An Exploration of Traditional Chinese Cultural Programs:The Construction of Rituals,Narrative Strategies,and Experiential Insights

In the context of the cultural development of the new era and the burgeoning spiritual demands of the people,there has been a remarkable surge in the proliferation of traditional Chinese cultural programs.The“Chinese Festivals”series,produced by Henan TV,standing out as an engaging TV program that showcases traditional Chinese culture,has rapidly captivated a diverse audience across different age groups,creating a rich,multi-dimensional,and cross-media cultural communication ecosystem.The program strategically selects symbolic elements by systematically categorizing and organizing traditional Chinese cultural symbols to create a rich cultural space.It employs cutting-edge scientific and technological methods to enrich viewer immersion,crafting media rituals with both temporal significance and a profound sense of media ritual.This approach boosts the program’s popularity and sets a benchmark for industry innovation.By fostering an interactive narrative between mainstream media and the public,the program continuously broadens the scope of the“story world,”fostering a harmonious and structured national cultural community through the creative interpretation of traditional Chinese culture and the evocative crafting of the aesthetic sensibilities inherent in Chinese art.It is worth noting that the phenomenon of aesthetic fatigue besets the development of this serial program.To address this issue and further improve the appeal of the program,a comprehensive approach is required to develop a cohesive narrative mode for the“story world.”This involves harmonizing the interplay between artistic endeavors and technological advancements,synchronizing sensory experiences with the foundational ritualistic elements,and enhancing the effectiveness of the media communication matrix to construct a brand of media culture that has social significance,aesthetic value,and economic profits in the new era.

Mock Impoliteness and Co-Construction of Hudui Rituals in Chinese Online Interaction

This paper examines an under-researched phenomenon of mock impoliteness in Chinese online interaction,namely,the practice of hudui(lit.reciprocal jocular abuse)as a solidarity enhancing device among acquaintances.Drawing on data from Qzone interaction among Chinese university students,this study focuses on ritual features,sequential patterns and interpersonal functions of hudui through the lens of Kádár’s(2013,2017)interpersonal ritual theory.The results show that hudui is co-constructed by the online participants with the symmetric pattern of mutual abuse,which distinguishes it from previous studies of jocular abuse(i.e.,the asymmetric pattern of abuser–recipient).They also reveal that hudui accomplishes various kinds of relational work,including fostering intimacy,enhancing mutual affection-based face and creating amusement.

Cultural Heritage Assets: Rituals, Grinding Hollows and Other Socio-Cultural Practices in Simiyu Region, Tanzania

This paper presents results from preliminary assessments in Ngasamo ward, Busega district in Simiyu region. The main objective was to assess cultural heritage assets in some areas of Bariadi district in Simiyu region. Specific objectives of the assessment are to identify tangible cultural heritage resources in Simiyu region;to identify intangible cultural heritage resources in Simiyu region;and to provide suggestions for pertinent protection, conservation and presentation of cultural heritage resources. The assessment was carried out through surveys that included documentation together with records for Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates per surveyed locality;key informant interviews;and Focus Group Discussion. Results from the assessment revealed several worship areas that include immovable physical objects associated to ritual performance places. For example, wells like Luhuhi in Ilula village, Nkindwa biye tree in Ilula village, Magahi well in Isenge village, Isangijo hill at Isenge village, Dutwa well in Isenge village, Nyabusalu well in Igalukilo village and similar others are worship places that were revealed by informants. The assessment uncovered granite rock boulders that are being chopped off flakes for traditional medicine use in the area. Some cultural heritage sites have been identified such that a lot more needs to be explored in order to establish existence of other physical cultural heritage sites in Busega district, Bariadi district. For example, the grinding hollows, bao and the like are unique heritage resources. Such resources including undiscovered immovable archaeological objects would need presentation of sustainable preservation as well as conservation plans in line with Antiquities Acts, Antiquities Rules and Monuments of 1980 together with Cultural Heritage Policy of 2008.

Cross-cultural Perspective of Three Wedding Rituals in China and Western Countries

The paper mainly presents three rituals in China and western countries with the documentary method,namely wedding dressand decoration,wedding ceremony,and wedding banquet,then discusses their similarities and differences,helping people to know aboutwedding culture in eastern and western countries.

“Li Sheng”and Folk Rituals: An Analysis of Folk Funeral Rituals from the Perspective of Jurisprudence

"Shen Zhong",namely the careful arrangement of one's funeral,stressed by traditional Chinese folk funeral ritual is,by nature,the combination of order and justice,procedure and regulation,and it can be included in the traditional laws for its normative features."Li Sheng",the intermediary of funeral ritual,acts as the interpreter and performer of ideas and customs of funeral rituals as well as the rule maker to some degree. By"Si Li",namely directing funeral rituals through verbal command,"Li Sheng"ritualizes and secularizes the rules and procedures of funeral rituals to regulate and control the folk society,thus fulfilling the aim of coordinating rights and obligations of behavioral agents as well as interpersonal relationship.During this process,a balance of value must be maintained between laws and customs.

Bali Rituals and Therapeutic Communication in the Traditional Rural Society in Sri Lanka

Bali is a form of classical ritual that makes a sound performance of a variety of psychological and physical treatments for many psychiatric and cultural diseases. Bali is defined as a form of oblation for gods and deities. Bali is determined by the ephemeral cycle of one＇s life, so that the procedures and practices of specific Bali performances are planned to communicate with the planetary system, which is based on his/her astrology. Hence, Bali is made to perform with the use of traditional dance, music and local cultural substances. There are nearly eighty four thousand forms of Bali performances derived out from the constellation. History of Bali goes back to the early kingdom of Kotte which started in early fifteen century. However, it is considered that the origin of Bali resembles with the Indian Hindu religious cults, so that the Sri Lankan Bali tradition has been transformed by the local cultural and Buddhist religious milieu. This study explores the content and effects of Bali ritual. As the qualitative research, it assumes that Bali constitutes a broad spectrum of human needs and wants despite its communication to the supernatural elements of planetary system. Sederaman （1965） has explored Bali to the extent of its entire performance with respective lyrics and dancing procedures, as the pioneering study. However, present study looks at the diversity of the objectives and effects of a performance of Bali in the set-up of real Kandyan rural village in Sri Lanka. Finally, based on the research, it yields following conclusions. Bali in the rural Kandyan village, is designed to be conducted continuously up to fourteen days. It is traditionally performed by the classical exorcist gurus of Bali, who have been trained by the practice of word of mouth by their generation by generation. They are used to reciting, singing and dancing all the forms of communication from their memory and recalling at the very time of performance without any script or written text. Many Bali doctors are used to conducting entire performance with number of classical lyrics and poems with mellifluous musical melodies, attractive rhythms of dance and theatrical performances, which are not yet scientifically classified. Further, Bali is determined by the use of significant characteristics of one＇s astrology, so that the disease or pathetic situation is the fact that decides the specific Bali form. There are nearly eighty-four thousand Bali which are for numerous physical and psychological illnesses including variety of mental disorders and sexually transmitted diseases. Moreover, as this study found a very rare Ola leaf manuscript, that describes the entire eighty four thousand Bali, which is called Balipatuna in Sinhala （Contents of Bali） from a traditional Bali custodian in Laheba Bali Tradition at Kotabe in Mathale District in Sri Lanka. On the other, knowledge and practices of the traditional local medical sciences of parturition （Child birth） health in the pregnancy and the science of child birth （delivery） is also treated by the faculties of Bali schools. And Also, Bali figures are designed, based on the narration of the Bali lyrics, which explains a group of stars forming a recognizable pattern that is traditionally named after its apparent form and it is identified with a mythological figure. However, this has been the source for very colorful temple arts and craftsmanship at the Buddhist temples built up during the era of Kandyan kingdom （1469-1815 ）.

Visual Nationalism and Communal Rituals:Park Saengkwang’s Art and Korean Shamanism

This paper analyzes Park Saengkwang(1904-1985)’s artwork,created in the 1980s and influenced by Musok,Korean Shamanism.It explores Musok’s thematic significance in the development of his distinctive style and the inspiration behind his stylistic changes.Park’s ink paintings are done in bold and intense colors and create an intriguing,mysterious mood,inviting the viewers to the primordial visual experience and exposing its viewers to Korean Shamanism,which has endured the perception that fluctuated between positive and negative throughout Korean history.The practice became a fitting cultural emblem associated with the national identity during the 1970s and 1980s,and thus became a way for Park to explicitly articulate his cultural roots,creating a visual connotation of“Korean.”His art,portraying gut,Korean shamanistic communal rituals,could be conceived as a pictorial rendering of the idea of kibok,praying for good fortune,and served as a pujŏk,talisman paper,that possesses magical healing and protecting power.By striving to overcome the stylistic conflicts between Korean and Japanese,or traditional and Western,Park’s art accomplished the visual rhetoric of national aesthetic sensitivity that built on the communal thoughts and cultural experience of shamanism in the modern history of Korea.

Return to Reality:Speculative Design of Interaction Ritual Chains and Exploration of Alone Together

“Alone together”is an ever-changing“wicked problem.”In this research and practice,the author tries to combine experience design,referring to the theory of“interaction ritual chain theory,”and creatively add interactive experience to discursive works,so that the audience can think between the real and the virtual.

An analysis of the interaction mechanism between the social history of medicine research and health communication from the perspective of mass communication

The mass communication model and interactive ritual chain theory,which serve as communication paradigms in the new media era,facilitate and enhance the synergy between the fields of social history of medicine and health communication.This study employs a comprehensive framework based on the five elements of the mass communication model:information source,communication subject,communication object,message content,and post-communication feedback.Additionally,it incorporates the interactive ritual chain theory to examine the evolving dynamics and developmental trajectory of research in the social history of medicine during the new media era.Conclusively,this paper acknowledges the existing interaction gaps in the interaction between health communication and the social history of medicine research while outlining the challenges for fostering collaboration and proposing strategic optimizations for effective integration.

Farming Ritual and Festival Folk Custom of Dong Ethnic Minority Group

In order to pray for harvest and express gratitude, Dong ethnic arranged sacrifices of farming in accordance with periodicity of rice production and its requirements to festivals and calendar. Meanwhile, New Year, Pray in Spring and Return in Autumn not only play significant roles in agricultural production, but also evolve to farming holidays which are enriched with more social connotations. Centered on husbandry and production, some folklore that is rich in local color has been formed in Dong society. The writer introduced some farming ritual of Dong ethnic group, such as, sowing, Kai Yang Men, Rain-praying, Chang Xin, reaping and Lunar New Year, summarized their belief in the land worship, festival ritual, ancestor ritual and ceres ritual. It is concluded that sacrifice is a production-related folklore, which is formed by repeated operation and constant practice. Some taboos were also prohibited in agricultural sacrifice because people were not able to change the unfavorable reality of farming with their insufficient experience and knowledge; however, they resorted to witchcraft for the purpose of harvest. It is believed that the activity of sacrifice will also be kept in the life of Dong ethnic group due to their dependency on agriculture and the land.

The Relationship between Dali Lord Worship Ritual Activity and Regional Landscape Architecture in China

The paper had introduced Lord Worship ritual activity unique to Bai Nationality and analyzed Dali landscape characteristics from the aspects of landscape pattern, architectural courtyard pattern and plants landscaping. In the perspective of surface, line and spot landscape architectures, Lord Worship ritual activity had been analyzed. It had revealed that the development of Lord Worship ritual activity was rooted in local landscape environment, and temple's site selection, square construction, activities' route selection and construction of forest land in front of residences were all based on landscape environment. After the analysis of the relationship between Lord Worship ritual activity and landscape places, it had opened a new thought for researches on religious activities and regional landscape. It could explore and recover some traditional folk cultures when environmental landscapes had been studied, so as to promote the inheritance of national culture.

Celebrating the Harvest and san yklk： Exploring Festival and Public Ritual as Collective Memory to Sustain Cultural Identity

This paper argues that ritual is not only restricted to religious activities, but can also be ethological, sociological, and ecological in nature. The artistic, stylistic, and functional characteristics of one particular festival of the Bamana in Mali to celebrate the harvest and new planting season will be analyzed. This festival primarily takes on the form of animal masquerades in which masks, puppets, drumming, singing, and dancing are blended into a ritualistic celebration of a certain cultural identity. The Bamana culture has lost religion as a marker, as Islam is now the dominant religion in Mali, but traditional social relationships and morals among the Bamana as a patriarchal society are concretized and objectified by their animal masquerades. Apart from being a seasonal festival, events from the past are commemorated; customary gender roles are defined; and some fundamental and complex social concepts are reinforced by a performance mode which relies on a collective memory and oral transmission.

Eye contact and Cross-cultural Communication

It is commonly agreed by contemporary scholars that it is important to understand the role of culture and its characteristics and potential impact on individuals engaged in cross- cultural communication. Nonverbal communication often reveals basic culture traits. Eye contact, as a medium to convey emotion, attitudes and intention, plays an undeniably vital role in communication. The concentration of this paper is to discuss the functions of eye contact in communication, different information conveyed by eye contact on the basis of different cultures and the importance of understanding and respecting the rituals of eye contact in cross- cultural communication.

Cattle Counting Ceremony among the Wolaita (Ethiopia): Exploring Socio-Economic and Environmental Roles

Livestock play significant roles in the lives of different peoples in Ethiopia. The importance of livestock and culture associated with them has got a greater impetus in the post-conflict political reform in Ethiopia. The 1990s reform provided opportunities for various ethnic groups to resuscitate aspects of their traditions that were suppressed under the previous regimes. The purpose of this study is to explore socio-economic and environmental roles of cultural based notion of cattle counting rite of the Wolaita People. The practices of cattle counting of Wolaita are called as Dala and Lika, which refers to ceremonies of public displaying of one’s own cattle wealth numbering minimum of, respectively, hundred and thousand cattle. The Dala and Lika ceremonies honor men. However, there is also Gimuwa ceremony which honors women. The ceremony of cattle counting is accompanied by the lavish feasts and series of rituals. The central figures in cattle counting rite are wealthy farmers who wish to achieve social prestige by demonstrating their cattle wealth. The practices have got a greater attention by the farmers of Wolaita since the fall of the socialist regime in 1991. Using ethnographic technique, this article tried to explore the practices of the Dala, Lika and Gimuwa, focusing on how the cattle counting rite gives economic and social status to the farmers and ensure environmental sustainability.

Pagan Ritual as a Means of Therapy and Self-Empowerment

The question that I attempted to consider relates to the advantages of contemporary Pagan rituals,as performed by a group of Israeli Pagans nowadays.Ritual is viewed as a special language that is expressed in structured actions,performed in a special space,at a specific period of time.Humans have the capacity to create a verbal language and use it for social communication.A similar mechanism enables humans to create rituals.Ritual behavior is initiated by a certain cause,which means that it has a purpose.Most scholars consider ritual as a social mechanism that enables society to experience its ethos,and bring different streams of ideologies into cohesion.It is also accepted that ritual is performed in order to restore order in the social type of existence that has been threatened or damaged.Among the different ritual theories on which I base my approach,I prefer Gruenwald’s ritual theory.Gruenwald understands ritual as a performative expression of cerebral(or cortical)processes,similar to the linguistic cognitive and conceptual processes.In religion,rituals are performed in a context that seeks meaning in the framework of the holy(Gruenwald,2003,pp.3,12).The actual performance of ritual ceremony achieves its goal by causing actual transformation of the reality that needs change(for instance:creating a sacred time,or conferring a sacred status).The actual change is a mental transformation;the mind strives to gain control over reality.The ritual performed restores an infracted metaphysical condition.According to Gruenwald,in order to achieve the ritual goal it has to be performed in some context that is meaningful for the participants.The myth,of which the participants are familiar with,confers that context.The Neo-Pagan ritual context is based on the mythic idea that our universe is interconnected in an all-inclusive energetic web.I intend to demonstrate the process that enables the ritual participants to undergo an emotional and spiritual transformation that elevates their self-esteem,and give their life a meaning of a life worth living.

Ritual Traditions of the Three Dynasties and the Continuity of the Chinese Civilization

The rule of rites was the fundamental pattern of the governance in the Xia,Shang and Zhou dynasties(i.e.the Three Dynasties).As a complex system of political and cultural practices with political,religious and moral attributes,rites legitimately and structurally underpinned the royal regime,therefore ensuring regime stability,integrating social relations,and enhancing recognition of cultural and political identities.Ritual traditions of the Three Dynasties went beyond extrinsic rites and institutions to include intrinsic spiritual traditions,e.g.divinity of the Heaven,conformity with ancestral heritage,and derivative moral values such as the pursuit of ethics and rewards for benevolence.Also included were the sense of blood relationships,the sense of clanship,the sense of ethics and the sense of filial piety and fraternal duty based on ancestral worship.Through the enlightenment of ritual music,the sense of rites was internalized as the collective value and cultural identity of the members of a society.Therefore,early nations that were founded upon rites functioned as a community of politics,culture and morality.Rites,having been internalized as cultural elements of the Chinese people,shaped the ways of thinking and behavior.It is fair to say that rites have served as the fundamental bedrock for the continuity of the Chinese civilization.

Death and Dying: A Mediation Analysis of Fear

In this paper, we shall describe the way in which some Vietnamese people cope with death and dying. Authors surveyed approximately 302 relative people in the north of Vietnam. The sample showed broad demographic variation. Among respondents, 73% were female and 27% were male. The instrument shows a good reliability of the total scores (Cronbach’s α= 0.93). Both exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis are used. The model tested was a relatively simple model with three latent factors. They are belief, fear, and ritual and all of them are positive correlated. The relationships among factors are further analyzed and the mediating relationships are found.

Journey From a “Small Place” to a “Big Place”: Mediated and Divided Sanctity in a Pilgrimage Holiday

Sacred spaces have usually been presented dichotomously in pilgrimage studies:small or big,near or far,at the“center of the world”or at the margins.This article discusses a unique combined pilgrimage during the Seged holiday of the Jews of Ethiopia,which is still celebrated today.Based on testimonies,I conclude that they made a physical and symbolic journey from the“small place”to the“big place”.The“big place”,similarly to the sacredness itself,was also divided into two memory places.The liturgy of the Seged mediated between the“small place”and the“big place”.It also created a connection between the“small time”which includes the small everyday actions,and the“big time”which includes large leaps toward a mythological past.

Widowhood Practice in Eastern Nigeria： A Comparative Study of Imo and Anambra States

Marriage is one of the valued institutions in the traditional African society. Incidentally, it has its own challenges. When a young man or woman gets to a certain age and he/she is not married, society frowns at it. Thus, many couples enter into marriage relationships with a lot of excitements and expectations. However, losing one＇s spouse to death robs one of all these excitements and expectations and exposes the bereaved spouse to some dehumanizing challenges. These challenges are mostly experienced by women in the Eastern Region of Nigeria. These women are subjected to dehumanizing practices which are socially accepted in the region. This paper attempts a comparative study of some of the practices imposed on widows in Eastern Nigeria. A sample of 200 participants was purposively selected from two states in the Eastern Region of Nigeria. The study adopted the qualitative research method. Thus, the analysis was made using descriptive method. The study showed that these inhuman traditional practices in Eastern Nigeria are initiated and perpetrated by the kinsmen （Umunna and Umuada）. It also showed that the widowhood treatment is meted out on all widows, but the severity or less severity of these treatments are dependent on the socio-economic and other attributes of the widow. Finally, recommendations were made, which include the need to protect the fundamental rights of widows and their children.