The Russian Sinologist Boris L. Riftin mainly adopted the perspective of historical evolution and Russian literary theories to compare and summarize the motifs and plots of the stories about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and explored the influence of written literature in the Middle Ages and afterwards on oral creations. The feature of his research lies in the systematic study of the smallest plot units of the works. During the long historical evolution of the stories about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the rewriting by literati gave birth to cross-media and multi-genre works about the Three Kingdoms among the folk, such as Transformation Texts (Bianwen), Pinghua (Storytelling), New Year pictures, and Traditional Operas.This is a manifestation of living cross-media literature. Meanwhile, the analysis of character images is the key to the study of the stories about the Three Kingdoms. This article will combine Riftin's research and relevant commentaries, and utilize the theory of cross-media literature to sort out and summarize the Russian Sinologist Boris L. Riftin's research on the character images of the stories about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in different genres. It will also explore how he used the perspective of historical evolution to study the mutual relationship between literati literature and folk literature, compare how the expressions and descriptive ways of the stories in different genres transitioned from purely written media literature to oral media literature, further analyze how the character images of the story combined with folk religious beliefs in the process of cross-media dissemination and evolution, and how Sinologists unearthed the internal cultural metaphors of the character images of the story from the cross-media perspective.

Abstract: Su Shi’s proposition of “creative ideas go beyond the law” （出新意于法度）and “permanent principle being superior to constant form”（无常形而有常理） is the embodiment of the principle of “Tao conditioned by Nature”（道法自然） in artistic creation. The translation and interpretation of Su Shi’s art spirit in American art history is based on the principle in the painting practice. Scholars such as Osvald Siren, Susan Bush, Driscoll, George Rowley, etc. have been assigned the missions to translate and interpret the empirical and perceptive theories of Chinese art. Their research not only involved the understanding and interpretation of the fundamental similarities between art creation and natural world, but different opinions were put forward on the translation methods of the core concepts, such as 势(force or shi), 生动(life movement or shengdong) , which provided a reference for the development of western art theory, contributing to the development of Chinese art theory in foreign lands.

The animated fairy tale film, as a specific type of film genre, combines an important feature shared by fairy tale and animated film - ‘transformation’. From a metaphorical perspective, this feature promotes an imaginative experience and understanding of the historical past. In this paper, we take the folklore of Cinderella as a case study of the theoretical discussions triggered by the dissemination of European fairy tales and American Disney animated films. As one of the most widely circulated classic fairy tales in the world, the collection, dissemination and adaptation of the Cinderella story has been a modernisation process, with enchantment and exorcism reflecting the complexity of its modernity. Through the re-creation of animated films, the modern understanding of transformation provides a pertinent window for the examination of the relationship between folk fairy tales and animated films in the perspective of globalisation. Based on literature on fairy tales and animated filmes, especially Disney animated fairy tale films, this paper examines the significance of “transformation” in metaphorically bridging past and present, and in understanding the interplay between representation and expression. The transformation of animated fairy tale films raises a problem of imaginative identity that we might call the rewriting of memories in the age of globalization. Therefore, this is a journey of searching for historical significance, through Disney, beyond Disney, into the generation of new historical meanings. This, we hope, is a historical memory that future animated fairy tale films might have.

After the introduction of “Everlasting Regret”, a poem by the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi, into Japan, it not only had a profound impact on Japanese literature but was also reshaped through other artistic mediums, undergoing a process of re-classicization and becoming one of the themes in Japanese artistic creation. The Edo period marked the transformation of the theme of “Everlasting Regret” from aristocratic literature to popular art. During this period, the theme underwent an aesthetic shift towards secularization and popularization in the process of cross-artistic adaptation. Its emotional core also shifted from sorrow to joy, generating new vitality. This article, from an inter-media perspective and in conjunction with the historical background, analyzes the paintings, decorations, and musical works themed around “Everlasting Regret” during the Edo period, revealing the profound influence of the story of “Everlasting Regret” on the rise of the merchant class and the integration of Japanese popular culture in the Edo period.