Chinese Civilization Research Articles

Analysis of the Current Situation and Development Trend of Central Plains Cultural Industry Under the Perspective of "Belt and Road"

As the birthplace of Chinese civilization, the Central Plains region boasts a cultural heritage and historical tradition spanning thousands of years, The Chinese culture formed by radiating outward from the Central Plains has become an indispensable part of the current wave of world culture. Therefore, to promote Chinese culture to the world, disseminate Chinese stories, and showcase Chinese characteristics and style, it is necessary to firmly grasp the root of Central Plains culture. Meanwhile, as an important region for the development of mutually beneficial cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, the Central Plains region holds significant meaning for building a cultural highland for the entire country and realizing the great vision of a socialist cultural power, This poses a requirement for the exchange and dissemination of the essence of Central Plains culture and the construction of a systematic Central Plains cultural industry. Currently, the development of the Central Plains cultural industry lags behind in four dimensions: content development, cultural dissemination, integration with modern technology, and the scale of the industry, By deeply exploring the difficulties facing the development of the Central Plains cultural industry, we can predict its future development trends and further demonstrate the resilience of Chinese culture amidst the turbulence of global cultural trends.

Flood events in the lower reaches of the Yellow River: OSL and radiocarbon dating on the Anshang site

The lower reaches of the Yellow River have witnessed numerous episodes of flooding and considerable shifts in its course. Examining flood records within the Yellow River basin offers invaluable insights into ancient human settlements, agricultural practices, trade routes, and technological advancements of ancient Chinese civilizations. However, dating these fluvial sediments poses a considerable challenge due to either the scarcity of organic material for radiocarbon (14C) dating or the potential incomplete bleaching of sediments for optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) techniques. This study focused on the Anshang site located in Henan Province, we obtained OSL ages from distinct grain size fractions of quartz and cross-verified them with independent acceleration mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C ages. The findings revealed that both coarse quartz grains (CG) and medium quartz grains (MG) underwent complete bleaching in silt-dominated flood deposits and shallow lacustrine deposits. Conversely, the OSL ages of CG and MG quartz were notably overestimated by approximately 3–6 ka in silty clay-dominated flood deposits. Upon comparing the OSL ages with AMS 14C ages, it was evident that bulk organic matter AMS 14C ages aligned with CG OSL ages in shallow lacustrine deposits, but they appeared older than CG OSL ages in flood deposits. However, the AMS 14C ages from plant demonstrated good consistency. Consequently, we successfully identified flood-lacustrine sediments dating back to approximately ∼13 ka, ∼8–3 ka, ∼2.6 ka, ∼1 ka, and the last few hundred years, aligning well with historical documentation and earlier research. The regional evidence presented herein enhances our understanding of the applicability of OSL dating and AMS 14C dating in fluvial-lacustrine sediments. Armed with these new ages, we constructed a reference chronology for archaeological localities situated in the fluvial sediments of the lower reaches of the Yellow River.

Cauldron, Copper, Cash: Medieval Bronze in Motion and Flux

Medieval Chinese thinkers conceptualized ancient bronzes in anthropocentric terms—as mute, inert objects that required the engagement of a perspicacious human subject for their value to become apparent. They also regarded bronzes as animate things that had the capacity to act independently of direct human manipulation, and they situated bronzes within frameworks of material vitalism that parallel many aspects of the “new materialism” associated with contemporary theorists like Karen Barad and Jane Bennett. This article interprets both of these understandings as containment strategies designed to rein in and constrain bronze's ever-present capacity for liquefaction. As with other metals, bronze was forever oscillating between solidity, in the form of discrete, functional objects, and liquidity, as a mutable substance of tremendous potency. Both states spawned different metaphors. Tracing this tension between solidity and liquidity, from the casting of the Nine Cauldrons and the origin myths of Chinese civilization through the medieval challenge of adapting a metallist currency regime to an expanding economy, this article explores how the cultural logics and natural tendencies of bronze were intertwined.

Ancient Chinese Character Recognition with Improved Swin-Transformer and Flexible Data Enhancement Strategies.

The decipherment of ancient Chinese scripts, such as oracle bone and bronze inscriptions, holds immense significance for understanding ancient Chinese history, culture, and civilization. Despite substantial progress in recognizing oracle bone script, research on the overall recognition of ancient Chinese characters remains somewhat lacking. To tackle this issue, we pioneered the construction of a large-scale image dataset comprising 9233 distinct ancient Chinese characters sourced from images obtained through archaeological excavations. We propose the first model for recognizing the common ancient Chinese characters. This model consists of four stages with Linear Embedding and Swin-Transformer blocks, each supplemented by a CoT Block to enhance local feature extraction. We also advocate for an enhancement strategy, which involves two steps: firstly, conducting adaptive data enhancement on the original data, and secondly, randomly resampling the data. The experimental results, with a top-one accuracy of 87.25% and a top-five accuracy of 95.81%, demonstrate that our proposed method achieves remarkable performance. Furthermore, through the visualizing of model attention, it can be observed that the proposed model, trained on a large number of images, is able to capture the morphological characteristics of ancient Chinese characters to a certain extent.

Research on the Application of Manchu Embroidery Culture in Modern Design

The Manchu ethnic group holds a distinct position in Chinese history, boasting unique characteristics, religiousbeliefs, and regional cultures that have significantly influenced the development of Chinese civilization. This vibrant community has cultivated an ethnic minority culture with pronounced Manchu traits. The global call to preserve and highlight intangible cultural heritage resonates strongly, especially within China’s diverse array of such legacies. Among these cultural treasures, Manchu embroidery stands out as a precious gem within the tapestry of Chinese traditional culture. Delving into the essence of Manchu embroidery serves as the focal point of this research. This article embarks on a comprehensive journey into the manifold facets of Manchu embroidery culture. It examines avenues for its perpetuation and practical applications in contemporary life while navigating its inheritance and evolution in modern society. Integrating Manchu embroidery into contemporary design not only upholds its authentic cultural essence but also aligns harmoniously with current trends. Consequently, this fusion enables Manchu embroidery to evolve seamlessly alongside the march oftime.

Challenges and Countermeasures of Youth Moral Education in the Era of Big Data

Youth moral education is an extremely important work, which is related to the inheritance of traditional virtues of the Chinese nation, the fundamental plan of “successor,” and the construction of modern Chinese spiritual civilization. In the era of big data, the moral education of youth is facing new challenges and opportunities. The wide application of big data technology has brought about an information explosion, exposing young people to more diverse and complex social information. It not only brings opportunities for positive moral education but also many challenges. The main problems of youth moral education in the era of big data are neglected youth subjectivity, insufficient youth moral practice, and utilitarian youth value orientation. We should develop personalized moral education programs, strengthen the integration of moral knowledge and action, and pay more attention to moral practice to improve the pertinence and effectiveness of moral education for young people in the era of big data.

The Images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary in the Early Qing Collection of Taoist Immortal Stories

The book Lidai Shenxian Tongjian (The Comprehensive Mirror of Immortals Throughout the Dynasties), a compilation of Taoist narratives from the early Qing dynasty, contains a dedicated section on “The Life of Jesus,” accompanied by two images portraying Jesus and the Virgin Mary. “The Life of Jesus” is believed to have originated from Gaspar Ferreira’s Nianzhu Guicheng (Rule for the Recitation of the Rosary) and Diego de Pantoja’s Tianzhu Yesu Shounan Shimo (The Passion of the Lord Jesus). The narratives and images of Christian content within Tongjian showcase the influence of Chinese Ming–Qing Taoist immortal stories and the indigenization of Christianity that resulted in a fusion of Chinese and Western cultural elements. Multiple versions of the accompanying images exist in different editions of Tongjian, indicating an evolution in the depictions of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. Through a comparative analysis of these images and their variations, we can glean valuable insights into the Qing dynasty editors’ reception of Western culture, shedding light on the process of localizing Christianity during the Ming–Qing period and emphasizing the significance of the cultural exchange and mutual understanding between Chinese and Western civilizations.

Discussion on the Manifestation and Continuation of Cultural Inheritance in Dance Art Works

The Chinese civilization has a long history of five thousand years. China has a broad and profound history and culture, and a large number of excellent traditional Chinese culture still exists today. The key lies in cultural inheritance. Art, as a sub-body of culture, can also peek into cultural inheritance. This article mainly takes Sun Ying's classical dance work "Tap Song" as the starting point to explore the manifestation and continuation of cultural inheritance in dance art works.

Analysis of the Dance Work "Horse Map" from the Perspective of Inheritance and Innovation

The Chinese civilization has a long history of five thousand years. China has a broad and profound history and culture, and a large number of excellent traditional Chinese culture still exists today. The key lies in cultural inheritance. Art, as a sub-body of culture, can also peek into cultural inheritance. But with the evolution of the trend of The Times and the change of aesthetics, art also innovates on the basis of inheriting the tradition. With the emergence of "double creation" and other ideas, the creative idea of inheritance as the "foundation" and innovation as the "main" is increasingly strengthened. This paper mainly analyzes the classical dance work "Steed" from the perspective of inheritance and innovation.

Translations in Children’s Paradise (1970–1979): the Union’s agendas and the Cold War cultural diplomacy in Hong Kong

During the Cold War era, translation constituted an integral part of the ideological confrontations of US cultural diplomacy. Scholarly discussions on US-associated cultural products have provided insights from the perspective of American patronage, yet have not adequately addressed the diverse role of unofficial agencies in their cultural practices with multiple intentions. This study analyzes Chinese translations in the magazine Children’s Paradise (CP) operated by the Union, an entity involved in the network of American covert cultural diplomatic activities. It delves into the Union’s agenda of furthering a progressive Chinese nation that continues and revitalizes Chinese civilization by analyzing three marked characteristics of the translated texts and their underlying rationales. It finds that, through deliberate omissions, substitutions, and additions, CP demonstrated a relentless commitment to the Union’s China-centric agendas in its domesticated and adapted translations. Despite sharing the anti-communist conviction associated with American interests, CP leveraged localized practices to engage with the social-political issues of the British-ruled Hong Kong of the 1970s. As a result, it generated cultural outcomes exceeding the Cold War polarities, and left a lasting legacy on the younger generation of Hong Kong.

Research on the Construction of the Integrated Resource Platform of Intellectual Media and Vocational Education

The Great Wall is the largest existing cultural heritage in China, the spiritual symbol of the Chinese nation, and has an irreplaceable important value and status in the history of Chinese civilization and the development of Chinese traditional culture. It is of great significance to further strengthen cultural confidence and fully demonstrate the enduring influence of fine traditional Chinese culture, the powerful appeal of revolutionary culture, and the strong vitality of advanced socialist culture.

A Psychological Research of Chinese Traditional Calligraphy on the Cultural Identity of Contemporary College Students

Based on the psychological research of traditional calligraphy on contemporary college students' Cultural identity, traditional calligraphy is the calligraphy custom of the ancients and an important part of the social life of ancient calligraphy. The ancients psychological activities in calligraphy creation are completely the same, and what they worship is heaven, earth and people, which is completely different from the secular psychology of contemporary college students. Vigorously promoting the excellent traditional calligraphy of the Chinese nation will enhance and consolidate the sense of community for the Chinese nation, and will greatly boost the realization of the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation. In the new era, it is of great significance to vigorously promote traditional calligraphy for the psychology of contemporary college students Cultural identity, so that the majority of college students can establish the ideology of Chinese civilization, so that the psychology of college students can accept the baptism of traditional Chinese calligraphy, so that Chinese civilization plays a major role in the psychological construction of contemporary universities. This paper attempts to carry out several researches based on the psychological research of traditional calligraphy on contemporary college students Cultural identity, like visiting case analysis, data legend and other forms, and finally studies the psychological role and meaning of traditional calligraphy on contemporary college students Cultural identity.

Influences of Historical Status of Ba-culture on the Value of Current Culture

Ba-culture is the sum of all material and spiritual cultures jointly created by ancient Ba country and various ethnic groups in Ba region. The statement that Ba is both a clan name and an ancient country name and place name is a relatively consistent research conclusion among scholars from ancient and modern times. Ba-culture is an indispensable and important component of Chinese national culture. Studying the origin and cultural formation of Ba-culture, exploring its cultural historical status and its impact on the inheritance of current cultural values, has important historical value and practical guiding significance for contemporary social civilization and cultural development. Clarifying the historical status of Ba-culture and its structural relationship with Chinese civilization as a whole is of great and positive contemporary value for enhancing the unity of the Chinese nation.

Research on Farming Culture of the Liangshan Yi Nationality

As the cornerstone of China's excellent traditional culture, agricultural culture carries a profound cultural heritage. As the sixth largest ethnic minority in China, Yi people provide abundant resources for the study of Chinese traditional farming culture. Through the research of agricultural vocabulary, we can explore the progress of Yi's agricultural society and reveal the unique agricultural culture of Yi people. Based on the previous research results, combined with the concept of cultural linguistics and other related disciplines, this paper classifies, sorts, analyzes and studies the existing agricultural vocabulary of the Yi people, excavates the rich cultural connotation behind the agricultural vocabulary of the Yi people, further interprets the cultural history of the Yi people, and explores the historical origin of Chinese farming civilization. In addition, the protection and inheritance of traditional farming words has far-reaching cultural significance, and helps to show the unique charm of the excellent traditional farming culture of the Chinese nation, enhance the sense of identity and belonging to the traditional farming culture, and contribute to the protection and inheritance of the excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation.

Retracing Chinese civilization

Retracing Chinese civilization

Aspects of the Globality of Russian and Chinese Civilizations

Aspects of the Globality of Russian and Chinese Civilizations

The (un)making and (re)making of Guangzhou’s ‘Little Africa’: Xiaobei’s linguistic and semiotic landscape explored

AbstractPartly as a result of China’s reform and opening-up and the broader trend of globalisation, Guangzhou in Southern China has risen to global prominence as a commercial and business hub. Strategically positioned as a centre of ‘low-end globalisation’, Guangzhou has attracted investors, traders and businessmen from Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. In particular, the city’s Xiaobei area established itself as ‘Little Africa’ featuring (once thriving) ethnic economies with many halal restaurants and businesses oriented towards Muslim traders from various ethnolinguistic and sociocultural backgrounds. This enclave represents a transnational space and a typical example of superdiversity rarely seen in the rest of China. The presence of (legal and often illegal) Africans in Guangzhou (where inter-marriage with local Chinese women was not uncommon) was viewed as a problem and threat to the ‘purity’ of Chinese-ness and Chinese civilisation. This led to strict enforcement of immigration law around 2014, where many foreigners left Guangzhou. Various social and top-down language policy changes and more directly the strict Covid pandemic restrictions dealt further blows to the area. Drawing on data in 2013/2014 and 2023, this sociolinguistic study traces the transformations in Xiaobei’s linguistic landscape from a contrastive/diachronic perspective over 10 years, thus shedding light on the (un)making, (re)making and the de-Arabization and Sinicization of Little Africa’s LL in a context of socio-political and language policy changes. Then synchronic LL analysis in 2023 shows how various linguistic and multimodal elements combine to still give the area a unique identity.

Recent developments in anthropological methods for the study of complex societies

The focus of traditional anthropology has been on the “simple and primitive” tribal societies that still exist. The question of how anthropology can carry on to study complex civilizations, especially those with a long history like Chinese civilization, has gained attention due to the discipline’s development and expansion. Anthropologists around the world have developed several significant research methods in the study of complex societies in response to this challenge. Taking anthropology research in China as an example, these methods include not only the summary and improvement of Western anthropological methods applied by Chinese scholars to Chinese practice but also methodological innovations based on traditional Chinese research paradigms and explorations of anthropological fieldwork methods in the digital age. In China, the latest advancements in anthropological methods for studying complex societies can be seen in historical anthropology, multi-sited ethnography, internet anthropology, and Rapid Anthropological Assessment. This effectively responds to many doubts about whether anthropological fieldwork methods are capable of studying complex societies and spurred anthropology’s reciprocal adaptation to new fields of study and contemporary needs. In this sense, anthropological research on complex societies is entirely possible, feasible, and necessary.

The Faith Dimension of Traditional Chinese Culture and Its Contemporary Significance

Abstract This article aims to illustrate that one fundamental reason why the Chinese civilization has remained strong and resilient for over five thousand years and why it has even become stronger in recent times, despite facing numerous challenges. This is due to the strong cultural beliefs embedded in the traditional Chinese culture. Through analysis, synthesis, and comparison, this article aims to demonstrate that, unlike Western religious beliefs, the faith embodied in Chinese traditional culture is a typical humanistic faith, including the Chinese people’s beliefs in nature, ancestors, “Tian and Di” (Heaven and Earth), and in the moral nature of human beings. It is precisely this humanistic faith that binds the Chinese nation tightly together. We believe that, in the face of the great challenges and opportunities brought about by the unprecedented transformation of the century, it is especially important for us to continue and develop this dimension of faith. Moreover, this dimension of faith can also provide us with survival wisdom for sustainable development, enabling us to transcend the narrow, individualistic mindset, embrace a broader vision of the world, and realize a universal human love that transcends race and region.

SACRED ARCHITECTURE OF BUDDHISM AND SHINTO BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF ACTIVE CULTURAL INTERACTION BETWEEN CHINA AND JAPAN

The paper examines the sacred buildings of Chinese Buddhism and Japanese Shinto with the aim of identifying their characteristic features and differences prior to the onset of the active influence of Chinese civilization on Japan. The analysis is conducted in the aspect of the fundamental differences in the worldview between the Buddhist religious doctrine and the animistic beliefs of Shinto. Two authentic objects from both religious streams were chosen as examples: the monastery complex of the Foguang Temple (Shanxi Province, China), built in 857 AD, and the complex of the Ise Shrine (Mie Prefecture, Japan), constructed at different estimates from the 3rd to the 6th century AD. The Foguang Temple complex is characterized by a clear planning structure, imagery in compositional details, and discreteness in relation to the surrounding environment, as, according to Buddhist teachings, the surrounding world is a place of the soul's suffering. In the planning structure of the Ise Shrine complex, features of regular planning are only partially present, the imagery of the elements of the complex is not unambiguous, and a general characteristic is the synthesis with the surrounding environment, which, according to the nature of animistic worldview, is inherently sacred. The identified features have been reduced to several basic design principles that largely characterize the specified religious streams and, as a result, form the main difference in their architecture.