Startseite Reconstructing and translating regional cultural ideo-symbols through comparative glocalism: the case of Jiangsu
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Reconstructing and translating regional cultural ideo-symbols through comparative glocalism: the case of Jiangsu

  • Xiangchun Meng

    Xiangchun Meng is Professor of English and translation studies in the School of International Studies at Soochow University. He received his Ph.D. in literary theory and completed his postdoctoral research in the English translation of Chinese classics. His major academic interests include translation theory and practice, the English translation of Chinese culture and literature, literary theory and criticism, Translation Dynamics, and Civilization Intermirrology. His publications include more than 60 academic journal papers, about 50 newspaper column articles, 11 translated books on literature and culture, and 1 monograph on F. R. Leavis. He is the founder of Translation Dynamics and of Civilization Intermirrology. He has proposed a series of critical concepts in translation and culture studies including “comparative glocalism” and “internally generated and externally shaped Chinese modernity.”

    und Zhinan Ji

    Zhinan Ji is a doctoral student of translation studies in the School of International Studies at Soochow University. Her academic interests include gender and translation, trans-writings of modern China, and Translation Dynamics.

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Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 10. Juni 2025

Abstract

The translation and international communication of regional and national cultural ideo-symbols promote the reception and visibility of cultural identity in a globalized context and contribute to global cultural diversity and intercivilizational appreciation. Jiangsu Province exemplifies China’s broader efforts to construct or reconstruct its cultural identity for this purpose. From its huge wealth of cultural symbols, we propose six most representative interconnected yet autonomous established or reconstructed ideo-symbols, including the traditional Chinese character “蘇,” symbolizing a land of fish, rice, and botanic exuberance; “water paradise,” evoking a water-nurtured land of material affluence and civilizational excellence; “water-rhymed Jiangsu,” highlighting the presence of water in Jiangsu’s classical writings and collective consciousness; “Jiangnan,” often as a poeticized and romanticized space of half-earthly and half-Utopian nature; “harmonious and inclusive Jiangsu,” conveying the triad harmony of humanity, nature, and culture; and “elegant-living Jiangsu,” capturing the ritualistic transformation of everyday life into aesthetic experience and artistic existence. Comparative glocalism, both as a way of thinking and as a practice in translation, offers an effective strategy for introducing these ideo-symbols to international audiences. Through comparative glocalism, these symbols can be translated into globally relevant yet locally grounded entities within accessible discourse, retaining their significance while advancing cross-cultural and intercivilizational dialogue. To this end, we further propose a series of initiatives and practices, including employing digital storytelling and semiotic narratives, enhancing cross-disciplinary, multichannel collaborations, launching cultural exchange programs, optimizing multimodal platforms, engaging with Internet content influencers, developing specialized databases and websites, organizing cultural symbol design competitions, etc. This study offers an integrated, newly constructed newly constructed ideo-symbolic system and communication strategy for the international communication of Jiangsu’s cultural symbols. It may inform and inspire other local or national cultures’ global outreach.

1 Cultural symbols and their communication within and across cultures

How a nation communicates its cultural identity across national boundaries has gained increasing significance given its role in shaping national image and reputation in a global context, especially at a time of tension. As China emerges on the world stage, there arises a more urgent need to construct or reconstruct a distinctive civilization identification system both for cultural faith building and for cross-cultural communication. While research on national cultural symbols has been growing in China (see Liu 2023; Zhang 2018), far less attention has been paid to regional symbols, including those of Jiangsu. Jiangsu, endowed with rich cultural resources, offers a compelling case for the examination of the system of cultural symbols and its global communication and outreach. This paper aims to explore what cultural ideo-symbols of Jiangsu can be constructed or reconstructed and synthesized into a holistic system so that they can be combined to best capture Jiangsu’s cultural identity, and how these reconstructed cultural ideo-symbols can be more effectively communicated internationally in terms of translation and beyond.

In the lexicon of social sciences, culture is a vast and elusive concept (Wang and Guan 2022). Jiangsu culture refers to the unique set of cultural practices, traditions, values, customs, and expressions that have developed over centuries in Jiangsu Province of east China. It is shaped by the province’s long history, advantageous geographic location, and diverse communities, and is characterized by a blend of antiquity and modernity. Cities such as Nanjing, Suzhou, Yangzhou, Xuzhou, and many others have played significant roles in shaping Jiangsu’s, and even China’s intellectual, literary, aesthetic, historical, architectural, and political landscapes. On the basis of the types of elements, cultural symbols of Jiangsu can be classified into various categories as follows:

  1. Historical and cultural heritage, including historical landmarks, ancient cities, and significant events and figures, such as the city of Nanjing, the Ming Dynasty Great Wall, and prominent cultural figures like Fan Zhongyan (989–1052).

  2. Artistic and aesthetic expressions, covering performing arts such as Kunqu opera and Suzhou Pingtan (storytelling and ballad singing), handicrafts like Suzhou embroidery, Yixing clay teapots, and Nanjing brocade, as well as visual arts including Chinese landscape paintings inspired by the serene beauty of local scenery.

  3. Language and literary symbols, including dialects such as Wu Chinese (the Suzhou dialect), the Nanjing dialect, and Xuzhou Mandarin, as well as literature including classical poetry by Tang and Song scholars and Jiangnan (regions south of the Yangtze River) romantic writings of different genres and styles.

  4. Architectural and spatial works include classical gardens such as Suzhou gardens (e.g., the Humble Administrator’s Garden and the Lingering Garden), traditional buildings like the Nanjing city walls, and water towns such as Zhouzhuang, Tongli, and Luzhi of Suzhou. Modern landmarks include the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge and the Suzhou Industrial Park.

  5. Natural and geographic symbols, covering waterways such as the Grand Canal (a UNESCO World Heritage site), the Yangtze River, Taihu Lake, the Jiangnan countryside, the Qinhuai River in Nanjing, and Yuntai Mountain on the Sea in Lianyungang. The fauna of the area features red-crowned cranes in the Yancheng wetlands. Spiritual symbols are represented by some time-honored temples such as the Jiming Temple of Nanjing and the Hanshan Temple of Suzhou.

Like quite many other provinces of China, Jiangsu has invested in promoting the reconstruction and refinement of its cultural symbols within and across cultures, the incentive beneath which, understandably, is to win cultural recognition and cultural visibility at home and abroad, and thereby to serve a broader agenda in terms of economic development and social wellbeing. By organizing various cultural festivals, international expos, and cultural exchanges, Jiangsu has actively participated in the international communication of Chinese culture (Business Wire 2024). For instance, in the “Chinese Culture Going Global Initiative,” Jiangsu has leveraged its unique cultural resources such as Suzhou’s classical gardens, Nanjing’s historical landmarks, and Yangzhou’s culinary culture to present the province as a cultural hub and an important window for the international communication of Chinese culture.

Recent years have seen growing academic interest in the symbolic system of Chinese civilization and other civilizations in a world full of cultural tension and, in Samuel Huntington’s (1993) term, civilizational clash. Refining and showcasing regional and national cultural symbols across cultures helps to promote their global visibility and to foster cross-cultural dialogue and intercivilizational understanding. The uniqueness and achievements of each civilization are valuable because, when combined, they define the diversity of human experience. Therefore, the international communication of regional and national cultural symbols holds universal significance, necessitating translation and research from multiple perspectives.

2 Comparative glocalism as a methodology of translation and cross-cultural communication

2.1 Culture as a system of ideo-symbols

Culture, largely an ideo-semiotic construct, encompasses meanings and values embedded in a community’s traditions, notions, practices, and material realizations. Cultural symbols serve as carriers of collective memory and identity, enabling societies to communicate historical narratives and ideological frameworks (Wang and Guan 2022). The concept of culture as a symbolic system originates from structuralist and semiotic traditions, where symbols and signs function as fundamental units of meaning. From a symbolic perspective, cultural identity is not a fixed entity, but a dynamic process shaped by historical transformations and cross-cultural exchanges. Symbols acquire significance through social interactions and institutional frameworks, reinforcing a shared sense of belonging within a cultural community.

Jiangsu’s cultural identity is deeply rooted in its symbolic representations reflected in its historical sites, artistic heritage, philosophical traditions, geographical features, etc. The province has long been a center of Confucian scholarship, literary production, and artistic excellence, contributing significantly to the formation of regional and national identity. By examining Jiangsu’s cultural assets through the lens of symbolic systems, this study aims to illuminate the reconstruction or refining of cultural representations across national and cultural boundaries.

2.2 The approach of comparative glocalism

In translation studies, the term “comparative glocalism,” combining “globalization” with “localization,” values a systematic, synthetic, inclusive, and omnipresent though not always noticeable comparison and interaction between the global and the local. It also emphasizes the integration of local cultural essence with global communicability, ensuring that a culture retains its original characteristics and achieves accessibility among international audiences (Meng 2023). This approach, involving multidimensional comparison and synthesis of elements of different cultures within an identity-difference spectrum, helps to balance faithfulness and accessibility through widely acceptable discourse. Such a comparative, incorporating method transforms translation from a mere linguistic conversion into a cultural dialogue, contributing to the exchange and mutual learning between cultures, the studies of which can be properly termed as “Civilization Intermirrology” (文明互鉴学, wenming hujian xue), which has the potential to become a theory of civilizational studies, a discipline on a par with or under foreign languages and literature, or an undergraduate and graduate program that transcends area studies (for area studies focus on “them,” while Civilization Intermirrology juxtaposes both “them” and “us” with equal emphasis).

The call for a global vision inherent in the approach of comparative glocalism sets translation within a broader cultural context, thus facilitating the understanding of the original text. Globally accessible discourse ensures the comprehensibility of the translation as a product, allowing it to reach a wider audience with better effect. Retaining the characteristics and distinct voices of local culture guarantees the autonomy of the translation and the authenticity of the original culture. The first part of comparative glocalism (格融, ge rong) originates from the idiom “to investigate and compare things to acquire knowledge” (格物致知, ge wu zhi zhi), which implies that the translator must conduct multidimensional comparisons and analyses of concepts and entities from different cultures in the process of translation. The latter part means integration and fusion, emphasizing mutual reference, incorporation, and assimilation between cultures, ultimately forming a hybrid yet authentic cultural form different from both that of the original and that of the target language.

The international communication of local cultural ideo-symbols following the approach of comparative glocalism will manifest its distinctive features mainly in these five aspects: (1) blended linguistic expression: achieved through comparative discourses, forming the foundation of translation; (2) hybrid style: the translated text will present a “third-text” style, distinct from both the source and target language text styles; (3) incorporated knowledge and culture: promoting knowledge, cultural dialogue, and mutual learning among civilizations; (4) shared aesthetics: achieving cultural resonance and shared beauty through aesthetic reflection; and (5) integrated thought: fostering interaction and integration of different ideas and perspectives. These five aspects are all underpinned by this cognitive law: elements of a culture, among other things, must be understood with “the other” as a framework of reference as well as the basis for cross-cultural linguistic and semiotic expression. This approach enables Jiangsu culture to preserve its distinct cultural identity while effectively engaging with global cultural dialogue. Through comparative glocalism, Jiangsu’s cultural ideo-symbols can transcend local contexts and provide a bridge between ancient traditions and contemporary global sensibilities and values. These meaning potentials are shaped not only by linguistic codes but also by their embeddedness in social semiotic systems, which enable meanings to shift across contexts and audiences (Halliday 1978).

3 The reconstruction of Jiangsu’s cultural ideo-symbols and their cross-cultural communication through comparative glocalism

We analyze various cultural symbols of Jiangsu to reveal the notions and values beneath them, which are deeply tied to the region’s cultural heritage, historical context, and traditional customs, thus laying a solid foundation for their translation and semiotic transformation for international communication purposes. We first identify or reconstruct the fundamental elements that reflect Jiangsu’s distinctive cultural identity, which constitutes an essential part of China’s broader cultural narrative. One of the most important purposes of this paper is to refine and reconstruct Jiangsu’s cultural ideo-symbols from among its huge reservoir of symbols on the basis of regional typicality, cultural profundity, cultural visibility, and communicability. This aligns with Yuri Lotman’s (1990) conception of the semiosphere, where culture functions as a dynamic semiotic space constituted by symbolic texts that encode collective memory and identity. The specific cultural icons we thus refine and construct include (1) the Chinese character “蘇” (su); (2) “water paradise” (水天堂, shui tiantang); (3) “water-rhymed Jiangsu” (水韵江苏, shui yun Jiangsu); (4) “Jiangnan” (江南); (5) “harmonious and inclusive Jiangsu” (和融江苏, he rong Jiangsu); and (6) “elegant-living Jiangsu” (雅活江苏, ya huo Jiangsu). These ideo-symbols, which are refined, as we observe, from people’s long-established perception and conception of Jiangsu in cultural terms, reflect the region’s most distinctive cultural identity. We propose organizing them into three thematic clusters – foundational ecological identity, cultural-aesthetic imaginary, and humanistic and harmonious way of life – to enhance coherence and cross-cultural communicability through comparative glocalism, a translational paradigm that balances local specificity with global relevance.

3.1 Foundational ecological identity: 蘇 (Su) and “Water Paradise”

The character “蘇” (simplified: 苏), drawn from the name “江苏” (Jiangsu), is the most foundational symbol of the province’s identity. More than an administrative designation, “蘇” encapsulates Jiangsu’s deep-rooted agricultural abundance. Its radicals – 艹 (plants), 魚 (fish), and 禾 (crops) – pictographically represent a fertile land nurtured by water. This character embodies Jiangsu’s longstanding identity as a “land of fish and rice” (鱼米之乡, yu mi zhi xiang), a historical and material reality grounded in its dense river networks and fertile plains.

When reinterpreted through comparative glocalism, “蘇” acquires broader ecological and philosophical significance. It symbolizes not only Jiangsu’s agrarian prosperity but also its alignment with global discourses on environmental sustainability and harmonious human–nature relations. Through annotated translation and semiotic visualization, “蘇” can be positioned as an emblem of ecological consciousness and cultural continuity.

Closely related is the ideo-symbol of “Water Paradise” (水天堂, shui tiantang), which extends the ecological significance of “蘇” into a utopian ideal. “Paradise” connotes a high level of civility and well-being, while “water” signifies the foundational material and symbolic element sustaining life, society, and culture. Water is both a geographic feature and a philosophical metaphor for balance, adaptability, and vitality. Water is the source of all things, the mother of all life, and the model of virtue (Allan 1997). “Water Paradise” can represent Jiangsu’s model of ecological harmony and sustainable urban–rural integration.

3.2 Cultural-aesthetic imaginary: “Water-rhymed Jiangsu” and “Jiangnan”

“Water-rhymed Jiangsu” (水韵江苏, shui yun Jiangsu) frames water not merely as a natural resource but as a cultural rhythm embedded in literature, architecture, and everyday life. Water nurtures Jiangsu’s poetic consciousness, exemplified in the saying “Suzhou alone offers half of Jiangnan poetry.” Suzhou, one of Jiangsu’s major cities, stands as a cultural microcosm of this imagery, where canals, gardens, and artistic traditions interweave into an enduring poetic lifestyle. Globally, this symbol translates into a metaphor for sustainable aesthetics – how the flow of water embodies both environmental vitality and cultural continuity.

Jiangnan (江南), often associated with Jiangsu and the Yangtze Delta, extends this aesthetic into a mythical-poetic realm. Jiangnan represents a romanticized, half-earthly, half-utopian space filled with lyrical beauty, literary refinement, and sensory grace. As a semiotic construct, it transcends geographical boundaries and offers an imaginative landscape where ideals of refined living, harmony, and natural elegance are realized.

3.3 Humanistic and harmonious way of life: “Harmonious and Inclusive Jiangsu” and “Elegant-living Jiangsu”

“Harmonious and Inclusive Jiangsu” (和融江苏, he rong Jiangsu) represents the confluence of diversity and unity. It draws from the five defining traits of Chinese civilization – continuity, innovation, unity, inclusiveness, and peacefulness. Jiangsu embodies these through its integration of Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist thought, its scholarly traditions, and its historical openness to internal and cross-cultural exchange. As a cultural bridge linking North and South China, and East and West, Jiangsu’s inclusivity extends to global dialogues. Through comparative glocalism, this ideo-symbol becomes an emblem of intercultural understanding and mutual respect.

“Elegant-living Jiangsu” (雅活江苏, ya huo Jiangsu) captures the transformation of everyday life into ritual and aesthetic experience. This elegance is expressed in Kunqu opera, literati gardens, tea culture, and other intangible cultural heritage practices that elevate the mundane into the poetic. “Elegant living” is not a luxury but a philosophy of life rooted in balance, refinement, and cultural consciousness. When translated and recontextualized, it resonates with global interests in slow living, mindful dwelling, and aesthetic sustainability. It also overlaps conceptually with “Humanistic Jiangsu” (人文江苏, renwen Jiangsu), underscoring the province’s enduring pursuit of a cultured and meaningful life.

3.4 Semiotic visualization for global communication

When translated through comparative glocalism, these ideo-symbols, which can be visualized through graphic or other types of artisitic designs, offer an integrated yet nuanced representation of Jiangsu’s cultural identity on the global stage. The communicative force relies on what Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) term visual grammar – a system encoding ideologies and cultural positionings through imagery. Visualizing these symbols in multimodal designs enable semiotic translation across sensory channels (Jewitt 2016; O’Halloran 2004). This approach reflects the interplay of text, image, and cultural performance in the global communication of Jiangsu’s identity. Moreover, as Mona Baker (2006) emphasizes, translated narratives are not neutral carriers of meaning; they are embedded in global power structures. A multimodal translation of Jiangsu’s cultural ideo-symbols can thus offer a counter-narrative that reasserts regional voices within global discourses.

Comparative glocalism, both as a way of thinking and a paradigm of practice in translation and cross-cultural communication, provides a framework for translating and recontextualizing Jiangsu’s cultural symbols, ensuring that their local uniqueness while simultaneously facilitating a balanced exchange of ideas and values with a global audience. It challenges traditional translation models that privilege one cultural perspective it seeks instead to bring about a more balanced, integrative approach that respects both global and local dimensions of cultural expression. The goal is not to dilute Jiangsu’s cultural essence in translation but to allow these cultural symbols to function within the global cultural conversation in ways that both respect and amplify their local significance. Thus, these symbols engage in dynamic cultural dialogue, enriching local and global understandings of identity.

4 The cross-cultural communication of cultural symbols: challenges and solutions

The above cases exemplify comparative glocalism – the integration of local cultural elements into globally intelligible frameworks. This approach highlights global – local interplay, positioning translation as a cultural bridge for mutual understanding and appreciation. Effective cultural translation promotes cross-cultural semiotic communication, where cultural symbols and markers are translated not only in linguistic terms but also through the values they represent.

The dominance of English as a lingua franca exacerbates power imbalances in cultural exchanges (Meng and Hajdu 2018). Consequently, comparative glocalism as an approach to translation between Chinese and Western cultures is essential to address this imbalance. Chinese translators have operated within a framework of multidimensional comparisons between Chinese and Western cultures to effectively integrate these diverse cultural elements. It allows a culture to retain its local distinctiveness while communicating through a globally accessible language, fostering understanding between different cultures. Here, cultural sensitivity is critical; neglecting source/target cultural nuances risks misrepresentation, mistranslation, or even offense (Onomejoh et al. 2024). Keeping a reasonably graceful balance between faithfulness and communicability is key to effective cultural translation.

Despite Jiangsu’s achievements in international cultural communication, often in the form of symbols, there still remain multiple challenges, including (1) balancing antiquity and modernity: adapting Jiangsu’s rich cultural heritage to contemporary global contexts without compromising its authenticity; (2) enhancing global recognition: increasing visibility of Jiangsu’s cultural markers among international audiences and (3) transcending cross-cultural barriers: overcoming linguistic, perceptual, and conceptual gaps in transmitting Jiangsu’s unique cultural identity. To address these challenges, we propose these strategies: (1) use digital storytelling to transform concepts into semiotic narratives; (2) enhance cross-disciplinary collaboration to encourage synergy among tourism, education, and arts sectors; (3) launch immersive exchange programs to facilitate direct engagement with Jiangsu’s traditions (Li and Wang 2011); (4) use multimodal platforms to leverage monographs, social media, and audiovisual works (e.g., influencer culture exemplified by Li Ziqi’s global success with rural lifestyle content); (5) develop specialized databases and websites to strengthen dissemination through curated digital archives; and (6) launch cultural competitions and activities such as the tentatively termed Jiangsu Cultural Symbol Design Competition and the Jiangsu Global Youth Cultural Symbol Competition. These initiatives encourage creative reinterpretation and ensure that Jiangsu’s cultural identity continues to evolve and gain recognition. In short, promoting Jiangsu’s cultural symbols calls for an integrated approach – harnessing digital narratives, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and active cultural exchange, among other strategies.

5 Conclusion

Jiangsu Province embodies a compelling case of regional cultural identity construction within the larger trajectory of China’s engagement with global cultural governance in the twenty-first century. Rather than merely showcasing its historical legacy, Jiangsu actively positions itself as a dynamic cultural agent, aligning regional revitalization with global aspirations for mutual understanding and shared human flourishing. Its rich repertoire of symbols – deeply embedded in local geography, classical aesthetics, collective memory, and ritualized everyday practices – forms the basis for this cultural projection. Drawing upon this vast cultural reservoir, we have identified six representative yet distinctive ideo-symbols that capture Jiangsu’s multifaceted cultural imagination. These symbols, including the classical character “蘇,” the evocative notions of a “water paradise” and “water-rhymed Jiangsu,” the poeticized geography of “Jiangnan,” the ethos of “harmonious and inclusive Jiangsu,” and the ideal of “elegant living,” each articulates a different facet of the province’s symbolic self-representation. While autonomous, they collectively express Jiangsu as a culturally rich, aesthetically refined, and socially harmonious region.

Building on these symbols, this study introduces comparative glocalism as both a theoretical lens and applied strategy. This paradigm balances cultural specificity with global intelligibility through carefully mediated translation and discourse design, transforming regional symbols into hybrid forms that engage local roots and global sensibilities, enabling broader participation in transnational cultural dialogue. Acknowledging challenges – temporal disjunctions, linguistic asymmetries, and cognitive gaps – we advocate a holistic, practice-oriented approach. This involves translating cultural knowledge into interactive digital narratives, fostering multichannel and interdisciplinary partnerships, launching culturally immersive exchange programs, curating experiences through multimodal platforms, and harnessing the influence of digital content creators. Additionally, the development of curated databases, online archives, and culturally themed design competitions can create new pathways for engaging international audiences while retaining symbolic depth. Beyond Jiangsu, the framework offers broader implications for enhancing global cultural presence. By reframing cultural symbols as evolving, participatory, and dialogic entities, this model invites regions to preserve their heritage while innovating within it – enriching global cultural ecology.

In conclusion, Jiangsu demonstrates how regional identity can be meaningfully articulated in the global arena through a carefully designed symbolic systems and glocalized communicative strategies. Such efforts amplify Jiangsu’s voice while providing a blueprint for mutual respect, intercultural appreciation, and civilizational diversity in an age of increasing global interdependence. This study offers a comprehensive reconstructed ideo-symbolic framework and comparative glocalism strategy for for Jiangsu’s cultural communication, potentially informing and inspiring other local and national cultures’ global engagement and outreach, which is conducive to global cultural and civilizational diversity.


Corresponding author: Zhinan Ji, Soochow University, Suzhou, China, E-mail:

Funding source: The Jiangsu Provincial Fund for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Award Identifier / Grant number: 24GCB003

About the authors

Xiangchun Meng

Xiangchun Meng is Professor of English and translation studies in the School of International Studies at Soochow University. He received his Ph.D. in literary theory and completed his postdoctoral research in the English translation of Chinese classics. His major academic interests include translation theory and practice, the English translation of Chinese culture and literature, literary theory and criticism, Translation Dynamics, and Civilization Intermirrology. His publications include more than 60 academic journal papers, about 50 newspaper column articles, 11 translated books on literature and culture, and 1 monograph on F. R. Leavis. He is the founder of Translation Dynamics and of Civilization Intermirrology. He has proposed a series of critical concepts in translation and culture studies including “comparative glocalism” and “internally generated and externally shaped Chinese modernity.”

Zhinan Ji

Zhinan Ji is a doctoral student of translation studies in the School of International Studies at Soochow University. Her academic interests include gender and translation, trans-writings of modern China, and Translation Dynamics.

  1. Research funding: This work was supported by the Jiangsu Provincial Fund for the Humanities and Social Sciences under Grant [24GCB003].

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Received: 2025-05-03
Accepted: 2025-05-12
Published Online: 2025-06-10

© 2025 the author(s), published by De Gruyter on behalf of Soochow University

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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