The article investigates the problem of the so-called portraiture of personages presented in the terracotta army of the First Qin emperor. The results of analytical work of foreign colleagues were explored (namely, on restoration of the full spectrum of paints on the surface of the clay figures, or comparative studies of the forms of terracotta soldiers’ ears because this part of the human face is absolutely unique and therefore used in modern forensic practice for identification purposes). On the base of visual analyses of the material that could be obtained, taking into account the serial production of the big details (torsos, feet, heads) for assembling of the whole figures, as well as traces of the different instruments on faces of these figures, and after personal experience in working with elastic materials such as clay, the authors proposed a hypothesis that the reconstruction of face details (ears, noses, eyebrows, mustaches, etc.) which complete the assemblage was of the same type of serial mass production. Occasional or intentional deformation of face details in the process of their fixation, supplemented with elements such as coiffures and accentuated sections of face hair served as a basis for visible diversity in the clay soldiers and officials. However, we cannot say much about the personal characteristics of the real representatives of Qin society. We see only a reproduction of the appropriate image, but not the distinct person in the emperor’s army or court. The observations received indicate sheer haste and even negligence in the work of the craftsmen during the final stages of constructing this enormous funeral complex that never reached the level of the preliminary plans.

The paper presents a brief overview of rock art sites known to date on the territory of Gansu Province in north-western China. Petroglyphs have been discovered in all parts of the province, most of them concentrate in the north-western and central parts of the region. Over the past decades, a significant number of rock art sites has been found in the eastern and south-eastern parts of Gansu, but many materials from this territory have not yet been published or were published in hard-to-get local periodicals, quite often without any illustrations. The purpose of this article is to fill the lacuna in the rock art studies of this part of China through the generalization of all available data on Gansu petroglyphs and listing the rock art sites known to date. Petroglyphs of Gansu can be generally attributed to the northern province of Chinese rock art. The techniques used to produce images include percussion (pecking), abrasion (scratching or rubbing) and engraving, no painted images have been discovered so far. At the same time, pronounced differences between rock art sites in different parts of the province can be observed: the sites in the north-western and central parts of the region have obvious similarities with the rock art traditions of Xinjiang, Qinghai, Tibet and (to a lesser degree) Inner Mongolia, while the petroglyphs of eastern and south-eastern parts of Gansu are close to the rock art of Ningxia, Inner Mongolia and partly to the petroglyphs of Jucishan in Henan Province.

In China, rock art is spread mainly in the border regions - carvings and engravings in the north of the country and paintings in the south. Before the beginning of the 21st century, research books and albums of petroglyphs were published in four administrative units at provincial level in the north-west of the county: Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Xinjiang and Qinghai. Petroglyphs of Inner Mongolia were studied and published by Gai Shanlin, Liang Zhenhua and N. Dalengurib. The earliest and the latest books by Gai Shanlin available to us (published in 1985 and 2002 respectively) were entirely devoted to the interpretation of rock carvings and searches for their analogies. All four monographs on Ningxia rock art - by Zhou Xinghua, Li Xiangshi and Zhu Cunshi, Xu Cheng and Wei Zhong were published almost simultaneously, at the beginning of the 1990s. Ancient rock art of Xinjiang was published in albums by Zhao Yangfeng, Wang Linshan and Wang Bo and in books by Wang Binghua and Su Beihai. The monograph by Tang Huisheng and Zhang Wenhua was devoted to the description of Qinghai petroglyphs and the problems of their interpretation. The album of photos “The Rock Arts of China” is a kind of a guide to the main rock art sites known by 1993 in all the Chinese provinces. Generally, it can be stated that modern Chinese scientific rock art research was born in the first half of the 1980s, when the first articles on rock carvings started to appear in Chinese archaeological periodicals and flourished in the second half of the 1980s and the 1990s, when quite a number of monographs were published.

The paper aims to analyze different types of illustrations of court case gong`an 公案 stories featuring Qing dynasty judges Shi-gong 施公 and Peng-gong 鵬公 found in the late Qing woodblock editions and popular woodblock prints nianhua 年畫 in order to figure out how tales about imperial ‘fair officials’ have been reflected in book illustrations and in popular prints nianhua 年畫. Popular prints from various Russian and foreign collections mostly depict episodes featuring Qing dynasty judges Shi Shilun (施世綸, dec. 1722), originally a protagonist of the novel “Criminal Cases of Judge Shi” (施公案 Shigongan, preface dated 1798), and Peng Peng (彭鹏, 1637-1704) from the novel “Criminal Cases of Judge Peng” (彭公案 Penggongan, 1871) by Tanmeng Daoren 貪夢道人. “Shi-gong plays” about Judge Shi and his friends gained popularity during the Daoguang period (1821-1850), however Judge Shi was no longer their central protagonist. The popular prints mostly depict martial scenes from these plays based on the court case stories. This research claims to define sources of various types of illustrations and clarify connections between book illustrations, popular prints and drama.

The article contains the correspondence of participant XII (1840-1849), head XIII (1849-1859) and XV (1865-1878) of Russian Ecclesiastical Missions in Beijing (REM), the greatest Russian orientalist, Archimandrite Palladius (Kafarov) (1817-1878) to the head of the Russian Diplomatic Mission in China, Evgeny Karlovich Byutsov (1837-1904). The original letters were found by the author in the State Archive of the Russian Federation (Moscow) in the Byutsov collection. The analyzed letters were written in Beijing from June 30 to December 3, 1877, during the period when Archimandrite Palladius (Kafarov) was the head of the XV Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, and Yevgeny Byutsov led the Russian diplomatic mission in China. The study of documents that were not yet introduced into scientific circulation aims to fill in the gaps in the study of the activities of the XV Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Beijing and its contacts with the Russian Diplomatic Mission in China. The letters provide rich material on the relationship between the two leaders of the most important Russian authorities, officially operating in the Chinese capital after the Second Opium War. The letters contain numerous details about the everyday aspects of the life of XV REM, including many references to earlier unknown difficulties encountered by the chief of the XV REM with its employees. Archimandrite Palladius pays much attention to the description of the restructuring of the Northern Metochion of the REM, which began during this period.

Problems of the past remain one of the most important factors that have plagued Sino-Japanese relations for the last few decades. Questions that are related to events of WWII and in particular events of the Second Sino-Japanese war are still relevant and remain a sensitive issue in contemporary China. Complicated postwar Sino-Japanese relations are not only caused by political and economic factors, but to a great extent are related to specific perceptions of events of the shared past in the first half of the 20th century by these two nations. Collective remembrance of Sino-Japanese wars and one of the most major wars of the 20th century - WWII - that was formed during the 20th centenary is vastly different in China and Japan, and still has a great impact on the dynamics of bilateral relations. The paper studies Chinese approaches to the interpretation of the Sino-Japanese war of resistance, role of the State and non-State actors in forming collective war remembrance in China during different stages of postwar development in the 20th century: during the first decades after the end of WWII (1950-70s), period of normalization of Sino-Japanese relations after 1972 - when a joint declaration was signed and “renewing” war remembrance in the 1980s.

The papers are dedicated to the concepts, main ideas, texts, and forms of practice of the syncretic Taoist movement Chongxuan-pai - “Twofold mystery”, which was developed in the 7-10th centuries. This school borrowed a number of logical constructions of Madhyamika Buddhism, including the system of four-level dialectical negation, as well as the idea of absolute “emptying of consciousness” for overcoming attachments both to mundane life and to any mental concepts. In part, these ideas are reflected in the Taoist-Buddhist practice of attaining “purity and quietness, a specific tradition of meditation, with its most important text “Canon of Purity and Quietness” (Qingjing jing) (given in this article in the author’s translation). Despite its traditional structure, thematic allusions with “Dao De Jing” and precepts attributed to Lao-jun, this Canon pays special attention to the technique of “inner contemplation” (nei guan), which also gravitates to the Buddhist practice of vipasyana and is called to eliminate binary opposition (pure-polluted, movementrest) in the practitioner’s consciousness. The “Canon of purity and Quietness” is still highly revered in central China’s Taoist schools today. The basis of the meditative practice according to this Canon is the gradual ascending from “looking inward”, “looking outward” and “looking away” to “contemplation of emptiness”. The highest stage of “emptying the emptiness” leads to the complete deactualization of the ego and the breaking of all ties with the world. In this way, the exegetical idea of the “Twofold mystery” is realized as a form of Taoist practice influenced by Buddhist ideas.

Spanning across thousands of years of aromatic culture development in the countries of East Asia, incense application has accumulated vast experience in various fields, including calendrical calculations and time measurement. Analysis of artifacts, objects of religious worship and everyday life indicates fragrant substances’ great versatility in terms of their use: in addition to sticks, spirals and cones, devices such as the Hundred Graduations Incense seals, alarm clocks, as well as clocks that measured night time, strictly dependent on the calendar season, were invented. Various types of aromatic clocks could be distinguished by their great functionality, finding application in many areas - navigation, engineering, in court and religious ceremonies, scientists’ work, in monastic and private schools, tea houses, and were the subject of admiration for poets, artists and calligraphers. The study of the ways of using incense in East Asian countries (including for measuring time) is based on the analysis of a variety of sources - written, artistic and ethnographic. Compared to the large number of Chinese and Japanese sources, the cultural heritage of the Korean Peninsula contains significant gaps, which significantly complicates the interpretation of the material. The use of incense burners, aromatic raw materials and various instruments for measuring time is a remarkable phenomenon in the fragrance culture of China, Korea and Japan, testifying to the high adaptability of symbols and images of traditional culture not only to everyday household needs, but also to various achievements of science and technology. This is confirmed at the present time, given the production of new models of aromatic clocks.

This article analyzes the history and modern state of anthropological museums in the Guangxi-Zhuang Autonomous Region (PRC) and researches the issue of how Zhuang culture is presented in exhibitions. The Zhuang are by far the most populous minority in China. In spite of their population and importance, foreign scholars do not usually pay much attention to them. The first anthropological museums appeared in China in the 1930s and since then have been developing through the periods of decay and prosperity along with the country itself. At present, the PRC’s anthropological museums are moving along with all the world trends of modernization of working processes and digitalization of practices and techniques. There is a network of ethnic ecomuseums in Guangxi. They were established to preserve local cultures in their own environment. This article shows that the results of the project are not as successful as planned. There are problems of ignorance among the local dwellers to their own culture, lack of funding and lack of interest in ecomuseums from both locals and managing personnel appointed by the government.

The article covers the plot and translation peculiarities of the short-story by Pu Songling (蒲松齡, 1640-1715) “Pupils’ Talk”. The connection between Pu Songling’s ideas and tradition of Chinese popular medicine and Taoist concepts of soles and spirits of a human body is thoroughly analyzed; along with that the tradition of the story’s interpretation in Russian is also studied. The issue of special spirits inhabiting all organs and anatomical areas of a human has been thoroughly worked out in both parts of “Huang Di’s Inner Classic” as well as in “Huang ting Classic” and was a part of a common knowledge in traditional Chinese routine. Special medical treatises known as “Suishu” gave their own recipes of traditional medication combined with exorcism, and Pu Songling happened to be an author of such a treatise in two parts. Thus one has to admit that Pu Songling must be quite well acquainted with the tradition of Chinese folksy medicine based on the stated integrity of human physical organization with controlling spirits of each and every body-part. Therefore with the undeniable influence of Ming fiction on “Pupils’ Talk” one can’t help acknowledging that the descriptive means of expression as well as the chief idea of the story are authentic and independent. Taoist ideas about human anatomy and physiology can be met not only in this story, but in other pieces of the “Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio” (Liao Zhai zhi yi). Artistic peculiarities of the text as well as fundamentals of the translation are divisively demonstrated. A new variant of translation of the whole text is provided.

The paper presents a description of the contemporary practice of poetry declamation in one of the literary communities of Guangzhou, among the poets who associate themselves with the tradition of the informal Fenchunguan group. The members of the group are authors and performers of classical poetry. They take an active part in the movement for the revival of traditional declamatory practices which were widely popular until the first decades of the 20th century. Their example allows us to trace some features of the declamation (oral presentation) used to promote poetry in classical formats (written texts) and thereby expand our knowledge of the written-oral dichotomy functioning within the Chinese tradition. The paper details the genealogy of the Southern School of text presentation, related to Fenchunguan, and analyzes how authors and performers appeal to the traditional practice of verbalizing poetry to construct and maintain a distinct “southern” (Cantonese) identity. This practice is utilized to create a distinct subspace within the system of national and local literature: quite a significant contribution is made by the original performing techniques of the Southern School (truncation of duration at the beginning of beats; repetition of rhyming words at the ends of phrases that coincide with the end of a poetic line, with a transition to a different pitch; merging adjacent lines into one phonetic-melodic unit) and the deliberate use of a local lect (Cantonese). In the process of (re)discovering the declamatory phenomenon, it becomes loaded with new aesthetic, social, practical and personal meanings. Those who participate in its functioning, thus, contribute to the great comeback of the classical type poetry and the spontaneous nature of declamatory practice.

In this article, authors analyze zoomorphic metaphor that the Chinese and the Japanese used when they characterize the Russians. On the first stage of study we did associative experiment with questionnaire. 100 of Chinese students and 100 of Japanese students took part. On the base of analyze of answers we selected by three typical zoonymes in Chinese and Japanese culture charactering the Russians. On the second stage of study we have analyzed associations and images of these animals existing in Russian, Chinese and Japanese linguistic cultures. The Russians have images of bear, wolf and panther in Chinese culture and bear, wolf and fox in Japanese culture. It must be marked that all images are ambivalent and have as positive as negative characteristics. Because of the image of animals are different in Chinese and Japanese culture, the associations connecting with these animals are also different. But as the Chinese as the Japanese pay attentions on the appearance, then for the Chinese behavior is important, but for the Japanese color, place of living connecting with cold and woolen cloth that the Russian are dressed are important. The association on contiguity (the wool in animal, the cloth in man) is appeared. The white color is also important because it is associated with color of skin. The color is specified in zoonymes used by the Japanese the next way: bear 28 times, hare 10 times, hamster 9 times, fox 6 times, horse 3 times and squirrel 3 times. As for the Chinese this parameter is not important. Zoomorphic metaphor used in the relation with the Russians is connected with the following parameters. As for the Chinese with physical characteristics (powerful, strong and, hard); imagination about Russian nation as a military nation; behavior (rough, aggressive and slow); character (open-hearted, kind and brave). As for the Japanese with appearance (beautiful, tall and white); place of living (cold place, many woolen dresses, resistant to the cold); behavior (slow, not pay attention to the surrounding people); size (big); physical characteristics (powerful).

Over the past several years, there has been an influx of immigrants from Central Asian states into the ranks of “Islamic State” (IS) militants in Syria and Iraq. Those who survived after the defeat of the main detachments of terrorists on their return cannot escape the territory of Afghanistan, the northern regions of which are inhabited by related ethnic groups. It is easy to find supporters of radical Islam in Central Asian countries. The weakness of state and public institutions contributes to the politicization of Islam, especially in the periphery. Islamist preachers, skillfully using the mistakes of local authorities, call for the creation of alternative state structures. Most of the former IS fighters do not hide their intentions to return home. They can gain support in the border provinces of Afghanistan, among their comrades-in-arms in the war, and also join some of the Taliban groups. The planned withdrawal of American troops and their allies from Afghanistan does not yet imply the coming of peace in the region. Therefore, among the main threats to the security of the region are the activities of transnational terrorist groups such as “The Islamic State of Khorasan Province”, “The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan” and “The Islamic Movement of Eastern Turkestan”.

With the increase of Sino-Russian cooperation in various fields, interest in Chinese is growing in Russia, which high-lights the role of Confucius Institute to meet demand. Confucius Institute is a non-profit educational organization jointly established by China and other countries. Each of the 22 Confucius Institutes and classrooms in Russia present its distinctive feature and work hard in helping the Russian people learn Chinese, understand Chinese culture and enhance the humanist exchange between China and Russia. Chinese education is the most important task of the institutes. Using Confucius Institute of Novosibirsk State University as an example, this paper introduces works done by the institute from three aspects. Firstly, it contributes to Chinese education in the university. Secondly, it meets local residents’ needs to learn Chinese. Thirdly, it broadens the scope of regional cooperation and trains local Chinese teachers. With the support of Xinjiang University in China, the Confucius Institute at Novosibirsk State University has cooperated with many higher and secondary education institutions in Russia to expand international cooperation in Chinese education. The effective work of Confucius Institute at Novosibirsk State University has proved that it has played an active role in Chinese education. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, all Confucius Institutes and class-rooms in Russia have continued operating by taking advantage of online teaching and learning and explored the route of development characterized with “Internet + Chinese”. The authors believe that Confucius Institutes will keep on contributing to the Chinese education in Russia with the joint efforts of both parties.

The most important competition of the 21st century is that of talents. How to make higher education and the cultivation of talents contribute to the long-term national development agenda and the construction of a community of a shared future for mankind is a significant task and mission of higher education in China. The Belt and Road Initiative is one of the means to share the Chinese experiences, Chinese wisdom and bonus of reform and opening-up. Construction of the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the implementation of the Open Up West Program call for talents to contribute to the regional development. It has brought both opportunities and challenges to foreign language education in universities and colleges in Xinjiang. The cultivation of talents in foreign language education must integrate into the scope of internationalization in national higher education and meet its expectations of talents by focusing on fostering character and civic virtue, maintaining and serving regional social stability and long-term security and pursuing development in the long run. The tripartite route of development is as follows. Firstly, it is expected to design and carry out the tasks and agenda in line with China’s Ministry of Education’s concern of internationalization in higher education. Secondly, it is vital to focus on important aspects with a deep awareness of opportunities and challenges of internationalization. Thirdly, it is of practical significance to explore various potentials of development through Sino-Russian cooperation in faculty training and development, cultivation of talents, scientific research and cultural exchange with the help of platforms of cooperation in operation. With the joint efforts of both parties, there is hope that the cultivation of talents in foreign language education will bolster mutual capabilities in serving the Belt and Road Initiative.

The publication presents a brief review of the new book by A. A. Maslov. Through the investigation of the struggle against COVID-19 in China, the author provides a comprehensive picture of the social-economic situation in the country, analyzes the reasons for the victory over the pandemic by Chinese society and its political structures, as well as modern alternatives for globalization. The book specially introduces the situation in Hong Kong as it represents the deepest social-political challenge in the history of the PRC. Highly commended by the reviewers, the mew monograph by Professor Maslov will be of great interest not only for specialists, but for a broad range of readers too.

This review is devoted to a brief discussion of the book ‘Rock Art in East Asia’, published in 2019. The general structure of the book is presented. The review reveals principles of preparing and summarizing data on the rock art of the regions comprising East and South-East Asia, set forth by the editors of the volume. The high quality of the work based on this approach concerning singular sites such as those in Korea, Japan and the Russian Far East is noted. At the same time, a critical analysis of the book’s shortcomings caused by the chosen scheme of description of the material when an attempt to describe a region rich in rock art sites inevitably leads to hasty tongue twisters, is given. For example, some chapters have minimum references or none at all. In summary, the reviewed book is a useful reference edition, though descriptions of certain sites or groups of sites from the regions of Mongolia and China adjacent to Central and South-East Asia, rich in rock art given in it should be treated with extreme caution.

The review briefly presents two academic courses, ‘A History of China’ and ‘A History of Chinese Studies’ by S. V. Dmitriev published online on the “Youtube” platform. The creation of high-quality, publicly available educational resources significantly expands the opportunities for the study of historical sinological disciplines and sets a new standard for their teaching both in higher and supplementary education.

A report on the International Scientific Linguistic Conference LESEWA held under the aegis of the Institute of Countries of Asia and Africa of Moscow State University and St. Petersburg State University on 23-24 November in Moscow. Brief descriptions of the presented papers are given.