Table of Content

15 July 2025, Volume 42 Issue 4

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On the Legislative System of Criminal Procedure Principles

WEI Xiaona

2025, 42(4):  1-13. 

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Criminal procedure principles articulate the fundamental requirements underlying the theories and rules of criminal procedure. They serve as the basis for specific rules, procedures, and systems, guiding and regulating both the legislation and the practice of criminal procedure. Therefore, these principles must be observed in both legislative and judicial contexts. Their functions are realized through a systematic framework. An ideal system of criminal procedure principles should be comprehensive, hierarchical, coherent, and abstract. In comparison, China’s current system of criminal procedure principles requires reforms in several respects: introducing the principle of procedural legality, the principle of fair criminal procedure, and the principle of hearing in accordance with the law; deleting the principle of leniency for pleading guilty and accepting punishment; and relocating the provision against compelled self-incrimination to the section of fundamental principles. 





Study on the Judicial Interpretation Mechanism of Party Leadership in Legislation in China

NIE Youlun

2025, 42(4):  14-28. 

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Party leadership in legislation represents the fundamental path and essential guarantee for achieving sound laws and effective governance in China. Its core objective is to transform the propositions of the Communist Party of China into the state’s will, ensuring the implementation of Party policies through the enforcement of state laws. Grounded in the organic integration and flexible application of political, ideological, and organizational leadership, Party leadership in legislation has established a mechanism for policy legalization. Nevertheless, laws inherently possess limitations that prevent them from comprehensively, promptly, and systematically reflecting the full scope of policy intentions. Relying exclusively on policy legalization proves insufficient to ensure policy implementation within the framework of the rule of law. Judicial interpretations, as normative documents with legislative character, can provide judicial organs and other stakeholders with a more precise, targeted, and operationally viable policy framework. These interpretations address the shortcomings of policy legalization across content, timeliness, and systemic aspects, thereby creating a complementary mechanism for Party leadership in legislation. This mechanism primarily functions by standardizing and transforming policies, enhancing policy implementation with practical effectiveness, and facilitating the translation of policies into legal norms. Consequently, it effectively advances the objectives of Party leadership in legislation. Moving forward, the Party’s guidance of judicial interpretation work should be reinforced through improved organizational arrangements, institutional frameworks, and standardized implementation to maximize the mechanism’s potential.

Systematic Reflection and Optimization of China’s Delegated Legislation

WU Siyuan

2025, 42(4):  29-42. 

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Driven by the practical needs of reform and socio-economic development, delegated legislation serves as a secondary adjustment to existing legislative power, and has become a crucial mechanism for balancing the stability of the rule of law with the transformative nature of reforms. Since 1955, when the National People’s Congress (NPC) authorized its Standing Committee to formulate special laws as needed, China’s system of delegated legislation has undergone significant development. The scope of authorization has expanded to include additional entities, such as the State Council, the people’s congresses and their standing committees of provinces and cities that host special economic zones. The 2023 revision of the Legislation Law of the People’s Republic of China was designed to proactively accommodate the needs of comprehensive deepening of reform, clarified relevant issues concerning delegated legislation, and established new forms such as the Regulations  of China Pudong New District and the Hainan Free Trade Port regulations. Overall, delegated legislation in China encompasses three main categories: internal delegation, horizontal delegation, and vertical delegation. To further advance the objectives of deepening reform, it is essential to maximize the practical value of each type, and address the constitutional and legal risks encountered in practice. To systematically optimize the delegated legislation framework, it is necessary to strictly regulate the delegation procedures, appropriately broaden the range of authorized entities, scientifically define the scope of delegation, and improve mechanisms for supervisory oversight. These measures will promote the harmonious integration of the rule of law and reform, thereby enabling legislation to play a more effective guiding and driving role.





Animation and Digital Technology Within Deleuze’s Theoretical Framework

NIE Xinru

2025, 42(4):  43-53. 

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 In his film theory, Gilles Deleuze delved into animation and examined its category and essence in terms of both connotations and extensions, differentiating it from the imagery and motion found in typical films. Despite his distinctive language, his fundamental ideas have not deviated from traditional interpretations of animation. Although animation is a unique form of imagery, Deleuze did not discuss it in detail; instead, he used it metaphorically to illustrate specific situations in film imagery. In Deleuze’s theory of the “fold,” digital technology can serve only as a “method,” rather than as the essence of things.





From Good Acting to Good TV Series: The Lay Theory of Actor Evaluation in the Social Media Era

LIANG Junjian, QI Simiao

2025, 42(4):  54-64. 

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With the changes brought by streaming media to the production and consumption of TV series, ordinary audiences’ evaluations of actors have significantly influenced both the creative and industrial fields. This study focuses on how online audiences in the post-traffic era perceive and express actors’ performances. Through discursive practices such as bullet comments and short reviews, they gradually form a lay theory about “what constitutes acting” and “what makes a good actor.” This includes audiences’ preconceptions of actors’ performance levels and their evaluations of performance details, character depth, and sense of authenticity. These discourses on acting reflect the characteristics of online social interaction and digital culture, explaining and expressing audiences’ understanding of good acting and high-quality TV series. The lay theory of performance evaluation represents the formation of a discursive community among audience groups regarding actor evaluation, fostering a positive environment for creative appraisal and extending the social and cultural influence of TV dramas.





Modern Pygmalion Myth: Prehistory of Simulacra, Virtual Ontology, and Eccentric Anthropology

PAN Jingzhi

2025, 42(4):  65-79. 

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By tracing the prehistory of “simulacra,” Victor Stoichita systematically explores the “virtual effect” (Pygmalion effect) through the cartographic history and philosophical metaphors of the recurring image motif. Drawing upon Jos de Mul’s philosophical analysis of Heidegger’s concept of “Dasein” (i.e., “being in the world”) and Deleuze’s exposition of the virtual as an immanent plane of potentiality, virtual ontology can further be summarized as an ontological feature of “being-potential.” Virtual ontology reflects the classical foundations of simulacra while extending into the realm of virtual (technological) realities characteristic of the era of digital humanities. The modern continuation of the Pygmalion myth, framed by Plessner’s philosophical anthropology, manifests as a plural-centered experiential response whereby humans seek to escape “eccentricity” and compensate for their inherent limitations. By reflecting on the myth of art as a mirror to the myth of technology at the intersection of art history, philosophy, and anthropology, the (post)modernity of the virtual is deconstructed, the art-technology relationship in the virtual genealogy is reevaluated, and human strategies for addressing crises of existence and limitation are revealed.





Fintech Development and the Enhancement of Urban Export Product Quality

DING Yibing, SUN Yining

2025, 42(4):  80-99. 

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The development of financial technology (Fintech), as a crucial channel for empowering the real economy, injects new momentum into the high-quality growth of regional trade. Based on panel data of Chinese cities from 2008 to 2016, this study empirically analyzes the impact and underlying mechanisms of urban Fintech development on the improvement of export product quality. The research finds that Fintech development promotes the upgrading of urban export products by alleviating financing constraints, correcting financial mismatches, enhancing innovation capacity, and stimulating consumer demand. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the positive effect of Fintech on export product quality is more pronounced in cities closer to ports, with higher levels of market integration, and superior commercial credit environments. Moderating effect analysis further indicates that financial regulation integrating effective market mechanisms with proactive government policies helps reinforce the positive role of Fintech in improving urban export product quality. The conclusions underscore the significance of Fintech-driven financial innovation in upgrading export quality in Chinese cities and provide insights into promoting high-quality development of financial services and trade.





Decomposition and Stylized Facts of Value Added in Chinese Urban Manufacturing

HE Shuquan, REN jinxin

2025, 42(4):  100-112. 

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Drawing on city-level multi-regional input-output (MRIO) tables for China, a framework is developed to decompose inter-city manufacturing value added through forward and backward linkages, considering both direct transfers and multi-path flows via national value chains (NVCs). The study analyzes the stylized facts of urban manufacturing development and export capacities. The main findings are as follows: (1) Forward and backward linkages of urban manufacturing value added are mainly realized through domestic value chains, which play a critical role in circulating local value added among cities and facilitating flows between imported intermediates and domestic markets. (2) Municipalities, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and regional central cities function as central hubs for the transfer of city manufacturing value added via the NVC, while coastal cities serve as key gateways connecting urban manufacturing value added to international markets. (3) Flows of manufacturing value added exhibit clear upstream and downstream linkages across the entire industrial chain. (4) Measuring cities' exports by value added more objectively reflects their export capacities, and manufacturing value added exports via the NVC underpin the true export capability of urban manufacturing.





How Digital Inclusive Finance Affects the Value Chain Upgrading of Chinese Small and Micro Enterprises

ZHU Shujin, ZHU Jieyao

2025, 42(4):  113-130. 

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With the rapid development of the digital economy, digital inclusive finance provides an opportunity for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to upgrade their positions in global value chains (GVCs) through its advantages of high coverage, low cost, and high efficiency. Using empirical analysis to test the impact of digital inclusive finance development on MSMEs’ GVC position upgrading and its underlying mechanisms, the results demonstrate that digital inclusive finance significantly promotes the upgrading of MSMEs’ positions in GVCs through three channels: alleviating financing constraints, enhancing human capital, and improving total factor productivity. Furthermore, this impact exhibits significant heterogeneity, with more pronounced promotional effects on labor-intensive enterprises, low-technology enterprises, and enterprises in regions with slower economic development and low export dependency. Meanwhile, digital inclusive finance can enhance regional innovation levels, particularly in non-eastern and inland regions, where the promotional effect is more pronounced. Compared with inter-industry spillover effects, the intra-industry spillover effect of GVC position upgrading strengthens the positive impact of digital inclusive finance on MSMEs’ GVC position upgrading.





Re-examination of Methodological Hermeneutics and Its Contextualized Evaluation—On the Hermeneutics of Betti’s Authorial Intention Reconstruction

LI Jiansheng

2025, 42(4):  131-144. 

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Emilio Betti holds an important position in contemporary Western hermeneutics, and some commentators refer to him and Gadamer as the “two cornerstones of modern hermeneutic philosophy.” In a theoretical landscape dominated by ontological hermeneutics, Betti inherited traditional methodological hermeneutics, challenging ontological hermeneutics by reintroducing methodological requirements into hermeneutics and reaffirming the epistemological and objectivist dimensions of understanding. He emphasized textual autonomy and the reconstruction of authorial intention, resisting the incorporation of beneficial insights from ontological hermeneutics and consequently limiting the creativity and openness of understanding. The question of methodology versus ontology remains one of the most important issues in contemporary hermeneutical debates. Re-evaluating Betti’s hermeneutics within the hermeneutical tradition and contemporary context holds significant theoretical value and importance.





On the Mechanism of “Single-Actor Multi-Role Performance” in Shakespearean Theatre and Its Metatheatre Implications

KANG Jiacheng, ZHOU Tao

2025, 42(4):  145-156. 

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Single-actor multi-role performance—commonly known as role doubling—constitutes a central device in Shakespearean theatre. This paper tracks the mechanism’s genealogy from the “three-actor rule” of ancient Greek tragedy, through its institutionalization in the commercial playhouses of Renaissance England, to its post-modern reinventions, and in doing so charts the functional shifts and conceptual evolution of role doubling across theatrical history. Framing the discussion with Aristotle’s four dramatic components—action, mimesis, catharsis, and language—the study argues that multi-role acting exposes both the intrinsic dynamics of stage performance and an underlying metatheatre logic on four interlocking levels: (1) Classical theories of mimesis furnished the intellectual foundation that enables a single body to embody a plurality of characters. (2) The rise of professional repertory companies in Renaissance England normalized multi-role acting as a routinized form of dramatic action. (3) By foregrounding the constructedness of the stage through rapid role shifts, doubling elicits a dual cathartic response—rational distancing and emotional immersion—thereby fulfilling theatre’s purgative function while accentuating its self-reflexive, metatheatrical essence. (4) Role doubling bridges verbal and non-verbal sign systems, compensating for the inherent indeterminacy of language and enriching the semiotic density of performance. Thus, single-actor multi-role performance not only highlights the performative core of role-play but also illuminates the metatheatre dimension at the heart of dramatic art, offering fresh perspectives on both Shakespearean practice and contemporary performance theory.