A study of the development of contemporary monasteries in Taiwan

This study investigates the modernization of Buddhist Monasteries, as illustrated by three famous monasteries in Taiwan, Fo Guang Shan, Ten Directions Monastery, and Chung Tai Chan Temple. With these three case studies, on one hand we can compare them with traditional Buddhist architecture; on the other hand, we can also observe whether the space form and building style of Buddhist architecture had adjusted, transformed or even changed accordingly as a whole, while the Buddhist monasteries in Taiwan were, at that time, facing the modernization of Buddhism.     

The Ming–Qing transition as turning point

Many histories of China have attempted to impose outside interpretive methods upon the Chinese past. In this essay, Mizoguchi works from within the Chinese tradition to understand how changing ideas of economics (and in particular the conflict between private land ownership by the ruler and by the common people), literature, philosophy, religion, and politics all combined to make the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the subsequent Qing Dynasty a time of great change in the ways in which Chinese thinkers understood their history and present.     

Book Reviews

MEDIA-MADE DIXIE: THE SOUTH IN THE AMERICAN IMAGINATION . By Jack Temple Kirby. The Professional Symphony Orchestra in the United States . By George Seltzer. IMPROVISING: SIXTEEN JAZZ MUSICIANS AND THEIR ART . By Whitney Balliett. UNDERSTANDING JAZZ . By Leroy Ostransky. MUSIC IN AMERICAN SOCIETY, 1776-1976: FROM PURITAN HYMN TO SYNTHESIZER . By George McCue. THE STUDY OF AMERICAN CULTURE: CONTEMPORARY CONFLICTS . By Luther S. Luedtke.     

Rare Ru Kiln Porcelain Sets Record High Auction Price

According to CCTV’s report, “This Song Dynasty porcelain made in Ru kiln appears like a slim-shaped goddess when viewed in a distance. Agate mixed in the enamel during the baking process makes the whole bottle shine with gem-like gloss. According to experts, it is generally believed that no big-sized porcelains have been ever produced in Ru kiln. That is why this porcelain bottle in the height of 37 cm is considered a rare treasure.” There were ve major imperial kilns in the Song Dynas…     

THE GAME OF GO AND SONG-DYNASTY GO STONES

Recently,I was lucky to see a set of go stones made in the Ding Kiln of the Northern Song Dynasty,The ceramic go stones feel so delicate and glossy as if the black ones were like lacquer and white ones like jade.     

Texts

Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edge. Richard Delgado (Ed.), Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995, 592 pages, $29.95 (softcover). ISBN 1–5663–9348–5.

Dreamseekers: Creative Approaches to the African American Heritage. Anita Manley and Cecily O'Neill (Eds.), Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1997, 175 pages, $24.50 (softcover). ISBN 0–4350–7045–2.

Places of Memory: Whiteman's Schools and Native American Communities. Alan Peshkin, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997, 150 pages, $22.50 (softcover). ISBN 0–8058–2469–3.     

Haimen Mountain Ballads

In the mid and late Tang Dynasty, two sand deltas emerged in Jiangkou which were called Dong Zhou and Bu Zhou. In 958 AD, these two deltas were integrated into one administrative county named Haimen County. Haimen County saw a large number of south China immigrants during the mid- Qing Dynasty and became a place of diverse cultures. Mountain ballads of Wu Culture, which has a history of some 700 years, had great influence on Haimen's ballads. A Qing-Dynasty poet Huang Xian wrote his d…     

Zunhua : a Historic County

County has played an important role in the history of China since it was first established as a basic administrative unit in the Qin Dynasty more than 2000 years ago. Historic counties have not only performed administrative and economic functions but also carried and preserved basic information about culture and traditions of China. Not long ago, the Photographic Exhibition on the Cultural Heritage of Historic Counties of China, organized by China Cultural Relics Protection Foundation in partnership with th...     

Yuxian: a Historic County

County has played an important role in the history of China since it was first established as a basic administrative unit in the Qin Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago. Historic counties have not only performed administrative and economic functions but also carried and preserved basic information about culture and traditions of China. Not long ago, the Photographic Exhibition on the Cultural Heritage of Historic Counties of China, organized by China Cultural Relics Protection Foundation in partnership with the Palace Museum and China Institute of Toponymy, was held at the Forbidden City, displaying photographs on the cultures and traditions of the first 16 Historic Counties of China, with an objective to enhance the public’s awareness of the conservation of cultural heritage in these historic counties. Our magazine will cover each of these chosen historic counties in each issue.     

Zhaoxian County:Bridge Architecture and Buddhist Heritage

County has played an important role in the history of China since it was first established as a basic administrative unit in the Qin Dynasty more than 2000 years ago.Historic counties have not only performed administrative and economic functions but also carried and preserved basic information about culture and traditions of China.Not long ago,the Photographic Exhibition on the Cultural Heritage of Historic Counties of China,organized by China Cultural Relics Protection Foundation in partnership with the Palace Museum and China Institute of Toponymy,was held at the Forbidden City,displaying photographs on the cultures and traditions of the first 16 Historic Counties of China, with an objective to enhance the public’s awareness of the conservation of cultural heritage in these historic counties.Our magazine will cover each of these chosen historic counties in each issue.     

Dingzhou:Porcelain and Religious Traditions

County has played an important role in the history of China since it was first established as a basic administrative unit in the Qin Dynasty more than2000years ago.Historic counties have not only performed administrative and economic functions but also carried and preserved basic information about culture and traditions of China.Not long ago,the Photographic Exhibition on the Cultural Heritage of Historic Counties of China,organized by China Cultural Relics Protection Foundation in partnership with the Pala...     

Zanhuang County:Historic Temples and Steles

County has played an important role in the history of China since it was first established as a basic administrative unit in the Qin Dynasty more than 2000 years ago. Historic counties have not only performed administrative and economic functions but also carried and preserved basic information about culture and traditions of China. Not long ago, the Photographic Exhibition on the Cultural Heritage of Historic Counties of China, organized by China Cultural Relics Protection Foundation in partnership with the Palace Museum and China Institute of Toponymy, was held at the Forbidden City, displaying photographs on the cultures and traditions of the first 16 Historic Counties of China, with an objective to enhance the public’s awareness of the conservation of cultural heritage in these historic counties. Our magazine will cover each of these chosen historic counties in each issue.     

Historic County of Wu’an

County has played an important role in the history of China since it was first established as a basic administrative unit in 00the Qin Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago. Historic counties have not only performed administrative and economic functions but also carried and preserved basic information about culture and traditions of China. Not long ago, the Photographic Exhibition on the Cultural Heritage of Historic Counties of China, organized by China Cultural Relics Protection Foundation in partnership with the Palace Museum and China Institute of Toponymy, was held at the Forbidden City, displaying photographs on the cultures and traditions of the first 16 Historic Counties of China, with an objective to enhance the public’s awareness of the conservation of cultural heritage in these historic counties.Our magazine will cover each of these chosen historic counties in each issue.     

Predicting Intrapersonal Communication Satisfaction on the Basis of Imagined Interactions in the Pacific Rim

Intrapersonal communication satisfaction was regressed on a type of intrapersonal communication known as imagined interactions (IIs) in which people daydream about talking with others who are important in their lives. This study examined the functions of IIs impacting intrapersonal communication satisfaction and measures of cultural patterns in America, Japan, and Thailand. Additionally, cultural patterns were examined. Horizontal individualism is a cultural pattern in which the self is independent but is equal in status with others. Vertical individualism is a pattern characterized by an autonomous self but there are differences in authority, based on status, low equality, and high freedom. Horizontal collectivism is a pattern in which the self is seen as equal in status with others. Vertical collectivism is a pattern characterized by the self being connected with other group members and inequality is accepted. Results revealed that intrapersonal communication satisfaction was predicted by imagined interactions that serve a self-understanding, catharsis, and boldness function. Horizontal collectivism also predicted communication satisfaction for Thai participants. Results are discussed in terms of the importance and functions of conflict-linkage and rumination.     

Facilitating Intercultural Communication in Parent–Teacher Conferences: Lessons From Child Translators

In this article Abraham Lincoln is considered as an alternative to the usual type of patriot's hero. He reminds us of our great historical failings. He remains a figure of controversy, a national hero in only some corners of society. He is the heroic President who serves as the first compassionate defender of the downtrodden, and he is a hero in those subcultures as well. Lincoln's treatment in the movies is discussed, focusing particularly on the recent movie Lincoln. Lincoln is seen as a match for the usual movie hero. His famous immunity to casual treatment in popular culture is discussed as well.     

The Presbyopic Six: Exploring Marginalization of Protest and of Journalism in a Television-Online Advertising Campaign

This article is a textual analysis of a recent ad campaign for Varilux eyewear that features a fictional group of protesters known as "The Presbyopic Six." Varilux is a brand of eyeglass lenses marketed by Essilor, a French corporation. Viewers "follow" the protesters from their arrest for defacing a large-print book sign at a bookstore through booking, and through interviews with fictional journalist Lauren Lewis while incarcerated in a minimum-security prison. The ads suggest that new, more aggressive methods of protest have clearly passed the Presbyopic Six by. The campaign announces and celebrates their marginalization. The campaign also suggests that contemporary journalism is driven by the same kind of homogeneity. It could also be argued that a degree of evolution in protest and journalism is seen in these ads. Thus, the campaign may also be a veiled criticism of today's anonymous, aggressive protestors.     

Public and Popular: British and Swedish Audience Trends in Factual and Reality Television

The research in this article examines audience responses to a range of factual and reality genres. It takes as a starting point that television audiences do not experience news or documentary or reality TV in isolation but as part of a range of factual and reality programmes. Factual and reality programming includes a broad understanding of non-fictional programming on broadcast television, satellite, cable and digital television. The breakdown of factual and reality programming into specific genres includes news, current affairs, documentary, and reality programmes, with further sub genres applied within each of these categories. This article critically examines genre evaluation. The quantitative research in this article is based on two national representative surveys conducted in Britain and Sweden. In both Britain and Sweden, programme makers have moved towards a reliance on popular factual genres. In Britain this is across all channels, and in Sweden this is mainly concentrated on commercial channels. Whilst there is still a commitment to news, there is an increasing use of hybrid genres in an attempt to popularise factual output. The impact of this changing generic environment on audiences is that in both countries viewers have reacted by drawing a line between traditional and contemporary factual genres. It is precisely because of the redrawing of the factual map that viewers rely on traditional ways of evaluating genres as public and informative, or popular and entertaining. The data provides evidence that contributes to existing debate on television genre, public service broadcasting, and media literacy skills. The central argument in this article is that genre evaluation is connected with wider socio-cultural discourses on public service broadcasting and popular culture, and that these are common social and cultural values that are shared by national audiences in two Northern European countries.     

Perspectives on South-South relations: China's presence in Africa

This paper explores the broad questions on China's presence in Africa from the perspectives on South-South relations. More generally, China has a diffuse and growing presence in Africa through trade relations, as the importation of various consumer goods is highly visible in most African capital cities, and numerous smaller towns. The racial problem is compounded by the prevalence of a sinophobic media in which a racial hierarchy constructs the China below whites, albeit with blacks being relegated to the bottom. Yet there are empirically observable racist tendencies amongst the Chinese settlers towards Africans, although this is often overstated. China has become influential in Africa at the level of trade, investments and geo-political relations, but it is far from being a hegemonic recolonizer. Moreover, Africa is increasingly militarized, but China is not substantially engaged at this level. The paper concludes by suggest that much more research is necessary in the future in terms of understanding South-South international relations, so that many more people learn more about countries in the Global South and their complex set of interactions. This requires various African intellectual networks to re-visit the Bandung spirit and reconstruct the idea of non-alignment and solidarity.     

Which intercultural competences for teachers,educators, and social workers? A literature review

Europe seems to be going through a historical period characterized by the fear of otherness, conceived as an attack on the positive values of liberal society. This fear manifests itself, according to several researchers, through neo-assimilationist tendencies in public policies in many European nations: an example of this trend can be considered the reintroduction of the language and knowledge requirements of the country for new immigrants as a prerequisite for obtaining permanent residence and citizenship.At the same time, in both academic and public debates, the tendency is spreading to affirm that it is necessary to overcome the multicultural approach in favour of a new paradigm capable of dealing with the complexities typical of the superdiversity that characterizes European nations: the interculturalism. This trend is in contrast to the thinking of several researchers who believe that the theoretical principles and the practical aims, which are at the basis of multiculturalism and interculturalism are complementary to each other. Multiculturalism tends to focus more on the level of public discourse and political debate while interculturalism is aimed more at more meso and micro-level. It is believed that teachers, social workers and educators play a fundamental role in making the members of the majority of a State more open to comparison and exchange with subjects coming from other historical and geographical contexts. The purpose of this review is to identify the intercultural competencies that these professionals should have to counter the fear and closure towards diversity, which is constantly increasing in European societies.     

One False Step: Detroit,Step and Movies of Rising and Falling

Detroit and Step are two recent movies in the context of urban riots in protest of police brutality. They refer to time periods separated by half a century, but there are common themes in the two that seem appropriate to both times. The movies are not primarily concerned with the riot events, but the riot is a major motivating force in both; Detroit is pessimistic, while Step is hopeful. Together, they define alternative possibilities of African American community life. One is eternally sought, and the other is always a dreadful possibility.