Table of Content

15 September 2013, Volume 30 Issue 5

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Articles

Envisioning the Third Realm of Democracy

2013, 30(5):  1-9. 

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(School of Sociology and Political Science, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444)Abstract： 〖WTBZ] Democracy means not a completed state, but a process with different stages. Democracy is not a perfect system; rather, it is a substitute before we can find a better system. Compared with other alternatives, democracy is still the best we have at present. Most of the countries described as democratic ones are in the second realm of democracy, and some are in the first realm. The third realm of democracy outlined in this article is democracy envisioned from the perspective of future, which is to help promote democratic awareness and speed up the democratic process. The third realm of democracy is characterized by: minimized government and popularization of nongovernmental organizations; the integration of governmental rules and rules for mass behavior, and the complimentary function of public power and private power; the integration of the officials and the people through the obligatory official system; and the spread of democracy within one nation to the whole world where "a public spirit will rule all under the sky".

Introduction to the Strategy of State Building via Innovation

CHANG Xiu-Ze

2013, 30(5):  10-26. 

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China' s longterm development objective is to "build a socialist modernized state that is prosperous, powerful, democratic, highly civilized and harmonious" by 2050. To create "a modernized innovative state" is naturally part of the general objective, a challenging historic undertaking that engages all Chinese people. To achieve this goal, and to meet the two major domestic challenges in the 21st century, namely, changed demand and supply pattern of the labor force, and greater resource and environmental restrictions, China is bound to alter the extensive development strategy. On the other hand, the recent trends of global new technological revolution, globalization in the post financial crisis era as well as a new emphasis on human development also demand changes in state building strategy. This paper proposes innovation as a state building strategy, by which, the author means innovation simultaneously on the levels of the enterprise, industry and the state. As a strategy, innovation functions as a system that involves all these levels. It not only means "independent technology innovation", but also refers to "innovation of systems", including innovation talent system, innovation education system, the property right protection system and other supporting economic systems. What the author proposes is an integrated innovation strategy consisting of "one top," "three crossbeams," and "four pillars" for the purpose of state building.

On the Conceptual change and Cultural Innovation of
China' s Film during the Transitional Period——From the perspectives of industry, art and culture

2013, 30(5):  27-36. 

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After the low tide of the end of last century, China' s film industry has been developing rapidly amidst the pangs of reform as the new century begins. Radical conceptual changes have occurred since China' s reform and opening up. In a sense, the history of China' s film development is also a history of the evolution of film concept. As the film concept transforms, there are also significant changes in the film' s aesthetics, narrative strategy and artistic form. Viewed from a broad perspective that encompasses film industry, film aesthetics and cultural values, this paper looks into the cause and effect of the conceptual changes of China' s film and seeks to understand the complex relationship between these changes and the influence of the Hollywood movies, the purpose of which is to suggest new direction for the development of China' s film industry and cultural innovation of China' s films in a context of radical conceptual changes and cultural diversity.

Contemporary Film and the Revival of Fundamental Social Values:
from Subversion to Reconstruction
——An analysis of Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons and A Chinese Odyssey

2013, 30(5):  37-49. 

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 A Chinese Odyssey and Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons might be seen as the mirror image of China' s social ideology and mass psychology in the 1990s and 2010s respectively. As one of the most renowned cultural event in the 1990s, A Chinese Odyssey triggered a revolution in both the ways of expression and value orientation. It has had a penetrating influence on people' s daily life and changed a whole generation' s way of thinking, their spiritual structure, and attitudes toward life. Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, which was produced 20 years later, tries instead to reconstruct moral values and spiritual belief on the ruins that A Chinese Odyssey has made. The values deconstructed in A Chinese Odyssey have been reaffirmed in this movie. The reversal of value orientation in the two films vividly mirrors the evolution of China' s social psychology in the recent 20 years from deconstruction to construction, from subversion to reconstruction, and from nihilism to a renewed interest in faith.

Rootless Youth Anchored in the Simulacra
——On the type, nature and function of the nostalgic on-line videos

2013, 30(5):  50-67. 

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As the visual culture enters the digital and video era, the "death of film" has become an increasingly contested issue in the field of the international image studies. In response to this ongoing international debate, this research takes as its object of study the "nostalgic videos" which have proliferated in China on the Internet. It begins with an analysis of two types of videos, which employ entirely different methods of visual presentation, namely, "a reworking of the old" and "online new creation". It then analyzes the film characteristic in the videos of picture collection and seeks to clarify how the special space of Internet impacts on the spectator' s indepth participation, reception and memory of video images. Besides, it tries to explain how this "power of focus" penetrates and expands in the online space, and hence evokes "collective memories" and creates a collective nostalgic atmosphere among certain groups of people. In the end, the article examines how the "post80s" generation, who are often under the pressures of modernity and who have no sense of security and belonging, takes nostalgic videos as a reasonable and much needed vehicle for symbolic and emotional consumption. 

The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons (Wen Xin Diao Long)
as a Work of Philosophy (Zi Shu)

2013, 30(5):  68-76. 

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In the Sui Records (Sui Zhi) and the collections afterwards, The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons has been classified in the Literature (Ji) section. Although there are scholars arguing that it belongs to the category of Philosophy (Zi), their voice is too insignificant to challenge the prevailing view due to the immense influence of Sui Records. Notably, "Preface to the Records (Xu Zhi)" and the "Schools of Thought (Zhu Zi)" are highly consistent in their description of the author' s intention and the nature of the book The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons, which forcefully demonstrates that the author Liu Xie has meant it to be a philosophical work. This finding is helpful for us to better understand both the authorial intention and the characteristic of the book.

Reception and Interpretation of Nestorian Culture in the Song and Yuan Dynasties

2013, 30(5):  77-86. 

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The dissemination of Nestorianism in the Song and Yuan dynasties is quite complicated, involving the translation of literature in multiple languages such as syriac, farsi, Sogdian, Uygur, Phags-pa Chinese and Chinese. In the process, there appears what Gadamer describes as the fusion of the horizons, which gives rise to the rich diversity of Nestorian culture in the Yuan Dynasty.

Comparison of the Epitaphs by Wang Wei and Li Shangyin

2013, 30(5):  87-95. 

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 Wang Wei and Li Shangyin, two distinguished poets in Chinese literary history, both excelled in the composition of parallel prose (pian wen), including epitaphs. Their epitaphs are of distinct styles. If Wang’s epitaphs are known for their elegance, Li’s are rhetorically ornate. Their epitaphs are representative of the two epitaph traditions in the Tang Dynasty. However, they also have something in common. The epitaphs written for worldly civil officials are both characterized by elegance and dignified simplicity whereas those for the other-worldly or the Buddhist and Taoist are both smooth and flowery.

On the Sustainable Development Afterwards Legal Evaluation

2013, 30(5):  96-108. 

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Afterwards Legal Evaluation in the environmental & resource law has become our priority action area of Chinese legal system. The necessity is that ,on the one hand, sustainable development itself is a mechanism which needs to explore and continuously improve. On the other hand, the combination of the universal concept and practice of different countries due to the test of practice and timely correction. In China, the Evaluations in various legal fields of sustainable development show that presentation and enforceability of the generally low elements concentrated in the “time element”, “public participation and human rights elements"”and “integrated and interrelated elements”.Three bottlenecks which called the dual purpose, government-led, the basic economic law of our country linked with the sustainable development system and its elements.The current situation of China's sustainable development is as follows: firstly, it is necessary to break through the bottleneck and improve the system; secondly, to grasp the opportunity and to be innovative.The important thing is that to improve legislation, strengthen administrative supervision, and encourage public participation even give their legal rights.

On the Traditional Knowledge Protection Model within the FTA Framework

2013, 30(5):  109-120. 

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Since the international organization is proceeding slowly with the compilation of treaties related to the protection of traditional knowledge on the international level, and it is comparatively easy for two member nations to achieve consensus in the FTA bilateral negotiation, countries with traditional knowledge and inherited resources are inclined to establish the international traditional knowledge protection system through signing FTA. In signing the FTA with Latin-American countries, the three entities, the U.S., China and the EU, take three different stands, namely, objection, negotiation, and active support respectively. In contrast, the Latin-American countries, in signing the FTA with the three countries or regions, have been making steady progress in traditional knowledge protection. The following measures are the foundation and guarantee for the establishment of the FTA strategy: to correctly understand the future strategic significance of the traditional knowledge, to declare sovereignty over the traditional knowledge and inherited resource within the territory, as well as to construct a database of traditional knowledge and complete related domestic legal system.        

Reform of Japan's Procuratorial Review System and
Some Reflections on It

2013, 30(5):  121-127. 

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 The procuratorial review system of Japan was established to prevent the law officer from abusing the nonprosecution right. This system helps to restrain the exertion of the public prosecution right and offer assistance to the victim. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the judiciary in Japan has been further expanding public participation, with the procuratorial review system reform being one of the endeavors. By employing assistant examiner in the procuratorial review committee, and endowing the committee's resolutions with legal force, the system has become more rationally designed.
Key words： 〖WTBZ]the procuratorial review system of Japan; judiciary reform; prosecution right; people supervisor

Media Studies In Context of Postmodernity
——The Inspiration of David Morley’s Media Theory  on China’s Media and Cultural Studies  

2013, 30(5):  128-140. 

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David Morley is one of the representatives of the British Cultural Studies. He inherited the academic tradition of the Birmingham School, insisted on interdisciplinary theoretical path, stressed that the media should be studies In the social and physical context and the communication and culture should be examined from a multidisciplinary perspective of sociology, anthropology and semiotics. In the context of postmodern caused by globalized media, Morley tried to to study the dynamic process of globalization and localization of media consumption in the contemporary culture by ethnography, Exploring issues about crosscultural communication and national identity. Morley' s media theory is great inspiration to open up new perspectives and ideas important for China' s media and cultural studies, not only help us to understand our current age of media and social context better, but also provide interpretive framework and methodology to understand a serious of media phenomenon and solve problems occurred in media development in the process of China' s modernization. So Morley’s theory is of great significance for both China' s media theory studies and media practice.