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15 September 2026, Volume 58 Issue 5 Previous Issue   

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A Multidimensional Inquiry into the CPC’s Construction of a Development Narrative System since Reform and Opening-Up：A Textual Analysis of Nine CPC Central Committee Recommendations on Five-Year Plans Weiping Qi, Yuqi Wang 2026, 58 (5):  1-11.  doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5579.2026.05.001 Abstract ( 58 )   HTML ( 3 )   PDF (929KB) ( 52 )   Save The narrative logic by which the Communist Party of China (CPC) leads China’s development is embodied in the development concepts and discursive signs deployed in the practices of revolution, construction, reform, and the New Era—signs that both reflect and guide development practice. The Recommendations of the CPC Central Committee on formulating five-year plans for national economic and social development constitute an authoritative textual expression of this logic. A textual analysis of the Recommendations issued since reform and opening-up reveals a clear trajectory in the evolution of the CPC’s development narrative system across such discursive dimensions as the economic system, task orientation, problems and challenges, and stage-specific goals. The system’s fundamental ideological core consists of affirming the Party and the people as a unified subject of development, empowering reform and innovation as drivers of development, safeguarding developmental order through stability and security, and reinforcing a mode of development thinking that combines a focus on the central task with comprehensive coordination. The Recommendations articulate the Party’s development concepts, perform the practical function of guiding development through narrative, and promote exchange and mutual learning between Chinese and international approaches to development. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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A Scientific Response to the Major Question of Our Times Concerning Long-Term Governance：The Original Contributions and Guiding Significance of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building Xiangqin Chen 2026, 58 (5):  12-21.  doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5579.2026.05.002 Abstract ( 49 )   HTML ( 4 )   PDF (659KB) ( 20 )   Save The history of Marxist theories of party building is one of theoretical innovation in scientifically responding to the questions raised by different eras. As an extremely important component of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building makes original contributions centered on the major question of our times: how to build a Marxist party capable of long-term governance. Taking escape from the historical cycle of rise and fall as its strategic objective and tackling the problems unique to a large party as its primary focus, it identifies self-revolution as the “second answer” to breaking free from the historical cycle of order-and-disorder and rise-and-decline. Its “fourteen principles that must be upheld” accurately captures the relationships between governing and managing the Party, and invigorating and strengthening the Party on the one hand, and building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation on the other. It systematically coordinates Party leadership and Party building, put forwards a series of new concepts, ideas and strategies, and provide fundamental intellectual guidance as well as practical guidance for advancing the new great project of Party building in the New Era. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Material Expression in Contemporary Continental New Materialism：An Inquiry and Critical Reflection Xiaoxue Niu 2026, 58 (5):  22-29.  doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5579.2026.05.003 Abstract ( 45 )   HTML ( 1 )   PDF (650KB) ( 28 )   Save The “self-expression of matter” is a core concept in contemporary Continental New Materialism’s reconstruction of ontology. Drawing on recent advances in the natural sciences, New Materialism posits languages pertaining to physical apparatuses and living individuals and seeks to establish a “material-discursive” framework distinct from human language, thereby furnishing ontological justification for contemporary intelligent information technologies. Yet even though the proposition of “material expression” bridges the rupture between the speaking agent and the matter spoken of, it falls prey to the trap of scientism. Internally, it perpetuates an epistemological tradition of constructing oppositional binaries, reinforces an exclusionary logic of “the one who overcomes versus that which is overcome, ” and in practice amplifies unipolar tendencies and the fetishization of matter within a society of singularities. To dispel the obscuring effects of New Materialism’s “monologue of matter, ” we must trace the historical agency of technical objects, thereby revealing the political- economic forces operative within material practice. We must then draw anew on the Chinese notion of “resonance between the self and things” (wu-wo gantong) to pursue, in the intelligent age, an existential wisdom of “transforming things without being reified by them.” References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Self-Attunement and Joy：The Spiritual Hallmark of “Xiaoyao You” in Zhuangzi Cheng Zhu 2026, 58 (5):  30-43.  doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5579.2026.05.004 Abstract ( 55 )   HTML ( 2 )   PDF (700KB) ( 24 )   Save “Xiaoyao You” (“Free and Easy Wandering”) in the Zhuangzi expounds an ideal, attitude, and realm of “attaining joy through self-attunement.” In this chapter, Zhuangzi employs the highly imaginative “debate over the small versus the great” to demonstrate the importance of a shift in perspective for human spiritual life. He guides us beyond cognitive limitations and an egocentric standpoint toward a broader world of possibilities and differences. If we grasp that “although the small and the great differ, xiaoyao (being free and easy) is one and the same, ” we may find a rhythm of life and mode of existence suited to ourselves and live in accord with our own nature. For Zhuangzi, genuine xiaoyao entails wudai (non-dependence): the mind is no longer fettered by external conditions such as material goods, fame and profit, and conventional values, or by internal constraints such as preconceptions, desires, and emotions. By transcending conventional relations among people and between people and things, and by freeing the mind from the spiritual harm wrought by attachment to achievement and reputation, one realizes self-attuned xiaoyao and spiritual joy at any time and in any place. Through such parables as “the spirit-man of Mount Guye, ” “the five-shi gourd, ” and “the realm of nothing whatsoever, ” Zhuangzi makes the case for xiaoyao by moving from setting forth an ideal, to providing a method, and finally to securing existential repose. The realm of non-dependent xiaoyao is no unattainable fantasy. It begins with a shift in perspective on “the useful and the useless, ” passes through the art of a life afloat on rivers and lakes, and releases one from the oppression of “being put to use” and the anxiety of “being reified, ” thereby making possible the joyful state of carefree self-attunement. As a concept of emblematic significance, Zhuangzi’s xiaoyao exhibits a reflective orientation that shifts cognitive perspectives, transcends attachment to the narrow self, and re-establishes criteria of value. It embodies a distinctive wisdom of life and a transcendent spiritual realm in Chinese philosophy; it can also contribute to the spiritual ecology of a harmonious society and the enrichment of human spiritual life. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Confucian Constructions of Ru Identity in the Pre-Qin Period Yuemei Wang 2026, 58 (5):  44-54.  doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5579.2026.05.005 Abstract ( 32 )   HTML ( 1 )   PDF (719KB) ( 17 )   Save The Ru predated Confucius. As the founder of the Confucian school and the figure who revitalized the Ru community, Confucius made a pioneering contribution by reforming the “old Ru” and shaping the “new Ru.” This process began with his reflection on and transformation of the “xiaoren Ru” (“petty Ru”) and was carried forward as the Seventy Disciples and their later followers, Mencius, and Xunzi refined and perfected the “junzi Ru” (“gentleman Ru”). Later Confucians followed Confucius’s approach but placed different emphases on the character of the Ru in light of new historical conditions. “Ru Xing” (“The Conduct of the Ru”) in the Book of Rites exalts the transcendence of the Ru, stressing the capacity to rise above immediate political realities; “Ru Xiao” (“The Efficacy of the Ru”) in the Xunzi, by contrast, highlights the political character of the Ru and the commitment to ordering and engaging the world. These portrayals and discussions not only reveal the Confucians’ profound reflection on what it means to be a Ru but also embody their understanding and reaffirmation of Confucian purpose. The movement from “Ru Xing” to “Ru Xiao” demonstrates the connotation change of the “Ru, ” reflects a reorientation of the Confucian community’s value pursuits, and implicitly signals a transformation in the trajectory of pre-Qin Confucian thought. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Gradual Revival and Breakthrough of Xiangshan Learning in the Early and Middle Ming Dynasty Bo Chen 2026, 58 (5):  55-63.  doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5579.2026.05.006 Abstract ( 33 )   HTML ( 2 )   PDF (706KB) ( 10 )   Save The roughly two centuries from the Hongwu reign in the early Ming to the mid-Jiajing reign constituted a critical period in the intellectual transformation of Ming Confucianism from Zhu Xi learning to Yangming learning. As Zhu Xi learning was established as official learning in the Yuan dynasty and spread ever more widely in the Ming, the increasingly evident fragmentation and utilitarian excesses of Zhu Xi learning prompted profound reflection within Neo-Confucianism. This created an opening for the Learning of the Mind, which sought to clarify scholarship and rectify the ethos of scholar-officials while strongly advocating moral cultivation and embodied practice; these efforts powerfully advanced the gradual revival of Xiangshan learning. From the early to the middle Ming, Xiangshan learning passed through three progressively advancing stages: “honoring Zhu while supporting Lu, ” “leaving Zhu to accord with Lu, ” and “rejecting Zhu while praising Lu.” Its intellectual value was thereby reassessed, and Lu Xiangshan himself, from being much maligned, came to be enshrined in the Confucian Temple and numbered among the sages, ultimately enabling Xiangshan learning to break through the dominance of Zhu Xi learning. A systematic intellectual-historical account of this process aims to demonstrate that the revival of Xiangshan learning was not only a new phase in the development of the Zhu-Lu debate but also a movement of intellectual revitalization in mid-Ming Confucianism that consciously returned to its inner life practice. This is of great significance for systematically grasping the complex texture of Ming intellectual transformation and for deeply understanding the intellectual causes underlying the emergence of Yangming learning. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Retreat of a “Wonder Drug”：The World Health Organization and the Comprehensive International Regulation of Heroin，1948–1964 Yong’an Zhang 2026, 58 (5):  64-76.  doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5579.2026.05.007 Abstract ( 29 )   HTML ( 0 )   PDF (694KB) ( 13 )   Save Heroin, manufactured by the German pharmaceutical firm Bayer, entered the market as a “nonaddictive substitute for morphine” and a potent cough-suppressing “wonder drug, ” only to end up classified as the “most dangerous opium derivative” and the “most dangerous addictive drug” regulated under international conventions. Heroin’s retreat was both a natural consequence of advances in medical and pharmaceutical science and a sound choice made by the international community after weighing economic interests against human health and well-being; more importantly, however, it was the inevitable outcome of efforts by technocratic organizations. Although the League of Nations and its Opium Advisory Committee sought to fulfill this role in the 1920s and 1930s, the structural tensions between a weak League and powerful states prevented the international community from forging a concerted approach to heroin control. After World War II, the World Health Organization (WHO) and its Expert Committee on Addiction-Producing Drugs used medical knowledge and scientific assessment to foster international consensus through research, initiatives, resolutions, and appeals. In coordination with the United Nations Economic and Social Council and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, they subsequently established an international regulatory regime centered on the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, bringing the manufacture, import, export, and use of heroin under comprehensive control. This historical process, through which international organizations translated medical knowledge into international policy, offers an important lens for understanding the formation of today’s global drug-governance system and provides a valuable historical reference for responding to emerging addictive substances. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Ancient Chinese Mythology and the Emergence of the Primordial Concept of Yixiang Xuanguo Mao 2026, 58 (5):  77-88.  doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5579.2026.05.008 Abstract ( 35 )   HTML ( 0 )   PDF (793KB) ( 16 )   Save The concept of yixiang (aesthetic images) manifested in mythology is primordial in form. Unlike the concept of yixiang in later aesthetics, it lacks clearly defined semantic orientation; it is a sensuous rather than a rational conceptual form, projecting and embodying the emotional memory and life consciousness of China’s ancient forebears. An inquiry into the emergence of this primordial concept through ancient Chinese mythology reveals its significance in progenitor myths: their emphasis on fertility worship, low degree of anthropomorphism, weak narrative elements, and yixiang-oriented mode of thought. The significance of yixiang in ancient Chinese mythology lies chiefly in its reverence for life, the transformation of mythic images into images of human ethical relations, forms whose meanings shifts between obscurity and clarity, and the primacy of spatial awareness over temporal awareness. The conception of yixiang and the patterns of thought manifested in ancient Chinese mythology were preserved in subsequent culture and exerted a profound influence on Chinese culture, art, and aesthetics. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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“Materialization”：“Experience-Expression” Aesthetics and the Genesis of Yixiang Xusheng Shi 2026, 58 (5):  89-98.  doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5579.2026.05.009 Abstract ( 36 )   HTML ( 1 )   PDF (650KB) ( 11 )   Save The genesis of yixiang (aesthetic images) in artistic and aesthetic activity concerns not only the object but, more intimately, the mind; it is the product of an “interfusion of mind and object.” How, then, should this interfusion be understood? From the perspective of “Experience-Expression” aesthetics, it cannot simply be construed as the “materialization” of yixiang. Rather, through the embodied experience of “the self becoming one with the bamboo, ” it takes form as an expression articulated in linguistic signs. “Experience-Expression” aesthetics emphasizes the unity of experience and expression in the genesis of yixiang. The genesis of the artistic image therefore concerns not only the process of aesthetic experience but also the subtlety of artistic expression, evaluation of the historical value of artistic and aesthetic creation, and selections of cultural standpoint. It is fully embodied within the dynamic historical process of artistic and aesthetic activity. From the perspective of the sociology of aesthetics, the evolving connotations of the “materialization” of yixiang reflect, to some extent, the underlying logic of the construction of contemporary aesthetic culture, but they have also contributed to the excessive “materialization” of consumptive images in the age of mass media. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Zhu Guangqian’s Cross-Cultural Interpretive Translation of Yixiang and the Construction of Modern Chinese Aesthetics Li Huang 2026, 58 (5):  99-111.  doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5579.2026.05.010 Abstract ( 32 )   HTML ( 0 )   PDF (737KB) ( 7 )   Save This article examines Zhu Guangqian’s cross-cultural interpretive translation of yixiang and its role in constructing modern Chinese aesthetics. Drawing on the indigenous resources of traditional yixiang poetics, Zhu interpreted and integrated Western aesthetic concepts from distinct theoretical traditions, including Kant’s Idee, Croce’s intuizione (intuition) and immagine (image), Hegel’s Bild, and Schopenhauer’s Vorstellung. Zhu’s interpretive translation of yixiang transcends a model of literal terminological equivalence and constitutes a cross-cultural reconstruction of knowledge grounded in an indigenous traditional category. Adopting an interpretive translation mechanism of “subsuming heterogeneous concepts under an indigenous category, reorganizing disparate concepts, and constructing a modern theoretical system, ” Zhu incorporated Western intellectual resources from diverse traditions into an interpretive framework centered on yixiang. He thereby transformed yixiang from an experiential aesthetic concept in traditional Chinese poetics into a core category of modern aesthetics that integrates aesthetic genesis, artistic creation, and formal construction. This cross-cultural practice of interpretive translation demonstrates that modern Chinese aesthetics is not a simplistic transplantation of Western aesthetic thought. Rather, through the reciprocal interpretation of Chinese and Western cultures, traditional aesthetic categories achieve modern transformation and a modern aesthetic system with distinctive indigenous characteristics gradually takes shape. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The Moral Embedding of Nonhuman Others：Reconstructing Responsibility in Human-Machine Interaction and Reflecting on Its Implications Jun Wen 2026, 58 (5):  112-122.  doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5579.2026.05.011 Abstract ( 65 )   HTML ( 2 )   PDF (669KB) ( 16 )   Save As artificial intelligence evolves from a passive tool-object into a “nonhuman other” capable of participating in human decision-making, emotion, and judgment, traditional mechanisms for attributing responsibility are undergoing structural failure. Existing discussions largely debate, at the ethical level, whether machines “ought” to possess moral status. Sociology, however, can instead examine how the moral identity of nonhuman others is produced in everyday interaction and how it redistributes social responsibility. It shows that the “moral embedding” of nonhuman others occurs through emotional performance, situation definition, and the mutual constitution of roles. It undermines the individualistic paradigm of responsibility attribution, which presupposes free will and linear causality, and disperses responsibility from a single subject into a distributed property of human-machine networks. This approach reveals that the diffusion of responsibility is by no means a value-neutral technological consequence. Responsibility is redistributed along existing gradients of power and often becomes a mechanism through which the powerful shed responsibility while the less powerful are made to bear the blame. Reconstructing a system of human-machine responsibility is therefore less a technical problem of governance than a reproduction of social power relations. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Strong Symmetry or Weak Symmetry? ：Re-configuring Human-Nonhuman Relations in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Yuefei Wu 2026, 58 (5):  123-134.  doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5579.2026.05.012 Abstract ( 42 )   HTML ( 2 )   PDF (675KB) ( 10 )   Save The position of “strong symmetry” associated with Bruno Latour and the position of “weak symmetry” associated with Harry Collins and Steven Yearley constitute the central theoretical divide in the sociology of nonhumans over the past forty years. To what extent can nonhuman actors be treated symmetrically with humans? The rise of generative artificial intelligence has reinvigorated this debate while rendering established conceptual frameworks inadequate. As large language models become capable of dialogue, reasoning, and even explanation in natural language, the traditional concept of the “actor” can no longer readily accommodate this new kind of entity. By revisiting the theoretical controversy between strong and weak symmetry and taking the emergence of the “discursive actor” as an analytical anchor, this article examines the explanatory power and limitations of the two approaches in the age of artificial intelligence. While acknowledging the social effects of nonhuman entities, social theory in the digital-intelligence era must also uphold the distinctive status of human beings at the levels of meaning and responsibility. This calls for an integrative theoretical framework capable of linking description with prescription and present realities with future possibilities. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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A Cross-Cultural Approach to the Construction of Indigenous Social-Work Knowledge Qiuling An 2026, 58 (5):  135-144.  doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5579.2026.05.013 Abstract ( 53 )   HTML ( 0 )   PDF (627KB) ( 9 )   Save Constructing an autonomous knowledge system of social work is a key issue in the development of the discipline in China. From a scholarly standpoint grounded in cultural self-awareness, this article moves beyond the inward-looking research paradigm of conventional indigenous knowledge production and proposes the construction of an indigenous social-work knowledge system through cultural comparison. First, it systematically explains the culturally constituted nature of social-work knowledge and reveals the deep connection between its character as cultural practice and the logic of knowledge production, thereby laying a theoretical foundation for cross-cultural comparative research. Second, through a critical analysis of the limitations of existing indigenization approaches, it demonstrates the distinctive value of cultural comparison in knowledge production. Establishing cross-cultural frames of reference can both activate tacit knowledge elements within local practice fields and reconstruct the agency of knowledge producers through a systematic comparative framework, ultimately enabling paradigmatic innovation in the indigenous knowledge system. Taking gerontological social work as an example, this article analyzes how cultural comparison can operate in knowledge construction and demonstrates its methodological advantages in breaking through the entrenched East-West dichotomy and achieving a dialectical unity of global universality and local particularity. This exploratory study not only provides an externally anchored comparative perspective for social-work knowledge production but also opens new possibilities for constructing a theoretical system of social work with Chinese characteristics by establishing a mechanism of intercultural dialogue. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Intensive Development：The Logic and Pathways of Modernizing the People’s City Lin Ye, Chang Mei 2026, 58 (5):  145-155.  doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5579.2026.05.014 Abstract ( 41 )   HTML ( 2 )   PDF (790KB) ( 10 )   Save China’s urban development is undergoing a dual transition: from rapid growth to steady development and from large-scale incremental expansion to the quality and efficiency improvement of existing urban areas. The logic of modernizing the people’s city must therefore take the form of intensive development, whose rich implications are embodied in the essential attributes of the modernized people’s city. Taking intensive development as the main thread, the key is to grasp the complex tensions among people-centeredness, urbanity, and modernity. Systematic transformations of a city’s internal elements can bring these three dimensions into deep coordination and mutually reinforcing interaction, ultimately generating a qualitative leap in urban development. The logics of value, space, and governance jointly shapes the breakthrough points for intensive urban development. Specifically, the logic of value emphasizes the public nature of goals, the social character of participating actors, and the universal accessibility of outcomes; the logic of space entails compact and efficient planning, ecological harmony and sustainability, and renewal that preserves the foundations of urban civilization; and the logic of governance emphasizes intelligent cognition, public-good-oriented tools, and adaptive systems. In terms of implementation, intensive urban development requires integrated coordination and open connectivity to reshape its driving forces, multi-scalar co-governance and civilizational continuity to reconstruct urban space, and digital-intelligence empowerment and embedded resilience to advance governance innovation. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Urban Risk Prevention Mechanisms in Spatial Planning：A Resilience-Governance Perspective Jinqun Wu, Xinya Liu 2026, 58 (5):  156-168.  doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5579.2026.05.015 Abstract ( 45 )   HTML ( 0 )   PDF (813KB) ( 9 )   Save Against the backdrop of a risk society intertwined with urbanization, complex and systemic urban risks have grown increasingly prominent. From the perspective of resilience governance, spatial planning can serve as a core vehicle for addressing three dilemmas in urban risk prevention: fragmented governance elements, unclear practical application of theory, and limitations in source- based risk reduction. This article systematically reviews the theoretical evolution and practical components of resilience governance, unpacks the deep logic that couples it with spatial planning through conceptual resonance and functional complementarity, and, on this basis, identifies six pillars of urban risk prevention: institutional design, policy guidance, organizational coordination, spatial optimization, facility adaptation, and technological empowerment. Through nonlinear interactions within the spatial-planning field, these six pillars dynamically generate three source-based urban- risk- reduction mechanisms: a collaborative and agile governance mechanism centered on building structural resilience; a mechanism for optimizing spatial carrying capacity via interventions in physical form; and a smart, closed-loop prevention and control mechanism underpinned by dynamic digital empowerment. This theoretical framework for source- based risk reduction extends the application of resilience-governance theory to spatial-planning contexts and provides theoretical support and practical pathways for a new paradigm of risk governance oriented toward source reduction. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Governance Mechanisms of Intensive Urban Development from an International Comparative Perspective and Their Policy Implications Chuanyong Zhang, Zhe Li, Guangbin Wang 2026, 58 (5):  169-182.  doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5579.2026.05.016 Abstract ( 31 )   HTML ( 0 )   PDF (1008KB) ( 8 )   Save Promoting intensive urban development is key to addressing the problems of extensive urban expansion and inadequate governance of existing urban areas. By reviewing representative international cases and undertaking a cross-national comparison grounded in an analytical framework of “goals-institutions-practices, ” this article unpacks the governance logic of intensive urban development. It then identifies five representative governance mechanisms: Germany’s baseline-constraint model, centered on legal controls and ecological compensation; the Nordic inclusive-sharing model, centered on public participation and welfare provision; Japan’s guidance-and-adjustment model, centered on location optimization and flexible inducements; the United States’ market-incentive model, centered on fiscal and tax incentives and property-rights innovation; and Singapore’s administrative-integration model, centered on two-tier planning and state ownership of land. The analysis finds that effective alignment between institutional instruments and contextual factors constitutes the key to governing existing urban areas. To advance intensive urban development with Chinese characteristics, strategic goals should shift toward inclusive and compact development; institutions should combine firm baseline constraints with flexible incentives; practices should incorporate differentiated adjustment and orderly shrinkage; and governance structures should rebuild mechanisms for pluralistic consultation. Taken together, these measures can reconcile spatial efficiency with social justice. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics