The article examines the Qizilbash campaigns (1541, 1547, 1551, 1554) under Shah Tahmasp I (r. 1524-1576), revealing the dynamics of relations between Iran and Eastern Georgia in the first half of the 16th century. The Safavid dynasty (1501-1722) continued the expansionist policy of its predecessors and declared its rights to the South Caucasus. The main support of the Safavids became the nomadic Turkoman tribes - followers of the Sufi order of Sheikh Safi ad-Din (1252-1334), known as Qizilbash (red heads): Shamlu, Rumlu, Ustajlu, Tekelyu, Afshar, Qajar, Zulqadar, Turkeman. The founder of the dynasty, Shah Ismail I (r. 1501-1524), initiated efforts to conquer Eastern Georgia, taking advantage of internal divisions within Georgian kingdoms. Despite their weakened state due to internal conflicts, these kingdoms did not abandon attempts at unification. Maneuvering between the rival Safavids and Ottomans in the region, the Georgian rulers made forced concessions, trying to prevent devastating and bloody invasions from both sides.
Keywords:
qizilbash, Tahmasp I, military-political history, Safavids, Georgia DOI:
10.55959/MSU0320-8095-13-69-2-4
The article provides an overview of the achievements of four East African countries in the implementation of science, technology and innovation (STI) programs, and examines the assistance in this process from international intergovernmental organizations: the United Nations, UNCTAD, UNESCO. The relevance of the research topic is due to the potential of the STI sphere in solving the main socio-economic problems faced by East African states. The author has identified and analyzed data on Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda over a wide chronological period: from the colonial period to the present. It is concluded that the development of science and education is the central and most difficult task in planning and technological adaptation for the countries of the East African region. Against the background of rapid economic growth, it is important for States to properly allocate public investments in the field of science and education, use the accumulated positive experience and strengthen the existing infrastructure.
This article is based on existing research and published archives and, by systematizing this information, seeks to reflect as fully as possible China’s and the USSR’s judgment of the situation during the 1938 Soviet-Japanese border con-flict and the range of actions taken on the basis of that judgment. After the Lake Hasan conflict widened, the Chinese government believed that war would break out between Japan and the USSR, so it began to actively ally itself with the USSR both politically and militarily. While holding Wuhan, the Chinese army began planning counter-offensives and attempted to draw the USSR and Japan into a full-scale war. However, the conflict between Japan and the USSR did not escalate into a military clash. At this stage, the USSR also hoped that China would continue to share Japan’s military pressure, and after the Japan-Soviet peace talks, still insisted that the Chi-nese army launch a counteroffensive. After the loss of Wuhan and Guangzhou, the USSR’s vision could not be realized, and as a result, mutual dissatisfaction gradu-ally grew between China and the USSR. In such a situation, the close Sino-Soviet relations formed on the basis of the goal of “joint resistance to Japanese expansion” also began to be adversely affected, and after the conflict at Lake Hasan, these contradictions between the two sides also became one of the factors behind the emergence of disagreements between China and the USSR later on Soviet military aid to China and other issues.
Keywords:
Second Japan-China War, Khasan battles, Battle of Wuhan, Sino-Soviet relations, National Government of the Republic of China DOI:
10.55959/MSU0320-8095-13-69-2-2
In 1954, in the village of Kizhur at the border of Pondicherry and Madras (since 1956 - Tamil Nadu) a referendum took place; it was attended by representatives of the local Pondicherry elite who took a decision on the merger of the French colonial possessions in the South of Hindustan with India. The decision to transfer the territories brought about a number of legal issues that were to be resolved by the governments of the two countries; the issue of citizenship of Pondicherry residents was one of them. In 1956, India and France signed a final agreement that determined the new status of former French enclaves and the legal status of their residents. The article examines the key provisions of the 1956 agreement on the transfer of territories to India, regulatory inconsistencies in the articles on citizenship, as well as formal difficulties that the residents of Pondicherry could have encountered. It also analyzes the current status of Pondicherry residents - those of French or other foreign citizenship.
Keywords:
Pondicherry; French India; Republic of India; India-France Agreement of 1956; citizenship DOI:
10.55959/MSU0320-8095-13-69-2-1
The article is devoted to the study of the phenomenon of language play in the Chinese segment of Internet communication and communication (wǎngluò yǔyán). In this regard, the purpose of the study is to analyze the main types of graphic, semantic and grammatical transformations, such as playing with tones, using abbreviations, acronyms, numeronyms, emojis, stickers, games with hieroglyphs, mixing writing systems, as well as metaphors, allusions, irony and rethinking familiar semantic relationships. The key functions of the language game are considered: identifying users with groups, enhancing expressivity, creating a humorous effect, saving linguistic resources, circumventing censorship and linguocreative creation of new meanings within the framework of the theory of neology. The influence of Internet slang on modern Chinese is discussed, including interaction with literary norms and penetration into everyday speech The study used three main sources: the Weibo microblogging platform, Douyin video hosting (an analogue of TikTok) and youth forums (Tieba, Douban). The study highlights the relevance of studying the language game for understanding the dynamics of an isolating type of language and culture in the digital age as a whole.
Keywords:
Chinese language, linguistic creativity, Internet slang, language game, Internet communication, sociolinguistics, linguoculturology, neologisms DOI:
10.55959/MSU0320-8095-13-69-2-7
The article examines examples of translating proper names from Japanese and several other East Asian languages that use logographic writing systems into Russian, within the framework of translation onomastics as discussed in the works of D. I. Ermolovich. Alongside the issues already identified in existing studies, the article outlines further questions that require consideration in the ongoing development of this field. Particular attention is given to the challenges of transcription and transliteration from different languages, the problem of preserving the internal form of the name, including the visual component of the logographic character, as well as issues of maintaining the identity of the name when translating nominal affixes.
Keywords:
onomastics in translation science; translation of proper nouns; Japanese language; Chinese language; Cantonese DOI:
10.55959/MSU0320-8095-13-69-2-6
This study investigates the functioning of referential components within noun phrases in Modern Chinese. The analysis focuses on the deployment of these elements in sentence structures to elucidate their referential status-a topic that remains largely underexplored in Russian-language sinological scholarship. Particular attention is given to the referential properties of noun phrases, framed within the context of the extensive theoretical foundation established in Russian linguistics over more than half a century of research on reference. Evidence from Chinese corpus data indicates that linear position plays a decisive role in determining the referential status of noun phrases in this system. In contrast, lexical features alone are insufficient for accurately capturing the referential meanings of noun phrases in context. It is thus essential to delineate the conditions under which a language permits multiple alternative strategies for designating real-world referents. Consequently, the pragmatic factors governing communicative interaction must be taken into account when determining referential choices within noun phrase structure.
Keywords:
The Chinese language; Chinese grammar; Chinese syntax; an articleless language; structure of noun phrase; reference DOI:
10.55959/MSU0320-8095-13-69-2-5
The article is devoted to the study of the traditional model of Chinese masculinity through the prism of the concept of wen - wu (文武), where wen represents cultural achievements and education, and wu - military valour, on the example of the first poem from Zuo Xi’s cycle ‘Poems on history’ (咏诗八首). The article examines the historical roots of the wen-wu dichotomy, its relationship to Confucian canons, and its role in the formation of the ideal male image in traditional Chinese culture. Based on the analysis of the first poem of the cycle, it was concluded that the harmonious combination of education, mastery of words on the one hand and knowledge of martial arts on the other embodies the traditional gender ideal of wen-wu shuangquan, which means ‘to be well-versed in literature and martial arts’. The study emphasises the significance of the categories of wen and wu for Chinese culture, and demonstrates how literary creativity reflects socio-cultural norms of masculinity.
The article conceptualizes bibliometrics as an economic activity and as a management tool in science, linking indicator-based governance with broader scientometric practices. It contrasts two perspectives: a Western, metrics-driven model focused on efficiency and performance, and an Eastern, truth-seeking tradition grounded in cultural and philosophical views of knowledge. Methodologically, the study combines a historical analysis of bibliometrics’ evolution with an examination of RSCI (RINC), Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar data, alongside the analytical capabilities of the ISTINA information system. The paper shows how bibliometrics has matured into scientometrics that shapes funding allocation, staffing, and university strategies through global rankings (QS, THE, ARWU), international student flows, and associated revenues. It also outlines the economics of scholarly publishing (subscription bundles, open access, APCs, transformative agreements) and their implications for institutional decision-making. Focusing on Oriental and broader humanities fields, the study highlights long citation windows, undercount risks due to metadata inconsistencies and footnote practices, and the comparative advantages of Google Scholar for capturing citations. As an applied case, the paper discusses the RSCI dynamics (2017–2024) of Lomonosov Moscow University Bulletin. Series 13: Oriental Studies and derives editorial policy insights. A practical toolkit is proposed to improve visibility and measurement accuracy: content internationalization, harmonized metadata and persistent author identifiers (ORCID, ResearcherID, Scopus Author ID, IRID), English titles and abstracts, and targeted author training on citation standards. The article concludes that indicators should remain instruments for transparent, cost-effective research governance rather than ends in themselves, preserving the substantive value of scholarship—particularly in the humanities and Oriental studies.
Keywords:
bibliometrics; scientometrics; economics of science; university rankings; Oriental studies; RSCI (RINC); open access DOI:
10.55959/MSU0320-8095-13-69-2-9
The party line of the right-wing South African party Vryheidsfront Plus/VF Plus/Freedom Front+/FF+ is in large part focused on the necessity of the development of the rich local language diversity (including the South African sign language) as well as on the language rights’ upholding of the South African ethnic groups. The particular attention is paid to the issues of the Afrikaans language retention (the crackdown on which is painfully tolerated by the FF+) and the extension of the possibilities for its using, considering that the primary objective is to widen the spheres of the educational activities concerning Afrikaans. The party takes into consideration the uneasy situation primarily related to the formation and evolvement of Afrikaans as a separate language and then to its existence as a medium of instruction, which since the apartheid regime demolishing has been fraught with a whole variety of difficulties. Hence, the FF+ regards the history of the Afrikaans triumphs and setbacks as a decent example of the dignified struggle for the right to the full existence also for other South African local languages the native speakers of which are interested in the preservation of the cultural heritage. The party refuses to acknowledge the ostensibly subordinate position of the official state’s languages towards uniquely English assuming the actual eradication from the public sphere all of the vernacular languages besides the English one to be an unacceptable manifestation of the anglophiles’ imperialism, which is characterised by the linguistic expansion into the South African area. From the FF+ perspective, the threat of the erosion of the native languages’ role against the omnipotent dominance of English appears to be a justification for the existence of the Afrikaner nationalism, which once played a prominent role in strengthening the Afrikaans positions at all levels of the socio-political life. The FF+ insists on the necessity of the provision of educational services in the mother tongue for both pupils and students what, based on the party members’ position, will aid in the better comprehensibility of the material as well as creation of the comfortable and familiar environment for the learners. The implementation of such an intention is to attain the following goals, i.e., the promotion and the maintaining of the South African language diversity (as an integral part of the cultural mosaic) and the defending the right to the language choice of tuition. To add to it, in the party’s eyes, the right to use their own languages for the South Africans ought to be spread, inter alia, into the interaction with public agencies.
Keywords:
the current language politics of the Freedom Front+/FF+ (Vryheidsfront Plus/VF Plus); the encouragement of the teaching in the South African official languages and their use by the state bodies; the promotion of the Afrikaans language; the resistance to the English-language dominance at the expense of the local South African languages DOI:
10.55959/MSU0320-8095-13-69-2-11
Drawing on documents from the archives of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs, the article examines the fate of one of the most prominent figures of the Japanese Communist Party, Nosaka Sanzo: his rise to power, his contacts and cooperation with leaders of the communist movement in the Soviet Union, China, and Korea, his relations with the United States occupation forces in Japan, and his tragic final years.
Keywords:
USSR; NKVD (the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs); Japan; Communist Party of Japan; Nosaka DOI:
10.55959/MSU0320-8095-13-69-2-10
