“Chinese table screen” from the collection of the National Art Museum of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia): on the question of determining the plot

Статья посвящена изучению музейного памятника декоративно-прикладного искусства XIX века «Китайский настольный экран», раскрытию его сюжета, уточнению времени создания. Экран, как и большие ширмы, использовался в интерьере зданий, исполняя утилитарную и эстетическую функции, применялся для защиты пламени свечи от движения воздуха. Особенность традиционного китайского экрана — это его мобильность, декоративность и привлекательность используемых в декоре материалов. Как элемент традиционной культуры он отражал идею корреляции вещей в мире, нес в себе понятия красоты и совершенства в художественно-эстетическом оформлении интерьера. Всякая вещь — это уникальный кодовый знак этнокультуры, указывающий на своеобразие национального характера, представления об окружающем мире. Несмотря на то что со сменой эпох менялся стиль, декор, вводились новые материалы, отшлифованная веками традиционная вещь оставалась удобной и эстетичной, отличалась безукоризненной отделкой и высокой практичностью. На основе анализа художественного произведения и изучения специальной литературы автор интерпретирует сюжет, изображенный на настольном экране. В ходе исследования предмета на изображении были выявлены такие мифологические персонажи, как популярная даосская «восьмерка бессмертных», представителей которой часто изображали на произведениях изобразительного и декоративно-прикладного искусства, легендарный Лао-цзы, древнекитайский философ VI–V веков до н. э., один из основателей философского учения Дао. На панно с даосскими святыми узнаются: древнее божество Си-ван-му — хозяйка персиков долголетия, покровительница домашнего очага Хэ Сянь-гу, Шоу-син — божество долголетия, красавица и чадоподательница Би-ся юань-цзюнь и божественный земледелец Шэнь-нун. Все они прибыли на пир к царице Запада Си-ван-му. This article is devoted to the study of the museum monument of decorative and applied art of the 19th century “Chinese table screen”, understanding its plot, clarifying the time of creation. The screen, like large screens, was used in the interior of buildings, performing utilitarian and aesthetic functions. Moreover, it was used to protect the candle flame from air movement. The peculiarity of the traditional Chinese screen is its mobility, decorativeness and attractiveness of the materials used in the decor. As an element of traditional culture, it reflected the idea of the correlation of things in the world, carried the concepts of beauty and perfection in the artistic and aesthetic interior design. Every object is a distinctive code sign of ethnoculture, which indicates the uniqueness of the national character and perceptions of the surrounding world. Despite the fact that with the change of epochs, the style, decor changed and new materials were introduced, the traditional objects polished for centuries remained comfortable and aesthetic, distinguished by impeccable finish and high practicality. Based on the analysis of the artwork and the study of special literature, the author interprets the plot depicted on the table screen. During the study of the object and its image, author identified such mythological characters as the popular Taoist «eight immortals», whose representatives were often depicted in paintings, prints and decorative arts, the legendary Lao Tzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher of the 6-5th centuries BC, one of the founders of the Dao teaching, sitting on a bull. On the panels with Taoist saints, the ancient deity Xi wangmu — the mistress of longevity peaches, the patroness of the hearth He Xiangu, Shouxing — the deity of longevity, the beauty and child-giver Bixia Yuanjun, and the divine farmer Shennong are also recognized. They all came to the feast of the Queen of the West Xi Wangmu.

Confucius Institutes as a subject of China's foreign policy

The article analyzes the activities of Confucius Institutes as a subject of modern foreign cultural policy of China. Methods of increasing influence at the international level are very diverse, ranging from China's participation in international projects (cultural and industrial exhibitions, Olympiads, scientific forums, etc.) organized on its territory to the organization of the media space that gradually covers the whole world. To implement the state policy of "soft power", the Chinese government approved the development of Chinese educational and cultural centers around the world. These institutions bear the name of the greatest Chinese philosopher, the teacher of the nation, Confucius. In China, his name is associated with culture and education, as the philosopher himself attached great importance to tradition and education. The Confucius Institutes network provides opportunities for personal and business contacts of the international community with representatives of Chinese science, culture, business, and politics. Such meetings increase the interest in learning the language, raising it to a more pragmatic level, associated with obtaining new opportunities. As a rule, the departments of the Confucius Institute are opened on the basis of Oriental Studies faculties in the leading national universities of a particular country. Thanks to their educational and cultural projects, the Confucius Institutes arouse not only great interest and desire to join the values of Chinese culture, but also enjoy great trust among all those who love China or plan to connect their lives with the prospects that this country opens for friends, opening up new prospects for student and professor mobility.

Who stole the ram? The “New Interpretations” of the “Analects” (13.8) and the most recent discussions on the “effective admonition” by the scholars from the Peoples’ Republic of China

The article offers a historiographic survey followed by an assessment of a big-scale discussion, which deals with the “new interpretations” of the famous fragment − “Stealing a ram” from the “Analects” (Lun Yu, 論語) a large collection of sayings and ideas attributed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius and his contemporaries (Analects, 13.18). The origin of the Analects dates back over two millennia. Regardless of “advanced age” it does still attract within the Chinese society significant attention and is discussed both by the scholarly and public audience. In general, this discussion remains recurrent. The discussion unfolded in the Peoples Republic of China in 2000–2016 was covered by numerous articles in the American scholarly literature and therefore has found a vivid response among the Sinologists within the English language milieu. The author asks a question whether these recent interpretations as came from the 2000-2016 discussion are innovative indeed or they just “rephrased” old approaches already recorded in the scholarly literature. To answer it, he compares the key approaches by the modern Chinese scholars to those by Russian Sinologists, particularly, the interpretations by Professor Lydia I. Golovacheva (1937–2011). According to her, the famous sentence “a father would [plead guilty to] cover a son, a son would [plead guilty to] cover a father” implies the idea of correction of the wrongdoings (“upright the crooked”) using the internal moral imperative or waking the conscience of the wrong person. The analysis of the debates held by the scholars from the Peoples Republic of China has revealed the need to bring back into circulation this relatively little-known, however, holistic, consistent and adequate interpretation as well as to increase the awareness of it among both Russian and foreign sinologists. According to the author, this interpretation removes all the alleged legal vs. moral contradictions in the fragment (Analects 13.18).

A Philosophical Framework for Education and Information Literacy Development in Hong Kong

Principles for furthering information literacy in Hong Kong after 1997 must come into line with the education policy of the HKSAR, which shall encourage both freedom of the individual mind and the growth of a national identity. Freedom of the mind will increase creativity and independent thinking capability of the individual; the build-up of a national identity for Hong Kong people is crucial as this will lead to the steady development of the local democratic political establishment. Although these two elements of education policy are fundamental in many other countries, they were basically missing before 1997. Therefore, on the eve of political and cultural change, the principles for information literacy, the author believes, should be the “no-action” principle laid down by the famous Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu, and the principles brought out in the Theory of Legal and Moral Value Balance and Rules of Spontaneity developed by the author.

An Evaluation of Knee Overuse Injuries and Sleep Disturbance Among Men and Women Fencers

Fencing is an Olympic sport, it has many associations and competitions around the world. Modern fencing originated in ancient European fencing duels, which was popular among the nobility and became a way of resolving conflicts. Not only did fencing rise in Europe, but also it was popular in ancient Egypt, China, Arabia and other countries. China first combined the theory of fencing with the theory of politics. According to ancient Chinese records, in the 4th century BC, the Chinese philosopher Zhou Zhuang taught the King of Zhao the philosophy of fencing. Zhou Zhuang declared that if the King used the blade, he should observe the political environment of the whole county, following the wills of the people and the laws of nature. Then, he could make the whole county obey him.France is the cradle of modern fencing. The fencing mask was invented in 1776, and the weight of the blade was lightened to match in the 19th century. At the first Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. In this time, male’s fencing became an official sport, and female’s fencing entered the Olympic Games in Paris in 1924 later.At present, researches on fencing mainly focus on the training, strategic, tactics and physiological mechanism. In other words, they concern the performance of fencers in training, but ignore their recovery and life. They are in an asymmetrical position for a long time in training, which is easier to accumulate fatigue in the dominant side, especially the knee joint. Pain from the overuse injury or other factors are known to affect sleep quality, but very little researches have been done for fencers. When people do not acquire good sleep, they usually feel tired easily, and have hard time to concentrate on the study and work. Athletes need to undergo greater body load than common people. The sleep disturbance due to pain may slow the body recovery speed, and further aggravate the pain and accumulate the overuse injury. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the association between the sleep disturbance and the overuse injury. The knee joint bears the main body load in fencing, hence this research select knee joint for evaluation.

O. Goldsmith’s Oriental Parable in the Magazine Ni To Ni Sio (Neither This Nor That)

The essay argues that the oriental parable “Ziou-Zioung. A Chinese Anecdote” published in No. 9 of the magazine Ni To ni Sio (“Neither This nor That”) on April 25, 1769, is a fragment of “The Citizen of the World, or Letters from a Chinese Philosopher” by Oliver Goldsmith (1760–1761, book edition 1762), translated with some changes. The translation is presumably attributed to Fyodor Lazinsky. The paper traces the way of Goldsmith’s plot from the English original to the Russian version. The parable is taken from the French translation of Goldsmith’s book by P. Poivre (1763) and reprinted in the magazine Recueil pour l’esprit & pour le cœur under the title “Ziou-Zioung” (1764). The text of the French magazine is translated into German; it appears in Berlinisches Magazin (1765), from where it is borrowed by the Russian translator. The separation from the original context and a chain of transformations in successive translations, although each of these transformations is minor leads to a substantial change of meaning. While Goldsmith aims his satire at those who are proud of unworthy things, German and Russian versions condemn pride as such.

QILIN: TOLERANSI KEBERAGAMAN SEBAGAI IDE PENCIPTAAN KARYA KERAMIK SENI

Indonesia merupakan negara dengan masyarakat yang majemuk yang memiliki berbagai ras, agama, suku, kebudayaan, dan lain sebagainya. Meskipun demikian, hingga hari ini kabar mengenai perilaku intoleran masih sering ditemui. Kejadian-kejadian intoleran tersebut pada umumnya dialami oleh mereka yang memiliki ras, suku, keyakinan, kebudayaan, pola berpikir, pilihan politik, ataupun kondisi fisik yang berbeda. Sebagai respons terhadap permasalahan tersebut, muncul keinginan untuk menciptakan karya yang berkaitan dengan Bapak Pluralisme Indonesia atau Gus Dur. Dikarenakan salah satu hasil perjuangannya melawan intoleransi adalah pengembalian hak etnis Tionghoa, maka karya yang kemudian tercipta adalah karya-karya dengan objek yang berasal dari kebudayaan Tionghoa. Sebagai hasil, tercipta dua karya keramik terakota dengan qilin sebagai objeknya. Pemilihan qilin tersebut tidak hanya dikarenakan ia merupakan makhluk mitologi dari kebudayaan Tionghoa, tetapi juga dikarenakan kaitannya dengan kisah kelahiran Konfusius, nabi agama Konghucu. Supaya konsep toleransi dengan mengangkat penghapusan intoleransi yang dialami etnis Tionghoa di Indonesia tidak hilang, qilin pada karya ini juga dibuat dalam kondisi tidur. Kondisi tersebut dibuat sebagai tanda bahwa si hewan mitologi ini sedang tenang, terbebas dari ancaman larangan yang pernah dialami oleh etnis Tionghoa di Indonesia dari tahun 1967 hingga tahun 2000.Indonesia is a country that has a large variety of races, religions, ethnicities, cultures, etc., within its people. Even though it is a pluralistic country, having something like a different race, ethnicity, belief, culture, mindset, political choice, or even physical conditions can still be an issue. As a response to this problem, I then created two artworks as a reminder about the legacy of Indonesia’s third president who is known for his fight against discrimination, Abdurrahman Wahid. Since one of his most known legacies is the removal of the Chinese ban in Indonesia at year 2000, the model used in the creation of the artworks is from a myth in Chinese traditions. As a result, two qilin terracotta ceramic artworks were created. The qilin was used not only because it’s a Chinese mythological creature, but also because of its relation to the legend of the birth of the Chinese philosopher who’s also known as the prophet of the Confucianism, Confucius. To express the freedom due to the ban removal, the qilins in these artworks were then made sleeping. This position was used to make these mythological creatures look relaxed, or in other words, look like it’s free from the predator that preys on it from year 1967 to year 2000.

Consumers' human nature and their shopping channel choices in the emerging artificial intelligence era: based on Xunzi's humanity hypothesis

PurposeDrawing from the ancient Chinese philosopher Xunzi's insights on humanity, this study aims to address human nature's critical role in influencing and shaping consumers' shopping channel choices in the emerging artificial intelligence (AI) era and the implications for non-East Asian countries.Design/methodology/approachBased on the theory of planned behaviour and accessibility–diagnosticity theory, our approach created a holistic model conceptualising human nature, shopping orientations, channel choice intentions, subjective norms and perceived AI usefulness. A questionnaire survey method served to test the framework.FindingsThe results validated human nature's role in shaping and influencing consumers' channel choices through shopping orientation. Subjective norms weaken the positive relationship between human nature and shopping orientation, while the positive relationship between shopping orientation and online purchase intention is stronger when consumers perceived AI as highly useful.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to humanity hypotheses literature in management by introducing Xunzi's theory that views human nature as evil. Additionally, it enriches channel choice literature by introducing perceived AI usefulness.

Xunzi

This chapter turns to Xunzi, one of the most popular philosophers throughout East Asia. He has been the subject of more books published in English over the past two decades than any other Chinese philosopher, vastly outstripping Mencius. His body of work has always been one of the best preserved, and with the commonplace scholastic objection to his philosophy—namely, that he was wrong to say human nature is evil (xing e)—having lost most of its cogency, it is only to be expected that philosophical readers should be attracted to his creative but rigorous arguments. In practice, Xunzi's claim that xing is evil means that following the impulses of one's xing, without reflecting on them and moderating them, will lead one to evil acts. It should be emphasized that e, the Chinese word translated here as “evil,” is not to be understood in the Christian sense of “diabolical” or “antithetical to God.”

Mencius

This chapter discusses Mencius. The philosopher Mencius is probably the one to have furthered the Confucian mission the most out of any other Chinese philosopher of the fourth century BC and thereby inherited the mantle of Confucius himself. In later centuries, Neo-Confucians regarded him as the last sage. Mencius, however, poses many of the same interpretive problems as Confucius. Mencius did not write the surviving repository of his teachings, the eponymous Mencius, which was compiled after his death and edited in its present form by Zhao Qi. Zhao reported that he took a text in eleven sections and eliminated four that he considered inferior, leaving the Mencius in seven books that we know today.