Pearl S. Buck Pearl S. Buck, best known for her writings on the Chinese, is often described as a “BRIDGE” across the Pacific. The analogy, however, means just the opposite for Buck, as it indicates the incommensurability of the two nations as the result of the huge gap, and the effort to “connect” the two sides of the ocean may prove futile since the two nations hold different cultural heritages and ideological imprints. Despite the geographical as well as ideological implications of separation, a bridge does carry within itself the traces of connectability, though. As an American missionary, Buck has a strong awareness of her particular obligation to America, yet her strong compassion for and moral inclination towards the Chinese do not entail the sense of displacement as it normally does for those living in two cultures, as the result of her “life experience” which she would regard as her ethical choice. The role she plays, that of a cultural envoy, medium or bridge, coincides with the Levinasian concept of “face” or the Confucian ideal of “accommodation with difference.” However, this “life experience” has indeed produced the ethical dilemma for Buck: any ethical choice is made in specific cultural context, and the abstract notions of cosmopolitanism and face with dual commitment do make her a third culture child, with a particularism yet recognized by neither culture.

After entering the 21st century, scholars have increasingly focused on the topic of “Rewriting the History of World Civilizations/Literature”. This is largely due to the social, economic, and technological developments, which have led to a more interactive and complex cultural system. Scholars are urgently reinterpreting outdated concepts with new knowledge. Just as the existing history of world civilizations is almost entirely framed within the West-dominated discourse, the history of classic world literature is similarly dominated by the elites, the white males and the so-called serious literature. When it comes to 19th-century American classical literature, the well-known male authors such as Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman quickly come to mind, while female authors remain largely unknown, with their works rarely translated into Chinese. During that time, however, woman’s writing was on par with man’s writing both quantitatively and qualitatively, even dominating best-seller lists—so much so that even Hawthorne and his The Scarlet Letter could not compare. The subsequent re-rise and dramatic decline of women’s writing in literary history is a topic of great study value.This leads to the necessity of discussing the reasons for women beginning to write in the 19th century. Woolf states in “A Room of One’s Own”, that if a woman is about to write, she must have money and a room of her own. — This was particularly valid in the American literary scene of that time. “Money” and “a room” means that women had the opportunity for education, could afford servants or nannies to alleviate household burdens, and had the ability and energy to write. All this was nearly impossible for daughters of the working-class. The emergence of middle-class female writers was due to a complex array of economic, cultural, and social factors, marking an important part of the transformative 19th century. Concurrent with the rise of female writers was the increase in female reading and feminist criticism. Together, these three activities constructed the unique feminine literary landscape of that era.Overall, scholars have made diverse efforts to restore the place of 19th-century American women’s writing within literary history: from feminist perspectives to restore the literature’s rightful place, to examine the interactions between 19th-century American social cultural contexts and women’s popular literature, to discuss themes in 19th-century American women’s literature, and to explore literary techniques and strategies, and the dissemination and reception of 19th-century American women’s literature, as well as the interactions between authors, works, and readers.Just as the prevailing view of civilization is centered around the hegemony of Western perspectives, the existing literary history too reflects a narrative dominated by traditional male classics, particularly elite, white, heterosexual male authors, rather than an objective and comprehensive literary history.

For a long time, the concept of Western centrism has dominated the writing of world history, and East Asian cultures have often been marginalized. However, in recent years, this "center-periphery" historical narrative model has gradually been rethought and challenged. Scholars are beginning to seek a more equal and pluralistic historical perspective, placing the interaction between Eastern and Western cultures on a more equal footing for examination. The writing of world civilization history is no longer “the story of the West,” but rather a chapter of the joint development of global civilizations.

World literature should not simply be a continuation of Western literature; classical works and modern literary creations from all around the world should occupy a place in this grand narrative. Increasingly, works by non-Western authors have gained global recognition and dissemination, constructing a more open and inclusive literary landscape. World literature should not only include Western classics such as Shakespeare and Dante but should also cover non-Western classics, such as China’s The Story of the Stone, India’s Bhagavad Gita, and the Arab world’s One Thousand and One Nights.

Looking back at the development of Chinese literature, it has been intricately linked to classical studies since its inception. Classical studies, as the mainstream ideology of ancient China, provided a profound intellectual foundation for literary creation. The Confucian thought within classical studies influenced the values and moral views of literary works. Classical studies also directly impacted the content and form of literary creation. In the Qing Dynasty, scholar Zhang Xuecheng proposed an important academic proposition: “The Six Classics are all literature,” aiming to return the sacred classical studies to simple social life, emphasizing the literary and aesthetic significance of classical studies. He believed that the Six Classics were not only Confucian scriptures but also models of literature and art, possessing profound poetic character and artistic spirituality. Indeed, in the writing of world literary history, the Confucian classics of China should not be forgotten.

In the context of globalization, rewriting world civilization history is no longer a one-dimensional process but a collision and integration of multiple cultures. As one of the important representatives of Eastern culture, Chinese Confucian classics provide important philosophical ideas and cultural resources, having a profound influence on this process. From the perspective of civilization concepts and modern impact, Confucian classics offer unique Eastern wisdom for the development of world civilization.

Wang Meng's literary sign view was formed in the late 1980s to the early 1990s. During this period, there were not only the "Year of methods", which imported Western modern theories, but also the "national studies fever", which returned to Chinese classical literature. Under the collision between Li Shangyin's poetry aesthetics, the narrative aesthetics of "A Dream of Red Mansions" and Western semiotic theory, Wang Meng finally put forward the literary sign view, which achieved the artistic conception of "Wu Duan"(无端）by "reorganization" semiotic thinking. It enriches and deepens the western semiotic theory with the characteristics of Chinese characters and Chinese classical aesthetics, which is the crystallization of the mutual learning of world civilizations in Chinese contemporary literature, and the expansion of Western literary discourse by the invention of literary discourse unique to Chinese contemporary literature. Wang Meng's literary sign view almost overlapped with the period when Wang Meng served as the chief editor of People's Literature and the Minister of Culture of China, having influence on the development of literature in the 1980s into the 1990s. This crystallization of mutual learning between Chinese and Western civilizations has greatly influenced the trend of contemporary Chinese literature. Wang Meng recognized the "reorganization" characteristic of language signs, and clearly proposed the "semiotic" nature and function of this "reorganization" operation. In The Temptation of Reorganization, Wang Meng combs out the "reorganization" of the index school of A Dream of Red Mansions and his own "reorganization" experiment of Li Shangyin's poetry. It can be seen that Wang Meng's so-called "reorganization" characteristic of language signs focuses on the exploration of multiple meanings under different combinations of the same set of language signs, which is the literary theory crystallization of the collision of Chinese and Western literary thoughts in contemporary China.Although Wang Meng's literary sign view draws on Western semiotics, its thinking anchor is always the characteristics of Chinese language and Chinese aesthetics.As far as semiotics is concerned, Wang Meng's literary sign view has both entry and transcendence.It produces some cognition beyond Western semiotic theory in the perception and practice of Chinese literature creation.Wang Meng puts forward the "Wu Duan" state of "extra-language", which provides Chinese thinking and Chinese strategy for facing the advantages of sign derivation in semiotic theory to approach true knowledge and the limitation of the sliding of reason in the process of sign use, which is the contribution of Chinese literary discourse to world civilization.

By comparing the narratives of father-son relationship between Houji, the ancestor of Zhou people, and Oedipus myth in ancient Greece, this paper reveals how “respecting father” and “patricide”, as two kinds of intergenerational ethical paradigms, can build up a differentiated solution to the anxiety of power transmission between Chinese and Western civilizations, which can provide new perspectives and practical paths for the mutual understanding of civilizations and the construction of human ethics. This research can provide new perspectives and practical paths for the mutual understanding of civilizations and the construction of human ethics. Firstly, using the method of mythological structure analysis, it is pointed out that the narrative chain of Oedipus' “oracle-patricide-self-punishment” implies the critical projection of the hereditary kingship in the ancient Greek city-states, while the myth of Houji, through the double reverence of “heavenly father and human father”, highlights the political theology of “heavenly order and ancestral virtues” in the Zhou Dynasty. Although the two myths show the superficial opposition between “examining father” and “simulating father”, they are in fact a common response to the legitimacy crisis of bloodline and power. Secondly, from the perspective of cultural psychology, this paper put aside Freud's “patricide complex” interpretation, restore the public anxiety of the Oedipus myth, and analyze how “honoring the father” in the Houji narrative constructs the “blood-land-political ethical community” through sacrificial rituals and patriarchal genealogy. The study also analyzes how “honoring the father” in the Haji narrative constructs an ethical community of “blood-land-politics” through rituals and patriarchal genealogy. It reveals that “patricide” in Ancient Greece is a metaphor for the individual's tragic breakout from patriarchal power, while “honoring the father” in China is an earthly form of the heavenly order. Finally, the study examines the reconstruction of the “patricide” narrative in Western modernity and the transformation dilemma of the “father-honoring” tradition in modern China, and puts forward the viewpoint of “ethical complementarity” between the East and the West. The idea of “ethical complementarity” between China and the West is put forward, which advocates reflecting on and reconstructing the traditional patriarchal structure, transcending the dichotomy between “fatherhood” and “patricide”, and exploring a more inclusive and dynamic model of fatherhood, in order to reconcile the global dilemma of individual freedom and community ethics.

As a medium, the transformation of characters has had a profound impact on society. In the historical process of the development of Chinese civilisation, the Chinese character, in its own iteration, has also reflected all aspects of the social development of the time, including the political system, the level of science and technology, and the living conditions, etc. As an important cultural symbol, it carries phonetic semantics in its initial function, and at the same time unites different individuals by itself. As an important cultural symbol, while fulfilling its initial function of carrying phonetics and semantics, it united various individuals and, through its own simplification, further downgraded itself to become a more universal tool for use. As China's own national power progressed, the Chinese character was gradually spread to minority regions and foreign countries, and also exchanged with local cultures and fused with them, forming a hidden but solid cultural circle of Chinese characters that still plays its role today. However, Chinese characters have not been specifically discussed in the history of Chinese civilisation, but rather as a simple part of it. In the future, therefore, there is a need to strengthen the establishment of a dedicated history of civilisation in Chinese characters, not only in terms of the history of the development of the characters themselves and the way they were created, but also in terms of the exchanges and fusion of Chinese characters in various civilisations. This kind of civilisation history writing for the cultural circle of Chinese characters is also conducive to the dissemination of Chinese culture while improving academic research. Cultural construction is an important means of strengthening cultural confidence. Relevant theoretical research helps to provide solid theoretical support for people's correct understanding, cognition and identification with history, so as to effectively achieve cultural self-confidence. It is only when civilisations learn from each other on the basis of cultural self-confidence that they can maximise their strengths and leave the glory of the long-lasting Chinese character civilisation in the history of the world's civilisations.