2026 marks the 114th anniversary of Alan Turing’s birth. With the comprehensive popularization and booming development of artificial intelligence, there is a widespread lack of historical tracing and cognitive disconnection in society, while the public generally ignores Turing’s foundational contributions to intelligent civilization. From the perspective of the International Society for Design Science, this paper interprets the in-depth digital metaphor of the 114th anniversary and systematically sorts out fourteen key iterations of human intelligent civilization from 1912 to 2026. It explains the core value of Turing machine and Turing test, and combs the academic context of Turing’s machine intelligence theory and Qian Xuesen’s Lingjing theory, verifying the founding mission of ISDS-Meta established in 2022. The paper argues that the impetuous AI era needs to return to scientific origin and humanistic connotation. Looking back on Turing’s scientific spirit can provide theoretical support and value guidance for the integrated development of artificial intelligence, Lingjing technology and metaverse, and promote the rational and sustainable development of digital civilization.
Zhang Jian, the top scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, a modern industrialist in China, and the founder of the Nantong Museum, had one major hobby throughout his life: planting trees. Observing the lush vegetation and the vitality of the wind, he often “felt joy and sang about it, ” and his poems about plants surpassed those of many ancient poets. His lifelong passion and emotional attachment to the surrounding plants were often expressed in his poems and songs. His understanding of plants and mastery of plant metaphors were deeper than those of other literati of his generation and even of many poets throughout history. There are as many as 258 plant species mentioned in Zhang Jian’s poems, which always capture the characteristics of natural scenery, reveal new insights, and have a unique charm. Among them, there are mainly 17 poems that involve the word “peng, ” while the word “peng” appears a total of 2 times in the Book of Songs. What exactly is the plant referred to in Zhang’s poems and the “peng” in the Book of Songs? This article intends to make a superficial comparative exploration, providing a better understanding of the original meaning of the glorious literary masterpiece, the Book of Songs, from one aspect. It aims to illustrate the importance of naming and interpretation, and to seek expert advice. Furthermore, it aims to build a bridge between readers and Zhang Jian’s poems that connects botany, museology, and literature, enhancing the pleasure of reading Zhang Jian’s poems and studying him.
The cultivation and trade of flowers in the Ganzhou region of southern Jiangxi have a long history, with jasmine and orchids being particularly notable. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, this gave rise to the distinctive cultural brand and economic-geographical marker known as “Zhangjiang jasmine, Gongjiang orchid.” This study finds that the flower industry in Qing?dynasty southern Jiangxi had already formed a complete industrial chain encompassing “specialised cultivation - technological storage and transport - branded marketing - consumption embedded in daily life.” Its economic model, characterised by “shipping goods by boat to the Jianghuai region and reaping profits year after year,” along with a socio?cultural landscape in which flower culture was deeply interwoven with everyday headdress adornment, Qixi (Double Seventh) Festival customs, scholar?studio furnishings, literati poetic exchanges, and even urban toponymy, represents a quintessential example of regional flower culture in pre?modern China. By re?examining the cultural genes of “Zhangjiang jasmine and Gongjiang orchid” through the dialectic of inheritance and innovation, this paper offers significant scholarly value and practical relevance for constructing a flower?culture discourse system with distinctively Chinese characteristics.
This research aims to deeply explore the inheritance and revitalization of flower intangible cultural heritage, traditional flower events, and flower custom culture, so as to excavate their profound cultural connotations and contribute to the continuation and development of Chinese excellent traditional culture. Through various research and analysis methods such as field research, in - depth interviews, comparative research, and empirical creation, an in - depth investigation was carried out on the Chahua Festival of the Yi people in Tanhua Township, Dayao County, Chuxiong Prefecture, Yunnan Province, and a systematic analysis was carried out in combination with relevant theories and literature. The study found that flower intangible cultural heritage and related cultures face difficulties such as limited inheritance methods and a shrinking audience during the inheritance process. To this end, effective inheritance and revitalization strategies such as combining with modern design, integrating with the tourism industry, developing cultural and creative products, and strengthening educational inheritance are proposed, providing theoretical and practical references for the sustainable development of flower intangible cultural heritage, traditional flower events, and flower custom culture.
Peony is an important cultural symbol and spiritual symbol of the Chinese nation. As the “Capital of Peonies in China”, Heze has the world's largest, most complete variety and most complete industrial chain of peony industry. Based on the author's two field investigations in Heze and in-depth participation in peony international communication activities, this paper systematically sorts out the development status of Heze peony in industrial foundation, cultural heritage, urban integration and other aspects, and analyzes the problems in its internationalization process, such as insufficient brand value mining, scattered international image, and weak standard discourse power. Supported by theories of cultural communication, industrial upgrading, design innovation and civilized mutual learning, the study proposes that the internationalization of Heze peony needs to lead the promotion of brand value with top-level design, realize value sublimation by building world-class cultural IP, creating core cultural landmarks and strengthening international authoritative image; and constructs a “four-dimensional collaboration” international implementation path from four dimensions: cultural image expansion, international language innovation, whole-chain product design and global civilization sharing, so as to promote the transformation of Heze peony from product export to cultural export and from industrial cooperation to civilized mutual learning. It helps Heze build a world-famous cultural business card, industrial benchmark and highland for civilized mutual learning, and provides practical reference for the internationalization of China's characteristic flower industry and the global communication of Chinese culture.
As one of the most representative core images in the Chinese floral cultural system, the peony stands as a rare floral symbol in ancient Chinese literature that simultaneously embodies aesthetic value, historical narrative, attachment to country, and enduring communicative power.Taking all types of writing of peony imagery in ancient Chinese literature as its research subject, this paper systematically sorts out the imagery’s millennium-long evolution. On this basis, it focuses on expounding four dimensions of cultural representations formed by the peony imagery: the mirror projection of prosperous-era totems and dynastic vicissitudes; the dual unity of wealth and spirit; the profound metaphor for female love and romantic consciousness; and the aesthetic expression of the refined and the popular in secular life.Meanwhile, in response to the practical demands for the innovative development of flower culture, this paper probes into the research on peony literary heritage.
The craftsmanship of Yangzhou Tongcao Flower Making Technique is a provincial level intangible cultural heritage in Jiangsu Province, known for its long history, vibrant colors, lifelike forms, and everlasting nature. At present, this craft faces inheritance dilemmas including a gap in inheritors, market shrinkage, and weak publicity efforts. In recent years, three young inheritors, Zhu Xin, Wang Yunyu, and Cui Fangning have respectively explored three different approaches: short-video dissemination, technique improvement and product innovation, and spatial operation with experience economy, achieving notable results. This paper compares the inheritance paths of these three inheritors and extracts feasible strategies for floral intangible cultural heritage crafts facing similar predicaments, thereby providing impetus for the transmission of traditional Chinese floral culture.
Against the backdrop of the continuous advancement of ecological civilization construction and the in-depth implementation of the “Beautiful China” strategy, public art is shifting from mere landscape decoration toward a comprehensive medium that integrates cultural communication, spatial construction, and value guidance. Floral culture embodies the ecological philosophy of “unity of heaven and humanity” and “endless life and growth,” serving as an important bridge between traditional aesthetic resources and contemporary urban spaces. Based on the theoretical perspective of the transformation of public art from “productive aesthetics” to “receptive aesthetics,” and combined with the symbolic system of floral culture, the formal characteristics of floral sculpture, and representative case studies, this paper analyzes the practical foundations and implementation mechanisms of integrating floral sculpture into ecological civilization construction. The study finds that floral sculpture can facilitate the contemporary transformation of floral culture from traditional aesthetic imagery into public ecological narratives through visual symbol translation, the shaping of place identity, public participation and interaction, institutional coordination and support, and digital communication expansion. In doing so, it plays a positive role in enhancing the quality of urban spaces, strengthening ecological aesthetic awareness, and promoting cultural identity construction. This paper further proposes that efforts should be grounded in regional floral cultural resources, with emphasis on localized expression, the use of ecological materials, and a public-oriented approach, thereby promoting floral sculpture as an important practical medium through which floral culture contributes to the construction of a Beautiful China.
Against the background of China’s urban renewal shifting from spatial expansion to quality-oriented improvement, and with the advancement of the Beautiful China initiative, the coordination between ecological value and cultural value has become a key issue in high-quality urban development. Pocket parks, as frequently used urban micro-spaces, still tend to emphasize landscape form over cultural expression, while Chinese traditional famous flowers face the dilemma of being “suitable but underused” and “usable but insufficiently optimized.” Taking Shanghai as an example, this study integrates field investigation, plant configuration statistics, analysis of 1,387 questionnaires, and policy analysis, and introduces ERG theory to conduct a multidimensional assessment. The aim is to reveal the coupling imbalance between Chinese flower culture and pocket parks. The results show that insufficient institutional support, inadequate plant configuration, discontinuous flowering periods, mismatch between public demand and cultural supply, and weak operation and maintenance jointly restrict the coordinated realization of ecological and cultural values. Accordingly, this study proposes systematic strategies involving policy guidance, operational mechanisms, technical support, plant selection, and spatial coordination, so as to promote the transformation of Chinese traditional famous flowers from landscape elements into cultural carriers and enhance the integration of ecological and humanistic values.
Paeonia lactiflora is a traditional Chinese flower with rich historical and cultural significance. In recent years, diverse localized practices have emerged in Inner Mongolia, integrating peony flower culture into the rural revitalization process. By examining four types of local peony flower culture practices in Inner Mongolia, this paper analyzes their cultural logic and revitalization pathways, and identifies the positive role of flower culture in revitalizing local resources and deepening the integration of agriculture, culture, and tourism. Meanwhile, the study finds that current practices still face challenges such as insufficient depth of cultural narrative, an imbalanced industrial chain structure, and a structural shortage of professional talent, which hinder the sustained advancement of flower culture in empowering rural revitalization. To address these issues, this paper proposes four optimization pathways: deepening the cultural narrative system, extending the flower culture industrial chain, cultivating interdisciplinary talent, and establishing protection mechanisms for wild resources. These measures aim to promote the sustainable development of peony flower culture and contribute to rural revitalization in Inner Mongolia.
