Purpose. During the period of Alakul and Srubnaya cultures, light chariots drawn by one horse spread eastward following the Indo-Europeans’ migrations. In the second period of Yinxu culture domestic horses and chariots initially appeared in the Central Plain region. The comparative study of horse harness and chariot fittings from different regions allows to trace the routes of cross-cultural contacts in the Eurasian Steppe in the Bronze Age. Materials. The article focuses on the cheek-pieces (psalia) found in Yinxu (Anyang, Henan Province, China) and their analogues from the Eurasian Steppe. The earliest Chinese cheek-pieces were found in Yinxu, along with the earliest chariots. Most of the Yinxu cheek-pieces were square and dated back to the 2nd-4th periods of Yinxu culture. In some cases the cheek-pieces were accompanied by spiked plates attached to their inner side that enhanced the strict control over movements of a horse. Analogous cheek-pieces were unearthed at the sites of Sintashta, Petrovka, Alakul and Srubnaya cultures (a total of 260 items). They evolved from the earliest square cheek-pieces of Sintashta culture to narrow rectangular ones in Alakul and Srubnaya cultures. Results. The research demonstrates that square Yin cheek-pieces were presumably borrowed from Alakul and Srubnaya cultures. They were probably introduced to Yinxu culture at the same time as chariots. Therefore, we assume that wheeled vehicles were also borrowed from the Eurasian Steppe region during the time of Alakul and Srubnaya cultures. Nevertheless, the probability of the square cheek-pieces being borrowed from Fedorovo culture cannot be excluded either. Conclusion. Archaeological data prove that extensive cultural contacts between the eastern and western parts of Eurasia existed circa 13th century BC. The introduction of chariots into East Asia was just one of the manifestations of this phenomenon.

The article considers the materials of the Mohuchahan burial ground of IX-VIII (VII) centuries BC located to the south-west of Urumqi in Hejing county in the South Tien Shan region. In 2011 and 2012 236 graves of Chawuhu culture were excavated at this burial ground. The earliest Mohuchahan burials are dated back to the X-IX centuries BC by Chinese and Russian researchers. In the Mohuchahan cemetery we can observe a fairly dense location of a large number of graves surrounded by fences, stone grave chambers with passages at the ends, the deceased positioned with bent legs and the head pointing northwest. Inventory analysis also confirms these specifics of groups. Nowadays it is the only representative complex in the eastern part of the Scythian world essentially supplementing the materials of Arzhan-1 and giving a new insight into the early Scythian culture formation processes. During analysis the similarity between early Mohuchahan burials’ funeral rites and graves inside stone rings from Kurtu-2 burial ground in the Mountain Altai (Eastern Kazakhstan) was noted. The Mohuchahan materials permit to conclude with a high degree of certainty that the Early Scythian time Biikenskaya culture funeral rite scheme could have formed in the Tian Shan region. The specific Arzhan-type cheek-pieces discovery in Kurtu-2 and Mohuchahan is of particular importance. This is not only a chronological marker but also an indicator of the Tian Shan region’s involvement in the predominantly European populated cultural community of Kazakhstan and Southern Siberia which existed not only in VIII-VII centuries BC but also in the IX century during the time of Scythian culture formation.

Among archaeological research of the transitional period from late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages in North China, Xianbei studies hold one of the key positions. This paper is devoted to the review of all Xianbei period burial sites from Inner Mongolia. Based on the primary Chinese and Japanese publications of the material discussed, the author examines the time and circumstances of the investigation of each site, the number of unearthed burials, describes burial constructions, burial rites and grave goods. The entire territory of Inner Mongolia can be divided into three parts: Northern, Eastern and Southern. The Northern part includes the territory of the Hulubuir Prefecture-level City (previously - League) and contains eight burial sites. The most important of these are Zhalainoer, Wangong, Labudalin and Tuanjie. The Eastern part of includes the territory of the Hinggan League with the administrative center in Ulanhot city, Tongliao Prefecture-level City (previously - Zhelimu League) and Chifeng Prefecture-level City (previously - Zhaowuda League) and contains six burial sites. The most important of them are Beimanitu, Liujiazi and Nanyangjiayingzi. The Southern part includes the territory of the Xilingol League with the administrative center in Xilinhot city, Ulanqab Prefecture-level City (previously - League), Hohhot Prefecture-level City, Baotou Prefecture-level City and Ordos Prefecture-level City (previously - Yikezhao League) and contains 29 burial sites. The most important of them are Sandaowan, Dongdajing and Qilangshan. It is noteworthy to mention that “Xianbei” burial sites from the three parts of Inner Mongolia differ greatly from each other which may be explained either by their evolution spreading in time and space or by the ethno-tribal diversity of their masters.

The article presents the authors’ interpretation of semantics of the main plot presented in the Huashan rock-paintings (Guangxi-Zhuang autonomous region), the largest site of rock-art in China. This «main plot» comprises of an anthropomorphic figure depicted in the «frog’s position», with legs set aside and palms turned up, trampling an animal, as a rule, in the company of other adorant figures. Many analogies of this image were traced in rock-art of different regions of Eurasia (from the rocks of Mongolian Altai - up to the mountains of Armenia); they obviously had a typological character. Figures of adorants indicate the basic, quiet ancient cosmo-genetic myth about division of Heaven from Earth. However, the species definition of the animal on which the anthropomorphic character sets foot makes it possible to define the semantics of the entire plot. Careful visual investigation of the pictures obtained by the authors during their visit to the Huashan rock-paintings in 2018 allows to determine the zoomorphic character as that of a dog and to connect the plot with mythology of the Zhuang people. A dog played a very important role in the ritual life of the Zhuangs whose direct ancestors created the picture gallery of Huashan. According to local myths, a dog also acted as «a wonderful assistant» to the thunder deity (Lei-gong). This interpretation is based also on the pictures of the upper part (tympanum) of bronze drums with a star ornament in the center given in one complex with the main plot as the drums were treated as one of the attributes of the thunder deity. From an archaeological point of view, depictions of bronze drums connect the creators of Huashan paintings with the Dongshong-Dian civilization - a complex multi-ethnical community which dominated in South China and North Vietnam in the Early Iron age (approximately VIII century BC - III century AD).

During the course of the study which focused on the unique features of the agarwood tree used in East Asian culture, the properties of the aromatic agarwood product as well as contributing factors to its formation were considered. The key types of agarwood trees were analyzed based on a wide range of sources including authoritative Chinese and Japanese written sources both in antiquity as well as modern works, and artifacts and materials from Asian museums and art galleries. What gives this study particular relevance today is its analysis of the various types of agarwood trees and the unique features of their current classifications, which has so far been widely known primarily only among museum experts and collectors in countries of South, East and Southeast Asia. From a historical context regarding the development of Asian incense culture, various properties of fragrant wood were considered (mainly these were the Aquilaria species of the Thymelaeaceae tree family, including aquilaria sinensis , aquilaria agallocha and aquilaria crassna ). The main criteria and methods used for assessing the aromatic wood were identical to those long used in oriental medicine, everyday culture, folklore and art of the Asian people. Special attention is given to the analysis of the properties, varieties and classification of the finest type of agarwood tree called “kinam” native to South and Southeast Asia. The study of various aspects of the use of aromatic agarwood in oriental medicine and Asian culture inevitably leads to the significant issue of predatory extraction of agarwood, creating a crucial need for regenerative cultivation of these valuable trees to upkeep the ecological balance in the region.

In the course of the reign of the Western Jin Dynasty (264/5-317) the qualitatively new milestone in the history of Chinese lyrical poetry ( Shi ) is steadily correlated in both the old Chinese humanities, and modern world sinology studies. In those times, rhapsodies ( Fu ) held a significant standing among literary activities; as proved by the multitude of works (over four hundred) and traditional attitudes to it. However, the study of Western Jin’s rhapsody heritage started relatively recently by Chinese scholars, and remains little known in Russian sinology. This publication presents the first attempt to analyze Western Jin rhapsody poetry. It contains factual data and analysis of concrete works of leading masters in the area, and of formal, thematic and ideological peculiarities of Western Jin's rhapsody poetry. It is argued that study of this field expands the currently available knowledge оf those days’ spiritual life, cultural, ideological, literary processes and of individual poets’ creative range.

Based on the data of two typologically different languages, Chinese and Japanese, this article analyzes words with coordinative relations between components or the so called coordinated dvandva. The analyzed words were taken by way of sampling from Chinese and Japanese dictionaries and online web sites. The aim of this study was to compare structural and semantic characteristics of these words. Coordinated dvandva are widely used in both languages as nouns, adjectives and verbs. The peculiarity of word-formation of coordinative types in Chinese and Japanese is that the word-formation models are a union of homogeneous components, which occurs regardless of the type of semantic relations between the components. In Japanese the words of different origins ( kango , wago and gairaigo ) are included in the process of word formation so that the word-formation models absent in Chinese are used. Moreover, since in Japanese word-building of kango is more productive than that of wago and gairaigo , coordinated dvandva- kango prevail. The order of the components in coordinated dvandva in Chinese and Japanese is determined by the concept of “priority”, as well as phonetic rules and the rules of accentuation of each language, respectively. The rule comes with a few exceptions: when the components of the adjective or verbal dvandva specify or duplicate each other and when the components of the adjectival dvandva have an antonymic relation. There are different semantic relations between the components of a compound dvandva in both languages, wheresome substantive dvandva can express the meaning of indefinite plurality. The meaning of coordinated dvandva that exist and in Chinese and Japanese, as a rule, is the same.

Purpose. The impact of administrative reforms and urbanization on the development of certain provinces of China has already been analyzed. However, the outskirts of the country were left outside the field of view of researchers. Authorities of the outskirt regions had to consider the successful experience of mainland China and develop urban agglomerations. The purpose of this study is to identify the main features of administrative reforms and urbanization in Xinjiang. Results . As a result of clear criteria of China’s settlements, the main steps of development of Xinjiang cities which passed three stages were analyzed. In the 1980s, towns which were the administrative centers of prefectures and autonomous prefectures were granted county-level city status. In subsequent periods of growth of towns, county-level and prefecture-level cities played an increasingly major role namely for economic reasons. In the second period (1990s - 2000s) urbanization was mainly determined by the growth of towns, and in the third - county-level and prefecture-level cities. An important role in the development of urbanization of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR) was played by the activities of Xinjiang production and construction corps, whose settlements were assigned city status. Conclusion. Features of the oasis economy have formed a belt type of urbanization, which is the specificity of this region. The agglomeration scheme showed the development of two urban belts and three poles, which respectively determine the economic development of Eastern, Western and Southern Xinjiang. Leadership in the economic development of the city belongs to the Northern zone of Urumqi - Wusu - Karamay. The main role in the urbanization process was played by the middle cities of XUAR.

In 1978 with beginning of «reforms and opening up (to outer world)» the new foreign policy course of Chins was also started. The reason of its changes had its roots in new economic basis. When Mao Zedong was Chairman of the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC), international relations were regulated by ideological direction determined by Mao Zedong himself. After 1978 the basis of foreign policy formation had changed and a greater role was given to the economy and its necessities. Prior to the commencement of the «reforms and opening up» policy, the country suffered from large economic and social problems caused by maoist government’s mistakes, such as «the Great Leap Forward» and «Cultural Revolution». Economic indicators showed that the country was moving towards economic collapse. To solve the problem, PRC’s leaders had to rethink the basis of country building and to put economy, instead of ideology, at the forefront. The appropriate changes were made by the market economy’s mechanisms. Although the results of this new policy were outstanding, the Chinese ideological system still corresponded to Mao Zedong’s ideas. This contradiction had to be corrected, therefore after the positive changes in China’s economic situation caused by changes in its economic formation, Chinese leaders had to rethink both the country’s ideological basis and its foreign policy course. Despite the fundamental transformation of the foreign policy basis and the fact that Chinese actions in fields of economy and international relations did not correspond the Maoist conceptions, the new generation of Chinese leaders formally demonstrated succession to the ideas of the late Chairman Mao. The article gives an analysis of the Chinese foreign policy course in connection with its economic and ideological systems.

Confucius Institute at Novosibirsk State University was founded as a Confucius Classroom in 2008. Its Chinese partner is Xinjiang University. Under the wise leadership of Office of Chinese Language Council International, Sino-Russia both sides have pressed ahead with their sincere cooperation. Confucius Institute focused on improving the quality and efficiency and made pleasant progress on Chinese teaching, local Chinese teacher training, holding Chinese cultural activities and Sino-Russian cooperation, which inspired local people to study Chinese and learn Chinese culture. Through 10 years’ hardworking Confucius Classroom was updated to Confucius Institute. There are 12 universities and schools in Novosibirsk, Barnaul and Gorno-Altaisk take active part in the project, it was above 1800 students, who studied Chinese with the teachers of NSU Confucius Classroom in 2018; the courses 21 students received scholarships awarded by Confucius Institute. The important events in 2018 include: successful training program for more than 60 local teachers of Chinese in January; Chinese Lantern Festival Gala in February; 1^st prize at the “Chinese Bridge” national student competition and a set of cultural activities conducted with visiting NSU by Xinjiang University students in April; Chinese Summer Camp program at Dalian Foreign Languages University for 38 students in July; Confucius Institute Day and scientific and practical conference “The Cultural Heritage at the Silk Road Routes” in September; 5^th Regional students competition in Chinese films’ dubbing in October; Novosibirsk region’s educational principals and administrators’ visit to Harbin in November. Besides, local libraries and museums also initiated CI for joint events for introduction Chinese culture repeatedly. Also we invited some famous professors from other Russian universities to deliver lecturers for NSU students or teachers and in cooperation with Xi’an Jiaotoung University conducted the Special training for Silk Road engineering and technological development sponsored by the UNESCO IKCEST.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, after several decades of development of teaching Chinese as a foreign language, a new situation of reform was emerging. In this reform, the setting of classes according to language skills has become a tendency, and the listening class has become an independent class. The research on listening teaching has gradually increased. Based on the practice, this paper investigates the listening learning of 39 middle-level students from Fudan University in the spring of 2018, from the students' attitude towards listening lessons, their understanding of listening lessons, and the experience of using textbooks. A detailed investigation and analysis of the teacher's satisfaction and the five aspects of the practice setting were made. In order to improve the effect of intermediate Chinese listening teaching, based on the results of this survey and analysis, this paper proposes some ideas and teaching strategies from the listening course itself, listening content, practice questions and teachers, in order to provide intermediate Chinese as a foreign language. Listening teaching provides a reference.