浙江大学学报(人文社会科学版)
Home
|
About Journal
|
|
Instruction
|
|
Subscriptions
|
Contacts Us
|
Back Issues of Onlinefirst
|
|
Chinese
Office
Quick Search
Adv Search
·
Online Submission
·
Manuscript Tracking
·
Peer Review
·
Editor Work
·
Office Work
·
Editor-in-chief
Journal
·
Forthcoming Articles
·
Current Issue
·
Next Issue
·
Archive
·
Advanced Search
·
Archive By Volume
·
Archive By Subject
·
Read Articles
·
Download Articles
·
Email Alert
·
Download
·
Instruction
·
Template
·
Copyright Agreement
More>>
JOURNAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY 2023 Vol.53 Number 7
2023, Vol.53 Num.7
Online: 2023-08-18
Article
Article
5
Wu Xiaobo, Zhang Weiqi, Li Sihan, Zou Tengjian
A Sequential Mediation Model of the Factors Influencing the User Adoption of Robo-advisor: A Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) Perspective
Hot!
In the era of digital economy, a new generation of digital technologies represented by artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data, and blockchain has flourished and gradually developed into an important pillar of the global technology and economy. The effective integration of digital technology and traditional industry is not only a trendy topic in China’s current socio-economic development stage, but also an important issue in academic research. This study mainly focuses on the application of artificial intelligence technology in the financial services sector. The adoption and application of artificial intelligence technology have become the key factors in improving efficiency, convenience, and security. They continuously drive the transformation of economic models, thus becoming a new growth pole in the digital economy. The intelligent investment advisor based on artificial intelligence technology is a typical manifestation of intelligent finance. In the extant research that regards investment tools with artificial intelligence algorithms as the research object, more attention is paid to two aspects: algorithm model and data analysis, as well as investment risk analysis. While continuously promoting technology optimization, the scope of audience is also expanding. Few studies have explored the subjective mechanism and internal driving factors of adoption intention from the perspective of users. This study takes Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as the main theoretical basis and research foundation. According to the three-tier structure of “attitude-intention-behavior” in the TAM framework, we explore in depth the impact of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and trust on user’s attitude, behavior intention, and willingness to adopt Robo-advisor, which has both theoretical contributions and practical implications. We use the method of questionnaire survey in the empirical analysis, with a total of 335 questionnaires distributed and 325 valid samples obtained. Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and trust are taken as our independent variables. The bootstrap method and the hierarchical regression analysis are used to verify the dual mechanism (i.e., attitude, behavior intention) through which the three independent variables ultimately affect users’ adoption willingness. The research conclusions and findings are mainly reflected in the following three aspects. First, the empirical results show that individual investor users’ perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and trust in intelligent investment advisors can significantly improve the user’s attitude for use. In addition, according to the characteristics of Robo-advisors as well as the psychological traits of individual investment users, this study includes trust into exogenous factors, which extend the applicability of TAM models in fields like intelligent financial services. Second, the study finds that individual investor users’ perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and trust in intelligent investment advisors promote user behavior intention by enhancing their attitude for use, which provides an empirical basis for the important mechanism of “exogenous variable-attitude-intention” in the TAM model. Third, this study takes perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and trust as exogenous variables. The empirical results show that individual investor users’ perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and trust in intelligent investment advisors can enhance their attitude for use, thereby enhancing users’ behavior intention, and ultimately increasing users’ willingness to adopt Robo-advisors. These findings provide an important empirical basis for the “attitude-intention-behavior” structure influenced by exogenous variables. They also fill in the research gap that the current micro-research on artificial intelligence technology in the field of financial services is less and incomplete. Overall, from the three perspectives of the service objects of intelligent investment advisors, individual investors participating in the capital market, and policy-making departments, this study puts forward a number of helpful suggestions for the development of the industry. These suggestions can on the one hand foster the beneficial change of the sector by adopting new digital technologies, and on the other hand prevent “pseudo-intelligence” from disrupting the order of the financial service market and better protect the rights and interests of users.
2023 Vol. 53 (7): 5-19 [
Abstract
] (
133
) [
HTML
1KB] [
PDF
969KB] (
432
)
20
Ma Shuzhong, Wu Peng, Pan Gangjian
A Study of the Heterogeneity Effect of Robot Penetration on Urban and Rural Income from the Perspective of Labor Mobility
Hot!
In recent years, China’s working-age population has started to decrease, resulting in a gradual rise in labor costs. To cope with this increase, Chinese companies have widely installed digital technologies such as computers, automated equipment and industrial robots, leading to a shift from the demographic dividend to a technology dividend. Previous studies have suggested that labor will continue to flow from the traditional agricultural sector to the modern industrial sector due to higher wages in the modern economic sector. However, recent statistical data show that while rural labor is still flowing to cities, it is not concentrated in the urban industrial sector, raising questions about the destination of this rural labor force and its relevance to the popularity of robotics.While there is a considerable amount of literature discussing the income distribution effect of labor mobility between urban and rural areas, there is limited research on the impact of digital technologies such as robots and artificial intelligence. As the Chinese economy is divided into urban and rural areas with differences in occupational categories, there is inevitably urban-rural heterogeneity in the impact of robotics on income distribution. To provide clear answers to these questions, this study verifies the difference in the impact of robots on urban and rural wages through empirical tests based on a task-based model framework.The study proposes four propositions. Proposition 1 asserts that robot penetration may facilitate labor mobility from rural to urban areas by increasing the relative wages of manual versus routine tasks. This effect is most pronounced when the labor force flows completely between urban and rural areas, resulting in higher wages for rural labor. However, in cases where labor is completely immobile between urban and rural areas, robot penetration may instead lower rural labor wages. When the labor force flows incompletely between urban and rural areas, the overall impact on wages depends on the relative strength of the aforementioned effects. Proposition 2 posits that the intersectoral transfer of labor within cities may help mitigate the potentially negative impact of robot penetration. Proposition 3 suggests that the impact of robot penetration is primarily evident in urban areas, where it depends on the relative strength of the complementary effect on abstract tasks and the substitution effect on routine tasks. Finally, Proposition 4 predicts that the wages of low-skilled labor in cities are likely to be reduced as a result of robot penetration.The study utilizes data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), and the China Stock Market & Accounting Research Database (CSMAR) to distinguish the difference in the benefit between urban and rural samples and to verify that the difference in coefficients between samples is significant using Fisher’s Permutation Test (FPT). We merge the above three data sets according to the industry and province of the respondents, and the final sample obtained contains 2014, 2016 and 2018.Benchmark regression results show that robot penetration has a significantly negative effect on wages. This result is consistent with the findings observed by Acemoglu et al. (2018) for the United States and Faber et al. (2020) for Mexico, where the substitution effect of robot penetration is larger than the productivity effect. After distinguishing between urban and rural samples, we find that robot penetration has a greater negative impact on urban wages but a non-significant impact on rural wages. This finding remains robust after a series of robustness tests. To mitigate the bias arising from endogeneity, we constructed instrumental variables using the number of robots in the Czech Republic, and the results prove that our findings are robust again. Mechanistic analysis shows that robot penetration facilitates labor flow from rural to urban areas and contributes to higher wages of mobile labor. Furthermore, it allows for labor migration from manufacturing to other service sectors, leading to changes in urban-rural income distribution. While robots replace repetitive labor in manufacturing and create a “crowding-out effect” on low-skilled labor, the mobility of labor across sectors can help alleviate the negative effects of robot penetration.This study contributes to the existing literature by providing a systematic examination of the impact of robot penetration on wages in urban and rural areas of China using individual and household survey data. Additionally, the study provides a theoretical model of the impact of robot penetration on urban and rural wages exploiting the task-based model and uncovers potential mechanisms of robot penetration affecting urban and rural wages from the perspective of cross-regional mobility and cross-sectoral transfers. Contrary to the majority of studies that are pessimistic about the employment substitution effect of robots, this study argues that robot penetration can have a positive effect on rural labor when labor can move adequately between urban and rural areas.
2023 Vol. 53 (7): 20-38 [
Abstract
] (
90
) [
HTML
1KB] [
PDF
1282KB] (
228
)
39
Guo Xiaoming
The Four Transplant Logic of Foreign-aid Comparative Law
Hot!
Since the 1990s, due to the inherent limitations of normative comparison, the lack of value-free functional comparison, and the excessive deconstruction of cultural comparison, modern comparative law has fallen into an academic recession. Criticized for being overly instrumental, utilitarian and fragmented, the comparative legal community has attached more importance to comparative methods than to comparative principles. In the 21st Century, contemporary comparative law has shown substantive changes in research methods, academic purports, discipline orientations, research modals, and leading topics. As a representative frontier field of contemporary comparative law, foreign-aid comparative law rose and fell in the 1960s and 1970s, revived in the 1990s, and is thriving in the contemporary era. By taking an empirical analysis based on the core concept of “legal transplant”, the academic landscape of today’s foreign-aid comparative law can be vividly shown.In terms of the transplant positions, traditional comparative legal scholars tend to hold affirmative, negative, and skeptic attitudes towards legal transplant. In comparison, the optimistic attitudes of foreign-aid comparative legal scholars towards legal transplant can be divided into three positions, including modernization-oriented legal evolution, means-oriented legal instrumentalization, and culture-led legal enlightenment, thus leading to wholesale, retail, customized, and ranking legal transplant strategies respectively.In terms of transplant objects, foreign-aid comparative legal scholars generally prefer to adopt the system theory of law and manage to introduce quantitative legal description on the basis of qualitative legal interpretation. Under the guidance of national legal pluralism, the transplant objects of foreign-aid comparative law mainly include the transplant of legal rules at the substantive and procedural levels, the transplant of legal institutions at the implementation level, and the transplant of legal culture by means of profession-oriented legal education and training.In terms of transplant motivations, foreign-aid comparative legal scholars mostly hold a utilitarian mentality of legal transplant, that is, a self-seclusion strategy of legal development will deprive a country of the opportunity for legal modernization. No matter what type of legal transplant strategy is to be adopted, factors such as efficiency, pressure, investment, and reputation must be taken into consideration. In practice, the transplant motivations are diverse and complex.In terms of transplant standards, foreign-aid comparative legal scholars are gradually concerned about developing internal standards for legal transplant to safeguard the interests of transplant countries from the perspectives of “national domestic needs” and “people’s interests first”, thus avoiding legal colonialism inherent in external standards. At the same time, foreign-aid comparative legal scholars also proceed to put a premium on the social context and demand side of legal transplant by adopting a participant’s perspective.In a nutshell, foreign-aid comparative law is a scholarly field based on rich practice of legal assistance and a countermeasures study strongly driven by the legal assistance industry. Nevertheless, its outstanding practical character cannot guarantee that it can truly establish inclusive comparative principles of law in line with the interests of recipient countries.This article has four intellectual innovations first, situating the study of comparative law in the contemporary scholarly context based on the modern comparative legal tradition, thus revealing one of the most representative academic branches of the contemporary comparative law from the perspective of international legal assistance. Second, fleshing out the conception of legal transplant by integrating institutional export, cultural infiltration, and capacity building together, thus taking reform-oriented legal transplant as the main thread running through the paper. Third, systematically unfolding the scholarly evolution of the foreign-aid comparative law from four perspectives, including transplant positions, transplant objects, transplant motivations, and transplant standards. Fourth, envisioning the academic character of the foreign-aid comparative law, with a special focus on its internal tension between practical character and inclusive character.
2023 Vol. 53 (7): 39-50 [
Abstract
] (
98
) [
HTML
1KB] [
PDF
720KB] (
298
)
51
Wu Jinqun, Liu Huahua
Why Does Administrative Division Adjustment Cause Social Risk?
—
A Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis of 20 Cases
Hot!
Ensuring social stability during administrative division adjustment is a prerequisite for advancing administrative division reform and a long-standing issue of concern in the academia. Focusing on the relationship between administrative division and social stability, we have analyzed the relevant literature on administrative division, social conflict, and maintaining social stability. Our review shows that this literature has overlooked the social risks associated with administrative division adjustment which can offer opportunities for further exploration of the mechanisms of these risks.Based on the analysis framework of “structure-process-result”, this paper constructs an analysis chain of “cultural conflict-power conflict-adjustment type-opinion seeking-scale downgrade-resident change” to analyze systematically the social risk problems of regional adjustment. Firstly, the cultural and power conflicts in the structural dimension have a far-reaching impact on the new regions’ social integration and regional stability. The differences in history, culture, and economic strength between regions lead to structural risks in regional adjustment. Secondly, the adjustment type and opinion solicitation of the process dimension involve procedural justice, information disclosure, and public participation in the process of regional adjustment. The satisfaction of the masses with the above situation determines their attitudes towards regional adjustment and further affects the region’s social stability. Finally, the distributive function of the resident change and the downgrading in the outcome dimension have produced differences in the economic interests and public services among groups, resulting in an uneven distribution of public power, shared resources, and development opportunities among regions, and formed a certain threat to the social stability between areas.Based on the pluralism and concurrency of the outbreak of social protests, we take cultural conflict, power conflict, adjustment type, opinion seeking, scale downgrade, and resident change as conditional variables, and “social risk” as the result variable, then we use the fuzzy set qualitative comparison research method with 20 cases to analyze regional protests in China. We identify the driving paths of “strong adjustment-strong degradation” and “strong adjustment-strong migration” with high social risks, as well as the inhibiting paths of “strong participation-weak migration”, weak adjustment, and strong complementarity. The findings are as follows: (1) Non-opinion solicitation is necessary for high social risk, forming a single-factor path of high social risk. (2) The effects of the six conditions on high/non-high social risk are different, and the causal mechanism of high/non-high social risk is asymmetrical. (3) Multiple paths exist in inducing high/non-high social risk.We further discuss the policy value and practical enlightenment of the above research findings to administrative division reform. Firstly, the single-factor path of high social risk highlights the importance of implementing opinion-soliciting work to orderly implement administrative division adjustment. Secondly, the two-driving paths of high social risk warn that the practice of administrative division should pay special attention to the type of “high level, strong demotion and strong migration” and respect the geographical, emotional identity and local people’s will. Finally, the three paths of non-high social risk provide the direction for optimizing the setting of administrative division and restraining social risk.
2023 Vol. 53 (7): 51-64 [
Abstract
] (
112
) [
HTML
1KB] [
PDF
2526KB] (
222
)
65
Lu Shenghua, Wang Hui
How the Secondary Market Circulation of Industrial Land Improves Efficiency: An Empirical Analysis Based on Industrial Enterprises in City X
Hot!
During the reform of production factors in the market, improving the secondary market for the transaction of construction land use rights has been identified as a key task by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council. However, there is still insufficient quantitative evidence supporting the issue of whether the secondary market can indeed improve the efficiency of industrial land use as theoretically expected. Recognizing the gap in the existing literature, this study aims at exploring the impact of the secondary market on the economic efficiency of industrial land through theoretical analysis and verifying the hypothesis in combination with empirical analysis, with the expectation of providing policy implications for deepening the market-oriented reform of land.Specifically, this paper obtained survey data of industrial enterprises in X city in 2019 through the government of X city in S province. The survey data contains detailed information on finance and land of enterprises, which allows us to discuss how the secondary market circulation of industrial land improves efficiency. The empirical analysis based on the Logit and Probit model shows that enterprises with poor efficiency and weak innovation ability tend to transfer or lease industrial land to enterprises with good efficiency and strong innovation ability. Such a transfer is of great significance in improving the efficiency of land use. On the one hand, for poorly managed or struggling industrial enterprises, transferring out industrial land that cannot be fully utilized can not only effectively avoid the cost caused by idle land but also obtain considerable land transfer income. On the other hand, after companies in the rising stage obtain industrial land, they can effectively alleviate the dilemma they face in terms of land and help companies achieve higher-quality growth. For the overall welfare of the society, the reallocation of land from low-efficiency enterprises to high-efficiency enterprises will undoubtedly improve land use efficiency and land output. This result means that the secondary market circulation of industrial land has achieved a more efficient allocation of land, which is conducive to the improvement of the efficiency of industrial land.Accordingly, the policy implications drawn from this paper are that the government should further improve the secondary market for industrial land to improve the efficiency of land resource allocation and enable high-quality development. At the same time, in the process of improving the secondary market for industrial land, the government should play an active role. First, the government should enact laws and regulations on the secondary market of land at the national level as soon as possible so that land traders and regulatory agencies have laws to follow. Second, it is also necessary for the government to speed up the construction of a land transaction and supervision platform and collect information on the intention of transferring and accepting land from enterprises, which could effectively solve the problems of information asymmetry and moral hazard between both parties in land transactions.
2023 Vol. 53 (7): 65-74 [
Abstract
] (
79
) [
HTML
1KB] [
PDF
882KB] (
305
)
75
Tian Lin, Zhang Shijie
A Study of the Measurement, Spatial Differences and Convergence of Virtual Agglomeration in China
Hot!
With the popularity of a new generation of information technology represented by big data and the Internet of Things, data as the core factor of production has broken through the limits of time and space, and shifted both supply and demand sides and related enterprises from a geographic space to a virtual space, thereby realizing the agglomeration of a complex multi-dimensional space. Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed the importance of developing digital economy, accelerating the promotion of digital industrialization, relying on information technology innovation-driven mode, constantly catalyzing new industries, new formats, new models, and exploring new momentum to promote new development. As an emerging phenomenon and a new discipline, virtual agglomeration paves a new way for factor integration, economic transformation and innovation of industrial ecological chain. However, there is no ready-made and mature development model of the new concept in China, and existing research stays primitively in the phase of theoretical deduction or case studies. Therefore, it is of vital importance to give a reasonable measurement of the level of China’s virtual agglomeration, analyze the operation characteristics of the system and its driving effect on the development and change of production, organization and management, so as to construct a virtual agglomeration academic research system with Chinese characteristics and formulate high-quality development strategies for various regions and industries.Combined with the connotation characteristics of virtual agglomeration and the theory of technological innovation diffusion, this paper puts forward an interactive circular virtual agglomeration operation system composed of four links: investment promotion, absorption and acquisition, upgrade of spatial structure and cumulative cycle. On this basis, this paper constructs a virtual agglomeration index system covering four dimensions: geographical network agglomeration, network agglomeration, talent innovation agglomeration and external resource agglomeration. In addition, entropy weight method is used to measure the virtual agglomeration level of 31 provinces in China from 2014 to 2019; spatial econometric method is used to analyze the temporal and spatial deductive characteristics of the whole country and various regions. It is found that: (1) The development level of virtual agglomeration in China’s provinces generally shows an upward trend, which is characterized by the spatial distribution of “high in the east and low in the west, and the coastal area is better than the inland”. (2) There is a spatial asymmetry pattern in the level of virtual agglomeration. The eastern coastal provinces are mainly concentrated in high-high value agglomeration areas, while the central and western provinces are in low-low value agglomeration areas. (3) There exists an absolute
β
-convergence and conditional
β
-convergence trends of virtual agglomeration in China. The convergence rate is: west>central>east, and each region finally converges to the steady-state level.Based on the above observations, the following policy implications are put forward: (1) Implementation of differentiated development strategy of virtual agglomeration for different regions. Eastern developed regions need to improve the economic effect of virtual agglomeration and accelerate the construction of digital economy. Central and western regions should increase infrastructure construction and preferential policies, clarify the natural resources features, location advantages and functional orientation of cities, promote the coordinated development of “Internet Plus” and other industries, and achieve a highly flat functional pattern of horizontal dislocation development and vertical division and coordination, and thus improve the endogenous virtual agglomeration. (2) Fully understand the unbalanced spatial distribution characteristics of virtual agglomeration. Provinces with low-low value agglomeration areas should avoid falling into the “trap” of low-end path dependence, take the lead in cultivating a number of potential “growth pole” cities, and drive the improvement of virtual agglomeration level in surrounding areas through the superposition of multiple effects such as multiplier effect, dominance effect and polarization diffusion effect. For high-high value agglomeration areas, efforts can be made to transform the “siphon effect” into “radiation effect” through coordinated development among regions, so as to give full play to the “highland role” of high virtual agglomeration provinces. (3) Since the virtual agglomeration operation system is a process of investment promotion, absorption and acquisition, upgrade of spatial structure and cumulative cycle, the formation and development of its pattern is endogenous, and it is impossible to achieve fully balanced development in any region and city. Therefore, under the premise of “spatial justice”, the government should ensure equal development opportunities of vulnerable areas and realize interactive coupling, moderate differences and coordinated development of virtual agglomeration in various regions.
2023 Vol. 53 (7): 75-97 [
Abstract
] (
127
) [
HTML
1KB] [
PDF
4416KB] (
251
)
98
Zhang Kai, Xue Chenyu
Between Ci and History: Xia Chengtao’s Academic Interests and the New Song Learning in Modern China
Hot!
In modern academia, there has been a transformation in the study of history and classics. Promoting the New Song Learning by re-editing the Song history became a collective aspiration among many scholars during the Republic of China. Scholars such as Fang Zhuangyao, Meng Wentong, Liu Xianxin, Fu Sinian, Chen Yinque, Zhang Yinlin, and Jin Yupu successively attempted to re-edit the Song history. At this time, Xia Chengtao, a renowned poet, was wavering between Song Ci studies, the Song history, and Song Learning. The recently published
Complete Diaries of Xia Chengtao
provides a relatively systematic and vivid presentation of Xia Chengtao’s academic career.During the New Culture Movement of the early Republic of China, balancing new knowledge with traditional learning became a focal point in the academic circles. At this time, Xia Chengtao studied and researched history, classics and
Li Xue
. He familiarized himself with the methods of studying the Four Categories of Learning by the Qing Dynasty scholars through self-study, laying a foundation for his study of poetry. In the 1930s, while teaching at Hangchow University, Xia actively discussed the research objectives and methods of studying Song Ci, Song history, and Song Learning with senior colleagues and friends such as Zhang Ertian, Jin Songcen, Liu Yizheng, Huang Yunmei, and Deng Guangming, in order to resolve the conflict between historical and literary studies. In his later years, Xia reflected on his academic career, emphasizing that he had overcome the problem of being “greedy but not proficient” after repeated contemplation, and decided to specialize in the study of poetry based on his interests and accumulation of knowledge. However, the entanglement of classics, history,
Li Xue
, and practical affairs formed Xia’s broad perspective and profound scholarly insight in the study of the Song Ci, and also demonstrated the multiple aspects of the modern New Song Learning. The aim of modern New Song Learning is to fully integrate Chinese and Western, old and new knowledge, guided by
Li Xue
and, using modern literary and historical studies as the backbone, to achieve the modern transformation of Chinese culture. Firstly, in times of national crisis, it was an urgent task for the Song Studies to elucidate
Li Xue
and save people’s hearts and minds. Zhang Ertian emphasized that Song history should focus on distinguishing the relationship between
Li Xue
and the textual research. In order to promote Chinese culture, Xia Chengtao devoted himself to exploring ways in which
Li Xue
is intertwined with historical events, hoping to use his studies for practical purposes and to engage in meaningful academic researches. Secondly, in the context of modern academic and social discourse, historical studies must be the basis. Xia Chengtao adhered to the principle of “studying lyric poetry from historical perspectives” and established a modern system of Ci studies which is centered on poets’ anthologies. Moreover, academic research should have a comprehensive and interconnected perspective, combining both general and specialized knowledge. Through interactions with various scholars and inspired by Zhang Xuecheng’s method of historical analysis, Xia Chengtao gradually developed a plan for re-editing the Song history. His plan primarily focused on chronological events with biographical data as supplementary information, with charts and annotations, and also thematic studies.In modern times, specialized scientific research has become the mainstream trend in academia under the banner of scientific empiricism. Xia Chengtao’s struggles and doubts reflect the difficulties faced by scholars who straddle the past and present. By examining Xia Chengtao’s early academic career and systematically tracing his interactions with other scholars, we can outline the internal mechanisms and academic networks that shaped Xia’s early academic path within the context of the integration of Chinese and Western, old and new knowledge. This not only helps to clarify Xia Chengtao’s academic interests but also reveals the multifaceted nature of modern Song Learning and the Song history research, providing valuable insights for current reflections on Song Learning and Song history from the perspective of specialized scientific research.
2023 Vol. 53 (7): 98-108 [
Abstract
] (
94
) [
HTML
1KB] [
PDF
876KB] (
260
)
109
Yao Yichao
A Study of the Cultural Connotations and Aesthetic Implications of the Emerging Ci Tune Names of the Song Dynasty
Hot!
Song Ci (a new form of poetry in the Tang and Song Dynasties that was sung with accompaniment), a distinct genre of Chinese literature, acts as a crucial conduit reflecting the social, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of the people of that time. As a prominent attribute of Ci, the names of its tunes carry cultural substance and aesthetic implications. The naming norms, thematic distribution, and aesthetic inclination of the emerging tune encompass an array of societal aspects, effectively mirroring unique aesthetic ideologies and spiritual pursuits embodied by the literati of that era. The refinement and re-imagining of tune names notably underscore the evolution of the Ci from a marginal performing art to a powerful vehicle of emotional expression and personal aspiration.Continuing the phonetic structure of the Tang and Five Dynasties, the new tune names created during both the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties prominently feature a concise, rhythmically varied three-syllable form. Beyond this structure, at various junctures in the evolution of the Ci genre, tune names exhibit distinct phonetic characteristics and innovative naming strategies. Starting from the early Northern Song Dynasty, there was a widespread practice of incorporating musical terms into tune names, thereby increasing the syllable count—a trend that persisted through the middle and late periods of the Northern Song Dynasty and well into the Southern Song Dynasty. In the middle and later periods of the Northern Song Dynasty, as Song Ci became more refined, the creation of longer tune names out of the construction of poetic settings gradually increased. By the time of the Southern Song Dynasty, this practice of creating longer tune names had become the mainstream method of naming.According to the original implications of the tune names, they can be classified broadly into nature-related and human affairs-related. By investigating the distribution of these tunes over distinct historical periods, one can gain profound insights into the societal realities and cultural changes of the Tang and Song Dynasties. The nature-related tune names with their succinct imagery, refined aesthetic ambience and rich semantic extensions evolved as a principal type in the tune naming of Song Ci. They have shown unprecedented prosperity in terms of the breadth of image selection and the richness of combinations, demonstrating the depth and breadth of the Song Ci tunes’ integration into the daily life of the Song people.Tune names associated with human affairs, particularly those evoking romantic relationships and banquet gatherings, consistently maintained a substantial creative presence throughout the Tang and Song periods. For the Song Dynasty’s border regions, the tune names of the Ci were predominantly inherited from the compositions of the Tang Dynasty. However, with shifts in geographical territories and political centers, these regional tune names underwent a transformation from a grand, expansive style to a subtle, nuanced portrayal of local customs and sentiments.Beyond tune names that depict romance, the Song Dynasty saw the creation of a substantial number of Ci tunes named after women’s names, makeup and body postures, clothing, and boudoir objects. These feminine tune names have an exquisite charm and reflect subtle and profound observations and representations of things, serving as a significant representation of the delicate elegance of Song Ci. The creation of tune names of different festivals and occasions of a year during the Song Dynasty is a product of its festive customs, adding an embellishment to the prosperity of the Song era and conveying an atmosphere of peace and tranquility.The inherent aesthetic value of Ci tune names encompasses both the elegance of the mundane and the allure of poetic sceneries, resonating with popular tastes and preferences. The occasions of the use of Ci, the content delivered through emotional expression, and audience preferences contribute to its essential aesthetic traits of populism, colloquialism, lightness, and sensuality. With the literati’s increased engagement with Ci, they took a particular interest in tune names, creating longer tune names that encapsulate more comprehensive poetic meanings and allusion-rich tune names that reflect the literati’s preference for elegance. The refinement and revision of tune names is a practice undertaken by the literati, either deliberately or based on their own aesthetic habits, to enhance the quality of Ci. The creating of new tune names by poets sometimes seeks to align the tune names with the Ci works themselves, returning to the theme for inspiration to serve the purpose of expressing emotions and sentiments. This practice also represents a variant in the process of Ci refinement.Newly emerging tune names in the Song Dynasty, characterized by their concise and condensed form, as well as their common yet poetic language, reflect various aspects of the Song society, the spiritual preferences of the literati and common people, and the development and evolution of the poets’ concepts. They possess significant literary and cultural value.
2023 Vol. 53 (7): 109-124 [
Abstract
] (
63
) [
HTML
1KB] [
PDF
1457KB] (
253
)
125
Gao Yuan
A New Exploration of the First Latin Translation of the Four Books in Europe
Hot!
Michele Ruggieri’s manuscripts of
Humanae institutionis
, originally collected by Antonio Possevino (1533-1611) and discovered later by Pasquale M. D’Elia (1890-1963), was often referred to as the earliest Latin version that appeared in the European context. A study of Possevino’s print version claims that there is a minor distinction between the print version and Ruggieri’s original manuscripts. However, the difference between the two earliest versions cannot be misinterpreted, as some critics maintained, as a simple distinction between types of terminology and textual structures. Instead, we should understand that Ruggieri’s original manuscripts have been adapted by Possevino to a far greater extent and this phenomenon reflects the complexity of the identities of the translators. What is more important, the theological positions underlying the two texts present a radical division which was based on different interpretations of Augustinian theology in Europe: Antonio Possevino held a belief in the typical Augustinian anthropology and the redemption of human desires, reinterpreting the Confucian ethical line of “body-family-country-world” from the perspective of the theological doctrine of the illumination. Contrary to Possevino, Michele Ruggieri presented a conciliatory attitude toward Zhu Xi’s doctrine of the ultimate principle of “
Li
(Reason)” and the Augustinian theology of the Trinity, demonstrating an epistemological approach to the line of “Light-
Li
-Mind-Nature” in a synthetic mode. While Antonio Possevino’s knowledge of Confucianism was grounded upon his Catholic belief of the eschatology and Augustine’s doctrine of the two cities, Ruggieri’s conciliatory of the Confucian-Augustinian values was closely in association with his own experience of translating Confucian classics and preaching Catholic doctrines in China. Their theological experiences and religious visions differ prominently. Therefore, I argue that the difference of the two earliest versions reveals two possible modes of response to the Confucian ethical values as influenced by the European Augustinian tradition, which reflects early Jesuits’ complicated attitudes toward the original emergence of Confucian classics in the Western Catholic horizon as well as their underlying moderation of values during the early Confucian-Christian encounter.
2023 Vol. 53 (7): 125-136 [
Abstract
] (
72
) [
HTML
1KB] [
PDF
1587KB] (
284
)
137
Yuan Miaoxu
Kobzev’s Contribution to the Study and Translation of Ancient Chinese Philosophy
Hot!
Sinologists are the driving force contributing to the spread of Chinese civilization and participating in its mutual integration into world cultures. For more than 300 years of development, Russian sinology has made an invaluable contribution to the study of Chinese civilization and has become an integral part of world sinology, giving the world a great number of brilliant scholars. One of them is Artem Igorevich Kobzev, an outstanding contemporary Russian specialist in Chinese philosophy. Kobzev’s first steps in studying Chinese culture date back to the period of secondary school. This was followed by some important academic achievements in the study of classical and ancient philosophy, as well as translations of classics of philosophical literature. He was awarded the Russian Federation National Award and the Award for Special Contribution to Chinese Literature.Kobzev adheres to the tradition of Russian sinology, in which translating and researching are inseparable parts of one whole. Using verified authentic documents, relying on the Russian academic school identity, Kobzev formed a philosophical research paradigm covering ancient and modern history and representing a consistent comparative analysis of the Orient and West cultural features. The unique research paradigm created by Kobzev deserves serious attention from young scientists. Over the past fifty years of academic research, Kobzev made an outstanding contribution to the interpretation and dissemination of ancient Chinese philosophical thought in the Russian-speaking world, mainly focusing on the following four aspects.Firstly, at the end of the 1970s, while the study of Chinese philosophy in the Soviet Union had not completely get rid of the dualism of idealism and materialism, Kobzev, however, considered Wang Yangming as a representative of the highest development period of Chinese domestic philosophy before the spread of the Western scientific achievements in the Orient and boldly suggested that Yangming Teaching belongs to subjective materialism, or subjective naturalism. Based on the Yangming Teaching, Kobzev carried out reconstructions of the ideas of ancient Chinese philosophy, considering naturalism its most fundamental feature, and emphasizing the status of ancient Chinese philosophy as an indefeasible part of the world philosophy. Secondly, in the 1980s Kobzev proposed to study symbols and numbers in
The Book of Changes
from the point of view of the methodology of ancient Chinese philosophy, which opened up a new direction for
The Book of Changes
study in Russia. Comparing the methodology of Chinese and Western philosophy, he noted that unlike the method of formal logic, which dominates Western philosophy, the orthodox method of ancient Chinese philosophy is similar to mathematics. This method and naturalism correlate as form and content and together they created the landscape of ancient Chinese philosophy. Thirdly, since the beginning of the 1990s, Kobzev has participated in the compilation of various encyclopedias, including the
Spiritual Culture of China
in six volumes, which has become an important milestone in the history of Russian Sinology. The book rejects the standard model of discourse in its Western interpretation, seeks to create a space for Chinese-Russian cultural dialogue and emphasizes the highest cultural level of Chinese civilization. This level allows us to consider the world as a single and indivisible whole, thus clearly confirming the value of traditional Chinese thought for modernity. Fourthly, for more than 30 years, Kobzev has been translating into Russian not only the classical
Da Xue
(
The Great Learning
), but also a number of ancient Chinese treatises related to
Da Xue
. At the same time, he conducted a textual analysis, studied the origin and evolution of
Da Xue
, tracing its spread in Russia and reflecting the results in different editions of translations. In doing so, he created a brilliant example of an academic translation of Chinese classics.
2023 Vol. 53 (7): 137-145 [
Abstract
] (
123
) [
HTML
1KB] [
PDF
740KB] (
302
)
146
Li Xiuhui
Credit, Money and Interest in Ancient Greece
Hot!
In ancient Greece, credit was a common social phenomenon involving both small loans and the pawn of goods, as well as large monetary loans. The forms of credit included informal and formal, as well as interest free and interest bearing. Credit relationships were embedded in the reciprocal relationships of family and friends in society at that time and resulted in shared and reciprocal social interactions with neighbors and friends. Credit was not primarily an issue of economic value in ancient society but rather a problem of the composition and maintenance of social interactions and relationships. Although credit and money originated and developed independently, when they interflowed with each other, they were both reinforced, and debt was more valued and paid off in money. The use of ancient Greek coinage, especially the daily circulation of small coins, exacerbated this process. The purpose of borrowing was most closely related to the role and function of money, involving aspects such as reciprocity and redistribution. The main reasons for debt were the necessary factors of social survival and social interaction and were rarely economic or productive. The widespread use of credit activities also promoted the development of the monetary economy and to some extent compensated for the shortage of money. In ancient Greece, mutual assistance between relatives, friends, and neighbors was the main method of risk response, and credit and debt relationships were included in the social integration of reciprocal gifts. Reciprocal gifts and debt had a profound internal connection, and receiving gifts and favors was itself a way of being in a debt relationship in the domain of social relations. Debt originated from gifts, and even formal monetary debt, if waived in an intimate social relationship without the need for repayment, does not mean that there is no debt owed to others. Debt is merely transformed into gifts, and the debtor is still in a state of debt that needs to be repaid or recompensed in a certain way in the future. Strangers were outside the circle of acquaintances of individual Greek citizens and beyond the scope of reciprocal lending relationships. From circles of acquaintances to stranger transactions, reciprocity turned into commerce, and future returns became interest payments. Interest collection has been a controversial topic since its inception, and there are two opinions on the understanding of the nature of interest. One is that interest is the result of reciprocity or even voluntary negotiation with the debtor, and the other is that interest is imposed on the debtor as a creditor’s right, representing different understandings of interest in acquaintance society and stranger society. The proportion of interest charged in ancient Greece was relatively fixed, and the formation of specific amounts was embedded in informal customs and conventions. Even “popular” interest rates varied across regions and periods. Existing researches have indicated that the annual fluctuation range of interest rates in ancient Greece was between 10% and 36%. The important social impact of interest-bearing lending business was the disintegration of the close social relationships of the ancient Greek polis community, transforming it into a society of strangers. Therefore, regarding interest, the mainstream concept not only criticizes it morally but also controls it through legal systems and other means. When the accumulation of debt in society is substantial and the social order is affected, debt cancellation may become an important choice. In addition to the need for social stability, reciprocal negotiation of interest can also provide publicity legitimacy for debt cancellation, and the specific outcome depends on the power clash between the debt parties. Debt cancellation was a counterattack by the polis community or society against the erosion of money and credit into social bonds, and this interaction and its variants have persisted till the modern society.
2023 Vol. 53 (7): 146-159 [
Abstract
] (
89
) [
HTML
1KB] [
PDF
745KB] (
221
)
160
Wu Lin
Boudoir Writings in the Qing Dynasty and a New Interpretation of Confucian Norms of Women’s Virtues
Hot!
Women’s literature flourished in the Qing Dynasty. The interpretation of boudoir writings in the context of Confucian norms of
Fude
(women’s virtues) became the primary topic of women’s poetry and literature. The discussion between Zhang Xuecheng and Yuan Mei on women’s poetry in the middle of the Qing Dynasty has now been widely noticed in the academic world. However, the questions of how the concept of
Fude
was interpreted in the Qing Dynasty boudoir writings and whether or not the relevant interpretations formed a universal mode of writing remain to be clarified in the texts. The change of “
Yi Wenshi Dai Zhiren
” (literature and history instead of sewing and weaving) was widely discussed in the prefaces and postscripts of the boudoir poems. Discovering and interpreting
Fude
in the collections of the Qing Dynasty boudoir poems and related documents will undoubtedly help explore the deeper impact of the requirements of
Fude
of “
De Yan Rong Gong
” (virtue, speech, appearance and merit) on women’s sense of creativity. The Qing Dynasty held the goodness of both
Yan
and
De
as a criterion and included “
Yan
” in the
Side
(four virtues of women) in
Fude
so that “
Yan
” was regarded as an important part of the practice of women’s morality. It emphasized the function of poems and books in educating and cultivating women’s morality and the role of women’s poetry in cultivating
Fude
. Zhang Xuecheng focused on the contradiction between boudoir writings and the norms of women’s morality. His remarks did not have the significance of practical guidance but were more based on the theoretical requirements for the reconstruction of gynecology. The transformation of space and the expansion of boundaries brought about by the involvement of boudoir writings in the Qing Dynasty not only reshaped women’s own perception of their roles but also redefined the behavior of women in ethical norms. The concept of the “
linxiafeng
” (林下风, women’s poetic style) associated with talented women developed into a dominant style of women’s literature and evolved into the standard of “
Yan
” and an integral part of the characteristics of the boudoir. As a pillar of the order of the family and the state in the Confucian ethical world, the rules and boundaries within and outside the boudoir constrained the creativity and spirituality of literary narratives, and thus needed to be adjusted through connotations to meet the real needs of the scholarly family that emphasized “motherhood” and the survival pattern of “
Yi Wenshi Dai Zhiren
”. In the Qing Dynasty, virtuous women who adhered to the norms of women’s morality and advocated the elegance of a family emphasized the role of literature and history in the cultivation of women’s morality in an eclectic manner, and consciously expressed their duties of motherhood, such as the teaching of knowledge, the influence of family customs and the education of character, in poems and writings. The interpretation of women’s morality in terms of Confucian norms in the Qing Dynasty boudoir writings provided a social foundation and theoretical basis for “
Yi Wenshi Dai Zhiren
”. It also strengthened the spatial boundaries of creative work in a more profound way, reflecting the course of boudoir writing’s tortuous evolution under the shackles of Confucian women’s morality ethics.
2023 Vol. 53 (7): 160-168 [
Abstract
] (
95
) [
HTML
1KB] [
PDF
990KB] (
494
)