Navigating Temporal and Spatial Dimensions:Unveiling the Fictional Essence and Authenticity in the Narrative of The Rise and Fall of Wing Shing Street

The novel The Rise and Fall of Wing Shing Street delves into the reality of Hong Kong residents deeply attuned to spatial awareness but detached from temporal significance,entangling emotions surrounding time and space.Through narrative interruption and extension,the author portrays the genuine struggles of Hong Kong inhabitants-juxtaposing the blurred boundaries of time and space and the inherent rootlessness of reality within a fictionalized framework.Emphasizing the 20th-century human condition,wherein spatial awareness overshadows temporal understanding,the novel underscores the consequences:a loss of history and cultural identity.With a fresh perspective,the narrative explores the interplay of time and space,accentuating both the fictitious and authentic dimensions.This prompts readers to reconsider their history,culture,and the current moment,ultimately highlighting the pivotal role of temporal awareness.

Simulating rise and fall cycles of Vietnam empires

The life cycle pattern of empires is pervasive worldwide,and this is caused by multiple factors.In the history of Vietnam,there are totally about ten empires or dynasties,which have aggregately lasted for more than one thousand years.Here,we apply the life cycle model and agent-based modeling to uncover the underlying mechanisms of the life cycle pattern for Vietnam empires.Macroscopically,the man-land relationship greatly shapes the life cycle pattern of traditional agricultural empires.The balancing process between land and population is critical for the empires.The relationship between incomes and costs has determined the actions or strategies of the social members or individuals.It suggests that our optimal solutions and simulations have perfectly matched the real history of Vietnam.Under three optimal solutions,the distributions of simulated and real empire durations in history can be well-matched,in terms of both discrete(histogram)and continuous forms(kernel density).It indicates that the history of human society is a dynamic process,which is determined by certain evolutionary rules and regulations.Therefore,we are able to back-calculate,simulate,and even predict the future of empires or countries.

The Land of Shu:Where Tang Poetry Rose and Fell

During the Tang Dynasty,the land of Shu was composed of the Ba and Shu areas,which were adjacent to present-day Hanzhong city of Shaanxi province to the north,northern Yunnan province to the south,Wushan county of Chongqing to the east,and Xichang city of Sichuan province to the west.In the nearly 300 years of rule under the dynasty,a number of poets,whether they were born or just worked and lived there for a short period of time,wrote many immortal poems,which constitute an integral part of Tang poetry.They range from Chen Zi’ang and Wang Bo of the early Tang to Li Shangyin,Wen Tingyun,and Wei Zhuang of the late Tang.The land of Shu is,therefore,the witness of the rise and fall of Tang poetry.

2023年各国谋安全促发展纵横

2023 will be remembered as a critical juncture in the third decade of the 21st century.Significant changes have been witnessed in the international landscape,underpinned by the law of history that great powers rise and inevitably fall.It could be deemed a year of coup d'état for Africa,a year of conflict for Eastern Europe,a year of crisis for the Middle East,and a year of diplomacy for major powers.Countries around the globe are concerned about how the world and times will evolve as they pursue their security and development.As a responsible major country,China has proposed its solutions for enhancing security,development,and civilizations worldwide.It applies an approach that removes barriers and increases connectivity,turns shocks into driving forces,accumulates experience from setbacks,and arouses confidence in today's unsettled world.While promoting world peace and development,China also needs to pay close heed to the changes that are taking place.Only by identifying the crux of its problems and stopping the spread of risks can China ensure a dynamic equilibrium between security and development.

Temperature variations along the Silk Road over the past 2000 years:Integration and perspectives

Reconstructing temperature changes along the Silk Road(SR)over the last two millennia can provide insights into past global changes and their impact on the rise and fall of ancient civilizations in this region.Numerous high-quality single-site paleotemperature records have been produced for the eastern part of the SR(mainly for the Xinjiang region and its surrounding areas),which provide the data basis for a comprehensive synthesis.In this study,we used objective criteria to select 10 highquality ones from 30 temperature reconstructions derived from various geological archives including lacustrine sediments,ice cores,and tree rings in this region.Our aims are to summarize the pattern of temperature change over the past 2000 years,to provide a long-term viewpoint on the present warming,and to evaluate the impact of climate change on civilizations along the SR.The principal results are as follows:(1)The temperature variations over the last millennium are mutually consistent within these records.The study area experienced typical climate anomalies during the Medieval Warm Period(MWP,AD 1000-1250),the Little Ice Age(LIA,AD 1450-1850),and the Current Warm Period(CWP,AD 1850 to present);however,contrary to previous knowledge,the amplitude of climatic warming during the CWP did not exceed that during the MWP.(2)Fewer temperature records were available for the interval AD 1–1000,and there were large differences between them.For example,the reconstructed climate during both the Han Dynasty and the Sui-Tang Dynasties was either warm or cold,without prevailing consensus.(3)The warming during the MWP favored the rapid development of the SR route along the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains,and the cooling during the LIA contributed to the decline of the SR marked by the closure of the Jiayuguan Pass.Notably,the scarcity of temperature records and the discrepancies between them during AD 1-1000 in the eastern part of the SR have hindered our understanding of the hydroclimatic changes and their influence on the development of civilizations along the SR.Thus,it is important to obtain an increased number of high-quality reliable records spanning the past 2000 year,and to examine the occurrence of local signals of temperature changes during the period of AD 1-1000.On the other hand,the paleotemperature investigation on the western part of the SR over the last two millennia is wholly insufficient,and thus more high-quality single-site and integrated studies are needed,to facilitate more comprehensive insights into the coupled relationship between climate change and the rise and fall of civilizations along the entire length of the Silk Road.