This article examines Qing policy toward Christianity during the Kangxi reign (1667–1721) through the concept of judicialization. Here, judicialization does not mean the modern expansion of court power into politics, but the historical process by which a religious and political problem was translated into matters of jurisdiction, legal classification, Board-level review, criminal liability, and imperial decision. Centering on the Calendar Case (li yu 历狱), the 1692 Edict of Toleration, the missionary permit regime, and the renewed prohibition of 1721, the article shows how disputes first framed as controversies over astronomy, calendrical calculation, and ritual practice were gradually absorbed into the Qing legal-administrative order. The Calendar Case established Qing jurisdiction over Western missionaries and created a procedural sequence linking the Board of Rites, the Board of Punishments, high-level deliberation, and imperial ruling. The 1692 edict did not replace earlier prohibitions, but created a layered framework in which permission and restriction coexisted. Later disputes reactivated this framework under the language of imperial sovereignty. The article argues that Christianity became governable through procedure rather than through a single ideological decision.
Alphabet acronyms (e.g. ‘yyds’, ‘xswl’, ‘nsdd’) have emerged as a significant linguistic phenomenon in Chinese cyber culture, functioning as tools for identity negotiation, cultural resistance, and group solidarity. This mixed-methods study combines large-scale data mining from Weibo, Red Notes, and BiliBili with qualitative thematic analysis. It examines usage patterns and social meanings within three digital communities: ACGN circles, fandom groups, and social media platform groups. Findings reveal that these acronyms serve as cultural passwords that solidify in-group identity while creating boundaries against outsiders. A dual encoding mechanism is identified: English-based acronyms reflect globalised cyber influences, whereas Pinyin-based abbreviations convey localised nationalism. These results demonstrate a bottom-up model of linguistic innovation challenging conventional top-down paradigms. The study highlights both the empowering potential of digital language for self-expression and its capacity for social fragmentation, contributing to internet linguistics and glocalisation research.
This study empirically examines Central Plains cultural identity among 429 university students in Henan, China. Using qualitative content analysis with quantitative comparison method to examine three aspects: students’ knowledge of Central Plains culture, the challenges they face in cultural identity construction, and their attitudes toward other cultures. It reveals a paradox: macro-narrative pedagogy effectively transmits orthodox knowledge but produces cognitive homogeneity and a ‘museumized’ identity. Students prefer educators to engage with them and integrate their lived experience to deepen affective identity and practicality. Crucially, multicultural exposure does not erode local cultural identity; instead, it fosters critical reflection and rooted openness, reinforcing rational affection and cultural confidence. This study demonstrates that cultural identity construction among contemporary university students is characterized by rooted openness: students aspire to form individualized cultural understandings through autonomous experience while maintaining confidence in their own traditions.
The contemporary cultural landscape reveals a growing crisis in postmodern interpretations of national culture, which tend to emphasize fragmentation, relativism, and the deconstruction of stable meanings. While such approaches have enriched critical cultural theory, they frequently neglect the corporeal, experiential, and affective dimensions through which national identity is sustained. Within this context, dance emerges not merely as an aesthetic or performative practice but as an ontological mode of cultural existence through which collective meanings are generated, transmitted, and renewed. Drawing on philosophical-ontological, cultural-anthropological, and hermeneutic perspectives, this article examines dance as a corporeal system of cultural memory and historical continuity that operates beyond purely textual or representational models. Using two Central Asian traditions—Uzbek Lazgi and Kazakh Kara Jorga—as illustrative cases, the analysis demonstrates that the metamodern cultural paradigm enables a reconfiguration of traditional dance by oscillating between preservation and innovation, sincerity and reflexivity, continuity and transformation. Rather than reducing traditional dance to folkloric representation, metamodernism reactivates it as a living practice that produces national meaning through bodily presence and performative repetition. By conceptualizing dance as a dynamic process of identity formation rather than a symbolic reflection of culture, the article contributes to dance ontology and cultural identity studies. Crucially, this reconceptualization carries significant implications for cultural sustainability, shifting heritage preservation from static documentation toward the support of living, corporeal practice.
This paper addresses how the development of Nanyang art arguably emerges through transcultural processes rather than a simplistic “fusion” of Eastern and Western art. This paper discusses how Lim Hak Tai’s artistic philosophy and teaching practice, particularly his “Six Principles for the Development of Nanyang Art,” as well as his own artistic production, inevitably contributed to the shaping and early development of Nanyang art. This study employs transculturalism as its framework. Transculturalism is used to analyse Lim’s practice and pedagogical thinking in relation to the processes of acculturation, deculturation, and neoculturation that could be observed through his life. It is argued that Lim’s Six Principles are not merely aesthetic guidelines but a form of pedagogical tool to guide cultural mediations in Nanyang art. Using Lim Hak Tai as the main case study, this paper discusses how the artistic norms and transformation of inherited traditions enabled new hybrid forms, foregrounding Nanyang art as a continuous process of cultural negotiations and adaptations. This paper contributes to the scholarship on regional modernity, firstly by offering a more precise explanation of transcultural negotiations in Singapore and Southeast Asia and, secondly, by foregrounding Lim Hak Tai’s pivotal role in fostering modern artistic frameworks that later influenced the development of Nanyang art.
Indonesia’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (STRANAS-KA, 2020–2045) suffers from strategic ambiguity, institutional fragmentation, and weak implementation. This article asks how a singular focus—transforming Indonesia into a Global AI Talent Hub could address these weaknesses, and what comparative lessons Canada and Singapore offer. Using George and Bennett (2005, Case studies and theory development in the social sciences. MIT Press) structured, focused comparison across six analytical dimensions, the analysis develops a promoter-with-guardrails framework that extends Papyshev and Yarime (2023, Policy Design and Practice, 6(1), 79–102) typology of state roles for middle-income democracies. The framework couples a talent-first promoter orientation with three structurally embedded guardrails: constitutional-rights anchoring, civil-society co-design, and decolonial-AI evaluation. Four architectural pillars are supplemented by a fifth cross-cutting enabler of rights-based accountability. The framework is advanced as a conceptual proposal derived from comparative analysis rather than as an empirically validated intervention. The article translates it into a three-phase policy roadmap, contributing both a theoretical extension for middle-income-democracy AI governance and a practical implementation template generalisable to comparable Global South contexts.
In the context of rapid population aging and legal development in China, elder-related family mediation has become a key site where state law and family ethics are negotiated. Drawing on 443 legal discourse fragments extracted from 25 television mediation episodes, this study employs critical discourse analysis to examine how mediators transform legal discourse in real-time interaction. Five primary recontextualization strategies are identified—addition, deletion, substitution, reorganization, and generalization/specification—with substitution and addition being dominant. These strategies collectively produce a hybrid legitimacy that blends legal norms, family ethics, and pragmatic dispute resolution. While hybrid legitimacy lowers discursive barriers for older adults, it also subtly undermines their rights-based subjectivity by replacing legal entitlements with emotional appeals and moral obligations. We advocate for rights-sensitive recontextualization practices and caution against the erosion of justiciable rights in the name of harmony.
Mise-en-scène is traditionally analyzed through semiotic and representational frameworks that decode setting as a system of signs, an approach that struggles to explain the perceptual, pre-symbolic dimensions of aesthetic experience. It remains unclear how the perceptual structure of a filmed environment generates aesthetic experience without symbolic decoding. This article addresses that gap by proposing that Gibson’s ecological psychology, particularly the concept of affordance, can bridge the perceptual structure of mise-en-scène and the aesthetic experience it evokes. It introduces the construct of an aesthetic affordance landscape and suggests that the suspension of practical action in cinematic spectatorship transforms ordinary affordances into aesthetic ones. To illustrate this framework, the paper presents a structured, multi-step prompting methodology for multimodal large language models that guides reasoning from visible surface properties to affordances to aesthetic experience. This methodology is applied to an in-depth case analysis of surfaces in a single frame from Tarkovsky’s Stalker. The analysis illustrates the promise of multimodal LLMs for understanding cinematic experience. The paper contributes a new theoretical construct for film and aesthetic theory and a reproducible, AI-assisted methodology for ecological film analysis that complements existing semiotic, phenomenological, and cognitive approaches.
New mainstream films, which dominate China’s contemporary film industry and serve as vehicles for official ideology, emphasise significant commercial and artistic value. Nationalism has become a commonly promoted value in new mainstream films portraying China’s overseas military operations, such as Wolf Warrior 2. In 2019, China released its first sci-fi blockbuster, The Wandering Earth, which highlights nationalism and was dubbed by Chinese social media users as ‘space wolf warrior.’ Meanwhile, the Chinese government demonstrates its ambition to shape a positive national image globally through soft power, with film playing a significant role in promoting it to audiences. Guided by Gérald Genette’s ‘narrative discourse’ model, reorganised by Fahmidul Haq and Brian Shoesmith, this qualitative study uses textual analysis to examine soft power promotion from values, culture, and foreign policy perspectives in The Wandering Earth 2. This study finds that the film not only continues to promote nationalist values but also establishes a narrative framework reflecting contemporary Chinese political will. The film imagines multilateralism within a multipolar world order and emphasises individual sacrifice, social justice, benevolent government philosophy, and perseverance. This study offers a fresh perspective on the promotion of China’s soft power in new mainstream films.
Digitalization has expanded social media use among elderly people while also exposing them to technology-related demands that may generate technostress. This study examines the effects of five techno-stressors—information overload, communication overload, complexity, privacy concerns, and fear of missing out (FoMO)—on social media fatigue among older users in Jordan. A cross-sectional survey of 260 Jordanian adults aged 60 years and above was guided by the stressor-to-strain logic of the Stressor–Strain–Outcome (SSO) framework. Data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 4.0 to assess reliability, validity, and the hypothesized relationships. All five techno-stressors significantly increased social media fatigue and jointly explained 89% of its variance. Privacy concerns had the largest effect, followed by complexity and communication overload. The findings support the applicability of the stressor-to-strain segment of the SSO framework among elderly people in an Arab setting. They also suggest that age-friendly platform design and context-sensitive digital-literacy initiatives may help reduce social media fatigue and support sustainable digital inclusion.
In this study, rather than focusing on the use and function of AI in the political arena, an experimental approach was adopted to assess its capabilities in terms of interpretation, analysis, comparison, critique/self-critique, jargon, style, and foresight. Could AI potentially replace politicians in the future? Based on this question, the AI-based chatbot ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, was prompted to respond in the identities of the ‘leader of the ruling conservative party’, the ‘leader of the social democratic party’, and the ‘leader of the far-right nationalist party’ to the following question: ‘As the leader of a party that failed in local elections in Turkey and lost many municipalities to political rivals, what would you say in a 3–4 paragraph a speech offering explanations or justifications for your defeat? Would you consider resigning?’ The responses provided by AI were examined using a descriptive analysis method, and the findings were interpreted and presented in tabular form. The research demonstrates that, despite its technological sophistication, AI largely reflects and reinforces the current political status quo and does not present a truly advanced image. This finding aims to make a meaningful contribution to the ongoing debates on AI creativity and autonomy in contemporary contexts.
Across-the-Board (ATB) movement is central to theories of coordination because it reveals how categorical restrictions coexist with gradient acceptability. This paper investigates ATB dependencies in Jordanian Arabic (JA), a variety with productive w- ‘and’ coordination in which the relevant ordinary lexical nominals lack overt morphological case contrasts. This profile makes JA particularly informative for accounts that relate ATB licensing to case matching, morphophonological recoverability, or PF repair. Acceptability judgments from 67 speakers reveal a stable hierarchy: baseline coordination > canonical wh-ATB > relativization-ATB > topicalization-ATB > comparative coordination > single-conjunct extraction. Speakers categorically reject single-conjunct extraction while distinguishing systematically among the remaining ATB and ATB-like configurations. I argue that labeling determines the boundary between convergent and non-convergent structures, whereas economy-related factors help characterize the ranking among convergent options. The interpretation remains deliberately cautious, however, because the experimental design does not fully separate grammatical economy from independent processing factors, including length, embedding, and discourse-related complexity. The JA findings therefore support the claim that narrow-syntactic structure contributes to ATB licensing and to the categorical exclusion of asymmetric extraction, while leaving open the possibility that processing factors also contribute to the gradient differences among convergent coordination-related configurations observed in speakers’ acceptability judgments overall.
The relationship between games and religion is not new. Research shows that board games particularly have been employed in religious rituals and practices since the medieval times, giving them divine significance (Robinson, 2015). Emerging research in religious studies indicate that board games are used in different religious communities, and they are mostly explored as material culture. However, limited are studies investigating the connection between learning and board games in religious communities. This study explores learning in religious environments by focusing on board games of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Using qualitative content analysis, our findings show that board games facilitate the learning of church-related content and offer an environment for the LDS church to teach beyond the walls of its buildings.
This study examines the enduring relevance and practical application of Neo-Confucian principles in modern education, emphasizing their contributions to moral and ethical pedagogy. Grounded in Confucian ideals, Neo-Confucianism promotes virtues like harmony, integrity, and social responsibility, advocating a holistic approach that integrates moral development with academic learning. The research explores the historical evolution, core tenets, and educational implications of Neo-Confucianism while addressing challenges in applying these ideals across diverse cultural and technological contexts. It critically considers tensions with modern individualism, cultural limitations, and the complexities of digital learning environments. The study also investigates how Neo-Confucian values can inform responses to global issues such as artificial intelligence, globalization, and civic education. By balancing intellectual growth with moral responsibility, Neo-Confucianism offers a framework for cultivating socially conscious, well-rounded individuals. The research concludes by urging educators and policymakers to consider Neo-Confucianism’s transformative potential, bridging traditional wisdom with contemporary educational needs.
In the context of weakened transmission and limited adaptation of contemporary expressions of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), understanding how cultural memory shapes public perception and acceptance of ICH is increasingly important. This study, grounded in cultural memory theory, aims to examine the influence of cultural memory on the acceptance of contemporary ICH expressions, with cultural identity and traditional design preferences serving as mediating mechanisms. To achieve this, a self-developed cultural memory scale was constructed, and primary data were collected through a case study. The structural relationships were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings reveal that the effect of cultural memory on contemporary expression acceptance is fully mediated, operating indirectly through cultural identity and traditional design preferences, with cultural identity serving as the primary mediator, thus highlighting a hierarchical process from memory cognition to emotional identification and finally to behavioral acceptance. By conceptualizing cultural memory both as a theoretical lens and as a measurable variable, this study not only validates the structural model linking cultural memory to contemporary acceptance but also advances theoretical understanding in the field. The results offer practical implications for the preservation, design innovation, and sustainable development of ICH, providing valuable guidance for both researchers and practitioners.
This study performs a scientometric analysis of 479 publications from the Web of Science to map the evolution of deep learning in cultural heritage image recognition. Results reveal a fundamental shift in knowledge transfer: the ‘cross-disciplinary citation lag’ has compressed from a historical eight years to just 1–3 years, signifying a qualitative leap in the field’s absorptive capacity. This acceleration parallels an exponential growth in research output since 2020. Structurally, the research agenda has deepened from perception-based ‘image recognition’ to cognitive frontiers like ‘knowledge graphs’ and ‘generative adversarial networks’. Crucially, this study provides quantitative evidence that ‘ethics’ has evolved from a peripheral issue into a central ‘motor theme’. This finding highlights that profound ethical challenges – specifically data sovereignty and digital colonialism – are emerging as core drivers of the field’s future trajectory, necessitating a balance between technological advancement and ethical responsibility.
This study constructed a corpus based on the scholarly workss of Chen Yinque and Ji Xianlin,employing Jieba word segmentation and TF-IDF algorithms for word frequency analysis.For researchers of Han culture,they were both renowned as accomplished historians,linguists,Buddhologists,and Indologists in modern and contemporary Chinese history,and had a teacher-student relationship.The objective was to elucidate the evolution of the research emphases of these two scholars throughout their academic careers and to undertake a comparative analysis of their respective achievements.The results indicate that Chen Yinque's academic focus shifted from a micro-level study of historical events and figures to an in-depth exploration of the integration of literature and history.In contrast,Ji Xianlin's research has shifted from Sino-Western cultural and literary studies to Chinese culture and thought.These findings reflect the similarities and differences in the academic vision and research methods of the two scholars,providing data support for understanding their academic trajectories and offering a new perspective for the integration of historical and cultural research.
The widespread adoption of Large Language Models (LLMs) in translator education has made AI-generated feedback an increasingly common instructional resource. However, how translation students cognitively interpret, affectively regulate, and ethically evaluate such feedback remains underexplored. This study conceptualizes AI Feedback Literacy (AIFL) as an emerging sub-competence in translation pedagogy and proposes a Cognitive-Affective-Ethical (CAE) framework to examine its development. A mixed-methods study was conducted through a 12-week, three-phase intervention with 60 translation students from two Chinese universities. The intervention integrated LLM-feedback workshops, genre-diverse translation tasks, feedback logs, and reflective writing activities. Quantitative analyses showed significant improvements in all AIFL dimensions (Z = −3.62 to −4.11, p < 0.001; r = 0.47–0.53), with overall scores increasing from 3.21 to 4.07. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-factor structure, while structural equation modeling revealed that cognitive understanding predicted affective trust calibration (β = 0.61) and ethical reflection (β = 0.54), explaining 63% of AIFL variance. Qualitative findings revealed four learner profiles and a recurring trust–skepticism–recalibration cycle, indicating a shift from passive AI reliance to informed and responsible engagement. The study highlights AIFL as a teachable construct and offers a human-centered framework for AI-mediated translator education.
The rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has significantly reshaped educational practices across disciplines, particularly in the domain of English language learning (ELL). Among emerging AI-based tools, ChatGPT has gained considerable attention for its capacity to generate human-like text, provide instant feedback, and support autonomous learning. This study investigates the usage patterns of ChatGPT as a tool for English language learning among Bachelor of Arts (BA – New Education Policy) and Master of Arts (MA) Psychology students at the University of Lucknow. Employing a mixed-methods research design, data were collected from 100 students through structured questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative findings reveal extensive use of ChatGPT for academic writing, grammar correction, vocabulary development, summarization, and comprehension support. Qualitative insights further highlight students’ use of ChatGPT as a confidence-building, time-saving, and accessible learning aid. However, concerns regarding accuracy, overdependence, ethical use, and academic integrity were also expressed. Comparative analysis indicates that MA Psychology students demonstrate more frequent and strategic use of ChatGPT for advanced academic purposes, whereas BA (NEP) students primarily use it for foundational language support. The study underscores the pedagogical potential of ChatGPT in higher education while emphasizing the need for structured guidance, AI literacy, and ethical frameworks to ensure its effective integration into English language pedagogy.
In the Arabic Gulf region, the collectivistic institution of the Majlis involves gatherings and assemblies for social, political, religious, and cultural purposes. Among the key functions of this institution is volunteering, a type of prosocial behavior that expresses the interdependent ethos of the Majlis. Currently, Majalis are surrounded by a sociocultural-economic environment that promotes individualism. This study offered a window into the motives behind the volunteer activities of the members of an extended family’s Majlis. It examined the degree to which the motives to volunteer, which reflect the original collectivistic culture of the Majlis, are diluted into self-serving motives. To this end, 498 members of the selected Majlis were surveyed for their prosocial dispositions, motives to volunteer, and demographic characteristics. In this study, although all motives were linked to prosocial dispositions, the weakest link was exhibited by career enhancement motives. Members’ most relevant motives were understanding and enhancement of desirable states, two motives that were viewed as mostly benefiting one’s interdependence. These findings suggest that the original collectivistic culture of the Majlis can sustain the encroachment of the individualism of the surrounding ecosystem. As such, it can be viewed as a paradigm for the preservation of intangible local traditions.
