Contemporary Chinese cultural studies has drawn extensively from Western theoretical and intellectual resources. However, a key challenge remains: how to effectively represent and reconstruct the experiences of contemporary Chinese social and cultural life, while demonstrating the value of cultural studies in this context through the interplay of experience and theory. This challenge calls fora critical reflection on the foundation of cultural studies in China. With its roots in empirical analysis, cultural studies has developed a methodology that addresses issues such as the relationship between culture and society, and culture and life, from the experiential perspective. The field also incorporates a tradition from the sociology of emotions, reflected in cultural analysis as a form of theoretical discourse. These theories and methods chart the progression of cultural studies from experience to theory. However, within the Chinese context, the field also grapples with the issue of balancing experience with theory, which naturally prioritizes experience over purely theoretical constructs.

Theoretical System of Chinese Painting and Its Criticism, a work by Li Changzhi that engages in painting criticism, is unique and controversial. As a continuation of Chen Shizeng's defense of literati painting, Li Changzhi took a different approach by introducing what he referred to as a “systematic-philosophical” methodology. He not only proposed a systematic framework to examine Chinese painting theory from the perspectives of subjectivity, objects, and tools but also introduced the concept of the sublime to elucidate the characteristics of Chinese painting. Equally convinced by Kant's aesthetics as Wang Guowei, who was vaguely aware of the differences between Chinese and Western paintings and supplemented the latter with the idea of “classical elegance,” Li Changzhi was nevertheless a more devoted follower of Kant. His integration of the “theory of genius” and the “theory of brush and ink” not only strives to incorporate Chinese painting theory into the paradigm of Western aesthetic interpretation but also brings to light the problematics behind this method.

The historical transformation of Chinese literary theory from “ancient literary theory episteme” to “modern literary theory episteme” since the 20th century occurred through the modern construction of the social-cultural episteme. In this epistemological transformation, the intellectual production and construction of modernity in Chinese literary theory resonated with the reconstruction of modern Chinese social and cultural order and were closely related to the identification of modern Chinese intellectuals. The century-long construction of modernity in China, as well as the generation of modern episteme and its paradigm shift, is a process that continuously alters and deepens the understanding of the connotation of modernity and the characteristics and functions of knowledge. Only through the holistic discursive correlations to the production of modern thought and cultural knowledge, and within the coordinate system of knowledge system can we historically grasp the structural characteristics of modern Chinese literary theory and its basic epistemological positioning. This approach also enables the exploration and confirmation of the basis of legitimacy of knowledge production in modern Chinese literary theory.

Shortly after the celebration of twenty years of the narratology seminar at the CRAL (CNRS/EHESS) in Paris, Cao Danhong, professor of French language and literature at Nanjing University in China, conducted an interview with John Pier, one of the organizers of the seminar at the CRAL and also one of the most active researchers in narratology. Based on the evolution of the Seminar's work over the past twenty years, John Pier briefly reviewed the achievements of Western narratology since its foundation, suggested reexamining its evolution by dividing it into three “generations”, and reaffirmed its fundamental characteristics such as transborderality, transmediality, and transdisciplinarity. Also discussed were paths for the future development of narratology with an emphasis on comparative research, diachronic research, and historiography.

The narratological concept of “implied author and implied reader” is typically difficult to pinpoint directly within a text and relates to the levels and number of subjects involved in narrative communication. Since Wayne C. Booth introduced the concept, it has been a topic of considerable debate. Reviewing the evolution of narrative, this article identifies “pre-story discourse” as a narrative shell that originated in oral tradition and was later employed in modern novels for formal exploration and meta-narrative reflection. By utilizing rhetorical techniques to create non-temporality (presence), it fulfills its rhetorical purpose of calling upon readers and conveying genuine values. At this point, the previously elusive “implied author and implied reader” become visible, and the actual existence of the tripartite structure in narrative communication is revealed formally.

Language is like a chameleon. Unlike everyday discourse, one of the key features of literary texts is their ability to disrupt the stability of discourse's reference to reality and to construct complex and diverse referential relationships. This effort unleashes the referential potential of discourse, unfolding an intricate “referential game”. This kind of “misuse” of reference not only serves as the foundation of literary texts, but also enables literary discourse to continually explore the complex connections between real and unreal, possible and impossible relations. Through these “referential games”, the world appears in its many forms, enriching human experience with infinite diversity. Literary texts are the training ground for these “referential games”, where the magical qualities and rich connotations of language are fully displayed. It is in these games that the “poetic” and the “literary” take root and thrive.

In comparison to the real world, virtual reality eliminates materiality. The lack of materiality leads to the difference in perception between virtual reality and the real world. First, the perceptual experience in virtual reality lacks the existential thickness of that in the real world. Second, to the perceiver, the entities in virtual reality lack the aura of those in the real world because they lack externality and transcendence. Third, virtual reality is closed and lacks the openness of the spatial and temporal continuity of the perceptual and unfinished experiences in the real world. The analysis of the differences between the two kinds of environmental perception discloses the intrinsic influence of materiality, and at the same time highlights the ecological nature of perceptual activities rooted in the evolutionary history of natural life. Real nature allows possibility for life to grow in its perceptual activities toward the external world, while virtual reality, as a digital fabric, represents the achievement of human mastery over the world. They can never substitute each other, but can only unfold in parallel.

Cybertext is an interactive text in the sense of cybernetics, which requires substantial interactive operation to produce verbal signs, and thus it is inaccurate to view cybertext merely as digital text related to computers or networks. Cybertext theory challenges the traditional literary theories dominated by interpretative practices that are based on print literature. Informed by the worldview and methodology of cybernetics, cybertext theory discusses the possibilities of integrating textual media. It shifts the focus from formalistic concerns with verbal signs in 20th-century formalist literary theories to the materiality in the production of verbal signs. It introduces the theory of media functions and shifts the emphasis from studying the semantic functions of the texts to the study of their media functions. Its emphasis on the materiality and functional elements of textual media also changes the mode of textual semantic research, that is, from exploring the nature of meaning to its generative mechanisms. Cybertext theory has its own distinct terminology, research objects and methods, and the important theoretical issues it addresses within its research paradigm deserve ongoing investigation.

American scholar Jonathan Sterne summarized the methodologies of early sound studies by Walter Jackson Ong, Raymond Murray Schafer and others under the term “audiovisual litany”. This approach, which is grounded in the analysis of audiovisual differences, has resulted in the excessive integration of visual culture theory into sound studies, thereby hindering the discovery of the unique aspects of sound and hearing. Furthermore, it cloaks sound in mysticism under the influence of sound ontology. While critiquing this method, Sterne's research initially focuses on a positive analysis of sound and auditory technology. Through a reassessment of sound history, he ultimately argues that sound studies should aim to uncover the process and significance of “Ensoniment” rather than simply deconstructing visual hegemony. Dialectically reflecting on Sterne's concept of audiovisual litany not only encourages us to break free from the constraints of binary audiovisual research models, but also aids in understanding the distinct stages of sound studies and its current developmental trends.

A new literary form based on digital technology, digital literature manifests the contemporary integration of technology into the humanities. Currently, digital literature has received scant attention and recognition from literary critics, and thus its definition is confused with that of similar literary forms. To address this dilemma, this article compares digital literature with hypertext literature, network literature, and electronic literature, in order to figure out what digital literature is and what it has brought to literature. Compared to hypertext literature, digital literature emphasizes the integration of heterogeneous elements into multiple technologies; compared to network literature, digital literature highlights the dynamic representation of literary ontology shaped by code operation; compared to electronic literature, the term digital literature demonstrates more creative characteristics of bit signals rather than analog signals.

This paper intends to explore the achievements and characteristics of British art critic Roger Fry's research on Chinese classical art based on a review of his aesthetic exploration and his relationship with Chinese art. The study proposes that Fry successfully integrated the spirit of Chinese art into the discourse of formal aesthetics by using formal analysis and the Burlington Magazine as a platform, thereby promoting the development of the Western modernist art movement. As a typical case study of the global flow of modernism, Fry's affinity with Chinese art has strongly demonstrated the unique role of Chinese classical art aesthetics in the development of global modernism.

Understanding the lyrical and expressive function of Chinese calligraphy is a difficult issue for contemporary American sinology. Therefore, Wen C. Fong focuses on the brush strokes of Chinese calligraphy and makes semiotic explanations combined with the perspective of the body. He considers brush strokes as the fundamental way of artists' presence in the inner structure of art works, defines the embodied and active essence of emotions in calligraphy by the body factors in brush strokes, and explains the visual modes of emotions in calligraphy by the mapping relations between body and visual languages in calligraphy. Fong's symbolic reading of calligraphy's lyrical expressiveness resonates with the “semiotics of passions” proposed by Greimas, and this approach provides valuable insights for cross-cultural dissemination of Chinese art, as well as inquiries into the emotional expression of artistic subjects.

In terms of translation strategies, the introduction and translation of British romantic poetry in early modern China often falls into polarities of domestication and foreignization. Given the untranslatable, the Chinese translation of British verse reveals distinct political functions in its lyrical rendition from the aspect of structures of feeling. The translated literature, according to the notion of the untranslatable, has been transformed from English poetry into con-texts in the Chinese context through nativism, and turns into comparative literature. Through the production of national texts and literature, the translated literature, whose untranslatability grows out of structures of feeling, brings out the autonomous, collective, and national features of early modern Chinese writing, suggesting that the choice of translation strategies is not only made in accordance with source and target languages on the issue of subjectivity, but also deserves the interpretive consideration of the aesthetics, feelings, and politics of nativism in relation to the target language.

The expanded edition of Collected Works from the Qianshan Studio, an anthology by Yan Song (1480-1567) during the Jiajing reign (1522-1566) of the Ming dynasty, included several prefaces at the beginning. These prefaces were written by literary figures from 1515 to 1559, and are generally considered to be works commissioned by Yan Song for social interaction. However, the rapid development of publishing culture during this period introduces this practice of expanding texts with multiple prefaces and the forming of a paratextual group. This practice extended beyond printing costs and efficiency to influence the mindset of writers and readers alike. Yan Song's dual role as a powerful official and poet magnified the cultural effects of this practice. This influence manifested in phenomena such as the “fourth-party mentality,” where other preface writers were seen as intended readers, as well as in the avoidance and rivalry among different preface writers in literary criticism. Additionally, Yan Song's death led to the disruption of the original paratextual order and the subsequent reconstruction of critical discourse by later critics. This case study offers valuable insights into preface writing within its historical context and reveals the multiple functions of paratexts in shaping the landscape woof literary criticism.

Model Sayings, written by Yang Xiong as an imitation of The Analects, exhibits significant stylistic differences from The Analects in aspects such as title, external structure, internal form, and language. These differences reflect Yang Xiong's originality, as his work transforms and surpasses the standard quotation-based discourse. A structural analysis of Model Sayings reveals that the six rounds of hypothetical dialogues in the middle section of Qian Wenyan serve as its stylistic prototype. The question-and-answer format in the Model Sayings closely aligns with popular rhetorical forms of the time, and its stylistic attributes are more akin to these contemporary modes. Unique among the works of Han dynasty philosophers, Model Sayings stands as a compact anthology of categorically arranged rhetorical pearls. Yang Xiong's decision to compile Model Sayings in this format stems from his particular affinity for the question-and-answer and anthology styles of writing. In the study of ancient Chinese genres, it is crucial to consider the relationship between the author's subjective intent and the text's objective impact. Also should be taken into account is the ambiguity of genre boundaries, the accuracy of tracing literary origins, and the gradual evolution of textual forms.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the term xiaopin (sketches), encompassed various collections of poems, essays, or even selected works and anthologies as categorized in the Four Treasuries. In literary criticism, it referred to works created for entertainment or as variations in style or form. As book series, it covered the entire scope of the Four Treasuries. From the Wei and Jin dynasties to the Ming and Qing dynasties, the genre of xiaopin gradually expanded to include poetry, ci-poetry, qu-poetry, essays and fiction. However, the term xiaopin wenzi (sketch writings) was used more frequently than xiaopin wen (sketch prose). The concept of xiaopin wen as prevailed during the Republican period was initially unclear, and its distinction from the “prose poem” was often blurred. As a translation of the English terms “essay” or “sketch,” and influenced by Japanese terminology, xiaopin wen and xiaopin were often conflated in translation, reflecting a stylistic self-consciousness shaped by Western literary theories. Zhou Zuoren and others redefined the concept of “late Ming xiaopin,” replacing Chen Jiru, a key figure in the Four Treasuries' General Catalog, with the Gongan and Jingling Schools as representative authors. This shift spurred a proliferation of prose writings and numerous anthologies on late Ming xiaopin, further solidifying the genre's stylistic characteristics and attributes.

Su Shi articulated the theory of “giving form according to the thing” (suiwu fuxing) through various stages and texts. His discussions evolved from the way of Nature to the way of life and the way of essays, encompassing the theory of essence-function, the moral realm, the world realm, the aesthetic realm, and the theory of practice. Su Shi transformed logical speculation into life experience and conveyed the concept of Taoism in poetic creation. Consequently, his theory of “giving form according to the thing” embodies a complex interpretation of thought and vivid practical perception, reflecting both the influence of philosophical theory on literary concepts and practice and the transcendence of literary concepts and practice.

Li Kaixian was a key figure in the history of Ming dynasty qu studies, who served as a link between earlier traditions and emerging trends. His views on qu history and lyrics were closely related, with both aspects complementing each other. He identified the alternation between “natural color” and “elegant lyrics” as the central thread in the evolution of qu history, suggesting that the Jin, Yuan, and early Ming dynasties represented the flourishing periods of qu history, where qu lyrics were predominantly characterized by natural color, while some outstanding composers integrated both natural color and elegant lyrics. From the mid-Ming period onward, qu history entered a new phase of development, with natural color and elegant lyrics becoming distinct categories, and “composers' lyrics” and “literati's lyrics” excelling in their respective fields. Based on a comprehensive observation of qu history and a deep reflection on lyrics style, particularly through the careful examination of works by Zhang Kejiu and Qiao Ji, who were regarded as the “Li Bai and Du Fu of the Tang Dynasty”, and lyricist Yuan Chongmian, Li Kaixian proposed the concept that “language should be handsome, meaning profound, and both popular and elegant.” He advocated for the combination of accessible language with deep thought, and the integration of popular and elegant elements. His theory on lyrics addressed the theoretical challenges facing the qu community at the time, clarified the proper developmental direction for qu literature, and paved the way for the peak of chuanqi drama in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.

In an effort to preserve Zen and print Jiaxing Tripitaka, Buddhist monks in the late Ming Dynasty inherited the “Literary Text Zen” of the Song Dynasty, while shifting the focus on “literary texts” to Buddhist sutras. This approach was extended to various art forms, including calligraphy, painting, and drama, leading to the creation of a new “literary text Zen.” Their in-depth explorationof the essence of Buddhist Zen and “literary texts” removed traditional taboos surrounding literary creation, fostering unique literary thoughts that emphasized respect for the Tao and virtue, identified poetry as true Zen, and saw literary works as expressions of human nature. They integrated Buddha teachings with the secular world, regarding the image of “swans flying across the sky and their shadows sinking in the water” as the ultimate state of calligraphy. Additionally, based on the principle of “the five elements together archieving harmony,” they formulated norms for Buddhist drama creation and performance, which reflected an awareness of a distinctive Buddhist drama style. The voyage of Yinyuan Buddhist group to Japan and the establishment of Huangbo Zen Buddhism further spread “Literary Text Zen” circulated further to Japan, resulting in the birth of “Literary and Art Zen.” These developments yielded the prominence of Buddhist literary and artistic creation in the Buddhist cultural circle of East Asia.

The term “Qie,” denoting consonance or aptness, emerged as a relatively mature concept with a convoluted development trajectory within ancient Chinese poetics. Prior to the Song dynasty, “Qie” was used as a term of positive appraisal. In the comparative discourse between Tang and Song poetry, Yan Yu recognized the “truthfulness” of Song poetry as being apt in subject matter and grounded in reality. Subsequently, Ming dynasty poetics, under a trend of eschewing overt realism, advocated for a moderation in poetry's adherence to “Qie.” Early Qing poetic scholars, in a reflective reevaluation, redefined “Qie”: Wu Qiao deemed it essential for capturing taste, while Ye Xie identified “rationale, matter, and emotion” as its evaluative criteria. Mid-Qing reflections on the shortcomings of “divine charm” led Weng Fanggang and Jin Deying to reposition “Qie” within the realms of authenticity and continual innovation, arguing that “Qie” involves an alignment among the poet's genuine circumstances, inner spirit, and the imagery of the poem. This reconceptualization of “Qie” through the phases of reality, truth, and innovation transcended the aesthetic debates over Tang and Song poetry, establishing it as a universal principle in the advancement of poetics.

Wushi sanke (at the quarter before noon) is the time of execution imagined by creators of popular literature to generate plot conflicts and suspense. The literary pseudo-knowledge that “killing must take place at the quarter before noon” shapes the public conceptualization of genre plots and narrative routines and functions epistemologically in the reading of popular fiction. The precision of “at the quarter before noon” on the discourse level provides narrative events of execution and rescue with temporal certainty, and, in turn, these related plot elements imbue “at the quarter before noon” with symbolic meanings of authority and rebellion. Through the fixed connection between time and plot, fiction writers create plot coincidences and characters' tacit understanding, as well as construct a narrative logic around “at the quarter before noon”. The Water Margin pioneered the narrative paradigm of using “at the quarter before noon” as the endpoint and employing a countdown format for the execution scene. This tradition continued and evolved in late Qing dynasty fiction.