Articles

The article is devoted to the narrative features of the short story Flock of Brown Birds (Hese Niaoqun, 1988) by the modern Chinese writer Ge Fei (born 1964), one of the key figures of the Chinese avant-garde literature of the late 20th century (xianfeng wenxue). The article provides an analysis of the narrative structure, composition and character system of the story. Main focus is on the elements of metafiction in the story, including addressing the topic of the fictional process, bringing the image of the narrator closer to the figure of the author, commenting on the process of creating a literary work (exposing the technique). For Ge Fei, reality is the text, and fictional process is an attempt to establish a connection with the elusive reality. In addition, the article also focuses on the fragmentation of the narrative, the use of an unreliable narrator, the non-linearity of the plot and the presence of gaps that invite the reader to participate in the creation of a literary work. Due to the identified features, Ge Fei’s fiction can be classified as the example of Chinese postmodern literature.

The underlying thesis of this article is related to the assertion that Confucianism, the oldest philosophical school in China, which emerged in 551–479 B.C., has influenced and still influences the social and spiritual life of the country, particularly its literature, for centuries. The authors examine in detail how the main Confucian paradigms of ‘Ren’, ‘Li’, and ‘Zhong yong’ are refracted in Chinese literature of the past and present centuries. A brief interpretation of these paradigms is given. Particular attention is paid to the fact that the postulates of this doctrine are flexible, which makes it possible to draw from it various inferences necessary for a certain historical stage and for literary writers to follow the prescriptions of these inferences.

The article studies two key novels by the Egyptian writer and Nobel laureate (1988) Naguib Mahfouz (1911–2006), The Cairo Trilogy (1956–1957) and Children of Our Alley (1959), through the prism of the Muslim allusions embedded in them. They play major role in the allegorical work Children of Our Alley which is stylized as a sira (“folk novel”) and shows the life of many generations of Gabalawi’s descendants. In The Trilogy, the symbolism is hidden, but the comparison between it and the next novel of Mahfouz through the lens of Muslim allusions, primarily in names, made it possible to reveal the symbolic meaning of the novel and establish a common philosophy underlying the two works. The main source is the Qur‘an; the authors also turned to texts of classical Islamic studies and early Islamic history. Relevance: 1) drawing attention to the Cairo Trilogy, famous in Arab countries, but not translated into Russian; 2) popularizing the method of analyzing religious connotations, which is rarely used in literary studies, but is productive for understanding and translating the literature of Muslim countries in which religion plays a large social role. Conclusions: both novels present an allegory of the history of mankind which is going through radical changes in modern times. At the beginning, they show a traditional world where religion is associated with vital energy (in the first two issues of the Trilogy, the Islamic aspect of names is associated with success in society and large offspring; in Children of Our Alley, the names allowed to connect the main characters with the prophets of Islam). During the course of the plot, the order in the world of the novels is disrupted. At the end of them, the father leaves the world (in both novels, the patriarch is an allegory of God); Muslim references in names and the religious piety of the characters cease to be a defense against chaos. Religion is being replaced by scientific point of view (Kamal in the Trilogy and ‘Arafa in Children of Our Alley; their names do not have Islamic connotations). Science which is free from religious rules is not able to resist immorality and the depletion of the human race. The author’s view of the new era is pessimistic: the old model of the world is destroyed, and the new one is corrupted.

The article deals with the peculiarities of quoting proverbs and aphorisms by Turkish President R.T. Erdogan in his speeches. The questions of their transformation, methods of introduction and connection to current circumstances, expressive-emotional and stylistic coloring, as well as the evaluative aspect and its author’s development in the context are raised. The speaker introduces a proverb into his speech with the help of introductory phrases and words that act as markers, which can break it in the case of a two-part structure, frame it, and be used in double and triple repetition. Stylistically, most of the quoted proverbs are neutral in color; to achieve maximum expressiveness of the statement, the speaker uses emotional proverbs belonging to the conversational style of speech, often with a zoonymic component. The President rarely transforms the idiom; its recognition is important to him; moreover, he does not use the most common of them, this gives his speeches originality and emphasizes the originality of the author’s style. The most used method of transformation is the omission of elements that do not change the semantics of the expression, or the replacement of a word with a synonym, in rare cases, a compositional transformation consisting of rearrangement of parts. Sometimes the speaker, relying on the imagery of an idiom, paraphrases and interprets it in the current context, or, changing only its grammatical-syntactic structure, inserts it into his speech. R.T. Erdogan uses idioms with both positive and negative evaluative components. Often he expresses his thought by using the stylistic device of antithesis, starting from the negative assessment contained in the idiom, he comes to a positive conclusion, less often — vice versa. To enhance the expressiveness and persuasiveness of his speech, the speaker sometimes indicates a personal attitude towards what is being quoted, connecting it with the circumstances of his private life. In some cases, there is an obvious pragmatic connection between the idiom and the topic, geography, or specific occasion for delivering the speech.

In 2024, we celebrated the 220th anniversary of the birth of the prominent scholar G.S. Sablukov (1804–1880), who occupied a special place in the history of the Qur’anic studies in Russia. His main academic achievement — the first published translation of the Qur’an from the Arabic into Russian (1877) — became an important step in the development of Russian Oriental science. The article investigates the stages of formation of G.S. Sablukov as an expert on Islamic issues, contains an overview of his works dedicated to the Qur’an and analyzes the assessments of his translation of the Holy Muslim Book, which have changed over time. However, there is no doubt that with his translation of the Qur’an, G.S. Sablukov made a significant contribution to Russian Islamic studies by strengthening its scholarly foundations.

This article examines the foreign trade of Kazakhstan during three decades of its independent development. A special attention is paid to the analysis of structural characteristics of exports and imports. Changes in trade volumes with main partners as well as the number of commodity names in trade are of particular interest. Based on foreign trade indicators, it can be concluded that in the early 2020s, similar to the 2000s and 2010s, Kazakhstan’s exports were dominated by hydrocarbons, with metals, minerals, chemicals and crops still accounting for a significant share of export trade. Imports were dominated by manufactures, particularly electrical machinery and equipment, as well as transportation. During the 2000s and 2010s, the main consumers of Kazakhstan’s exports often included China, Italy, France, Russia and the Netherlands. During the same period, the main importers were Republic of Korea, Germany, Russia, Italy, USA and Ukraine. The results of the paper may be useful for the planning of public policies and for the long-term development strategies of commercial enterprises; the results can also be used to prepare educational programmes on Central Asian economies.

The article is devoted to the theory, policy and practice of PRC’s science diplomacy in the modern era. Having studied scientific works of scientists from different countries, official documents of the Chinese government and media reports, the author reveals the definition of the concept, achievements and inadequacies of contemporary science diplomacy of PRC.

This paper studies the cycle of works by one of the outstanding Chinese writers of the “root-seeking” literary movement- Ah Cheng. The research includes his works “The King of Chess”, “The King of Children” and “The King of the Tree”, where the main theme is the comparison of the past and the new world order. The main purpose of this work was to study the axiological conceptosphere of these works, namely, to identify the features of depicting the values of Taoist philosophy as a classical ideology and the Chinese cultural revolution as a new ideology. As a result of the study, it was found that in the works of Ah Cheng, these ideologies coexist both in society as a whole and in each individual person. Among the main values of Taoism, the author highlights the following: life in harmony with nature, the representation of the world as a single whole (organism), the principle of non-action and the cult of honor of ancestors, authorities. Also, among the new values of the cultural revolution, such as the practical use of natural resources, the perception of man as the crown of creation, the idea of human independence, independence from external forces, and the denial of previous stereotypes were identified. It was revealed that these values are mainly revealed through the dialogues of the characters, as well as their internal monologues, which often include rhetorical questions addressed to the character and to the reader. In addition, metaphors and implicitness play an important role in the depiction of values, which is especially characteristic of Taoist philosophy as an eastern tradition, where the main ideas are conveyed allegorically, with hidden meanings. In addition, it was found that the values of Taoism are also realized in the description of landscapes, since one of the foundations of Taoism is the connection of man with nature.

The book by the leading Russian scholar in Oriental and Literary studies academician A.B. Kudelin “The Life of the Prophet as a monument of medieval Arabic literature” sums up the author’s long-term involvement with one of the most famous literary achievements in Arab-Muslim culture. The book introduces the reader to this work, the history of its writing and editing, its content, composition and poetics. The narrative, which is a fusion of hagiography, historical writing and poetry, has always been a subject of interest to Islamic scholars, historians and, to a lesser extent, literary critics. The book by A.B. Kudelin combines all these approaches to the text, but the main emphasis is placed on the literary side of this masterpiece. This is the novelty of the reviewed book. The new approach allowed the author to make a number of observations and conclusions. This is, firstly, the formation of a long prose narrative in historical and adab works, arising on the basis of a mosaic of isolated brief testimonies and stories, and secondly, the growth of elements of fiction within functional prose. Thirdly, the chosen angle of view allowed the author to re-evaluate the role of poetry in the structure of “Biography”, which was previously often perceived as a purely decorative, ornamental element, to see in it a continuation of pre-Islamic oral literature, which was characterized by prosimetry. The conclusions drawn by A.B. Kudelin go beyond the scope of the topic and highlights a number of important theoretical and methodological issues. The book is useful to anyone interested in Arab-Muslim culture and literature, students of Oriental studies, not to mention researchers on a wide range of issues.

Review of the book: Сhang Jisŏng. Hangug-ŭi Hwahweyŏngmohwa [Korean Painting of Flowers, Birds, and Animals]. Seoul: Ankhŭphiksŭ, 2020. 419 p., ISBN: 978.89.7059.1 (936000). (In Korean).

The article analyzes the scale, dynamics, and structure of incorrectly issued trade invoices, which are a key channel for illegal cash flows in the Arab region. International trade increasingly occurs within complex supply networks and value chains. In such circumstances, misreporting and incorrect invoicing can occur at any stage. Due to incorrect issuance of trade invoices in 2008–2015. in the Arab region, $482.7 billion were “missed,” which is equivalent to a fifth of total GDP in 2016. Every year, $60.3 billion “went into the shadows.” However, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Jordan accounted for 80% of illegal cash flows in the region associated with trade misinvoicing. Countries not primarily involved in the export of natural resources are more susceptible to misinvoicing practices (10.4%) than countries with resource-dependent economies (7.4%). Informal cross-border trade is a major challenge for customs authorities in some Arab countries. It represents the largest part of the trade flow on Sudan’s border with Ethiopia and Eritrea.

With the expanding influence of China, the competition between the PRC and the US is intensifying. As an important regional organization in the Asia-Pacific region, ASEAN has close economic ties with both China and the U.S., and the conflict between China and the U.S. inevitably occurs in Southeast Asia, which has made ASEAN once again face direct competition from major powers. Under the current regional situation and to maintain the stability and development of the Southeast Asian region, ASEAN countries have chosen a more rational strategy of balancing the great powers in their foreign policy.