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Editorial Report

 
No. 45 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 (34 from Taiwan and 6 from overseas). 5 submissions were rejected and returned after preliminary editorial committee review. Of the remaining 35 submissions, 34 submissions excluding the feature article went through double-blind reviews by at least two extramural experts for each submission. Excluding the feature article, 5 out of 39 submissions were accepted, resulting in an acceptance rate of 12.8 percent, and a rejection rate of 87.2 percent. This issue publishes 6 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. The featured article in this issue, “ On the Rich Variability of Professor Jao Tsung-i’s Calligraphic Art,” is authored by Professor Shan Zhou-yao, Honorary Professor of the School of Chinese at the University of Hong Kong. Professor Jao Tsung-i (1917-2018) was an internationally renowned polymath whose achievements encompassed scholarship, literature, and the arts, uniting three forms of excellence in a single individual. Among the most celebrated aspects of Jao’s calligraphic art are his mastery of diverse script styles and his exceptional stylistic versatility, a quality virtually unparalleled in contemporary calligraphy.
    This study explores the richness and subtlety of Jao’s calligraphic art from multiple perspectives. It first examines his philosophy of calligraphy, particularly his advocacy of the principles of “weightiness,” “archaic simplicity,” and “grandeur,” together with his pedagogical approach of learning calligraphy “from the higher tradition downward.” It then analyzes how his oracle-bone script calligraphy, while preserving the robust strength of incised inscriptions, incorporated elements derived from bronze inscriptions, seal script, clerical script, and cursive script, thereby generating innovative expression within an archaic aesthetic framework. The article further discusses how his bamboo- and silk-manuscript calligraphy reinterpreted ancient models through creative adaptation, integrating the traditions of Chu and Qin bamboo slips with the Mawangdui silk manuscripts into a unified artistic language. It also demonstrates how Jao drew extensively upon the achievements of major calligraphers from the Jin and Tang dynasties through the Ming and Qing periods, assimilating their essential spirit rather than adhering rigidly to formal resemblance, and thereby displaying an exceptional degree of creativity. Finally, the study argues that in his later years Jao attained a state of artistic consummation in which seal, clerical, regular, running, and cursive scripts were harmoniously fused into a single expressive whole. His calligraphic art is characterized by extraordinary richness and vitality—at once archaically simple and ingeniously innovative.
     
  3. This issue originally planned a special article column section “Across Time, Across Borders, Across Forms: Interpreting Confucian Classics in Edo Japan.”, 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 46th special article column section, curated by Professor Yang Ming-zhang, Department of Chinese Literature, National Chengchi University, is entitled “Cultural Transmission and Everyday Imagery in the Age of Manuscripts.” The rise of AI models has propelled digital networks from an earlier stage centered on speed and reproducibility into a new generative era. A historical perspective, however, reminds us that cultural recording and transmission were not always so efficient. Paper did not replace bamboo and wooden slips until the Eastern Jin, marking the formal advent of the age of paper manuscripts. Although woodblock printing emerged in the Tang dynasty, large-scale printing only came to dominate after Feng Dao of the Five Dynasties engraved and disseminated the Nine Classics nationwide. From the Eastern Jin through the Five Dynasties and early Song, paper manuscripts thus remained the principal medium of cultural transmission. Su Shi personally experienced this major shift in media technology. In Li shi shanfang cangshu ji (Memoir of the Li Family's Mountain Study), he noted that the increasing ease of obtaining books paradoxically fostered superficial scholarly attitudes, while recalling his earlier years of diligent study when texts were scarce and had to be copied by hand. Although he acknowledged the convenience brought by paper and printing, his response was marked by ambivalence—a sentiment that closely parallels contemporary reflections on generative AI. Even after printed books became dominant, manuscripts retained distinctive value. Each manuscript preserves its own individuality, offering important evidence for the study of scribes, textual transmission, and historical context. The Dunhuang manuscripts and ancient Japanese copies from the Nara and Heian periods provide especially rich materials for understanding manuscript culture. This special topic invites contributions that explore cultural transmission, knowledge formation, and everyday imagery in the manuscript age. Submission for this special article column section ends by the beginning of Aug 2026.

  5. The 47th special article column section, curated by Professor Huang Mei-e of the Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature, National Taiwan University, is titled “Studies of Sinitic Literature in Asia: Regions, Literati, and Literary Contexts.” Across Asia, Chinese characters have functioned either as a historical legacy or as part of everyday life. Their modern transformations and their relationship with local vernacular languages have long been subjects of scholarly interest. While earlier studies often emphasized a unidirectional model of Chinese influence, the more recent concept of the “Sinographic Cosmopolis” highlights the heterogeneity of Sinitic writing as a transregional literary medium, drawing attention to both its cosmopolitan and local dimensions. Against this backdrop, this special topic seeks to reexamine the historical development and literary experiences of Taiwan, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong, exploring how each region developed distinctive literary traditions through the shared use of Chinese characters and how Taiwan has functioned as a significant node within this network. Focusing on the three key themes of regions, literati, and literary contexts, the issue welcomes studies that clarify local characteristics of Asian Sinitic literature, investigate important Sinitic writers and their historical significance, and examine the contexts in which representative texts were produced. Through comparative and relational approaches, the special topic aims to illuminate both the commonalities and distinctive features of regional traditions within the broader history of Sinitic literature in Asia. Submission for this special article column section ends by the beginning of February 2027.
     

  6. 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.

  7. 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

  8. 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.
     
  9. 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 2026