1 collected at and around 3.773 GeV with the BES-II detector at the BEPC collider, we have studied the exclusive semileptonic decays The absolute branching fractions for the decays are measured to be BF (D + → K -π + e + νe) = (3.50 ± 0.75 ± 0.27)%, BF (D 0 → K 0 π -e + νe) = (2.61 ± 1.04 ± 0.28)%,

We report measurements of the observed cross sections for e + e -→ ωπ + π -, ωK + K -, ωpp, .773 and 3.650 GeV. Upper limits (90% C.L.) are given for observed cross sections and for ψ(3770) decay branching fractions for production of these final states. These measurements are made by analyzing the data sets of 17.3 pb -1 collected at √ s = 3.773 GeV and 6.5 pb -1 collected at √ s = 3.650 GeV with the BES-II detector at the BEPC collider.

Using 58 million J/ψ events accumulated with the BES II detector, branching fractions for the ηc → V V decays, ηc → ρρ, ηc → K * K * , ηc → ωω, and ηc → φφ, are measured. The branching fractions are Br(ηc → ρρ) = (1.25 ± 0.37 ± 0.51) × 10 -2 , Br(ηc → K * K * ) = (10.4 ± 2.6 ± 4.3) × 10 -3 , Br(ηc → ωω) < 6.3 × 10 -3 (90 % CL) , and Br(ηc → φφ) = (2.5 ± 0.5 ± 0.9) × 10 -3 . The process ηc → ωφ is also searched for, and the 90% CL upper limit Br(ηc → ωφ) < 1.3 × 10 -3 is obtained for this process.

Inner peace (An, 安) holds profound significance in Chinese and broader East Asian cultures within the Sinosphere. In Confucianism, peace arises from reducing uncertainty through virtuous hierarchies and the conscientious fulfillment of moral obligations that embody Ren (仁), or human-heartedness. Yet such peace is inherently fragile and unsustainable if human-heartedness deviates from the Dao—the natural order of the universe. In contrast, Zhuangzi’s vision of peace, centered on spontaneity, wu-wei (無為), and the rejection of rigid social norms, offers a pathway to genuine freedom and enlightenment. Employing the Granular Interaction Thinking Theory (GITT), this study provides a scientific elaboration of Zhuangzi’s philosophy of inner peace, as expressed in Free and Easy Wandering (Xiao Yao You, 逍遙遊), and examines how such a state may be achieved through cultivating Nature Quotient (NQ). Ultimately, we propose that Daoist philosophy—especially Zhuangzi’s—can underpin a modern paradigm of inner peace that nurtures harmony within individuals, societies, nations, and the global community.

This paper focuses on two objectives: to explore why Xinjiang Uyghur Muslim uprisings got motivated, and the other is to assess whether the closer China-Central Asia co-operations help ease the tension. Moreover, this research attempts to investigate the other external players involved in the Uyghur turmoil. The study employed the qualitative method to analyze how Sino-Central Asia relations play a role in countering East Turkistan forces and ease the Xinjiang tension. The analysis and argument are based on the institutionalism of Neo-liberalism to examine the impacts of China's foreign policies towards Central Asia, especially the institute of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), as well as the constructivism theory to analyze the norms. These ideas shape the political attitudes of external players on the Xinjiang issue. This paper argued that to prevent the further sprawl of the East Turkestan forces and maintain regional stability and peace, China would continue to work with Central Asian countries in terms of counter-three evil forces through the SCO. The research explored the development and challenges that SCO will face and analyzed its impacts on the solution of Xinjiang Uyghur Muslim riots shortly.

Free download at URL: https://amsacta.unibo.it/id/eprint/8503/

Il volume riproduce e contestualizza una serie di documenti inediti connessi alla Camera di Commercio Italiana in Cina (CCIC), fondata nel 1903 a Shanghai, oggi conservati presso l’Archivio Storico-Diplomatico del Ministero degli Affari Esteri di Roma (ASDMAE, Rappresentanze Diplomatiche e consolari d’Italia a Pechino, Pos. 50, b. 54, fascc. 675-676).
Gli estremi cronologici delle carte vanno dal 1903 al 1924.
Tale documentazione riveste un notevole interesse nella ricostruzione delle dinamiche socio-economiche e di mobilità umana fra l’Italia e la Cina nel primo quarto del XX secolo, nella congiuntura della transizione dall’Impero Qing alla Repubblica di Cina.

This article examines how the Ming empire's need for cavalry horses gave rise to a distinctive mode of pastureland and human-animal governance in the borderland ecotones of fifteenth-and sixteenth-century northwest China. Termed "bureaucratic pastoralism," this mode involved the rationalized management of livestock, labor, and land through formal institutions, administrative oversight, and infrastructural investment. The focus is on the Shaanxi Pasturage Office in Pingliangfu and it traces the creation, transformation, and partial unraveling of horse-rearing operations within a broad context of imperial land use, labor organization, and environmental governance. These institutions provisioned horses and moreover materialized a scheme of territorial control through infrastructure, bureaucratic discipline, and regulated human-animal relations. Over time, demographic pressures and ecological constraints prompted a shift from mobile horse provisioning to sedentary agro-pastoral practices and monetized procurement. Rather than indicating institutional decline, this transformation shows the adaptive capacities of Ming governance in response to changing border conditions. By situating bureaucratic pastoralism within the trends in monetization and imperial border governance, the article contributes to a comparative understanding of state-managed pastoral regimes in premodern empires.

In 2023, China reached high middle income status and it is fair to assume that within a few decades, it will join the ranks of high income status countries. High income countries all share the feature of having relatively clean bureaucracies and any country on its way to high income level is compelled to cleanup its state in ways that are irreversible. Since 2013, China has for that reason prioritised cleaning up the bureaucracy from all possible forms of misconduct that might impede bureaucratic professionalism and effectiveness. Overcoming bureaucratic misconduct was a latent priority of the Chinese Communist Party since the foundation of the People's Republic of China. Throughout the reform period, forms of bureaucratic misconduct that got the most attention were corruption and bribery. Minor forms of misconduct, which are the most common in China's state, also included bureaucratic shirking, hedonism (xianglezhuyi), and extravagance (shemi). This study delves into the state's campaign against hedonism and extravagance under Xi Jinping's leadership. Hedonism in a bureaucratic context is the enjoyment of leisure or the pursuit of pleasure on the part of state officials while at work while extravagance is understood as unnecessarily significant or luxurious consumption often times on public funds. All presidents in the People's Republic's history opposed hedonism and extravagance although leaderships varied in how ideologically they framed their opposition to these problems, and in whether they sought to overcome them in the bureaucracy. Mao Zedong strongly condemned hedonism and extravagance as manifestations of bourgeois thinking. Fighting these problems in the bureaucracy was a priority in his very early rule before limits on consumption were imposed by the communist regime, yet following the abolition of private property and ban on profitmaking, overcoming material forms of hedonism and extravagance at work became less relevant. In the early reform period, the planned economy was progressively dismantled and hedonism and extravagance resurfaced with households' ability to consume and the state's increased ability to spend. Hedonism and extravagance were described as inevitable consequences of economic liberalisation, and despite the party's deliberate choice to place China on the path of neoliberal economic reforms, the party continued to associate hedonism and extravagance with the so-called exploitative class. Beginning in the 1990s, hedonism and extravagance were of particular concern in the bureaucracy as they undermined officials' commitment to serving the people. Jiang Zemin included hedonism as among the four practices that Party cadres and members had to oppose ("four oppositions", sige fandui). At the Party's 85th anniversary in 2007, Hu Jintao similarly called on Party cadres to resist hedonistic temptation (Xing, 16 July 2013). Despite their strong concerns about hedonism and extravagance growing among public servants in the early reform period, Jiang and Hu's leaderships did not conduct a campaign to identify and punish employees of the state who broke bureaucratic rules hedonistically or extravagantly of the kind that the party-state conducted under Xi Jinping. It was under Xi's leadership that the Party ironically was less ideological in its stance against hedonism and extravagance but more serious at tackling these problems in the state. The first campaign against hedonism and extravagance among public servants was launched in 2013 and it targeted hundreds of thousands of individuals, including bureaucrats, judges, heads of state-owned enterprises, teachers, and medical doctors. I show how the party-state has sought to overcome hedonism and extravagance through a mix of five strategies: changing the habits of officials during and outside festival holidays; establishing an online system enabling citizens to report hedonistic and extravagant officials to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the main organisation in charge of investigating employees of public institutions breaking rules; conducting overt and covert investigations of officials in response to public denunciations and during festivals; disciplining hedonistic and extravagant officials; and publicly shaming some rule-breakers in the news with the intention of raising awareness against misconduct and discouraging other officials from breaking rules. Information on the evolution of the state's policy towards hedonism and extravagance was arrived at through keyword searches of hedonism (xianglezhuyi) and extravagance (shechi, shemi) in the People's Daily (the Party's official mouthpiece), other state-controlled newspapers, and on the websites of the central and provincial Commissions for Discipline Inspection and Supervision. Findings on the state's institutional measures against hedonism and extravagance are from 461 cases of civil servants disciplined for hedonism or extravagance at work published by the central and provincial Commissions for Discipline Inspection and Supervision's websites from 2015 to 2025. The CCDI does not publish reports of all cases of officials disciplined over these issues: it only gives the public samples of cases. These cases are nevertheless common situations of rule-breaking and revealing of the state's logic underlying party and government sanctions for misconduct. The CCDI's fight against hedonism and extravagance is part of the state's campaign against what the Party calls the "Four Winds", which began in 2013. The Four Winds refer to bureaucratic problems that remain obstacles to a professional bureaucracy. Aside from hedonism and extravagance, they include formalism and bureaucratism. Although these problems are targeted by the same campaign, they remain distinctive. While hedonism and extravagance are forms of individual misconduct that undermine government cleanliness, formalism and bureaucratism are problematic procedures that result in either slow or inadequate decision-making or in inertia in the face of important problems of governance and they undermine bureaucratic responsiveness and effectiveness. The state's campaign against the Four Winds has been the object of much media attention under Xi's administration. Insofar as talking about eradicating these problems is useful to its rule, the CPC has an interest in publishing detailed media reports about them. Through its extensive coverage of the campaign, I was able to find much information about how the state-controlled media, and by extension the Party, think about hedonism and extravagance and try overcome these problems. This study contributes to our understanding of China's state by bringing our attention to how the CPC frames and handles particularly understudied yet common forms of misconduct among state officials. Hedonism and extravagance among public servants while at work are important to study as, until Xi's leadership, they were problems that drained government office budgets and negatively impacted bureaucratic effectiveness. Some forms of hedonism and extravagance like the acceptance of gifts and invitations to banquets/dinner by third parties (corporate or societal) also create conditions for more serious breaches of the bureaucratic code of conduct like bribery and corruption since they can make officials fall under these actors' influence and bend rules in their interests in various ways. State impartiality and independence are essential conditions to a professional bureaucracy. Finally, since Hu Jintao's leadership, China has turned to service-oriented government, and hedonism and extravagance as work cultures remain obstacles to generating and sustaining perceptions that state officials are credibly committed to public service.

This paper provides a critical review of State Transformation and Chinese Foreign Policy (Jones & Hameiri, 2021). While the book makes a valuable contribution by highlighting how fragmentation, decentralisation, and internationalisation shape China’s foreign policy, its explanatory framework suffers from key weaknesses. It tends to overstate incoherence within the Chinese party-state, underestimate the CCP’s adaptive resilience, and rely heavily on qualitative evidence without methodological triangulation. Most importantly, it neglects the decisive role of digital and algorithmic infrastructures in shaping both domestic governance and external influence. By engaging these omissions, this critique argues for a more multidimensional, mixed-methods framework that integrates institutional analysis with the algorithmic turn. Such an approach aligns with the author’s broader project on the “Third Generation” in International Relations (Qatrani, 2025), and is essential for understanding China’s evolving state power amid intensifying U.S.–China–Russia rivalry.

Este libro nace con el propósito de ofrecer a personas hispanohablantes algunas lecturas contemporáneas sobre temas clave y algunos no tan estudiados de la filosofía china. Especialistas de la disciplina adentran al lector en una larga tradición filosófica desde diferentes enfoques y prismas, incluyendo las escuelas clásicas (confucianismo y taoísmo), así como novedosas interpretaciones comparadas y aproximaciones a temas actuales como la ecología, el nacionalismo o la creación musical contemporánea.

This paper is focused about fighting techniques identification among the arsenal available and trainable by the 朱 Zhū Family 陈家沟 Chénjiāgōu 太极拳 Tàijí Boxing in the 新架 Xīnjià method practice. This preliminary work is restricted to analysis and results belonging to 朱向前Zhū Xiàngqián 新架 Xīnjià set.

Research is grounded over fighting techniques identification and classification as data to be detected, disambiguated, marked-up and classified from direct analysis of sources.
Sources for this study consist of 新架套路 Xīnjià routines, by this preliminary paper field of research presented is restricted to 朱向前Zhū Xiàngqián master, so in relation to 朱向前Zhū Xiàngqián 新架Xīnjià boxing proximity, sources have been categorized as primary, secondary and tertiary.

Analysis of data retrieved evinced 3 main categories of fighting techniques: striking, projection and joint lock. Percentages of data recorded put in light the strongest predominance of striking techniques among all, a statistically significative and very strong difference confirmed by the application of Mann-Whitney U test.
Deeper analysis of striking data evinced that punching represents the most frequent striking technique, followed by elbow and kicking: Mann-Whitney U test inferred again a statistic significative relevance for mathematical predominance.

Data suggest the presumable and reasonable presence of a striking core of fist techniques.
The comparison and convergence of striking retrieved data from Xinjia method towards contemporary boxing basics, led Taolu training and repetition of routines to be compared to the solo shadow-boxing training phase, and 推手Tuīshǒu to a couple-drill with a cooperative partner.
Integration with modern-boxing and other fighting methods training are finally proposed for ad effective capacity improvement in striking.

During the establishment and rise of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), its
military interventions in Mongolia dealt a significant blow to the Mongol khans
of Qubilai Khan’s lineage and the people under their rule. Over the course of
nearly half a century of warfare, hundreds of thousands of Mongols were
captured, while many more were forced to seek refuge under Ming protection.
These developments altered the demographic balance and political structure of
Mongolia, leading to the rise of the Oirats, who were the eternal rivals of
Qublai’s descendants and, at the same time, allies of the Ming Dynasty.
Strengthened by their commercial relations with the Ming, the Oirats rapidly
expanded their influence from Qumul (Hami) in the west to the Jurchens in the
east. However, the expansionist policies implemented during the reign of
Emperor Zhu Di depleted the Ming Dynasty’s resources. Following his death,
subsequent emperors abandoned military expansion and withdrew the Ming
forces from both Vietnam (Annam) in the south and the Mongolian steppes in
the north. By the mid-15th century, the Oirats had become a dominant force.
Alarmed by this growing influence, the Ming Dynasty began to show reluctance
towards its trade relations with the Oirats. In response, Oirat leader Esen
launched a major campaign against the Ming in 1449, decisively defeating them
at the Battle of Tumu, where he captured Emperor Zhu Qizhen. The following
year, he besieged Beijing, throwing the Ming Dynasty into turmoi

In the 1930s, the Nationalist government implemented comprehensive nation-building initiatives which included enhancing transportation infrastructure and boosting the economy through developing tourism industry, thereby ascribing new sociocultural significance to travel. Through an analysis of Republican China's tourism discourse, this paper examines Yu Jianhua's Journey to Mountain Yandang and his travel experiences within the sociocultural context of the 1930s. It examines how the convergence of traditional landscape aesthetics, emerging tourism discourse, and tourism-related publications shaped the artist's perception and interpretation of Mountain Yandang. It reveals how Yu's encounters with natural wonders led him to reflect on traditional Chinese painting Guohua ,and revisit plein air sketching, and how his travel paintings in turn contributed to symbolic representations of Mountain Yandang.

This article analyses the 2025 reopening of the Lipulekh trade route between India and China, utilising a Realist perspective to assess its strategic implications for Nepal. This paper employs a qualitative case study approach rooted in Classical and Structural Realism to examine how the bilateral agreement illustrates power politics, spheres of influence, and the geopolitical vulnerabilities faced by Nepal. This study utilises historical context, strategic interest analysis, and policy review to illustrate that the reopening presents opportunities for regional trade yet poses risks of marginalising Nepal and compromising its sovereignty. The article concludes with policy recommendations for Nepal to effectively navigate the challenging environment via diplomatic diversification and strategic engagement. The findings contribute to the literature on small-state security dilemmas, demonstrating how middle-power bargaining can result in the exclusion of weaker neighbours from essential regional processes.

China's political reform has been delayed and suspended for more than 40 years. While there is a consensus that the economic reform must be supported and sustained by a fundamental political reform, the feasible priorities, specific procedures, and reasonable time line are still very contentious. The article briefly discusses five leading schools on the study of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) reform, including the schools of resilience, democratic centralism, the top-down reform, the separation of decision-making, executive and supervision powers, and the multi-candidate election. Using empirical study through interviews and surveys with Chinese scholars and government officials, the article argues that successful political reform relies on the substantial intra-party reform and competitive elections. Furthermore, this article addresses some critical issues related to the checks and balances system, proposing the three key steps designed to implement CCP's political reform, including multi-candidate elections, the permanent system of the party congress representative, and a system of separation of triple powers with the CCP's characteristics.

This paper discusses the challenges which Chinese-English machine translation (MT) systems face in translating personal names. We show that the translation of names between Chinese and English is complicated by different factors, including orthographic, phonetic, geographic and social ones. Four existing systems were tested for their capability in translating personal names from Chinese to English. Test data embodying geographic and sociolinguistic differences were obtained from a synchronous Chinese corpus of news media texts. It is obvious that systems vary considerably in their ability to identify personal names in the source language and render them properly in the target language. Given the criticality of personal name translation to the overall intelligibility of a translated text, the coverage of personal names should be one of the important criteria in the evaluation of MT performance. Moreover, name translation, which calls for a hybrid approach, would remain a central issue to the future development of MT systems, especially for online and real-time applications.

ЛІНГВОДИДАКТИКА ТА ПЕДАГОГІКА УДК 371.315 (045) Галина БЕЛОКОНЬ Стаття присвячена формуванню навичок говоріння в процесі навчання іноземних мов, розвитку та міченню прогресивних комунікативних методів, які забезпечують формування навичок говоріння в процесі навчання іноземній мові. The article deals with the developing and implementing o f progressive methods, which provide forming o f speaking skills in foreign language teaching process. There is some information about speaking activity as means : f speaking skills in foreign language teaching. Формирование речевых навыков и умений в процессе обучения иностранному языкузопрос интересный и требует рассмотрения ряда теоретических аспектов обучения общению на иностранном языке. Общение -процесс обмена информацией между двумя и больше людьми, который осуществляется посредством говорения. Расширение и качественные изменения характера международных связей нашего государства, интернационализация всех аспектов общественной •кизни делают иноязычное общение реально необходимым во всех сферах деятельности человека. К началу XXI века украинское общество ощутило острую необходимость специалистов разных :траслей, которые активно владеют иностранными языками для разрешения своих профессиональных, а также личных проблем в реальных жизненных ситуациях. Развитие речевой активности в процессе обучения иностранному языку, овладение им, как средством общения посредством говорения становится одной из важных задач в процессе изучения иностранного ?зыка [2, с.57]. Е.И.Пассов и И.А.Зимняя считают, что речевая деятельность представляет собой процесс активного, целенаправленного, опосредованного языком и обусловленного ситуацией общения, взаимодействие людей между собой. Единицей речевой деятельности является речевое действие. Овладение речевой деятельностью предполагает поэтапное формирование речевых навыков и умений. "Это качество речевого умения имеет два аспекта: психофизиологическую автономность и независимость от опор. Автономность означает, что в процессе функционирования зрелого эечевого умения не имеет места обращение к родному языку. Безусловно, использование родного языка -на начальном и даже среднем этапе -явление объективное. Но узаконить, так называемую переводную стадию не следует, ибо это неверно тактически, так как это ориентирует на переводное, чтобы говорение, легализируя его; задача состоит в том, чтобы с самого начала психологически ориентировать учащихся (подсознательно и сознательно) на изживание переводного говорения" [4, с. 38]. Как считает Е.И.Пассов, независимость от опор предусматривает самостоятельность эечевого умения как независимость от непосредственно воспринимаемых опор-подсказок и проявляется по отношению к смыслу высказывания, к содержанию высказывания и к речевым средствам. Как речевое умение может рассматриваться то, что программируется и осознается самим говорящим. Речевые средства подбираются также самим говорящим. Речевое умение -это способность управлять речевой деятельностью при решении коммуникативных задач в новых ситуациях общения. Принципиально важным является то, что качества умения базируются на качествах речевых навыков. Указанная зависимость качеств диктует, во-первых, необходимость формирования и развития всех качеств без исключения и в комплексе, вовторых. Обязательное предварительное доведение качеств навыков до должного уровня. По мнению Н.К.Скляренко, Е.И.Онищенко, С. JL Захарова умение соотносится с определенным видом речевой деятельности, а навыки -с речевыми действиями [6, с.34].

The Laozi is among the most widely translated and studied texts in the field of Chinese studies. Nonetheless, research on its reception in different cultural contexts is a relatively new area of inquiry and predominantly limited to the Western (Anglo-European) world. Although Chinese studies is an emerging field within the Latin American (LATAM) academy, investigations into the reception history of Chinese pre-modern texts in the LATAM context are scarce and insufficiently documented. The history of the introduction and popularization of the Laozi in the LATAM subregion reflects the growing fascination among Latin American intellectuals toward "Oriental cultures" during the turn of the twentieth century. The "Orient," primarily represented by the classics, presented fresh worldviews that offered new spiritual and mystical experiences, inspiring new ideas for Latin Americans. This paper aims to recover a specific reading of the Laozi that gained popularity in the Latin American (LATAM) cultural context during the twentieh century, referred to as mystical/ spiritual. I refer to this reading as mystical/spiritual, which, in my view, exhibits two primary characteristics: first, the universality of Laozi's message and second, the idea of Laozi as an individual and private experience. The former highlights the text beyond its cultural peculiarities, expressing a universal message that resonates with Latin American-specific concerns. An illustrative example is the interpretation of the concept of Dao as a transcultural mystical absolute. The latter characteristic pertains to the text as an individual and private experience, where its interpretation is subjective and adaptable to personal needs. Reading the Laozi provides access to the discovery of the "true self." This second characteristic is directly linked to self-cultivation practices emphasized in various Laozi translations produced in Latin America.

This paper examines the representation of Chinese-Thai identity in contemporary Thai literature, focusing on how literary narratives articulate identity formation across different historical and generational contexts.

It traces the shift in scholarly interpretations of Chinese-Thai identity, moving away from G. William Skinner’s classic theory of assimilation, towards more recent approaches that emphasise hybridity, negotiation, and the fluidity of ethnic identity.

Through an analysis of three literary works—Letters from Thailand, Through the Dragon Pattern and Family Comes First—the paper explores how Chinese-Thai characters grapple with questions of belonging and cultural memory, and how shifting socio-political contexts across generations continually shape Chinese-Thai identity.

Ultimately, it argues that the Chinese-Thai identity is not static but constantly evolving in response to shifting historical contexts and generational changes, and presenting itself as a dynamic and hybrid blend of Chinese and Thai elements.

This section establishes the philosophical foundation of the "Great Year", rooting it in the rich cosmological narrative of Plato's Timaeus. The goal is to articulate the original meaning of the term before exploring its scientific appropriation. 1.1 The Demiurge Cosmos: An Ordered Universe In the dialogues of his maturity, Plato ventures into the description of the physical world, a domain he had previously considered a mere faded copy of the intelligible world of the Ideas. The Timaeus, in particular, stands as his cosmological masterpiece, a work that, after a brief prologue, unfolds as a monumental doctrinaire discourse delivered by the figure of Timaeus of Locri. At the center of this narrative is the Demiurge, a divine artificer who does not create the universe ex nihilo, from nothing, but rather imposes an intelligent order on a chaotic and pre-existing matter.

The calligrapher Dust Muhammad (fl. c. 1511Muhammad (fl. c. -1564) ) wrote a preface to the album he had compiled for the Safavid prince Bahram Mirza (1517-1549) in ah 951 (1544/45 ce), which, until today, is part of the codex.1 In this preface, which is devoted to the history of calligraphy and its famous proponents, as well as painters and other artists, Dust Muhammad briefly discusses the circumstances under which the album was made:2 Abu'l Fath Bahram Mirza […], who, after perfecting the affairs of rule and perusing histories and tales, used to spend his time contemplating the master's beautiful calligraphic specimens and rare and precious essays, and his gaze of favor and kindness was ever upon this group until his exalted opinion inclined to this, that the scattered folios of past and present masters should be brought out of the region of dispersal into the realm of collectedness. In this regard the exalted command and sublime order was issued to […] Dost-Muhammad the Scribe, that, in endeavoring to organize and decorate [the collection], he should cinch the waist of his soul with the belt of servitude.

Uvod Samozavest, duševnost, svoboda in sorodne značilnosti so bile do nedavnega nedostopne znanstvenemu raziskovanju. Filozofi in teologi so lahko več ali manj nemoteno in suvereno opravičevali svoja videnja teh edinstvenih pojavov. Toda v zadnjih desetletjih, ko so se vprašanja, povezana s človekovo samozavestjo, znašla na seznamu zadnjih velikih znanstvenih ugank nekaterih naravoslovnih znanosti, se je položaj močno spremenil. Koalicija kognitivnih nevroznanosti si je zadala za cilj razvozlati skrivnost zavesti in različnih z njo povezanih značilnosti. To raziskovanje je ustvarilo možnosti za popravek znanstvene paradigme. Obdobje moderne znanosti zaznamuje predstava o svetu kot mehanizmu. Znanosti so se usmerile v objektivni svet. Tudi filozofija in teologija imata v tem obdobju razmeroma malo vprašanj, namenjenih človeku. To stanje sta adekvatno izrazila R. Descartes in I. Newton z mehanično razlago sveta. Človek je čedalje bolj ločen od sveta, ta položaj pa mu je tudi ustrezal. Nove razmere, zlasti nova ureditev znanosti konec 18. stoletja, so spremenile razmerja med znanostmi. Hierarhično urejene znanosti so že del davne preteklosti. Naravoslovne znanosti so potrebovale filozofijo zaradi terminološke ureditve znanj in generiranja novih pojmov, teologiji pa je grozil izgon iz znanstvene sfere. Newmanovo zagovarjanje teologije kot veje znanosti spada med najbolj znane razprave 19. stoletja (Newman, 1976: 33-50). Vprašanja o človeku so si začele postavljati nove (hibridne) znanosti. V 20. stoletju so jim sledile trše naravoslovne znanosti s področja biologije. Sredi 20. stoletja se je v znanstvenem svetu utrdilo prepričanje, da je človeštvo doseglo verodostojne teorije o izvoru vesolja, o štirih glavnih silah, ki vladajo vesolju, o bistvu kemičnih spojin, o izvoru in posredovanju življenja. Skoraj na koncu tega stoletja se je znova zastavilo vprašanje o človeku, o zavesti in o umetni inteligenci. Zgodba še ni končana, pravzaprav se šele znova začenja, zlasti kar se tiče človekove globlje povezanosti s svetom. Vprašanje je bilo na začetku dokaj preprosto: (1) ali nadaljevati atomizacijo stvarnosti in tako pojasniti tudi zadnje skrivnosti človeka na mehaničen način (uporabna filozofija) ali (2) razviti nov koncept o nas samih, o samozavedanju in o posledicah tega novega koncepta za znanosti. V zadrego pa ni spravilo samo filozofije in teologije, temveč je napovedalo temeljito preobrazbo moderne (dualistične) paradigme.

behind what would appear to be unbridled exploitation and social suffering, on the one hand, and a universal quest for money, on the other (Holmes 2013). A historic textile district in the Province of Prato hosts what is claimed to be Europe's most concentrated overseas Chinese community. Transnational migrants produce low-cost items for the fast-fashion industry in the context of family firms. Chinese firms based in Italy also enter into subcontracting relationships with Italian artisan firms who contract directly with luxury brands (Giannini 2014). More than 4,800 Chinese-owned firms are registered with Prato's Chamber of Commerce 1 . Prato and its environs have witnessed regional, national, and transnational in-migration during the past seventy years. The first two phases resulted in permanent transplants. A first phase of migration came on the heels of World War II, as Tuscan peasants abandoned the rural countryside. Residents with such roots make up about 30 percent of Prato's population. A second phase of migration occurred during the boom of the 1960s, as people from the Deep South left behind diverse peasant agriculture, bringing Southern habits and dialects, and experiencing quasi Jim Crow-style discrimination as they sought housing and employment. People of southern Italian heritage, long stigmatized in the Italian imagination as inferior, now make up about 12 percent of Prato's population . In a third phase, especially since the 1990s, transnational migrants have come onto the scene. They comprise about 17 percent of the population in the city and 15 percent in the province. The majority originates from China, with most born in Wenzhou of the province of Zhejiang (83.4 percent), or Fujian (13.2 percent). These migrants view southern Europe as a «frontier of highly developed economies» (Pieke 2004:2). Unlike the old migrants, new immigrants are non-citizens and typically incur debt to enter the European Union. Like the old migrants, they bring networking and labor strategies moored in a family model . Prato serves as an ethnographic laboratory of globalization. Our team interviewed more than 40 immigrants, primarily parents who worked in fast fashion and had experience circulating their young children between China and Italy. Interviews were conducted in the language of the speaker's preference, typically either Mandarin or the dialect of Wenzhouese, though on several occasions Italian. Recruitment occurred in encounter sites such as Prato's immigration office as well as the hospital pediatric ward. About half of the interviewees were firm owners and half were workers. Ethnographic fieldwork involved my being present in Prato for a total of 220 days over eight trips between 2012-2015. Along with my bilingual research assistants, I conducted participant observation in the pediatric ward of a hospital where Chinese parents brought their infants for check-up visits. I also attended numerous encounters sponsored by official government entities, such as municipalities or schools in the province, as well as civil society cultural organizations.

The History of Twelve Kingdoms( Shi Er Guo Shi) is a historical book about the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, compiled in the Tang Dynasty, the style is similar to the Zhan Guo Ce, Chun Qiu Hou Yu and so on, for the country divided into chapters as a unit of the compilation of historical stories. The book has not been found for a long time, and there are only the remnants of the Tangut translation unearthed in Kara-khoto. Although all the chapters can be found in Chinese historical books, there are many differences between them and the Tangut text, which requires a more precise source. On the basis of the predecessors, this paper systematically seeks the lost text of The History of Twelve Kingdoms and makes a comparison of parallel texts with Tangut texts. It will not only advance the translation, but also help to understand the translation method of the Tangut text and the characteristics of the Chinese early documents. In addition, the study also reserch on the circulation, author, and title of this book.