ABSTRACT This study turns attention to the emergence of foreign influencers who have gained a strong following on China’s digital platforms by promoting Chinese nationalism to a domestic audience. Drawing on data collected in 2020–2021, it sheds light on how the sociotechnical affordances of a platform like Weibo enable the discursive construction of nationalism in the posts of foreign influencers and its amplification through the comments of their Chinese followers. While tracing the digital discourses back to China’s long history of tumultuous relations with the West, the research elucidates how the country’s neoliberal attention economy incentivizes the production of ‘user-generated nationalism’. It argues that nationalist discourses, by evaluating China’s achievements in comparison with the West, rationalize and reinforce the Communist Party’s control over Chinese politics and society.

Abstract This article studies the comparison between mercantilism and orthodox Confucianism, two kinds of political economy which respectively dominated many important European countries and China in the early modern period. This article finds that mercantilism was industrialistic, proluxury, and pro-innovation, whereas orthodox Confucianism was physiocratic, antiluxury, and anti-innovation. Interpreting such distinction with the modern theories of increasing and decreasing returns, this article finds that mercantilism advocated an increasing-return strategy of economic development, but orthodox Confucianism insisted upon the economic path of decreasing returns. This article believes that such distinction can be added as a parameter to the discussion about the Great Divergence, because, as the Great Divergence was driven by the divergence between the behaviors of early modern European and Chinese states, this article presents that such divergence between the behaviors of states happened in the context of the divergence between the political economy that guided the behaviors of states.

ABSTRACT This article examines the end of the ‘Hong Kong refugee regime’, a by-product of the open borders between Hong Kong and China agreed in several nineteenth-century trade treaties between the British Empire and the Qing Empire. From 1854 to 1950, this refugee regime enabled the British colonial government of Hong Kong to extract human and material resources from China without establishing indisputable legal ‘rights’ of entry and settlement for all refugees. Nevertheless, these ‘rights’ were asserted by an embattled Chinese Nationalist government when the colonial government twice legislated to enforce ‘alien’ law to deny admission and settlement to the poorer refugees of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and the Chinese Civil War (1946–1949). In 1943, the same Chinese Nationalist government repelled the trade treaties themselves, undermining the legal foundations of British economic imperialism in China. After 1949, its Communist successor went further, rejecting British diplomatic overtures, forcing British businesses out of China, and refusing to cooperate in regulating cross-border refugee mobility. The ensuing British decision to terminate the Hong Kong refugee regime reflects these shifting Anglo–Chinese political and economic power relations. More broadly, it also marked Hong Kong's belated adoption of anti-Chinese and anti-refugee border controls and immigration policies widespread in the British Empire.

The subject of research in this article is the diplomacy of the People's Republic of China as a specific tool of foreign policy and an important element of public diplomacy, implemented through cultural, educational, youth, media, and sports exchanges. The focus is on analyzing the essence and evolution of the concept of "people's diplomacy" in Chinese foreign policy discourse, its correlation with the concepts of public and cultural diplomacy, as well as the institutional mechanisms for its practical implementation. Special attention is paid to the strategy of partnership relations of the PRC as a foundation for the development of people’s diplomacy and its application in bilateral relations with the Russian Federation. Key directions of cooperation between China and Russia are considered, along with their political significance and role in forming a sustainable positive mutual perception of the societies of the two countries. The article focuses on identifying how social exchanges and initiatives function as tools of China's "soft power" and contribute to deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership between the PRC and the Russian Federation in the context of the transformation of the modern system of international relations. The methodological framework of the study consists of structural-functional and institutional approaches, as well as comparative, historical-chronological, and narrative methods of analyzing foreign policy discourse and practices of people's diplomacy. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the comprehensive examination of the people's diplomacy of the PRC not only as a theoretical category but also as a practical tool for implementing a strategic partnership strategy, exemplified by Russian-Chinese relations. The work systematizes the main approaches to the interpretation of people's diplomacy in the Chinese political and academic discourse, identifies its key structural elements and narrative levels. It is argued that social exchanges in the fields of education, youth policy, culture, and sports serve as an essential mechanism for the institutionalization of people's diplomacy and strengthen political trust between China and Russia. The conclusion is made that people's diplomacy complements traditional diplomatic channels, expanding the foreign policy opportunities of the PRC and contributing to the formation of a stable image of China as a responsible global partner. Russian-Chinese social interaction is viewed as a mature model of applying China's diplomacy, oriented towards long-term strategic cooperation and promoting the idea of a multipolar world order.

We study the pricing of foreign silver coins circulating in China during the period from 1866 to 1924. Spanish and Mexican silver dollar coins often traded at prices substantially larger than their bullion value. These premiums are associated with global economic and political conditions, proxies for Chinese political and banking uncertainty, and seasonal production cycles and market conditions for China’s export commodities. Diagnostic tests using the value of copper money and imports often confirm our interpretation. Our evidence suggests how rational currency traders, bankers, merchants, farmers and consumers sustained an informal monetary system during this era.

摘要 梦本身没有政治性，但梦主常常以某种政治角色出现于政治舞台，进而使梦常常打上政治的印记，在历史变革中发挥着政治语言的作用。本论文以中国古代文献记载的政治梦为研究对象，借助文献研究法、比较法和个案研究法，考察梦与政治的关系以及梦中所蕴含的政治语言，说明在封建迷信思想与神学观念下，中国古代政治如何借助梦在政治运作中发挥特有的精神魔力。提出梦是帝王受命的政治符号语言，大臣劝说帝王的巧妙谏言，表达政治愿望的特殊隐言，决定战争决策的神秘预言。通过系统的梳理，最终得出结论，基于人们对梦的世俗迷信，在中国古代梦被政治家利用，作为实现政治野心或达到某种政治目的的一种手段。本研究运用了大量的政治梦实例，资料扎实，结构清晰，观点明确，对中国梦文学及政治语言学的发展都有重要的启发和参考价值。 Abstract The dream itself is not political, but the dreamer often appears on the political stage in a certain political role, so that the dream is often stamped with political marks and plays the role of political language in historical changes.This paper takes the political dreams recorded in ancient Chinese literature as the research object, and investigates the relationship between dreams and politics as well as the political language contained in dreams by means of literature research, comparison and case study, so as to explain how ancient Chinese politics exerted its unique spiritual magic in political operation with the help of dreams under feudal superstitious thoughts and theological concepts. It is proposed that dreams are a political symbol language in which the status and rights of the emperor are given by God. the exhortation words of ministers to persuade the emperor, the psychological language of expressing political wishes, and the mysterious prophecy that determines the decision of war. Through systematic combing, we finally came to the conclusion that based on people’s common superstition on dreams, in ancient China, dreams were used by politicians as a means to realize political ambitions or achieve certain political goals.This study uses a large number of political dream examples, with solid data, clear structure, and clear viewpoints. It has important inspiration and reference value for the development of Chinese dream literature and political linguistics.

The subject of this study is the philosophical foundations of the Chinese legal mentality. The latter, in turn, being a very distinctive phenomenon, is insufficiently studied in Russian legal science. First of all, the article analyzes the role of the deep layers of the political and legal sphere in the formation of a dialogue of legal cultures and partnership between Russian and Chinese civilizations. The author shows the profound influence of ancient Chinese philosophical thought on the perception of law and the state in Chinese society. Special attention is paid to the Confucian tradition, which prioritized the norms of morality over the norms of law, and also established a focus on harmony in all spheres of public life. It is shown that the Chinese legal mentality was formed in a unique cultural environment under the influence of the peculiarities of the Chinese language and the specifics of the Chinese philosophical tradition. The author also compares Chinese and Russian legal traditions, revealing certain similarities, which is especially important for deepening intercultural understanding and forming stable foundations of interstate cooperation. The research methodology is based on historical, legal and comparative legal methods that allow analyzing the fundamental ideological pillars of the Chinese legal mentality, as well as determining its specifics. Moreover, the chosen approach helps to identify some similarities between Chinese and Russian legal traditions, which is essential within the framework of the research task. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the author's chosen approach to the study of the Chinese legal mentality. The author interprets the Chinese legal tradition not through the prism of European consciousness, its system of concepts and ideas, but taking into account the peculiarities of the Chinese language tradition, as well as the specifics of its cultural and civilizational basis of the Chinese legal mentality, which avoids distorting Chinese political and legal thought, as well as filling existing gaps in knowledge about Chinese law. The main conclusion of the study is that the study of Chinese law requires a review of the established practice of its research. It is necessary to go beyond the usual European approach to the study of the law of such distinctive civilizations as the Chinese, which helps to obtain the most reliable knowledge reflecting the specifics of a particular legal culture.

Abstract This study examines the use of qingwen (an honorific request marker) across three different historical periods in China and unravels the evolved relationship between qingwen -initiated directives of information-seeking and Chinese politeness. Drawing on the CCL Corpus, this study reveals that: first, qingwen is employed by the socially more powerful to solicit thoughts, ideas or simply answers with gong (treating others with respect) in positive standard situations of ancient and vernacular Chinese, thereby achieving traditional Chinese politeness; second, given the collapse of the feudal dynasties and the modernisation of society, a remarkable decline in qingwen usage from vernacular Chinese to modern Chinese can be discerned in official settings of negative standard situations; finally, qingwen is frequently used to echo apparent directives with a dissociative attitude in vernacular and modern Chinese, signalling ostensible politeness. This study contributes to historical pragmatics in Chinese by focussing on the evolution of qingwen -initiated directives of information-seeking.

Politeness is vital to sustaining harmonious communication, yet its expression and interpretation are shaped by both cultural norms and gender roles. While prior research has examined politeness through either a cultural or gender lens, little is known about how these factors interact within the same cross-cultural context, particularly in everyday family settings. Moreover, studies rarely integrate Western and Chinese politeness frameworks to explore how cultural and gendered norms intersect in real-time, informal interactions. Addressing this gap, the present study investigates gendered politeness strategies in Chinese–Western communication, drawing on the film When a Beijing Family Meets an Au Pair as its primary data source. Using qualitative content analysis of 201 utterances, the findings reveal that both Chinese and Western characters frequently employed positive politeness to reduce social distance and build rapport. Wenjuan and Natalie (female characters) favoured indirect strategies such as off-record and negative politeness to maintain relationships, while Youzhi (male) used fewer politeness strategies and preferred direct speech, reflecting traditional Chinese male communication norms. The Chinese characters displayed modesty, harmony, and indirectness, characteristic of a collectivist style, whereas the Western character emphasised assertiveness and equality, reflecting an individualist style. Overall, the results suggest that women are generally more relationship-oriented, while men tend toward directness and efficiency. These findings highlight the need to consider both cultural and gender dimensions in cross-cultural pragmatics, offering practical insights for intercultural competence development and language education.

This article examines the intersection of established traditions and emerging novelties in contemporary Chinese grassroots governance reforms through a historical and ethnographic study of the Fengqiao Model, a Mao-era policing discourse that has now been digitally revived. Drawing on the concept of iteration 迭代, we identify three phases of the Fengqiao Model from its inception. Contrary to perspectives emphasizing “window dressing” in studies of Chinese politics, we provide evidence that the iterations of the Fengqiao Model involved genuine intellectual work, relying upon bottom-up forms of knowledge “bricolage” for improvisation and problem solving. We argue that these processes sustain a distinctive mode of revolutionary governmentality characterized by political commitments to continual innovation and refinement, resulting in knowledge production with endless potential for renewal. This iterative character provides useful insights into the inner workings and consequences of bureaucratic practices for knowledge production in China’s “New Era” under Xi Jinping.

ABSTRACT Despite extensive research on women’s substantive representation in parliaments, China’s women’s congresses—designated representative bodies for women at every administrative tier—remain understudied. Based on fieldwork in four county-level units, this article demonstrates that although these congresses are often dismissed as mere ‘talk shops’ due to their quinquennial meetings, they play a significant role in women’s representation. Owing to the Women’s Federations’ (WF) weak positioning and unresponsiveness, congress representatives engage in an alternative form of representation which we call ‘everyday representation’: modest, dispersed, and quiet acts outside formal sessions that meet women’s immediate needs without pursuing policy change. Rather than depending on WF resources, everyday representation primarily draws on representatives’ personal networks and professional resources. These findings advance our understanding of representational practices and reveal complex networks of interest articulation among women in Chinese politics.

As China's national power and status rise, people around the world pay more andmore attention to its national policies. In that case, it is more and more importantto translate Chinese political texts correctly and disseminate correct policies. Asthe core of the text, political featured word needs to be translated appropriatelyby translators. This article discusses the characteristics and challenges of translating Chinese political word in Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to AdvanceChinese Modernization by analyzing the Chinese political word in the text. Thearticle describes the timely, numerical and cultural characteristics of politicalword with Chinese characteristics, and analyses the translation methods for different conditions through specific cases, hoping to help readers translate politicaltexts better.

In the 1950s, the Soviet psychoprophylactic method (PPM) of childbirth was introduced to the People's Republic of China, eliciting widespread enthusiasm. It was promoted through a top-down approach, and underwent a degree of localization intertwined with the concurrent acupuncture fever (zhenjiure) that characterized China's medical and cultural landscape during this period. PPM's spread can be understood as a result of ideology, political discourse, international politics, and specific healthcare demand, including the institutionalization of childbirth. Notably, the Soviet PPM also spread to the United States via France. Within the context of rising feminism, de-medicalization, and commercialism in American society, it became known as the Lamaze method, named after the French doctor and stripped of its Soviet associations. In the late 1970s, the so-called Lamaze method re-entered China quietly, but met with a lukewarm reception in the context of China's market-oriented healthcare reform. Compared to caesarean sections and obstetrics anaesthesia, the Lamaze method was less favourable in terms of performance and cost-effectiveness. This article examines why the Soviet PPM and the American Lamaze method showed divergent diffusion paths and outcomes, despite their shared underlying principles and historical origins. By situating these developments within international and Chinese political and sociocultural contexts, it explores how medical technologies are reinterpreted across cultures.

Chinese Politeness: Diachrony, Variation, and Universals in Politeness Theory, written by Rong Chen

This study explores lǐmào (礼貌), Chinese politeness, focusing on interactions among insiders who often deviate from traditional norms of tactfulness and discretion. The paper analyses the strategies of a woman director of a neighbourhood committee who alternates between being discreet and confrontational with face-attacking remarks. Despite instances of her rudeness, she remains well-liked by residents. Her success is attributed to creating insider status through “interpersonal anaphora” (Chan, 2000), such as switching from nín (您, vous) to nǐ (你, tu), using kinship terms and the inclusive pronoun zán (咱). These strategies transform her rudeness into “rapport” impoliteness. The study concludes that Chinese lǐmào is selective and conditional: it is a formal performance with outsiders, while honesty often takes precedence over adherence to the norms with insiders.

ABSTRACTIn the wake of U.S.‐China technological competition and the COVID‐19 pandemic, “tech diplomacy” has gained prominence in Chinese political and academic discourse. This concept is often ideologically framed to critique Western hegemonic narratives perceived as hindering China's technological advancement. Concurrently, China has embraced a more assertive foreign policy, aiming to increase its global influence and shape international technological norms. We use historical‐discursive analysis to investigate the Chinese government's localization and institutionalization of tech diplomacy. By examining official statements and academic sources since 2018, we examine how Beijing has framed tech diplomacy as a strategic response to geopolitical challenges, seeking to legitimize and institutionalize its global technological norms.

Effective cross-cultural communication has grown more and more important in the context of globalisation, especially in settings where second languages are being learnt. Different politeness standards frequently lead to pragmatic mistakes for Chinese English learners, highlighting the importance of native culture in second-language usage. This study investigates the transfer effects of Chinese politeness conventions on English politeness expressions among Chinese learners, grounded in cultural transfer theory and politeness principles. Through a mixed-method approach combining questionnaire surveys and pragmatic competence tests, an empirical study was conducted with 100 Chinese university students to analyze the influence mechanisms of native cultural cognition on second-language politeness realization. At the pragmatic level, the findings reveal bidirectional transfer effects of native cultural cognition. This research contributes theoretical insights to the construction of language transfer models incorporating cultural-psychological dimensions and offers pedagogical implications for cultivating intercultural competence in English language education. The study proposes three strategic recommendations: strengthening instruction on shared core features of Chinese-English politeness strategies, establishing differential alert mechanisms, and fostering cultural self-awareness to facilitate mutual learning between civilizations.

Abstract Utilizing the Labovian-style fieldwork methodology in the form of request for directions, this research delved into the nuances of thanking responses from 16 groups of 960 Chinese respondents, by meticulously controlling four distinct variables: education level (high and low), age (aged and young), complexity of thanking expressions (complex and simple), and indebtedness (knowing and telling the direction, not knowing and failing to tell the direction). The findings reveal that: firstly, the participants’ thanking responses operate within a self-contained framework, characterized by a range of pragmalinguistic forms with varying degrees of politeness and few westernized examples (returning thanks). Among them, verbally minimizing the favor constitutes approximately one fourth of the dataset, followed by verbally acknowledging the thanks and compound strategies. The non-verbal means encompass non-verbal minimizing of the favor and non-verbal acknowledgment of the thanks. Knowing/not-knowing situation-specific strategies include reinforcing the favor, returning thanks, compensating for the unmet favor, and apologizing. Secondly, the participants’ education level and age are found to have a more significant impact on the participants’ awareness of politeness in the thanking response realizations, whereas the regulating effects of the complexity of thanking expressions and their sense of the investigator’s indebtedness to them are relatively minor. The current research further illuminates the intricate connection between politeness and speech acts, especially Chinese politeness in relation to thanking responses.

As the profound core of traditional culture, ancient Chinese philosophical thoughts have deeply permeated all aspects of the development of politics and economy. Philosophical schools such as Confucianism, Taoism, and Legalism, with their unique concepts and value systems, have comprehensively shaped the political landscape and economic form of ancient China. Through an in-depth analysis of the thoughts of Confucianism, such as "benevolence and love" and "propriety and righteousness", Taoism, such as "governing by doing nothing" and "the unity of man and nature", and Legalism, such as "governing the country by law", this paper systematically expounds their specific influences on the construction of political ethics, the formation of social systems, and the shaping of economic concepts. Combined with modern economic theories, it explores their enlightenment and value in contemporary society, aiming to reveal the close connection between ancient philosophical thoughts and the development of politics and economy, and to provide useful references for understanding the context of Chinese historical development and the construction of contemporary society.

Abstract Scholars have recognized an oscillating pattern of political tightening and loosening in China’s political orientation, also known as the shou-fang cycle. Despite frequent references, the concept has not been subjected to scholarly scrutiny. This study critically examines the concept of the shou-fang cycle and discusses its utility in the study of Chinese politics. I argue that the shou-fang cycle should be understood as a historical concept rather than a theoretical one. The shou-fang cycle entails the problems of complex multicausality and the uncertainty of factional politics to be used for causal analysis. However, it still provides valuable insights into Chinese politics and can be utilized to formulate more hypotheses than would be possible otherwise. It provides historical context for the structural challenges that Xi Jinping has been faced with in particular. Building on Gaddis’ and other literature that compare political science and history, this interdisciplinary study contributes to advancing the dialogue between the two fields.