To the description of semiotic theory in the tradition of Chinese Linguistics

The Russian scholars often associate semiotics with such names as Ferdinand De Saussure, Charles Morris, Roland Barthes, who wrote a wide variety of works and significantly contributed to the formation of semiotics. Therefore, the Russian science has sound understanding of semiotics in Europe. In Asian regions, namely in China, semiotics is also one of the most popular trends. This article gives special attention to the formation and development of semiotics in the modern Chinese academic environment for the purpose of revealing and clarifying the key periods of study of semiotic theory, trends and directions of semiotic research, as well as the main works written by the Chinese authors from the perspective of semiotics. The author's special contribution into this research consists in introduction to the Russian linguistic paradigm of the process of formation of semiotics as an independent scientific direction within the Chinese academic environment. Description is provided to the three key periods of development and advancement of semiotic theories in China. The main trends and directions of research in the modern academic environment are explored. The article features the works of the prominent Chinese linguists – Yaping Huang and Hua Meng, who implemented  the semiotic ideas into the study of ideographic writing. The article also examines the work of the renowned Chinese scholar Qian Guanlian, who studied the pragmalinguistic aspects from the perspective of semiotics, which allowed comprising a semiotic base of the communication theory and pragmatics, and thus made a significant contribution to further research of these trends.

When Culture Meets State Diplomacy

Focusing on the India-based Chinese scholar Tan Yunshan and the institution he found, Cheena Bhavana, this chapter explores how Tan’s apparently apolitical pan-Asian cultural position lent and accommodated itself to Nationalist China’s diplomatic priorities and the anticolonial aspirations shared between the Indian freedom movement and China’s ruling party in the second quarter of the twentieth century. As the Chinese state became the main source of income for Tan’s enterprise, cultural and academic activities could not but become enmeshed in manoeuvres of governments, activists and bureaucrats, in spite of Cheena Bhavana’s professed aloofness from politics. In a time when nation-states, revolutionary fervour, and anticolonial activism took centre stage across China and India, the idea that connections between the two societies could remain purely ‘cultural’ became untenable.

RELIGIOUS AND PHILOSOPHICAL LOOK AT THE MAN IN THE "POSITIVE TEACHING" OF ARCHBISHOP NICANOR AND THE "UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE" OF HUN YI

The author compares the philosophical approaches to the human problem of the prominent Orthodox philosopher of the XIX century, Archbishop Nikanor (A.I. Brovkovich), and the Chinese scholar of the Buddhist monk of the early XX century, Hong Yi. Their desire to combine adherence to traditional values and ideals with borrowing a number of provisions of Western European philosophy is revealed. The article shows the fundamental possibility of comparing the spiritual and intellectual phenomena of Russian and Chinese culture.

Roman Law in the Curriculum of the First Chinese Students in England, France, and China

Summary This article retraces the beginnings of Roman law studies by Chinese students during the latter part of the 19th century. It relies on archival research in order to piece together the curricula and careers of three pioneering Chinese law students who first came to study law, including Roman law, in England, France, and China. Wu Tingfang’s legal training at an Inn of Court in London, Ma Kié-Tchong’s legal education at the University of Paris and Wang Chung Hui’s study at Peiyang University in Tianjin, all included a more or less in-depth exposure to Roman law. Ma Kié-Tchong’s wrote a thesis on Roman law in Latin. As the first surviving specimen of legal Latin written by a Chinese jurist, his work not only reflects Roman law studies in France in the 19th century, it also sheds light on the level of proficiency in legal Latin which a Chinese scholar could attain.

Intellectuals Debate #MeToo in China: Legitimizing Feminist Activism, Challenging Gendered Myths, and Reclaiming Feminism

This study focuses on the intellectual debate over #MeToo in China provoked by an article written by a well-known Chinese scholar and public intellectual Liu Yu. Raising such countervailing issues as women’s supposed complicity in sexual harassment and the drawbacks of digital activism in comparison with legal action, Liu’s article marked a crucial moment in the public awareness and discussion of #MeToo and digital activism in China in 2018. By analyzing the critical responses to Liu’s argumentations, we examined the discursive impact of these critical efforts to destabilize Liu’s hegemonic reading of the sexual harassment culture in China. We show how Liu’s critics offered a compelling defense of #MeToo, deconstructed enduring gendered myths, and had a significant impact in terms of reclaiming feminism in China. We argue further that the critics’ intellectual and deliberative efforts exemplify China’s local struggles in the global #MeToo movement and feminist activism.

Making Rare Books Public: the Jiangsu Provincial Guoxue Library in the Nanjing Decade (1927-1937)

The history of the Jiangsu Provincial Guoxue Library (Jiangsu shengli guoxue tushuguan 江蘇省立國學圖書館) during the Nanjing Decade (1927-1937) demonstrates how China’s intellectual and material legacies—rare books in this case—were given new meaning and put into use in the form of a modern public library. Unpacking both the discursive and practical meanings of the ‘publicness’ of the library, this article demonstrates that during this transitional period, rare book collection became both a spiritual and material site where Chinese scholar-collectors and librarians inscribed their political ideals and advocacy, promoted research into China’s past, and inherited centuries-old practices from the literati-collectors of the premodern era.

Ecotranslatology as a Vehicle for Educating Translators at Linguistic Universities

Объект исследования — подход к переводу, названному предложившим его китайским ученым Ху Гэншенем «экотранслатологическим» («экопереводческим») и получившему в последние годы широкую известность. Ху Гэншень подчеркивает принципиальную новизну и целостность этой концепции, хотя некоторыми учеными высказывается мнение, что экотранслатология всего лишь объединила ряд уже существующих подходов и что ее постулаты страдают расплывчатостью. Автор данной статьи, не вступая в полемику, пытается показать, что основные положения экотранслатологии применимы не только к переводу как профессиональной деятельности, но и к процессу обучения переводу. Кажущаяся «расплывчатость» принципов транслатологии помогает взглянуть на обучение переводу целостно, как на создание среды, в которой будущий переводчик приобретает профессионализм в единстве его лингвистических, психологических, философских и этических составляющих. The paper examines a relatively new approach to translation suggested in 2003 by a Chinese scholar Hu Gengshen, which since then has gained worldwide attention and popularity. It offers a holistic vision of translation, integration of bilingual language competence, traditional Chinese philosophy rooted in harmonу, and the universal translation mechanisms of adaptation and selection. Ecotranslatology borders on a number of approaches, and its postulates are sometimes considered too general and vague. But the author of the paper attempts to show that a multi-dimensional vision of ecological environment can promote the teaching of translation as a unity of linguistic, psychological, philosophical and ethical components.

An oriental face in international law scholarship: Contemporary value of Bin Cheng’s General Principles of Law as Applied by International Courts and Tribunals

This article reviews the major contribution made by Professor Bin Cheng, a leading scholar in international law and air space law in our time. The uniqueness of Professor Bin Cheng was his deep engagement with the international law scholarship as a Chinese scholar in his generation and his tremendous academic contribution in the field. This article revisits his major book – General Principles of Law as Applied by International Courts and Tribunals, and connects his book with the time of crisis and anti-globalization faced by us right now. This book is highly relevant to international law scholarship, not only because of its relevance to the application of international law but also because of its methodology.