Culture2022 final exam papers

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Every student needs to find a topic, which is not in the textbook and has not been presented in class. Please check your topics in regard of this. All topics are ok except for those with red marks. Please suggest a new topic instead and wait for the teacher to remove the red marks.

1. Every student should write a new English text on a phenomenon in Chinese culture as a new chapter in the text book.

2. Please find a paper you want to proof read, contact the author, proof read (by copying each paragraph and make corrections/suggestions in the copy) . Please proof read a fellow students' paper by copying each paragraph and make your corrections in the paragraph. In a final step, the original author of the paper has to decide, what of the corrections he/she will accept and work into the paper. The final version submitted on the deadline should not carry any of the fellow student's paragraphs and comments.

• You can use the texts in the coursebook as an example (like Unit 1, Text A). You only need to write Text A (like "Longevity Noodles") or Text B ("Mooncakes"), not a whole Unit. But please try to find fellow students who topics fit under the same Unit title ("Festival Meals") and arrange it accordingly.
• In the topic, please write the category, then the topic - your name and student no.
• For the text, please indicate ALL SOURCES with bibliographical references. That means: At least for every paragraph, sometimes for single sentences, you have to indicate at the end, where you have found this information. E.g. (Liu Miqing 2010, 17). This means you have found it in the book or paper written by Ms Liu on page 17.
• Add a section at the end called "References".
• Please also add a list "Terms and Expressions".
• Please add a "Questions" section.
• Please add a "Answers" section.

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Culture 2022_1 papers 1-10:

Culture 2022_2 papers 11-20:

Yan Ni 燕妮 - Chinese Folk Art:Lion Dance

Introductions on Lion dance

The lion dance is a popular activity among Chinese people of all ethnic groups, and it is a must for festivals and gatherings. The lion dance is a symbol of good luck and good intentions of the people to get rid of disasters and seek good fortune.In May 2006, the Chinese lion dance was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list by the State Council. The lion dance has a long history, and the existing lion dances are divided into two categories: cultural lion and martial lion. The martial lion has more difficult acrobatic performances, and the lion is vigorous and fierce, looking at the tiger; the cultural lion is naive and cute, with a lovely form, and mainly performs the lion's life and attitude; according to the different materials and methods of lion modeling, there are many different types of lion dances around the world, and they are very colorful. The lion dance is usually played by two people, the former holding the lion head props on his head with both hands, playing the lion's head, and the latter leaning over, holding the former's waist with both hands, wearing lion skin decorated with linen, cloth and other materials, playing the lion's body. Two people combined into one large lion, called "Large lion”. There is also a person wearing a lion mask, wearing a fake lion skin, playing a small lion, called "Small lion". In front of the lion, there is a lion, holding a colorful embroidered ball that can be turned to tease, and the dance ball movements include rolling the ball, turning the ball, throwing the ball, shaking the ball and dozens of other kinds, and the lion then makes various dance movements. In some places, the lion dancer wears a big-headed mask and plays a big-headed monk, holding a big fan or even a big knife instead of a ball. Schools of Lion Dance :With the continuous development of the lion dance movement, the art of lion dance has also been perfected, but because of the different customs in the north and south, the dance method is not the same, so the north and south has formed two major schools, namely the southern school and the northern school, also known as the southern lion and the northern lion. The northern lion's movements are light, mainly jumping and tumbling, with small gongs, drums,and cymbals, etc., mainly in the Central Plains and North China, with representative lions from Hebei, Anhui and Hunan. The southern lion, on the other hand, is a big and powerful lion with big gongs, drums, cymbals, etc. The drum music is majestic and inspiring, and is mainly popular in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.

The Origin of Lions

Regarding the origin of the lion, scholars of all generations have concluded that the lion in the early Middle Kingdom came from the West. There is a large number of documents for evidence, including Jin Guopu’s "Mu Tianzi".It said: " The lion is also called mythical creature , produced by the Western region." The scholar Li Shizhen wrote in the "Compendium of Materia Medica": " The lion is out of the Western countries" From the research records of experts and scholars of the past generations, it is clear that China did not produce lions, scholars of the past generations After the study of the literature, It is thought that the lion was introduced from the West as a tribute in the Han Dynasty. Before the Han Dynasty, people do not know what it looks like. According to historical records, the lion was considered useless when it first entered the Middle Kingdom, and was not accepted because of its fierce appearance and habits. During the long history, due to various reasons, especially religious influence, people gradually accepted the lion and made it a mythical beast, together with the legendary dragon, phoenix, and qilin, known as the four spiritual beasts.The lion is known as the king of beasts, but China is generally not affected by lions, so the people have a sense of affinity to the lion, regard it as a symbol of power and good luck, and hope to use the lion's powerful image to drive away evil spirits.

The Origin and Legend of Lion Dance

Regarding the origin of lion dance in ancient China, ancient literature and analysis by scholars over the ages show that the origin of lion dance in China is also recognized from the Han Dynasty, but the exact date cannot be determined. Through research and historical analysis, the following statements are more plausible. The first theory: Chinese lion dance originated from the Han Dynasty, and the lion was imported from foreign countries only after Zhang Sai's mission to the West during the reign of Emperor Wu. Whenever the Western ambassadors visited, he set up songs and dances to cheer, so those dancers put on masks dressed as birds and animals, but the Western ambassadors found that these birds and animals only lacked of lions, after asking, we knew that at that time China had not yet lions. Later.Later the western envoys sent a pair of lions to China, and the lion trainers performed lion training. This lion training performance may be the predecessor of the Chinese lion dance.

The second theory: the lion dance originated in the Three Kingdoms period and was popular in the North and South Dynasties. Meng Kang, a native of Wei during the Three Kingdoms period, wrote in The Elephant Man : If today's play is like shrimp, the lion is also. The Northern Wei Yang From it we can know, the lion not only protects the law to ward off evil, and can guide the way for the Buddha. If we look at the form, this lion guiding its front, very similar to the current lion guide, already slightly with the form of dance.

The third theory: According to the earliest historical records, the account of the real "lion dance" should be The Book of Ning - Zong Yi Zhuan. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, in the 22nd year of Emperor Wujia's reign (445 A.D.), when the Nanning Army occupied Linyi, and Yi asked to be the leader. The soldiers were unable to resist, saying, "I have heard that the lion is a powerful lion, so I made its shape and fought against the elephant, and the elephant just ran in fear and were scattered. After that, the lion dance was performed in the military and slowly spread to the people, becoming the origin of the lion dance, but at that time it was not called the lion dance but the "Taiping music".According to records, the Taiping music and the modern lion dance are very similar. There are also various stories and legends about the lion dance in ancient China. One of the legends is that the "New Year" beast eats green. According to the legend, in ancient times, plague often occurred in China, so countless people died, but fortunately, every time the plague occurred, a divine beast appeared, and the plague disappeared as soon as it appeared. Since this beast "Nian" is so helpful to people, people use bamboo scales and colored cloths to tie into the "Nian" beast during the farming season, and dance in front of each house with majestic drums and music, in order to suppress evil spirits and seek good luck. Because the "New Year" beast likes to eat vegetables, so every family places a plate of vegetables in front of the door for the "New Year" beast to eat. As time goes by, people find that the shape of the "New Year" is very much like a lion. So they called this kind of thing as the lion, and the vegetables were called "Caiqing".

The Value and Functions of Lion Dance

First, it connects with emotions. While it is a sport, its more obvious attribute is that it belongs to the category of folklore. The cultural accumulation of each nation is often expressed in folklore activities, and healthy folklore activities not only express the soul of the nation, but also convey the message code of mutual feeling and knowledge between the brothers of the nation. In the case of "lion dance", a folklore activity loaded with the accumulation of feelings of the children of Yanhuang, wherever there is a Chinese settlement, there is a lion dance and a lion dance culture. The lion dance for good luck is often the best way for Chinese people who are wandering around the world to share happiness and feelings.

Second, it can strengthen the body. The actual operation of lion dance requires good coordination among all the components, and it is a kind of project that combines multiple factors such as music and lion dance. Because of this integration, the lion dance has a strong ornamental and artistic value, which can fully meet people's entertainment and aesthetic needs. At the same time, for the performers, lion dance is a sport that strengthens the body and cultivates the emotions.

Third, it has educational significance. The lion dance is a traditional culture in China, and it is the inheritance of the culture to carry forward the lion dance. We can understand the history and culture of the region through lion dance.

Fourth, it has the commercial function. The performance nature of lion dance brings a lot of commercial benefits. In addition, the lion dance brings about the development of tourism and other related industries. In the author's opinion, the commercial function of lion dance is not only this, as the development of cultural industry is gaining momentum today, lion dance with deep cultural heritage will face better development opportunities.

Fifth, it enriches the spirit of the nation. The spirit of mutual cooperation and solidarity. The participation of dragon dance is very common, and the professional requirements are not very high. It shows a kind of momentum and team spirit, with a few people or even hundreds of people, dancing up and down, surging and inspiring. This requires more than one person to complete the whole set of interlacing, running and jumping, tumbling and other movements, mutual cooperation is particularly important, must maximize the team effect; inherit the spirit of tradition and innovation, although the dragon and lion dance has a long history, but also not unchanging, positive, innovative features nurtured in different ways of performance, reflecting the spirit of never-ending innovation

Historical Stages of the Development of Traditional Lion Dance During the Northern Wei Dynasty, the traditional lion dance developed to a deeper level The skills of the Wei, Jin and Northern Dynasties formed different performance styles and program focuses in the North and South due to geographical barriers and different environments. In the south, the Han regime inherited the 'orthodoxy', and the ideology of Confucianism was changed to Zhuanglao, and the social habits tended to be weak. Therefore, although the Southern Dynasty had the majestic 'White Tiger ' and other programs from the Northern Dynasty, its mainstream was slender and soft.The traditional lion dance began to be performed on the same stage with ceremonial music(the beginning of music) in the Sui Dynasty, and after the Northern Wei Dynasty and the North and South Dynasties, its artistic image became richer and had a strong folk base, and the court performance became more mature. In the eleventh year of Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty, the nine music parts of Sui Dynasty were adjusted and increased into "ten music parts". One of the most famous "five lions", also known as "Taiping music".Performers danced and sang "Taiping music", taking the meaning of world peace and good fortune, which was basically the same as the symbolic meaning of today's lion dance. During the Song and Yuan dynasties - a turning point in the development of traditional lion dance technology, the performance form, performance team and program creation of lion dance in the Song dynasty underwent more profound changes. Techniques began to be divided into sections, prompting peer artists to gather for social fires; social fires further united the team and promoted the development of skills, as well as the formation of various genres, creating conditions for the prosperity of the folk lion dance movement. In Yuan Dynasty, "lion dance" also had innovation,.For instance,"high Cui lion dance" in the Yuan Dynasty first seen in the records. Although the Qing Dynasty Palace also had lion dance performances, generally speaking, the scale was not large. Southern and northern lion performances in the Qing Dynasty formed different images and different techniques of performance style. In the north, there were "Large lion" and "Small lion", whose images and performances resembled real lions, while the lion dance in the south had integrated dance, acrobatics and martial arts into one, which was quite new compared to the traditional lion dance methods.

The Development of Modern Lion Dance

(A) Before the liberation of the competition between the lion teams in the festive activities of the nature of the competition In the 1920s and 1930s, the lion dance was generally preceded by the Shaolin and the Five tiger stick , followed by the lion , the vine , the rice-gale , the shuttlecock , and the kong Schools, which started from their respective villages and rushed to the temple. Along the way, whenever they encountered the roadside tea huts or tea points, they should get off the performance. To the temple they worshiped after the incense and performed martial arts. Then they returned along the way, if on the way the temple fair and several villages a few teams met together, this performance was often with the nature of the competition '; in some places gradually formed a regular tournament .In modern times during the festival have a relatively fixed lion team to perform and the lion team also competed and cut martial arts, with the nature of the competition. The lion dance has taken the form of a competitive lion dance.

(B) Lion dance became a traditional national sport On February 28, 1934, the first Folk Games of Henan Province, there were more than 20 folk martial arts associations such as dry boat, dragon lantern, lion and kite flying to perform and compete. In 1978, the lion dance was invited as a special performance at the First Folk Games, and it became an official event at the Fourth Agricultural Games. Now there are different events such as National Lion Dance Championship and various kinds of North-South Lion King Competition, National Dragon and Lion Invitation Tournament and Elite Tournament every year, and it has become an official competition item in the National Agricultural Games, National Urban Games and the Third National Sports Congress.

(C) Lion dance shine on the acrobatic stage In 1972, Premier Zhou Enlai personally watched the acrobatic performances of six large troupes in Beijing, including China, Shanghai, Wuhan, Shenyang, Xi'an and Warriors, and affirmed the skills of the "lion dance", which were partly choreographed according to the laws of acrobatics.They have been organized to visit Asian, African, American and European countries and become the first team of people's diplomacy. The lion dance skills have developed rapidly on the acrobatic stage, and a series of new and difficult skills have been developed on the basis of inherited traditions. The high skills of acrobatic lion dance have a great influence on the traditional folk lion dance and competitive lion dance, and the traditional folk lion dance and competitive lion dance have absorbed the performance style and props of acrobatic lion dance, enriched their own performance forms, and continuously improved the level of traditional lion dance and competitive lion dance.

Lion Dance Culture Development Problem As it is not easy to cultivate talents to inherit the lion dance culture, and the props used to make the lion dance are expensive, the traditional lion dance culture is also facing the crisis of no one inheriting it. As a representative of the excellent traditional culture, how to survive and develop the lion dance culture in the intersection of modern technology and traditional culture is an important issue that contemporary lion dancers have to think about.

Measures for Solving the Problem (A) Strengthen corooperation with colleges and universities to carry out lion dance classes Youth is the future and hope of the country.Vigorously developing traditional culture education for youth, and incorporating lion dance culture into students' curriculum can not only enrich campus culture, but also greatly improve the popularity of lion dance culture and enhance youth's cultural identity and national pride. Students are the successors of the communist cause, the main body of education, and the main body of cultural inheritance and dissemination. Relying on school education to develop lion dance culture, more people can understand and inherit lion dance culture. The rejuvenation of traditional culture and its development on the basis of popularization are the needs of lion dance culture inheritance and the wishes of lion dance lovers.

(B) Promote the culture and spirit of lion dance through the Internet and mass media In order to make the lion dance culture develop better, we make use of the development of the whole media to promote the beautiful connotation of the lion dance culture through the Internet and make use of the mass media to vigorously publicize it, so that more people really like the lion dance culture and really enter the lion dance culture; we rely on the Internet to strengthen the cultural exchange among the lion dance enthusiasts all over the country, so as to promote the spread and inheritance of the lion dance culture; we rely on the whole media to carry out the lion dance culture competition, formulate scientific competition rules and generous rewards to arouse people's enthusiasm for participation, so that more people can participate in the promotion of the lion dance culture and promote the spread of the lion dance culture.

(C) Accelerate the innovation to push the development of lion dance culture The premise of traditional culture innovation is to first understand its cultural value, grasp the comprehensive traditional cultural content, and then promote the corresponding lion dance culture, so that the folk lion dance is known to more people, even to learn the skills, so that the lion dance is well inherited. In the traditional lion dance culture promotion at the same time, the lion dance team should also be committed to in-depth study of the lion dance culture with the times to drive the value of the economy to achieve the culture to give rise to the economy and the economy in turn to support the culture of mutual assistance and harmony. In such a way wa can break the situation that traditional culture has no successor due to the narrow market prospect, and provide a reference for the inheritance and development of Chinese traditional culture. With the rapid development of the times and the improvement of people's living standards, some connotations of traditional culture are no longer applicable to modern life, so it is necessary to accelerate the promotion of cultural innovation, promote the innovation of lion dance culture, and constantly innovate the form of lion dance culture development and inheritance, so as to attract more people to understand lion dance culture and inherit it.

(D) Cultivate lion dance culture talents,and pay attention to integration of local culture To actively carry out lion dance culture promotion activities, select talents from young people who are interested in lion dance culture, make them receive professional training in lion dance culture, develop their interest into a profession, make them become the inheritors of lion dance culture, and promote the inheritance of lion dance culture. In the local lion dance culture, we dig deep into the local culture and explore the cultural heritage, so that the lion dance culture can be well inherited and developed, integrating the traditional lion dance into the local cultural connotation and giving it new vitality. In addition to the local culture, there is also a folk lion dance culture with local characteristics, establishing unique cultural programs, spreading unique cultural values, so that the traditional lion dance culture continues to be inherited.

(E) Define the cultural positioning, actively implement the "going out" strategy, and promote the lion dance culture to the world The government should formulate relevant policies to support, position lion dance culture well, and support key projects to promote the inheritance and development of lion dance culture, so that more people can understand lion dance culture and participate in the inheritance of lion dance culture, thus enhancing the social status and influence of lion dance culture. While promoting the inheritance and development of lion dance culture, we should not only spread and develop the inheritance at home, but also actively promote the strategy of "going out" to promote Chinese traditional culture to the world, so that people around the world can understand lion dance culture, learn lion dance culture, inherit and spread lion dance culture, so that lion dance culture can be developed around the world and spread the beautiful connotation of China's excellent traditional culture. The beautiful connotation of excellent traditional culture.

Terms:

Compendium of Materia Medica 《本草纲目》 the four spiritual beasts 四大灵兽 national intangible cultural heritage 国家级非物质文化遗产 the State Council 国务院 gongs, drums,and cymbals 大锣、大鼓、大钹 Zhang Sai's mission to the West 张赛出使西域 The Elephant Man 《象人》 Caiqing 采青 orthodoxy 正统 High Cui lion dance 高毳舞狮 Acrobatic Stage 杂技舞台 National Agricultural Games 全国农运会 National Urban Games 全国城运会 The Third National Sports Congress. 第三届全国体育大会

References:

中国最独特的舞狮文化 The Most Unique Lion Dance Culture in China 宴姝下一代2019,(04),7 舞狮运动的起源与发展研究[J] The Origin and Development of lion Dance 郭绿杨.当代体育科技 . 2017 (22) 论舞龙舞狮运动塑造学生民族精神的功能[J]. Arguments on the function of dragon and Lion Dance to Shape students' national spirit曹虎愚.成功(教育) . 2012(11) 我国舞狮运动与文化的价值底蕴分析[J]. Analysis on the value of Lion dance and culture in China管罗红.企业家天地(理论版) . 2011(01) 新时代下传统舞狮的传承发展与问题[J]. Inheritance, development and problems of traditional lion Dance in the new era 杨晓坤,代继盟,林宵,于娇.中国民族博览 . 2019(06)

Yang Lei 杨磊 - Science and Technology: Mobile Games（手游）

Development history of mobile games

The birth of mobile games In 1997, Gluttonous Snake, preinstalled in Nokia 6110, officially started the history of mobile games. Long ago, Nokia was the dominant player in the mobile phone market. The physical keyboard and screen each occupied half of the mobile phone space. So at that time, mobile games did not get rid of the shackles of physical keyboard, such as early games: Gluttonous Snake(贪吃蛇), Pushing Boxes(推箱子), and Tetris（俄罗斯方块）.

Pre Android After the release of Android phones, with the characteristics of the touch screen, games that need touch control, such as Fruit Ninja, became popular. There were many classic games in this period, including Plants vs. Zombies（植物大战僵尸）, Angry Birds（愤怒的小鸟）, Temple Escape（神庙逃亡）, Subway Parkour （地铁跑酷）and other classic games .At the same time, Minecraft （我的世界）was released on iphone, but due to the high price of iphone, its popularity is far less than Android games.

Pre Tencent period In 2013, two Tencent games: Tiantian Cool Running（天天酷跑） and rhythm master（节奏大师） became popular, quickly surpassing Plants vs. Zombies and angry birds, and firmly ranked first in China's mobile games. At the same time, other Tencent games also took the opportunity to hype up and attract players. For a time, no game company could compete with Tencent.

Scuffle period 2011 was the year when smart phone games began to engage in scuffle. Mobile phone stand-alone games developed rapidly. Many players should have experienced Asphalt 5. At that time, the giants of mobile game manufacturers were definitely Gameloft. Modern war and Nova represented the peak of the picture quality of mobile games; In addition, "Assassin's Creed", "cell division 5", "ghost cry 4", "dead space" and other end games have also gradually landed on the mobile game platform; The online games of smart phones have also begun to test the market. A number of hardware manufacturers have begun to strengthen the graphics computing capacity of mobile phones, and the mobile game platform has officially taken shape.

Post Tencent period By november2015, a game was born, breaking the balance in the mobile game industry. Its appearance has changed the pattern of the entire mobile game market. This game is "glory of the king"（王者荣耀）. This game dominates the mobile game rankings only two days after it was launched. Although it was attacked by CF of Netease(网易), it returned to the top in 16 years. The success of this game also makes other companies start to think about how to make a high-quality mobile game. In 2018, a year of full bloom, various mobile games have sprung up, such as Onmyoji（阴阳师） of Netease，PUBG Mobile（刺激战场） of Tencent，Genshin（原神） impact of MiHoYo etc.. Both the picture quality and the game experience have made a qualitative leap.

Development status and trend of mobile games

With the rapid development of mobile games in China, the market scale has expanded rapidly, and the capital heat is highly focused. It has quickly surpassed end games and page games and become a mainstream game type. From January to June 2021, the actual sales revenue of China's mobile game market was 114.772 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.65%.

In recent years, the proportion of revenue from PC games and web games has continued to decline. On the contrary, the revenue share of mobile game industry has increased rapidly, and the revenue scale is expected to further expand. From 2014 to 2020, the proportion of mobile games in the sales revenue of the game industry increased rapidly from 24% to 75.2%, and the proportion reached 76.3% in the first half of 2021.

In the ranking of monthly active number of mobile game apps in September 2021, the monthly active number of glory of the king is far ahead, reaching 149million, followed by Game for peace（和平精英） and Fun Fest（开心消消乐）.

With the continuous improvement of the ecological environment of China's game industry, the continuous upgrading of the game industry chain, and the development of 5g, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data and other forward-looking technologies, a number of innovative cultural products and businesses have been created, including cloud games, e-sports, game live broadcasting, etc., which put forward higher development requirements for enterprises in the game industry.

Social impact of Chinese mobile games

1. The development of mobile games has created a large number of related industries and provided more employment opportunities for people. 2. Mobile games provide people with opportunities to have a pleasant mood, social communication and exercise their intelligence. 3. The development of mobile games has put forward higher requirements for mobile phone manufacturing and software engineering, which is conducive to promoting the development of domestic science and technology. 4. The external communication of Chinese mobile games is conducive to vigorously carrying forward Chinese culture and enhancing China's international influence. 5. The development of mobile games makes many people indulge in it, which is easy to waste money and time, and damage their eyesight. 6. The development of the game industry can, to a certain extent, alleviate the pressure of the epidemic on the economy. During the epidemic period, the game industry, which is not affected by the epidemic, will continue to maintain game production and development, which will also have a positive impact on the future economic recovery.

Reference： [1] Development history of mobile games in China, published by China Science Daily on August 22, 2014 [2] Current situation of mobile game industry in 2021, published on Huajing information network on March 2, 2022 10:4 [3] Development history of mobile games in China (by 2021) in Bilibili.

You Xinning 由馨凝 - Clothing: Vintage Clothing

Clothing: Vintage Clothing

Introduction

Generally speaking, Vintage Clothing refers to garments produced between 1940 and 1980, which bear most typical characteristics of a particular period, such as the leggy pants worn by Audrey Hepburn in the 1950s, the plant pattern printed shirt designed by Emilio Pucci in the 1960s, and the suit skirt throughout all that era. These classic Vintage pieces are no longer mass-produced, and their unique fabrics, process details, tailoring and even usage, serve as the epitome of a particular era. And since the Vintage culture originated in Britain and Japan, many Vintage lovers have a special preference for Vintage markets or “Deadstock” in Europe, America and Japan. (Mr.Fashion Esquire: Observation| How far Vintage is from mainstream to popular)

Development

From the initial popularity to an overall prosperity, the development of Vintage Clothing can be roughly divided into three stages: The first stage is between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. During that time, Europe was in full depression after the “World War II”, young people with nihilistic spirit were eager to break through the shackles of tradition and pronounce their own individuality. However, with the rapid rise of post-war industrialization, items in clothes were all homogenized and had no style at all. Because of this, they began to look for innovative dressing styles from garments produced before their age. Thus, Vintage dressing style began to take shape. The second stage is born in the 1960s, when the popularity of hippies drove young people to look for weird foreign clothes in the second-hand market. At this time, Oriental films and kung fu movies were popular in Hollywood, and the bathrobes and jewelry with Oriental elements in movies were gradually imitated by western fashion lovers. The third stage is the post-1980s, when Vintage Clothing is also referred to as Retro Clothing. Compared with normal garments sold in shopping mall, Vintage not only has a refined sense of age, but its style and craftsmanship are more in line with modern Clothing concepts. Even in today's fashion field, Vintage Clothing also occupies a place. (Mr.Fashion Esquire: Observation| How far Vintage is from mainstream to popular) Reasons for the prevalence of Vintage Clothing One reason boosts the popularity of Vintage Clothing is its major selling points, the “orphan” character. This factor is in line with the current trend of young people pursuing personalization, satisfied with the psychology of seeking differences and is favored by consumers. Also, this current fashion trend is in response to the phrase “fashion is a reincarnation”, which is an eternal truth. (Interface News: How long can the Vintage wind, which has quietly risen in Haikou, last) Another reason is that the Vintage concept increases the publicity of environmental protection. Clothing is an aspect of daily life with a very high frequency of usage. According to the United Nations forecast, in 2030, the global population is expected to reach 8.5 billion, when clothing consumption will increase sharply from 62 million tons to 102 million tons. When more and more people realize the environmental pressure caused by their clothing, they will try to make a change. (Talks from Dr. Leng Yun, University of Hong Kong)

Vintage Clothing in China

In recent years, with contemporary Chinese youth looking for a “self” attitude in fashion, Vintage Clothing has gradually opened up the market in China. In economically developed cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, Vintage Clothing is leading a “new” fashion trend.

1.1major consumers

“Research Report on the Development of China's Second-hand Luxury Goods Market 2020” unveils that in 2019, more than 50% of the second-hand luxury goods consumers were under the age of 30. Also, according to the shopkeeper of發夢士多 (a Vintage shop located in Changsha), most of her customers are college students and high school students, who hope to express their personality and self through clothing and objects with unique marks of ancient times. The traces of the era of “ancient culture” just meet the individual aesthetic needs of niche groups, with their pursuit of “rebellion”and “difference”.

1.2 concerns

The gradual popularity of Vintage is a good thing, and there remains opportunities for a large-scale Vintage market in the future. However, there are still many problems plaguing Vintage at present. One major concern is a very realistic problem in front of some Vintage merchants: “If the business of Vintage stores loses their style, there will be no business. But if they keep their style, their business will not be popular or spread large-scale.” Besides, Though Vintage lovers always claim to pursue uniqueness, the fact is that most consumers only follow the trend blindly, which is a waist of Vintage culture. Also, compared with foreign countries, the history of domestic Vintage market is relatively short, and due to the lack of social and cultural background, many consumers are not familiar with the concept of “Vintage”. In the imperfect market, whether the goods can be well preserved is a big challenge, and the domestic identification of Vintage clothes also lacks a set of corresponding standards, with there being a flood of fake goods in the market. (Interface News: How long can the Vintage wind, which has quietly risen in Haikou, last) Beyond these, the current Vintage market is not standardized enough. It can’t be denied that there are unscrupulous merchants who have no real understanding about what “Vintage clothing” is casually refurbish and sell indiscriminate garbage clothes under the name of Vintage, tarnishing the entire industry. Thus scary stories about Vintage clothes scatteraround, such as Vintage clothes are clothes worn by dead people, second-hand clothes will bring bad luck, and people who wear Vintage will be haunted.

1.3 new development

Although the new industry is in the stage of “savage growth”, efforts made by Vintage fashion lovers for the development of Vintage fashion market can not be underestimated. At present, many cities in China have opened Vintage stores, mainly distributed in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, Xiamen and other places. Besides, compared with Japan, in addition to e-commerce platforms, China's Vintage clothing trading has established unique selling channels based on social platforms such as Wechat. Most commonly, the owner of a Vintage shop will not only sell Vintage clothes but also some handmade jewelry, such as glue earrings and beaded bags. Thus the store will not only open for Vintage customers, but for anyone who happen to find it, allowing more profits earned and the business maintained. With more and more people popularizing Vintage culture, more and more Vintage shops with unique styles are emerging. In general, the market is getting better.

Terms and Expressions

Vintage Clothing 古着服饰

leggy pants紧身裤

suit skirt 套装裙

Deadstock 旧货仓库

Questions

1.What is Vintage Clothing？

2.How many stages can the development of Vintage Clothing be divided into?

3.Who are major consumers of Vintage clothes?

4.What are the scary stories about Vintage clothes?

5.Do you think Vintage Clothing has a bright future? Why?

References

Mr.Fashion Esquire: Observation| How far Vintage is from mainstream to popular

Interface News: How long can the Vintage wind, which has quietly risen in Haikou, last

Research Report on the Development of China's Second-hand Luxury Goods Market 2020

Talks from Dr. Leng Yun, University of Hong Kong

Interview with the shopkeeper of發夢士多

Yu Ziqi 禹紫琪 - Aesthetic ideals and social customs: The Culture of Flowers

There are abundant flower resources in China. Early in ancient times, Chinese people noted the diversified value of flowers, and utilized flowers in various ways. Flowers could be used as ingredients for cuisine, herbal medicine, and decorative items. Moreover, the image of flowers always appeared in poems, proses and articles, highly praised by Chinese literary people for their beauty, fragrance as well as spirits. Throughout history, flowers are of both pragmatic and spiritual significance in Chinese culture.

Ⅰ. The pragmatic value of flowers in Chinese culture

1.As ingredients in food

As an old Chinese saying goes, “Food is the first necessity of the people.” Chinese people have always been interested and innovative in making food and drinks. Flowers normally used for its aesthetic value entered the kitchens and became a special ingredient in food and drinks. Flowers were widely used in making alcohol at first. In pre-Qin Dynsaty, people would drink home-made chrysanthemum wine on the Double Ninth Festival in commemoration of their deceased beloved ones. In addition, “nine” has the same Chinese pronunciation as the character meaning “longevity”, and drinking chrysanthemum wine was considered beneficial to health and conducive to longevity. So it was popularized then and is still practiced in some parts of China nowadays. It was not until Tang Dynasty that flowers became the indispensable ingredients in cooking. People would use them in making cakes, pastry and porridge, especially at special festivals. For example, on the Tomb Sweeping Day, people would make osmanthus fragrans porridge.

2.As accessories

In ancient times, seasonal flowers were often seen to blossom in one’s hair or brim, bearing a touch of spring color. This custom of putting flowers on the head is called Zan Hua（簪花）or wearing flowers. Different from the exclusive modern view of women wearing flowers, this practice was not restricted to sex, age, and classes back in ancient times. Men and women, the old and the young, the noble and the ordinary alike, wore flowers. On the Double Ninth Festival people wore cornel or chrysanthemum to ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters. Another example famous in history was the four grand chancellors wearing flowers. In Northern Song Dynasty, there was a type of peony in Yangzhou. It was known for its exceptional looks with large, scarlet petals clustering round the golden yellow central, whose colors resembled that of the robes of the court officials that were scarlet gowns with golden yellow belt. Therefore, this flower was called Golden Belt. One day, Han Qi, the then prefecture chief of Yangzhou, invited Wang Gui, Wang Anshi and Chen Shengzhi to attend the banquet in his house and enjoy the beautiful scenery of various flowers in his garden. There he spotted one peculiar Golden Belt peony with four flowers on a single stem. Han Qi plucked the flowers, put three on his guests’ heads and wore one himself. In the later several decades, the four were all promoted to grand chancellors.

Ⅱ. The spiritual value of flowers in Chinese culture

1.The Four Gentlemen or Four Noble Ones

In Chinese culture, the Four Gentlemen or Four Noble Ones is an umbrella term referring to four plants: the plum blossom, the orchid, the bamboo and the chrysanthemum. They bloom in different seasons, thus representing each season (the plum blossom for winter, the orchid for spring, the bamboo for summer, and the chrysanthemum for autumn). These plants’ natural features have something in common with human personalities, which just indicates the literati's understanding of the alternation of time and the meaning of life. Gradually, the four plants become the most common theme in poetry, prose, painting, calligraphy and other art forms, carrying special symbolic meanings for uprightness, purity, integrity and modesty in human virtues.

Plum blossom always flowers in a world of ice and snow. Preceding green leaves, the plum flowers bloom when all the other flowers yield to the biting cold weather. The literary people love its spirits of bravery, righteousness and faithfulness, and utilize this imagery in writing. There is one household couplet: Honing makes a mighty sword, and cold makes fragrant plum blossoms.（宝剑锋从磨砺出，梅花香自苦寒来） The orchid normally grow in unfrequented areas such as deep valleys or forests and crevices in rocks which are often unnoticed. But the small, delicate flowers still never stop giving out pleasant smell, just like gentlemen who never forsake the virtues. The bamboo features ethereal, graceful leaves and hollow, upright stems. Its elegance without and its strength within accord with the qualities of gentlemen. Bamboo, together with plem blossom and pine is also known as the “Three Friends in Winter.” Here is a well-known poem written by Zheng Xie, a famous painter and scholar in the Qing Dynasty, and translated by Xu Yuanchong, a notable translator.

竹石 清·郑燮 咬定青山不放松，立根原在破岩中。 千磨万击还坚劲，任尔东西南北风。

BAMBOO IN THE ROCK Translated by Xu Yuanchong Upright stands the bamboo amid green mountains steep: Its toothlike root in broken rock is planted deep. It’s strong and firm through struck and beaten without rest, Careless of the wind from north or south, east or west.

The chrysanthemum blooms in frost in autumn when other flowers wither. It has the spirits to endure loneliness and enjoy solitude as a hermit. It is the most beloved flower of Tao Yuanming, the creator of pastoral poetry in the Jin Dynasty. He wrote a lot of poems about it, among which the most popular sentence is “While picking asters’ neath the Eastern fence, my gaze upon the Southern mountains rest.”

2.Vanilla beauty

Qu Yuan (Ch’u Yuan 屈原), a minister of the Chu Kingdom, was exiled by the King of Chu. “Sorrow at Departure”, his signature poem of 373 lines, describes his journey of exile, passing through woods and forests and encountering deities. He wrote about eighteen plants in this poem (there are over 40 plants in his other poems such as “Nine Songs”): vanilla, clover, thyme, bluegrass, angelica, capers, cinnamon, magnolia, chrysanthemum, hibiscus, gladiolus, and wisteria that the goddesses wore around their heads. Sometimes he put the fragrant herbs on himself, a way of claiming purity against the corruption in the royal court.

I put on mint leaves as my shirt, lotus flowers my skirt. Nobody ever knows me— my true interior nobility. —from “Sorrow at Departure”

From this time on, fragrant herbs and beauty have become symbols of virtues and moralities, which are glued together as one compound word ‘Vanilla-beauty’ (vanilla representing all fragrant herbs and flowers). Vanilla-beauty poetry has since become a tradition in Chinese, its scope expanded over the two thousand years. This image for beauty has continued to the modern time. 【Vanilla beauty and the immortal Phoenix: exploring the poetry of Chu in China - Poetry International】 [1]

Ⅲ. Different views of flowers in Chinese and Western culture

The Chinese traditional philosophy upholds the unity of heaven and man, emphasizing the ties between nature and man are not to be severed. In literature, personal feelings are always integrated with the description of objects. Therefore, they are personified, and endowed with the emotion of the viewers. A common example is a sentence from Du Fu’s “Spring View”-- “Grieved over the years, flowers are moved to tears; Seeing us apart, birds cry with broken heart（感时花溅泪，恨别鸟惊心。）.” From the poet’s perspective, even the flowers and birds were dispirited by the turmoil of the times and sorrow of departure.

Different from Chinese thinking, Westerns tend to deem nature as objects of cognition, as an unknown field to explore and discover, or entertainment. In stead of uniting heaven and man, it is to distinguish mankind from heaven. In William Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, the host of golden daffodils the poet ran into in the forests gave him ecstasy, splashing the spontaneous overflow of powerful emotion.

“A poet could not but be gay； In such a jocund company; I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude, And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.”

Qian Mu, one of the greatest historians and philosophers of 20th-century China, once commented, “The Western culture is mainly about objects, which can be described as scientific culture, whilst the Chinese culture is mainly about people and spirits, which can be called art culture.” But despite all the differences, with the increasingly frequent exchanges between different cultures, there are certain type of flowers with universal symbolic meanings, such as roses for love, olives for peace.

Terms and Expressions

cornel 茱萸 grand chancellor(zaixiang, tsai-hsiang), also translated as counselor-in-chief, imperial chancelor or prime minister 宰相 the four grand chancellors wearing flowers 四相簪花 Golden Belt 金缠腰/金带围 Han Qi 韩琦 Wang Gui 王珪 Wang Anshi 王安石 Chen Shengzhi 陈升之 the Four Gentlemen or Four Noble Ones 花中四君子 Three Friends in Winter 岁寒三友 Zheng Xie 郑燮 Xu Yuanchong 许渊冲 Qu Yuan (Ch’u Yuan) 屈原 “Sorrow at Departure” 《离骚》 “Nine Songs” 《九歌》 the unity of heaven and man 天人合一 “Spring View” 《春望》 distinguish mankind from heaven 天人相分 Qian Mu (Ch'ien Mu) 钱穆

References

·Guo Youwei 郭幼为. (2020.12.07) 《古今农业》一花一世界：日常生活视域下宋朝“花生活”

·沈括 《梦溪笔谈·补笔谈》

·钱穆 《现代中国学术论衡》

Questions

1.What were flowers first made as an ingredient in food and drinks?

2.Why would people drink chrysanthemum wine on the Double Ninth Festival?

3.Were only women allowed to wear flowers in ancient times?

4.What are the symbolic meanings of the Four Gentlemen?

5.What did vanilla beauty stand for?

Yuan Ling 袁灵 - National Belief: the Chinese Dream

What is the Chinese Dream?

In November of 2012, soon after the conclusion of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), President Xi Jinping put forward, for the first time, the idea of the Chinese Dream on a visit to “The Road towards National Rejuvenation” exhibition at the National Museum of China. The Chinese dream meant for him the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation “is a dream of the whole nation, as well as of every individual”, he said. Since then, use of the phrase has become widespread in official announcements and as the embodiment of the leadership's political ideology under Xi Jinping.

General Secretary Xi Jinping defined the “Chinese Dream” as “realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, which is the greatest dream of the Chinese nation in modern times,” and said that this dream “will definitely be realized.” The core goals of the Chinese Dream can also be summarized as the “two centenary goals”, that is, by the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China in 2021 and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 2049, gradually and finally successfully realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, which is embodied in the prosperity of the country, the rejuvenation of the nation, and the happiness of the people. The way to achieve it is to take the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics, adhere to the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, carry forward the national spirit, and gather Chinese strength. The means of implementation are political, economic, The five-in-one construction of culture, society and ecological civilization.

What does “dream” mean in ancient China?

Dream is the subjective experience, which is the image, sound, thinking or feeling produced by people during sleep, usually involuntarily; at the same time, dream is also an image language.

The interpretation of dreams differs in English and Chinese. From the interpretation of “梦” and “dream” in Chinese and English dictionary, it can be seen that Chinese and Western countries have different views on the cultural connotation of dreams. In the ancient Chinese dictionary, a dream refers to an illusion in sleep. The interpretation of dreams in Origin of Chinese Characters is “unknown. The original meaning of dreams is unknown". Xinhua dictionary explained “‘梦’ is an associative compound character. The lesser seal character shape of which is composed of the three characters ‘宀’ (house), ‘爿’ (bed), and ‘梦’ (unknown).” It means sleeping in bed at night and seeing blurry vision, that is, dreaming. The metaphor of a dream means a fantasy, such as: dreamland, dream shadow and dream. Take Cao Xueqin’s A Dream in Red Mansions as an example. There were 32 dream images in the whole book which made it a classic full of metaphors. It used dreams as a narrative thread of the whole story and made meticulous description of the dreamland. The story ended up with tragedy, which corresponded with dream’s characteristic of “disillusionment and awakening.” Definition of “dream” in the English Oxford Dictionary is “A series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep,” “A cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal,” and “Joy，pleasure, gladness, mirth, rejoicing，jubilation; an instance of this” From this we can see that the elaboration of dreams in Chinese emphasizes their illusoriness and unreality, while the elaboration of dreams in English emphasizes their own beauty. The proposal of “Chinese Dream” broke the false and desolate image of “dream” in traditional Chinese culture, and expounding “dream” as “beautiful things that need to be actively strived for,” adding a vivid and lively stroke to Chinese dream culture.

The lesser seal character shape of “梦”

What are the differences between the Chinese Dream and the American Dream? The American Dream, in a broad sense, refers to equality, freedom, and democracy in the United States. Narrowly, it refers to an ideal that believes that a better life can be achieved through hard work in the United States, that people must prosper through their own hard work, courage, creativity, and determination, rather than depending on a particular social class and aid from others, often representing people's economic success or entrepreneurial spirit. The American Dream is the crystallization of all things in American history, and has a unique symbolic and representative meaning. Therefore, the American

Dream can also be seen as synonymous with American mythology.

The Chinese Dream was defined by Xi Jinping as “realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, which is the greatest dream of the Chinese nation in modern times.” The word “rejuvenation” has a special meaning especially for China. It was nurtured in the history of the suffering of the Chinese nation in modern times, and came into being with the shattering of the dream of the Celestial Empire. Before modern times, Chinese civilization was in the forefront of the development of world civilization and made contributions to the development and progress of world civilization. However, with the rise of the capitalist mode of production and the acceleration of the modern industrial revolution, the feudal and autocratic China was soon ruthlessly abandoned by the wheel of history. When the Opium War broke out in 1840, the Western powers represented by the United Kingdom not only opened the door of China by force, but also shattered the dream of the rulers who were intoxicated by it. Following the bloody war, a series of unequal treaties that humiliated the country were forced to sign, and China gradually fell into the abyss of a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. The journey of suffering has not only left a mark of humiliation on the minds of generations of Chinese people, but also inspired the national consciousness of the Chinese people who are united in their pursuit of survival. Since 1840, the Chinese nation has gone through 109 years in order to realize the Chinese Dream. The hundred years of humiliation has awakened the national consciousness and national spirit and lay the foundation of the “two centenary goals”. And the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation came into being.

The Chinese dream corresponds to the American dream, but it is clearly different from the American dream. The dream of a country and a nation are emphasized, and then the individual. In fact, this is a family-state relationship originating from agricultural civilization, and the value judgment is that “without a state, there is no family.” The proposal of the “Chinese Dream” goes against the traditional Chinese understanding of dreams and regards dreams as a kind of beautiful prayer and pursuit. This is different from the illusory dreams in most traditional literary works, and is a positive wish of the national rejuvenation.

Terms and Expressions The Road towards National Rejuvenation “复兴之路”展览 the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation 中华民族伟大复兴 the five-in-one construction 五位一体建设 Origin of Chinese Characters 《说文解字》 A Dream in Red Mansions 《红楼梦》 the Opium War 鸦片战争

Questions 1. What are the “two centenary goals?” 2. What is the special meaning of rejuvenation to China? 3. What does the word “dream” mean in ancient Chinese?

References 1.刘璐、路永令.中西方“梦”的文化内涵比较——以“美国梦”与“中国梦”为例[J].《名作欣赏》.2015年24期 2.欧阳秀敏. 窥探中国梦文化延续和发展的历史文化内涵——以宋词多“梦”为例[J]. 湖北第二师范学院学报 2009年06期. 3页 (第22-24页). 3.刘璐、刘宇红. “中国梦”的文化内涵研究[D]. 南京师范大学, 2016年.67页 4.臧峰宇. 中国梦的历史语境、文化内涵与哲学境界[J]. 中国井冈山干部学院学报 2013年05期 5.桁林. “中国梦”的文化内涵与精神价值[J]. 中共成都市委党校学报 2016年05期

Zhou Sirui 周思睿 - Science and Technology: BuyTogether（PDD)

Buytogether(PDD), also called Pinduoduo in Chinese, is a mainstream e-commerce application of mobile Internet in China, and a third-party social e-commerce platform focusing on C2M(Customer-to-Manufacturer) group shopping. It was founded in September 2015. Users can buy goods at a lower price by buying them with their friends, families and neighbors together.

Buytogether aims to enable people to buy better goods at lower prices and gain more benefits and fun by gathering the strength of more people. Its idea in online shopping is unique in that it creates a brand new pattern of social e-commerce: Community E-Commerce.

A.The History of Development

After only three years of development, Buytogether was successfully listed on NASDAQ in July 2018. In July 2020, Buytogether ranked the fourth in "The Hurun China’s Top 10 E-commerce 2020". By 2020, Buytogether 's annual active users reached nearly 800 million, and its operating revenue reached 59.492 billion yuan. Reviewing the developing course of Buytogether, we can mainly divide it into the following two stages :

1.Early Developing Period (2015-2018)

Aiming at the sinking market, Buytogether came into being. Although e-commerce has great market potential, the competition is also very fierce. After years of development, Taobao, JD and other well-known traditional e-commerce enterprises have occupied a huge market share for a long time. Although having a large market share, they are also bothered by various problems, such as product quality concerns, fake goods, deficient platform supervision and so on, which force them to proceed strategic improvement. For example, in 2015, Taobao cracked down on the fake goods appearing on the platform, hoping to enhance customers' confidence in it by improving the quality of products. But at the same time, the improvement of product quality has brought about the rising of product price, which makes Taobao break away from the highly price-sensitive consumers, who pay more attention to the price rather than the brand. Users in such a sinking market that was unoccupied have become targets of Buytogether.

In September 2015, Buytogether was officially launched. In February 2016, Buytogether 's monthly turnover exceeded 10 million, and its users exceeded 20 million. In July 2016, Buytogether had more than 100 million users and received a B round of $110 million financing. On October 10,2016, the single-day transaction volume of Buytogether 's anniversary celebration, a big shopping festival, exceeded 100 million yuan. In October 2017, Buytogether occupied the first place in the total number of iOS application downloads under the category of shopping for nearly one month. Buytogether is a dark horse in the early days, constantly showing its edge.

2.Growing Period (from 2018 to now)

After three years of development, Buytogether was successfully listed on NASDAQ in July 2018, and has made remarkable achievements. According to CCTV, Buytogether had 385.5 million annual active users in 2018, surpassing JD, the second largest e-commerce platform with its 305.2 million users. In February 2019, Buytogether was included in the MSCI. In June 2019, the " Subsidy of Ten Billion Yuan " activity was launched, and Buytogether was selected as one of " The Forbes Most Innovative Enterprises in China 2019" in the same month. In December 2019, Buytogether launched the train ticket service on its App terminal. In 2019, Buytogether 's operating revenue was about 30.142 billion yuan, and the number of multiannual active users had reached 585.2 million by the end of 2019.According to the 2020 annual report released by Buytogether, it achieved operating revenue of about 59.492 billion yuan in 2020, with a growing rate of 97% compared with 2019. The achievements of Buytogether are amazing to all, creating a miracle among all the e-commerce platforms.

B.The Special Marketing Strategy

Buytogether's success is inseparable from its unique marketing strategy based on community .

Internet technology breaks the limitation of time and space; various social media provide interactive platforms, strengthening users’ connectivity. The essence of Buytogether's going viral is to take the social media as carriers to carry out e-commerce transactions, namely community e-commerce. Community e-commerce manages the users and potential users of the platform in a new way, paying more attention to providing users with more interactive communication and scenarios, so as to facilitate users to find groups where other people have similar interests and needs to their own and hence exchange shopping information and conduct group shopping at a much lower price. In Buytogether, users can get lower prices when they share the links of what they want to buy with their friends to form a group for shopping. The characteristics of Buytogether's community e-commerce are as follows:

1.Targeting customers in the sink market.

The "internet traffic(data)-centered" competing mechanism of traditional e-commerce platforms represented by Taobao and JD makes the main market of online shopping be occupied by leading brands with abundant funds. In the early days of establishment, Buytogether effectively distinguished its main customers from those of traditional e-commerce platforms, and positioned the main customers in the sink market to buffer competition in the industry. Buytogether supplies products at lower prices than other traditional e-commerce platforms by some strategies like “the more you buy, the lower prices are”, shopping in group and enabling users to bargain, thus attracting a large number of consumers in the sink market and small cities.

The increase of the users attracts a larger number of sellers to flood into the platform in return. With its decentralized internet traffic(data) distribution and low-cost entry threshold, Buytogether has brought opportunities to start-ups and niche enterprises. Many little-known businesses including some self-employed ones have flooded into the platform as well. Both parties of a deal in the sink market are attracted by Buytogether’s low prices and low costs. Consumers gain lower prices and suppliers acquire more customers; the trading system of Buytogether is gradually improved.

2.Popularizing based on users’ community.

Buytogether attracts more and more customers depending on social media and users’ social relations. Under the logic of community, the Internet economy is based on human.

Generally speaking, the formation of different groups is based on interests, kinship, etc. Through third-party social platforms such as WeChat and QQ, consumers establish and join groups where people have similar interests and needs to share and exchange information. In other words, users with similar interest or needs form a community. Buytogether manages these community members, analyzes the characteristics of different communities, captures their needs and interest points, so as to release marketing contents accurately and establish unlimited vertical market segments.

Also, consumers in the online communities will share their experience of using products with recommendation or criticism, which actually provides the stores and the platform itself with suggestions for improving, assistance in producing and innovative ideas. Consumers are not only loyal "buyers", but also enthusiastic "sharers" and innovative "producers".

3.Selling in the form of group.

Buytogether's "group enjoys discounts" selling strategy has attracted many consumers in pursuit of high cost performance. The "buying in group" model has grown full-bloom with the combined promotion of big data, the Internet and the community economy.

Group shopping brings more benefits to consumers. It is easy to arouse consumers’ desire to buy when their friends share the link of what they want to buy that they also need and has an affordable price. Then the virtuous cycle comes. In order to get lower price, it is inevitable to share the group link with friends. If this cycle continues, more and more people will download Buytogether and buy something. When consumers choose such a social platform where friends gather to share group shopping links, it is easier to form communities and develop the habit of sharing and shopping in group. Group shopping reflects the integration of network technology into real life, bringing mutual benefits and win-win results, which is also an upgrade of consumption form.

4.Reducing intermediary businesses.

Traditional e-commerce platforms have broadened online transaction channels, but have not effectively shortened the transaction process between suppliers and customers. Therefore, the profit space of suppliers and consumers has not been totally released.

By targeting the sink market, Buytogether has attracted a large number of suppliers of different brands to the platform to talk with customers directly. Users can form groups and make orders on Buytogether according to their interests and needs. The platform will skip the procedure of channel distribution and feedback users’ needs to suppliers directly to shorten the decision-making time and reduce the inventory backlog.

The docking of transaction terminals reduces the profits middlemen can get, releasing the profit space for users and suppliers. Buytogether is committed to shortening the transaction process between users and suppliers, thus attracting more transaction terminals to enter the platform. So it becomes a main advantage of Buytogether that attracts stores and suppliers at lower operating costs.

C.The Advantages of Buytogether

1.Creating needs actively.

Under the model of traditional e-commerce, users mostly buy goods based on their own needs, which means the platform itself is not active enough in inspiring customers’ demands. But Buytogether attracts new consumers and promotes their demands actively through low prices, recommendation from friends, group shopping and many other ways.

Users in social media will browse the information of products when they receive links of group shopping from their friends. The products are usually affordable and practical that are necessities for consumers, so they are likely to buy the products as well. Therefore, depending on the relation network of community members, it is easy for Buytogether to dig out and inspire customers’ potential needs.

2.Connecting users in many ways.

User connection is a significant advantage of Buytogether. Under the mode of community e-commerce, the relationship between users and sellers or other users is much closer. What community members pursue is not only the material benefits brought by products themselves, but also the interactive communication and emotional connection with others. Therefore, they tend to have a high degree of involvement and loyalty to stores, and spontaneously participate in the activities that contribute to the prosperity of the whole community like collaborative production, reputation building and spreading, content producing and so on, forming a C2B model where users’ demands guide the production, so as to solve the problem of inventory redundancy and optimize trading processes. Under the guidance of opinion leaders, community members are more likely to develop a herd mentality, and gain a sense of belonging and a sense of achievement from their collective actions. Fan economy, opinion leaders and herd effect in community e-commerce open a new vision for businesses to drive users to respond.

3.Promoting social contacts.

Traditional e-commerce improves the shopping experiences of individual consumers by issuing allowances, coupons and cross-store discounts. But Buytogether fosters adhesiveness of users through interaction. Buytogether utilizes the interpersonal network of community to innovate forms of discounts, such as inviting friends to help bargain, gain free charge and group price, not only meeting the customers’ practical needs of information acquisition, price concessions and product purchases, but also enabling customers to improve their shopping experiences with interactive entertainment.

D.The problems of Buytogether

1.The crisis of confidence

Recently, Buytogether has launched zero yuan purchase, cash withdrawal with friends’ help(by sharing links) and other activities that require users to invite their friends to participate in. However, to gain the promised benefits, users have to obey complex procedures and sometimes they get nothing after it. So in the process of these activities, consumers will feel interested and inspired at the beginning, and then they are likely to be disappointed, or even give up midway. Even if they really complete the task, they will feel that the harvest and their efforts are not proportional. In this way, it is easy for users to feel bored about the activity of the platform, seriously affecting their confidence in it.

2.The problem of low quality

Since its establishment, Buytogether has been adopting the low-price marketing strategy based on social networking including a series of discount activities, which have continuously compressed the profit space of the settled stores. In order to conform with the platform's low-price strategy as much as possible, these stores have to reduce the costs of raw materials and production, thus causing quality problems. In addition, due to Buytogether’s low entry threshold and loose supervision, the qualifications of its sellers are not all official. Some sellers enter the platform to sell fake and shoddy products, which not only damages the rights and interests of consumers, but also destroys users' trust in the platform.

3.The damage of corporate image

The main way for Buytogether to realize its community marketing is to attract new users by making current users constantly share the platform links. Current users frequently forward links to invite friends to help them gain a discount or cash rewards, but sometimes such behavior will bother their friends, the potential customers of Buytogether, and even stir their antipathy for this platform. Therefore, this method of marketing is a double-edged sword, sometimes damaging its corporate image.

E.The Measures for Optimization

Buytogether takes advantage of its unique social e-commerce model to open up its own e-commerce field in the fiercely competitive Chinese e-commerce market with the sinking market as the starting-point. Due to the poor commodity quality, low price and most of the users are price-sensitive in the sinking market, the moat (based on Buffett's moat theory )in intangible assets and customer switching cost is weak. In comparison, it cooperates with WeChat APP and make use of its huge traffic. At the same time, the "social fission" approach to platform promotion and the adoption of the C2M sales model to operate the platform has made it possible for the company to use its unique social e-commerce model to create its blue ocean of e-commerce. Against this background, Buytogether has a deep and wide moat in network effect and cost advantage. Based on the above analysis of the current market environment and the moat theory, I propose the following strategies for the future development of Buytogether :

1.Optimize marketing rules and enhance users’ confidence.

After years of accumulation, Buytogether has had a large number of registered users, so the marketing rules can be appropriately optimized based on it. Nowadays, Buytogether no longer needs to rely on fission marketing methods like sharing links to expand the user scale, but needs to improve its own marketing policies, utilize social media more rationally, and formulate marketing activities from the perspective of users. Buytogether can take into consideration increasing the probability of consumers completing their tasks in marketing activities and giving consumers more subsidies and dividends to gain their confidence and foster their loyalty to the platform.

2.Reinforce supervision and improve the quality of products.

If Buytogether wants to reduce inferior products, it must supervise its sellers closely. When sellers enter, their qualification and product quality must be strictly checked. In addition, while strengthening the supervision of the sellers, Buytogether is also advised to give more welfare to these sellers to encourage them to pay more attention to product quality, so as to solve related problems from the source. Moreover, Buytogether should also establish an organic system of after-sales service, increase the number of personnel to serve customers, and handle all kinds of complaints from users properly.

3.Polish up users’comments and improve the corporate image.

Consumers tend to consider the platform’s corporate image when choosing products. Unfortunately, many consumers have linked Buytogether with "inferior products" at present, so it is emergent for Buytogether to regain users' confidence and trust by improving its corporate image.

4.Improve the supply chain structure and the back-end service system.

Although Buytogether's existing supply chain structure has made it possible for customers' demand to stimulate the upstream supply chain to carry out mass production, its accumulation is still not perfect. Besides, the existing investment in the upstream and the empowerment of the whole industry chain are also insufficient. The existing investment in upstream and empowerment of the whole industry chain is also insufficient. If it wants to grow further, Buytogether will need to spend some time and effort on improving its supply chain. In addition to partnering with third-party logistics, it could follow the example of the Yiatong 380 platform and set up hundreds of distribution networks across the country. Otherwise, learning from Alibaba's retail and village tao synergy system and the integrated logistics information management platform of Cainiao parcel even benchmark itself against Jingdong and create its own logistics system to have a more significant say in the upstream supply.

5.Stop blind expansion of incremental users, fine-tuned operation of stock users.

The Internet began to shift from a total market to a stock market as early as 2016, but the tapping of sinking traffic has slowed down the process. As the number of Buytogether 's users has reached 800 million, its future development strategy should no longer be to pursue incremental users number but to amplify the business value of individual users. Thus, it can refine the operation of its stock of users to repeat key actions through precise matching, increasing their stickiness and keeping them in a mature stage for a long time.

Although Buytogether's current single-user purchase level is still low, it also has the potential to improve within the system through live streaming, subsidies, and other actions to improve user stickiness. As its digital, household appliances, and fresh produce categories continue to enrich, the trend of increasing customer unit price is noticeable. Suppose it can maintain the existing scale and development direction. In that case, Buytogether has more room for growth to better cope with the Tao system and other Internet e-commerce. It will allow Buytogether to better cope with the competition between the Tao system and other internet e-commerce companies and continue growing and developing.

References

1.百度百科

2.梁艳.基于拼多多发展路径分析如何增强平台用户黏性[J].中国集体经济,2022(10):51-53.

3.徐佳宁.基于社群经济的电商企业商业模式创新——以拼多多为例[J].现代营销(下旬刊),2022(03):128-130.DOI:10.19932/j.cnki.22-1256/F.2022.03.128.

4.徐琴.拼多多的社交化营销策略研究[J].上海商业,2022(03):16-17.

5.Nie Cheng,Xinyu Huang,Jing Qian. Analysis on Pinduoduo Business Model and Future Development Strategy based on Sinking Market[C]//.Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Global Economy and Business Management (GEBM 2021).[出版者不详],2021:279-287.DOI:10.26914/c.cnkihy.2021.049927.

Terms

NASDAQ: National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations(美国全国证券交易商协会自动报价表)

"2020 Hurun China Top 10 E-commerce":《2020胡润中国10强电商》

Sinking market: Small-town and rural markets where the most Chinese population live.

Questions

1.When was Buytogether founded?

2.When was Buytogether listed on NASDAQ?

3.What new type of e-commerce did Buytogether create?

4.Which market does Buytogether target?

5.What are advantages of Buytogether?

6.What are problems of Buytogether?

7.How to solve these problems?

Zou Xiangrui 邹享睿 -Aesthetic ideals and social customs：Marriage and Burial Customs of Tujia People

Aesthetic ideals and social customs：Marriage and Burial Customs of Tujia People

The Tujia are a long-established ethnic group with their own language, but they do not have their own character and use the character of the Han. In October 1956, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission identified the Tujia as a single ethnic group through ethnic identification. The Tujia call themselves "Bizka（毕兹卡）", "Mikiqa（密基卡）" or "Bejinqa（贝锦卡）", which means "people born and raised in the land". Despite the fact that they do not have a written language, they still have their own cultural identity, especially in the form of marriage and burial customs.

Marriage customs In the history of the Tujia, marriage was relatively free. A man and a woman could marry after free love, with the consent of both parents and the testimony of a Tujia teacher (wizard). On the 12th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, young men and women sang and danced, fell in love with each other and became lifelong partners. After the reform and conform, the Tujia were forced to carry out arranged marriages by parents and matchmakers. Before liberation, there was the custom of aunts and uncles marrying in table and house marriages. In the case of aunts and uncles, the marriage of an aunt's daughter must marry the son of an uncle's family, also known as "return the bone seed(Huan Guzhong 还骨种)"; brother received sister-in-law after the brother’s death, known as "sitting bed(坐床)". But now these customs have ceased to exist in modern times. After the nation’s liberation, the people's government promulgated a new marriage law, and since then, the Tujia people have truly enjoyed the happiness of marital autonomy. The marriage rituals of the Tujia family include "proofing（打样）", "marriage proposal（求婚）", "asking for red ginger（讨红庚）", "betrothal" （定亲）(commonly known as "inserting thatched incense"，插茅香), "seeing the date（看期）" and "welcoming the bride（亲迎）". This is similar to the six rites of the Han. The more characteristic marriage rituals are the accompanying of the ten sisters, the accompanying of the ten brothers and the weeping of the bride. As a unique wedding form of the Tujia wedding custom - crying marriage(哭嫁), in the Tujia settlement area for about two to three thousand years of history. According to the analysis of folklore experts, crying marriage is likely to be a matrilineal clan society to patrilineal clan society in the transition of the "bride snatching" customs of the remaining phenomenon. With the continuous progress of society, cry marriage has long lost the original meaning of bride kidnapping, but has become a traditional custom in the home life of the Tujia people to carry out ritual ethics and marriage education. In fact, it is not the bride alone who cries, but the collective cries of relatives within and outside the family, which is "familial". There are more than 20 procedures in the weeping marriage of the Tujia f, and for each item the bride cries, there are accompanying and opposite weepers. The weeping not only has a lot of content, but also has a long and strict procedure, which is "ceremonial".

Burial Customs The connotation of Tujia funeral culture is rich, which is the attitude of people towards death, and the culture of different forms of funeral customs represents the composition of a nation's culture, which is a unique cultural phenomenon of Tujia. The way of Tujia funeral in the history of the first people to implement cremation, but also rock coffin burial（岩棺葬）, etc. The development of the Tujia funeral has formed a ritual with the characteristics of the nation.

1.The Funeral Dance The funeral dance of the Tujia family has been recorded since the Sui and Tang dynasties, and the Tujia people sing and dance wildly in front of the dead, which has become an important way to pay tribute to the dead and comfort the living. The mourning dance has not only its cultural connotation, but also its distinctive artistic characteristics, which are mainly reflected in the musical composition and the singing and movement of the dance. One of the most important steps of a funeral is Jumping mourning(跳丧).Jumping mourning is specifically when the neighbors in the neighborhood after the death of the elders, dark neighbors will go to this home for jumping mourning, the family of the deceased will vacate the place in advance as well as prepare the tobacco and wine. The coffin of the deceased is placed in the main hall, and then the cowry drum is placed in the wooden foot basin in front of the left side of the coffin. The mourning dance is led by the Taoist priest, and the eldest son holds the deceased father's or mother's spiritual tablet in his hands, leading dozens of mourning men and women to dance vigorously in the courtyard collapse, forming different formations during the dance.

2.The Mourning Hall Singing The funeral form of the Tujia family is also the more important form of mourning and sitting mourning, also called mourning hall singing, which is only singing but not dancing mourning ceremony, sitting night may be several days and nights until the funeral and burial. During the sitting night, the mourning son sits around the pipe. The mourning son sits around the pipe and sings through one or two singers who beat the drums and say auspicious words, and then sings about the deceased's life experiences and achievements, including historical figures and historical allusions, by leading and helping the singers. This ritual song and dance was continued through the centuries, and the funeral song and dance became the main form of expression.

3.Funeral Culture Connotations The mourning ceremony of the Tujia family has a distinct function of social edification and is passed on as a cultural phenomenon, mainly because it has a corresponding social function, and its function in expressing emotions is more significant. The descendants send the bones and souls of their ancestors to the Elysium, which is carried out in a rich jumping mourning, which can also be a great adjustment for the descendants' psychology to settle their souls. On the temporal as well as the spatial level, the selection of auspicious days for the funeral and the sending of the soul to the blissful world are all helpful to appease the soul of the descendants.

Questions 1. Do the Tujia have their own ethnic script? 2. Was marriage free in the historical Tujia family? 3. What are the marriage rites of the Tujia? 4. What are the main artistic features of mourning?

Reference： ［1］ 廖从刚.土家族婚俗中的哭嫁习俗.《寻根》,2005年.02期 ［2］ ［2］余继平 . 大悲之日 , 欢歌——土家族特殊的丧葬习俗［J］. 中华手工 ,2015 （02）. ［3］ 关于武陵山区土家族葬礼文化探究 邵启富 53_54·《长江丛刊》,2018年.31期 王刚 . 武陵山区土家族葬礼文化初 探［J］. 铜仁职业技术学院学报 ,2017（03） -Zou Xiangrui (talk) 07:20, 29 June 2022 (UTC)