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In recent years, three ancient manuscripts relating to the Yi jing (I Ching), or Classic of Changes, have been discovered. The earliest-the Shanghai Museum Zhou Yi-dates to about 300 B.C.E. and shows evidence of the text's original circulation. TheGuicang, or Returning to Be Stored, reflects another ancient Chinese divination tradition based on hexagrams similar to those of theYi jing. In 1993, two manuscripts were found in a third-century B.C.E. tomb at Wangjiatai that contain almost exact parallels to theGuicang's early quotations, supplying new information on the performance of early Chinese divination. Finally, the FuyangZhou Yi was excavated from the tomb of Xia Hou Zao, lord of Ruyin, who died in 165 B.C.E. Each line of this classic is followed by one or more generic prognostications similar to phrases found in theYi jing, indicating exciting new ways the text was produced and used in the interpretation of divinations. Unearthing the Changes details the discovery and significance of the Shanghai MuseumZhou Yi, the WangjiataiGuicang, and the Fuyang Zhou Yi, including full translations of the texts and additional evidence constructing a new narrative of theYi jing's writing and transmission in the first millennium B.C.E. An introduction situates the role of archaeology in the modern attempt to understand the Classic of Changes. By showing how the text emerged out of a popular tradition of divination, these newly unearthed manuscripts reveal an important religious dimension to its evolution.

The collection of folk songs and odes for the Book of Poetry(Shih-ching/Shijing) was in nature a social research project in ancient China. This paper studies the Book of Poetry as a research report, probing into the background of the assignment of poetry functionaries as researchers, relevant geographic information and time span, relevant social production and life, the logic of the research, and the social value of the research. As a social research report, the Book of Poetry is of documentary significance to various academic fields.

In language use and comprehension, even when practitioners are able to identify the same cultural focal discourse, differences in the interpretation of the cultural information contained therein can arise. This phenomenon of differing interpretations can be explained through Pierre Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital, which, due to its accumulation, translates into specific bodily and cognitive dispositions, manifested as particular modes of action. This study aims to investigate typical linguistic materials that store cultural capital. Specifically, it analyzes Liu Yuxi's Bamboo Branch Song (first of two) and six English translations, comparing the differential accumulation of cultural capital associated with the cultural focal point “Qing(晴)” across the levels of language skills, norms, and values. The exchange of cultural capital in language activities is inevitable; however, the unsuccessful personal internalization of social habitus can hinder this exchange, causing it to remain at the norm level and resulting in a loss at the value level. This research also highlights the risks associated with the exchange of cultural capital conveyed through language, offering insights into cultural transmission and communication.

The Hmong, a Chinese ethnic minority, possess a rich cultural heritage. Due to their unique history of exile and migration, the Hmong have scant documentation of their vanishing cultural heritage. The Hmong oral epic constitutes a vital component of documenting Hmong culture. Thus, this paper delves into the translation of the Hmong Oral Epic 'Creating Heaven and Earth', focusing on folklore terms as fundamental units for analyzing Hmong culture. Eco-Translatology has the great importance in protecting the languages of Chinese ethnic minorities and enhancing the dissemination of their literature (Li, 2017). Hence, this paper examines the translation of Hmong folklore terms in the Hmong Oral Epic 'Creating Heaven and Earth' from the perspective of Eco-Translatology. The study reveals 53 translations of Hmong folklore terms, encompassing material, social, and spiritual aspects, within the Hmong oral epic 'Creating Heaven and Earth'. For Hmong material folklore terms, translators predominantly employ the 'target contextualization' strategy, along with 'extending substitution' and 'vitalization' methods. For Hmong social folklore terms, translators favor the 'source contextualization' strategy, supplemented by 'adaptive addition' and 'vitalization' methods. For Hmong spiritual folklore terms, translators predominantly utilize the 'source contextualization' strategy, in addition to 'extending substitution' and 'naturalization' methods.

The Institute of Ethnic Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is in the forefront of efforts to record, document, and analyze the living oral traditions of China’s ethnic minorities, including works in the epic genre such as the three heroic epic cycles, namely the Gesar epic, the Janggar epic, and the Manas epic. In part, thanks to personal contacts between Chinese, North American, and European scholars, the Institute’s current research initiatives are formulated in close interaction with theoretical models known in the West. Moreover, these initiatives are grounded in a threefold “archive/base/network” approach to the living oral traditions of China as vital elements of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

Hua’er, a peculiar type of folk song in Northwest China, can be translated by referring to English love poems to recreate analogous but fundamentally different intertextual relations in English. The intertextuality perspective of translation enables the translator to see the rendition not as a product but as one of the numerous interpretive possibilities. Seen in this light, translating romantic Hua’er is able to open up one of many dialogues with English language and culture. By analyzing pieces of romantic Hua’er which the author translated, this paper aims to explore ways of representing the original intertextual relations in the English cultural context through three specific situations where the intertexts within Hua’er are recreated in the receiving language. The three ways are reproducing by substitution for intertexts likely to remain unrecognized in English, retaining intertexts with distinctive Chinese characteristics and constructing intertexts in a new context familiar to English readers.

Lu Xun, a lifelong translator dedicated to introducing foreign thought, “searched for new voices from alien lands” to reinvigorate indigenous culture. Yet, his attitude toward cultural exchange was an ambivalent one. Among the questions that preoccupied him: How are foreign discourses, technologies, and knowledge appropriated and disseminated? Do they enable new frameworks for understanding the self and the world and forward an emancipatory agenda? Or legitimize systems of oppression? While Lu Xun's essays and short stories largely affirm the latter, “Mr. Fujino” imagines a paradigm of relationality that goes beyond the limits of nationalist and colonial discourse. The sentimental account mythologizing his friendship with his Japanese anatomy teacher—one that draws on Confucian notions of benevolence and reciprocity—and, in turn, the positive sentiments and cross-cultural encounters the story has generated, reflects, and in a certain sense, enacts, Lu Xun's more sanguine visions of the transformative possibilities of cultural exchange.

Xiangsheng相声 (cross talk), which has been one of the most popular folk art performance genres with the Chinese people since its emergence during the Qing Dynasty, began to lose its popularity at the turn of the 1990s. However, this downward trajectory changed from about 2005, and it once again began to enthuse the public. The catalyst for this change in fortune has been attributed to Guo Degang and his Deyun Club 德云社. The general audience acclaim for Guo Degang’sxiangshengperformance not only turned him into axiangshengmaster and a grassroots cultural hero, it also, somewhat absurdly, evoked criticism from a few critics. The main causes of the negative critiques are the mundane themes and the ubiquitous vulgarbaofu包袱 (comical elements) and rude jokes enlisted in Guo’sxiangshengperformance that revolve around the subjects of ethics, pornography, and prostitution, and which turn Guo into a signifier of vulgarity. However, with the media platform provided via the Weibo 微博 microblog, Guo Degang demonstrates his penchant for refined taste and his talent as an elegant literati. Through an in-depth analysis of both Guo Degang’sxiangshengperformance and his microblog entries, this paper will examine the contrasting features between Guo Degang’s artistic creations and his “private” life. Also, through the opposing contents and reflections of Guo Degang’sxiangshengworks and his microblog writings, an opaque and sometimes diametrically opposed insight into his worldviews is provided, and a glimpse of the dualistic nature of engagement and withdrawal from the world is revealed.

This study aims to delve into and interpret “The Mysterious Sound of Flute” and “Poems on Western Yunnan” from a singer’s perspective while also providing guidance and recommendations for other performers. The research encompasses the history of Chinese art songs, a biography of Shande Ding, and an introduction to his compositional style. A comprehensive examination of each song includes background information, song analysis, translation, a Chinese lyric diction guide, and performance suggestions.Art songs constitute a significant genre in music composition, and Chinese art songs have yielded numerous outstanding composers and captivating works over the years. Among these composers, Shande Ding stands out as one of the prominent figures in 20th-century China, showcasing a diverse range of works characterized by a distinctive style. Grounded in Chinese ethnic music traditions, his works boldly incorporate Western modern techniques, thus establishing a notable position in the field of Chinese art songs. “The Mysterious Sound of Flute” and “Poems on Western Yunnan” serve as representative pieces within Shande Ding’s art song repertoire. Despite their initially limited popularity, these two compositions have gradually gained recognition in recent years, capturing widespread attention.

In 1922, Chang Hui (1894–1985) published in Folk Song Weekly ten ballads with a shared motif: “seeing her through a bamboo curtain” (gezhe zhulian kanjian ta). Regarding the ballads as at once ten place-based, local folk songs and one placeless, national poetry, Chang urged attention to the exemplary influence of folk songs on the unification of languages in early twentieth-century China. Throughout the folk song campaign (c. 1918–c. 1927), however, the potential of folk songs to facilitate nationalization of Chinese language and literature remained arguably unfulfilled. This article examines the reasons for folk songs’ lack of influence on modern Chinese literary history. Through an analysis of contesting ideas and agendas regarding the literary nature of folk song, the author reveals that folk songs were rediscovered at a moment of modern Chinese history when prevalent discourses on Chinese language and literature could not fully accommodate the folk, the dialect, or the oral nature of folk song.