Sinología hispánica. China Studies Review

Analysing Sino-European Relations through Different Editions of The History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of China by Juan González de Mendoza

Gao Bo — 2024-07-15

For five centuries, The History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of China by Juan González de Mendoza has had a major influence on the international academic community. Each edition of Mendoza’s book offers an updated interpretation of the contemporary process of Sino-Western relations. This study sets out to explore the process through which the book was translated into Chinese, tracing its source texts and analyzing the isomorphism between different editions and the influence of Sino-Western relations in different contexts.

Metaphor Analysis in Political Discourse: A Comparative Study of the Chinese and Spanish Presidents

Dai Xin — 2024-07-15

Based on the conferences of the Chinese president Xi Jinping and the Spanish Pedro Sánchez during the period from 2018 to 2021, this work compares the metaphor in political discourse from the trinocular perspective. ‘From below’, the linguistic characteristic of metaphor is summarized, such as density, resonance and novelty in the Chinese and Spanish corpus; ‘from middle’, the systematic mapping is revealed to understand the cognitive thinking and psychological effect of the two leaders; and ‘from above’, the functions of metaphor are analyzed in reflecting the diplomatic relationship, the identity of the party, the interpersonal objective and the political panorama of the two countries. In this way, we are able to compare in depth the linguistic, cognitive and social aspects of the metaphors, as well as the political thoughts and governance concepts of China and Spain.

Acquisition of the Chinese Demonstratives “zhe” and “na” by Spanish Speakers

Wang Ziwei — 2024-07-15

This paper examines the effects of differences in Chinese and Spanish demonstratives on the acquisition of Chinese demonstratives zhè/nà (这/那) by native Spanish speakers, through the analysis of a self-constructed intermediary language corpus, questionnaires, and an interview method in conjunction with a mainstream Chinese textbook in the Spanish-speaking regions. It was found that primary level learners focus their usage on situational deixis, intermediate and advanced level learners mostly use contextual deixis, both of them use grammaticalized deixis. In addition, some typical errors made by primary level speakers, such as the confusion of zhè and nà, zhège (这个) and zhème (这么), zhè/nà and tā (它/他/她), are also made by intermediate and advanced speakers. And their reasons lie in the ignorance of zhè/nà on the part of teachers and Chinese textbooks, and some inappropriate explanations, etc. The results of this study will provide academic references for the teaching of zhè/nà to Spanish speakers, and we also offer suggestions for the design of Chinese textbooks and the teaching in the Spanish-speaking world with respect to demonstratives.

ChatGPT as a Conversational Agent in Chinese Language Learning for Spanish Speakers

Wang Xiaoling — 2024-07-16

Based on the recent emergence of artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT, this study aims to explore the utilization of this linguistic model in the domain of a second language, specifically Chinese. The objective is to propose novel ideas regarding Chinese language learning strategies within the Spanish-speaking context, with the aim of improving the effectiveness of non-immersive teaching through the incorporation of tools like ChatGPT. Special attention is given to the development of conversational skills and the analysis of ChatGPT's role in communicating with Chinese language learners, evaluating its effectiveness, accuracy, and cultural relevance in communication. The results suggest that ChatGPT has the potential to enhance student motivation for communication, refine the accuracy of instructional content, and effectively address their knowledge requirements in a relatively unbiased manner, which will help to facilitate the amelioration of intercultural barriers.

A Comparative Study of Rosa Montero and Zhang Jie’s Women’s Fiction of the 1970s

Shi Lili — 2024-07-15

This article focuses on analysing the novel Crónica del desamor by Spanish female writer Rosa Montero and the work The Ark by Chinese female writer Zhang Jie, using these two women's novels as examples for comparative study. The study is conducted from different perspectives in five points, namely, period background, writer's biography, novel study, female characters analysis and influence of works, comparing the similarities and differences in images of women, women's rights, women's status and women's consciousness between Spanish and Chinese women in the 1970s, and analysing the profound reasons behind them, in order to promote the understanding of women's literature in China and in Spain.

Preferences and Evaluations of Spanish-Speaking University Students on Chinese Language Textbooks

Lin Jia — 2024-07-15

In Spain, in 2018, the number of Spanish students learning Chinese surpassed 40,000, and an increasing number of universities offer Mandarin Chinese courses at both undergraduate and master's levels. This growth has also sparked significant interest in the use and development of Chinese language teaching manuals in the academic field. The New Practical Chinese Reader, being the most widely used manual in Spanish universities for over 20 years, has been an exemplary and excellent guide to the Chinese language; however, its utility in certain aspects of language teaching does not align with current times. Therefore, this study conducted a questionnaire aimed at 68 Spanish university students majoring in Mandarin Chinese as their first foreign language, in order to understand their preferences, opinions, and evaluations of the New Practical Chinese Reader. The results obtained provide a foundation for the creation of future Chinese teaching manuals and the application of advanced teaching methods.

The Adaptation of the 1.5 Generation of Chinese Immigrants in Spain

Zhilong Shi — 2024-07-15

Since the 1980s, Chinese immigrants in Spain have experienced rapid and steady growth, emerging as a significant part of Spanish society. In comparison to the first generation of Chinese immigrants who settled in Spain (parents), the 1.5 generation (children) exhibits more characteristics of Spanish life. However, due to the inherent Chinese attributes of the 1.5 generation Chinese immigrant population, inevitable cultural conflicts arise during the process of local socialization. In the clash of dual cultures, the question of “where do I belong” becomes a persistent source of identity confusion. This article takes the cultural interactions between the 1.5 generation immigrants and local Spanish culture as a starting point to explore the cultural adaptation of the new generation of Chinese immigrants in Spain. The research findings indicate that the 1.5 generation of Chinese immigrants in Spain faces challenges such as family separation, discrimination, and employment issue, but they demonstrate a strong commitment to family and the family business, and find a unique cultural identity between Spanish and Chinese culture.

Contrastive Study of Universal quantifiers in Spanish and their Counterparts in Chinese

Hui Shi — 2024-07-15

Within the range of quantifiers, universal quantifiers form a special part, since they express the totality of units. There are three universal quantifiers in Spanish: todo/a(s), cada and ambo/as. Thus, the main aim of this paper is to carry out a contrastive study of the three words in Spanish and their counterparts in Mandarin Chinese from syntactic and semantic perspectives by examining the data from the reviewed literature, from two corpora, CORPES (Corpus del Español del Siglo XXI) of Spanish and BCC (BLCU Corpus Center) of Chinese, and from introspection. After taking a brief look at the different opinions of the frequent use of the word 都 dōu in universal quantification sentences and stating the starting point of this article, we perform the comparative analysis one by one and grasp the similarities and differences of the universal quantifiers in Spanish and their counterparts in Mandarin Chinese. In addition, a look at some particular forms that express universal quantification in Mandarin Chinese is offered.

The Thread of Landscape Thinking in China: from the Legacy of West Lake to Ecological Civilization in the 21st Century

María José Masnou Morera — 2024-07-15

The civilizing component of the landscape in China justifies the development of this article, why the reading of nature through a cosmology and cultural construction of the landscape for centuries, represents a very significant differential contribution to the reading of nature and man in Western civilization. This text confronts the cultural construct of the landscape in the history of Chinese civilization and the character of green space as a regenerating, balanced, and transforming instrument for cities with serious deficits and environmental problems in the 21st century. We identified the need to connect the distinctive cultural legacy of the landscape of Chinese civilization and the contemporary landscape narrative that emphasize its instrumental value as infrastructure and ecological services.Case studies, West Lake, and two contemporary urban regeneration projects, Xuhui Runway Park and Houtan Urban Park in Shanghai. Western Lake and its surroundings in Hangzhou are a historic reference for their landscape values, to which their physical geography, literary identity, and spatial readability contribute.