Moby Dick is rich in connotations, far beyond a mere whaling adventure. By analyzing Captain Ahab and the great white whale Moby Dick, we may know more about human nature, nature, faith, and destiny. Each interpretation serves as a brand-new exploration into the scope of human spirituality.
Paramour politics is a kind of political phenomenon that can be seen in both history and reality. In some historical periods, this kind of political phenomenon even gradually developed into a kind of political culture, greatly influencing the direction of history. The essence of this kind of political culture is constructing political alliances through lover relationships. Interestingly, in history, it usually appeared in political alliances led by female politicians. In some situations, this kind of political alliance was linked to political conspiracies. In other words, paramour politics sometimes can be seen as a special means of political struggle. No matter in history or in reality, this kind of political phenomenon or political culture appears in many different forms. But its aim is fixed: gaining victory in political struggles, and more importantly, attaining greater power. However, from the things that have happened in history, we can see that in most situations, this form of political phenomenon usually brings about disasters.
This paper reviews studies on female figures in Late Qing and Republican pictorials, summarizing research based on case analysis and typologicaldiscussion. Case studies of Dianshizhai Pictorial, The Young Companion, and Beiyang Pictorial display evolving female social identities; thematic researches interpret cultural meanings of working, heroic, educated, fashionable, and public-space women. It points out insufficient studies on reading women, whose reflective visual images deserve further exploration.
The integration of 3D printing into ceramic cultural product development offers significant potential for complex form-making, rapid prototyping, and cost-effective small-batch production. This paper examines additive manufacturing—specifically Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) for master model creation—through the case of the black-glazed cup “Earth-Hidden Salamander” (Dadi-Yin Ni; Registration No. 赣作登字-2024-F-00152289). Inspired by the sinuous morphology of the Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus), this piece embodies organic, asymmetrical forms that are exceptionally difficult to achieve by traditional wheel-throwing or carved molds. The study documents a hybrid digital-traditional workflow: CAD modeling, PLA printing, silicone mold-making, slip casting, black-glaze application, and high-temperature firing. Results demonstrate that this approach enables consistent reproduction of complex geometries while preserving the tactile richness of handcrafted ceramics. Key advantages include design freedom, iteration speed, and reduced tooling costs; challenges include post-processing labor, technical skill gaps, and workflow integration. The paper concludes that 3D printing serves as a complementary tool that expands the expressive vocabulary of ceramic cultural products, offering a viable path for innovation within China’s heritage-rich ceramic industry.
This paper critically examines the assumption that culture is a neutral and autonomous sphere of human life. Moving beyond reductive definitions that limit culture to artistic or performative expression, it conceptualizes culture as a structured system of meaning embedded in everyday social practices. Drawing on anthropological and sociological perspectives, the study argues that cultural forms are shaped by underlying belief systems, with religion serving as a significant organizing force. Using food habits and dress practices as key examples, the paper demonstrates how religious frameworks influence behavior, establish moral boundaries, and construct collective identities. Dietary rules and clothing norms are interpreted not as isolated customs but as manifestations of broader systems of meaning that translate belief into daily practice. The analysis further explores the relationship between culture and power, arguing that cultural imposition is inherently non-neutral because it extends particular value systems often presented as universal. The paper also critiques the claim that culture can be separated from religion, suggesting that such separation frequently replaces religion with alternative ideological frameworks. By engaging debates on secularism, agency, and globalization, the study presents culture as dynamic yet structured and concludes that recognizing its non-neutrality is essential for critically understanding cultural diversity.
This study presents a comparative analysis of Han Chinese creation myths and the Heliopolitan creation tradition of ancient Egypt. Both mythological systems share a foundational cosmogonic motif in which the universe emerges from a primordial state of chaos. In Han mythology, the giant Pangu separates heaven and earth, while in the Heliopolitan tradition the god Shu performs a similar role by dividing the sky goddess Nut from the earth god Geb. Despite these parallels, important differences remain. The story of Nuwa creating human beings represents a distinctive anthropogenic narrative within Han mythology. Additionally, both traditions emphasize cosmological duality: Chinese mythology frames this through the dynamic balance of Yin and Yang, whereas Egyptian mythology expresses duality through divine pairs within the Ennead. Another notable similarity is the presence of divine kinship relations that sometimes involve sibling unions. Finally, this study argues that cultural and historical contexts shape the transmission of mythological narratives. In the Chinese case, later patriarchal interpretations appear to have reshaped certain traditions, including narratives that once emphasized Nuwa as a primary creator deity.
The characters on porcelain from the Ming and Qing imperial kiln in Jingdezhen are important carriers of ceramic culture and the art of writing, carrying rich historical information, craftsmanship features, and cultural value. This paper takes the characters on the porcelain of the imperial kiln of the Ming and Qing Dynasties as the research object. Based on the physical objects in the museum collection and in combination with historical documents, the characters on the porcelain of the imperial kiln are divided into two categories: One is the functional characters for identification, communication, and management, specifically including chronology, foreign and ethnic characters, and production management characters; the other type is decorative writing for aesthetic expression, which includes the main decorative type, the auxiliary embellishment type, and the implicit integration type. It reveals the significance of the imperial kiln porcelain script in the social context of the time and provides a new perspective for understanding the history of ceramics, writing, and culture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
In his 2024 address to the Columban Associations in Italy, Pope Francis highlighted the challenge of neo-paganism in the contemporary world. The Roman Pontiff’s voice reinforced the Church’s warnings on the growing challenge of neo-paganism in the 21st century. The Church particularly emphasizes the vital role of consecrated persons in addressing the challenge. The formation of consecrated persons for the modern world is highly crucial and must be such that can properly address and effectively counter the influences of neo-paganism. It is only by equipping consecrated persons with quality and holistic formation, initial and ongoing formation, that they will be able to rise up to the task of neo-paganism in their various apostolates and places of evangelization. The paper examines the crucial role of consecrated persons’ formation in addressing the challenge of neo-paganism in the contemporary world. It explores the concept of formation, the rise of neo-paganism, the Church’s response, and the centrality of consecrated persons in this context.
English grammar learning is a core link in second language acquisition, yet the abstract rule system and fragmented learning mode easily cause the disconnection between knowledge memory and pragmatic application. Embodied mind mapping (EMM) integrates the physical participation core of embodied cognition theory with the knowledge visualization advantages of mind mapping, combining physical perception, situational interaction, and visual sorting. Based on embodied cognition, knowledge visualization, constructivist learning, and second language acquisition theories, this paper defines the core connotation and design principles of embodied mind mapping, explores its practical application strategies in English grammar learning, and constructs a concise curriculum design framework with corresponding application precautions. The research aims to provide a targeted theoretical and practical reference for English grammar teaching reform, and effectively promote learners’ in-depth construction and flexible application of grammar knowledge.
The fusion of Chinese ink painting aesthetics with ceramic underglaze decoration represents a significant crossmedium exploration in contemporary ceramic art. Ink painting emphasizes brushwork, rhythmic void, and the spiritual resonance of “writing the idea”, while underglaze decoration (such as blue-and-white and underglaze fivecolor) offers stable firing properties, subtle color transitions, and a jade-like surface. By analyzing the core aesthetic principles of ink painting—brush-and-ink expressiveness, compositional emptiness, and poetic integration—this paper examines how these principles can be translated into underglaze techniques through layered washes, controlled diffusion of cobalt or iron pigments, and the use of reserved white space (milky white glaze). The study shows that the integration not only revitalizes traditional underglaze decoration with the spontaneity of literati painting but also expands the expressive boundaries of ceramic art, generating a contemporary visual language that harmonizes East Asian philosophical depth with material craftsmanship.
This article investigates why regime change interventions frequently fail to produce stable political orders despite extensive institutional engineering efforts. Existing explanations emphasize implementation deficiencies, including insufficient planning, limited local knowledge, or resource constraints. While useful, these accounts do not adequately explain the structural regularity of failure across diverse contexts. The article proposes an alternative explanation centered on the concept of state continuity disruption, defined as the breakdown of interdependent mechanisms through which administrative coordination, coercive capacity, and political legitimacy are reproduced over time. It argues that regime change does not merely replace formal institutions, but destabilizes the underlying processes that sustain institutional continuity. Drawing on comparative analysis of Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and Iran, the article demonstrates that variation in outcomes is systematically linked to the degree of disruption of these continuity mechanisms. Where disruption is severe, institutional collapse follows; where continuity is preserved, political order remains relatively stable. By shifting analytical attention from institutional design to the reproduction conditions of political order, the article contributes to debates in comparative politics and state-building theory. It argues that institutions should be understood not as transferable organizational templates, but as historically embedded processes of continuity reproduction.
Corrupting the enemy is a kind of stratagem which can be seen in war history. This kind of stratagem can be seen as a kind of psychological tactic, making full use of human’s greed to fool the enemy. That’s why it is difficult to defend against when facing this type of stratagem. Its process is a little like a kind of hunting. As time went by, this kind of stratagem became more and more complex, developing many different forms. However, these different forms have common elements which means we may find its basic logic through careful analysis. From its characteristics, we can easily see that this kind of stratagem is a type of non-military method. We also need to notice that as time goes by, this kind of stratagem is no longer a simple military strategy which also appears in many other situations such as political struggle and commercial warfare.
Founded in the 1980s, The Trend of Art Thought was a vital carrier of theoretical communication in China’s art scene. It responded to internal discussions and theoretical debates in the art world and built a communication platform for a broader community of art practitioners. Centered on the public discursive field constructed by the magazine to communicate with its readers, this paper systematically sorts out the composition and characteristics of its audience. Meanwhile, from the two dimensions of builder of the new trend discursive field and pioneer of media resistance, it analyzes the core role of the magazine in the communication of contemporary Chinese art, reveals its important function in promoting the development of art theory, the innovation of Chinese painting, and the “85 New Wave” Art Movement, and provides an important perspective for studying the transformation of China’s art world and social trends in the 1980s.
Since the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, Western politics, culture, religion, science and technology, and military affairs have continuously spread to China under the influence of Western countries. This has had a significant impact on China’s feudal political system, gradually transforming its feudal autocracy. This process represents an important developmental stage and component in China’s transition from a feudal autocracy to a modern democratic republic, as well as a crucial phase in the shift from a feudal economy to a capitalist national economy.
During the War of Resistance, Northwest poetry, influenced by the May Fourth New Literature tradition, exhibited a distinct spirit of “enlightenment” and “struggle”. Poets inherited the realist tradition, using poetry as a weapon to expose the atrocities of the enemy and puppet forces, awaken public consciousness, and call for national salvation. At the same time, they made significant progress in the direction of “nationalization and popularization”, creating poems that were sincerely emotional and uplifting in style, reflecting both the lives and struggles of borderland people and the belief in the inevitable victory of the war of resistance and the revolutionary ideals of the proletariat. Northwest poetry, in its specific historical context, fulfilled the practical functions of serving the war through literature and educating the people, provided valuable experience for the popularization of new poetry, and established the unique poetic charm of Northwest poetry, demonstrating its sense of responsibility to the era.
This article contends that Pre-Raphaelite portrayals of fairy tales should be interpreted as acts of historiographical and psychological reinterpretation rather than mere illustration. By drawing upon narratives already influenced by early modern print culture and socially mediated storytelling, artists like Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris reawakened the suppressed symbolic and affective aspects of the fairy tale, thereby transforming Victorian children’s literature into an intricate visual language that embodies temporality, interiority, and imaginative experience. Edward Burne-Jones’s Cinderella of 1863, a watercolor and gouache on paper, is a painting at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA, that embodies the Pre-Raphaelite ideals of beauty, symbolism, and storytelling. Instead of portraying dramatic moments or historical recollections, Burne-Jones focused on a serene, emotionally resonant scene that underscores Cinderella’s patience and inner dignity, along with a recollection of a magical dance with a prince, evoking love. Through graceful lines and contemplative compositions, Burne-Jones transformed the familiar fairy tale into a poetic visual narrative aligned with Victorian artistic ideals. The story of Cinderella was inspired by the classic fairy tale recorded by Giambattista Basile in Pentamerone (Lo cunto de li cunti, 1634-1636) and later adapted by Charles Perrault in Histories or Tales of Past Times (1697), which introduced the well-known elements of the glass slipper and the prince’s search. In 1800s Britain, scholars and writers began translating and exploring early European folklore. Basile’s tales were translated and integrated into 19th-century literary culture. Artists and writers became fascinated by older, darker fairy tales, which influenced the Aesthetic and Pre-Raphaelite movements, particularly in their portrayal of melancholic heroines.
The Qujialing Culture is a significant cultural heritage of the late Neolithic period in China, primarily distributed in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Renowned for its distinctive pottery, agricultural production techniques, and settlement sites, it reflects the state of development of the agricultural society at that time. The favorable natural conditions of the Yangtze River basin provided the necessary foundation for the development of primitive agriculture in the Qujialing Culture, promoting the advancement of agricultural technology and socio-economic prosperity in the region. It was precisely the nourishment of the Yangtze River that led to the flourishing and splendor of the Qujialing Culture. This article combines archaeological and historical research methods to explore how the Qujialing Culture ushered in the early civilization of the middle Yangtze River region, providing the material foundation for social progress during the late Neolithic period in the area. It also demonstrates that the cultivation of rice, the diversification of production tools, and the emergence of settled life signaled the maturity of the agricultural economy, thereby influencing the development of Neolithic cultures in other regions.
Marriage, as a sacrament of communion and consecration of love, requires freely given consent, a principle underscored by Pope Francis.1 This article examines the invalidating impact of force and fear on marriage, arguing that coercion undermines the essential element of consent, and can render marriage invalid. Analysing some pertinent canons and canonical jurisprudence (Can. 1103, 125 §§1-2), it highlights how fear and violence compromise freedom, vitiating the “handing over of oneself” intrinsic to a valid marriage. Exploring the Church’s teaching and jurisprudential praxis, the study aims to empower couples in exercising their freedom to choose life partners, affirming the dignity of marriage as a union of love.
This paper explores the reception and application of Fredric Jameson’s theory of third-world literature in the context of modern and contemporary Chinese novels. Since its first introduction to China in 1985, Fredric Jameson’s theory has undergone a gradual process of dissemination, acceptance, and evaluation. This study provides a concise overview of how Jameson’s concepts, particularly the notion of “national allegory”, “political unconscious”, and “ideological criticism”, have been accepted in their entirety to reinterpret the novels, highlighting both the contributions and limitations of his theoretical framework. It also examines the various stages of Jameson’s influence in China, from initial enthusiasm to critical reflection, and discusses how his ideas have been adapted to the Chinese context. The paper also addresses the critiques of Jameson’s theory, including its Western-centrism, oversimplification of cultural diversity, lacking adaptability and flexibility, prominent ideological perspective, and potential neglect of literary aesthetics. By analyzing these dimensions, the paper aims to offer a balanced assessment of Jameson’s impact on Chinese literary studies and suggest a more nuanced approach for future research, emphasizing the need for a culturally sensitive and interdisciplinary methodology to fully appreciate the complexity of modern and contemporary Chinese novels within the global literary landscape.
Abstract Expressionism, particularly its action painting branch, foregrounds the physical gesture, the energy of the artist’s movement, and the spontaneous interaction of paint. High-temperature color glazed ceramics, by contrast, rely on the unpredictable reaction of metallic oxides, fluxes, and kiln atmosphere to generate rich, flowing surfaces. This paper draws a parallel between the gestural immediacy of Abstract Expressionism and the fluid transformations of high-temperature glazes. By analyzing the work of contemporary ceramic artists who deliberately employ dripping, splashing, and layered pouring of glazes, the study demonstrates how the “controlled accident” of glaze flow can produce an aesthetic of energetic mark-making comparable to Pollock or de Kooning. The paper also explores how the kiln’s fire acts as a co-author, redefining the relationship between artist, material, and chance. The integration of action-painting principles into high-temperature glaze art expands ceramic practice beyond traditional decoration into the realm of expressive abstract art.
