Can AI See the Unseen? Measuring the Perception Gap for Tibetan Cultural Symbols in AI-Generated Art

In Tibetan history and culture, horses were among the most important animals, if not the most important of all. Horses were the mounts that provided transport, particularly for the nobility and kings, allowing them to travel more quickly and comfortably. Horses were also used for hunting, postal services, and to build a cavalry for warfare. In addition, they played a role in various entertainments, including horse racing, games, and parades. The unusually large number of manuscripts on horses attests to the value of horses in the Tibetan imaginaire compared to other animals that lived in the company of the people on the High Plateau, in Tibet itself, and in Tibetan cultural areas. This article begins with an outline of the uses and benefits of horses in Tibetan culture. It touches upon the animal’s role as the mount of Tibetan kings and debates regarding horses’ mental faculties. Then it presents a survey of the content of various manuscripts on equine studies based on sources from three stages: (1) the earliest Tibetan sources from Dunhuang; (2) translations from Indian texts; and (3) extensive compendia that merges all of the knowledge on horses available at the time of their composition. It analyzes the style and content of books that indicate the approach of the authors to the topic of “horse” and points to their view of horses in relation to Tibetan culture and Buddhism. Moreover, the books’ content mirrors the various functions and applications of horses in Tibet and India. It reveals the purpose of these books in general and illustrates the relation between textuality and orality. The study demonstrates the link between hippology and hippiatry, and the development of equine studies in Tibet. It shows the influence of humans on horse medicine and, moreover, contributes to an improved understanding of the development of Tibetan medical sciences in general.

state of Tibetan culture within contemporary China is a highly politicized topic on which reliable information is rare. But what is Tibetan culture and how should it be developed or preserved? The Chinese authorities and the Tibetans in exile present conflicting views on almost every aspect of Tibetan cultural life. Ashild Kolas and Monika Thowsen have gathered an astounding array of data to quantify Tibetan cultural activities, involving Tibetan language, literature, visual arts, museums, performing arts, festivals, and religion. Their study is based on fieldwork and interviews conducted in the ethnic Tibetan areas surrounding the Tibetan Autonomous Region—parts of the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Gansu, Yunnan, and Qinghai. Aware of the ambiguous nature of information collected in restricted circumstances, they make every effort to present a complete and unbiased picture of Tibetan communities living on China's western frontiers. Kolas and Thowsen investigate the present conditions of Tibetan cultural life and cultural expression, providing a wealth of detailed information on topics such as the number of restored monasteries and nunneries and the number of monks, nuns, and tulkus (reincarnated lamas) affiliated with them; sources of funding for monastic reconstruction and financial support of clerics; types of religious ceremonies being practiced; the content of monastic and secular education; school attendance; educational curriculum and funding; the role of language in Tibetan schools; and Tibetan news and cultural media. On the Margins of Tibet will be of interest to historians and social scientists studying modern China and Tibetan culture, and to the many others concerned about Tibet's place in the world.

Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Lexical Analysis System (ICTCLAS) is a common tool for Chinese word segmentation and named entity recognition. With this tool, the F1 value of person name recognition from Chinese texts in Tibetan culture is only 40%. We propose a method for transliteration recognition of Tibetan person name based on Tibetan cultural knowledge. Firstly, we leverage Tibetan cultural dictionary to improve the word segmentation performance of ICTCLAS. Then, special contextual features and naming rules of Tibetan person name in their culture are adopted to determine the boundary of Chinese transliteration of Tibetan person name. Finally, the transliteration candidates of Tibetan person name are filtered based on discrimination and reliability. Experiments on a 1.2 M Tibetan text in Tibetan culture show that the method can increase the F1 value of Chinese transliteration recognition of Tibetan person name from 40.08% to 87.92% in ICTCLAS.

Urban scenescapes are significantly influenced by cultural groups representing different ethnicities. In order to foster a cohesive and inclusive urban environment, it is crucial to comprehend the scale, type, and distribution of scenes associated with ethnicity. With the aim of exploring Tibetan cultural scenescapes in Chinese cities, this study employed the theory of scenes to develop a socio-spatial research method. By focusing on the five downtown districts of Chengdu as the study area, the study evaluated the effectiveness of urban facilities in expressing Tibetan culture and delineated the scenescapes related to Tibetan ethnicity in the designated region. This study’s findings indicate the following: 1) different urban facilities exhibited notable variation in their cultural performance; 2) currently, seven distinct scene clusters showcase Tibetan culture in downtown Chengdu; 3) these scene clusters can be categorised into three types. Based on the findings, this study has proposed strategies for planning scene clusters and designing facilities, with the overarching objective of fostering an inclusive and multicultural urban environment.

This study explores the manifestation of play spirit in Chinese picture books. It uses three picture books with Chinese characteristics, namely Happy Chinese New Year, Chinese Mythological Stories, and Traditional Chinese Festival Stories. Through in-depth analyses of these picture books, the study will focus on the impact of play activities on children's creativity and imagination and their understanding and perception of Chinese culture. By studying these picture books, we can better understand how Chinese culture is conveyed through play and how Chinese picture books work to stimulate children's learning interests and creativity. This paper has explored the influence of play elements in these picture books on children's understanding and perception of Chinese culture. These picture books often cover elements of traditional Chinese culture, such as traditional festivals, arts and crafts, and mythological stories. Through playful presentations, children can gain a deeper understanding of the connotations of Chinese culture. By analyzing these picture books, we can understand how the play elements help children build up their knowledge and feelings about Chinese cultural traditions through storylines, illustrations, and interactions.

Art helps rural revitalization, and various regions explore and practice based on actual analysis of the current situation. This article uses real cases to illustrate the relationship between rural art design and branding, drawing inspiration from the “Gesar King Tibetan Culture and Skills Park”. The park is dedicated to providing skills training and promoting Tibetan culture and Gesar culture among impoverished children in Tibetan areas. Currently, children in Tibetan schools have created their own brand of thangkas. Tibetan cultural, creative products, as well as highland specialties are highly popular. This not only improves the living environment, but also optimizes production, life, and ecological space through artistic design. This article delves into the Gesar King Tibetan Culture and Skills Park from the perspectives of the form, content, achievements, difficulties, and problems encountered in establishing a brand through the empowerment of art and culture in rural construction. It promotes Tibetan thangka art and daily applications, digital sales, and the residency and inheritance of artistic achievements, providing reference for more aspiring thangka artists in the future.

This government whitepaper outlines China's policy regarding, and its promotion of, Tibetan culture as well as the motives behind such policy and promotion. It details the learning, use and development of the spoken and written Tibetan languages, the inheritance, protection and promotion of the Tibetan cultural heritage, the respect for the religious beliefs and native customs, and the all-round development of modern science, education and the media. The paper concludes that Tibetan culture is blooming with new vigor and energy in the new age and profoundly influencing the life of Tibetans and the development of Tibet's modernization through its diverse content and innovative forms.

BackgroundThe Tibetan wooden bowls are common utensils and feature obvious Tibetan cultural traits. However, research on Tibetan wooden bowls is limited, especially the ethnobotanical study related to wooden bowl production. This study will explore the traditional knowledge related to the use of plants in the production of Tibetan wooden bowls as well as the cultural connotations and social significance of these bowls in Benzilan Town through an ethnobotanical investigation.Materials and methodsIn August 2024 and March 2025, we employed key informant interviews, semi-structured interviews, and participatory observations to conduct an ethnobotanical investigation of Tibetan wooden bowls in Benzilan Town. Also, we used relative frequency of citation (RFC) and informant consensus factors (ICF) to indicate the different perceptions of different vocational groups and villages in terms of plants used as raw materials. And we documented and analyzed the plants used to lacquer and dye through participatory observation.ResultWe recorded a total of 18 plant species used in different stages of Tibetan wooden bowl production, belonging to 16 families, of which 13 plant species are used as raw materials, and 6 plant species are used for lacquering and dyeing. Among these plant species, Taxus yunnanensis (can be used as both raw material and dye material) and Torreya yunnanensis are under official protection due to their rarity. All the raw materials are collected from these plants in a reasonable manner.ConclusionThe skilled craftsmen of Benzilan Town possess a wealth of traditional knowledge about Tibetan wood bowl making. This traditional knowledge not only promotes the sustainable use of resources but also contributes to the preservation and inheritance of traditional wood bowl crafting techniques. Furthermore, Tibetan wooden bowls, as important handicrafts, have not only driven the development of ethnic tourism but also stimulated the local economy. More importantly, the flourishing of the Tibetan wooden bowl industry not only helps preserve and pass down Tibetan culture but also fosters the dissemination of Tibetan culture. This case study may also encourage other similar regions to pay more attention to their local traditional handicrafts and provide a basis for subsequent studies.

Using imagery as a key storytelling element in children's picture books is extremely valuable for illustrating the developing narrative of a story using limited text. Excellent children's picture books can bring the fun and inspiration of reading education to young people. With the steady development of illustrations, Chinese-style illustrations have become popular. More and more elements of Chinese-style are used in various fields. Five thousand years of accumulation have made Chinese culture profound and broad. In the process of cultural development, people have become more and more The more attention is paid to the spread of culture, more cultural products and design works are derived, and more representative Chinese pattern symbols are understood. At the same time, the inner culture and connotation conveyed by the symbols can better interpret the works; Chinese culture will create unique, profound and educational children's illustrations among symbolic elements cartoon children's illustrations. Chinese-American author and illustrator Alina's unique illustration style is delicate, gentle, literary, and sometimes romantic, seamlessly integrating innocent traditional Chinese stories into modern children's picture book illustrations and stories. The use of Chinese elements can be seen everywhere in her paintings. Traditional Chinese mythology serves as the background and script of children's picture books. The details of the paintings also reflect traditional Chinese patterns. The composition and colors are drawn on traditional Chinese painting techniques and techniques. These elements are perfectly integrated into children's picture books to convey the meaning of the story. At the same time, it also reflects more diverse and creative features. While spreading traditional Chinese culture, it also tells traditional Chinese legends and stories. In addition, her innovative blend of Chinese and Western styles in her children's picture books has gained immense popularity worldwide. This study analyzes Chinese elements appearing in children's illustrations by utilizing Alina's unique illustrations and applying the visual transformation theory of traditional graphic symbols. The study concludes that Chinese style and cultural elements make sophisticated traditional Chinese stories accessible to a global audience. Based on this study, the researcher proposes an in-depth study to find a more unique illustration style that embodies traditional Chinese art and culture.

James, Matt. The Funeral. Groundwood Books-House of Anansi Press, 2018.
 The Funeral, written by Matt James, focuses on a day that Norma goes to her Uncle Frank’s funeral. While this book will appeal to children, it is also good for adults to look at something heavy in life, such as a funeral, through a child’s eye.
 In a relaxed tone and cozy painting style, the story starts with Norma finding out that she won’t have to go to school on the day of her uncle’s funeral. She is excited about the day off and the “plan” of the day, playing with her cousin. Throughout the funeral, the story is developed through Norma’s eyes, showing how she experiences the time with her cousin. Before Norma leaves the funeral, she thinks Uncle Frank would have loved his funeral, since she noticed he was smiling right at her in his photo.
 Instead of a heavy, didactic teaching of the meaning of death, Matt explores a delicate way to describe a funeral from a child’s perspective. For example: 
 There was a little flag [which said FUNERAL] on the car that drove them to the church. Norma tried to sound out the word printed on it.“F-U-N,” she said.And then she said it again. 
 Matt James, a Canadian artist, is an illustrator of many picture books. With this picture book, James debuts as a writer and illustrator. The illustrations of the book are mostly acrylic and ink on masonite. Also, this book is the first time he combined a few digital pieces on the background illustrations. This book would tie in perfectly to a classroom talk about funerals and similar occasions and illustrates what a funeral is like from a child’s perspective. 
 Highly Recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Yina Liu
 Yina Liu is a first year PhD student in Language and Literacy, in the department of Elementary Education. Her research interests are digital literacies and children's literature, especially digital picture books. She finished her Master's degree at the University of Saskatchewan and worked in a preschool classroom as an early childhood educator for a year in Saskatchewan. 

Language is a communication system which consists of signs, symbols, gestures, and so on. In picture books, a special genre of children’s books, pictures can be regarded as a visual language because meaning can be conveyed from the authors to readers by pictures. How­ever, there are a number of limitations with regard to the cultural connotations implied in the picture-word language system in picture books, and previous studies found there were ste­reotypes of Chinese culture and Chinese people in American picture books. Using a mixed methodology approach, the author selected 78 picture books created by American authors, including Chinese Americans, from an initial sample of 3,000, and subjected them to dis­course analysis to examine the misrepresentations of Chinese culture. The results showed three main types of misrepresentation of Chinese culture in picture books and explored the reasons for this. The misrepresentations included: (1) the full view of Chinese culture is overshadowed by the excessive attention and localization of cultural symbols, such as the Chinese dragon and the Spring Festival; (2) the confusion of Asian cultures in visual lan­guage and written language weakens the uniqueness of Chinese culture; and (3) information disorder weakens the authenticity of Chinese culture. The reasons for these misrepresenta­tions are rooted in the attitudes towards multiculturalism in American, including in relation to Chinese Americans. The misinterpretations result in the following issues: (1) Chinese culture is equated with the culture of Chinese Americans; (2) Chinese culture is regarded as static, which leads to serious homogenization; (3) the sightseeing attitude towards Chinese culture results in an excessive focus on cultural symbols. Therefore, the misrepresentations and even stereotypes of Chinese and Chinese culture have been solidified by these books.

This intervention study examines the iterative reprocessing of explicit and implicit attitudes as the process underlying associations between positive employee attitudes (PsyCap), perception of positive organization culture (organizational virtuousness, OV), and work happiness. Using a quasi-experimental design, a group of school staff (N = 69) completed surveys at three time points. After the first assessment, the treatment group (n = 51) completed a positive psychology training intervention. Results suggest that employee PsyCap, OV, and work happiness are associated with one another through both implicit and explicit attitudes. Further, the Iterative-Reprocessing Model of attitudes (IRM) provides some insights into the processes underlying these associations. By examining the role and processes through which explicit and implicit attitudes relate to wellbeing at work, the study integrates theories on attitudes, positive organizational scholarship, positive organizational behavior and positive education. It is one of the first studies to apply the theory of the IRM to explain associations amongst PsyCap, OV and work happiness, and to test the IRM theory in a field-based setting. In applying attitude theory to wellbeing research, this study provides insights to mechanisms underlying workplace wellbeing that have not been previously examined and in doing so responds to calls for researchers to learn more about the mechanisms underlying wellbeing interventions. Further, it highlights the need to understand subconscious processes in future wellbeing research and to include implicit measures in positive psychology interventions measurement programs. Practically, this research calls attention to the importance of developing both the positive attitudes of employees and the organizational culture in developing employee work happiness.

In the five thousand years of vicissitudes of life, countless bright traditional culture was born in this land under our feet, affecting generation after generation of Chinese children, become the cornerstone of the continuation of Chinese civilization. The creators of Chinese children's picture books should assume their responsibilities and missions, actively explore how to interpret traditional culture in children's picture books, and contribute to the growth of children, the unity of the nation and the development of the country. In today's era when visual culture is widely used, the mainstream of children's picture books is to let traditional Chinese culture into children's lives, so that the teaching of picture books can realize the inheritance of Chinese culture. China has a long history and rich folk tales. These outstanding works represent the culture and wisdom of the Chinese nation. They are passed on continuously and have a strong cultural heritage. Nowadays, many picture books re-interpret and arrange these historical and folk stories through visual design, enriching children's reading content, cultivating children's Chinese culture literacy, and having a profound impact on their language expression ability, understanding ability, artistic appreciation ability and many other aspects. Based on this, this paper will analyze the visual design of children's picture books from the perspective of traditional culture to explain the general direction of the current children's picture books in the creation of traditional culture.

<p>Despite their visual similarities, a number of David Wiesner's picture books represent different genres. This essay explores how the picture books challenge theories of Sf and fantasy, and how the books and the theories both celebrate and undermine the liberating potential of fantasy.</p>

This study examined 20 picture books about Chinese culture published in South Korea to evaluate how accurately they capture concrete, behavioral, and symbolic culture, and the existence of bias and stereotypes. The results show misrepresentations of concrete culture, including food, transportation, costumes, characters, and the map. The Chinese culture is stereotypically represented by the traditional culture, without fully reflecting the country’s recent development and status. Regarding behavioral culture, the customs during Chinese festivals are misrepresented, with Chinese people portrayed as small-eyed and having exaggerated facial expressions. Moreover, portrayals of Chinese people in social settings reflect gender-based stereotypes, unsanitary and having uncivilized social environments. Regarding symbolic culture, gift giving is misinterpreted and Chinese people s Confucian values are stereotyped. The study’s findings of substantial misrepresentations and stereotyping underscore the need to make active efforts to maintain cultural authenticity in multicultural picture books.