Adapting the basic tenets of Marxism to outstanding traditional Chinese culture is a major issue in the current and future development of Marxism in China. This paper attempts to sort out the historical relationship of ‘contradiction’ and ‘adaptation’ between Marxism and traditional Chinese culture in the process of development. It summarizes the basic ideas that have been developed in the academic community concerning the ‘two aspects’ involved with adapting Marxism to the Chinese (...) context and the typical achievements represented by Mao Zedong Thought. The paper also proposes that the challenge of adapting the basic tenets of Marxism and outstanding traditional Chinese culture should continue to focus on comprehensive innovation as the basic principle, prioritize cultural identity as the crucial direction for further progress, and take daily life as the central field of exploration. (shrink)

On one hand, Chinese consumers are well known for conspicuous consumption and the adoption of luxury products and named brands. On the other hand, they also have a bad reputation for buying counterfeit products. Their simultaneous preferences for two contrasting types of product present a paradox that has not been addressed in the literature. This study attempts to present an explanation of this paradox by examining the effects of traditional Chinese cultural values and consumer values on consumers’ (...) deontological judgment of pirated CDs and the amount of social benefits they perceive they gain from them. We interviewed 300 Hong Kong Chinese consumers, and found that face consciousness increased materialism and risk aversion, thereby producing a favorable deontological judgment of pirated CDs. Face consciousness also has a direct effect on the amount of social benefits perceived in pirated CDs. Both favorable deontological judgment and perceived social benefits contributed to a strong intention to buy pirated CDs. The results are discussed in a cultural perspective. (shrink)

Resumo: No processo de desenvolvimento de longo prazo, a cultura tradicional chinesa gradualmente formou características próprias. Ela é conhecida por sua extensa e longa história, que, em certa medida, proporciona um bom ambiente para a sobrevivência e reprodução do povo chinês. A introdução da filosofia marxista na China desempenhou um papel importante no trabalho prático da construção revolucionária do país. Ao mesmo tempo, a comunidade acadêmica explora constantemente o terreno comum entre a filosofia marxista e a cultura tradicional chinesa. Na (...) nova era da construção socialista, é necessário ter uma compreensão aprofundada da cultura tradicional chinesa. A fim de levar a China a realizar o sonho chinês o mais rápido possível e o grande renascimento da nação chinesa, este artigo trata da integração da cultura tradicional chinesa e da filosofia marxista, explorando a nova evolução da sinicização da filosofia marxista no novo período histórico. (shrink)

This article examines the impact of traditional Chinese culture on organ donation from the perspective of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. In each of these cultural systems, it appears that there are some particular sayings or remarks that are often taken in modern Chinese society to be contrary to organ donation, especially cadaveric organ donation. However, this article argues that the central concerns of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism are “great love,” “ren,” and “dao,” which can be reasonably (...) interpreted to support organ donation. The author understands that each cultural system, in order to play its cultural function, must have its central concerns as well as relevant ritual practices (li) that incarnate its religious and ethical commitments. That is, each plays a general cultural role, which influences organ donation in particular not merely through abstract or general ethical principles and teachings, but through a combination of ethical teachings and the forming of particular ritual practices. This article contends that the primary reason Chinese individuals fail to donate sufficient cadaveric organs for transplantation is not because particular remarks or sayings from each of these systems appear to conflict with donation. Neither is it that the central concerns of these systems cannot support cadaveric donation. Rather, it is that modern Chinese individuals have failed to develop and secure relevant ritual practices that support the central concerns of organ transplantation. The article concludes that in order to promote more donations, there is a need to form relevant ritual practices supporting organ donation in conformity with the central concerns of these cultural systems. (shrink)

Today I'll be acting in my capacity as a scientist, in order to evaluate traditional Chinese culture from the perspective of modern cosmology. First let me briefly introduce cosmology.

The basic problem of development is the very concept of it. Since the dawn of modern China development has gone from being seen as nothing to something; more recently, under the guidance of Marxism, the conceptualization of it has fully drawn on experiences and lessons from Western modernization and the quintessence of outstanding traditional Chinese culture, namely ‘zhong he wei yu, an suo sui sheng’ (literally meaning that ‘the world will be set in a proper order (...) and life will be nourished when the condition of the ‘harmonious mean’ is reached, and all beings will fulfill their lives once they get comfortable with their positions’). As a result, the Sinicized Marxist concept of development has formed, which differs from that of the West and takes the being of humans as its core standpoint. The concept of development from the perspective of being emphasizes that being is the basic content of development, regards co-existence as a realistic basis of development, and aims at the pursuit of a happy, well-being life as the ultimate goal. The Sinicized Marxist concept of development is not only of great significance to the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, but also of great value to the development of Marxism and the progress of contemporary mankind. (shrink)

Confucianism has a deep influence on the opinion of value priority in traditional Chinese culture, which consider the value of morality prior to that of utility; the value of moral merit prior to that of intelligent; the value of group prior to that of individuals; the value of peace and safety prior to that of freedom and liberty; the value of harmony prior to that of conflict. This kind of value priority has performed very important and positive (...) functions in Chinese culture, along with certain side-effects. Under the context of globalization, it is possible for the Chinese and Western values to complement each other in fusional harmony. (shrink)

The Daoist culture occupies a very important place within traditional Chinese culture. This Daoist philosophy has also played a key role in the world of Chinese thought and—along with Confucianism and Buddhism—formed one of the three pillars which make up traditional Chinese culture. In the modern world, it still serves a not insignificant role in the development of modern China's spiritual civilization and scientific technology.

The cultural element is the minimum unit of a cultural system. The systematic categorizing, organizing, and retrieval of the traditional Chinese cultural elements are essential prerequisites for the realization of effective extracting and rational utilization, as well as the prerequisite for exploiting the contemporary value of the traditional Chinese culture. To build an objective, integrated, and reliable classification method and a system of traditional Chinese cultural elements, this study takes the text of Taiping (...) Imperial Encyclopedia in Northern Song Dynasty as the primary data source. The unsupervised word segmentation methods are used to detect Out-of-Vocabulary, and then the segmentation results by the THULAC tool with and without custom dictionary are compared. The TF-IDF algorithm is applied to extract the keywords of cultural elements and the Ochiia coefficient is introduced to create complex networks of traditional Chinese cultural elements. After analyzing the topological characteristics of the network, the community detection algorithm is used to identify the topics of cultural elements. Finally, a “Means-Ends” two-dimensional orthogonal classification system is established to categorize the topics. The results showed that the degree distribution in the complex network of Chinese traditional cultural elements is a scale-free network with γ = 2.28. The network shows a structure of community and hierarchy features. The top 12 communities have taken up to 91.77% of the scale of the networks. Those 12 topics of the traditional Chinese cultural elements are circularly distributed in the orthogonal system of cultural elements’ categorization. (shrink)

In recent years, Chinese clothing cultural heritage and knowledge genealogy along the Silk Road have become the research headline attracting public attention. In particular, Kazakh clothing in Northwestern China has become the focus of today's traditional national culture. Kazakh, located at the intersection of the Silk Road, has an important position. The traditional clothing made by various social factors reflects the style and identity integration throughout history in cultures along the Silk Road, taking women's clothing as (...) an example. Kazakh women are good at crafts, which is reflected in their strong grit. They gradually changed their role and traditional values, which has guided their social role. At the same time, it also reflects the awakening of Kazakh women's feminist consciousness to a large extent, and complies with Confucianism, along with the mainstream value of “advanced gender culture” of the world's outstanding civilization achievements. This paper summarizes the form, color, and patterns of Kazakh women's clothing by analyzing the garment, headdress, and footwear in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum, Aksai Kazakh National Museum, and Capital Museum of China. Through the analysis, this paper further probes into the multicultural integration between Kazakh and the regions along the Silk Road and interprets the idea represented by the forms, colors, and patterns in the clothing to promote the inheritance and development of traditional and regional cultures together with ethnic features along the Silk Road. (shrink)

Editor’s: This article by Li Shaolong defines the thought of “being muddled is difficult” as a special feature of the mode of thinking and surviving in Chinese culture. The author argues that the occurrence of the thought of “being muddled is difficult” was a necessity of the development of Chinese culture. According to the author, the core connotation of Nande hutu is not being muddled in a conventional sense, nor is it deference and retreat in a (...) pure sense. Rather, it represents active contemplation and enterprise in society and life, along with the suffering, hesitation, helplessness, and sorrow that comes with it. In a more philosophical sense, the core meaning relates to a deep understanding and identification with human existence and concern with the world. However, in feudal society “muddledness” served as a strategy of survival through mental rest, and the “being muddled is difficult” idea became the embodiment of oppression of human nature by the autocratic feudal monarchy.... (shrink)

A wide-ranging exploration and critical assessment of the work of a major figure in Chinese and comparative philosophy. In this volume, prominent philosophers working in Chinese thought and related areas critically reflect upon the work of Roger T. Ames, one of the most significant contemporary figures working in the field of Chinese philosophy. Through his decades of collaborative work in comparative methodology and cross-cultural interpretation, along with a number of pathbreaking translations of Chinese philosophical texts, Ames (...) has managed to challenge standing paradigms and open fresh avenues of research into the Chinese tradition. His work will be read and studied for years to come. The original essays presented here, which are substantive philosophical contributions in their own right, cover the full range of Ames’s scholarly output. They address methodological questions as well as specific issues in textual interpretation, including ample discussion of Ames’s most recent and provocative contribution: Confucian “role ethics.” In the final section of the book, Ames responds to each essay. The result is a conversation and engagement that both underscores the vitality of his thinking and indicates the directions it may take in the future. Altogether, this work provides a snapshot of a remarkable career—and an invitation to continue reflecting upon its meaning and importance. “This is an outstanding collection, critically and constructively engaging a scholar whose work has shaped the entire field of Chinese philosophy.” — Franklin Perkins, author of Heaven and Earth Are Not Humane: The Problem of Evil in Classical Chinese Philosophy. (shrink)

The current president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel, is an outstanding thinker of our times. He first became famous as a dramatist, then later became a prominent dissident and philosopher; and, following a series of revolutions in Czechoslovakia and other Central European states after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, he was elected president of the Czech Republic, [a post that] he has now [held] for nine years.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the influence of the ancient Chinese philosophy of Taiji on artistic creativity and the development of the internal evolution of artistic culture. Taoist philosophy of nature and Confucian ethics synthesized the philosophical core of the traditional Chinese worldview with its emphasis on the simplicity and naturalness of the world order, and formed the fundamental principles of Taiji. Fundamental to Taiji, the concept of Yin and Yang emphasizes the dual (...) nature of the existence of movement and variability as a balance of opposing forces of development. The Taiji philosophy of dialectical development is supplemented by the idea of ​​the genesis of renewal energy - Qi. The main research method is the method of revitalizing traditional systems on a new intellectual basis. The method of diachronic analysis of the social situation that influenced the development of Chinese neorealism in art was used. As a result of the study, the functional significance of the influence of the principles and philosophical ideas of taiji on the evolution of neorealism is described. Using the example of the work of Chinese neorealist artists Xin Dongwan and Zheng Yi, the authors come to the conclusion that there are three driving factors of artistic motivation for creativity: internal, external and subjective. The basic principles of Taiji philosophy and ethics, such as: the naturalness of change without the use of force (Wu Wei), change as the only constant in the existence of the world and its stability, gentleness - help develop the creative power of renewal. The idea is shown that in the ancient Chinese philosophical heritage, Confucianism and Taoism became two full-fledged directions, functionally complementing each other in explaining differences in cultural, political, philosophical and social environments. (shrink)

Just like the self, sensations and emotions expressed in literature are elusive issues. Necessarily separated from living reality and yet, in a sense, a mirror of it, linguistic coding of bodily feeling and emotional feeling became subject of avid interest among scholars of historical emotion research and the history of mentality in intra- and intercultural perspectives. This volume combines eleven essays with critical discussions concerning the bidirectional network of sense perception and emotion. Exploring the theme from different angles - psychological, (...) medical, and literary - From Skin to Heart highlights the intimate interrelationship between bodily sensations, states of mind, and the emotions from pain, illness, and self-destruction to love-sickness and self-sacrifice in early Chinese poetry and ethics and late imperial lyrics and narrative. The partly descriptive, partly analytical essays are contributions of a new wave of Continental and American sinology that, inspired by cultural studies, discourse analysis, and rhetorical analysis, offers fresh views on body and psyche as locked into and emerging from Chinese primary sources. An appendix provides additional examples of the rich linguistic material referring to phenomena of sense perception and the affective sphere and their interdependence. (shrink)

Although the piano is an instrument with more than three hundred years of history, it has not been in China for a long time. Therefore, in the process of learning to play the piano in China, many Western piano works are often played, but rarely come into contact with Chinese-style piano works. With the development of time, thanks to the relentless search for outstanding Chinese composers, more and more piano works based on ethnic culture and (...) class='Hi'>Chinese style appear. Some of these works are based on the music of national minorities, some are adaptations of Chinese folk songs, and some are borrowed from folk music. "Spring Dance" is a typical work reflecting the culture of the Uighurs living in Xinjiang. The work is melodic, rhythmic, expresses the beautiful nature of Xinjiang, the warm and energetic character of the Uighur people.This article analyzes the "Chinese style" of the "Spring Dance" in the hope that it will serve as a basis for studying piano works with Chinese national flavor. The "Chinese style" in rhythms is not only an imitation of the rhythms of traditional folk instruments, but also an imitation of the peculiarities of the language of Chinese national minorities. Thanks to the study of the "Chinese style" in this work, the author understood more deeply the unique charm of Chinese piano works which will also serve as a guide for the subsequent study of such piano works. (shrink)

As we approach the third millenium we ask what we want to bring forward from the past and what we wish to develop anew. Like planning to begin human life on ...

Contemporary theoretical streams in sinology and modern Chinese philosophy have devoted increasing attention to investigating and comparing the substantial and methodological assumptions of the so-called 'Eastern' and 'Western' traditions. In spite of the complexity of these problems, the most important methodological condition for arriving at some reasonably valid conclusions will undoubtedly be satisfied if we consciously endeavor to preserve the characteristic structural blocks and observe the specific categorical laws of the cultural contexts being discussed. Whenever sinologists speak of (...) class='Hi'>Chinese philosophy, they must inevitably consider the appropriateness of this term. Due to the fact, that the general theory and genuine philosophical aspects of Chinese thought have only rarely been treated by Western scholars, they namely continue to remain quite obscure for the majority of them. Therefore, we must examine the fundamental question (or dilemma) of whether it is possible to speak of traditional Chinese thought as philosophy at all. (shrink)

Ecological consciousness in traditional Chinese culture is a very important thought resource in the process of constructing ‘a postmodern worldview’.

Specific Chinese models for theories of knowledge were premised upon a structurally ordered external reality; since natural (or cosmic) order is organic, it naturally follows the 'flow' of structural patterns and operates in accordance with structural principles that regulate every existence. In this worldview, our mind is also structured in accordance with this all-embracing, but open, organic system. The axioms of our recognition and thought are therefore not arbitrary, but follow this rationally designed structure. The compatibility of both the (...) cosmic and mental structures is the basic precondition that enables humans to perceive and recognize external reality. The present study shows that this paradigm of structural epistemology can already be found in the earliest Chinese theories of knowledge. The introduction of Chinese models and their incorporation into Western discourses fills an important theoretical gap in the Western model of structuralism. This book offers an insight into epistemological systems that arose outside the discourses of the Euro-American tradition. It can thus help us to eliminate and supersede certain culturally conditioned prejudices as to the superiority and omnipresence of Western theoretical models, while demonstrating incontrovertibly that the results of Western discourses are by no means the only force driving theoretical innovation at the present time. (shrink)

Ecological consciousness in traditional Chinese culture is a very important thought resource in the process of constructing ‘a postmodern worldview’.

Every culture has its own taboos. Communication works better when the participants share more assumptions and knowledge about each other (Scollon & Scollon, 2000). However, in many cases, participants realize the existence of the rules associated with taboos only after they have violated them. Those who do not observe these social “rules” might face serious results, such as total embarrassment or, as Saville-Troike (1989) puts it, they may be accused of immorality and face social ostracism. This paper reports that (...) certain verbal and non-verbal taboos among Chinese people centuries ago still affect their language and behavior choices. Two types of Chinese possible taboos in language and behavior are introduced and compared with cultures of the Koreans and Americans: (1) gift-giving taboos which are phonologically linked to the “separation” and “death” in Chinese society, and (2) verbal expressions which are linked to the twelve zodiac-animals in Chinese traditional metaphors. This research paper also tries to answer two questions related to Asian culture and history: (1) whether Koreans share more of these phonologically-linked taboos than Americans do because Korean language has very similar sounds to Chinese; and (2) whether Koreans share with Chinese people more of the zodiac-animal-linked metaphors (i.e., the rat, the bull/cow, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the sheep/lamb, the monkey, the chicken, the dog, and the pig) than Americans do because Korean people also use the same animals as a cycle of every twelve years. Data were collected in two ways: questionnaires and interviews. (shrink)

Under the influence of Western learning, there was a revival in the study of “traditional Chinese learning.” It moved from the “center” to the “edge” after its ideological sanctity was eliminated in modern times. Traditional Chinese learning is still a vital force, however. Traditional Chinese culture emphasizes the productive and social “relationships” and the harmonious “whole,” as well as the Chinese efforts to control their own fate. Traditional Chinese learning revolves (...) around the idea of “human beings,” a vivid manifestation of which is the idea of “benevolence” in Confucianism. If China’s modernization is no more than the transformation and transcendence of the nation under the influence of external forces, traditional Chinese learning would be able—through its inheritance and development of benevolence—to become an important philosophical source for Chinese people. But this can only occur through sufficient awareness of culture and learning. (shrink)

Although the history of adopting the Western Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) concept in China spans less than 20 years, the core principles of CSR are not new and can be legitimately interpreted within traditional Chinese culture. We find that the Western CSR concepts do not adapt well to the Chinese market, because they have rarely defined the primary reason for CSR well, and the etic approach to CSR concepts does not take the Chinese reality and (...) culture into consideration. This article resolves these problems and contributes a new definition of CSR, called here – the Harmony Approach to CSR. Simply, the Chinese harmony approach to CSR means 'respecting nature and loving people'. It is the first time CSR has been defined in relation to Confucian interpersonal harmony and Taoist harmony between man and nature. Conceptually, this definition will broaden our understanding and will fit the characteristics of the Chinese market better. The idea of incorporating cultural contexts into CSR concepts could also contribute to future CSR studies. In business practice, it will help corporations to adopt CSR on their own initiative. The proposed virtues of traditional Chinese wisdom, in particular, will guide corporations to a new way of improving their CSR performance. (shrink)

Resumo: O conceito de ensino superior é o acúmulo e a implicação filosófica da excelente cultura tradicional da China, bem como o espírito humanístico e o pensamento filosófico com características chinesas. No entanto, o conceito atual de ensino superior tem problemas, como o posicionamento de metas imprecisas, a ênfase no ensino teórico, a negligência da prática e a dificuldade de adaptação às necessidades sociais e do mercado. Como resolver esses problemas e promover o conceito de ensino superior, para que brilhe (...) com nova vitalidade, na nova era, é uma questão urgente a ser resolvida neste momento. Portanto, este artigo se concentrou na cultura filosófica tradicional chinesa e explorou a relação interativa entre a cultura filosófica tradicional chinesa e os conceitos de ensino superior. O texto procurou analisar a relação entre a cultura filosófica tradicional chinesa e os conceitos de ensino superior, a partir da perspectiva de sua interação, importância e formas de alcançar a interação. O estudo constatou que a interação entre a cultura filosófica tradicional chinesa e os conceitos de ensino superior é de grande importância, e foi um importante ponto de partida para a reforma educacional demonstrar novas conquistas, na nova era. Com este artigo, espera-se que o estudo da relação interativa entre ambos possa ajudar as pessoas a entenderem melhor o conceito de ensino superior, compreender melhor a importância dos conceitos de ensino superior, na nova era, tanto do ponto de vista do conhecimento quanto do comportamento, e fornecer mais base teórica para a reforma do ensino superior. (shrink)

The current piano curriculum, according to conventional wisdom, is a product of the western music education system, which accords Chinese traditional culture with less importance. Most of the methods and tools used in today's collegiate piano programs are Western-based, often ignoring traditional musical traditions. However, it is widely acknowledged that piano music plays a key role in the culture of music and that it is closely related to traditional culture and art. Examining the (...) impact of Chinese traditional philosophy on collegiate piano instruction and performance is the main objective of the present research. The study makes use of an empirical method by conducting a survey and gathering information using a questionnaire. 174 students from six Chinese institutions participated in the current research. Students were split into two groups as a result of the training methodology. 87 students in the experimental group studied using a previously developed curriculum to advance Chinese traditional music culture, whereas 87 students in the control group took piano lessons using the standard curriculum. We used the student’s t-test and Chi-square test for statistical analysis. Since it demonstrates how traditional Chinese philosophy is successfully promoted in educational contexts, the present study is significant from both an academic and a practical standpoint. (shrink)

The culture of traditional clothing and jewelry is an integral part of the ancient Chinese civilization. Chinese traditional costume is distinguished by its rich content, relevance at any time, as well as its unique features. Traditional clothing was influenced by successive millennial dynasties that brought the chaos of war. Traditional Chinese clothing has not only become the embodiment of the Chinese concepts of "the unity of Heaven and man", "the ritual of (...) respect for nature and harmonious coexistence with nature", but also a visual representation of the cultural characteristics of different dynasties and the level of development of production. Chinese traditional costume carries the thinking of many Chinese philosophical teachings and schools, reflects the clash and synthesis of agrarian and nomadic cultures of different regions of China. The value of culture carried by the Chinese traditional costume goes beyond the costume itself, it reflects both the social hierarchy, and the peculiarities of society management, and the national spirit. In this article, based on the objective and subjective conditions of the formation of the culture of Chinese costume and accessories, on the basis of ornaments, patterns, colors of garments, as well as on the example of the Shenyi robe that violated previous traditions, the features of the embodiment of Chinese traditional cultural values in clothing are considered. (shrink)

The Chinese traditional culture includes three systems of thought: Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism. The first two are Chinese culture, and Buddhism is a foreign religion introduced from India. Although there had been conflicts among the three systems of thoughts, but integration is the mainstream in the development of Chinese cultural thought. Thus, Chinese culture has developed into a system by uniting the three religions into one with Confucianism at the centre supported by (...) Daoism and Buddhism. For over 2,000 years, Buddhism has interacted with all levels of Chinese culture such as literature, philosophy, morality, arts, architecture and religions. As a result, Buddhism has successfully integrated into the traditional Chinese culture and has become one of the three pillars. In this paper, I will discuss the Buddhist impact on Chinese culture from the following four points: (1) philosophy and moral teaching; (2) religions and popular beliefs; (3) language and literature; and (4) art and architecture. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Physiognomy in Ming China: Fortune and the Body by Xing WangWenbin Wang (bio)Physiognomy in Ming China: Fortune and the Body. By Xing Wang. Leiden: Brill, 2020. Pp. x+ 325. Hardcover €114.00, ISBN 978-90-04-42954-3.Physiognomy (xiangshu 相術) as a technique of fortune-telling via the observation of the body has a long history in China and is still a living tradition. As a part of the traditional Chinese technological (...) repertoire of "Techniques and Methods" (fangshu 方術), records of performing physiognomy date back to the Spring and Autumn period (8th-5th centuries B.C.) (p. 31). According to Lisa Raphals, physiognomy was a crucial part of early Chinese philosophical discussion of the body, cosmology and human existence.1 Yet Wang Xing argues that despite its long history, our knowledge of Chinese physiognomy before the Ming dynasty is rather limited due to the small amount of pre-Ming physiognomy manuscripts still in existence. Chinese physiognomy as we know it today is largely based on its predecessors in late imperial China, and it was during the late Ming that most of the well-known extant physiognomy manuals were produced (p. 34). In contrast, the paucity of academic surveys of Ming physiognomy means that when it comes to scholarly examination of Chinese physiognomic texts and academic representation of physiognomic theories, misinterpretation often occurs. Wang is particularly critical of an early academic work on Chinese physiognomy by American anthropologist William Lessa, who made many dubious and broad assertions about the origin and characteristics of Chinese physiognomy (p. 15).2 In this context, Wang's Physiognomy in Ming China: Fortune and the Body is the first monograph in the English-speaking world primarily dedicated to the study of Chinese physiognomy in the Ming dynasty, including its social, textual, intellectual and technological history. It is also the first work in English that comprehensively introduces the history of Chinese physiognomy in early to late imperial China.Wang's investigation of this topic is two-fold. On the one hand he tackles physiognomy manuals and records of physiognomy practice from a historical perspective. Wang uses a very famous Ming physiognomic "encyclopedia," The Compendium of Divine Physiognomy (Shenxiang quanbian 神相全編), as the main text in his discussion of physiognomic knowledge, as well as a large amount of anecdotal writings from the Song to Ming periods. On the other hand, Wang consciously draws links between Chinese physiognomic theories and modern Western philosophical and anthropological debates on the body, symbolism and phenomenology. To push forward this conversation, Wang establishes a unique [End Page 1] framework for interpreting the conceptualization of the body, fortune and the cosmos in Ming physiognomic texts: the "homological" body on which time is "spatialized," discussed further below. It is this second facet of the argument that could most intrigue and inspire scholars of Chinese philosophy like myself. As Marta Hanson comments, Wang's work is an excellent example of how Chinese technical as well as cosmological works could problematize and challenge modern Euro-American academic theorizations of Asian culture and how professional sinological study could contribute to salient modern intellectual debates.3 When reading Wang's book, readers should always bear in mind his intention to bring together Ming physiognomic theories with broader contemporary philosophical discourse.Apart from the introduction, there are seven chapters in the book. The first two chapters serve as the historical section of the discussion (although historical analysis is also an indispensable part of later chapters). Chapter 1 provides readers with an overall background to physiognomy in China, especially its categorization as a form of elite knowledge in traditional catalogues, the development of core physiognomic theories and concepts in relation to traditional Chinese cosmology and medical theories, and the textual history of Ming physiognomy manuals. Beyond providing general information, in my view the author here makes three outstanding points: the first is that what we know as Chinese physiognomy is actually not merely a technique of human body divination, but also a method of predicting human future via observing the whole material world. Wang mentions a very important branch of physiognomy in historical catalogues called "physiognomy of things" (xiangwu 相物) (p. 27), in which anything from a horse... (shrink)

This book discusses issues like the characteristics of Chinese cultural spirit, life wisdom of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, the management wisdom of traditional Chinese culture, features of Chinese philosophy, as well as the definition of guoxue, or Chinese studies. Referring to previous research, the author defines the characteristics of the traditional Chinese cultural spirit as creating harmony amid diversity and viewing the outside world with a broad mind; being vigorous and self-motivated with (...) tenacious vitality; taking benevolence and righteousness as supreme and being independent; considering people as the basis of the nation; thinking systematically and dialectically; and being pragmatic and thrifty. This book is beneficial to studies on cultural awareness, civilization comparison, as well as civilization exchange. (shrink)

After more than 40 years of development, China has established a relatively complete system of lawyers, including laws and regulations, a unified qualification examination, and lawyers associations. Today, there are nearly 600,000 lawyers working in various fields. However, the Communist regime in China has never adopted the so-called Western values of freedom and equality, the guarantee of human rights, and the rule of law, while the socialist ideology emphasizes the obedience of the individual to the collective and to the power (...) of the State, and thus the Communist Party has always emphasized management and control in its attitude toward lawyers. At the same time, because of its consistency with socialist ideology in many aspects, various concepts of traditional Chinese law have been preserved, which allowed a prejudice against lawyers based on traditional Chinese legal culture to persist to this day, to the extent that many Chinese people lack trust in lawyers. Chinese lawyers have no choice but to tactfully try to come to terms with the Communist Party and overcome traditional attitudes and unfavorable publicity against lawyers. (shrink)

This book differentiates between and analyzes the Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist spirit in traditional Chinese aesthetics, explains the core characteristics and methods of traditional Chinese aesthetics, and conveys the author’s overall thinking on the spirit of traditional Chinese aesthetics. Given its scope, the book is of great value in terms of understanding and promoting China’s unique traditional culture.

This book traces the trajectory of traditional Chinese ethics from West Zhou Dynasty through Qing Dynasty and covers a myriad of Chinese philosophers who have expressed their ideas about the relationships between Heavenly Dao vs. Earthly Dao, Good vs. Evil, Morality vs. Legality, Knowledge vs. Behavior, Motive vs. Result, Righteousness vs. Profitability, Rationality vs. Animality. In this book, the readers can find Confucius’s discussion on Rite and Benevolence, Lao Zi’s meditation on Inaction of Great Dao, Zhuang Zi’s (...) elaboration on “Transcendental Freedom”, Mohist utilitarian “Universal Love”, and Mencian theory of “Primordial Good Humanity”, to name just a few phenomenal figures. A compact yet elaborate, panoramic yet profound guidebook to traditional Chinese ethical thought, this book is an excellent window to showcase traditional Chinese mental and spiritual legacy. Composed, translated, and proofread by brilliant scholars, it produces a fluent and coherent English discourse of Chinese morality and ethics, nimbly spinning together the threads of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and other ideological schools with brief references to the historical situation. Consequently, it provides English readers, especially those curious about Chinese psychology and rationality, with thought-provoking and horizon-expanding perspectives, and provides Chinese readers, especially those of philosophy and translation, with a great number of typical and characteristic quotes of archaic Chinese that have never been translated before. Ultimately, it is a fundamental threshold to learning about Chinese people, Chinese culture, Chinese morality, Chinese mentality, Chinese policy, and Chinese diplomacy. (shrink)

Resumen: La concepción estética en la pintura tradicional china es un concepto esencial en el antiguo pensamiento estético chino y sirve como criterio estético supremo perseguido en la creación pictórica clásica. Los artistas utilizan obras únicas para mostrar la concepción estética en la pintura tradicional china, destacando así los rasgos distintivos de la pintura china. Este artículo realiza un análisis genealógico de la concepción artística en la pintura tradicional china y lo combina con símbolos culturales específicos para su interpretación, con (...) el objetivo de desvelar las ideas filosóficas y los conceptos culturales concentrados en la pintura tradicional china. (shrink)

According to many experiments in cross-cultural psychology, East Asians exhibit holistic cognitive style typified by use of resemblance heuristics, field dependence, external sources of causation, intuitive forms of reasoning, and interdependent forms of social thinking. Holistic cognitive style contrasts with analytic cognitive style, which is common to Westerners. Section 1 presents information on the background of Buddhism’s entry into and treatment by China. Section 2 discusses experimental evidence for the representation of holistic cognitive style in contemporary East Asians. Section 3 (...) presents preliminary evidence for the interaction between holistic cognitive style and the history of ideas in China at large. Section 4 analyzes two discussions of the same philosophical problem conducted by Chinese Buddhist philosopher Fazang and Indian Vedic philosopher Shankara. It is provisionally argued that the interpretive strategies displayed by Fazang interact with several components of holistic cognitive style, in contrast with Shankara. Implications are discussed. (shrink)

The article is devoted to the study of the history of theatrical therapy in the no-si ritual drama. It is shown that, in general, the ritual elements of the no-si drama can be used in modern drama therapy. In addition, dramatic therapy, which is implied by the author in this article, is somewhat different from the modern concept of psychodrama, since it covers large areas of the human psyche. The author believes that it is not necessary to completely ignore this (...) complex area of human culture, because regardless of function or form, dramatic therapy is closely related to the shamanic ritual of healing. The formation of the Chinese national drama took place in the context of the historical development of China. Having originated in the most ancient forms of shamanic rituals, the theatrical performance has evolved into a unique stage genre. Along with other earliest theatrical forms such as ancient Greek theater and ancient Indian drama, Chinese opera originated several centuries before our era, but unlike them it has survived to this day almost unchanged. Now Chinese traditional opera occupies an important place in the list of intangible heritage not only of China itself, but also of the whole world. One of the most important milestones in the development of theatrical art in China was the ritual drama "no-si", which today the ritual drama no-si in China is called a real "living fossil", because it is the oldest cultural form that has come down to us through the centuries. Archaic religious rituals, reflected in modern theatrical performances, testify to the mixing and syncretization of various religious traditions, including no-rituals and no-si drama, and modernity. The current generation is successfully modernizing the tradition of its ancestors in accordance with the times, preserving it in the centuries-old cultural memory of its people. (shrink)

중국 전통 ‘禮’ 문화에는 인문정신과 생태균형 사상이 함께 어우러져 하나를 이룬다. ‘禮’ 문화에는 절도와 조절이 있고, 음양의 균형과 조화가 강조되며, 그리고 禮의 구분과 樂의 조화로움은 은연중에 생태 조화의 사상에 부합한다. 그 生生의 덕과 仁愛와 배려의 정신은 사회윤리의 기초이고 중요 내용이며, 우주질서와 생태윤리의 핵심이다. ‘禮’ 문화 가운데의 생태윤리는 소박한 생태의식으로서 인류의 생존 발전 과정의 자연스런 생태윤리의 구현이자, 전통적인 음양사상의 ‘摩’와 ‘蕩’이 서로 어우러지는 변증법적인 사유의 결과이며, 동시에 그 인문 도덕정신이 우주로 확대되어 나가는 필연적인 산물이다. 그러므로 현대적인 관점에서 보더라도 여전히 눈부시게 빛나며 (...) 더욱 소중한 전통이다. (shrink)

It is a common aim of psychologists to construct a definition model with universal cultural applicability for mental health. These models can be divided into two types in terms of definition: One is the negative mental health definition model based on the absence of mental illness symptoms; the other is the definition model of positive mental health based on subjective feelings, such as happiness and social identity. However, neither of these definitions can properly explain Chinese people’s understanding of mental (...) health or how mental health is dealt with in Chinese culture. This paper proposes a Yin–Yang definition model of mental health based on the theory of personality of Confucianism and Taoism. This model not only properly describes the understanding of mental health in traditional Chinese culture, but also explains East Asian psychotherapy and mental health practices in the context of Chinese culture. (shrink)

Chinese nationality has experienced ups and downs in its cultural confidence with the nation’s rise and fall. China has become the world’s second largest economy and its cultural confidence should be enhanced so that China’s soft power will be strengthened too. Chinese cultural confidence can be restored by taking the following three measures: to improve cultural awareness, to understand and rethink traditional Chinese culture deeply and to deal with the relationship between Chinese culture (...) and western culture properly. (shrink)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The Confucian culture, rich in its contents and great in its significance, exerted on the thinking, culture and political life of ancient China immense influences, unparalleled by any other school of thought or culture. Confucian theories on morality and ethics, with 'goodness' as the core and 'rites' as the norm, served as the 'key notes' of the traditional medical ethics of China. The viewpoints of Confucianism on benevolence and material interests, on good and evil, on kindheartedness, (...) and on character cultivation were all inherited by the medical workers and thus became prominent in Chinese traditional medical ethics. Hence, it is clear that the medical profession and Confucianism have long shared common goals in terms of ethics. Influenced by the excellent Confucian thinking and culture, a rather highly-developed system of Chinese traditional medical ethics emerged with a well-defined basic content, and the system has been followed and amended by medical professionals of all generations throughout Chinese history. This system, just to mention briefly, contains concepts such as the need: to attach great importance to the value of life; to do one's best to rescue the dying and to heal the wounded; to show concern to those who suffer from diseases; to practise medicine with honesty; to study medical skills painstakingly; to oppose a careless style of work; to comfort oneself in a dignified manner; to respect local customs and to be polite; to treat patients, noble or humble, equally, and to respect the academic achievements of others, etc. Of course, at the same time, Confucian culture has its own historical and class limitations, which exerted negative influences on traditional medical ethics. Now, if we are to keep up with the development of modern medicine, a serious topic must be addressed. That is how to retain the essence of our traditional medical ethics so as to maintain historic continuity and yet, at the same time, add on the new contents of medical ethics so as to incorporate modern features into our system. Therefore, when trying to reform medical practice in China, we are faced with the urgent need to inherit and promulgate the essence of Confucian ethics--discarding its obsolete concepts--while at the same time building up the new medical ethics that can meet the requirements of the outside world and the future. (shrink)

Universalism can be defined as the belief in the universal application of certain knowledge, world-views and value-views. Universalism has often been confused with Occident-centrism, due to the fact that the latter was used to justify the former, which confused the content of a thought with the social condition that gave rise to the thought. For many years, clarifications of this confusion have been made in sociology of knowledge, relativism and skepticism. Yet, the particularistic conclusion thus reached has led to more (...) confusion, namely, that between the intrinsic criterion for truth and the practical application of thought. China, with its long tradition of Sino-centrism, has recently shown a movement towards particularism, characterized by a search for national and cultural superiority by "returning to the source". In today's academic circles, some particularist themes are taken for granted, and believed to be true, but cannot be proved with rational examination. The particularistic claims to the "self grounded", "self-featured" and "self-located" tradition of Chinese culture jointed with the post-modernism, neo-leftist movement of anti-globalization in the West, are not only harmful in practice, but also impotent in theory. The propaganda against the hegemony of Western discourse should be analyzed with questioning which hegemony and whose discourse. /// 普遍主义是—种相信某些知识、世界观和价值观具有普适性的立场。西方学 者曾经用西方中心论为普遍主义辩护，混淆了思想的内容和产生思想的社会条件这 两个不同的问题，因而遭到来自知识社会学、相对主义和怀疑主义等方面的正当批 评。但是，这些批评所导致的特殊主义，又混淆了真理的内在标准和思想的适用范 围这两个不同的问题。中国自古不乏华夏中心论的传统，现在则有以 "回归起源" 为特点的民族和文化优越感。当今学术界有一些已经习以为常、信以为真的提法， 反映出各种特殊主义观点和立场。与后现代主义和新左派的反全球化主义结合在一 起的关于中国传统文化的 "三本主义" (本位、本色、本土化)主张，不仅在实践上 是有害的，在理论上也是无效的。反"西方话语霸权"的口号，经不起"什么话语、 谁的霸权"的理性推敲。. (shrink)