The Yin/Yang of Pervasive Emotion
(by Michael Slote)
Abstract:By updating and philosophically purifying Chinese classical concepts ofyinandyangas receptivity and impulsion respectively,heart-mind (xin) can be understood as an emotional thing. This renewed or purified notions ofyinandyangcan make us better understand conceptual construction of functioningxin,which will lay the sentimental groundwork forxin,belief,desire,value,moral respect,rationality and irrationality. In this case,the Western concept of mind as well as the standard understanding of belief in the analytic philosophy shall be adjusted in a significant way.
Keywords:concepts ofyinandyang,emotional thing,belief,desire,receptivity,impulsion
Where Is the Starting Point of the Unity of Knowing and Acting in Chinese Ethics:HowIs “Generating” Ethics and Philosophy Possible?
(by LIU Yue-di)
Abstract:“Generating” has three basic connotations,that is,creativity,process and vitality. However,if taking generating as its foundation,“generating” ethics and philosophy has to face three paradoxes:first,its creativity means creating something from something rather than nothing;second,its process is not merely a process but a process with being;third,its vitality stresses cultivation rather than nature. Chinese ethics and philosophy,characterized by “producing” through the unity of knowing and acting,is different from “generating”. Chinese ethics emphasizes “making” instead of “thinking” or “awakening”;it is neither from “rational thinking” of reason nor from perceptual “dispositions”. With its adherence to practice,it goes beyond the contention between “knowing-that” and“knowing-how”.
Keywords:generating,“generating” ethics,Chinese ethics,unity of knowing and acting,knowing-that,knowing-how,to do or not to do
YAN Fu and the Transformation from the Ancient to the Modern in the DiscourseSystem of Confucian Ethics in the Modern Times
(by HU Rui)
Abstract:Since the modern times,China has gradually adopted the modern academic system that is marked by the classification of disciplines. Hence,the traditional ethical discourse is no longer the main “resource of moral knowledge”. While absorbing the Western learning and innovating the tradition,China’s moral transformation has developed both in theoretical construction and social reform. In the evolution from the paradigm of Neo-Confucianist“substance-function” to the paradigm of modern “ethics”,the discourse system of modern Chinese ethics has gradually taken shape. The innovation in concepts,values and methods constitutes the historical backdrop of the moral transformation in modern China. By translating Western works,YAN Fu et el. start the conceptual innovation in the modern ethical discourse so as to build the base of modern ethical system. The re-examination of the “relationship between righteousness (yi) and profit (li)” has initially formed the value system of modern ethics.
Keywords:YAN Fu,Confucian ethics,discourse system,innovation
The Inheritance and Friendship between LU Zheng-xiang and GU Wei-jun
(by TANG Qi-hua)
Abstract:Although both LU Zheng-xiang and GU Wei-jun were outstanding professional diplomats in modern China,they had totally different fortunes in life. LU had experienced the trough period when China had the lowest international status in history and tasted the bitterness in foreign affairs on behalf of a weak nation before he dealt with a great many major diplomatic affairs in the late Qing Dynasty and the early years of the Republic of China. However,keeping a low profile,he bore responsibility and blame with great resilience. In contrast,GU Wei-jun enjoyed great fame and had a legendary life,which witnessed China’s rising in diplomatic affairs and climbing up towards a great power in the world. LU’s experience of participating in international organizations on behalf of China provided an important lesson for GU in modern times. Both of them attached importance to public international laws,spared no efforts to protect the national rights and emphasized the importance of defending Japan in the diplomatic strategy and fought continuously against Japanese diplomats in diplomatic battles. GU was a rare talent in diplomatic affairs,whereas LU represented the features of diplomacy of China as a weak nation in the late Qing Dynasty and the early years of the Republic of China. Their life experiences not only denote the shift from one generation to another,but also demonstrate the complex course and transformation of domestic politics and foreign affairs.
Keywords:LU Zheng-xiang,GU Wei-jun,Paris Peace Conference of 1919,professional diplomats
Gentlemen,Celebrated Scholars,Fighters and Hooligans:The “Civil War” of Scholars and the Conflicts of “Cultural Customs” (1924-1926)
(by XU Ji-lin)
Abstract:During 1924-1926,China witnessed a transitional period between two key historical times from the May 4thPeriod to the National Revolution. Under the stimulus of the drastically changing international environment,waves of discrepancies and conflicts took place in the enlightenment camp. TheModern Reviewcamp andYusicamp formed different cultural “customs” due to their different positions in the academic and cultural circle,and the conflicts between gentlemen and celebrated scholars broke out. Moreover,within theYusicamp,ZHOU Zuo-ren’s disposition of a celebrated scholar and LU Xun’s character of a fighter had subtle differences. Thus,LU united radical youngsters to issue the journal ofMangyuan. The storm school comprised of youngsters in the post May 4thPeriod highlighted the “New Idea of Hooligans”,who attempted to replace the generation of their teachers and master the discourse power. These waves of conflicts provided bad examples for later non-stop “civil war of scholars”.
Keywords:LU Xun,ZHOU Zuo-ren,CHEN Yuan,Modern Review,Yusi,Mangyuan
On Academic Evaluation in the Early Years of the Republic of China:The Failure of Premature System Design
(by ZHANG Jian)
Abstract:The establishment of republicanism aroused huge imagination space among intellectuals. With the idea of academic independence from politics,they asked the government to set up Hanxia Academy following the system of advanced Western countries to conduct academic awards and research. Strangely,the government established the Central Society for academic groups to meet the request of electing senators. Later,scholarship funds,the academic evaluation committee and the academic assessment committee were also set up to conduct academic evaluation. In the situation with no academic foundation at that time,the scholars’ wish of using the power of the government to achieve their academic evaluation goals,the government’s wish of using academic power to complete its political goals,and the government’s wish of starting academic evaluation through institutional design were all part of a premature system design.The fate of failure had been determined from the very beginning.
Keywords:early years of the ROC,academic evaluation,academic independence,premature system design
Language,Discourse and the Dissemination of Chinese Culture
(by HU Jian)
Abstract:Language is a key factor in discourse construction and discourse in turn reflects the application of language. Language has the functions and features such as directiveness,dissemination,description,logics and ethnicity. If these functions or features are ignored in the application,“problematic discourses” may occur. For a long time,a major issue in the dissemination of Chinese culture is:What kind of discourse can be used to persuade the world? Obviously,China has got its unique discourse. The paramount purpose of Chinese discourse is to persuade the world. The key point is in what way or how to use language to persuade the world. Generally,there are two kinds of knowledge in social sciences,that is,local knowledge and universal knowledge. On the one hand,an oriental state has a long-term task of localizing social sciences since universal knowledge mainly comes from the West. On the other hand,local knowledge must be transformed into universal knowledge otherwise it cannot be accepted in the world. The dissemination of Chinese culture is also the process of transforming local knowledge into universal knowledge. For that reason,Chinese discourse must be suitable for dialogues,understandable and acceptable. In addition,we shall also avoid self-obsession,solitariness,paranoid and antagonism so as to master the skill of using replaceable cultural signs to conduct the dialogues and create a sound language environment.
Keywords:language,discourse,dissemination of Chinese culture,local knowledge,universal knowledge
Visual Translation of Chinese Culture: Its Concept, Issues and Case Studies
(by WU Yun & LI Wei)
Abstract: Due to the differences and peculiarities in languages, values and ways of thinking among heterogeneous cultural systems,cultural dilution turns out to be unavoidable when inter-lingual translation is adopted as the sole means for information exchange. This is bad for the communication and dialogue between Chinese culture and other cultures in the world. This paper puts forward the concept of visual translation,analyzes its four core issues,and takes the translation ofThree Thousand Years of Chinese PaintingandThe Ballad of Mulanas examples to describe how original texts are reconstructed via the interplay of words,graphics,images and videos to better the target readers’ understanding of Chinese culture. It reveals the importance of the interaction of multi-semiotic systems to the dissemination of cultural discourse. Meanwhile,this paper also intends to remind the subjects of dissemination that we shall reduce the negative impact of culture dilution to the least extent in order to create dissemination chains that integrate various visual symbols and promote the deep application of the visual translation strategy. In this way,the dissemination of Chinese culture and discourses can be appealing,approachable and suitable for dialogues so as to integrate Chinese culture into the world.
Keywords:Chinese culture,culture dilution,visual translation,interaction of multi-semiotic systems
On Misleading Behaviors in News Report
(by GAN Li-hao)
Abstract:With the rapid development of the Internet and social media,the news industry has always witnessed a type of misleading reports that try to escape the condemnation of the industry and legal punishment. In a “misleading report”,the reporter can correctly understand the objective facts,but consciously uses the true statement in an insincere way to guide the recipient to misunderstand the objective facts in the process of news communication. Making use of the “codebook imbalance” principle in interpersonal communication,this kind of report conducts information manipulation so as to attract readers,persuade readers,and even mislead readers on the premise of not violating the news truth principle. According to Greis’ perspective of cooperative principle,misleading reports can be divided into three categories, that is, violating quantitative principle, violating relevance principle, and violating method principle. “Truth” has always been regarded as the most essential feature of modern journalism,but “misleading reports” show that “sincerity” shall also be an indispensable factor in considering journalistic professionalism.
Keywords:news report,misleading behaviors,cooperation principle,authenticity principle,post-truth
On the Risk Perception in People’s Livelihood and Urban Residents’ Mental Health
(by XU Yan-hui & LAI Dong-peng)
Abstract:As the social risks and people’s mental stress are augmented,mental problems like depression have aroused the attention of the government and society. From the perspective of people’s livelihood,this paper uses the CFPS2016 survey data to explore the impact of risk perception in the field of people’s livelihood on the mental health of urban residents with different social status. There are some relevant findings. First,the risk perception in the field of people’s livelihood has a significant negative impact on urban residents’ mental health,among which education and social security are the most influential. Second,the higher the social status,the higher the degree of residents’ risk perception,and the greater the impact of risk perception on their mental health. Third,although the disparity of mental health among people from different social status is narrowing with the increase of people’s risk perception,the residents in the higher social status still maintain a relatively high level of mental health due to the accumulation effect of income,wealth and other resources. In short,the impact of risk perception presents a new trend of both “stratification” and“de-stratification”. Based on this,some strategic suggestions can be put forward to improve the mental health of urban residents.
Keywords:social status,risk perception,mental health,urban residents
The Vulnerability of Elder People Who Lost Their Only Child during Major Public Health Emergencies:A Survey Based on the COVID-19 Pandemic Control Practice inShanghai
(by XIONG Qiong, LIU Min & SHEN Lin-yun)
Abstract: Examining COVID-19 pandemic control practice based on the theory of “ vulnerability/ antivulnerability”,this paper finds that the despite of the strong support due to fast reaction of Shanghai government and grassroots community,robust health care system and active involvements of various social groups,those elder people who lost their only child still show physical and emotional vulnerability when they rely on medical care,life care and psychological care during this pandemic. For this concern, this paper makes following suggestions. First, the government shall improve relevant laws and policies and ensure their accessibility. Second,we shall actively take advantage of the positive role of communities,empower and activate social organizations,and make full use of professional advantage of social workers. While strengthening the government’s responsibility to guarantee the basic needs,we shall establish the mechanism of the “joint efforts of communities,social organizations and social workers” so as to build a social support network system oriented by social resources supply,enhance the resilience of the elderly who have lost their only child and reduce the vulnerability of those older people during pandemic in the future.
Keywords:COVID-19,the elderly who lost their only child,vulnerability theory,resilience,“joint efforts of communities, social organizations and social workers”
Government’s Purchase of Services and the Standardization of Social Work:A CaseStudy of Three Social Work Organizations in Shanghai
(by HE Xue-song & LIU Li)
Abstract:Social work organizations under technological governance are increasingly administrative. Previous studies focused on the administrationalization of the overall management,but ignored the administrationalization of service management. The case study of three government-funded social work organizations in Shanghai aims to examine how social work organizations interact with the government to form a standard condition in the context of service outsource. The results show that social work organizations have demonstrated a strong trend of standardization,which is reflected in the convergence of management structures,the normalization of targeted purchase of services,and the technicalization of service provision. On the one hand,this has improved the efficiency of social work organizations to better meet the needs of the government. On the other hand,it has brought about challenges related with technical governance:structural inertia,administrative efficiency and multiple management,which affect the professional development of social work.
Keywords:government’s purchase of services,government-funded social work organizations,standardization
Flexible Governance: Informal Relationship-oriented Operation of Grassroots Power and Its Realization Mechanism:A Case Study of the Practice of Petitioning Social Workers in S City
(by WU Tong & HU Jie-ren)
Abstract:High mobility and individualization of relationships has undermined the foundations of China’s social order,and also has posed enormous challenges to grassroots governance. Taking the practice of petitioning social workers in S City as an example,this paper analyzes the operation mode and implementation mechanism of social forces’participating in grassroots governance from the perspective of “informal relationship” reconstruction. The results show that the state is moving from the front to the back in the grassroots governance,mobilizing the emotions of social members and rebuilding social relations through social forces to achieve the goal of governance. Based on this,this paper puts forward the concept of “flexible governance”,and discusses its value,function and possible predicament to bring theoretical base and reflection to effective grassroots governance.
Keywords:flexible governance,informal relationship,grassroots governance
Enclaves and Migrant Workers’ Income:Evidence from CLDS
(by YE Jun-tao)
Abstract:There is still some controversy over the effect of enclaves on migrants’ economic outcome in post literatures. Exploring this issue against the background in China helps to expand domestic demand for the “double circulation” strategy in the post-pandemic era,and also satisfies the essential requirement of the development of new style urbanization. Basing on the data of migrant workers in CLDS (China Laborforce Dynamic Survey) database,this paper conducts empirical research with the endogenous transformation model and tries to make clear the true effect of enclave on migrant worker’s income and its mechanism. The results show that enclaves increase immigrant workers’hourly income by 50.8%. Although enclaves hamper the improvement of local skill of immigrant workers,they gain more spillover of human capital and supporting of social network. Moreover,the positive effect is more evidently in low-middle and high income,male,high-skill and self-employment migrant workers,with social network playing an important role. The findings help to understand better the role of enclaves such as villages and run-down areas in cities in the citizenization of migrant workers. Hence,we shall ameliorate the living conditions of migrant workers and promote their integration in cities,which is significant for policy-making.
Keywords:enclave,migrant workers,income,residential segregation,economic integration
Does the Bubble of Housing Price Inhibit the Fertility Rate Recovery?:On the DynamicCausality between Fertility Rate and Housing Price
(by ZHANG Xi-xi)
Abstract:Population and housing are among the keys to the high quality of economic development and social harmony and progress. By analyzing the dynamic change law of the correlation between fertility rate and housing price,this paper argues that the policy of adjusting the fertility of different groups has more bi-directional policy meaning of the coordinated development of population and economy. This paper selects the data of average housing price and birth rate from 2000 to 2018 with a long-time chain,and uses the rolling window causality test method of boot-splitting sample to test. The results show that the two-way influence of fertility rate and housing price is time-varying. The final effect of fertility rate on housing price depends on the game result of wealth effect and crowding out effect. The rapid rise of housing price has a significant inhibiting effect on fertility rate in a specific period of time. Relevant government departments can take appropriate measures for urban people of childbearing age and rural residents with and without a house,including appropriately relaxing the purchase restrictions for people of childbearing age having a house or the ability to buy a house,granting them preferential loan interest rates and housing reconstruction subsidies. We will build commercial housing with “stable rent” in line with local conditions,and provide rent and purchase discounts for people of childbearing age according to the number of children they have. We shall also improve the flexible homestead allocation mechanism in rural areas to break down fertility barriers.
Keywords:fertility rate,housing price,population,housing,causality test of boots pulling,wealth effect,crowding out