Political Metaphors of the Ancient Chinese Treatise of Confucius “Lun yu”

This article examines the political metaphors of the ancient Chinese philosophical treatise of Confucius Lun yu (The Analects). Confucius often used metaphors for a capacious and figurative presentation of his political views. Translation of Confuciuss political metaphors presents a certain difficulty, since it is necessary to preserve not only the meaning of the statement, but also the imagery. The object of the research is the political metaphors of Confuciuss work Lun yu and their translations into Russian by P.S. Popov, I.I. Semenenko and L.S. Perelomov. The aim of the work is to study the methods of translating political metaphors of the philosophical treatise of Confucius and the possibility of accurately transferring metaphors into Russian. The novelty of the work lies in the fact that for the first time the translations of Confuciuss political reflections, made by three translators, are analyzed and compared. Political metaphors of the text Lun yu, collected for analysis by the method of continuous sampling, are described and analyzed within the framework of the concept of A.P. Chudinov. Classification of the metaphors of a philosophical treatise into 4 groups - anthropomorphic metaphor , natural morphic metaphor , social metaphor , artifact metaphor - made it possible to identify the peculiarities of translation techniques for different groups of metaphors. The analysis showed that the metaphors of the anthropomorphic group almost always disappear in translations into Russian. On the contrary, natural morphic metaphors, as a rule, are preserved in the translated text. The relevance of the study lies in the fact that at present, the translations of the Chinese philosophical text into Russian have not been sufficiently studied. Analysis of Russian texts Lun yu - Judgments and Conversations (Lunyu) translated by P.S. Popov, I believe in antiquity translated by I.I. Semenenko, Lun yu translated by L.S. Perelomov - made it possible to analyze the techniques of translating metaphors, due to the authors preferences of the translators, as well as the possibility of preserving the original metaphor in translated texts. Three versions of the translation of the title of the ancient Chinese treatise into Russian indicate different approaches to the translation of the text. The conclusion summarizes the results of the study of techniques and methods of transferring political metaphors into Russian.

Twelve Chinese Zoosigns of Zodiak: Tradition and Modernity

The work is devoted to the origins and peculiarities of zodiac signs in the ancient Chinese tradition. The study is carried out within the frames of linguocultural approach towards interpreting animalistic metaphors, namely, the zoonyms of the twelve zodiac signs which in China, are used to characterize people concerning their date of birth and are passed on from generation to generation. Chinese zodiacs are based on the astronomic theory of constellations and human worship (idolatry) of totems. It focuses on the comparison of zoonym metaphors reflected as Chinese zodiac signs both in the Chinese and Russian languages proceeding from the theory of metaphor in modern cognitive aspect to detect similarities and differences, and as well, the study of cultural roots of zoonym metaphors revealed in the Chinese zodiac signs. The object of the study concerns zoonyms of zodiac signs possessing the relevant meaning in the Chinese zoological lexis. The work elaborates the definition of the notion zodiac, describes the processes of the genesis, formation and development of the Zodiac culture and its specific cultural relevance; according to the analysis undertaken, the means to differentiate twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac, and those of Chinese fairy tales, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, in Russian - animals were discussed and verified as to I.A. Krylovs fables. The conclusion states that metaphors are determined by the language itself, and linguocultures of various nations are reflected in specific metaphors and other peculiarities.

The Hopping Dead. Zombies in the Chinese Culture

The article examines the image of zombies in Chinese culture, the traditional perception of their appearance and internal characteristics. A wide scope of written sources served as the basis of the study: inscriptions on oracle bones, ancient fortune-telling calendars, historical treatises, chronicles and commentaries on chronicles, essays on geography and medicine, fiction of old and modern China, as well as entries and comments from the Chinese blogosphere. The authors examine how the idea of evil spirits (with a body or bodiless ones) first appeared in the religious worldview of the ancient Chinese, and trace its origin to the doctrine of existence of multiple souls in one person. The article also details the formation of the pictorial image of Chinese zombies: animated corpses covered with hair or dressed as government officials, with their arms extended forward, hopping on straight legs unable to bend their knees. As for the functional characteristics of zombies, the authors discuss not only their well-known features (e.g., cannibalism), but also their deep inner connection with water and drought. In conclusion, the authors explore the evolution of zombies in modern urban legends and demonstrate the continuity of traditional demonology that develops into modern narrative. Apart from that, the article contains a number of analogies and comparisons of the Chinese image of zombies with other nations’ mythological tradition.

Research on the origin of clothing from the perspective of the ancient Chinese character etymology and philosophy

The origin of clothing has always been one of the most important topics in the field of apparel culture research. However, academics have different opinions on this issue. Based on the dilemma analysis of the three research routes which include philology, archaeology, anthropology, we can study the essence of the origin of clothing by analysing ancient Chinese character and philosophy. The relative methods of characters etymology in ancient China, archaeology, anthropology and philosophy are adopted in this study in order to further study the origin of clothing. The research shows that: from etymology research on characters in ancient China, Chinese characters associated with clothing can reflect the objective needs of clothing-the carrying tools whose material are cortex. From the perspective of philosophical researches, clothing prototype originated in the cortical belt for carrying in the process of human evolution during the Palaeolithic. It is an important tool for primitive humans to increase their survival rate. And formed clothing is necessary for them to get out of the Africa and expand their living space. First of all, this paper systematically demonstrates the idea that clothing originated from tools based on the analysis of ancient Chinese characters. Secondly, from the perspective of philosophy, this paper demonstrates the great historical role of clothing as a survival tool, based on the viewpoint that the generation of clothing precedes the consciousness of clothing.

Bodily Contemplation: On the Question of the Truth of the Perception of Physical Objects in Chinese Landscape Painting

This article analyzes the views of representatives of the scientific community on ancient Chinese landscape painting, emphasis is mainly placed on views that concern the spiritual qualities of landscape painting, as well as rethinking concepts that ignore the significance of sensual perception. Landscape painting is usually considered as a spiritual work of Taoism: landscape painting developed from Taoist thought, Taoist philosophy determined the identity of the artistic style and the inherent spirit of landscape painting. Moreover, some researchers even believe that bodily contemplation of landscape painting means setting the very original nature of mountains and waters, and the "knowledge of the truth" is a spiritual process that is more blocked by the human capacity for sensual perception. Some of the scientists completely deny the possibility and truth of sensual perception of physical objects in landscape painting. The author of this article believes that the spiritual component of landscape painting lurks precisely in the value of sensual perception, and bodily contemplation of mountains and waters is impossible without the participation of the body, clear confirmation of which we find in the ancient Chinese theory of arts. Ancient Chinese works of art traditionally had a close connection with sensual perception through bodily contemplation. This process is not simply about capturing object information, but when the subject takes an active part in the vision of the object, when the subject gives feedback to the object, and through acquiring the object its meaning is transmitted. Only through bodily contemplation, the individual can fully feel the artistic value of landscape painting, and Taoist philosophy thus gains a real existence in landscape painting, becoming a kind of emotional thinking.

The main aspects of the early «classical» stage of the formation of the Confucian doctrine of traditional China

The article is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of the main sources, works that developed and supplemented the main elements of Confucian doctrine that appeared during the lifetime of Confucius. The main data on the life and work of thinkers who developed and supplemented the teachings of the Great Teacher of antiquity, the main options for translating and interpreting the names of treatises and basic terminology are outlined. It outlines the main provisions and ideas of the treatise "Zhong Yun" written by Confucius 'direct students, which is of fundamental importance for the process of historical evolution of Confucian doctrine, and clarifies, details and deepens the theses of Confucius' main book "Lun Yu". Against the background of the basic traditional Chinese picture, one of the key principles of Confucianism is pointed out – the principle of the "golden mean", the critical importance of personal virtue of rulers, and the main approaches to determining the formula of human nature. It is determined that the subject of interest "Zhong Yun", broader than the basic treatise "Lun Yu" and denotes cosmogonic and moral properties of the spirit, more richly interprets the inner content of the fundamental category of humanity ("Ren") constructs an integral system of categories, the sources of which are in the depths of ancient Chinese mythology. The main concepts and meanings of the work "Da Xue" ("great teaching") are established, one of the most fundamental traditional categories of which is the concept of "where" – personal "grace", "achievement, acquisition", and the uniqueness and special place of a person in the universe is the ability to follow "due justice". The quintessence of the DA Xue worldview system is the presumption of immanent virtue of human nature, which should radiate from those in power in the form of "humanity"; the basic thesis of the treatise is the attitude according to which the ruler who "does not show" virtue is deprived of his right to rule. It is stated that the work named after the outstanding thinker of traditional China, Meng Tzu, was of fundamental importance for the long evolution of Confucianism. (Meng Ke), who not only expanded the leading principles of Confucius, but also improved the teachings of the great teacher by actualizing and considering new issues. This approach transformed the teachings of Kun Tzu into a harmonious construction of judgments, which later turned into the official government ideology and worldview system of the Great Chinese society, which has existed for thousands of years. It is to Meng Tzu that the orientation to consider human nature moral goes back, one of his most original ideas is the concept of the heart-mind, which is provided on the one hand by an innate, intuitive ability, moral instinct, and on the other by benevolence. On the contrary, the approaches of another thinker, Sun Tzu, were completely antagonistic to Meng Tzu's ideas and proved the conclusion that human nature is evil. Sun Tzu's concept is located exactly on the border between Confucianism and legalism, but the Thinker (unlike the legists) believed that it was not punishments and rewards that should curb the evil nature of a person, but moral improvement and high literature, that is, culture. Sun Tzu was the first in Confucianism and proved the concept of an enlightened monarchy based on the principle of both traditional morality and the authority and power of the law. Against the background of the study of significant monographic literature, conclusions are drawn about the almost instantaneous beginning of the complex deepening, improvement and development of teaching, already by the first students of Confucius. Confucianism was formed as a method of interpreting the ancient Chinese system of symbols and concepts, categories laid down in mythological form in an active, active spirit. The development of Confucian doctrine was due to the incorporation of elements of other teachings. Confucianism essentially developed through finding common ground with other Chinese doctrines. The key idea that emerged in the development of Confucianism is the statement that everything in a person, including his inner world, is just a reflection of the natural world, and the restoration of perfect social institutions will not mechanically restore perfect order in the Middle Kingdom. The core of the DA Xue ideological system is the assumption of the inner virtue (de) of human nature, which must be shown by those in power. In the course of its long evolution, Confucian traditional thought put certain fundamental problems and categories on the agenda much earlier than European thinkers did, of course, at the ancient, traditional level synchronous with that distant century

The lyric oeuvre of Afanasy Fet and Chinese idyllic poems

There are compelling similarities between Afanasy Fet’s lyric poetry and classical Chinese lyric poetry. This connection is traced in the article with specific examples. Fet, carried away by the ideas of Schopenhauer, argued that thepoetic feeling lives in every person and can be called the sixth and highest feeling. In classical Chinese poetry, the Confucian concept of ‘the sense of things,’ the Taoist formula ‘words and forms’ and the idea of the unity of man and nature played an important role. With characteristic fixation of subtle changes of light and shadow, with the transmission of flushed feelings, Fet’s oeuvre reminds the readers of the ancient Chinese lyric poetry. Like classic Chinese texts, Fet’s poems are textbooks where the idea of the unity of man and nature is developed. In both Chinese poetry and Fet’s works, human life goes into natural life, gaining eternity in the nature. As a result, although Fet was not familiar with Chinese culture, the intuitions that fed his work surprisingly coincided with pictorial techniques as a way of conveying emotion in classical Chinese poetry, separated from him by many centuries.

Introduction to the study of Kong-zi jia-yu (“School Sayings of Confucius”)

The Kong-zi jia-yu (“School Sayings of Confucius”) is an important historical source for the study of Confucius’ teachings. The text comprises Confucius’ sayings, records of his conversations with his students and other people, and also information regarding his life and deeds. Regardless of the factual cornucopia, the text remains almost completely unknown to Russian scholars. Equally, it has never been translated into Russian. The necessity to translate this historical source into Russian is obvious, at least because of the information regarding the life of Confucius (551–479 BC) and also the theory of his philosophy and belief system. The article offers the initial stage of the study of the Kong-zi jia-yu and comprises the Russian translation of the first two chapters. One of the tasks of the article is the identification of the sources the Kong-zi jia-yu is based upon. The translation is accompanied by the synopsis of the contents of the first five chapters, their composition and a source critical study about the information found in the Kong-zi jia-yu and the ancient Chinese works, such as Chun-qiu Zuo-zhuan, Xun-zi, Li-ji, Da Dai li-ji, Yi-wen-zi, Shuo-yuan. The study has proven that these texts should not be considered as sources of information for the first and second chapters of the Kong-zi jia-yu due to significant differences in detail description. It has been also established that the texts of the third, fourth and fifth chapters, which are philosophical dialogues to a large extent coincide with the chapters of Li-ji (chapters Ai-gong wen, Ru xing) and Da Dai li-ji (chapters Zhu yan, Ai-gong wen yu Kong-zi). However, regardless of these coincidences these texts still should not be considered as direct sources for the relevant chapters from the Kong-zi jia-yu. Most likely, the authors of all three chapters had recourse to the same source.

Inventing Wilderness

Newly available archaeological evidence has once again redefined the “origin” of landscape representations in China, while also providing much richer information about their material media and pictorial context. This chapter focuses on a group of images on bronze artifacts from the fifth to fourth century BCE, which juxtapose scenes of wilderness with scenes of human civilization typified by ritual performances. These pictorial compositions evince many parallels with the Gateways through Mountains and Seas, a mythical/geographical text transmitted from ancient times. Together they propel us to contemplate why the ancient Chinese turned their mind and eye to uninhabited nature and depicted it at this particular moment. Significantly, this was also the time in Chinese history when geographical exploration was actively taking place and had become a central topic in the poetic and religious imagination.