A History of Chinese Immigration in the United States and Canada

The 2005 Québec novel by Nicolas Dickner (English publication, 2008) presents intertextual effects that become a reflection on writing. The novel is a voyage of self-discovery while offering connections to Melville, Joseph Conrad, the German “bildungsroman,” nineteenth century classic novels, twentieth century French existentialist essays, Anglo-Saxon seafaring sagas, Central and South American imaginative tales, “cric-crac” stories of Québécois “raconteurs,” subversive Canadian novels, adventure stories, detective narratives, comic books and computer-generated discourse. This complex mise en abyme of writing through interlacing genres stands as a metaphor for diversity and rootlessness in North American society.     

A Rejection of the Aramaic Origin of the Chinese Word for Monastery

Christopher Beckwith has recently devoted two publications concerning the origin of the word for “monastery” in East Asia. The proposed Aramaic origin has met with criticism from two eminent authorities, Laurent Sagart and Alexander Vovin. While the present article is not interested in the debate per se, here renamed the “Beckwith Controversy,” it is important to discuss in more detail Beckwith’s view about the Chinese word si 寺 (monastery), its origin, and its reconstruction. It is concluded that, although very imaginative in its conclusions, Beckwith’s argument is methodologically opaque and, therefore, should be definitely abandoned in favour of more plausible solutions.     

Natural Law,Poetic Justice and the Talionic Formulation

Abstract

Significant elements of natural law are reflected in the statements of corporal punishment presented in biblical law. In relation to the “eye for eye” clause from the talionic formulation, it is suggested that acts of blinding were perceived also as a form of punishment of an offending organ and can, therefore, be classified as examples of “instrumental talion.” This is distinct from measures which focus on the character of the sinner, or the nature of his crime, which are differentiated as “reflective talion.” Both processes convey an underlying desire for poetic justice, evidenced in biblical and ancient Near Eastern sources, where aetiological explanations clarify accounts of serious injuries to the eyes.     

长沙汉墓随葬动物形象的“器物观念”

本文探讨了长沙汉墓随葬品不同"动物"形象所蕴含的不同的人文观念,借用美术考古学家的"器物观念"概念,分析不同"动物"形象背后隐含的古人精神世界。笔者将"动物"形象分为现实动物形象、神话"动物"形象和"动物"组合形象三类,分析其所依次表现出的"事死如事生"的世俗观念、以龙凤为主的神话观念和"天地相协"的理想观念。     

Representations of the Chudes in Norwegian and Russian Folklore

Abstract

The objectives of this article are (1) to reveal the meaning (semantics) of the word “Chude” in Norwegian and Russian cultures; (2) to analyze Russian and Norwegian legends about the Chudes in order to define the main plot-constructing elements. When writing this article the authors used a synchronous and diachronous methods of analysis of material that was written down in a period that exceeds one and a half centuries. In etymological sense the word “Chude” (tsjude or Cud) can be derivative form from old Slavic form *tjudjo (strange, foreign) that can in its turn be borrowing from a Gothic or a German word that got the meaning “a nation” (folk). With the Sami the word “tshudde”/ “shutte” means an enemy, an adversary. The image of the Chudes has been preserved in Russian and Norwegian narrative traditions. Oral stories in Norway are called sagn. In Russian folkoristic narratives about the Chudes are traditionally called “predanie”.

The ethnonym “Chude” has a collective meaning in Russian and Norwegian folklore. In Norwegian culture it means plunderers of different ethnical belonging who came from the East to plunder the local population in the Northern Norway. As the undertaken research has shown, this name could have been applicable to Russian, Finns, Karelians, Kvens and peoples speaking Nordic languages (Swedes). In the Russian cultural tradition the name “Chude” was used to name different Finno-Ugric peoples living in the North-West Russia before the Russians came there and who later assimilated with the Russians. The Kola Sami called Swedes and Norwegians who came to them from the west to plunder the Chudes. The existence of a people in the same name in the old times is not excluded. The research carried out by place name scientists reveals that this people could be related to the Baltic-Finnish group of peoples.

The word Chude has historical and mythological aspects. Folk legends about the Chudes have “preserved” memories about the historical past of the northern region. Additionally this ethnonym contains conceptions of the world's binary character that are typical for archaic consciousness. Folk legends about the Chudes are widespread in the European North of Russia while plots about militant and plundering Chudes are localized in traditional Sami regions of Russia and Norway. In folk legends and sagn, the Russians and the Sami belong to one's “own” world, while the Chudes are associated with the concepts of the “strangers”. This nomination acquired the meaning “a stranger”, “a robber”.     

Narratives and Their Contexts: A Critique of Greger Andersson with Respect to Narrative Autonomy

Greger Andersson's 2001 monograph represents a significant contribution to current thinking regarding the book of Judges because it contains what may be the first systematic critique of the synchronic approach that has dominated Judges studies in recent years. Unfortunately, the two main theses upon which Andersson based his critique, namely, that narratives are autonomous and that they are resistant to reworking, may not in themselves be sustainable. For not only are there counter-examples to dispute the claim that narratives are resistant to reworking, it also appears that Andersson has overreached in his attempt to impose an overly restrictive view of non-referentiality and narrative autonomy on all narratives.     

朦胧的新旧易位:民国初年太炎弟子入职北大与“旧派”之动向——以朱希祖为中心

在民初北大的人事变动中,朱希祖作为正牌章太严弟子先于他人入职,颇充当了排头兵的角色。其入职并未引起旧派人士的强烈反应,旧派众人其后渐次离开北大,与朱希祖并无直接关系,原因亦各自不同,但均对校长何燏时主政下北大未来的趋向怀有背离之感。虽然后来更多太炎门生进入北大,代替桐城派等旧派人士居于核心地位,但以历史的眼光加以评判,此番新旧更替实有"以旧易旧"的意味。这说明在民初数年里,新旧世界虽已有移形换位之势,但"新"、"旧"之间的关系还有些朦胧,其清晰的标准尚在确立与制定之中。     

El Roto: A political cartoonist in late capitalist Spain

ABSTRACT

Under the pseudonym of El Roto, Andrés Rábago draws editorial cartoons for El País newspaper on an almost daily basis. Unlike other cartoonists, his political satire rarely depicts real politicians or celebrities but instead focuses on social types. This technique helps him to distance himself from current events as presented by the media and signal the more general causes of political conflicts. This article explores cartoons from recent years in which El Roto represents and interprets manifestations of the economy in everyday life. I show that his editorial cartoons aim to unmask the ideological narratives that attempt to naturalize capitalism as the only possible economic system. His “ideology critique” can thus be described as a political intervention to interrupt the creation and shaping of systems of representation that legitimize this economic and cultural hegemony. This article offers a content analysis of some of El Roto's most relevant cartoons, identifying the most recurrent themes and techniques used in order to consider his position as a cartoonist in Spanish politics.     

抗战后期美洲洪门致公堂的政治参与——以“美洲《十报宣言》事件”为中心的考察

论文依据国民政府应对“美洲《十报宣言》事件”的往来函电,结合美国联邦调查局对该事件的调查报告,探讨抗战后期美洲洪门致公堂作为华侨社团的政治参与及国共两党的回应,说明以美洲洪门致公堂为代表的美洲华侨对中国共产党民主理念的认同。“美洲《十报宣言》事件”,是抗战胜利前夕美洲洪门致公堂办的报纸与中国共产党党员所实际负责的报纸联合发表宣言,号召中国国民党结束一党专政,成立民主政府的事件。该事件涉及抗战后期美洲华侨中的三股主要力量——中国共产党、中国国民党以及以美洲洪门致公堂为代表的美洲华侨主体,引起蒋介石与国民政府的高度关注和直接干预。在美洲洪门致公堂以社团形式还是政党形式存在的问题上,中国国民党与美洲洪门致公堂出现了无法调和的矛盾。相较于中国国民党不愿承认致公堂作为独立政治团体的身份,中国共产党联合政府口号则使致公堂看到回国参政的可能性,由此获得了致公堂的政治认同。     

Changes in the Foot Binding Culture: The Female Body and Politics in Regions Governed by the Communist Party of China during the Anti-Japanese War

Since 1949, Chinese mainland historians and creators in film and television, novels, and reportage have continued to shape the heroic image of female groups in the base areas of the Communist Party of China (CPC) during the Anti-Japanese War. They participated in production, women’s mobilization, and reconstruction of the rural political order “like men.” They pursued the equality between men and women, marked by freedom of marriage, and also participated in regional guerrilla warfare to combat the Japanese puppet army “as men.” However, in the remote villages of north China at the end of the Qing dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, it was not common for women to unbind their feet. In wartime, most women over twenty years of age were forever left with the “three-inch golden lotus” (sancun jinlian) feet. The damage of the war accelerated their acceptance of the CPC’s emancipation concepts and policies and presented them with an opportunity to actively implement them. The experience of survival drastically changed traditional aesthetics, ideas, and customs related to women. Physical and psychological changes occurred as a result of the war; women began to go out of their homes to participate in the work of the Women’s Salvation Association and the Youth Salvation Association, and a group of women achieved marriage equality between men and women in the form of “divorce her husband” (qi xiu fu). Due to pressure, women carried more physical and mental responsibilities, faced insufficient advocacy for their rights, and the aesthetics and mentality of womanhood underwent change.