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Editorial Report

 
No. 43 Editorial Report

 

  1. This issue of the Bulletin of the Department of Chinese Literature, National Chengchi University (“the Bulletin”) received a total of 40 submissions (28 from Taiwan and 12 from overseas). 3 submissions were rejected and returned after preliminary editorial committee review. Of the remaining 37 submissions, 36 submissions excluding the feature article went through double-blind reviews by at least two extramural experts for each submission. Excluding the feature article, 6 out of 39 submissions were accepted, resulting in an acceptance rate of 15.3 percent, and a rejection rate of 84.7 percent. This issue publishes 5 academic articles, with 0 articles by full-time teachers of the Department of Chinese Literature, National Chengchi University, the rate for internal release is 0 percent. The Bulletin aims to enhance academic quality, broaden research perspectives, and cordially invites submissions from scholars.

  2. This issue’s feature article is authored by Prof. Cheng, Kat Hung Dennis, Chair Professor at the Department of Literature and Cultural Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong. Titled “Discourse and Transformation of ‘Ru’ in Early Modern China: A Paradigm Shift in Knowledge,” the essay examines the shifting discourse on Ru (Confucians) during the Ming-Qing transition, emphasizing a paradigmatic transformation within Confucianism. Beginning with the institutional distinction between Daoxue and the traditional Rulin Zhuan (Biographies of Confucians) in the official histories of the Yuan and Qing dynasties, Cheng explores the evolving rhetoric and identity of Confucians across dynasties. He argues that Ru should be understood not through isolated self-definitions by individual scholars, but as a historically situated intellectual community shaped by shared scholarly practices and collective self-awareness. Cheng argues that late Ming Confucianism declined due to excessive metaphysical speculation, prompting a turn toward diverse fields such as literature, history, and statecraft—revitalizing the tradition and enabling its Qing-era renewal. Although late Ming Confucianism appeared decadent, it served as fertile ground for Qing revival. The article—originally the first part of Cheng’s keynote lecture for the 8th New Asia Lectures on Confucianism at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2022—proposes the notion of a “Paradigm Shift” to reinterpret intellectual transformations during the Ming-Qing period and to illuminate the rise of collective identity within the late imperial Confucian community.

  3. This issue originally planned a special article column section “The Multiple Narratives of Material, Images, and Myth”, but after review, the number of articles recommended for publication was limited, which made it difficult to demonstrate the richness of the designed theme. Therefore, this special section was canceled. The submissions were reassigned as general submissions.
     
  4. The second special article column section, curated by Professor Chin Pei-yi of the Department of Chinese, National Taiwan Normal University, is titled “Across Time, Across Borders, Across Forms: Interpreting Confucian Classics in Edo Japan.” Confucian texts were introduced to Japan as early as the 3rd–5th centuries CE, with the arrival of the Analects of Confucius and Thousand Character Classic. By the Asuka period, Prince Shōtoku had cited Confucian principles in his Seventeen-Article Constitution, advocating a synthesis of native and Chinese values. In the Heian period, Confucian texts became core to official education, with scholars like the Kiyohara family emphasizing textual variants, pronunciation, and annotation. From the Muromachi to early Edo periods, Confucian texts were interpreted in vernacular Japanese and transcribed into kana glosses known as shōmono, exemplified by Kiyohara Nobukata. With the introduction of Zhu Xi’s commentaries via Zen monks, Edo scholar Hayashi Razan institutionalized Zhu Xi’s thought as shogunate orthodoxy. Over time, Japanese Confucianism moved beyond hereditary scholars and clergy, evolving into a vibrant field marked by competing schools, philological rigor, and return to classical sources. Edo scholars developed an independent exegetical style, combining new commentaries and empirical methods. They adapted Confucian texts into vernacular Japanese and reinterpreted them to suit local social and political contexts, creating a distinct form of “othering” in both language and thought. This process of decontextualization and recontextualization reflects how Chinese classics, once transplanted to a foreign land and era, were reshaped by Japanese cultural, religious, and political frameworks. This special issue aims to illuminate the diversity of Confucian scholarship in Edo Japan and deepen the study of Japanese Sinology. Submission for this special article column section ends by the beginning of February 2026.
  5. The Bulletin continues to win subsidies this year. It was selected as a THCI Core journal in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, and won the highest biennial ranking of THCI consecutively in 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2023, by the Research Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan. We hereby thank all of our supporters in the academic fields and the Research Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences for their recognition and acknowledgement.
  6. In order to provide a platform for smooth submission and communication, to promote specialization, internationalization and digital accessibility, the Bulletin established a new and designated website sponsored by Research Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences with multilingual user interfaces supporting Chinese, English and Japanese in June 2023. The main content on the website includes latest news, submission requirements, and provides access to view and download past issues. The website facilitates viewing and circulation, as well as integration with domestic and overseas academic circles. The new website address is https://bdcl.nccu.edu.tw
  7. The Bulletin has been publishing electronic versions simultaneously with paper versions since inception. The content of the Bulletin is included in and downloadable from databases of academic journals including Airiti Library (www.airitilibrary.com), HyRead (https://www.hyread.com.tw), TOAJ (https://toaj.stpi.narl.org.tw), LawData (https:// lawdata.com.tw), NCL Taiwan Periodical Literature (https://tpl.ncl.edu.tw/NclService), Taiwan Citation Index – Humanities and Social Sciences (https://tci.ncl.edu.tw), Taiwan Journals Search (https://p.udpweb.com/soc), etc. In addition, the Bulletin is also included in the NCCU academic journal database system (https://nccur.lib.nccu.edu.tw), available for all scholars to use.
     
  8. We hereby extend our sincere gratitude and appreciation for all the support and hard work by submitters, reviewers, the editorial committee, special article column coordinators, editors and Showwe Information Co., Ltd., who made the successful publication of this issue possible.

The Bulletin of the Department of Chinese Literature
National Chengchi University Editors Jun 2025