Tradition Research Articles

Five Basic Colour Terms and Colour Taboos in Ancient China (Part One)

This paper aims to explore the use of five basic colour terms and colour taboos in ancient China. Looking at many literary texts, including Classic of Poetry, Collection of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Discussing Writings and Explaining Characters, and several other collections, the paper offers a detailed analysis of the etymology and meanings of the following Chinese colour terms: huang 黄 ‘yellow’, chi 赤 ‘red’, bai 白 ‘white’, hei 黑 ‘black’ and qing 青 ‘cyan’. Colours have always carried well-defined symbolic meanings in China, for instance, red is associated with wealth, dignity and happiness. Besides, the five basic colours are linked to elements and cardinal points: yellow – Earth and Centre, red – Fire and South, white – Metal and West, black – Water and North, cyan – Wood and East. The investigated ancient Chinese texts provide evidence that colours implied high and low social ranks, good and bad personal qualities or fortune. The use of some colours in specific circumstances, as well as by people with a certain status, was prohibited. The cultural and social taboo phenomenon was connected with expressing self-identity and manifested itself in clothes and folk customs as well as in numerous other ways.

Inheritance and Innovation: A Study on the Path of Ancient Village Cultural Tourism Planning and Design

In the global wave of cultural heritage protection, the preservation and reuse of ancient settlements has become increasingly prominent, especially in the context of increasing cultural tourism. Taking Nanmen Village as a case study, this paper can explore how to skillfully integrate technological innovation and contemporary aesthetic concepts while maintaining traditional values, in order to achieve a prosperous innovation process. The first strategy is to investigate and understand the historical origin, cultural characteristics and existing problems of Nanmen Village in detail, so as to clarify the difficulties encountered in the process of inheritance and transformation of this ancient community.Then, this paper puts forward the concrete path from two aspects of inheritance and innovation. In the aspect of inheritance, it focuses on the measures to protect traditional architecture, folk customs and intangible cultural heritage, as well as the methods to strengthen community participation and residents' education; In terms of innovation, it introduces the application of Internet technology and digital twin technology, such as online booking and tour, social media promotion, virtual reality experience and intelligent management. In addition, combined with many successful cases at home and abroad, this paper also analyzes the effect of these innovative designs in practical application, and provides specific planning and design schemes and implementation strategies for Nanmen Village. Finally, this study refines the accumulated insights, highlights the decisive role of cultural inheritance and innovation in the evolution of ancient village cultural tourism, and makes future exploration paths. This study not only contributes theoretical and practical guidance to the cultural tourism development of Nanmen Village, but also provides a reference for the conservation and evolution of other ancient settlements.

Ethnic Peculiarities and Inter-ethnic Parallels in the Traditional Material Culture of the Hungarians of Ugocsa

The Hungarians living in the present-day Transcarpathian region have lived peacefully for centuries together with the majority Ruthenian/Ukrainian population, as well as with the Romanian, German, Roma and other ethnic groups, who live in a similar minority to the Hungarians. Ethnographers and tourists visiting the region are convinced that these nationalities have retained the characteristics of their culture to this day. At the same time, it is worth observing how this long historical coexistence is reflected in the way of life and mentality of these people. The parallels between Ruthenian and Hungarian language and folklore, folk customs are excellent examples of interethnic relations, but I have also encountered similar examples when researching the traditional material culture of the villages in Ugocsa. In the field of folk architecture, for example, the gate called tőkés kapu, as well as the abora, aszaló [the dryer] and the barn. Interethnic phenomena between Hungarians, Ruthenians and other nationalities of the region can also be observed in folk costumes (the guba, or the shoes called bochkor). Throughout history, in Transcarpathia, which belonged to different state formations, it was noticeable that culture was not strictly tied to peoples. Thanks to the tolerance shown towards each other, the nationalities of the region have preserved their ethnic and religious characteristics and identity, but we can also find many similarities in their cultures. When studying the interactions that mutually enrich each other's culture and provide a colorful and attractive image to the region, it is often impossible to find out who borrowed from whom and when. During the ethnographic research of the local communities, the main point is to take into account the ethnic interaction of the nationalities living here, as the folk culture of the local Hungarians is determined by the aggregation of the cultures of different ethnicities.

Polatuzumab Vedotin for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma: Innovation's Allure versus a Time-Honored Tradition

AbstractChemotherapy with R-CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, Adriamycin, vincristine, prednisolone) is the standard of care for patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma as the first-line therapy. The recent approval of polatuzumab as the first-line therapy after demonstration of its efficacy in the Polatuzumab Vedotin in Previously Untreated Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (POLARIX) trial is the first significant change in this treatment regimen over two decades. This concise appraisal of trial evidence and clinical context highlights the limited potential for a clinically significant benefit with the addition of polatuzumab to the first-line therapy for this common hematologic malignancy.

Transformation of Modern Urban Park Based on User’s Spatial Perceived Preferences: A Case Study of Kowloon Walled City Park in Hong Kong

Urban parks enhance residents’ quality of life and health by fostering a harmonious relationship between people and nature, so effective park design needs to prioritize ecological protection, sustainable landscapes, and practical spatial structures to achieve these benefits. This study takes the typical case of urban park renovation and reconstruction—Kowloon Walled City Park—as an example to conduct research and divides the interior of the park into four types of areas: contemporary built-up area; historical relic area; natural–folk custom area; and ecological conservation area. Based on 405 valid questionnaire data for respondents, this study conducts empirical research using a combination of the Semantic Differential (SD) method, Importance Performance Analysis (IPA) model, and unordered multivariate logit choice model, comprehensively describes and analyzes individual spatial perception and preferences, and further discusses the potential factors affecting individual perception preferences. The results show that there are differences in many characteristics between different areas in Kowloon Walled City Park. At the same time, people generally prefer park areas that integrate modern and traditional elements, natural and cultural environments, and pay attention to the balance between naturalness and sociality in park design. These results provide useful information for planners, developers, and others, as well as data for designing urban park construction with higher practical value and natural benefits.

ELEMENTS OF ANCIENT BELIEFS IN BASHKIR MATERNITY RITUALS

The article deals with some customs and rituals associated with childbirth. The relevance of the conducted research is conditioned by the growing interest in the role of ethno-cultural values in modern society and increasing attention to the previously underexplored phenomena of everyday life. The study of folk customs, rituals and representations related to childbirth will contribute to the understanding of the deep layers of Bashkir spiritual culture. Maternity rituals represent an important aspect of Bashkir cultural tradition. It encompasses prenatal, as well as birth and postnatal rituals, which to this day play an important role in the formation of family and social ties. The aim of the study is to identify elements of ancient beliefs in the Bashkirs' maternity rituals. An integrated approach, involving the analysis of ethnographic, historical, philosophical and folklore scientific works, was applied to achieve this goal. The research was based on a wide range of published and unpublished sources. The research revealed that the Bashkirs' maternity ritual is based on the ancient beliefs and ideas of the Bashkirs about man, nature and the world as a whole. It includes elements of animism, totemism, fetishism and magic. Important aspects of ritualism are connected with the protection of the child and the woman in labor, as well as with the first 40 days and the first year of the child's life. The elements of ancient beliefs revealed in the course of the research are manifested in the belief in the existence of spirits and souls, totem, in the ancestor worship, and are connected with beliefs in the protective properties of certain objects of the material world. The Bashkirs' maternity rituals include components of apotropaic, procreative and sympathetic magic. The study made it possible to study more deeply the mythology, ancient religious beliefs and traditional culture of the Bashkirs, to trace the evolution of the Bashkirs' maternity ritual and their transformation in modern conditions, to reveal the general regularities of the development of ritual culture, as well as the specific features characterizing particular nations. The preserved actions of magical rituals connected with childbirth refers to their stability and ability to adapt to new changing conditions of life.

The Research on “Shandong Image” and “Shandong Imagination” in Contemporary Film and Television Works

The “Shandong Image” and “Shandong Imagination” in contemporary film and television works not only reflect the profound heritage of regional culture, but also reflect the inheritance and innovation of regional culture. Shandong people are often portrayed as upright, forthright and indomitable in film and television works. These characteristics come from Shandong’s profound cultural heritage and historical tradition. With the development of society and the diversification of culture, the image of Shandong people also shows a more diversified trend in film and television works. The “Shandong Image” and “Shandong Imagination” have both traditional positive images and more complex and multi-faceted role shaping. The contemporary film and television works have shaped the “Shandong Image” and “Shandong Imagination” through the construction of geographical space, the portrayal of dialect characters, the rendering of historical background, local folk customs, regional culture labels, etc. These works reconstruct the “other” image based on the perception of Shandong cultural image. These “Shandong Image” and “Shandong Imagination” form the collective imagination with Shandong cultural characteristics and build the cultural identity of Shandong people.

A reformation to end the revolution: Germaine de Staël and the struggle for republican mores under directory France

ABSTRACT Between 1797 and 1798, Germaine de Staël argued that France needed a reformation to end the Revolution, proposing the adoption Protestantism as a religion of state. This proposal has been explained away as an obvious and uninteresting consequence of her Calvinist upbringing. While obviously relevant, Staël’s religious background is not a sufficient explanation for a proposal that would have upended the constitutional principles of the Directorial republic as well as centuries of tradition in France. I argue instead that Staël’s proposal is better understood in framework of the Directory’s plans to breach the state’s neutrality in religious matters, established in the 1795 Constitution, in order to promote love of the republic via a new religion, theophilanthropy. Thus, Staël identified a political opportunity for constitutional change in matters of religion and sought to steer the course towards an existing religion that, as she argued, had all the benefits that the Directory saw in theophilanthropy, but none of the pitfalls, especially the theophilanthropists’ association with the Terror. This re-interpretation of Staël’s proposal, made in Circonstances actuelles, has implications for our broader understanding of this work, hailed as her ‘most substantial contribution to political and constitutional theory’, and the Thermidorian republic.

Identities of Farming Culture in Jiangnan: The Creation of Animation to Inherit Folk Customs of Polder Rice Farming in Water Towns

Background and Aim: Jiangnan farming culture, a custom culture formed by Jiangnan people in their long history of agricultural production and life, highlights the features and connotations of the region. Recent years have witnessed a shift from a traditional agricultural society to a modernized and urbanized one, which is influencing the traditional agricultural cultural system deeply. In the context of increasingly globalized and intelligentized economic development, factors such as differences in survival and consciousness caused by the special geographical environment in Jiangnan (southern Yangtze River) have accelerated the modernization of farming civilization in the region. Confronting such a crisis, this study adopts an interdisciplinary research thinking pattern to protect, inherit, and spread Jiangnan farming culture in animation works by establishing a connection between the culture and animation art as well as combining theories such as semiotics, design, and communication. Materials and Methods: Data was collected through literature research, field investigation, and expert interviews to analyze the value, connotation, and characteristics of Jiangnan farming culture, as well as extract its symbolic and animation elements. Results: The research found that Jiangnan farming culture as a typical polder rice farming culture in China is featured by its unique Jiangnan water town characteristics, which serve as a foundation for creating animation works in this article with polder rice farming as the theme to inherit and spread Jiangnan farming culture. Conclusion: 1. As an independent art category, the animation plays a key role in building a farming cultural space and shaping the image of farming culture in cross-cultural communication. 2. Through the narrative expression of animation art, farming ideas are spread and passed on through animation lenses, allowing people to further understand the origin of Jiangnan farming culture. 3. Animation brings unlimited creative space to Jiangnan farming culture, which can promote its future innovation and sustainable development.

Screening China in Carnival: A Powerful China Framed in Participatory Documentary

ABSTRACT This article contributes to research into representations of China in current China–UK co-produced transnational documentary films. It examines Chinese New Year: The Biggest Celebration on Earth (2016) from the perspective of cinematographic styles and filmmaking techniques to demonstrate how this film frames a powerful image of China through a cultural lens, based on festive traditions and folk customs. The paper draws on Bill Nichols’ theory of participatory documentary and develops the discussion via the philosophical thinking of Mikhail Bakhtin on carnival. It argues that this film provides an example of how to write the story of modern China into an attractive narrative marked by the adaptation from localisation to globalisation through the engagement of non-fiction. With the employment of a multi-line narrative structure, this film maps diverse versions of gatherings that happened across towns and cities in China, highlighting how the festival reunites families and can be understood as an expression of familial love. Through the participation of hosts, the film invites audiences to attend festive celebrations from a local viewpoint, in particular family dinners, constructing the discourse of Da Tuan Yuan (great reunion). In the portrayal of people performing folk customs, the film indicates their cultural recognition of the significance of the Spring Festival. As such, this film constructs a representation of “Powerful China” supported by the Chinese government’s promotion of Chinese cultural identity, which aims to play its part in the solidification of national identity.

Television Mass Media Relations to Culture Shifts in Besilam Malay Community

Media relations with culture can play a role in shifting the views of the Besilam Malay community. This study focuses on the impact of television mass media as a pivotal component of modern society. Technological advancements have placed society at a crossroads, presenting a choice between embracing contemporary progress or adhering to time-honored traditions. The pervasive influence of media serves as a catalyst in shaping awareness and perspectives. The tug-of-war between embracing change and preserving heritage is well exemplified in the traditional berahoi ceremony, which recently has taken up only a small part of the whole tradition. The development of the times that continue to follow renewal can influence people's attitudes and thoughts towards culture supported by technology in the media. This paper used a qualitative research model with a heuristic approach to gather information from cultural and religious community leaders around the Besilam community. This study holds significance in illuminating the ancestral traditions deeply rooted within the Besilam Malay community. It aims to shed light on the evolving nature of these traditions and their transformations over time. Additionally, it serves as a call to action, advocating for the Langkat Regency government to prioritize the preservation of these rich cultural customs. A recommendation is proposed to allocate resources from the APBD Budget Policy through the Tourism Office to sustain and promote these traditions, ensuring their continuity for future generations. Modern Globalization Theory, coined by Wallerstein, asserts that social change occurs as underdeveloped nations emulate the practices and advancements of their more advanced counterparts as a means of progress and growth.

Study of Festival Folklore in Ancient Poems in Chinese Textbooks for Senior Middle Schools: On the Festive Folklore Teaching Strategy for The Charm of A Maiden Singer

As an intangible cultural heritage, festival folk customs are encountering internal and external troubles. Although it is faded by Chinese people in social life, it is eternally preserved in literary works. According to the new curriculum standard, “cultural inheritance and understanding” is one of the core literacy aspects of Chinese subjects in senior high schools. On this basis, this study probes into the strategy of using Chinese teaching to inherit the “intangible cultural heritage” of festival folk customs. First of all, the connotation of festival folklore should be clarified. Secondly, the content analysis can be used to explore the distribution of festival folk customs in ancient poems in the unified version of Chinese textbooks in senior high schools. Specifically, when it comes to the structure, festival folk customs are non-systematic with limited appearances in ancient poems. From the aspect of content, festival folk customs briefly introduce the festivals and their cultural connotations embodied in the textbooks but neglected by current society. As for the function, festival folk customs can be analyzed from three carriers such as time, folk and emotions for classification. Finally, taking The Charm of A Maiden Signer as an example, the feasible way of integrating festival folk customs into the teaching of ancient poems is proposed. Compared with the general teaching plan, such a design is original, which allows students to experience the national aesthetic tradition of “harmony between man and nature” during the Mid-Autumn Festival with the unique beauty endowed by Dongting Lake. Taking festivals and folk customs as a leadin of teaching can dig out the cultural connotation contained in ancient poems more deeply and accurately, so as to expand the profundity of teaching and improve students’ ability to appreciate ancient poems.

‘Moving grove’: Dionysian rites of passage in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Macbeth

The major English medieval pagan folk customs, feasts, and rituals that survived in early modern England share the death-resurrection motif of the Greco-Roman agrarian rites and mystery religions associated mainly with the myths of Dionysus. This comparative study between two generically different plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Macbeth, purports to bring out, respectively, the degree of violence in a green comedy, and the effect of greenery in a tragedy of blood. It draws on René Girard's anthropological theory of sacrificial violence and scapegoating to examine the rites of passage in both plays through the archetype of the regenerative cycle of nature.

Development and Mode Innovation of Cultural Tourism Resource based on Industrial Integration

The cultural tourism industry contributes to the growth of both cultural and tourism industries. Cultural Tourism Resource (CTR) is the prerequisite for the integrated development of the cultural tourism industry. Developing potential CTR can promote the new transformation and upgrading of the urban cultural tourism industry. Luoyang has the advantages of location and resources in the development of CTR, but its tourism industry develops slowly. Therefore, Luoyang City was taken as the research object and the relevant evaluation index system was established. The entropy method and grey correlation model were used to analyze the development trend and influencing factors of the city’s CTR. The entropy values of the eight indicators of the evaluation system of CTR established in the study were all above 0.96, indicating that the evaluation system was relatively stable. The grey correlation degree of CTR of historical culture and folk customs was high, which was 0.668 and 0.642, respectively. The grey correlation degree of religious culture and calligraphy and painting CTR was low, which was 0.625 and 0.617, respectively. The CTR of historical culture and folk customs have developed well, but the resources of religious culture, calligraphy, and painting need to be improved. The knowledge of cultural tourism location theory and regional economic growth theory are applied. According to the evaluation results and problems of the development of CTR in Luoyang, this paper puts forward targeted strategies for CTR.

“Unkempt Attire Does Not Befit Us”

There are very few European countries with a tradition of national costume. Local, folk, and regional costumes are common. One can even define an outfit topographically in terms of its historical features. However, national dress, which is the identifying mark of a country, a symbol of national identity, well-established through centuries of tradition, is a rather unique phenomenon. Although in several instances the emergence of national attire has an older history (for example, in Switzerland, Spain or Denmark, the trends have been noticeable since the 18th century, while Gustav iii in Sweden in 1778 promulgated a decree on the wearing of national costumes), the greatest explosion of trends to promote national attire occurred in the 19th century. This is related to the widespread national or national liberation tendencies that swept through Europe during this period. Nineteenth-century aspirations to return to some fashion, to look for historical designs or to create national costumes took place especially in smaller countries (or those that did not exist on the maps at the time), which wanted to preserve and assert national identity in this way. From this point of view, it will be interesting to look at the tradition of promoting patriotic and national liberation ideas through clothing in the Polish lands.

Dali Ancient City Tourism Industry Culture and Tourism Publicity Text Translation Characteristics

With the continuous development of tourism in Dali, more and more tourists are attracted to visit Dali, including a large number of overseas tourists. Therefore, in order to help overseas tourists better understand the local folk customs and promote the better development of tourism in Dali, this paper, from the perspective of tourism translation texts in Dali and the German functional theory, compares and analyzes the English Translation Materials of tourism texts in Dali. Based on the principles of English-Chinese translation, this paper summarizes the characteristics of tourism text translation in Dali Ancient City from three aspects: vocabulary, grammar and tense. The theoretical basis of this thesis is that the German functional theory can play a useful role in translation practice, especially in non-literary translation and tourism translation. On the one hand, it provides evidence for functional translation theory. On the other hand, it provides some constructive suggestions for English translation of tourism culture materials in Dali. Thus draw the distance between tourists and the propaganda text, so that tourists can not only enjoy the beautiful scenery, but also feel the charm of Dali culture.

A Preliminary Analysis of the Influence of Southern Fujian Religious Folk Customs on Folk CraftsTaking Dehua Kiln and Zhangzhou Kiln as Examples

Southern Fujian mainly refers to the "Southern Fujian Iron Triangle" region composed of Quanzhou, Xiamen, and Zhangzhou. Since the Southern Song dynasty, this has been the primary economic and cultural hub of the province. The dialects and cultures of these cities are historically interconnected. In this context, many folk crafts have emerged in Southern Fujian's history. This paper focuses on traditional folk crafts of the Southern Fujian areaDehua Kiln white porcelain and Zhangzhou Kiln beige-glazed potteryexamining from the perspective of local cultural and religious customs. Using documentary research and case study methods, this study explores the impact of local religious culture and customs on the craftsmanship of these two types of pottery, aiming to further promote the exchange of folk crafts between Zhangzhou and Quanzhou.

A study of spatial cognition in the rural heritage based on VR 3D eye-tracking experiments

Traditional Chinese villages act as the essential carriers of China’s rural heritage. Such villages are considered to retain living practices of intangible heritage through know-how, artistic and folk customs, as well as a well-preserved architectural appearance. However, their conservation is at stake due to degradation, abandonment, and urbanization. Spatial cognition is one way of bringing people to the matter of what is important to conserve (attributes) and why they are important (values). This is done by analysing how people perceive and value rural heritage. Traditional methods of gathering spatial cognition data, such as laborious fieldwork or subjective qualitative analyses, often fall short of providing a holistic representation of real-world experiences. This article presents an innovative method for analysing cognitive features in traditional village spaces using an immersive virtual reality equipped with an eye-tracking system. We selected Cheng and Jitou, two traditional Chinese villages, as our case studies. In two virtual reality environments, we captured accurate 3D cognitive data, including participants’ locomotion, gaze point, and sightline. The results indicate that the accessibility of village roads affects the distribution of people’s locomotion, which in turn affects the distribution of people’s areas of interest; the changes in the rhythm of the sightline scale reflect the rhythm of spatial changes in the villages. By broadening the understanding of spatial cognition in traditional Chinese villages related to people’s values, this paper sheds light on an alternative approach to assess the cultural significance of such villages for higher conservation and sustainability.

A Research of Subtitle Translation and International Communication of Chinese Cultural Documentary from the Perspective of Eco-Translatology

A Research of Subtitle Translation and International Communication of Chinese Cultural Documentary from the Perspective of Eco-Translatology

(Re)discovering Ukrainianness: Hutsul folk culture and Ukrainian identity in Soviet film, 1939–1941

ABSTRACT This article examines the Soviet encounter with the Hutsul highlanders of the Eastern Carpathian mountains following the Soviet annexation of eastern Poland in 1939. It demonstrates that the period from September 1939 to June 1941 saw a wave of interest in Hutsul traditional practices across the Soviet cultural sphere that influenced expressions of Ukrainian identity in the USSR. Hutsul folk customs, clothing and handicrafts are displayed in detail in the two most prominent documentaries propagating the Soviet takeover of the Ukrainian west, Oleksandr Dovzhenko’s The Liberation and Iuliia Solntseva’s Bukovyna is a Ukrainian Land (both 1940). Through close analysis of the Carpathian sequences of these films and an examination of the attention given to the highlanders elsewhere in Soviet media, the article reveals how Soviet cultural practitioners view the Hutsuls through an ethnographic gaze that emphasises both their exoticism and their fundamental Ukrainianness. Drawing off a variety of precedents (both Soviet and non-Soviet), the films and other sources depicting Hutsul life contribute to a vision of Ukrainian identity defined by pre-modern culture and an absence of modernity, simultaneously furthering Ukrainian patriotism within the USSR and perpetuating imperialist perceptions of a civilisational gap between Ukraine and the Soviet centre.