Keeping Abreast of“International Historical Sciences”:Dialogue and Exchange

The 22nd International Congress of Historical Sciences,to which Chinese President Xi Jinping wrote a congratulatory letter,took place in 2015.This congratulatory letter has since been a subject of discussion among Chinese and foreign historians because it involves several fundamental issues in historical sciences.This paper presents Finnish historian Marjatta Hietala’s interview with Wang Yuji.The interview centers on four major propositions of President Xi:“Historical research forms the basis of all social sciences”;“History is our best teacher”;“Observing China’s past is an important angle for observing China today”;and“Historians can and should play an active role in building a community of shared future for mankind.”The in-depth discussion reveals the convergence and divergence of historians’opinions both at home and abroad on some fundamental issues of historical sciences.

Between History and Fiction:The Possibility of Historical Science Fiction-Narrative Device and Conceptual Experiment in Qian Lifang's Mandate of Heaven(Tianming)

From inventing cutting-edge technology to designing ideal society,science fiction has always been considered as a literature of future.With the introduction of historical dimension,can science fiction provide us a new perspective to speculate on the future?In 2004,Qian Lifang's debut novel The Will of Heaven(Tianyi),known as the representative of contemporary Chinese"historical science fiction"won both reputation and market.Her second novel Mandate of Heaven(Tianming)was published seven years later.Compared to the tremendous success of the former,it has received less attention.In existing scholarship,neither The Will of Heaven nor Mandate of Heaven has never been studied and analysed in depth whereas the concept of"historical science fiction"remains ambiguous.Taking Mandate of Heaven as an example,this paper will first discuss the generic problem of"historical science fiction"by comparing it with"alternate history."Based on this,it continues to exam how the science fiction element is incorporated into Qian's narrative with the aid of"time travel"and"multiverse"as narrative device.Finally,the paper will examine the conceptual experiment of"Mandate of Heaven"embodied by three characters in the book,comparing different views on the compatibility between free will and determinism.The paper concludes that"historical science fiction"is a re-invention of history.Its value lies not in defining a new genre,but in the possibility offered to readers to reflect on the dialectical relationship between fiction and history.

An Historical Inquiry on Geometry in Relativity： Reflections on Early Relationship Geometry-Physics （Part Two）

In order to present an historical discussion on spherical geometry in relativity between the 19th-20th centuries, the current research divided into two parts-papers is presented. Part I： Reflections on geometry-physics relationship is an excursus focusing on the role played by geometry in history and its relationship with physics. Part II： Reflections on Late Relationship Geometry-Physics is an epistemological investigation on the history of the foundations of geometry in special relativity focusing in S4（0, x, y, z, O. In this sense, the two parts are complementary. By considering the large literature, we decided to present the main and basic accredited references, maybe useful for very young scholars, as well.

Fluidization science,its development and future

By revisiting the three stage theory for the progress of science proposed by Taketani in 1942, the footmarks of fluidization research are examined. The bubbling and fast fluidization issues were emphasized so that the future offluidization research can be discussed among scientists and engineers in a wider perspective. The first cycle of fluidization research was started in the early 1940s by an initial stage of phenomenology. The second stage of structural studies was kicked off in the early 1950s with the introduction of the two phase theory. The third stage of essential studies occurred in the early 1960s in the form of bubble hydrodynamics. The second cycle, which confirmed the aforementioned three stages closed at the turn of the century, established a general understanding of suspension structures including agglomerating fluidization, bubbling, turbulent and fast fluidizations and pneumatic transport; also established powerful measurement and numerical simulation tools.After a general remark on science, technology and society issues the interactions between fluidization technology and science are revisited. Our future directions are discussed including the tasks in the third cycle, particularly in its phenomenology stage where strong motivation and intention are always necessary, in relation also to the green reforming of the present technology. A generalized definition of ＇fluidization＇ is proposed to extend fluidization principle into much wider scientific fields, which would be effective also for wider collaborations.

SPECIAL ISSUE： CULTURAL PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES IN CHINA：Some theoretical characteristics of the philosophy of culture

Establishing a philosophical theory or a paradigm of philosophical understanding should be premised on its possession of a relatively well-defined research subject, relatively original research methodology, and relatively outstanding theoretical objectives. In this regard, philosophy of culture aims at a general understanding of man through cultural symbols which in themselves are not the end of the research. Using the research methodology of historical science, philosophy of culture attempts to understand man as a non-continuous and heterogeneous being. The theoretical objective of philosophy of culture is the criticism and reconstruction of cultural patterns with cultural symbols at their core.