Culture plays a crucial role in the design of locally developed Chinese language textbooks, raising important pedagogical questions regarding which cultures should be included, whose cultures are represented, and how these cultural elements are integrated. This study examines cultural representation in two localized Chinese textbooks: Across the Silk Road 2 (United Arab Emirates) and Everyday Chinese: Chinese Language Textbook for Thai Secondary Schools 3 & 4 (Thailand). Employing content analysis, the study systematically encodes and quantifies both the types and presentation patterns of cultural content. The findings reveal four major patterns: (1) a marked imbalance in cultural representation, with a predominant focus on the target language culture-especially contemporary Chinese culture-while local culture is marginally included and global culture is rarely addressed; (2) cultural content remains largely knowledge-oriented, lacking the depth necessary to foster critical reflection among learners; (3) the target language culture is typically presented in fixed textbook sections, whereas local culture appears in a fragmented and dispersed manner; and (4) intercultural comparisons between the target culture and local culture are present but limited in scope. Based on these findings, the study offers practical recommendations for the integration and design of cultural content in future locally compiled Chinese textbooks.

Based on the theory of multimodal metaphors, this study argues that the multimodal metaphor of Chinese culture-loaded words is a transitional process of “from penetration to mutual assistance” through semantic mapping. Additionally, the teaching should emphasize “contrast”: in the beginner level, “translation strategies” and “visualization methods” are used; in the intermediate level, the focus is on “old to new”; and in the advanced level, the guidance of “Chinese-style thinking” is provided. Regarding metaphors, the integrated course should focus on basic meanings, cultural connotations, comparison, and communication; the listening and speaking course should emphasize application scenarios, and the reading and writing course should focus on historical origins and written expressions. Based on the MAP model, this paper designs a teaching plan for Chinese culture-loaded words and evaluates its effectiveness through a comparative teaching experiment involving 20 participants. The results show that students who were taught using the multimodal metaphor method performed better than those taught using traditional methods, and the multimodal metaphor method proved more advantageous in enhancing vocabulary production. This study provides new perspectives and practical guidance for teaching culture-loaded words in international Chinese language education.

As an innovative form of education that integrates international Chinese education and vocational education, “Chinese + vocational skills” education is committed to meeting the dual needs of global learners for Chinese language and vocational development, reflecting China’s image as a responsible country with Chinese as its native language. Comparing with the experience of Japanese for vocational purposes, it is found that there are similarities in the “language + vocational skills” education between China and Japan in terms of empowering workers with vocational skills through language education, following the objective patterns of language globalization, and respecting learners’ needs. There is also partial overlap in the countries of origin of learners and the vocational sectors targeted. However, the two countries differ in terms of language acquisition environments and the mechanisms that activate deeper learning motivations. Through a comparative analysis of learners, learning motivations, teaching organizers, and teaching resource construction, it is found that Japan’s approach to vocational Japanese instruction offers valuable insights-including stronger intrinsic learner motivation, a joint public-private instructional model led by enterprises, and more flexible and open teaching resource construction. Drawing on these insights, we believe that “Chinese + vocational skills” education should: (1) enhance the management of learner motivation and increase the added value of Chinese learning; (2) encourage deeper participation of Chinese enterprises operating overseas in program implementation; and (3) improve the accessibility of teaching resources by building an open, inclusive, and user-friendly system for collaborative resource development and sharing.

Macao, China, is a mini-sized economy. As such, diversified production is difficult to achieve, which could create pronounced vulnerability for the economy. Nevertheless, 25 years after its return to China, the region’s GDP per capita remains among the highest in the world, employment opportunities have increased, prices remain relatively stable, government fiscal revenue is substantial and robust, and life expectancy exceeds those of advanced countries. These remarkable development achievements may be termed an economic miracle. How was this accomplished? This article examines multiple policies implemented by the Macao SAR Government, including significant improvements in public security, the introduction of market competition mechanisms to reform the gaming industry, the establishment of a comprehensive education system to vigorously develop education, the enhancement of welfare systems, and the expansion of infrastructure. The analysis leads to a core conclusion: Macao’s success stems from the synergistic and complementary effects of deliberate government policies and market forces. A stable government, a highly effective Legislative Council, and the enhanced professional competence of civil servants resulting from educational reforms have all contributed to economic development and social services. Meanwhile, the high proportion of indirect taxes from the gaming industry has endowed the SAR government with robust financial capacity, enabling it to provide the necessary material conditions for policy implementation.

Before the full-scale outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, China maintained a close relationship with Nazi Germany. After China declared war on Germany in 1941, Chiang Kai-shek, as the Supreme Commander of the China War Zone, adopted a policy toward Germany that was both complex and inherently contradictory. On the one hand, he linked Germany's military actions to China's resistance against Japan, attempting to leverage Allied cooperation against the Axis powers; on the other hand, he remained attentive to German military technology and formulated plans to harness German scientific and technical personnel for post-war reconstruction. However, Chiang’s assessments of the international situation were often overly idealistic. For example, his persistent belief that Japan would inevitably attack the Soviet Union and his expectations of utilizing German talents after Germany’s defeat were significantly misaligned with actual developments. Notably, Chiang adopted a policy that drew a clear distinction between the German populace and the Nazi regime when addressing the issue of defeated Germany. While this policy reflected a certain degree of pragmatic consideration, it also revealed his emphasis on Germany’s military modernization from a technical perspective, with insufficient reflection on the systemic and ideological roots of German militarism. Examining Chiang Kai-shek’s policies toward Germany after 1941 provides new perspectives for understanding the complexity of Sino-German relations during this period.

In modern society, travel and video games serve as important means for alleviating life stress. This study aims to explore whether players' gaming experiences can transcend virtual boundaries and extend into the real world, thereby triggering travel intentions to visit the real-world prototypes of game settings. Taking the phenomenal game Black Myth: Wukong as the research object, this game not only draws inspiration from the natural landscapes of multiple Chinese provinces, but also deeply integrates elements of traditional Chinese culture into its game design. Based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) theoretical framework, this study systematically examines the influence mechanisms of spatial presence and social presence as stimulus variables, and cognitive image and affective image as mediating variables, on players' travel intentions. Analysis of 459 valid questionnaires revealed that presence positively influences players' cognitive and affective images, with cognitive image significantly driving travel intention. This study not only verifies the intrinsic mechanisms through which video games enhance tourism intent, but also provides crucial insights for the development of various cultural IP tourism initiatives. The findings offer empirical support for destination marketing strategies while proposing concrete pathways for cross-sector collaboration between game companies and tourism authorities, thereby providing universal guidance for deepening the integration of digital entertainment with the real economy.

The Macao SAR Penal Code uses subjective intent as the decisive criterion for distinguishing between money laundering offenses and offenses of concealing or disguising criminal proceeds, whereas the Criminal Law of Mainland China focuses primarily on predicate crimes. The prevailing interpretation of “laundering” and the “funds” involved in China's mainland criminal law doctrine has, to some extent, deviated from the financial nature inherent in the crime of money laundering. In 2006, Amendment VI to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China expanded the scope of money laundering offenses-a legislative response to FATF’s requirements regarding the expansion of predicate offenses. Moving forward, Mainland China should consider reverting to its more scientifically grounded framework prior to the 2006 amendment. It would be advisable to restore Article 191 as the exclusive provision for money laundering offenses and directly expand the scope of predicate offenses within this article. This study addresses emerging challenges in China’s anti-money laundering landscape by restoring conceptual coherence, logical consistency, and systematic integrity within the criminal framework, thereby enhancing alignment with international conventions and resolving normative inconsistencies arising from the criminalization of self-laundering.

The imminence and necessity requirements are common conundrums in the adjudication of self-defense, both of which are prominently manifested in the context of defense within dwellings. The Castle Doctrine is a doctrinal achievement that addresses these two issues. Originating from the Anglo-American legal system, the Castle Doctrine had the broadest defensive right in the common law period, but was progressively limited in the statute period, yet both phases pertain to the interpretation of criminal law rather than its amendment. The Castle Doctrine is also reflected in the cases in China, and while drawing from it, we should distill indigenous expressions within the context of Chinese law. In terms of legal doctrines, the “reasonable belief” of the Castle Doctrine is equivalent to the “ordinary person standard” in China. In specific application, the imminence requirement for self-defense is satisfied upon an illegal entry into the dwelling, while the necessity requirement for the use of deadly force is met when the occupants' personal safety is threatened with serious violence.

Teacher's identity is the core and important driving force in teacher's professional development. Employing a narrative inquiry approach, and drawing on reflective journals, classroom observations, and in-depth interviews, this study explores the trajectory of identity transformation experienced by an international Chinese teacher within the multilingual-teaching-reform virtual teaching-research community. It is found that teacher identity changes from marginal participants to active participants, from theoretical adherents to theory-informed practitioners, from skilled teachers to teaching researchers. The construction of teacher identity was shaped by teachers' development needs and agency, the environment of virtual teaching-research community, and the interaction between teaching theory and practice. The conclusions of the study offer insights for the construction of virtual teaching-research community and for the professional development of international Chinese language teachers.

To date, research on second language reading ability has predominantly employed qualitative analysis methods, with relatively insufficient attention to quantitative analysis. This study establishes a descriptor corpus based on nine domestic and international language proficiency standards. Through term frequency statistics, n-gram extraction, and word position analysis, we reveal the characteristics of the descriptor corpus and construct a fundamental framework for second language reading ability. The framework comprises 6 dimensions with 83 indicators: scope of reading materials, range of topics, cognitive level, linguistic elements, reading speed, and degree of comprehension. The construction of this second language reading ability framework yields three key insights: emphasizing the description of learners' cognitive levels, prioritizing the specification of linguistic element scopes, and enhancing quantitative and level-based descriptions in reading ability descriptors. This study actively explores the application of language information processing techniques in the development of standards for International Chinese Language Education, offering new perspectives for research on various standards in this field.

The widespread future application of innovative technologies may trigger corresponding risks, including technological and political risks stemming from diversified technological creation, information and ethical risks caused by intelligent development, as well as social and institutional risks resulting from high-efficiency applications. As the legal domain most closely related to technological innovation, intellectual property law should abandon the deliberate, persistent, and irreversible nature of these future risks through institutional innovation. On one hand, intellectual property law should enrich its legislative purpose with “long-term stability of human society” as a key element. On the other hand, its regulatory framework should expand to include risk assessments encompassing private personal and property safety, as well as public interests involving social and national security. Furthermore, future intellectual property legal systems should adopt a human-centric collaborative approach to establish the theoretical foundations for transcending the territorial limitations of intellectual property rights.

Contemporary cross-media Intellectual Property (IP)-based creative practices have posed significant challenges to traditional paradigms of literary criticism, chiefly because IP creation links textual works with commercial product chains, thereby requiring criticism to confront non-textual yet literature-related creative outputs. In response to these new forms of criticism, non-textual phenomena may be reconceptualized as forms of narrative phenomena that remain semantically affiliated with the textual work. This non-textual narrative phenomenon may be interpreted through the concept of “narrative performance”. However, the concept only summarizes the non-textual narrative of a single segment within an IP production chain. A comprehensive understanding of the entire chain necessitates the perspective of “narrative event combination”, which integrates non-textual narrative processes with textual creation. Building upon this framework, this article proposes the notion of Dynamic Narrative Aesthetic. This idea not only constitutes a critical response to IP literature creation, but also offers a forward-looking reflection on AI-generated art as an emergent technological and aesthetic trend.

This paper explores the issue of developing countries catching up with developed nations. It points out that most developing countries have fallen into the poverty trap or middle-income trap since World War II due to the influence of mainstream theories such as structuralism and neo-liberalism, while some East Asian economies and China have achieved rapid development. The paper proposes the theory of New Structural Economics, emphasizing that economic structure is endogenous to factor endowment structure. Development should follow comparative advantages, requiring the coordination of an effective market and a proactive government, supplemented by appropriate industrial policies. This theory not only explains the failure of previous mainstream development ideas but also aligns with the common characteristics of successful economies, providing new theoretical guidance and practical paths for developing countries to achieve sustainable growth and catch-up by leveraging their own endowments and latecomer advantages.

The May Poetry Society is the first literary group in Macau to actively champion modernism, disseminate modern poetic theories, and promote the practice of modernist composition. When reflecting on the historical position of the May Poetry Society, discussions often focus on its role in introducing and disseminating modernist trends, while rarely delving deep into how its members, who carried different cultural backgrounds, incorporated their unique poetic pursuits into a shared literary ideal. The members of the May Poetry Society often wandered between “encouraging creativity” and “pursuing avant-garde”. Although caught in this paradox, they remained unshaken due to their passionate pursuit towards Macau's literary image. Through the efforts of the May Poetry Society, the “City of Poetry” gradually took shape. By describing the literary practices of the May Poetry Society, this article seeks to highlight the overlooked aspects of the modernist poetry movement in Macau.

Before the mid-20th century, the Macao Peninsula faced a scarcity of freshwater resources, making wells the core infrastructure that sustained the functioning of society and influenced the urban industrial layout and community patterns of Macao. This article elucidates the reliance on wells in certain social and civil industries, such as the water-carrying vendors, tea houses and eateries, slaughterhouses, and laundry services. It also illustrates that wells were not only a source of daily water for the populace at the time but also the foundational guarantee for the social and industrial development of the Macao Peninsula during the pre-industrialization period. The traditional well system in Macao underwent a triple value transformation, evolving from a means of livelihood to a factor of production, and ultimately into a cultural symbol. This approach to sustainable utilization of historical spaces through functional repurposing rather than simple preservation can serve as a paradigm for the conservation of cultural industrial heritage in micro-cities.

As centers of economic activity, cities face pressures from population growth, resource depletion, and pollution. The Circular Economy (CE) provides a greener alternative to the traditional model, facilitating the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, blindly pursuing circularity may undermine long-term sustainability. Compared to advanced economies, the CE remains sparsely implemented in emerging economies. There is still controversy surrounding the relationship between urban CE and sustainability. This study analysed the CE principles adopted in developing countries, aiming to monitor and assess the consistency between urban circularity and the SDGs. The findings suggest that the number of CE principles mentioned in definitions has increased over time. Environmental indicators closely align with various SDGs, while economic indicators are linked to SDGs 8 and 9, and social indicators to SDGs 2 and 3. Furthermore, the study notes that digital technologies have great potential to improve efficiency and advocates a multi-dimensional approach. The novelty of the research lies in deepening the insight of urban circularity, identifying linkages between indicators and SDGs in emerging economies, and spotlighting the key role of digital technologies.

The Historic Centre of Macao bears the imprint of over four centuries of cultural exchange between China and foreign nations. Its linguistic landscape, blending historical and contemporary multicultural connotations, holds significant and unique value as a sample. This study employed fieldwork methods to collect 160 signage samples across five sampling sites within the Historic Centre of Macao. Utilizing the entity dimension of the three-dimensional analysis model, the study described and analyzed the code distribution patterns, variations across sampling sites, and contrasts between official and unofficial signage within the language landscape of the Historic Centre of Macao. Furthermore, the study examined code usage patterns within the language landscape through the lens of place semiotics theory. The findings reveal that the current linguistic landscape of the Historic Centre of Macao is characterized by a salient multilingual profile, with Chinese as the primary dominant code, while maintaining the Sino-Portuguese bilingual policy, making Portuguese a mandatory code. To align with English’s status as an international lingua franca, the linguistic landscape of Macao’s Historic Centre primarily employs English as the main auxiliary code alongside Chinese and Portuguese, with Japanese serving as a secondary auxiliary East Asian code. The researcher also identified a small number of Latin samples during the investigation, representing the lowest proportion of the total sample. Regarding code placement, Chinese consistently serves as the most salient code on signage, with the multilingual code hierarchy being: Chinese, Portuguese, English, Japanese, Latin. Techniques such as “vertical placement with font variation”, “vertical placement with font variation and cultural information”, and “horizontal placement with directional variation” are employed to reinforce the prominence of salient codes spatially, visually, and conceptually. The historical layers of the linguistic landscape in the Historic Centre of Macao are profoundly rich, densely reflecting nearly five centuries of temporal elements within a limited spatial scope. It achieves a linguistic landscape characterized by the continuous dialogue between history and the contemporary, as well as the diverse yet mutually integrated cultural origins, thereby realizing a culturally inscribed narrative brought about by high space-time cohesion.

Hong Kong and Macau, as Special Administrative Regions of China, play a significant role in the country’s development. In recent years, with national support, both regions are expected to actively integrate into national development, promote international exchanges, and serve as a bridgehead for the country’s dual opening-up strategy. Macau is committed to becoming a “World Tourism and Leisure Center” and a “China-Portuguese-speaking Trade Cooperation Service Platform” working alongside Hong Kong to form a vital force for international cooperation. Hong Kong and Macau possess significant advantages in terms of openness and internationalization, having accumulated rich experience in market economic development. Compared to the mainland, their experience in market rules and capital operations is more mature, enabling them to effectively address issues faced in the mainland’s marketization process, such as real estate cycles and market regulation. Additionally, there is unique potential for innovation in branding and standards. Although China has quality products like grape wines and tea, it lacks internationally recognized brands. This necessitates innovation in marketing and brand development to enhance the competitiveness of Chinese products in the global market. Moreover, Hong Kong and Macau have demonstrated innovative potential in establishing a modern trade platform for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). As an international trade center, Hong Kong can leverage its rule of law and credibility to create an independent and professional TCM trading platform that promotes transaction transparency and ensures product quality. In terms of social and cultural exchanges, both regions have also played an important role, as highlighted by President Xi Jinping regarding their unique contributions to cultural exchange and fostering mutual understanding. In summary, the innovation of Hong Kong and Macau extends beyond the economic realm to encompass social, educational, and international cooperation. By strengthening collaboration along the industrial chain, both regions can better leverage their advantages to assist national high-quality development and play an indispensable role in the Greater Bay Area’s growth.

In International Chinese Language Education, the teaching of Chinese culture and characters holds significant importance. This study focuses on the 32 insect-related characters denoting agricultural and forestry pests presented in the Chong Radical of Shuowen Jiezi, exploring the ecological culture of early China reflected in these characters and offering interpretations. The objective is to examine their pedagogical value for cultural instruction and character teaching in International Chinese Language Education. The findings reveal that grain pests and tree pests were prevalent in early China. The imbalance between cereal and arboreal ecosystems, resulting from the development of agriculture, led to significant pest problems. By contrast, pests affecting bamboo were rare, primarily due to the stability of the bamboo ecosystem. In early China, locust plagues were predominantly associated with grain locust plagues, triggered by the East Asian migratory locust, while bamboo-related locust plagues, caused by the yellow-spined bamboo locust were almost absent, a phenomenon closely related to the prevailing ecological conditions of that era. Despite the presence of the system of environmental protection in early China, the system was barely effective in regulating cereal and arboreal ecosystems, while providing some degree of protection for bamboo ecosystem. Moreover, the stability of the ecosystem and the environmental protection system exerted a bidirectional influence on each other. The characters for agricultural and forestry pests in the Chong Radical not only document ecological changes in early China, but also offer textual evidence for the transmission of and reflection on ecological culture. The findings of this study enrich the content base for cultural and character instruction, thereby providing valuable support for the development of teaching resources and the enhancement of teaching practice.

From ancient Rome to modern times, Cicero’s natural law philosophy has profoundly influenced global legal development and philosophical thought through its core concepts: “goodness” and “responsibility”, “reason” and “truth”, “justice” and “patriotism”. The pursuit of goodness naturally fosters a sense of responsibility, the quest for truth calls for rationality, and upholding justice requires courage and patriotic spirit. This article examines the theoretical and practical significance of Cicero’s natural law philosophy for China’s judicial practice, legal development, and social governance by integrating contemporary Chinese social realities. Its ideas of goodness, equality, and patriotism offer valuable insights for cultivating civic virtues in the new era.

In the context of globalization, the religious linguistic practices of diaspora communities have become a crucial site for the negotiation of power relations and identity. This study combines Margaret Berry’s Exchange Structure model within Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) with Foucault’s microphysics of power to analyze how the preacher and interpreter dynamically negotiate power relations through linguistic strategies in bilingual sermons of Putian dialect and Mandarin at Hinghwa Methodist Church in Singapore. The findings reveal that religious authority is not statically bestowed but is constructed moment-by-moment through the control of turn allocation, the configuration of moves, and the negotiation of knowledge-power mechanisms. The preacher predominantly occupied the “primary-knower” (k1) position, controlling propositional agendas and doctrinal exegesis. By deploying micro-power techniques such as hierarchical observation and examination, the preacher regulated discursive power while simultaneously negotiating both institutional religious authority and personal authority. The interpreter covertly participated in power negotiation through the realization of semantic adjustments and shifts in agency and recipiency. Enacting as “secondary knowers” (k2), the interpreter reconfigures religious logics and reinforces collective identity. Our findings demonstrate that religious discourse is not merely a medium for expressing faith but a critical arena for the operation of micro-power and the construction of identity. This study provides an alternative theoretical lens for understanding language-power interactions and identity construction within Chinese diaspora communities, offering implications on the sustainability of overseas Chinese dialect preservation.

Based on prospect theory and service recovery theory, this study investigates the impact mechanism of service recovery on tourist satisfaction and revisit intention within the context of Macau gaming tourism. Key variables such as tolerance, loss aversion, and sensation-seeking personality trait are incorporated into the research framework. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 470 tourists who participated in gaming activities, and the data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results indicate that service recovery (including procedural justice and interactional justice) significantly enhances tourist satisfaction. Both tolerance and loss aversion exert significant positive effects on satisfaction, which in turn positively predicts revisit intention. Furthermore, the sensation-seeking personality trait strengthens the relationship between satisfaction and revisit intention. The findings provide theoretical support and practical implications for designing service recovery strategies in gaming tourism, highlighting the importance of differentiated management considering tourists’ psychological traits and financial loss contexts.

The Hong Kong cultural periodical Pangu was published from March 1967 to July 1978. Amid the leftist cultural fervor of the 1970s, Pangu centered its intellectual discourse on “anti-independence” and “return”, embodying the idealist passion of the overseas Baodiao (Defend Diaoyu Islands Movement) generation. Firmly rooted in Chinese cultural essentialism, the periodical resisted the Westernizing tendencies of modernist trends in Taiwan and Hong Kong while critically reflecting on the ideological biases of the New Asia spirit. Poetically, Pangu emphasized the application of expressive and pragmatic theories in Chinese New Poetry criticism; historically, it rediscovered and carried forward the cultural legacy of early modernist poets such as He Qifang and Bian Zhilin, as well as the Nine Leaves School. Amid the trend of “Fang Ren Guan Zheng” (global vision; national identity; social concern; rights advocacy), Pangu’s fellows demonstrated a youthful commitment to critiquing capitalism and serving marginalized communities. These literary and social movements collectively functioned as an intellectually independent historical intermediary, supplementing and enriching the mainstream currents of 1970s Chinese culture.

The year 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Brazil. As major developing countries and key emerging markets, the two nations have achieved fruitful outcomes through pragmatic cooperation. With President Xi Jinping’s successful state visit to Brazil in November 2024, China-Brazil relations have entered the next “Golden 50 Years”. Against this backdrop, this study focuses on China-Brazil educational cooperation and exchange, as well as the development of Confucius Institutes. Field research was conducted in Brazil, and relevant data were collected through questionnaire surveys and participant/workplace-based observation. Through analysis and review, the study provides an overall picture of the development status and future trends of China-Brazil higher education cooperation and exchange facilitated by Confucius Institutes. Additionally, selected individual case studies are examined in detail, showcasing replicable practices and strategic pathways for future development.

Breach of contract insurance in overseas investment insurance is a type of political risk insurance that guarantees against the breach of contract risk by the host country. Its scope of coverage is relevant to both safeguarding China’s overseas interests and improving the political risk insurance system. However, there is no unified international standard regarding its coverage, and further clarification is needed in this regard. Although China has introduced breach of contract insurance, its triggering conditions are strict. Insurance claims depend on the favorable judgment obtained by investors, yet fails to cover scenarios where investors have no means of seeking compensation or where judicial injustice occurs, thereby limiting the insurance protection function of the insurance. To address this, Sinosure should incorporate denial of justice into its political risk insurance framework. Specifically, denial of justice should be clearly defined as a core triggering condition within the existing breach of contract insurance structure. This would help improve China’s political risk insurance system and strengthen risk protection for investments under the “Belt and Road” Initiative.