• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.51
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• pp.129-158
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• 2018

China has had many excellent Chinese-style animation since the 1950s. These animations are of distinctive Chinese national characteristics. They have won many awards both at home and abroad, such as "Feelings of Mountains and Waters", "Uproar In Heaven", "Why is the Crow Black-Coated" and so on. But nowadays, Chinese animations that mimics Japanese and American animation are very often, and there are few animation works with rich traditional Chinese culture. There are some works in the name of Chinese style, but they have not been fully accepted by the audiences. If one wants to create animated works of Chinese style, the author must have an in-depth understanding of Chinese traditional and folk art. Animation can not be designed only on the surface. This paper mainly studies the traditional five color concept in China and its application in animation. The purpose is to provide some references to differentiate Chinese animation from other countries in terms of style and color. The main content of this paper is to understand the concept and history of Chinese traditional five color views, and to know that this color system has reflected the ancestors' concept of nature and society. On the basis of five monochromatic colors, red, yellow, green, white and black, it is a kind of complex color concept that has been developed and perfected continuously after a long period of accumulation and precipitation in the practice of life. It is the theoretical basis of Chinese traditional color system and a complete set of historical, cultural, philosophical and religious theories. Finally, this paper analyzes the colors and their symbolic meanings of the main roles in "Uproar In Heaven", a color long animation produced by Shanghai Animation Film Studio, including Sun Wukong, the Jade Emperor and Na Zha. Color is the first visual language. The use of color symbols to express the inner feelings, status, good and evil of the characters will affect the audience's emotions, behaviors and opinions imperceptibly. The traditional Chinese five color concept has gone through such a long history, and its symbolic meaning has a more profound impact on Chinese people. Applying the color concept and symbolic meaning of Chinese traditional five color concept will further highlight the personalities and emotions of the roles in Chinese style animations. This paper takes the five-color view as the theoretical basis, and through the analysis of cartoons with traditional Chinese color, the author finds ways to flexibly use traditional Chinese culture.

• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
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• v.145
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• pp.91-117
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• 2018

This paper aims to clarify the similarities and differences between the Zhouyi and artificial intelligence. The divination of the Zhouyi is rooted in the oldest system of human knowledge, while artificial intelligence stands at the cutting edge of modern scientific revolution. At first sight, there does not appear to be any association that links the one to the another. However, they share the same ground as seen from a semiotic standpoint because both of them depend on the semiotic system as a means of obtaining knowledge. At least four aspects can be pointed out in terms of similarities. First, artificial intelligence and the Zhouyi use artificial language that consists of semiotic signs. Secondly, the principle that enables divination and artificial intelligence lies in imitation and representation. Thirdly, artificial intelligence and the Zhouyi carry out inferences based on mathematical algorithms that adopt the binary system. Fourth, artificial intelligence and the Zhouyi use analogy as a means of obtaining knowledge. However, those similarities do not guarantee that the Zhouyi could arrive at the scientific certainty. Nevertheless, it can give us important insight into the essence of our civilization. The Zhouyi uses intellect in order to get new information about the unknown world. However, it is hard to know what kind of intellect is involved in the process of divination. Likewise, we do not know the fundamental character of artificial intelligence. The intellect hidden in the unknown subject is a mystic and fearful existence to us. Just as the divination of the Zhouyi inspires the sense of reverence toward the supernatural subject, we could not but have fear in front of the invisible subject hidden in artificial intelligence. In the past, traditional philosophy acknowledged the existence of intellect only in conscious beings. Nonetheless, it becomes evident that human civilization ushers into a new epoch. As Ray Kurzweil mentioned, the moment of singularity comes when artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence. In my viewpoint, the term of singularity can be used for denoting the critical point in which the human species enters into the new phase of civilization. To borrow the term of Shao Yong(邵雍) in the Northern Song Dynasty, the past civilization belongs to the Earlier Heaven(先天), the future civilization belongs to the Later Heaven(後天). Once our civilization passes over the critical point, it is impossible to go back into the past. The opening of the Later Heaven foretold by the religious thinkers in the late period of Joseon Dynasty was a prophecy in its own age, but it is becoming a reality in the present.