“Sacred, the Laborers”: Writing Chinese in the First World War

This article focuses on the Chinese laborers in World War I France and their writing activities there. As the story of these laborers has been systematically overlooked in the history of World War I and the subsequent May Fourth Movement, this article endeavors to write the laborers back into the historical narrative that connects China, World War I, and May Fourth. It zooms in on how writing became crucial to the laborers and to the very program under which they were recruited. Between the laborers and a group of volunteers sent by the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), there emerged the first modern Chinese mass literacy program. Writing became, on the one hand, a technology that supported the Allied war effort; on the other, it afforded a medium through which the laborers performed a test run of the new modern Chinese language that ushered in Chinese linguistic and literary modernity. An invaluable piece of writing produced by one of the laborers demonstrates how the “sacred laborers,” not unlike their intellectual counterparts, drove home the critique of the Great War and a particular version of the Chinese Enlightenment. Keywords: World War I, May Fourth, James Yen, Chinese laborers, literacy, YMC

Script Crisis and Literary Modernity in China, 1916-1958

This dissertation examines the modern Chinese script crisis in twentieth-century China. It situates the Chinese script crisis within the modern phenomenon of phonocentrism - the systematic privileging of speech over writing. It depicts the Chinese experience as an integral part of a worldwide crisis of non-alphabetic scripts in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It places the crisis of Chinese characters at the center of the making of modern Chinese language, literature, and culture. It investigates how the script crisis and the ensuing script revolution intersect with significant historical processes such as the Chinese engagement in the two World Wars, national and international education movements, the Communist revolution, and national salvation. Since the late nineteenth century, the Chinese writing system began to be targeted as the roadblock to literacy, science and democracy. Chinese and foreign scholars took the abolition of Chinese script to be the condition of modernity. A script revolution was launched as the Chinese response to the script crisis. This dissertation traces the beginning of the crisis to 1916, when Chao Yuen Ren published his English article "The Problem of the Chinese Language," sweeping away all theoretical oppositions to alphabetizing the Chinese script. This was followed by two major movements dedicated to the task of eradicating Chinese characters: First, the Chinese Romanization Movement spearheaded by a group of Chinese and international scholars which was quickly endorsed by the Guomingdang (GMD) Nationalist government in the 1920s; Second, the dissident Chinese Latinization Movement initiated in the Soviet Union and championed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the 1930s. This crisis was brought to an abrupt end in 1958, when Zhou Enlai, the first premier of the People's Republic of China, relegated the Romanization system pinyin to an official auxiliary status, secondary to Chinese characters, thus concluding the half-century struggle between the Chinese script and the alphabet. The final containment of the script crisis was partly a political decision of the new socialist state, and partly the result of the use of "baihua." The multivalent term baihua--plain speech, vernacular, and a colloquialized written language--enabled an unlikely reconciliation between the phonocentric dreams of a Chinese alphabet and a character-based Chinese national language and literature. This alternative solution to the script crisis, which grew from within the Chinese script, was rehearsed in the first modern Chinese anti-illiteracy program in France during the Great War. The solution was consolidated as a colloquialized written Chinese became the staple of modern Chinese literary writing. The negotiated baihua--imprinted profoundly by the phonocentric-biased discourse- on the one hand registers the historical reality of the modern Chinese writing as a written language; on the other, it keeps alive the phonocentric dreams of modern China

Matrine Reverses the Warburg Effect and Suppresses Colon Cancer Cell Growth via Negatively Regulating HIF-1α.

The Warburg effect is a peculiar feature of cancer’s metabolism, which is an attractive therapeutic target that could aim tumor cells while sparing normal tissue. Matrine is an alkaloid extracted from the herb root of a traditional Chinese medicine, Sophora flavescens Ait. Matrine has been reported to have selective cytotoxicity toward cancer cells but with elusive mechanisms. Here, we reported that matrine was able to reverse the Warburg effect (inhibiting glucose uptake and lactate production) and suppress the growth of human colon cancer cells in vitro and in vivo . Mechanistically, we revealed that matrine significantly decreased the messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein expression of HIF-1α, a critical transcription factor in reprogramming cancer metabolism toward the Warburg effect. As a result, the expression levels of GLUT1, HK2, and LDHA, the downstream targets of HIF-1α in regulating glucose metabolism, were dramatically inhibited by matrine. Moreover, this inhibitory effect of matrine was significantly attenuated when HIF-1α was knocked down or exogenous overexpressed in colon cancer cells. Together, our results revealed that matrine inhibits colon cancer cell growth via suppression of HIF-1α expression and its downstream regulation of Warburg effect. Matrine could be further developed as an antitumor agent targeting the HIF-1α-mediated Warburg effect for colon cancer treatment

“Sacred, the Laborers”: Writing Chinese in the First World War

This article focuses on the Chinese laborers in World War I France and their writing activities there. As the story of these laborers has been systematically overlooked in the history of World War I and the subsequent May Fourth Movement, this article endeavors to write the laborers back into the historical narrative that connects China, World War I, and May Fourth. It zooms in on how writing became crucial to the laborers and to the very program under which they were recruited. Between the laborers and a group of volunteers sent by the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), there emerged the first modern Chinese mass literacy program. Writing became, on the one hand, a technology that supported the Allied war effort; on the other, it afforded a medium through which the laborers performed a test run of the new modern Chinese language that ushered in Chinese linguistic and literary modernity. An invaluable piece of writing produced by one of the laborers demonstrates how the “sacred laborers,” not unlike their intellectual counterparts, drove home the critique of the Great War and a particular version of the Chinese Enlightenment

Comparison of the Effects of High Pressure Processing, Pasteurization and High Temperature Short Time on the Physicochemical Attributes, Nutritional Quality, Aroma Profile and Sensory Characteristics of Passion Fruit Purée

The study investigated the effects of high-pressure processing (HPP) (600 MPa/5 min), pasteurization (PT) (85 °C/30 s), and high-temperature short time (HTST) (110 °C/8.6 s) on physicochemical parameters (sugar, acid, pH, TSS), sensory-related attributes (color, aroma compounds), antioxidants (phenolics, vitamin C, carotenoids, antioxidant capacity), and sensory attributes of yellow passion fruit purée (PFP). Compared to the PT and HTST, HPP obtained the PFP with better color, sugar, and organic acid profiles. Although PT was equally effective preservation of antioxidants and antioxidant capacity of PFP compared to HPP, high temperature inevitable resulted in the greater degradation of the aroma profile. The amounts of esters, alcohols, and hydrocarbon in PFP were significantly increased by 11.3%, 21.3%, and 30.0% after HPP, respectively. All samples were evaluated by a panel comprising 30 panelists according to standard QDA (quantitative descriptive analysis) procedure, and the result showed that HPP-treated PFP was rated the highest overall intensity score with 7.06 for its sensory attributes, followed by control (6.96), HTST (6.17), and PT (6.16). Thus, HPP is a suitable alternative technology for achieving the good sensory quality of PFP without compromising their nutritional properties

Dynamic changes in chemical composition and microbial community characteristics during pile-fermentation process of Phyllanthus emblica Linn. fruit

Pile-fermentation is a common processing step for Phyllanthus emblica L. fruit (PEF) in its producing area. This process enhances its flavor, reduces astringency, and increases its health benefits. However, the mechanism behind pile-fermentation and the key factors impacting PEF quality remain unknown, becoming an urgent challenge that limits its further application. To address this issue, 87 volatile compounds were analyzed by HS-SPME/GC-QQQ-MS/MS and identified acetic acid and ethyl acetate as distinguishing markers before and after fermentation. The results found that 2-methoxy-3-isobutylpyrazine contributes to the differences in odor after fermentation based on the odor intensity characteristic spectrum. Illumina Miseq sequencing of ITS1 region and 16SrDNA V4 region was performed to investigate the microbial succession during the pile-fermentation. A total of 4 phyla 34 genera of fungi and 15 phyla 61 genera of bacteria were detected in all samples. The results showed that the dominant bacteria had significant differences due to different habitats before fermentation, and the diversity increased after fermentation, while the fungal diversity exhibited the opposite trend. Aspergillus and the Unclassified_f_Necriaceae genus emerged as dominant genera after fermentation. Additionally, through UPLC-QTOF-MS analysis, we identified 18 differential components before and after fermentation. Among these, 5 compounds, such as 2-O-galloyl-1,4-galactolactone and 1-methyl-2-gallate galactose ester, showed a downward trend, whereas 13 compounds, including corilagin and chebulitic acid, exhibited an upward trend. These changes weakened astringency while improving sourness and aftertaste sweetness. The results of this study hold significant importance in clarifying the fermentation mechanism and improving the quality standards of PEF

De novo Phased Genome Assembly, Annotation and Population Genotyping of Alectoris Chukar

Abstract The Alectoris Chukar (chukar) is the most geographically widespread partridge species in the world, demonstrating exceptional adaptability to diverse ecological environments. However, the scarcity of genetic resources for chukar has hindered research into its adaptive evolution and molecular breeding. In this study, we have sequenced and assembled a high-quality, phased chukar genome that consists of 31 pairs of relatively complete diploid chromosomes. Our BUSCO analysis reported a high completeness score of 96.8% and 96.5%, with respect to universal single-copy orthologs and a low duplication rate (0.3% and 0.5%) for two assemblies. Through resequencing and population genomic analyses of six subspecies, we have curated invaluable genotype data that underscores the adaptive evolution of chukar in response to both arid and high-altitude environments. These data will significantly contribute to research on how chukars adaptively evolve to cope with desertification and alpine climates