This paper offers a semiotic and postcolonial investigation of how the two terms of Orient and Morgenland shape German cultural discourse about the East.Drawing on Ferdinand de Saussure’s principle of the arbitrarine...This paper offers a semiotic and postcolonial investigation of how the two terms of Orient and Morgenland shape German cultural discourse about the East.Drawing on Ferdinand de Saussure’s principle of the arbitrariness of the sign and postcolonial concepts of othering,this research examines how these terms legitimize colonial hierarchies while fueling Romantic idealizations.The analysis reveals that Orient frequently frames the East as a developmental void requiring external intervention,whereas Morgenland casts it as Europe’s elusive spiritual cradle.Quantitative corpus data underscores their historical divergence in usage patterns across text types.Despite their apparent contrasts,Orient and Morgenland operate symbiotically to sustain Western centrality–a dual construct whose historical for-mation continues to inform intercultural perceptions.The study concludes by advocating a decolonial reconfiguration of these categories,demonstrating how attending to the specific interplay of such signifiers is crucial for dismantling the linguistic mechanisms that perpetuate power asymmetries.展开更多
"Make the past serve the present!"Thus goes Mao Zedong's slogan on how to appropriate the ancient in revolutionary times.In my previous studies,I have argued that the Chinese writers,engagement with the ..."Make the past serve the present!"Thus goes Mao Zedong's slogan on how to appropriate the ancient in revolutionary times.In my previous studies,I have argued that the Chinese writers,engagement with the an cient gave rise to a platform of"necessary anachronism"in cultural transformation.This new project carries further this argument and draws attention to the transmediality in the leftist historical imagination.From the 1940s through the 1970s,the revolutionary representations of the ancient were simultaneously poetic,theatrical,intellectual,and cinematic,to say nothing about the calligraphic and visual adaptations they elicited.This current of reinventing the ancient man tested itself in the historical drama in wartime China and found a coda in the anti-colonial leftist cinematic adaptation of the historical play Qu Yuan in 1970s Hong Kong.Starting with a broader theoret:ical intervention into the issue of media,this paper emphasizes that the transmedial reinterpretation of the ancient in fact formed a mode of mediaUon between revolution and history,between politics and aesthetics.In the cultural regime of China's long revolution,the transference or translation of the allegorical-anachronistic energies among different media was a key site of signification,contestation,and crisis.展开更多
When the Chinese Revolution led by the Communist Party eventually prevailed in 1949, Zhou Zuoren （1885-1967） wrote to Zhou Enlai--the first premier of the People＇s Republic--in the hope of reversing the verdict on ...When the Chinese Revolution led by the Communist Party eventually prevailed in 1949, Zhou Zuoren （1885-1967） wrote to Zhou Enlai--the first premier of the People＇s Republic--in the hope of reversing the verdict on his ＂culpability.＂ To what extent, Zhou Zuoren asked, was he, a wartime collaborator with the Japanese enemy, recognizable not only as an offender of the traditional moral norms （mingjiao）, but also as a traitor of the nation （minzu）？ Before the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out, Zhou Zuoren had long been viewed as a leading figure of the Chinese ＂New Culture.＂ Zhou Zhuoren＇s sudden decision to collaborate with the Japanese Occupation in 1938 then turned out to be a traumatic and scandalous event for the Chinese intellectual community. The whole case of his collaboration exposed, in disturbing ways, the convergences and the divergences of law, morality and politics in China＇s modern nation building. By revisiting this controversial case, this paper attempts at a symptomatic reading of the following texts： ＂An Open Letter to Zhou Zuoren＂ written collectively by a group of Chinese intellectuals, court documents of the post-war trials, and Zhou Zuoren＇s letter to Zhou Enlai. This re-reading focuses on the domain of the cultural-political rhetoric, within which Zhou＇s contentious ＂culpability＂ has turned into an ambiguous zone of modern law, traditional morality, and nationalism in East Asia.展开更多
A well-developed set of international anti-corruption tools now exists. These range from broad conventions to focused initiatives in specific policy areas. This article argues that international agreements work best w...A well-developed set of international anti-corruption tools now exists. These range from broad conventions to focused initiatives in specific policy areas. This article argues that international agreements work best when they are focused and they speak to the common interests of the parties involved. Solutions need to be creative, they need to bring in a broad coalition of stakeholders and they need to be focused on specific problems. International agreements need to help states with good quality institutions of governance focus on developing transparency initiatives, accountability drives and nuanced efforts to tackle particular national variants of ＂legal corruption.＂ In countries with patchy institutions of governance the scope for international influence is broader, while in states with serious governance challenges the best international anti-corruption efforts will often have surprisingly little to do with corruption at all. In a state where the rule of law is patchy or non-existent then anti-corruption laws （or indeed laws more generally） mean very little. The challenge here is to improve the basic tools of governance in the knowledge that only then can the issue of corruption be brought on to the agenda.展开更多
Modern Chinese writer Yu Dafu continued composing classicalstyle poems for his whole life, claiming himself to be ＂a man infatuated with skeletons.＂ This article interprets Yu＇s lyricism as a stylistic manifestatio...Modern Chinese writer Yu Dafu continued composing classicalstyle poems for his whole life, claiming himself to be ＂a man infatuated with skeletons.＂ This article interprets Yu＇s lyricism as a stylistic manifestation of his personal and national anxieties that were stimulated by the transition of Chinese culture into modernity during the first half of the twentieth century. By examining Yu＇s status as a displaced loyalist both in his verses as well as in real life, I argue that Yu＇s loyalist rhetoric represents the identity crisis of a Chinese writer in confronting the menacing power struggles of the modern world.展开更多
文摘This paper offers a semiotic and postcolonial investigation of how the two terms of Orient and Morgenland shape German cultural discourse about the East.Drawing on Ferdinand de Saussure’s principle of the arbitrariness of the sign and postcolonial concepts of othering,this research examines how these terms legitimize colonial hierarchies while fueling Romantic idealizations.The analysis reveals that Orient frequently frames the East as a developmental void requiring external intervention,whereas Morgenland casts it as Europe’s elusive spiritual cradle.Quantitative corpus data underscores their historical divergence in usage patterns across text types.Despite their apparent contrasts,Orient and Morgenland operate symbiotically to sustain Western centrality–a dual construct whose historical for-mation continues to inform intercultural perceptions.The study concludes by advocating a decolonial reconfiguration of these categories,demonstrating how attending to the specific interplay of such signifiers is crucial for dismantling the linguistic mechanisms that perpetuate power asymmetries.
文摘"Make the past serve the present!"Thus goes Mao Zedong's slogan on how to appropriate the ancient in revolutionary times.In my previous studies,I have argued that the Chinese writers,engagement with the an cient gave rise to a platform of"necessary anachronism"in cultural transformation.This new project carries further this argument and draws attention to the transmediality in the leftist historical imagination.From the 1940s through the 1970s,the revolutionary representations of the ancient were simultaneously poetic,theatrical,intellectual,and cinematic,to say nothing about the calligraphic and visual adaptations they elicited.This current of reinventing the ancient man tested itself in the historical drama in wartime China and found a coda in the anti-colonial leftist cinematic adaptation of the historical play Qu Yuan in 1970s Hong Kong.Starting with a broader theoret:ical intervention into the issue of media,this paper emphasizes that the transmedial reinterpretation of the ancient in fact formed a mode of mediaUon between revolution and history,between politics and aesthetics.In the cultural regime of China's long revolution,the transference or translation of the allegorical-anachronistic energies among different media was a key site of signification,contestation,and crisis.
文摘When the Chinese Revolution led by the Communist Party eventually prevailed in 1949, Zhou Zuoren （1885-1967） wrote to Zhou Enlai--the first premier of the People＇s Republic--in the hope of reversing the verdict on his ＂culpability.＂ To what extent, Zhou Zuoren asked, was he, a wartime collaborator with the Japanese enemy, recognizable not only as an offender of the traditional moral norms （mingjiao）, but also as a traitor of the nation （minzu）？ Before the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out, Zhou Zuoren had long been viewed as a leading figure of the Chinese ＂New Culture.＂ Zhou Zhuoren＇s sudden decision to collaborate with the Japanese Occupation in 1938 then turned out to be a traumatic and scandalous event for the Chinese intellectual community. The whole case of his collaboration exposed, in disturbing ways, the convergences and the divergences of law, morality and politics in China＇s modern nation building. By revisiting this controversial case, this paper attempts at a symptomatic reading of the following texts： ＂An Open Letter to Zhou Zuoren＂ written collectively by a group of Chinese intellectuals, court documents of the post-war trials, and Zhou Zuoren＇s letter to Zhou Enlai. This re-reading focuses on the domain of the cultural-political rhetoric, within which Zhou＇s contentious ＂culpability＂ has turned into an ambiguous zone of modern law, traditional morality, and nationalism in East Asia.
文摘A well-developed set of international anti-corruption tools now exists. These range from broad conventions to focused initiatives in specific policy areas. This article argues that international agreements work best when they are focused and they speak to the common interests of the parties involved. Solutions need to be creative, they need to bring in a broad coalition of stakeholders and they need to be focused on specific problems. International agreements need to help states with good quality institutions of governance focus on developing transparency initiatives, accountability drives and nuanced efforts to tackle particular national variants of ＂legal corruption.＂ In countries with patchy institutions of governance the scope for international influence is broader, while in states with serious governance challenges the best international anti-corruption efforts will often have surprisingly little to do with corruption at all. In a state where the rule of law is patchy or non-existent then anti-corruption laws （or indeed laws more generally） mean very little. The challenge here is to improve the basic tools of governance in the knowledge that only then can the issue of corruption be brought on to the agenda.
文摘Modern Chinese writer Yu Dafu continued composing classicalstyle poems for his whole life, claiming himself to be ＂a man infatuated with skeletons.＂ This article interprets Yu＇s lyricism as a stylistic manifestation of his personal and national anxieties that were stimulated by the transition of Chinese culture into modernity during the first half of the twentieth century. By examining Yu＇s status as a displaced loyalist both in his verses as well as in real life, I argue that Yu＇s loyalist rhetoric represents the identity crisis of a Chinese writer in confronting the menacing power struggles of the modern world.
