Early Medieval Settlement in Southern Russia: Changing Directions

Abstract

THIS ARTICLE CONCERNS the evolution of approaches to the archaeology of early medieval settlements in southern Russia. Over the last 70 years, a large amount of data have been collected, especially from sites related to the Saltovo-Mayatsk culture on the Middle Don river. In this region, large-scale excavations since the 1930s have produced information about the types of settlements and dwellings, making it possible to suggest what the overall settlement pattern may have looked like. By way of contrast, the early medieval settlement archaeology in the North Caucasus is less developed even though its beginnings go back further. Sufficient data exist only about a few areas of the region, in particular Dagestan, the Taman’ peninsula, and the Kislovodsk basin. In the latter area, a new systematic approach to surveys of, and trial excavations on, early medieval settlements have led to the reconstruction of the complex settlement hierarchy of the 5th to 8th centuries AD involving central fortifications, enclosed villages and a system of watch-towers.     

类士群体与新加坡早期文化空间的初创

论文从早期中国驻新加坡领事左秉隆、黄遵宪对新加坡文教事业的贡献,流寓文人邱菽园主导的文学活动以及卫铸生、丘逢甲、康有为等过境文人的积极参与三个方面,论证了一批华人"类士群体"是19世纪末20世纪初建构新加坡本地文化空间、提高新加坡华人社群文化素养的中坚力量。这个类士群体的形成离不开两任驻新领事官所创办的文学社团的辛勤培育,离不开寓居星洲的文化名人邱菽园的强力推动,也离不开过境文人的积极参与。这三方面的力量各有优势,缺一不可。     

新史料与清前中期中俄关系再研究

当今世界以经济主导社会。然而在一个凸显政治道德的中国传统社会里,经济却永远处于为政治目的服务的次要地位。很不幸的是,迄今为止,大多数关于近代社会到来抑或到来前夕的中国对外关系方面的历史叙述,却忽略了上述事实。例如,清前中期阶段的中俄关系并非双方处于均势状态,在更多情况下,可以说由清朝在操纵。笔者借助重新查阅清官方典章资料和利用新近内部出版的资料集《故宫俄文史料》,重新阐明清朝立场下的中俄关系状态,以及清朝操纵中俄关系所要发展的方向。     

中俄两国早期工业化道路比较

19世纪50、60年代,在资本主义生产关系尚未占优势的情况下,俄中两国先后启动了工业化。至第一次世界大战前,俄国工业化成就斐然,成为世界五大工业强国之一,而中国工业化成效甚微,与俄国存在着巨大的差距。造成如此结局的原因也许有很多,但两国工业化道路的差异应是其中的重要因素。中国工业化以军事工业起步,俄国以纺织工业为先导;中国政府不扶植私人工业发展,对私人企业横加摧残盘剥,俄国积极扶植私人企业发展,且利用外资,官民并举;中国政府不重视铁路建设,俄国以铁路建设为龙头,带动其他各业发展;中国政治改革滞后,工业化与政治近代化脱节,俄国政治改革紧随其后,与工业化紧密相联,产生了良好的促进作用。     

清前期中西贸易中的文化交流与融合

商业的沟通从来就是文化的交流与融合.清前期在粤海关进行的对外贸易是中西文化交流的重要载体.传统的中国出口商品,凝聚着数千年的文化积淀,既展现着精美的工艺,也传递着东方的风物人情和社会景象.它们走进西方的日常生活,融入了欧洲的饮食、服饰文化,并且开创了一个被称为罗柯柯的艺术时代.同样,欧洲文化也在中国东南沿海地区得以传播.外销商品的定购与生产,使西方的宗教故事、神话传说传入中国民间,而且造就了一批掌握了西方绘画技艺的大师.西方的医学、商业文化也都不同程度地被中国同行所接受.     

光影中的民族认同--海外华侨与早期中国电影的发展与传播

论文考察了归国华侨与早期中国电影业发展的密切联系和华侨在中国电影海外传播中的积极作用。在近代中国国产电影的发展历程中,华侨在技术、设备、人才等方面发挥着重要的先导作用。一方面,在中国电影的起步阶段,一批海外华侨回国创办电影公司或投资参与电影制作,推动了中国早期电影的发展。另一方面,侨居海外的华侨亦在当地积极支持国产电影,建立了国产电影的发行放映体系、拍摄突出中国文化的华语电影。民族认同让海外华侨积极推动早期中国电影的发展,使中国电影不断壮大,而国产电影的传播又进一步增强了海外华侨的民族认同感。     

Kazantzakis and the Cinema

Abstract

Alexis Zorbas unwittingly displays a knowledge of the cinema when he says to the Boss, <inline-graphic href="splitsection8_in1.tif"/><inline-graphic href="splitsection8_in2.tif"/><inline-graphic href="splitsection8_in3.tif"/>. [‘Anything we couldn't say with our mouths we said with our feet, our hands, our belly or with wild cries'.] Kazantzakis himself once said the same thing in a different way: ‘To succeed in transforming the abstract concepts into simple, clear images is my great aspiration’. These words – written to his future wife Eleni Samios and referring to the cinema's influence on The Odyssey – are the starting point for the rest of Kazantzakis' more complex theories on film, the distillation of the lessons he learned from motion pictures and later applied to his writing. But before continuing, we can create a helpful context for the author's concern with film by supplying some historical background.     

Cultural Identity and the Canonization Of Music in Early China

This article shows that over the course of the Warring States period (479–221 BCE) authors began to organize and categorize music in a manner that helped define and reinforce their conceptions of themselves as a distinct cultural or ethnic group: variously referred to as the Huaxia, Zhuxia, and Zhou. By examining how Ruist (Confucian) authors articulated distinctions among various types of music, and by showing how such identifications denigrated nefarious forms not associated with the Zhou court and its culture, I show how authors endeavored in a process of musical canonization while also consolidating a sense of an ethno-cultural self. The fact that these writings distinguished among and evaluated musical types not primarily through a discussion of musical form or theory but via a morally-laden language rooted in the civilizing rhetoric of the day suggests that music was a primary site for formulating, expressing, and promoting cultural identity.     

Cultural nationalism and everyday resistance in an illiberal nationalising state: ethnic minority nationalism in Russia

Ethnic minority nationalism has always been one of the most important subfields of nationalism studies, yet it lacks the consideration in illiberal settings. Limitations of civil liberties and restrictive legislation have undoubtedly affected the existence and the ways to express minority nationalism when it is considered a threat to authoritarian government, which is the case of the contemporary Russian Federation. The paper provides a methodological framework that helps to investigate ethnic minority nationalism when its direct articulation is restricted. It argues that the combination of a cultural nationalism approach and complexity theory can be a fruitful way to explore minority nationalism in an illiberal nationalising state using the case of Russian ethnic minorities. It also argues that the complex context of authoritarianism and market economy creates tipping points towards the growing importance of ethnic minority identification as a basis for social solidarity.     

“彩陶之路”与早期中西文化交流

“彩陶之路”是以彩陶为代表的早期中国文化以陕甘地区为根基自东向西拓展传播之路,也包括顺此通道西方文化的反向渗透.“彩陶之路”从公元前4千纪一直延续至前1千纪,其中又以大约公元前3500年、公元前3000年、公元前2200年和公元前1300年四波彩陶文化的西渐最为明显.具体路线虽有许多,但大致可概括为以青藏高原为界的北道和南道.“彩陶之路”是早期中西文化交流的首要通道,是“丝绸之路”的前身,对中西方文明的形成和发展都产生过重要影响.