Henri Mouhot, the French naturalist and explorer is always credited for rediscovering Angkor civilization though he was not the first foreigner to discover Angkor Wat of Cambodia. According to ancient China history, Zhenla (真腊អាណាចក្រចេនឡា) is the ancient name for Cambodia, possibly in a Rajamandala existence—circle of kings which draws the comparison from ancient India emphasizing an otherwise system of kingdom allowing the co-existence of smaller king states physically—as a priori speculated by Oliver William Wolters. The true history of Angkor civilization can be pieced out by Yuan-era diplomat attaché Zhou Daguan’s (Chou Ta Kuan/周达观) Zhenlafengtuji (真腊风土记A Record of Cambodia: The Land and its People or The Customs of Cambodia)—an eye-witnessed, original geographic account of the lives and customs of Cambodians during the Khmer Empire despite at times complacent in deliverance. The rediscovery of Angkor Wat in 1859, the restoration of its glories and popularization across the globe virtually owed ancient Chinese cultural dissemination from the anthropological aspect when Mouhot mistakenly dated Angkor formation to around the same era as Rome. The pivot points of this paper are to reintroduce the cultural contributions and geographic significance of ancient China, including its habitual, faithful recording practice to the ensuing generations through the restoration of Angkor civilization in a situation-inspired approach.
For nearly a century, the composition of classical Chinese poetry had been on the decline, which was caused by the evolution of language and the transformation of education. However, the last decade has seen a rise in classical poetry writing. What most astounds the world is that younger generations have actively joined this writing movement. The objective of this paper is to examine the current phenomenon and the potential factors from the perspective of new liberal arts. Through general observations from students’ works in the composition of Chinese classical poetry, this paper also makes a historical comparison of the education mode between the decline and revival period. The findings indicate that it is information technology that brings back the three-millennia-old artistic form to this new era. The enhancement of information technology has removed the obstacles to accessing poems and has aided the process of writing poems. The revival of classical Chinese poetry composition exerts a far-reaching impact on poetry education in the context of new liberal arts. The results of this paper highlight the necessity of more research in similar areas.
This essay discusses some ancient and medieval examples from Arabic culture, dealing with the task of translating genres that did not exist in the target language. By examining these historical instances, this paper demonstrates that only by adapting innovative techniques can translators translate a genre that has no equivalent in the target language. It shows that the translators must try to enter what Jacques Derrida calls “the protocol of a text” to come closer to grasping the authors’ presuppositions. While it is the responsibility of the translator to choose a suitable method to deal with the challenge of translating a foreign genre, grasping the authors’ presuppositions, understanding the conventions of the target language, and inhabiting the different mansions of the source language are crucial factors in any successful translation. Although bringing the readers to the source language helps them come closer to understand the authors intentions, it can create more complex text for audience unfamiliar with that foreign genre. Finding a similar genre in the target language can be a temporal solution, though it might go against the intentions of the original author.
This paper explores the institutional practices of translating news articles by focusing on ideological representations and editorial guidelines. It also investigates the steps adopted by news translators when transferring news articles with a slight focus on Arabic. The study uses surveys in a form of interviews and questionnaire, which were delivered to a range of journalists and news editors involved in translating news. Their input is qualitatively analysed to find out how translation operates and how ideologies impinge upon translation products in media institutions. The paper enhances our understanding of the role of translators who work within ideologically-driven institutions. In particular, it reveals that the editorial policies of news institutions are not always stated and can at times be hidden. Moreover, a news item can be intentionally altered and news sources can be blurred, so that readers are kept unaware that the target text is a translation from various sources.
This article is concerned with the study of urban spaces, such as cities, suburbs and modes of transportation, and their changing social and political dimensions in Cold War America. To do so, the essay will try to understand how cities and suburbs, post- World War II, evolved in terms of demographic composition and how domestic and foreign policies of the two power blocks impacted this demography. American sociologist, Louis Wirth’s (1996) ideas of expansion of cities and formation of suburbs have been examined against the actual development of American metropolises alongside an exploration of domestic policies, especially those of ‘containment’ and ‘conformity’, and referenced to works of Cold War historians- Robert Genter and Nadel. Having identified the forces governing these spaces, the essay then delves forward to account for the implications of the ‘third space’ in Cold War America. It considers ‘third space’ as a geographic entity, as propounded by historian of urban planning- Edward Soja, and compares the representation of the ‘third space’ in Cold War literary texts to derive its conclusion.
