As a composite text of ancient Chinese geography and mythology, the Classic of Mountains and Seas combines mythical elements with early geographical knowledge, reflecting the ancient people’s exploration and imagination of the world. This study adopts a literary and mythological research perspective, combining textual analysis, interdisciplinary research, and case study methods to explore the transmission and evolution of geographical names in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. It analyzes how mythological geography transitions into actual geography and reveals the shifts in geographical perspectives reflected in this process. The study found that the geographical descriptions in the Classic of Mountains and Seas were constructed by ancient people on the basis of limited knowledge, using mythical imagination to create a "pseudo-real" geographical system. Its evolutionary process reflects a cognitive transformation from mystification to rationalization. The evolution of typical place names such as Kunlun Mountain and Kongtong Mountain reveals the transformation of ancient geographical perspectives from the myth of the "center of the world" to the reality of "diverse yet unified" geography, reflecting the historical process of cultural exchange and expansion.

As demand for English as a Second Language grows globally, learners face native language interference, limited phonetic perception, and scarce resources, hence posing key barriers to intelligibility and cross-cultural communication. This study explores the types, causes, diagnosis, and intervention of English pronunciation errors across different native language backgrounds backgrounds, and examines intelligent technologies for personalized correction. By reviewing and analyzing relevant literature, this study summarizes research progress and current teaching practices in second language pronunciation errors. The results demonstrates that traditional teacher-dependent correction methods are limited by delayed feedback and insufficient support for individual differences, whereas emerging technologies such as acoustic analysis, virtual reality, biofeedback, and AI offer feasible approaches for real-time visual diagnosis and targeted correction, thus enhancing learners’ pronunciation accuracy and speech fluency. This paper further points out that future ESL pronunciation teaching needs to deepen the integration of linguistic theory and technological tools, and build a multimodal and sustainable pronunciation correction ecosystem, to better meet the cross-cultural communication needs of different learners.

Middlemarch, written by George Eliot, is a representative work of British Victorian literature. The depictions of diseases and healing practices in the novel profoundly reveal the social maladies of Victorian and the individual destinies of the characters. Taking disease metaphors as an analytical framework, this paper examines the symbolic meanings of cholera, Mr. Casaubon’s death, and Mr. Featherstone’s death, highlighting the underlying power imbalances and social pathologies. This study also focuses on the healing practices of Lydgate and Dorothea and their meanings. As a symbol of rationality and science, Lydgate's conflict between his professional ideals and real-world difficulties reflects the strong resistance that scientific and rational thinking faced within traditional social structures. Dorothea's acts of rescue, however, go beyond the medical field, demonstrating moral care and the awakening of female consciousness. By adopting the perspective of illness and medical discourse, this study offers a novel analytical framework for interpreting George Eliot’s Middlemarch.

This paper asks why the Shiji (史记) chapter on the Xiongnu, the Xiongnu Liezhuan (匈奴列传, ch. 110), contains repeated inaccuracies about Xiongnu life and warfare. I argue that the leading causes are information poverty (Sima Qian relied on mediated envoy reports, military dispatches, and court records), a Sinocentric way of seeing at the Han court, and Sima Qian's own narrative choices under these conditions, where the lack of information added to his choice of maintaining his current accuracy. Using close reading of the text, comparison with later histories (Hanshu, Hou Hanshu), and archaeological evidence often linked to Xiongnu activity (for example, fortified and semi‑sedentary sites), I show that claims like "no walled cities and no agriculture" are too absolute. I also examine military stories such as Baideng, where reported troop numbers are likely inflated. A brief comparison with Herodotus suggests this kind of exaggeration was common in early historiography, not just in China. Sima Qian sometimes includes Xiongnu's perspectives, which makes his account more balanced than later works. Ultimately, the "errors" in the Shiji also tell us how the Han gathered and judged information. Reading the chapter in this dual way helps us see both the Xiongnu more clearly and the Han world that described them.

In recent years, the concepts of maritime and agricultural civilizations have attracted growing attention, particularly in Chinese social media and cross-cultural discussions. These narratives are not only popular in public discourse but also quoted in academic debates about the relationship between geography, civilization, and language. This study critically examines this pervasive dichotomy. While some scholars argue that geography shapes civilization, which in turn shapes language development through distinct scripts, grammar, and pragmatics, this paper challenges the validity and generalizability of such claims. The fundamental flaw lies in the assumption that a civilization is shaped by a single dominant geographical environment, ignoring the reality that civilizations often coexist and interact within diverse geographical contexts. Based on this flawed premise, linguistic-geographical determinism also oversimplifies complex historical and cultural factors and relies on limited qualitative data. Evidence from various linguistic cases further refutes the notion that geography alone determines linguistic development. By pointing out the limitations of this dichotomy and uncovering its ideological underpinnings, this study emphasizes the need to move beyond colonial-era frameworks and adopt a more nuanced, diverse perspective on civilization. This work contributes to the broader discourse on postcolonial studies and highlights the importance of critically examining ideological influences in academic research.

With the acceleration of globalization, the attention to English education for young children has been continuously increasing. Common methods in current practice include situational teaching, game interaction, multimedia assistance, and picture book reading. Among them, English picture books, with the feature of integrating pictures and texts, have become a key tool for young children's second language acquisition. Based on Krashen's Second Language Acquisition Theory and Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory, this paper adopts the literature review method to explore the practical role of English picture books in young children's English acquisition. The study finds that English picture books can provide comprehensible input, reduce emotional filtration, and conform to the cognitive characteristics of young children, effectively promoting their vocabulary accumulation, listening comprehension, and oral expression abilities. This paper confirms the significance of English picture books in English enlightenment and puts forward relevant teaching suggestions.

This paper challenges the dominant interpretation of Meursault in L’Étranger as a passive absurdist, arguing instead that he performs a nonverbal, carnivalesque form of existential rebellion. Drawing on Albert Camus’ theory of the absurd and Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of carnival and grotesque realism, the study proposes a three-stage model of Meursault’s defiance: his initial refusal of symbolic norms, his construction of a second world rooted in bodily sensation, and his final affirmation of death as a meaningful end. The grotesque and sensory elements in Meursault’s perception displace abstract morality, revealing a rebellion enacted not through rhetoric, but through embodied experience. The courtroom, far from subjugating him, becomes a stage for non-cooperation and existential autonomy. Ultimately, Meursault emerges as a carnival figure who says both “no” to imposed meaning and “yes” to the material rhythms of life. His revolt is not rhetorical but visceral—a grotesque affirmation of life under the shadow of death.

Drawing on the Sogdian Ancient Letters alongside archaeological evidence and secondary scholarship, this study examines the hierarchical structure of Sogdian society and its formative role in shaping Silk Road trade and diaspora networks. It argues that the cross-regional success of Sogdian merchants rested on an aristocracy bound by kinship, which controlled commercial networks, credit systems, and political offices within diaspora communities. This work also considers the marginal position of non-elite Sogdians as to highlight the defining role of the aristocratic order. Overall, this work highlights the central role of the hierarchical nature of Sogdian society in both economic exchange and historical memory on the Silk Road.

Liu Wensuo’s 2021 archaeological survey relocated the Syriac Christian monastery first discovered by Albert von Le Coq a century earlier; more importantly, it confirmed that Eastern Christianity endured in the Turfan Basin for five centuries (7th–13thc. CE). This is nothing short of a miracle, given that the Turfan Basin had no widespread Christian tradition. Instead, the Syriac Christian community remained small, insular, and entirely separate from the dominant groups—the Sogdians (7th–early 9thc.) and the Old Uyghurs (mid-9th–13thc.). How this foreign minority (whose existence we know of by their monastery) survived and pertained to their traditions for over five centuries in a highly volatile region along the Silk Road forms the central question of this paper. Drawing exclusively from primary sources, this study concludes that Eastern Christianity—through providing legitimacy to currencies—afforded its adherent communities commercial advantages along the Silk Road. These benefits motivated Christian communities to maintain their faith over five centuries, until the 13th-century Mongol conquests unified the Silk Road from the Far East to the West, unifying the currency of transcontinental trade.

Feminist urbanism is a concept in urban planning that opposes patriarchal principles and focuses on creating spaces that are more accessible for all genders, especially supporting women. However, its implementation diverges between the Global North and South. This paper compares Barcelona, Spain, and Mumbai, India, which adopt state-led and self-driven approaches respectively. Through policy analysis and case study review, this study discusses how each city redefines feminist urbanism in relation to state power, labour, and safety. Findings reveal that Barcelona’s state-led policies risk neoliberal co-optation, while Mumbai’s slum women practice Darwinist, survival-based urbanism. Not only is gender identified as a crucial factor that affects the maintenance of cities, but also the population’s financial status. Although Barcelona and Mumbai have different economic and historical backgrounds, both cities strive to promote and plan for women, emphasising how gender planning can exist regardless of economic ability. This study suggests that feminist urbanism must consider economies, policies, and sociocultural norms to avoid further producing inequality.