The concept of “teaching through non-teaching”（不教之教） is a significant idea in Chinese and West, tracing its origins back to two intellectual giants of the Axial Age. Mencius explicitly proposed the notion of teaching through non-teaching, while Socrates defended his approach of non-teaching in Apology. “Teaching through non-teaching” shares an intrinsic commonality in its ultimate value orientation. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the profound and far-reaching educational wisdom of Mencius and Socrates’ concept of “teaching through non-teaching” from two perspectives: identifying differences and emphasizing similarities.

The differences in cultural origins directly lead to significant contrasts in the “teaching through non-teaching” educational philosophies of them. Mencius inherited Confucius’ notion of “Ren” (仁，benevolence) and proposed the idea that human nature is inherently good. He believed that individuals possess four innate virtues — Ren, “Yi” (义，righteousness), “Li” (礼，ritual propriety), and “Zhi” (智，wisdom) — which are inherent to human nature and cannot be externally imposed. Hence, Mencius placed greater emphasis on introspective examination of inner virtue, projecting it outward in the cultivation of external moral conduct and interpersonal relations, with Li as its manifestation. Consequently, virtue becomes the core of Confucianism. Socrates, on the other hand, advocated the idea that virtue is knowledge, focusing more on the exploration of intellect and the cultivation of reason and critical thinking.

This Confucianism perspective grounded in virtue, imparts a doubt-free spirit to its educational methods, where caution becomes an important pathway for moral cultivation. Through non-teaching, Mencius encourages learners to exercise caution in their speech and actions, ultimately leading them to reflect inwardly and be sincere. This concept of education exemplifies the passive nature of Confucianism. In contrast, Socrates' non-teaching represents an active midwifery approach, rooted in the Western cultural tradition that places a high value on intellectual pursuit and the spirit of doubt. For Socrates, "inquiry" becomes the crucial pathway to intellectual development. Starting from ignorance, Socrates' method of non-teaching stimulates self-criticism and reflection through the midwifery technique, helping individuals gain truth through rational inquiry and dialectical reasoning.

The commonality in the ideas of "teaching through non-teaching" between Mencius and Socrates lies in two main aspects: both emphasize the subjectivity of the learner in the pursuit of value, and view education as a reciprocal, interactive process in which teaching and learning form a community of teaching and learning. Their educational philosophies provide relevant perspectives for addressing the challenges brought by the globalization and technologization of education today, while also offering intellectual support for achieving the long-term goals.

This paper explores Patrick Colm Hogan's theory of affective narrative, which bridges cognition, narrative, and emotion through the establishment of universal narrative prototypes and minor genres. Hogan's framework posits that emotional systems, rooted in universal human experiences, shape narrative structures across cultures and historical periods. By analyzing East Asian and Western texts, this study demonstrates how emotional dynamics, particularly in parent-child relationships and revenge plots, transcend cultural and historical boundaries, offering a new lens for understanding cross-cultural textual practices.

Hogan's affective narrative theory emphasizes the role of universal narrative prototypes, such as sacrifice, heroism, and romantic love, alongside minor genres like attachment and revenge narratives. These minor genres, though less structurally defined, are deeply tied to human emotional traits and often appear as subordinate elements within broader narrative frameworks. The paper examines how these emotional systems influence narrative development, focusing on texts such as *Yoroboshi* (Japan), *The Story of the Circle of Chalk* (China), and *King Lear* (Western) for attachment narratives, and *The Drum of the Waves of Horikawa* (Japan), *The Injustice Done to Tou Ngo* (China), and *Hamlet* (Western) for revenge narratives.

Through comparative analysis, the paper highlights the interpretative power of affective genres in transcending cultural and historical contexts. It argues that Hogan's theory provides a robust framework for understanding how emotional systems drive narrative structures, enabling a deeper appreciation of cross-cultural textual practices. The study also suggests that future research could further explore how cultural specificities shape emotional systems in narrative genres and how Hogan's theory can be applied to contemporary texts in the context of globalized media.

In the early stage of the sinicization of Buddhism, the implicit process of mutual integration between the Book of Songs and Buddhist learning was submerged in the upsurge of metaphysics in the Wei and Jin dynasties. This integration is manifested not only in famous Buddhist monks such as Kang Senghui and Huiyuan borrowing the Book of Songs to explain Buddhist doctrines, but also in the traditional practice of scholars and literati like He Chengtian and Dai Kui using the Book of Songs to oppose Buddhism. This diversely demonstrates the different cultural and psychological factors of the two major groups, namely scholars and monks. From the perspective of the interpretive history of the Book of Songs, this duality is mainly reflected in, on the one hand, the interpretive principle with Confucian classics as the foundation during the eastward spread of Buddhism, and on the other hand, the contradictory core of having to abide by the principle of seeking meaning based on the text. By analyzing the two - way interaction between the Book of Songs and Buddhism, and exploring the process in which the Book of Songs played a role in the confluence of Confucianism and Buddhism, it is conducive to tracing the interpretive history of the doctrinal aspects of early Buddhism, and enriching our understanding of the ideological basis and generation mechanism of the sinicization of Buddhism. This is of great significance for studying the deconstruction of the classical status of the Book of Songs, the new development of its doctrines, and its influence at the level of the history of dissemination.

This paper utilizes Russian formalist theorist Bakhtin's theories of polyphony and dialogicity as a foundation for the analysis of Wang Wenxing's modernist novel The Family Catastrophe.Firstly, it analyzes Bakhtin's theory of polyphony and compares it with his theories of miniature dialogues and large-scale dialogues. Then, it analyzes the dialogicity within the text of the novel from the aspects of the dual structure of polyphony, miniature dialogues in the monologue, and the paralleling of plot. The text of The Family Catastrophe is found to form a structure of entanglement of previous and subsequent texts and their reversal and inversion, in the pattern of the double dialogues of the characters and the plot. It is evident that the text is structured in a manner that intertwines and reverses preceding and subsequent texts. This structural arrangement not only achieves the artistic effect of irony but also reflects a sense of fatalism and the structure of a cyclic narrative. Additionally, Bakhtin's theory of polyphony is examined to ascertain a more profound meaning.

Stephen Owen, a leading American sinologist, has profoundly influenced both Western and Chinese scholarship on Tang poetry. By blending Chinese and Western literary theories, he reinterprets Tang poetry’s texts and historical contexts, offering a fresh methodological framework.

Owen’s literary historiography marks a paradigm shift. He argues that literary history should focus on "evolving literary practices" rather than merely chronicling "master poets" or dynasties. He avoids defining eras through dominant figures like Li Bai and Du Fu, instead tracing poetic evolution to reveal its intrinsic logic. For example, he shows that Early Tang court poetry, often seen as a prelude to the High Tang, had its own aesthetic value and rules.

His methodology, rooted in New Criticism, emphasizes close reading and historical contextualization. He analyzes tensions within poetic structures and decodes polysemous language, as seen in his "three-part structure" model for Early Tang court poetry. Through comparative studies, he highlights Tang poetry’s "fragmentary" nature and autobiographical impulses, stressing its multiple interpretations.

Owen reinterprets Tang poetic periods:

Early Tang: Dominated by court poetry, it adhered to rigid norms but was challenged by poets like Chen Zi’ang, paving the way for High Tang creativity.

High Tang: Owen critiques reducing this era to Li Bai and Du Fu, emphasizing the diversity of "capital poetry" (e.g., Wang Wei) and non-metropolitan poets (e.g., Meng Haoran). He attributes its brilliance to a balance between shared standards and individual freedom.

Mid/Late Tang: Owen explores how poetry reflected cultural shifts, such as secularism, and reinterpreted earlier traditions.

Despite its innovation, Owen’s work sparks debate. Critics argue his reliance on Western frameworks risks misreading Confucian ethics and overlooks Chinese poetics’ holistic nature.

Owen’s research has reshaped Tang scholarship, challenging traditional "historical context + author-centric" models. His cross-cultural approach has broadened Tang poetry’s global reception and advanced methods for translating Chinese classics.