Aesthetics of Chinese Sorcery: An Aesthetics as Cultural Philosophy

Wang Zhenfu

Abstract:Sorcery, superstition and reason interact with each other, where confusion is accompanied with sobriety as depression with dignity and worship with aesthetics. Sorcery is an organic combination and compromise between worship and surrender, flattery and blasphemy, fear of heaven and knowing fate, spirituality and human intelligence. Sorcery, intervenient between divinity and humanity, is a newly created academic category of aesthetic anthropology, and Chinese sorcery aesthetics is a new branch of Chinese aesthetics, which takes cultural anthropology and cultural philosophy on witchcraft as its academic vision and approach, and takes sorcery as its main research object. Sorcery and poetry is not only paradoxical but also integrated.

Culture of Craftsmanship and Human Civilization

Zou Qichang

Abstract:Human civilization is a concept equivalent to artificial nature, artificial world and second nature. And the historical value of mankind lies in the emergence and development of the artificial world whose real creator is the people with craftsmen as the main body. It is the labor of the craftsmen that creates material wealth, spiritual wealth of the human world and all kinds of lifestyles they need. The culture of craftsmanship is the core connotation of human civilization and the theme of life.

The Multiple Modes of Craftsman Spirit in the Perspective of Technical Rationality

Cao Ruping

Abstract:“Craftsman spirit” has been regarded as a basic theoretical issue in the field of design research in recent years. Under the guidance of contemporary “cultural self-confidence” principle, this issue is gradually introduced into the complex cultural level to be discussed. Based on “technical rationality” needed by the research of design, this paper discusses the manifestation of “craftsman spirit” from diferent aspects,namely, the spiritual practicality, standardization and socialization of technology service, the cultivation of professional ethics and the guidance of professional ethics, and the externalization of enterprise system. The craftsman spirit, which is turned into ecology, is internalized as a responsible craftsman spirit. The article tries to answer the following questions: in what way do craftsmen, designers and technicians demonstrate the“craftsmanship”? Can the scientific rationality and management of technological society manifest the real “craftsman spirit”? Technology makes craftsmen or designers more and more part of “l(fā)abor”. To what extent can they reflect the “craftsmanship” of real life?

The Shift of The Craftsmen’s Identity in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties

Li Qingqing

Abstract:In Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, although the status of craftsmen was extremely low and humble, it did not remain stable but had a gradual upward trend. The shift is mainly manifested in the changes of service time and form with various reasons. Based on the analysis of the changes of the craftsmen’s situation in this period, this paper briefly explores the reasons for the changes.

Aquinas’s Saw: The Medieval View of Art

Larry Shiner (Trans. by Qiang Donghong)

Abstract:In the Medieval period, all arts/crafts were granted a place of dignity, and arts of embroidery, painting, pottery, sculpture, forging as well as architecture were all given a place of dignity in the scheme of creation and the system of knowledge. Moreover, there was no specific categories in Middle Ages to differentiate artists from artisans, without neither “artists” nor “artisans” but artisan/artists of varied ranks and statuses. Therefore, the term “beauty” has a much broader meaning than it does today, embracing moral value and utility along with pleasing appearance.

On the Production of Signs and Subjects in Consumer Society

Ouyang Cancan

Abstract:The consumer society takes body and body pleasure as its focus, constructing a textual context of consumption, implying and highlighting the aesthetic theme of the textual context of consumption. It hints at the lack of consumer situation, plays up the alternative experience, produces people’s consumption needs, and thus produces Don Quixote-style tame consumer subject. This is also the core mechanism of the operation of symbol fetishism.

Zhang Jian and The Nantong Massacre In 1916

Gong Zhengyong

Abstract:During the anti-Yuan protectorate movement in 1916, the powerful local ofcials and gentry in Nantong, represented by Zhang Jian, made political choices totally diferent from those in other places by taking the initiative to attack and killing the revolutionary party members in Nantong. The incident involved a wide range of politicians, but is often overlooked because of its relatively small size and short duration.

The Transmission and Influence of Russell in Shanghai

Huang Zhaohui

Abstract:Russell’s visit to China in 1920 aroused strong repercussions in Shanghai and even throughout the country. At that time, the newspapers and magazines in Shanghai scrambled to publish Russell and his thoughts. The rise, prosperity and ebb of “Passion for Russell” in Shanghai is closely related to the reports of newspapers and magazines. Russell’s speeches include philosophy, politics, education, marriage and so on. Because of his great influence and timely media coverage, Russell has a great influence on the research circles in Shanghai and even in the whole country at that time. Chinese intellectuals responded to Russell’s related topics.

The Research Life of Yang Kuan

Xie Baogeng

Abstract:Mr. Yang Kuan is a master of historiography, literature, Archaeology and administration. His works are characterized with historical knowledge, literature insight, archaeological power and philosophical speculation, so that he can speak with reason, persevere, enduring,and maintain academic vitality and nourish academic community. His important academic contribution is to put forward the theory of myth diferentiation, to restore the true features of ancient history and legends, and to systematically collate the historical materials of 240 years in the Warring States Period to make them from disorderly distortion to scientific order. He leaves behind more than 10 academic monographs and 360 papers, and makes great contributions to the development of Chinese historiography.

The Multiple Self-Deception in The Far Mountains

Xu Jia, Xiao Nan

Abstract:In his first novel The Far Mountains, Kazuo Ishiguro portrayed Yuezi as a “derelict mother” and explored the two themes of“guilt” and “self-deception” in human nature. On the one hand, Yuezi constructs an unstable world of memories and implements self-deception in diferent dimensions, in order to avoid the sense of guilt that may cause destructive trauma to herself. On the other hand, Yuezi's traumatic memory is repaired and she gradually steps out of self-deception and begins to accept reality and reconstruct herself in the process of narrating the past.Yuezi’s multiple self-deception and the repair of traumatic memory is helpful in the construction of immigrates’ identity, and the understanding of the guilt and responsibility of post-war Japan and the national collective forgetting.

The Recession of the Passion for Gombrich &The Trend of Contemporary Study on Western Art History

Weng Chen

Abstract:As an authoritative person in the study of western art history, Ernst Gombrich has also influenced a generation of Chinese art researchers and practitioners. Gombrich raises the question of art history in the 1960s, including his interpretation of art history, which is questioned to varying degrees in the 1980s. In the late 1980s, the study and application of Gombrich’s thought in the study of the history of western mainstream art shows a state of complete stagnation, which nevertheless implies a comprehensive breakthrough in traditional research methods and interests. This paper is based on the author’s interview with Professor James Elkins. From the point of view of Gombrich’s reception history in the West, it unfolds horizontally and discusses the mainstream trend of the study of the history of Western art.

Contemporary Arts: A Focus on Human Conditions & An Enhance of Human State

Ma Ke, Wang Chunjie, Xia Cun

Abstract:Tracing the history of fine arts, it can be concluded that arts change naturally with the change of people and society. The contemporariness of contemporary arts is not only a concept of time, but also the most advanced cognition and experience of contemporary people about the concept of painting and the true nature of painting. Paintings are not meant to be seen, but to be thought-provoking. They are meant to reflect on human destiny, human dignity and value, and the plight of human beings themselves through truly valuable personal experiences. This transcends everyday life.