Exploration of the cultural symbols connotation of Dong Drum-Tower in Chinese tower building

By means of on-the-spot investigation and literature review, this paper combs the expression forms, historical and cultural origins of the two kinds of Tower Buildings: the Chinese style tower which represents the Han culture, the Dong Drum-Tower which represents the regional national culture, and analyse the evolution process of tower functions based on the principle of semiotics. As a kind of landscape type in garden environment, “tower” is not only the comprehensive product of politics, economy, culture and other factors in a specific era, but also the materialized form of social group spiritual civilization. Based on the Dong region, history, and cultural life, The researchers analyzes the architectural culture connotation of Drum-Tower in Dong village. We focus on the material and spiritual aspects of architecture and landscape characteristics, historical origins, religious characteristics, etc., and reveals the cultural symbol connotation of tower architecture in a specific landscape environment.

STUDY ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF HMONG MINORITY'S VERNACULAR DWELLINGS AT HUAYUAN COUNTY IN XIANGXI AREA (CHINA)

Hmong vernacular dwellings are an indispensable and essential branch of traditional Chinese architecture, which bears the profound history of the integration of minority culture and Han culture for thousands of years. As a typical representative of the Hmong settlement in China, the Hmong Village in Huayuan County, western Hunan Province, has the distinct characteristics of respecting nature and making good use of terrain in the construction of vernacular dwellings, which embodies the unique regional, historical, cultural and national character. Firstly, the article analyzes the influence of terrain, landform, climatic environment, historical culture, and social structure on the layout, shape, and materials of the rural homes of the Hmong people in Huayuan County. Secondly, by analyzing the elements of the courtyard space, the layout characteristics of the courtyard, and the organization mode of the courtyard group, the overall spatial characteristics of the residential courtyard are analyzed. At the same time, from the perspective of a single residential house, to sort out the characteristics of its type as well as the floor plan, building structure, material colour, and detailed decoration. Finally, it emphasizes that the Hmong vernacular dwellings in Huayuan County, embody the distinctive cultural connotation of the Hmong nationality, and show the unique aesthetic and romantic sentiment of the Hmong vernacular architecture to the world.

Constructing social networks and mobilizing social capital

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the life worlds of Tibetan students who participate in China’s inland boarding programs and seek to understand the social networks they develop in the Han-culture dominant school settings. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on ethnographic fieldwork with two Tibetan students (Dorji and Lhamo) in a Beijing inland boarding high school. Findings This study found that the Tibetan students are capable social actors who construct two kinds of social networks, the “we” group (co-ethnics) vs the “they” group (cross-ethnics), and mobilize different social capitals strategically. The former provides them with emotional support, cultural affinity and a sense of belonging, while the latter helps them achieve instrumental outcomes, such as Mandarin proficiency, academic improvement and broadened horizons. Research limitations/implications However, the group boundary they draw between the two kinds of networks reflects the futility of government efforts to promote interethnic integration through the inland schools. Originality/value The issue of minority students as active agents in constructing social networks and mobilizing social capital in unfamiliar sociocultural settings is a relatively new research area (Reynolds, 2007; Holland et al., 2007), whereas the Tibetan students in China are among the least known in the existing scholarship.

Explaining Perfection: Quanzhen and Thirteenth-century Chinese Literati

The Quanzhen Daoist order stands as the most dynamic religious element in north China of the tumultuous thirteenth century. Drawing on funeral epitaphs and abbey commemorations, this article illustrates how famous and obscure Confucian scholar-officials interpreted the order’s remarkable success in various ways. Some credited Quanzhen with pruning Daoism of its post-Han dynasty excrescences and reviving the heritage’s basic teachings. For others, Quanzhen marked simply the latest chapter in Daoism’s undimmed heroic history. A third group pointed to the order’s ascetic discipline, which as a matter of course attracted elite and mass devotion. Significantly, epitaphs and commemorations composed by Quanzhen writers sounded similar themes, suggesting that the learned laity and clergy shared a common discourse casting the order as a force for Han culture during foreign occupation.

Time-course of attentional bias for culture-related cues in Mongolian-Chinese bilingual children

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: Using a modified dot-probe task, the present research examined the time-course of attentional bias for culture-related cues in Mongolian-Chinese bilinguals. Design/methodology/approach: Using a mixed experimental design, children with different language fluency (fluent bilingual, limited bilingual and mandarin monolingual) were recruited ( N = 168; 51% boys; Mage = 9.88 years, SD = 0.38 years; 59% Mongolian) to complete a dot-probe task in which they were shown pairs of pictures representing Mongolian and Han culture for short (60 ms) and long (500 ms) exposure durations. The difference between fluent and limited bilinguals lies in their proficiency in Mongolian. Data and analysis: The attentional bias scores ( d) were entered into a 2 × 3 mixed design repeated-measures analysis of variance with language fluency (fluent bilingual versus limited bilingual versus monolingual) as a between-subjects variable and the time-course (60 versus 500 ms) as a within-subject variable. Findings/conclusions: In the task, compared with pictures representing Han culture, all students showed preferential attention to pictures conveying Mongolian culture across presentation durations. However, for 60 ms, fluent bilinguals showed a smaller attentional bias than did monolinguals, with no difference between limited bilinguals and monolinguals; there was no significant difference among the three groups at 500 ms. Originality: Relatively less research has been performed on comparative analysis between fluent and non-fluent bilinguals, and most of the culture-related content is measured by subjective methods. This study attempts to directly compare these two bilinguals’ attentional bias for culture-related cues using a dot-probe task. Significance/implications: The results of comparative analysis showed that fluent bilinguals were more familiar with Mongolian language and preserved their ethnic culture better, which may indicate a close relationship between language and culture.

Cross-Cultural Ecosystem Services: How Taiwanese and Amis live with rivers?

Cultural ecosystem service has been a raising field since 2010. While interdisciplinary research teams investigate cultural ecosystem services via humanity lenses, most CES studies focus on mono-cultural settings. The study compares the Taiwanese Han-culture waterfront recreational patterns to the Ames tribal aqua-cultural habitat patterns. It suggests the community participatory mechanisms for re-vision the Danshui River ecosystems. It argues that the river ecosystem could support cross-cultural lifestyles for Ames tribes if the government officials and design-planning professions could alter their approaches of waterfront planning, design, and governance. The research sheds the light on multi-cultural environments in our global world. Keywords: cultural ecosystem service (CES); cross-cultural landscape; Amis urban tribe; Danshui River eISSN 2514-7528 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/jabs.v3i10.302

明鄭亡後無中國

<p>明鄭是台灣四百年史的黎明，本文從儒家思想史的角度著眼，認為明鄭二十三年的價值不只意在保明，而且是意在保天下。明末的天下意識一方面是漢文化代代延續的文化總體，一方面又帶有轉化為現代化內涵的因素。舉凡政權的合法性、法令的客觀性、道統政統的根源性分權、中央地方的制度性分權、物的反思、新的主體範式等問題其時皆已出現曙光，然異族的征服摧毀了敏感的現代化內容，使之不得成長。明鄭君臣的抗清復國義舉被晚明至民國史家視為具有春秋大義的抗爭，1683年明鄭亡則被視為一種文化意義的中國自此消逝不見，明鄭亡後無中國。明鄭精神可視為台灣價值的原型，台灣日後的民俗、祭祀與反抗活動的精神內涵皆可溯源至此明鄭一線。</p> <p>&nbsp;</p><p>The Kingdom of Tungning marked the dawn of four centuries of Taiwanese history. This paper approaches the history of the Kingdom, which lasted 23 years, from the perspective of Confucian ideology, and argues that its historical value lies not only in the preservation of the Ming dynasty, but also the preservation of the ancient Chinese world. The &ldquo;Tianxia&rdquo; ideology, a cultural concept denoting the entire geographical world, at the end of the Ming dynasty was, on the one hand, an inheritance of cultural unity passed down from generation to generation in Han culture; while on the other hand, it also contained elements of modernity. Deep and profound issues such as the legality of sovereignty, the objectivity of law, the primordial decentralization of political and cultural rule, the decentralization of central and local governments, the metaphysical reflection on objects, and new subjective paradigms all emerged during the time. However, due to foreign invasion, the modern contents of the ideology were destroyed before ever reaching maturity. The anti-Qing rebellion made by the lords and officials of the Kingdom of Tungning to restore the Ming dynasty was deemed by late Ming and Minguo historians as a spiritual and rightful deed. The demise of the Kingdom in 1683 was likewise seen as the end of Chinese culture, as epitomized in the saying &ldquo;no China after the demise of Tungning.&rdquo; The spirit of the Kingdom of Tungning therefore can be treated as the prototype of Taiwanese value, influencing the customs, rituals and rebellious activities that came to pass on the island in the years to come.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

WANTON GODDESSES TO UNSPOKEN WORTHIES: GENDERED HERMENEUTICS IN THE CHU CI ZHANGJU

The influential Chu ci zhangju 楚辭章句, the earliest received edition of the foundational poetry anthology Chuci 楚辭, performs a distinct gender bias in its exegesis of deities, and this bias accords with the Eastern Han ideology of the editor Wang Yi 王逸 (2nd c. CE) more than with immanent features of the original Warring States texts. The gender bias is an essential feature of Wang Yi’s canonization of the Chuci, and it lays the groundwork of the allegorical tradition of interpreting the Chuci. This paper analyzes the zhangju presentation of archetypal Chuci texts to elucidate the hermeneutic transformation of gender and religion in early China, comparing the Eastern Han exegeses with earlier and later interpretations, immanent textual features, and fresh perspectives on Warring States and Han culture that have emerged from archeological evidence. The analysis demonstrates that the Chuci zhangju treats the male deities more literally than the female deities, reflecting the reduction in status of goddesses in late Han discourse. The history of gender ideology is an essential critical lens for understanding the Chuci and the tradition that emerged from it.