Chinese calligraphy is a treasure of Chinese culture, and its development is closely related to philosophical thought, especially Taoist thought. This study aims to systematically explore the profound cultural connotations of Chinese calligraphy and its contemporary transmission path from the perspective of Taoist thought. This paper first traces the historical origins of Taoist core concepts such as "nature," "non-action," and "yin and yang" with the art of calligraphy, explaining their convergence in spiritual essence. This paper advocates upholding the aesthetic core of Taoism to solidify the cultural foundation; promotes the integration of contemporary elements to expand dissemination channels; and seeks to build a long-term mechanism to overcome the current difficulties in inheritance. This study aims to deepen the philosophical understanding of calligraphy and provide theoretical reference and practical inspiration for the contemporary revitalization and sustainable development of this traditional art. This paper finds that the core ideas of Taoism and calligraphy are deeply aligned in their spiritual essence, serving as key support for their cultural connotations. The conclusion is that integrating contemporary elements with Taoist aesthetics can effectively promote the contemporary inheritance of calligraphy.

This paper centers on the travel manuscript of Philliphê Bỉnh, a Vietnamese Catholic missionary active from 1759 to 1833, who sought support from the Portuguese court in 1796 for the Tonkin diocese in Vietnam. Stranded in Portugal for over three decades, Bỉnh documented his experiences in the Latinized Vietnamese script (Quốc ngữ) in his work Sách sổ sang chép các việc (Notebook That Transmits and Records All Matters). Through literature review and comparative analysis, this study examines this rare early-19th-century travelogue in Vietnamese vernacular script. It focuses on Bỉnh’s observations and reflections on the European world as one of the first Vietnamese missionaries to reside long-term in Europe, and contrasts his narrative perspective with writings by 19th-century Vietnamese Confucian scholar-officials. The paper argues that Bỉnh’s writings are not only a record of a long-distance ecclesiastical mission but also an important historical source for understanding bidirectional cultural encounters between East and West in the pre-modern era, offering a key case study for examining the early modernity of Vietnam from a global historical perspective.

In the late 20th century, Henri Lefebvre proposed rhythmanalysis as a method of understanding the temporal and bodily patterns that structure everyday life. His rhythmanalyst is an ordinary figure who perceives, interprets, and transforms these rhythms to understand social and bodily existence. Given the prominence of his framework in examining urban and industrial experience, this paper situates rhythmanalysis within the context of post-reform China and explores how rhythms of industrial labor manifest in the poetry of Zheng Xiaoqiong, a Chinese migrant worker turned poet. It will explain how her work reveals the female migrant worker as a rhythmanalyst in situ, caught between the rhythms of machine production and biological reproduction. It will interrogate how Lefebvre’s rhythmanalyst is a powerful tool for examining the working-class experience; however, his model often presupposes a degree of bodily autonomy not available to the female migrant-worker body and overlooks the violent disruptions of rhythm imposed by industrial labor. Finally, this paper will demonstrate how, through the mechanics of language itself, Zheng extends beyond Lefebvre and transcends the limits of her own body. By taking on the role of an ethnographer-poet, she extends the act of rhythmanalysis from individual to collective in Records of Women Workers, thereby constructing a symphonic body of voices that gives form to the sufferings and solidarities of women workers. Ultimately, this paper will demonstrate how Zheng’s poetics applies and critically revises rhythmanalysis, expanding its potential as a practice of solidarity, witness, and social memory.

This article examines the inseparable relationship between China’s art institutions and total modernity. The first section analyzes private organizations’ operational methods that meaningfully integrate economic and cultural development through commercialization. The following sections discuss public art institutions’ focus on cultural enrichment, highlighting the synthesized creative approach of integrating historical and contemporary Chinese artistic traditions and practices. Overall, this paper focuses on art institutions’ ability to integrate economically, involve themselves in people’s daily lives and stimulate China’s total modernity and national well-being. Through field research and on-site observation at UCCA Beijing (Ullens Center for Contemporary Art) and the National Museum of China from June to August 2025, this paper presents vivid and detailed examples with the most recent data, offering an audience’s experience of visiting China’s art institutions.

The functions of social media platforms have undergone profound transformations due to rapid technological and social advancements. Traditional information exchange functions can no longer cater to the evolving needs of social communication and regulation. In the digital media age, information monitoring and dissemination are ubiquitous. For example, agreeing to various permissions when logging into a website, while improving the efficiency of information flow , also erodes the boundaries of personal privacy that were previously unbreached by traditional media . In this process of breaking down and crossing boundaries, the privacy boundaries belonging to the users themselves are also being reshaped. How to appropriately delineate the scope of governance and surveillance amid these dissolving and reshaping boundaries has emerged as a critical research agenda in contemporary academic and policy discourse. This paper will use a literature review approach to explore cases represented by the Facebook data breach and the US government's restrictions on TikTok, examining the trade-offs and dilemmas between government monitoring and personal privacy in the digital environment. This paper finds that while governments issue regulatory measures to protect citizens' information security, they frequently give rise to substantial controversies concerning privacy safeguarding, urgently requiring a more balanced governance path.

Erhu right-hand bowing techniques are the core of sound production and artistic expression, and the construction of their theoretical system is crucial to teaching practice and artistic innovation. This paper sorts out the development context of erhu right-hand bowing techniques from the exploration period in the first half of the 20th century, the systematic construction period in the second half of the 20th century to the refined research period in the 21st century. It analyzes the limitations of existing classification systems such as the "Three Elements of Bowing" and the "Three-Category Method" in terms of standards, concepts, and terminology. Based on the "spatial movement relationship between bow hair and strings", a new system of "Planar Bowing Techniques - Vertical Bowing Techniques" is constructed, and its value is verified through the practice of classic works. The research aims to provide a scientific classification framework for erhu bowing theory, promote the scientization of national instrumental music technology theory, and facilitate the inheritance and international dialogue of erhu art.

Public art has taken on the power of cultural expression, thus influencing the ways in which cities practice identity, negotiating memory and developing community belonging. With the rapid urbanization in the modern global environment, the issue of environmental art becomes more and more important in keeping the cultural uniqueness and developing the spatial meaning. The paper explores the role of the participation of public art in the development of urban cultural identity by exploring the communicative, symbolic, and participatory roles of the piece in the contexts of the West and in China. This paper examines the role of public art in turning urban spaces into landscapes that have cultural significance through the application of a comparative literature analysis and a theoretical review based on a case. Results indicate that the Western view of public art is more likely to focus on social discourse, civic symbolism, and involvement of people, whereas the Chinese view tends to focus on philosophical harmony, significance of rituals, and cultural continuity. Differences notwithstanding, both contexts of public art play an important role in creating a sense of identity, strengthening the emotional connection, and enhancing cultural resilience to rapidly evolving cities.

In contemporary China, Douyin has become a major source of dining information for young consumers, reshaping how taste is experienced, communicated, and legitimized. This study investigates how restaurant-review videos construct standardized taste cues and produce everyday food authority through visual storytelling, evaluative language, and platform-driven visibility. Using a case-based qualitative approach, the analysis reveals two intersecting mechanisms: the operationalization of taste through highly replicable visual and sensory templates, and the semi-professionalization of judgment through abstract descriptors and selectively framed expertise. Viewers alternate flexibly between the roles of audience, consumer, and follower, creating a dynamic trust relationship that amplifies creators’ influence while maintaining the appearance of accessibility. The findings highlight that taste formation on Douyin is neither fully democratized nor professionally institutionalized, but shaped by the interplay of platform algorithms, creator practices, and participatory viewing cultures. This study contributes a deeper understanding of digital taste governance and the cultural power embedded in short-video food media.

The article explores how mysticism resurges within modern, scientistic culture, especially in art. Mysticism is defined as a tradition of direct, private union with “ultimate reality,” distinct from both secret esoteric teachings and institutional religious ritual. Historically rooted in medieval Christianity and transformed by Romanticism, modern mysticism emerges as a reaction to Enlightenment rationalism and scientism. Scientism, grounded in empirical methods and the exclusion of the supernatural, delegitimizes mystical knowledge yet also provokes new mystical quests by generating a sense of spiritual emptiness and crisis of meaning. In art, the author distinguishes two forms of mysticism. One treats artworks as vehicles of transcendent knowledge about supernatural realities and thus directly collides with scientism’s epistemic limits. The other locates mysticism in the creative process and private experience without asserting ontological claims, making it more acceptable to scientism. However, this acceptance is purchased at the cost of weakening mysticism’s claim to genuine transcendence.

"The Scholar and the Executioner" is a prize-winning modern Chinese play written by the renowned playwright Huang Weiruo. First staged in 2005, it is a distinctive dark comedy set in the late Qing Dynasty.The playwright Huang Weiruo has crafted this absurdist comedy with biting satire and distinct humor, winning widespread acclaim.This paper aims to analyze the character of "Zhi Zihua" in the work, summarizing her threefold identity: the aware, the compassionate, and the survivor.Her presence not only balanced the gender narrative of the drama, but also elevated the theme from social satire to a philosophical reflection on the universal human predicament, highlighting the restorative power of the female experience in historical contexts.By comparing Zhi Zihua with the images of the other two male protagonists, the role of this character in enhancing the theme becomes evident.Through the creation of this character, playwright Huang Weiruo not only enriched the layers of the drama but also used it to criticize the rigid social system and call for a return to the true value of human nature.