Table of Content

15 March 2014, Volume 31 Issue 2

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Articles

Chinese Films: Global Vision and Cultural Innovation

HUANG Shi-Xian

2014, 31(2):  1-11. 

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 In the past three or five years, as the Chinese film entered a golden age of development in the market of mainland China, the industry has been caught up in a frenzy of GDPworship at the cost of the films′cultural values. GDP is taken as the only benchmark for success and the primary consideration in the film market, which inevitably betrays the essential nature of film as a cultural and art form. This gives rise to a structural crisis in Chinese films and the industry as a whole. In a“postfusion period,”Chinese film communities and the industry should maintain their cultural vitality, foster what is new and culturally positive, cast away the hackneyed and the debased and thus reinvigorate themselves by adopting a proactive global vision and by encouraging innovative initiatives. It is advisable to once again aggregate positive cultural energy from various regions, including mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and overseas Chinese communities. Hence, the national and the modern will meet, and the humanistic spirit of the Chinese people is to be fused with the universal values of all man.
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“High Concept”Movies and China’s blockbusters

ZHOU Hua-Lin

2014, 31(2):  12-21. 

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 In the 21st century, Chinese film production has been increasing year by year, and the box office continues to rise. China has emerged as one of the leading players in the global market of filmmaking, which owes a lot to the domestically produced “blockbusters”. But are they really the panacea that would prevent China's film industry from being completely annexed by Hollywood movies? Based on textual analysis, this paper is to compare“Saving Private Ryan”(1998), a“high concept”Hollywood movie, and China’s blockbuster“Flowers of War”(2011) in terms of aesthetic styles and narrative strategies in the hope of providing some useful insights and reflections on this issue. The paper argues that with Hollywood movies becoming threateningly ambitious and coveting, China’s film industry, if it is to really break into the global film market, has to seriously work out the balance of the local and the global (concerning subject matters and themes) and the simple and the complex (concerning narrative strategies and aesthetic features).
 

Ang Lee’s Reshaping of Life of Pi with Chinese Religious Spirit

FAN Re-En, HUANG Ying

2014, 31(2):  22-29. 

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The English novel Life of Pi exhibits an intertextual borrowing from western religious and literary canons, in terms of its motif, plots and structure. The novel has also inherited from these sources a sense of spiritual uncertainty and an implicit skepticism of religious faith in God or any gods, a skepticism that renders the two storylines—the coexistence of a man and a tiger, and the character’s survival through the practice of cannibalism—highly conflicting and hard to reconcile. As he himself is strongly influenced by traditional Chinese Taoism and Buddhism, Ang Lee has incorporated in his interpretation of the novel and the production of the film a Chinese religious sensitivity to the mutability or nothingness (Xu Kong) of all things in the world. The subtle infusion of the Chinese spirit of“Xu Kong”helps to guide the protagonist through his religious crisis to a comprehension of the higher and greater truth, and hence to his own spiritual redemption. On the textual level, the protagonist’s epiphany also brings together and reconciles, in a subtle way, the two radically conflicting stories in the original text. Hence, the movie achieves unity and organic wholeness through this Chinese perspective.

On the Composition of The Bear and Faulkner’s Ecological Ethics

SHU Zhen-Wu, SHU Xiao-E

2014, 31(2):  30-43. 

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 Noticeably, William Faulkner has reworked many of his earlier published short stories, developing them into longer and more complex pieces, a phenomenon that deserves critical attention. Based on a short story of the same title, the novelette The Bear extensively revises and expands the original and thus achieves much greater thematic significance and depth of meanings. A comparison of the two versions not only sheds light on Faulkner’s creation motives but also reveals how his thoughts change and develop as is evident in the numerous textual differences. In the novelette, Faulkner sees wilderness and civilization in terms of binary opposition, defining one as morally good and the other as negative, and based on this binary pair, he explores possible remedies for racial and ecological crisis in the American South. The novelette fully expresses the author’s profound humanistic concerns and deep reflections on ecological ethics.
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On the Connotation and Reinterpretation of a NeoConfucianDoctrine:“Observing Nature and Understanding the Manifestationsof Its Lifegiving Principle”

WANG Pei-You

2014, 31(2):  44-53. 

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 The doctrine“observing nature and understanding the manifestations of its lifegiving principle”was derived from the cultural tradition of “abstracting forms from nature observing”and has acquired diverse cultural connotations due to its potential as a unifying principle.“Observing”is both a means and an end itself, with its basic essence and function developed from the Confucian instead of Buddhist concept of“observing”. The concepts of “lifegiving”and“manifestations”as well as the whole idea of“observing nature and understanding the manifestations of its lifegiving principle”have gradually emerged and developed in the history of NeoConfucianism. Based on the ideas developed by Shao Yong and Zhou Dunyi, Cheng Hao and his younger brother Cheng Yi, often referred to as“the two Chengs”by later Confucians, offered a more comprehensive treatment of this doctrine, elaborating on its“essence”,“function”and“law”. Zhu Xi concentrated on the essence, function and their relationship and explored the doctrine's implications in a more systematic manner. His philosophical interpretation includes more specific concerns and also introduces a transcendental dimension. Eventually, the NeoConfucian doctrine has acquired important cultural values as it unifies the natural and ethical world in terms of essence and function.
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Textual Criticism on the Compilation and Editions of Wang Shizhen’s Yan Zhou Shan Ren Xu Gao

WEI Hong-Yuan

2014, 31(2):  54-65. 

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 Wang Shizhen, a renowned poet, historian and scholar of the Ming Dynasty, distinguished himself in literature, history, calligraphy, painting, Buddhism and Taosim, studies of inscriptional bronze and stone, and landscape gardening. His works are mostly collected in the history and anthology sections. The Collection from Mountain Villa of Yanzhou, The Four Manuscripts of Yanzhou, and The Sequel to the Manuscript by the Mountain Man of Yanzhou (Pinyin: Yan Zhou Shan Ren Xu Gao) are the most important works in his complete collection. Yan Zhou Shan Ren Xu Gao, the latest one to be blockprinted, has more volumes than any of his other works and enjoys the most prominent position in Wang’s canon. To collate and sort out his complete works, a fundamental undertaking is to investigate the compilation and editions of Wang’s Yan Zhou Shan Ren Xu Gao. Before his death, Wang Shizhen had already put the work in a manuscript form, but was unable to have it blockprinted due to the shortage of money. Later, because of the descendants’neglect, over twenty volumes of the work was lost when it was first inscribed in the 27th year of the Emperor Wanli, or the year of 1599. Fortunately, 11 of the lost volumes were rediscovered and added to the book as the“Fuji”(Attachments). The Yan Zhou Shan Ren Xu Gao has several editions, including the Mingdynasty handcopied edition, the Mingdynasty blockprinted edition, and the Qingdynasty handcopied edition. The Ming dynasty blockprinted edition includes the first printings and later printings. A voluminous work, the Yan Zhou Shan Ren Xu Gao has been compiled by many people and has a complicated edition pedigree; understandably, there exist such errors as repeatedly collected texts, missing texts and erroneous collation.

Problemoriented Research and Integrated Innovation——Overview of the Frontier Issues of Theory of Literature and Art in 2013

TUN Zi-Lin, CHEN Gao-Wen

2014, 31(2):  66-78. 

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 As a branch of literary studies, studies in the theory of literature and art have always been in the vanguard of the theoretic frontier. In the“posttheory”era, researching of the frontier issues of theory of literature and art in 2013 has addressed actual questions in China, effectively“intervened”in the real world, and achieved certain progress or breakthroughs in this field, which all demonstrate the strong momentum for continued development and innovation of literary studies in China.

On Gadamer’s Reflection on the Ontology of Vision

GAO Yan

2014, 31(2):  79-92. 

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The valorization of a single determinacy and the dualistic mode of thinking have made vision a visualized expression of the Western metaphysical tradition. Gadamer deconstructs visual centrism in traditional metaphysics and then constructs an ontology of vision in the tradition of hermeneutics, by which he explores and investigates into the truth of existence. Gadamer interprets visual observation on the basis of how the object affects the existence of the subject in the act of seeing and perceiving, and constructs his ontology of vision through a detailed explication of the concept of“play”. He undermines the subject/object opposition and questions the privileged status of the subject. Thus, in his philosophical system, visual observation turns upon itself and acquires an ontological status. Hence, Gadamer’s ontology of vision might guide the individuals lost in the darkness of the world to a reaffirmation of the autonomous and selfsufficient state of human existence.
 

Promoting Incentive Law Studies and Perfecting China’s Legal System

NI Zheng-Mao

2014, 31(2):  93-102. 

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 The history of law is also a history of human liberation. Human laws are used not only to organize, administrate and punish, but also to stimulate and incite. Unlike western thinkers, ancient Chinese thinkers have always attached great importance to the law’s motivating and inciting power, which is a major difference between western and China’s ancient legal systems. This difference might be in part responsible for China’s role as a leading economic, cultural and military power in the ancient world. Since the modern times, western countries, especially the United States, have all recognized and been benefiting from the inciting power of such laws as the intellectual property right. Looking into the six issues regarding incentive legal culture and promoting incentive law studies will be a crucial step towards perfecting China's legal system.

Online Copyright Infringement: An Empirical Analysis and Judicial Response——An analysis based on 100 online copyright infringement cases

XU Zhi-Jiang

2014, 31(2):  103-115. 

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 An analysis of the 100 online copyright infringement cases reveals that China has steadily intensified punishment on criminal copyright infringements by means of both policy making and legal mechanisms. As demonstrated by these cases, such infringements are diversified. In the judicial practice, emphasis is laid on punishing crime jointly; it is no longer a technical problem to determine whether the use made of a work in any particular case is for commercial purpose; fines are more readily applicable for these infringements; efforts have been made to mitigate punishment. The analysis also shows that there are a number of issues to be addressed. For example, crimes committed by a unit are sometimes overlooked; accessories are seldom punished; and crimes committed in the mobile network largely go unpunished. The paper suggests that efforts should be made to discourage the“campaignstyle justice”and“selective justice”in China’s legal protection of copyright and it also proposes an overall strategy of“positive action”in legislation and“prudent balance”in the judiciary.

Approuches to the Functions of Translation

FU Jing-Min

2014, 31(2):  116-125. 

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 One of the key aspects of translation studies lies in the research of the translation function. Various as translation elements are, the core elements consists of  translation practice, translation theories, and translators. The functions of translation go along translation purposes; translation theory contributes to translation studies as well as other social studies; and the translator exerts his/her function in the conflicts of his/her idiosyncrasies and relevant elements.

A European Perspective on University Teachers’Remuneration: the Cases of Switzerland, Sweden and Finland

WANG Yang-Li, WU Li-Ji-Tu

2014, 31(2):  116-140. 

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An important issue for higher education today is to establish and perfect the university teachers’payment system so as to improve the quality of education and the effectiveness of administration and management in colleges and universities. EHEA/ERA countries have developed different remuneration models in education reform. Switzerland abandoned the traditional rigid pay system which remunerates the employees on the pay scales determined by their respective ranks and the length of time in service and adopted a New Salary System with a payment structure that fosters the development of both organizations and individuals through enhanced market competitiveness and a nurturing work environment as well as organizational culture. To attract, cultivate and retain outstanding teachers, Sweden switched from fixed pay grades to an individualized remuneration system—Swedish Individual Pay Bargaining, which creates a friendly human resource environment for recruiting high quality university teachers. Finnish new UPJ salary system has laid a solid foundation for enhancing the competitiveness and leadership of colleges and universities and accelerating the development of higher education. Although there does not exist a universal model, nor a readymade one, the payment systems and models developed by these countries will be useful for us in regulating remuneration governance, building a highquality faculty team and promoting scientific and technological competitiveness at a global level.