With Marx’s“Fragment on Machines”as the theoretical point of departure, the underlying logic governing the relations between machinery, labor, and capital within the capitalist mode of production is revealed. While machinery propelled a colossal leap in productive forces, under the dominion of capital, it evolved into the materialized form of an exploitation mechanism. It supplanted workers’skills and rhythms, reducing the laboring subject to a mere appendage, thereby precipitating a comprehensive alienation of the labor process, the product of labor, and the human species-being (Gattungswesen). In the era of digital capitalism, the modality of capital control has shifted from material machine systems to virtual architectures centered on data, algorithms, and computing power. Data has emerged as the new means of production, while algorithms have replaced mechanical rhythms as the novel mechanism of labor discipline. By monopolizing platforms and data flows, capital achieves a more covert and flexible form of exploitation. The boundary between labor and non-labor is dissolved; human attention, affect, and behavior are continuously captured and transmuted into sources of value. Consequently, alienation extends from the material realm to the cognitive and spiritual dimensions, manifesting as algorithm-driven behavioral manipulation and the colonization of consciousness. The transition from the“Fragment on Machines”to the“Fragment on data”demonstrates the historical continuity of capital’s exploitation logic, evolving from the explicit to the implicit. Confronting the pervasive penetration of digital capital, it is imperative to be guided by the Marxist spirit of technological critique. We must re-examine the power structures and subjective conditions within data society, seeking intellectual pathways to transcend algorithmic domination and data alienation, ultimately striving for the reunification of technological progress with human emancipation.
In the digital era, platforms have de facto exercised digital power endowed with social coerciveness. The abuse of such power directly infringes upon various legal interests, necessitating effective legal constraints. However, the existing regulatory paradigm, characterized by“strengthening the mid-stream while neglecting the upstream and downstream,”proves inadequate for the comprehensive governance of digital power. Instead, adopting a holistic legal order perspective, regulation should be anchored in mid-stream controls while leveraging upstream mechanisms for prevention and downstream mechanisms for assurance, thereby achieving synergistic governance of digital power. On one hand, the self-regulatory function of platform enterprises should be activated to shape an upstream risk prevention mechanism. This requires platforms to strengthen internal management structures and assume external risk management responsibilities. On the other hand, the cautious regulatory function of criminal law should be harnessed to construct a downstream assurance mechanism. This entails reinterpreting criminal provisions to address direct infringements arising from the abuse of digital power by platforms. Furthermore, guided by the principles of the“Red Flag Rule”and the“Safe Harbor Rule,”criminal law should also regulate indirect aiding and abetting behaviors associated with such abuse.
The“undecidable film”refers to a cinematic form characterized by structural ambiguity and semantic indeterminacy. In recent years, this emerging form has entered mainstream commercial production, giving rise to representative works such as Barbie and Her Story. The undecidable film is not only a product of the film industry’s restructuring and transformation in response to various challenges since the new century but also represents a promising new direction for its future development. However, the emergence of this new form poses significant challenges to film scholarship and criticism. In this context, the research trajectory of“film as thought experiment,”proposed by film theorist Thomas Elsaesser, offers profound theoretical inspiration for analyzing the undecidable film. It is argued that approaching these films as thought experiments allows for a deeper understanding of their function in navigating contemporary cultural contradictions.
Although Confucian ethics and contemporary virtue ethics originate from distinct civilizations separated by vast temporal and spatial distances, significant convergences are observed regarding the establishment of the moral agent, the pathways for cultivating virtue, and the methods for sustaining moral character. Through an examination of“junzi shen du”(the gentleman’s vigilance in solitude) and“agentcenteredness,”it is argued that the junzi (exemplary person) in Confucianism and the virtuous agent in contemporary virtue ethics serve as the foundational moral subjects for their respective theoretical frameworks. The Confucian ideal of“harmonizing the internal and external”and the virtue ethical principle that“character takes precedence over action”are presented as distinct yet complementary approaches to moral cultivation. In both traditions, the necessity for inner qualities to manifest outwardly“( formed within, expressed without”) is emphasized, with priority given to internal disposition and self-cultivation. Furthermore, gongfu (selfcultivation practices) in Confucianism and phronesis (practical wisdom) in contemporary virtue ethics are identified as the respective strategies for nurturing and sustaining virtue. The importance of the agent’s practical engagement and spiritual refinement, as well as the indispensable role of virtue or character in guiding concrete actions, is underscored by both systems. While these profound convergences are highlighted, subtle yet meaningful distinctions between the two ethical traditions are also acknowledged.
The socialization approach in International Chinese Language Education (ICLE) represents an inevitable strategic response to the disparity between the surging global demand and domestic supply constraints. The systemic risks and challenges faced by different agents during its advancement serve as the core motivations for constructing a four-dimensional dynamic model and practical pathways. Through theoretical construction, risk analysis, model design, and pathway optimization, this study yields the following conclusions: First, a robust theoretical framework is established, grounded in Public Goods Theory,
Collaborative Governance Theory, and Ecosystem Theory. Second, an analysis of the systemic risks facing ICLE and the transformation dilemmas faced by various stakeholders provides critical directional guidance for practical implementation. Third, a four-dimensional Dynamic Relationship Model encompassing the “Government-Universities-Social Forces-Learners”is constructed. This model facilitates the complementary advantages and dynamic adaptation of the three core mechanisms, offering a framework-level directive for the socialization of ICLE. Finally, when universities, social forces, the government, and academic experts respectively transform into distinct empowering agents, they can effectively synergize to advance socialization, thereby resolving the challenges and mitigating the risks currently confronting ICLE.
The external dimension of Chinese modernization is characterized by its commitment to“the path of peaceful development,”engaging with international law as an emerging power through a two-fold interaction in the process of development. On the one hand, the rise of emerging powers has challenged the hegemonic status of traditional great powers, destabilizing the established international political and economic order. On the other hand, the motivation and capacity of emerging powers to advance international law have come under scrutiny, highlighting the need to move beyond both the great power-dominated model and the predicament of fragmented development. With the sustained enhancement of their national strength and international influence, emerging powers represented by China have acquired greater voice in the construction of international order through legal, institutional, and systemic participation and innovation, consistently providing public goods to the international community and promoting the democratization of the international order. Chinese modernization transcends the paradigm of international law of great powers embedded in the traditional Western path to modernization, propelling international law toward a more equitable and reasonable direction.
“The control and constraint of state power through law”constitutes the broadest concept of the rule of law. The general significance of the modernization of the rule of law is that both individuals and the state in modern society are bound by law, requiring their actions to be legally compliant. As a manifestation of this trend, the Chinese modernization of the rule of law inevitably shares common characteristics with global models while exhibiting its own unique traits: namely, the Party leadership and the running of the country by the people. In its historical process, the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation serves as both the driving force and the ultimate goal. The Chinese modernization of the rule of law is grounded in a socialist society with Chinese characteristics
and upholds the unity between the Party leadership, the running of the country by the people, and law-based governance. The CPC leadership is the defining feature of this model. In the process of Chinese modernization of the rule of law, it is necessary to strike a balance between leveraging indigenous legal-cultural resources and drawing upon beneficial foreign legal achievements, which is the key to progressively approaching the ideal state of the universal rule of law as a rational concept.
While practical experience in aesthetic education may offer valuable feedback to aesthetics, the more crucial relationship lies in the enlightening and guiding intellectual force that aesthetics, as the foundational theory of aesthetic education, provides to both the understanding and practice of aesthetic education. It is essential to explore the theoretical connection between aesthetics and aesthetic education through methods such as logical analysis, categorization of intellectual resources, and cross-disciplinary analogies. Aesthetics contributes to aesthetic education in several key ways: it furnishes fundamental theoretical resources; it offers special analogical methods to strengthen the adaptability and validity of aesthetic judgments by means of cross-boundary insights between aesthetics and aesthetic education, among different aesthetic fields, and between aesthetic categories and educational practices; it provides feasible means of communication for aesthetic appreciation through metalinguistic discourse symbols and phenomenological analogies; and it opens up a broad cognitive space. Ultimately, aesthetics will assist aesthetic education throughout various practical processes in promoting and realizing the mind-body integrated personality growth of students as aesthetic beings.
