This study examines the affective development of Lotus, the protagonist of Su Tong’s novella, through the dual lens of her interpersonal relationships and her emotional interiority. By adopting an actantial perspective, the analysis explores how Lotus’s subjectivity is progressively shaped, constrained, and ultimately fractured within the social order of the household. The narrative is divided into three distinct phases, each corresponding to a transformation in Lotus’s affective state and her position within the relational network that defines her existence. The First Part traces her initial integration into the household and the emergence of her expectations and strategies of adaptation; the Second Part examines the destabilization of these expectations during an anomalous winter marked by tension, rivalry, and psychological disintegration; and the Third Part follows the irreversible collapse of her emotional and existential coherence. By combining close textual analysis with attention to narrative structure, this study argues that Lotus’s trajectory constitutes not merely a personal tragedy but a systematic “failure of a life,” shaped by the interplay of desire, power, and confinement. The analysis is based primarily on Michael S. Duke’s English translation Raise the Red Lantern: Three Novellas (2000), with occasional reference to the original Chinese text.

This paper analyses the impact of Chinese public diplomacy and soft power (cultural soft power) on the public perception in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We have tested the three specific images China aims to project in Bosnia-Herzegovina: China as an ancient civilization, a leader of the developing countries and a responsible partner in the international community. We will see whether cultural soft power, applied by means of Confucius Institutes, academic exchange programs and think tanks, has an impact on the public perception in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first part tackles the theoretical framework of public diplomacy, soft power and cultural diplomacy. The second part delineates the institutional, diplomatic and regulative framework of soft power and introduces the stakeholders, i.e. academic exchange and Confucius Institutes. The final part analyzes the survey and interviews and presents the results as to how these various public diplomacy tools are shaping the perception of China in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The paper concludes by arguing that Chinese public diplomacy produces soft power in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which is in turn positively perceived.

This paper shall explore the reasons that triggered China to boost its security and economic influence within the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (UNPKO) as a tool for embracing international challenges. By doing so, China is not just sharing the burden of providing international stability and achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, but exerting its influence in the process. Analysing the proposed subject, it will be demonstrated that China faces numerous obstacles whilst trying to insert the “Chinese characteristics” within the geopolitical order, geo-economics distribution of wealth and international security architecture. Instead of being perceived as a responsible stakeholder, China`s ambitious initiatives can, additionally, stir the China Threat Theory in the international community. This paper shall be consisted of two parts. The first part will tackle China`s growing footprint within the UNPKO from the end of the Cold War onward. The second part will explore the reasons that triggered China to swift its role within the UNPKO. Both global and domestic reasons will be analysed too.