Abstract

A Review of the Similarities and Differences in the Understanding of Tangut and Western Xia Historical Materials from the Perspective of Historical Materials and Historical Literature

LI Huarui

The historical data related to Tangut and Western Xia refers to the combination of historical relics, written records, and oral tradi‐tions that occurred during the rise, progression, and downfall of these two regimes. Specifically, it includes the historical records in Chi‐nese texts and archaeological discoveries from the Tang, Five Dynasties, Liao, Song, Western Xia, Jin, and Yuan dynasties, as well as lit‐erature in Western Xia texts. It also encompasses the historical writings of scholars and literati from Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Liao,Jin, and Western Xia, which serve as first-hand evidence during the existence of Tangut and Western Xia. As such, they represent impor‐tant historical materials for the study of these two regimes. While the historical records of Western Xia in Chinese texts during the Ming and Qing dynasties hold significant literary value, they only serve as references for studying the history of Tangut and Western Xia, and cannot be cited as primary historical materials.

The Power of Image：Essence of Image in the Era of Visual Literacy from an Ontological Perspective

SUN Lijun

From an ontological perspective, the essence of an image emerges from its process of existence. This process involves three phas‐es, namely chaos, being, and the transformation of chaos into being. The fundamental nature of an image lies in its ability to transform chaos into being. In this way, the spiritual energy of chaos is preserved and embedded in the image as it undergoes transformation. The spiritual energy imbues the image with the essence of truth, allowing it to reflect the reality of existence. The power of an image is de‐rived from this essence of truth, giving it a persuasive force that dominates the interpretation of the image. It follows that the era of visu‐al literacy is an era characterized by the reevaluation of past traditions and the generation of new traditions.

Shaping of the Post-human Life World with the Three Agents of Science and Technology， Literature and Theory

WANG Qian

In the 20th century, the emergence of new sciences and technologies, including computer science and modern biological science,has resulted in the gradual development of the post-human life world. This world is shaped by important factors such as science, technol‐ogy, literature, and theory. The new science and technology is essential for material shaping of the post-human life world as it makes the existence of post-human life forms possible. Literature plays a significant role as the emotional shaping power by alleviating the psycho‐logical impact brought about by new science and technology. It serves as a means of spiritual training, enabling people to intervene in fu‐ture life through imagination. On the other hand, cultural theory shapes the idea of post-human life world by conducting profound philo‐sophical reflection on real life and literary works. It reinterprets life ontology and introduces new ethical values. These three agents work in tandem to generate the post-human life world, and their interconnectedness highlights the relevance of utilizing an interdisciplinary perspective to comprehend this world. This analysis underlines the necessity and importance of such a perspective.

Aesthetic Model and Environmental Aesthetic Education： Arnold Berleant's Theory of Successful Educational Sit‐uation as Aesthetic Process

ZHANG Chao

Aesthetic model is the aesthetic perception model and determining factor of human aesthetic experience and appreciation. It not on‐ly presents people's aesthetic habits and thinking patterns, contains the mechanisms, characteristics, and laws of aesthetic occurrence, but also connects aesthetic theory with aesthetic practice, which is crucial for guiding aesthetic experience and aesthetic education. Berleant inherits the aesthetic education ideas of Whitehead and Schiller and applies the environmental aesthetics of engagement model to the aes‐thetic description of the educational process and social environment. It not only explains the resemblance and application between the aesthetic process and the successful educational situation, but also provides the theoretical foundation of the model and the context of the aesthetic field for the construction of environmental aesthetic education theories that can contain various aesthetic objects in the New Era. It integrates the theoretical foundation for aesthetics of art appreciation, education processes, and social environment, and provides a fresh perspective for the guidance and evaluation of aesthetic education. It also offers an aesthetic interpretation of education and so‐cial processes, promoting harmony between people and society, and a unity between aesthetics and ethics.

A Study of the Development of Market Towns in Sichuan Province during the Song Dynasty

ZHANG Qian

During the Song Dynasty, rural market towns in Sichuan Province experienced significant growth and became prominent in terms of quantity and density compared to other regions in the country. These market towns served as crucial hubs for the exchange of goods, in‐cluding silk, tea and salt between rural and urban areas. The development of Sichuan's market towns during the Song Dynasty can be at‐tributed to several key factors. Firstly, the enhancement of rural agricultural productivity and advancements in the agricultural economy played a crucial role. Additionally, market-oriented interactions with the prosperous industrial and commercial economies of prefectures and counties further stimulated this development. Furthermore, the relatively lower burden of local taxes, as well as the gradual moneti‐zation of taxes and rent were also contributing factors. Although the market towns in Sichuan during the Song Dynasty did not rival the densely developed Jiangnan region, dominated by the then Liangzhe Province (now Zhejiang and part of Jiangsu), they demonstrated a significant level of commercialization within the region's rural economy. This process greatly promoted urbanization, optimized the eco‐nomic and geographical structure of the region, transformed the regional social structure and brought forth profound historical impacts.

An Investigation on the Culture and Customs of the "East Relatives" of the Liu Family of Hedong in the Late Southern and Northern Dynasties

WANG Ningyuan,WANG Yongping

The "East Relatives" of the Liu family of the Hedong region held significant influence as a border clan during the Eastern Jin and Southern dynasties. During the turbulent Sixteen-States period when the Hu groups fell and the Di group disintegrated, the Liu family of Hedong split into eastern and western branches, relocating to the south. The “East Relatives” settled in Xiangyang, Yongzhou. From the middle to late periods of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and eventually during the unification of Sui after its conquering of Chen,representatives from each branch of the family migrated back to the north. As a family that migrated later, the "East Relatives" resided in the border city of Yongzhou for over a century. The unique regional and social environment, combined with their extensive experience living in a border city, shaped their distinct family culture. Their way of life, scholarly ethics, academic and cultural inclinations embod‐ied elements from both the northern and southern regions, setting them apart from the traditional customs of the scholar-society in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Following their migration north, representatives of the "East Relatives" congregated in Guanzhong.They contributed greatly to the military and political administration of the Northern Zhou and Sui dynasties, showcasing their exception‐al capabilities and accomplishments. The family smoothly integrated into the Guanlong group, and its renowned scholars were deeply in‐fluenced by the cultural and fashionable trends of the Southern Dynasty, manifesting in their appearance, manners, academic pursuits,and other aspects of their lives. This period marked a crucial time for the integration of southern and northern cultures as the southern style spread to the north and the north learned from the south. The characters from Liu's "East Relatives" played a pivotal role in this pro‐cess, leveraging their ability to bridge the gap between the two regions. They dedicated significant effort to promoting the fusion of Ji‐angzuo fashion and Guanzhong regional society, ultimately showcasing a cultural trend that combined both form and substance.

Enhancing Food Security through Green Finance： A Study from the Perspectives of Rural Human Capital and Agglomeration of Agricultural Industry

LI Jianqiang,WANG Changsong,YUAN Zihao

Exploring the means to enhance China's food security holds significant practical importance in driving the agricultural sector's green transformation and achieving high-quality agricultural development. This research utilizes panel data spanning from 2005 to 2020, en‐compassing 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. The study employs the entropy weight-TOPSIS method to gauge the relationship between green finance and food security. Furthermore, it employs a panel fixed effect model to examine the impact of green finance on food security and its underlying mechanisms. The findings of this study indicate that green finance contributes to the enhance‐ment of food security; however, distinct regional disparities exist. Notably, within the grain production and marketing balance area, as well as the primary sales region, the positive impact of green finance on food security is more pronounced. The eastern and northern re‐gions of the country exhibit a more prominent role of green finance in promoting food security. Additionally, green finance improves food security levels by enhancing rural human capital and stimulating the agglomeration of the agricultural industry. Building upon these findings, this paper presents several policy implications. These include strengthening the provision of green financial products and ser‐vices, establishing a supportive policy framework for green finance in relation to food security, and fostering multi-directional coopera‐tion among regions based on their respective circumstances.

Digital Asset Allocation， Management Innovation and Cost Stickiness

FAN Hejun,ZHENG Zheng

The rapidly changing market environment has made it increasingly difficult for enterprises to make cost-effective decisions. With the robust growth of China's digital economy, enterprises are now more focused on allocating digital assets. This has led to an important research question: can digital asset allocation in enterprises effectively reduce cost stickiness? This paper takes a management innova‐tion perspective and examines the impact of digital asset allocation on cost stickiness through empirical analysis of A-share listed enter‐prises in the Shanghai-Shenzhen stock market from 2016 to 2021. The results show that digital asset allocation can effectively restrain cost stickiness by promoting operational process innovation, rather than business model innovation. Further analysis indicates that the negative impact of digital asset allocation on cost stickiness is more significant in enterprises with low supply chain concentration, high willingness to share information, and senior managers with financial or digital backgrounds. These findings provide new insights into the mechanisms and influencing factors of enterprise digital asset allocation and its impact on cost stickiness. Moreover, this research of‐fers practical guidance for promoting management innovation and enhancing the cost management effects of listed enterprises.

Does the Reward Policy on Incremental Agricultural Loans Promote Peasants' Income in China？

HAO Xiangru, ZHANG Jiwu, QIAO Yuanbo

The reward policy on incremental agricultural loans is an important financial measure intended to allocate financial resources to ru‐ral areas. It is also considered a significant policy innovation in supporting agriculture on a national level. Based on provincial panel data from the period of 2007 to 2017, this paper utilized a difference-in-difference model to assess the potential impact of this reward policy on incremental agricultural loans and its effect on increasing peasants' income. The empirical findings illustrate that the implementation of the policy has significantly raised the income level of peasants, particularly in terms of operating income of peasants' families. The in‐ternal mechanism analysis indicates that the policy has incentivized financial institutions to distribute their funds to areas concerning ag‐riculture, countryside and farmers, which has promoted agricultural mechanization and improved rural production conditions, eventually leading to the improvement of peasants' income. Additionally, the competitive effect of digital finance in the rural financial market will increase the impact of the reward policy in elevating peasants' income. The heterogeneity analysis shows that the reward policy has a stronger effect in promoting an increase in peasants' income in the western region, non-grain producing areas, and major agricultural provinces.

Social Mobilization Mechanism for Transforming Rural Revitalization Strategy into Social Action

JIA Yujiao

Modernization is an ongoing process that involves continuous change and the restructuring of social order. In this sense, moderniza‐tion presents a significant theoretical challenge in terms of how society can be mobilized and constructed through external forces. One important aspect of the Chinese path to modernization is the revitalization of rural areas, which raises the question of how to translate this into social action. Based on the theory that social mobilization requires a new social development goal and order that can improve people's lives, which is then embedded into society, thus transforming the way social members think, act, and exist, the process of trans‐forming the rural revitalization strategy into social action is known as rural social mobilization. Social mobilization is a multi-dimension‐al concept and analyzing the mechanism of social mobilization presents a compelling picture of the interaction between the state and so‐ciety during the Chinese modernization process. By focusing on grass-root social organizations as the central observation, the study ex‐amines the features, functions and relationships of social mobilization structures such as the state, grass-root social organizations and so‐ciety, and identifies four types of rural social mobilization.

The Perceptual Order in the Development of Rural E-commerce： Taking the Apparel E-commerce Industry in D Town， Caoxian County， Shandong Province as an Example

LUO Yinbin,LIU Shaojie

With the widespread adoption of network technology, information technology, and digital technology, the advancement of rural ecommerce has emerged as a crucial approach to rural revitalization. However, many rural e-commerce ventures have experienced a de‐cline in long-term sustainability, or even complete failure, after a period of initial success. Therefore, it is essential to focus on achieving sustainable development in rural e-commerce. While previous studies have extensively analyzed the necessary conditions for the emer‐gence of rural e-commerce, they have failed to explore its long-term sustainability. By examining the apparel e-commerce industry in D Town, Caoxian County, Shandong Province, this study emphasizes that the rural perceptual order, functioning as a spontaneous social structure, plays a pivotal role in achieving sustainable and well-organized development in rural e-commerce. It clarifies the industry's value orientation and behavioral norms, maintains and strengthens cooperative relationships among e-commerce groups, preserves and enhances the influence of exemplary figures, and coordinates efficiency and fairness. Hence, it is imperative for the growth of rural in‐dustries to leverage the underlying principles and operational mechanisms of the rural perceptual order. This will enable the adoption of a suitable approach towards rural revitalization.

From Conflict to Coordination： An Institutional Approach to the Sustainable Development of Rural Mutual-Aid Elderly Care

ZHANG Shiqing

Mutual-aid elderly care has become a significant approach for addressing rural elderly care in the country. However, it continues to face challenges in terms of sustainability. The main obstacle to sustainable development in this area is institutional conflict. Overcoming this conflict and achieving institutional coordination can ensure the sustainable development of rural mutual-aid elderly care. Institution‐al coordination is instrumental in enhancing institutional efficiency, clarifying the rights and responsibilities of those involved, promot‐ing social expectations, and strengthening moral incentives. To promote the sustainable development of rural mutual-aid elderly care,several paths can be pursued under institutional coordination. Firstly, the state should explicitly define the responsibilities and authority of inter-governmental mutual-aid elderly care. Secondly, beneficiaries of rural elderly care services and aid policies should be clarified.Thirdly, coordination between providers of rural mutual-aid elderly care should be strengthened. Lastly, a mutual-aid elderly care culture that goes beyond obligations should be fostered.

Systematism of Law as a Principle of Rule of Law

CHEN Jinzhao

Law and the rule of law are not inherent conditions, but rather a theoretical concept. In the process of creating and enforcing laws,systematic requirements serve as a framework for reasoning. When combined with systematization, they contribute to the consistent im‐plementation of the rule of law. Systematization entails ensuring coherence in the structure and implementation of laws, including the logical connections between the concepts, norms, and principles that constitute the legal framework, as well as the systematic require‐ments for executing laws. It is a fundamental principle of rule of law thinking, necessitating a systematic approach in all aspects of legis‐lation and legal enforcement. Systematism serves as the guiding ideology for establishing legal principles, building a legal system, and implementing laws. It is also essential for constructing a legal methodology system. Emphasizing the systematism of law underscores the importance of logical reasoning. The rule of law's formal legitimacy is grounded in the inner workings of the legal system, while its substantive legitimacy relies on external systems. The systematization derived from systematic requirements is the approach taken to shape legal thinking.

Result-oriented Legal Interpretation and Its Control

WANG Bin

Legal doctrine, focused on justifying value evaluation, has moved away from the theoretical limitations of objectivity in legal inter‐pretation. Adopting a result-oriented approach, the process of legal interpretation no longer centers around uncovering the true legisla‐tive intent or objective text meaning, but rather aims to find the appropriate interpretation scheme based on legal function. Drawing from the theory of weak consequentialism, the consideration of consequences is confined to practical scenarios, such as legal ambiguity and normative conflicts, and governed by teleological thinking. To avoid the risk of exceeding legal boundaries, it is important to establish clear guidelines for result-oriented legal interpretation, with a foundation of judicial restraint.

The Normative Transformation of Qingli in the Judicial Process

WU Fei

Qingli (being fair and reasonable) encompasses both factual and normative aspects. In traditional judicature, qingli had been used as legal sources, whereas in modern judicature, it does not serve as a valid adjudicative basis. However, in the processes of fact-finding and law application, the judge's consideration of qingli can be used to justify the norms of decision-making. Appealing to qingli is essen‐tial for achieving justice's acceptability. Positive rhetoric serves as a particular rhetorical strategy for expressing qingli, especially in or‐der to evoke emotional identification. It is preferable to rely on beautiful and enduring sentiments rather than fleeting and unsightly emo‐tions. The choice of rhetorical strategy should correspond to the nature and rhetorical purpose of each case. The result with consideration of qingli must align with legal norms. Through the construction and expression of decision-making norms, qingli facilitates normative transformation at various levels, subsequently fostering the emergence of fair and reasonable judicial decisions.

The Introduction of Chinese Lyric Tradition in Chinese Studies Overseas

LI Xue,GAO Bin

The theory of Chinese lyric tradition, developed by the renowned Chinese sinologist Yu-kung Kao, serves as a significant approach to analyzing classical Chinese literature. Kao's comprehensive theoretical framework has provided a solid foundation for Chinese aes‐thetics. Consequently, his students have successfully applied this theory to various genres within classical Chinese literature. Further‐more, scholars from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore have expanded the scope of the theory of Chinese lyric tradition, incorporating it into a broader range of research areas. As a result, this theory has gained widespread usage in the study of Chinese literature, establish‐ing itself as a crucial methodology in overseas Chinese literature studies.

Ethics of Marriage and Love in College Narrative Novels against the Backdrop of Economic System Transformation

ZHANG Yiying

In college narrative novels, the ethics of marriage and love are key aspects explored. Against the backdrop of economic system transformation, the portrayal of love and marriage in these narratives exhibits a literary quality that is both compliant and resistant, im‐plicit and explicit. This article delves into the narrative context of colleges and the traditional values held by intellectuals, aiming to ex‐amine the intricate relationship between marriage and love models that are driven by emotional desire versus utilitarian or physical de‐sire and economic marketization. It argues that, under the influence of economic system transformation, the marriage and love ethics of college intellectuals manifest characteristics of prioritizing material gain over spiritual aspects, a prevalence of emotional turmoil and utilitarianism, and introduces the concept of viewing the human body as a commodity-like entity. The depiction of marriage and love eth‐ics in college narrative novels serves as valuable resources and historical references for contemplating the spiritual evolution of college intellectuals and shedding light on the correlation between economic marketization and the marriage and love models adopted by this group. Moreover, studying the ethics of marriage and love in college narrative novels offers insights into the intricate relationship be‐tween contemporary literature and social development.