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The tradition of Chinese philosophical interpretation contains an inherent tension between “objectively interpreting classics” and “subjectively constructing systems”, with three major Han Dynasty commentaries on the Laozi—Laozi Zhigui, Laozi Daodejing Heshanggong Zhangju, and Laozi Xiang’er Zhu—serving as typical manifestations of this tradition. As a core concept of the Laozi, ziran constitutes a shared entry point for their interpretations. However, due to differences in ideological positions and construction goals, they have formed distinct interpretive approaches. Laozi Zhigui constructs a philosophical system centered on ziran. At the cosmological level, it defines ziran as both the Dao’s inherent nature of being without will or deliberate intervention and the fundamental law governing all things’ self-generation and self-sufficiency, thereby dispelling the Dao’s attribute as a ruling entity. At the practical level, it advocates “the naturalness of xingming”, proposing that rulers should practice wuwei to purify their minds while the people follow their inherent nature to achieve self-harmony, pursuing the social ideal of “returning to primal simplicity”. Its core aim is to criticize the theological teleology prevalent in the mid-to-late Western Han Dynasty and provide an alternative path of rational speculation for the intellectual circle. Laozi Daodejing Heshanggong Zhangju puts forward the idea that “the nature of the Dao is ziran”, emphasizing that ziran is the inherent nature of the Dao rather than the innate state of humans. It rejects the notion of all things generating themselves independently, highlighting the Dao’s supreme status transcending all things and its ruling role over the universe. This interpretation is closely bound to the commentary’s core tenet of “cultivating the Dao for longevity”, arguing that humans can only obtain the Dao’s nourishment by consciously aligning themselves with “the Dao’s nature as ziran” through practice. Thus, ziran becomes an “ought-to-be” state requiring active pursuit, integrating distinct health-preserving practices and preliminary religious overtones. Laozi Xiang’er Zhu undertakes a subversive reconstruction of ziran from a purely religious perspective, reducing it to a synonym for the deified Dao (Supreme Old Lord) and completely eliminating its independent philosophical status and original connotation. Abandoning the traditional understanding that “the nature of the Dao is ziran”, the commentary fully serves the construction of Taoist doctrine, completing the ideological leap from “interpreting the Laozi” to “establishing Taoist theory”. The differentiated interpretations of ziran in these three works not only demonstrate the diverse possibilities of interpreting the Laozi but also clearly reflect the historical trajectory of Han Dynasty thought transitioning from philosophical speculation to religious practice.

The term ziran first appears in the Daodejing, yet its precise meaning and attribution remain ambiguous in this book, sparking ongoing scholarly debate. This paper argues that Laozi’s idea of ziran fundamentally pertains to all things and the common people, rather than the Dao or the ruler, and its realization depends on the noncoercive action (wuwei, 無為) of the Dao and the ruler. While ziran is commonly understood as “natural” or “free from external force”, Laozi reinterprets it beyond its literal meaning, integrating the notion of order through its relationship with wuwei and thus imbuing it with theoretical significance. In this framework, ziran encompasses orders of internal senses and orders of external activities inherent in all things while simultaneously excluding excessive and disorderly desires. It thereby serves as a criterion for assessing the orderliness of desires. Furthermore, by elucidating ziran as the continuous transformation of things, the standard to which the ideal ruler or the sage resorts to curb the disorderly desires of the common people is established.

The theoretical proposition that sages or ideal rulers wuwei 無為 (act noncoercively) to achieve ziran 自然 of people has been clearly identified as the key claim in the political field, as posed by Laozi. However, this proposition leaves two questions worth further consideration. Firstly, how does this political claim relate to other, somewhat negative, political claims in Laozi, such as bushangxian 不尚賢 (not promoting those of superior character)? Secondly, why and in what sense should ziran of people and things be affirmed? Correspondingly, the purpose of this paper was to elucidate that those seemingly negative political claims are critiques of the ruler’s youwei 有為 (coercive action) in governance, in accordance with the viewpoint of noncoercive action, and to argue that the affirmation of the value of ziran must be established in the metaphysical realm of shapeless Dao instead of in the political realm. On the grounds of Dao, although the content of ziran involves the diversity of states of things, a permanent change of those states really establishes the measures and criteria of the ziran of things.

Drawing from a rich array of visual and literary material from nineteenth-century Iran, this groundbreaking book rereads and rewrites the history of Iranian modernity through the lens of gender and sexuality. Peeling away notions of a rigid pre-modern Islamic gender system, Afsaneh Najmabadi provides a compelling demonstration of the centrality of gender and sexuality to the shaping of modern culture and politics in Iran and of how changes in ideas about gender and sexuality affected conceptions of beauty, love, homeland, marriage, education, and citizenship. She concludes with a provocative discussion of Iranian feminism and its role in that country's current culture wars. In addition to providing an important new perspective on Iranian history, Najmabadi skillfully demonstrates how using gender as an analytic category can provide insight into structures of hierarchy and power and thus into the organization of politics and social life.

Many scholars view translations of the Chinese classics as inevitably lacking fidelity to the “original,” asserting language difference as a fundamental impediment to cross-cultural understanding. The present study disputes this viewpoint by employing the perspective of Global Laozegetics. This notion affirms a fundamental continuity between the native Laozi or Daodejing commentarial tradition and its corresponding foreign translation tradition. Specifically, I will investigate a range of interpretations of the term ziran found in Laozi Chapter 25, including 16 traditional and modern Chinese readings and 67 translations in 26 languages. My broad investigation of this narrow topic will reveal a rich historical development of interpretation and translation, highlight the philosophical ramifications of different exegetical choices, deepen our understanding of the core Daoist concept ziran, and assist in confirming the basic premise of Global Laozegetics that language, even the original language of Chinese, is secondary to interpretive strategy when engaging with classical works.

This paper examines the challenges of our hyperconnected society through the lens of Daoist philosophy, specifically drawing on the thoughts of Laozi and the Zhuangzi. This study begins by analyzing the broad implications of hyperconnectivity in contemporary society, highlighting how unprecedented levels of interconnection shape modern human experience. The analysis identifies three critical challenges in our hyperconnected world: the individual cognitive level (where connected subjects experience confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance); the structural level (where systemic forces diminish individual autonomy and create unpredictable outcomes); and the amplified social level (where the interaction between individual and structural factors intensifies social division, isolation, systemic risks, and cascading failures). This paper approaches these challenges through three key Daoist concepts: Dao as the foundational principle of reality, Qi as the underlying logic of interconnection, and the complementary principles of Wu-wei (non-action) and Ziran (self-so-ness) as frameworks for managing desire. These concepts yield two crucial insights: the need to deepen our understanding of connectivity’s practical dimensions and the importance of maintaining critical distance between means and ends through persistent questioning of fundamental principles. As technological advancement and material concerns increasingly dominate society, Daoist philosophy offers both a warning about the potential loss of human essence and practical guidance for maintaining purposeful awareness through Wu-wei and Ziran. The concept of Qi further illuminates humanity’s fundamental embeddedness in universal interconnection. This paper concludes by proposing ways to bridge theory and practice, emphasizing expanded awareness of connectivity, philosophical inquiry into essence, and the enduring relevance of humanistic wisdom.

In recent years, character design in Chinese animated films has evolved toward more psychologically complex and multidimensional portrayals of ‘round’ characters. This transformation has significantly enriched the aesthetic architecture of animated characterization. Through comparative analyses of Sun Wukong in Havoc in Heaven (Laiming Wan, 1961, 1964) and Monkey King: Hero is Back (Xiaopeng Tian, 2015), as well as Nezha Conquers the Dragon King (Shuchen Wang, Jingda Xu, and Ding Xian Yan, 1979) and Nezha Series (Jiaozi, 2019, 2025), this article explores how contemporary animated protagonists embody psychological multiplicity, nonlinear trajectories of growth, and inner contradictions, thereby transforming the typified character constructions prevalent in early Chinese animation. By integrating E. M. Forster’s theory of character, the Daoist aesthetic of ziran (自然), and the aesthetic principle of imperfection, the study establishes a culturally grounded theoretical framework that offers new interpretive pathways for understanding the evolution of national style in Chinese animation.

The unprecedented transformations of the world order, propelled by unparalleled extreme political and economic ideologies, that we are experiencing today violate the obligations under the World Trade Organisation. Recognising \"the dignity and worth of the human person\" as the core objectives that are intended to ensure world peace, The United Nations Charter mandates that nations \"live together in peace\", \"maintain international peace and security\", and refrain from the \"use of force\" in their mutual relations. Faced with this devastating global transformation, especially the threat to world peace, it is imperative for the international community to review and optimize the existing international order. This article proposes an effective approach to renewing and reforming the contemporary international order, rooted in Eastern culture and wisdom: \"Yi Ziran\", a theoretical framework and research methodology for international law centred on the cosmic view of the \"Way of Nature\" (Tiandao Ziran) which encompasses many philosophical thoughts such as Confucianism and pre-eminence of law and legal order. Specifically, this paper will analyse the essence and trajectory of the extremism promoted by the United States, as well as the potential choices for the international community, from the perspective of \"Yi Ziran\". As a strategy to counter the American extremism, it proposes that the international community should reaffirm the right to peace as a fundamental human right. Recognition of the right to peace, not only as an individual right but also a collective right under international law, will advance the realization of \"the dignity and worth of the human person\" under the United Nation Charter.

More and more people talk about so-called Daoist ecological thought. Actually, Daoism does not have a ready-made ecological thought. However, it indeed can act as a vital theoretical resource for constructing such thought. In this article, I will argue how this is possible, and what realm Daoism can attain in the relation between human and nature. I will mainly employ such methods as original problem research, literature analysis and comparative research in the inquiry. Compared with traditional Western metaphysics, Daoist ontology can provide stronger philosophical support for the value and significance of empirical things. In addition, Dao does not dominate things like a personal god with will, but gives them the chance to grow and develop according to their own nature. Lao-Zhuang called on people to imitate this character of Dao. They believed that the primitive nature itself was worthy of respect, and urged us to set limits for ourselves and never to distort things’ natural propensities to suit us. Consequently, natural things are neither overshadowed by a noumenon, nor are they subject to humans’ conquering and abuse, so they are capable of flourishing freely. This is precisely the realm of tianfang which Daoism seeks.

This essay examines the nature of things in early Daoism via the lens of comparative philosophy. Daoism uses ziran 自然 (spontaneity) to express the nature of things. I explore the ziran or spontaneity of the myriad things through the analysis of de 德, sheng 生 (xing 性), and freedom (ziyou 自由). The sections on de 德 and sheng 生 reveal that the spontaneity of things is the ultimate reality, which contains the oneness of one and many, essence and appearance, change and changelessness. The section on freedom revolves around two essential questions in metaphysics: What are things? What is the relation between things and humans? Different from the motto of modern metaphysics, “humans prescribes laws to nature”, early Daoism believes that human existence belongs to the constant ziran. I call this “nature prescribes laws to humans”.