Table of Content

15 January 2026, Volume 43 Issue 1

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On the Legal Governance of Digital Ethics

PENG Chengxin

2026, 43(1):  1-14. 

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The fundamental values of offline and digital societies are aligned. Ethical risks in the digital society ultimately stem from the violation of universal ethics that respect equality and freedom of personality. If the guiding role of basic ethics is neglected, digital jurisprudence will lack a legitimate foundation; without the safeguard of legal institutions, digital ethics cannot be effectively implemented. Based on the incommensurability of personality and property, the legitimate externalization of the property value of personal information constitutes the premise of data rights determination. Under this premise, data rights should not blindly adhere to the ideal state of predetermined ownership. Instead, a system should be established that comprehensively considers respecting the labor contributions of data processors, improving data utilization efficiency, and balancing justice in data benefit distribution, thereby establishing a more refined system for data rights determination. To regulate the risks associated with digital technology applications, “beneficence”should be incorporated into legislative purposes, along with ensuring that the means of applying digital technologies are “trustworthy.”This means developers or applicators must disclose and explain their algorithms and potential impacts on the rights and interests of relevant subjects. The essence of digital social ethics ultimately lies in natural humanity, and the rule of law in digital ethics aims to cultivate humanity’s capacity for the pursuit of the good.


On the Nature of the Company: An Analysis from Semantics to Function

LUO Peixin

2026, 43(1):  15-28. 

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The company is merely a form of organization; it is not necessarily a for-profit legal entity, nor does it invariably imply limited liability for its investors. China could draw upon UK legislative experience to diversify its corporate forms by permitting the establishment of charitable companies, community interest companies, and other varieties. From an economic perspective, a company is“a nexus of contracts”composed of express and implied contracts that define rights and obligations among various participants, with the aim of internalizing transaction costs. However, the separation of ownership and control generates agency costs. To address the problem, the institutional design of corporate law and the establishment of mandatory rules should be benchmarked against the necessity of reducing these agency costs. There is no necessity to constrict the scope of authority delegated by the shareholders’meeting, nor is it appropriate to transform the enabling rules regarding the appointment of directors into mandatory legal norms. Common law jurisdictions, adapting to the evolution of commercial activities, have refrained from providing a precise definition of“the company”to avoid self-imposed limitations that might shackle the development of commercial organizations. Similarly, China’s Company Law only delineates the scope of its application without strictly defining the concept of the company itself, a stance that serves as a strong embodiment of scientific legislation. Limited liability, acting as the cornerstone of the modern corporation, has had its utility specifically demonstrated within economic theory.  


An Analysis of the Fundamental Principles of Foreign-Related Rule of Law

HE Zhipeng

2026, 43(1):  29-45. 

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The strategic planning for the foreign-related rule of law, along with the mandate to synergistically advance both domestic and foreign-related rule of law, sets forth clearer objectives and more meticulous requirements for all areas of legal practice, aspects of legal scholarship, and components of legal education. To achieve these objectives, it is essential to define the fundamental principles of foreign-related rule of law, which serve as high-level precepts and a guiding philosophy. In the current context, the development of foreign-related rule of law must uphold the Party’s leadership as its foundational soul, adhere to a people-centered approach to meet people’s aspirations for a better life, construct a framework for a dynamic balance between security and development, create a paradigm that appropriately integrates cooperation and struggle, and promote an organic synergy between the overall domestic and international situations. In the planning and implementation of all work, these principles must be established as legislative guidelines. They should permeate all subjects and stages of foreign-related legal activities, serve as the basis for interpreting relevant laws and regulations, be applied to address legal loopholes, enrich legal theory and knowledge systems, and guide participation in global governance and adherence to the international rule of law. The implementation of these principles will effectively safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests, contributing to the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.


From Hand-Painted Production to Technologically-Generated Creation: A Media Archaeological Exploration of the Digitalization Process of Chinese Animation

ZHANG Xuexin , REN Ziyu

2026, 43(1):  46-62. 

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The century-long exploration of Chinese animation is essentially a history of technological evolution guided by cultural coordinates. From the Wan brothers’experiments in localizing celluloid animation to the contemporary advancements in Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC)-powered intelligent creation, Chinese animators have constructed a unique animation language system through the dialectical development of“learning from foreign strengths”and“upholding cultural integrity.”Throughout this century- spanning journey, Chinese animation has advanced under the dual impetus of“instrumental rationality”and “value rationality.”While technological innovation has shaped national aesthetics, cultural subjectivity faces new challenges in the realm of digital simulacra. In the era of digital intelligence, maintaining creative autonomy and cultural roots has become a core issue for the future of Chinese animation. This article, from the perspective of media archaeology, reveals the cultural logic behind these technological iterations and offers insights into constructing a new animation paradigm for the modern era that combines technological autonomy with cultural subjectivity.


From Secondary Text to Composite Text: Re-examining the Genre Boundaries and Cultural Attributes of Contemporary Film Posters

MA Rui , YANG Me

2026, 43(1):  63-73. 

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Within the genealogy of visual communication media, film poster holds a unique position defined by its distinct textual attributes and functions. Traditionally, the film poster functioned as a secondary text. Its creation involved using graphic design to construct a cross-media signifying system, which took the film proper as its primary text and the poster as its vehicle. However, with the maturation of the digital communication ecosystem, visual communication has evolved into a symbiotic cross-media modality characterized by topic-centered aggregation, multi-platform dissemination, and online-offline synergy. Situated within this new ecosystem, the film poster is undergoing a significant transformation in both its production methods and textual form. Drawing upon a dual frame of reference—the historical trajectory of the film poster and the evolution of media technology—we argue that the contemporary film poster is increasingly taking on the form of a composite text, integrating multi-agent collaboration, multimedia convergence, multi- functional consolidation, and expressive diversity. Its objective is to create an open discursive space with complex cultural functions that can effectively convey film information by leveraging visual perception and shared topics as a nexus to actively incorporate audience participation.


Cognitive Colonization by Generative Search Engines: Governance Recommendations

CHENG Sumei, Biligeya Baiheitiya

2026, 43(1):  74-85. 

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Generative search engines shift the way humans access information from the traditional retrieval-filtering approach to a“Q&A-generation”model. This will not only bring about a transformation in Internet infrastructure and the human cognitive paradigm but also cause users to slide along the cognitive track laid down by algorithms, potentially succumbing to cognitive colonization. This type of cognitive“outsourcing” is likely to lead to“thinking alienation”or even“cognitive alienation.”Generative search engines utilize Large Language Models (LLMs) as mediators to generate answers. However, the inherent defects of LLMs—such as “poisoned”training data and“model hallucinations”—will aggravate information pollution, homogenize information sources, proliferate misinformation, damage the information ecology, and lead to fragmented infringement. Consequently, answers generated by large models are not always objective or trustworthy, and knowledge colonization can, in turn, exacerbate security and ethical risks. To mitigate these risks, beyond establishing higher ethical requirements for enterprises and users, it is essential to build an integrated governance model encompassing four dimensions: technology, institutions, the market, and human values. This will ensure that generative search engines become the Promethean fire of human cognition, rather than a new form of cave captivity.


The Construction of Embodied AI Bodies

DONG Chunyu, WANG Yifan

2026, 43(1):  86-96. 

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Embodiment in Artificial Intelligence (AI) fundamentally differs from human embodied cognition. Human cognition is grounded in the sensory-motor system of a biological body, forming a holistic entity that integrates consciousness, emotion, and action. In contrast, machine embodiment is achieved through the functional coupling of a physical carrier and an algorithmic model. A comparative analysis reveals that while AI cannot replicate the biological properties inherent to human cognition, it can simulate a functional“mind- body relationship”by creating an artificial perception-action loop. Nevertheless, the construction of effective machine bodies faces three primary challenges: morphological complexity, control complexity, and evolvability. Future research should therefore focus on resolving these fundamental issues by investigating the balanced interaction among the machine’s body, its information processing system, and the external environment to chart a clear path forward for machine-body engineering.


The Path of Empowering Common Prosperity with Chinese Characteristics: Theoretical Framework and Quantitative Methods

HUANG Xianhai , ZHU Jiachun , SONG Xueyin , WANG Yi

2026, 43(1):  97-113. 

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Common prosperity is a global challenge that hinges on the organic unity of growth and sharing,as well as fairness and efficiency. This article proposes a theory of“empowering common prosperity”with Chinese characteristics, which centers on impartially empowering economic entities with development opportunities and capabilities. This theoretical framework operates at three levels: First, income growth and distribution gaps, though widely discussed, are merely surface-level outcomes. Second, the vertical growth and horizontal distribution of human capital act as intermediate drivers determining the level and evolution of common prosperity. Third, high-quality and inclusive public services that foster conditions for human capital development constitute the underlying foundation. Such services exert a dual effect: increasing the aggregate value of societal human capital and optimizing its distribution. Furthermore, this study constructs a quantitative evaluation system for empowering common prosperity by leveraging high-fidelity big data and integrating methods such as machine learning and trajectory analysis.


Manufacturing Digital Intelligence, Industrial Scale, and Global Value Chain Position — A Study on Developing Countries

HUANG Yejing , LI Jinming

2026, 43(1):  114-135. 

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The development of digital and intelligent technologies has profoundly reshaped the Global Value Chain (GVC) positions of manufacturing industries across countries. This study investigates the role of industrial scale in this process, integrating industrial competitiveness analysis with GVC theory. Building on the GVC location configuration model as the theoretical foundation, the research employs OECD ICIO database data from 39 developing countries across 17 manufacturing sectors. By distinguishing between intermediate and final products, the empirical analysis reveals that digital and intelligent inputs significantly influence developing countries’GVC positions. Industrial scale exerts a moderating effect through two channels: improvement in total factor productivity and reduction in trade costs. Specifically, the scale of intermediate goods production (production-side) amplifies the positive impact of digital and intelligent inputs on intermediate product GVC positions, while the scale of final goods consumption (consumption-side) weakens the negative effect of digital and intelligent inputs on final product GVC positions. This study provides theoretical insights for developing countries to enhance their GVC positions amid digital innovation-driven growth paradigms.


The Impact of BRI on the Financing Structure of Chinese Enterprises

WANG Zhuquan , JI Dingyun

2026, 43(1):  136-154. 

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The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has explicitly emphasized the high-quality joint development of the“Belt and Road Initiative”(BRI). Against the backdrop of profound adjustments in the global economic landscape and rising external uncertainties, the 15th Five-Year Plan period presents both risks and opportunities for corporate outbound investment. This study examines the impact mechanism of the BRI on corporate financing structures. Based on a sample of China’s A- share listed companies from 2008 to 2024, the empirical analysis employs a Difference-in-Differences model across single and multiple time points. The findings indicate that the BRI significantly reduces the proportion of debt financing among participating enterprises. This effect is particularly pronounced in non-infrastructure industries and for firms with high market competitiveness and strong solvency. Further analysis reveals that this impact is achieved through two main pathways: first, by enhancing a firm’s market competitiveness, which optimizes its financing choices, and second, by strengthening government policy support, which improves its financing conditions. The conclusions of this research provide empirical evidence for the micro-level policy effects of the BRI, while also offering a decision-making framework for enterprises to optimize capital structures, mitigate debt risks, and improve their capacity for global resource allocation.