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Since the 1970s, a continuous exchange of information about conservation between Europe and East Asia has greatly influenced approaches to the treatment of paper objects as well as the tools and materials used. This knowledge is often disseminated and absorbed in a purely practical manner, stripped out of its wider cultural context. However, what is considered 'appropriate' treatment is closely linked to how a particular culture has historically interacted with artworks and arguably the lack of broader cultural perspectives can lead to misguided assumptions in the evaluation of those practices. This article reflects on the differences between European and East Asian cultures of paper conservation. By taking into consideration the relevant cultural, philosophical and historical contexts, the article aims to explore how approaches to conservation, as well as to the profession itself, have developed in these two different parts of the world. It further encourages paper conservators to reflect on their own training and practices while offering an understanding of how these approaches can sometimes be mutually exclusive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Afro-Sino engagement supports the study of international relations beyond the framework of a West-centric narrative. Ken Kamoche's fictionalisation of African immigrants in China, and Ufrieda Ho's narration of the vicissitudes of Chinese communities in South Africa, contemplate the consequence of the Africa–Asia engagement on the human condition. While the attendant political apparatuses in the African continent and China laud the mutual benefits of engagement, Kamoche and Ho, by focusing on issues of transmigration, displacement and belonging, identity-formation, and so forth expose the acute Sinocentrism and Afrocentrism that impede the seamless establishment of migrant communities in both geopolitical spaces. The principal objectives of this essay involve a close reading of Kamoche and Ho's novels to focus on the non-state participants of the Afro-Sino relations, and to discuss the emerging transnational, migrant literature that is at once African and Chinese. Ultimately, this essay suggests the formulation of a literary subgenre to embrace the Afro-Sino literary imagination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is highly concerned about its global image and is thus increasingly active in promoting itself globally. The most prominent and most controversial tool of China’s global image management is the Confucius Institute (CI). Launched in 2004 to introduce Chinese language and culture globally, CIs are normally joint ventures between Chinese and international universities, and are partially funded by the Chinese government. These close links with official China have raised concerns about their aims and have triggered heated debates about their intentions. While proponents describe CIs as a benign instrument of cultural exchange, critics define them as the propaganda arm of the Chinese Communist Party. This paper provides empirical evidence related to these debates as it critically engages with the actual content CIs present to their audiences by analysing internal work reports from 50 CIs in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. The paper outlines the specific narratives CIs present to global audiences and finds a clear agenda to present an apolitical version of China by emphasising elements of traditional Chinese culture and mostly avoiding controversial political topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China launched the 16 + 1 initiative 10 years ago to facilitate interaction and cooperation with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The paper argues that the geopolitical landscape has dramatically changed since 2012 when the initiative was announced, and this seriously affects the possibilities for further deepening of the relations between the CEE countries and China. Nowadays, the world is deeply divided, with growing competition for influence and exacerbating relations not only between Russia and the West but also between China and the Western countries. The rising geopolitical confrontation between the major powers in the international system (in the current situation with the war in Ukraine) strongly affects China’s relations with the CEE countries. Applying the instruments of the geopolitical analysis, the paper will seek to explore the impact of the changing international environment on China’s engagement in Central and Eastern Europe and draw conclusions about the prospects of China–CEE cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper systematically examines how COVID has shaped an essential craft industry in Jingdezhen, China's “Porcelain Capital”, providing a typical case reflecting COVID’s structural effects on the cultural and creative sectors. Drawing upon primary data collected through four field trips between September 2018 and March 2023, this paper reveals the enormous challenges craft practitioners and businesses face amid COVID, including financial losses, business closures, and diminished international trade. Despite easing restrictions since 2023, there is little sign that the industry will return to pre-pandemic status soon. Moreover, although COVID and the “digital pivot” triggered by it introduced new opportunities for some craft practitioners, they predominantly exposed and exacerbated existing inequalities in the craft industry, including among private businesses and individual practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractAs sustainable tourism advances, issues such as environmental pollution, overexploitation, and ecological imbalance have been identified alongside the effects of climate change and tourism. Thus, the literature related to sustainable tourism in emerging economies, especially in China, has grown rapidly and contributed to knowledge development in recent years. An in-depth and systematic review is required to explore research development and potential research opportunities. This paper explored 1,293 documents on Chinese sustainable tourism in the Scopus database, using indicator analysis along with scientific mapping methodologies such as VOSviewer and Gephi. It uncovered key journals, authors, and papers in relevant fields and identified four thematic clusters, namely, “government policy,” “rural and heritage tourism,” “ecotourism,” and “urban tourism.” Analyses based on Sustainable Development Goals suggested that advancements in Chinese sustainable tourism contribute positively to global efforts. Furthermore, this study outlined the pertinent themes and research areas for Chinese sustainable tourism, offering information and recommendations for future researchers and tourism practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on data for 812 Chinese farmers and a conditional mixed process (CMP) approach, this paper investigates the impact of farmers' e-commerce participation on their awareness of green production. Main results include: (1) e-commerce participation increases farmers' overall awareness of green production by 0.771 (i.e. 0.88 standard deviations); meanwhile such impact is more evident for old-generation, low-income and small-scale farmers; (2) risk awareness is most affected among three sub-dimensions; (3) three influencing channels are confirmed, which are improving information acquisition, strengthening connections with the food market, and alleviating information asymmetry. This paper concludes that e-commerce can play a significant role in promoting the green transition of farmers and agricultural production. As for implications, policymakers need to further promote e-commerce in agriculture while building a more solid food system, including green food certification and a full chain traceability system. However, farmers' heterogeneities should be considered when any intervention is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past years, human computer interaction (HCI) research and innovation have developed substantially, leading to a number of fruitful research topics. In this paper, we surveyed the HCI research and innovation in China from a 10-year perspective. We analyzed the popular research methodology and topics among Chinese researchers, including human modeling, user interface techniques, context awareness, user acceptance and performance, user experience design, human-AI interaction, HCI applications and social influences. We also conducted a bibliography analysis on the published papers in top-tier conferences and journals, which revealed a significant rising trend, and a generally broad distribution of research types. Moreover, we described typical applications and the industry influence of the research outcomes. We concluded with implications and reflections for HCI researchers across the world and shared the future research trends envisioned by Chinese researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pandemics refract sociopolitical tensions within societies and highlight how national belonging hinges on informal performances as much as legal status. While return migration has become a common practice and institutionalized strategy of state development, little scholarly work has probed how domestic populations view returnees and their claims to national membership. Using a large-scale, pre-registered online survey experiment deploying a give-or-take Dictator Game, this paper leverages the dynamics of COVID-19 to explore how Chinese nationals envision and treat returnees. First, our results illustrate that the Chinese population imagines returnees as a group of elites with substantial social and financial capital, even though returnees are a socio-economically diverse population. Next, by applying information priming, we demonstrate that Chinese nationals discriminated against overseas returnees during the pandemic and that this behavior was not primarily driven by fears of viral contagion. Finally, using mediation analysis, we show that participants’ differential behavior towards returnees can largely be explained by participants’ perceptions of returnees’ class status and adherence to key markers of national membership. Ultimately, this paper broadens our understanding of the informal dynamics of national membership and intergroup relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the necessity of promoting national childcare development and establishing corporation childcare within the context of China’s low fertility rate. It emphasizes the significance of traditional Chinese cultural values as foundational elements for promoting corporation childcare initiatives and their growth. It examines the evolving responsibilities of corporations in China’s childcare development amidst varying government policies over time. Given the increasing innovation and responsibility among Chinese corporations. the article categorizes three modes of corporation childcare based on current trends: corporation self-built childcare, collaborative childcare with third parties, and embedded childcare. It advocates for customized childcare services, nurturing the happiness of children, fostering parent-child interactions, building childcare brands, and creating a conducive business environment tailored to each mode. Building these modes, the paper offers recommendations across five dimensions: customizing childcare services, supporting the joyful upbringing of young children, promoting parent-child interaction, branding childcare facilities, fostering a conducive business environment, aiming to establish a comprehensive corporation childcare network. Lastly, the paper explores future development prospects, focusing on promoting the expansion driven by corporation childcare, addressing homogenization among corporation childcare facilities, considering the integration of elderly and childcare to leverage the experience of the elderly and fulfill social responsibilities in elder care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper conducts a study into the exercise and development of US structural power in the global semiconductor industry and offers a geoeconomics explanation for US dominance in the sector. It emphasizes the role of legal jurisdiction and spatial dimensions of technological development in perpetuating US structural power in global semiconductor value chains. The goal of this paper is to apply the concept of extraterritoriality to the study of structural power; how it is acquired, and how it is used. It explains why we should consider extraterritoriality as a feature of US structural power in International Political Economy (IPE) and suggests three features to help illuminate the concept: Power in global value chains, legal-jurisdictional power, and alliance-based power. The paper first explains how the US acquired the policy tools and leading market position for projecting extraterritorial power in the semiconductor industry during the late twentieth century, how it then utilized its structural privileges to target Chinese technology firms, and finally, the current and potential constraints on its deployment based on the reactions of Chinese and US transnational corporate actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the application of intergenerational theory as its analytical framework, this paper seeks to provide new insights into the social construction of sugar-sweetened food and food practices in the context of contemporary urban China, drawing on 16 months' in-depth qualitative research in the city of Chongqing. From an intergenerational perspective, it argues that although adults and children both typically construct sugar-sweetened food as "bad" for health based on the logic of its biological meaning, there are more generational differences in the understandings of sociocultural meanings associated with these foods, which are the main reasons may lead to intergenerational conflict. Caregivers tend to regard their control of children's sugar-sweetened food intake as a means to discipline their children's bodies and develop food moralities. However, children themselves are likely to perform sugar-sweetened food practices as a way of socializing and sometimes resisting the control of caregivers. Based on this, this paper further shows that these diverse views are rooted in the tension between caregivers' anxiety about the transmission of food moralities through intensive parenting practices and children's agency in food consumption in contemporary urban China. These findings enhance intergenerational-theoretical research and highlight the need to move beyond the analytical framework of "behaviour change" in related food and health studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper identifies major themes and recommends preferred strategies in Australia’s engagement with the world. These themes and strategies relate to geopolitics, economics and the ‘new international agenda’; there is also a more specific focus on Australia’s Pacific island neighbours and Timor-Leste. There is a strong emphasis on perceived Australian national interests throughout the document. The geopolitical discussion is primarily ‘realist’; economically the document is pro-globalisation; the discussion of the ‘new international agenda’ involves an Australian-oriented pragmatism; there is an assertion of Australian leadership in the South Pacific. With some minor criticism, Labor has accepted the general direction advocated in the White Paper. The document is thus indicative of the likely future direction of Australian foreign policy. Lack of US response indicates declining US engagement with Australia and the Asia-Pacific or Indo-Pacific region. China, as the other major power highly significant for Australia, has been low-key in its criticisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing evidence to support the normalisation of performativity. However, what has been less remarked on are the tensions that emerge when teachers seek to implement performative learning in a post-performative teaching context. This paper draws on interviews with 9 Chinese teachers undertaking Cambridge's Professional Development Qualification (PDQ) within the context of private language schooling in China to nuance the notion of performativity. Findings show that tensions can still emerge when differing performative modalities intersect. In this instance, the modalities refer to teachers' performative learning and their teaching context (a private language school that deploys performative technologies). This finding suggests that performativity does not take on a global form, but might be seen as a loose assemblage of technologies that are often in tension. This paper also shows that even when a programme focuses on critical reflection, the focus can still be on neoliberal notions of performativity, with critical reflection being given a new meaning in the neoliberal agenda to mean something different from its customary transformative meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the Chinese party-state's production of visual racism towards Uyghurs as a discursive foundation for its ethnic policy, as globally reproduced and disseminated by non-state actors. The paper draws from theoretical literature on the relationship between visual politics and affect, stressing the need for visual literacy to reflect on how images emotionally affect audiences' identities and insecurities. It focuses this analysis on education texts in China's post-2012 'de-extremification' and 're-education' campaigns, specifically on how images tell stories about life-or-death security issues that define Chinese identity. Chinese education about Uyghurs tends to frame Uyghur identities as racialised, culturally external existential threats to be defeated by state violence or teaching them to be Chinese. However, Uyghurs' own visibility strategies in global advocacy counter the party-state's imagery by centring their lives and experiences. The article shows how these strategies can be used as resources for teaching about Chinese politics and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The massification of higher education has dramatically changed the association between credentials and jobs in advanced countries, while its impacts in transitional economies have received less academic attention. To address this research lacuna, the paper utilizes rich information from China's national surveys of college graduates from 2003 to 2019 and multiple waves of census data to explore the temporal and spatial effects of tertiary education expansion on college graduates' job sorting. Regression results from the fixed effects model and the two-stage least-squares model indicate that, on the temporal dimension, the higher education expansion has weakened ties between college credentials and quality jobs over the past 20 years. Recent graduates are more likely to work in informal, non-urban, and non-public sectors, and the college earnings premium has also declined. There is a persistent gap in employment outcomes between bachelor's and associate degree holders. On the spatial dimension, the growing enrolment size leads to skill sorting towards low skilled regions. The study argues that the dynamic effects of college credentials may be explained by labour market flexibility and cohort crowding after higher education expansion. This paper calls for a critical reflection on the merit of further massification of higher education in developing economies, regarding its potential impacts on intergenerational inequality and regional inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concentration of population and socioeconomic activities in large cities in developing countries has sparked broad concerns regarding inequality in national urban systems (NUS). This paper examines how Chinese foreign trade and overseas foreign direct investment (OFDI) affected host countries’ NUS from 2000 to 2018. Chinese foreign trade reduced NUS inequality, particularly countries with more cultural distance from China, while OFDI increased NUS inequality only in mineral-rich countries. For Asian Belt and Road countries (BRCs), Chinese foreign trade reduced NUS inequality, especially those with greater institutional distance to China and more government intervention. Chinese OFDI plays the opposite effect, notably for high government intervention countries. Globally, roles of foreign trade and OFDI change with resource endowments and cultural distance, while for Asian BRCs, these roles change with institutional distance and government intervention. This paper bridges gaps in the effects of Chinese foreign trade and OFDI on NUS inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While smart city initiatives have characterized global urbanization from the 1990s to the 2020s, nowadays a novel artificial intelligence (AI) enabled approach to urban governance is rapidly emerging, thereby shaping the governance and planning of present and future cities. This urban phenomenon can be understood theoretically through the notion of anticipatory governance, and empirically through so-called City Brain systems. This is particularly evident in China where a wide range of urban AI solutions are being experimented at different scales which this paper seeks to illustrate. First, by building a database of AI-urban policy texts associated with Chinese cities, we capture and discuss the national network of discourses surrounding urban AI. Second, we draw on empirical research conducted in Beijing to examine an existing city brain project and explain its impact on urban governance. Our study reveals the multi-scalar policy landscape of urban AI transitions in China and sheds light on the extent to which emerging AI technologies such as city brains can proactively address urban problems, thus developing an understanding of anticipatory governance in the age of urban AI. We conclude the paper by reflecting on the complex corporate-state relations embedded in the co-production of city brains, their diffusion and impact beyond China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores a case of public contention against the censoring of a feature article about a COVID-19 whistleblower on the Chinese social media, WeChat. Moving beyond the normative theory of the public sphere and publics, we draw on Kavada and Poell's theory of 'contentious publicness' which is flexible enough to capture the complexity, diversity and hybridity of digital contention in the context of China. Through a combination of textual analysis and participatory observation, this article analyses how citizens challenged the censorship system and attempted to keep Dr Fen's story online through what we call 'relay activism'. Informed by the three dimensions of 'contentious publicness', we analyse the materiality of the communication infrastructure of WeChat and the temporal and spatial relations of the public contention (focusing primarily on WeChat and GitHub). In doing this, the paper contributes a more comprehensive approach to examining the social, structural and participatory characteristics of the contestation of censorship in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper utilises the concepts of “post-performativity” and “the post-performative teacher” to explore the private school context in China. It does this by drawing on in-depth interviews with Chinese language teachers and utilising metaphor analysis to highlight three recurring teacher identities that collectively constitute a post-performative teacher identity. The identities are teacher as designer, teacher as scientist, and teacher as technician. In so doing, this paper offers emerging evidence of how teachers in private schools negotiate the dual demands of accountability and commitment to the teaching profession. The identity positions of designer, scientist and technician could be used by researchers for developing the concepts of “post-performativity” and “the post-performative teacher” in future research. In particular, the paper argues that the concepts of “post-performativity” and “the post-performative teacher” have academic currency in non-public, non-Anglophone education contexts, and may be indicative of a more general post-performative condition that requires further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper contributes to the growing debate about how China drives change in institutions and norms of global governance. It analyses the case study of China's approach to transnational voluntary sustainability standards as concrete tools of Western-sponsored green value chain initiatives, between integration and contestation. Engaging international political economy scholarship, the paper shows that China participates in such initiatives by reshaping their focus away from contested market-based approaches to more internationally consensual state-led ones. This stance indicates that China's reshaping of international norms and institutions conveys claims made by Global South alliances. These alliances are increasingly important for China, not only politically and militarily but also economically and for the success of key initiatives, like the Belt and Road Initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a conceptual and analytical framework of states' legitimacy-seeking to comprehensively investigate the motivation behind China's climate and environment policy. While previous research has largely overlooked political factors that underlie China's climate policy, this paper argues that these factors are crucial in understanding China's policy changes, which are evident at both domestic and international levels. By examining sources such as government documents, leaders' speeches and authoritative literature, this study contends that China's climate change initiatives are part of a broader effort to enhance domestic and international legitimacy. The issue of climate change has become highly politicised in China under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, and it serves as a crucial test of the ruling party and the state's capacity to govern effectively. As such, legitimacy-seeking is the key driver that links China's domestic measures and international commitments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problems surrounding the loss and illegal trafficking of Chinese cultural heritage have intensified in recent times due to an increasing demand for Chinese cultural heritage and huge profits to be gained in the art market. While the Chinese mainland government has taken active measures to protect cultural heritage and combat the illegal trafficking of cultural heritage, two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macao, have not only failed to take similar measures, but have also functioned as key transit locations for the illicit trafficking of Chinese cultural heritage over the past three decades. This paper provides a comparative analysis of the laws related to cultural heritage between the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao. This paper argues that, while differences exist in these places, these differences should not be an obstacle to taking an integrated approach to cultural heritage in the region. There is a practical need for an integrated approach given the shared initiative of heritage protection and art market regulation. This paper argues that an integrated approach to cultural heritage is possible and should be pursued. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'China threat' has been identified as an important driver of Japan's security agenda and discourse. The threat posed by China has been discussed either as a given factor determining the trajectory of Tokyo's security approach, as a product of identity construction, or as an expression of securitizing processes that facilitate institutional and policy change. This paper contributes to this debate by offering an alternative explanation of the process through which the Abe government constructed China as a threat. Building on securitization theory, the paper examines the modes and strategies employed by the Abe Administration to successfully securitize China. The paper argues that, while Beijing was labeled a 'concern' rather than an 'existential threat,' it was still securitized through a process of securitization that involves an association with those domains in which China engages assertively, namely the maritime commons. The paper suggests calling this type of securitizing pattern 'transversal securitization' and explores how this indirect strategy allowed the Abe government to pragmatically pursue its objectives both domestically and at the international level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational reform in China has brought about many Western educational approaches for teachers to consider as part of their pedagogy. An example of this is the theory of multiple intelligences (MI theory). This paper presents how a theory grounded in a Western context is locally reconceptualised by kindergarten teachers who grew up in a different context. A qualitative case study was selected to investigate seven kindergarten teachers' understandings of MI theory in China. Three methods were employed to gather data; semi-structured interviews, field observations and documentation. Evidence from the three sources were analysed using a thematic approach. This paper reports contextual factors that had an influence on the teachers' understandings of MI theory and thus its implementation, and argues that the introduction of new educational theories or approaches should be grounded in the local context in which the teaching will be embedded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite that access to justice is a universally recognized human right, comparative antitrust experience from both sides of the Atlantic demonstrates that bad faith litigation of intellectual property may constitute the abuse of dominance under the competition law. There has been an anti-monopoly case in China where bad faith litigation of intellectual property raised competition concerns, yet the Chinese anti-monopoly authority does not have sufficient experience in addressing these concerns, leaving some problems to be solved. Arguably, the Chinese authority neither provided a clear test for the assessment of bad faith litigation of intellectual property nor considered the interest balance in the case. This paper critically examines the US and EU approaches to analysing the bad faith litigation of intellectual property under antitrust law, and argues they in nature share a similar approach. In this regard, by learning from comparative experience, this paper suggests that China should establish an antitrust counterclaim in an infringement lawsuit of intellectual property and adopt a clear-up test for the bad faith litigation of intellectual property under the anti-monopoly law. Additionally, China should specify two specific circumstances: the first is related to a circumstance where the intellectual property holder has known that it was not entitled to any kind of legal intellectual property rights, and the second is related to another circumstance where the intellectual property in question becomes a standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe United States has tightened its technical embargo against China since the Sino-US rivalry began in the mid-2010s, especially in the semiconductor sector. It also has repercussions for China’s relations with US allies such as South Korea (or the Republic of Korea, ROK). As China’s technical growth is securitized, Sino-ROK collaboration in semiconductor technology becomes politicized, according to a securitization-politicization nexus derived from securitization theory. Under the pressure from Washington, even Korean semiconductor businesses may be forced to ‘choose sides’. However, Seoul’s pragmatic approach to Beijing prevents the politicization of Sino-ROK technological ties. While demanding security guarantees from Washington, Seoul is unwilling to enhance ties with the US at the price of those with China. Among three scenarios figured out in this paper, South Korea is likely to consolidate its ties with China in semiconductor industry in some form of ‘smart’ collaboration Ceteris paribus, and this is also in the interest of Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we evaluate how supply shocks in global value chains, such as the lockdown in China during the coronavirus pandemic, affected firm-product-level export performance in Bangladesh, which is a least-developed country where domestic inputs are inadequate due to capacity constraints. Transaction-level customs data on the universe of Bangladeshi apparel manufacturing firms are used in the analysis. We apply a triple difference-in-differences approach to compare the woven apparel exports of the firms that relied on China for inputs before and after the lockdown with those of knit apparel and firms that depended on the rest of the world as a comparison group. The results show that firms exposed to the Chinese input supply shock experienced a 36.5% decline in woven apparel exports after the lockdown. A plausible explanation for the decline in exports is the reduced shipment size driven by the constrained production capacity due to the shortage of inputs from China. We also find that exposed firms whose exports were highly concentrated in the European Union and the United States incurred an additional 18% decline compared to other firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current reform of China's Arbitration Law is aimed at making the country a more attractive seat for international commercial arbitration and at encouraging consensual dispute settlement to supplement the heavy workload of the courts. At the same time, due to the lack of certainty as to the arbitrability of antitrust disputes, the competition-related arguments may effectively stall or delay arbitration proceedings or create the risks of setting aside of arbitral awards on public policy grounds. The paper addresses the aforementioned problem by advancing a call for conditional arbitrability of antitrust disputes in China, which will require clarification of the applicable legal standards and detailed procedural guidance by the Supreme People's Court that would instruct the arbitrators and the parties about applying competition rules in the context of contractual disputes. This policy proposal is grounded on the analysis of the divergent judicial approaches to arbitrability of competition-related issues developed by the Chinese judiciary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the Chinese central government's anti-corruption policies and restrictions on Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cadres' conduct, many rural cadres still hold or join lavish banquets, but in secret. Why do cadres take such risks? Why is banqueting so important for them? This ethnographic study in one rural county shows how instrumental banqueting (fanju) and associated interactions enhance exchange among rural cadres and businessmen, which can be understood as a process of relational work. This relational work exaggerates and adorns participants' personal relationships and constructs a moral basis for corruption. This style of relational work uses the Confucian notion of li as an excuse to show benevolence(ren), creating "ritualized relational work." This paper contributes to an understanding of the resilience of guanxi practices during President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanizing villages are erstwhile rural villages that are spatially enveloped and are characterized by their dual relation to the state, which expresses itself as an issue of citizenship; of land ownership; of governance; and building regulations. This paper transcends the current focus on villages in Southern China, by comparing village urbanization between China and India through four narratives of village extensions. Four parallel readings are offered, namely that urban villages are characterized by; shared tenure rooted in their rural past; inherited administrative boundaries that are re-imbued with new legal designations; emulation of traditional practices; and sustained modes of self-governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a composite analysis of children's academic development grounded on the capability approach. The study utilises a panel dataset comprising 8,422 Chinese children and adolescents aged 6 to 16, observed between 2012 and 2018. It introduces a series of innovative indicators, including a parent advantage index to capture how parents influence their children and a ranking indicator for spending priorities to reify the value of children's education that families have reasoned. To address unobserved heterogeneity, we adopted fixed-effects models, multilevel modelling, and heteroskedasticity-based instrumental variables. Our primary results show that a 1% increase in the parent advantage index yields an increase of 13.85% to 21.31% in children's academic development, and the biggest leap in prioritising education-relevant spending increases the child outcomes by 2.88% to 6.57%. By highlighting the influence of parents' beings and doings, particularly the value they assign to education, this research contributes to the existing literature on child development, which often focuses predominantly on material dimensions. In sum, it expands the frontiers of the capability approach and related research on parental practices. It offers novel insights into how policies can be reinforced to equalise educational opportunities and to boost human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of the participatory legacies of social movements in democratic settings often find that the individuals who take part in these movements remain more likely to engage in politics, decades later. What is the participatory legacy of social movements in authoritarian regimes, where they are often repressed and erased from public memory? Understanding such impacts is challenging due to self-selection and severe censorship. In this paper, we address both challenges with a unique design, comparing the behavior of individuals who began college just before and just after a massive student movement. This design allows us to measure exposure to the movement and the subsequent state crackdown without directly asking respondents and also addresses endogeneity by predicting exposure using an exogenous indicator, birthdate. We find that exposure to the movement increased participation in elections, reduced participation in protest and lobbying, and had no impact on conventional participation. We argue that social movements can continue to shape patterns of political participation in authoritarian regimes, decades after being crushed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the one-child policy in China, post-80s women have experienced dramatic social, economic, and political changes that differ from previous generations. This article explores post-80s women’s experiences of beautification in their different life stages from a feminist perspective, drawing upon 14 in-depth interviews with post-80s women to examine their perception of beauty and beauty practices in different life stages. Three main themes emerged that were intricately associated with two distinct life stages. During their transition from schoolgirls to young women, (1) participants perceive their younger selves as naïve, passive receivers of the beauty culture. When transitioning from young women towards becoming wives and mothers, (2) their values regarding beauty shift from emphasizing outer beauty to emphasizing inner beauty. (3) They also transition to embracing natural beauty standards. This paper argues that these women’s perceptions of beauty and beauty practices are fluid and change across different life stages. ‘Trivialised’ everyday beauty discourse exists to enable them to negotiate beauty practices and gender roles. This research suggests that young Chinese women, especially those leaving high school and entering university, would benefit from readily accessible academic feminist knowledge and debate regarding beauty culture to facilitate critical thinking and informed decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractAgainst the backdrop of frequent international trade frictions, reducing external risks in export trade through industrial policies has become crucial for China’s high-quality and steady foreign trade development. This paper examines the impact of development zone upgrading policies on the diversification of firm product exports by using a time-varying difference-in-differences model. We find that after the upgrading of development zones, the diversification of firm product exports increases by 2.13%, and concentration decreases by 1.33%. Moreover, this policy has a stronger impact on the diversification level of product exports for firms upgraded to customs special supervision areas, located inland, and engaged in general trade. These conclusions remain robust even after conducting additional robustness tests using alternative measures of the dependent variable, different identification methods for development zone upgrading, and controlling for other industrial policy effects. Furthermore, the upgrading of development zones improves export diversification through three main channels: enhancing firm innovation capabilities, optimizing management efficiency, and providing financial support to firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper unpacks the multi-level efforts to establish, promote and implement China standards in overseas contexts through an examination of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Africa. Drawing upon document analysis of government policies, institutional guidelines and corporate reports from four case companies, as well as field research in Ethiopia, it identifies ways that Chinese corporate actors interpret, incorporate and initiate CSR standards through strategic planning and during overseas business activities. Analysis of both first-hand and secondary data shows the development of Chinese CSR standards is a co-production of international, national and local standards, which involves diverse actors and institutions and is driven by multiple considerations to fulfill commercial, political, social and diplomatic objectives for overseas companies and Chinese government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our objective in this paper is to evaluate the benefits of bus transit. To obtain the more accurate and highly discrimination results, this study establishes an evaluation indicator system from a stakeholder perspective and proposes a novel combined method consisting of dynamic network data envelopment analysis, cross-efficiency evaluation, and Shannon entropy aggregation method. An empirical study of bus transit systems in 33 key Chinese cities from 2016 to 2019 is provided. The results show that the benefit of bus transit in most key cities was ineffective. In contrast to production efficiency, focusing on improving service effectiveness is more conducive to improving the benefits of bus transit. Small cities have higher benefits than large cities. Meanwhile, the benefits of bus transit vary geographically. This evaluation outcome provides a more appropriate basis for decision-making related to the benefits of public transit services, as well as for operational and management studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore the relation between international competitiveness and currency internationalization by employing an analytical framework and applying it to RMB internationalization. Our results reaffirm that economic size, financial market development and network externalities are keys in currency internationalization. We also find that international competitiveness is a potential determinant of currency internationalization. However, a more comprehensively and fully measured index of international competitiveness than the GCI is needed to investigate the potential relation between international competitiveness and currency internationalization. The RMB could become an international reserve currency that is larger than the Japanese yen and the British pound sterling, but still lags far behind the US dollar and the euro by 2035. Given the network externalities and historical experience of currency internationalization, however, it will be a long and bumpy process for the RMB to become an international currency, particularly an international reserve currency. Exploring the relation between international competitiveness and currency internationalization; Reaffirming economic size, financial market development and network externalities as keys in currency internationalization; International competitiveness is a potential determinant of currency internationalization; The RMB could become an international reserve currency by 2035; RMB internationalization will be a long and bumpy process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suxiu, "Suzhou embroidery," is one of the major styles of traditional Chinese embroidery. In 2006, Suxiu was listed as the National Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of China. Although the official media highlight the glory of Suxiu and its cultural significance as ICH, the industry has encountered great difficulties and challenges for the last 20 years. This paper explores the predicament of Suxiu and the far-reaching impacts of the China's ICH policies on the embroidery industry. It argues that the state policies fail to provide community members with equal participatory opportunities in the heritage industry. Instead, it creates intragroup hierarchy and classification, favoring certain members while excluding others. More specifically, it examines local embroiderers' different attitudes and reactions toward the ICH system, thus illustrating how the top-down policies affect the sociocultural process of recognition. It aims to offer a critical reflection on how China's industrialization and ICH policies have transformed the nation's handicraft industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractQuality education is one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and tourism has been identified as an effective means of learning. However, few studies have explored tourism’s role in achieving the goal of quality education (SDG 4). The Chinese government’s practice of realizing quality education through educational tourism is a case worthy of investigation. Yet collaboration between the education and tourism sectors in this country comes with challenges, which can be addressed through effective partnerships (SDG 17). Interaction among stakeholders in educational tourism has developed under the impetus of administrative power; power-based operations thus affect how stakeholders work together. This paper accordingly introduces Foucault’s power theory to explore partnerships in educational tourism in China. Three partnerships are found to drive educational tourism development: horizontal intersectoral partnerships, vertical public-sector partnerships, and public–private partnerships. We further analyze how power operates within these categories, identifying the factors that influence partnership formation and the reasons behind power imbalances. Targeted suggestions and areas for improvement are also offered with the expectation that tourism is an effective means of advancing the goal of quality education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis paper focuses on a new model of land readjustment integrated with shareholding in Zhaoqing, China. It determines whether this innovation reduces transaction costs throughout the land development process. To cope with the uncertainty during rapid urbanization in peripheral areas, shareholding land readjustment provides opportunities for the original landowners to share the long-term sustainable land value increment. This is accomplished through a shareholding platform built by local government and a closely associated state-owned enterprise, with a guarantee of short-term fixed compensation. Shareholding land readjustment holds great promise in connecting plan implementation with land property exchange issues in the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper adopts a mixed research method to explore the language shift of secondary Yi students in Liangshan through their language choices and motivations in different discursive contexts. Yi students in this study provides a unique setting to examine language shift in languages and dialects at the same time, as they speak an ethnic minority mother tongue (Nuosu Yi), a local dialect of Mandarin (Southwestern Mandarin), and Mandarin in their daily interactions. Likert-type responses about language use in the context of Family, Friend, and Society were elicited from 353 students through questionnaires, followed by 23 interviews which explored the motivations behind the language choices. Findings revealed that although Nuosu Yi remained a prevalent language in Yi students’ daily life, its use was primarily limited to private conversations with friends and family members. In addition, there was an evident increased use of Mandarin in Yi students’ peer communication compared to intergenerational conversations, which can be taken as a sign for language shift. Lastly, Southwestern Mandarin was found to play an important bridging role in Yi students’ daily communication and was endowed by Yi students with both sentimental and instrumental value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis paper examines the impact of macroprudential policy on bank risk by utilizing the panel data of 360 commercial banks in China during the period of 2007–2018. The results demonstrate that overall bank risk decreases in response to tightened macroprudential policy. Furthermore, listed banks and banks with larger size benefit more from macroprudential tightening, and macroprudential policy works more effectively when monetary policy is tightened. Additionally, our findings uncover the mediating role of bank efficiency in the relationship between macroprudential policy and bank risk. We observe that bank efficiency increases when macroprudential policy is tightened, which subsequently contributes to a reduction in bank risk. This impact on bank risk is primarily achieved by mitigating banks’ leverage and enhancing their profitability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improper processing of sensitive personal data concerning disabled people in government information disclosure not only violates their privacy rights but also leads to discrimination, stigmatization, and other serious secondary harm, that have long been overlooked. China's procurator-led public-interest litigation system is a powerful tool for protecting the privacy rights of vulnerable groups. This paper contends that procurator-led public-interest litigation, as a supplement to and support for private-interest litigation, assists the Chinese government in fulfilling its international obligations to protect the right to privacy of disabled people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 31 January 2020 in the midst of the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China the city's Party Secretary, Ma Guoqiang admitted in a televised interview to feeling "guilty and remorseful," about the city government's failures to contain the virus. In response, netizens on Weibo directed visceral abuse at Ma, an ethnic Hui Muslim, about his faith and loyalty to the party. The attacks came just months after the publication of leaked documents from national party officials calling Islam a "virus" and vowing to stop its "contagion." Using discourse analysis of posts regarding Ma from January and February 2020, this paper examines how online discussion of Ma exemplifies Islamophobic attitudes of netizens and illuminate the exclusory ethnic politics that unfold in the process of national boundary setting in China. These findings will also illuminate how Muslims become scapegoats for crisis in non-Muslim countries, particularly those under authoritarian governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data collected from 36 interviews with the police and their family members, the first author's insider perspective as a former police officer and the second author's lived experience of growing up in a police family, as well as media reports, this paper explores how work-family conflict plays out among rank-and-file police officers in China. We find that, like their counterparts elsewhere, the Chinese rank-and-file officers have been troubled by three dimensions of work-family conflict touching on professional habits, overtime work and working pressure. We argue that while the work-family conflict inflicted by professional encroachment may be common for police officers in all jurisdictions, the time-based and strain-based conflicts share unique political roots of self-sacrifice spirit advocated by the Chinese party-state. This study is not only one of the very first empirical studies on the work-family conflict among police officers in China but it also contributes to comparative policing studies by highlighting how politics in a particular country may affect the conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental governance in China is a hybrid of mandatory and voluntary regulations in both implementation and enforcement. This paper aims to explore how voluntary environmental regulations (VERs) affect corporate green innovation (CGI) and the role of mandatory environmental regulations (MERs). The study uses panel data of 1,232 Chinese-listed manufacturing firms from 2004 to 2016 and the main findings are: first, VERs have a significant positive effect on CGI. Second, no significant effect has been found of MERs on firms' CGI. Third, in areas where mandatory environmental regulations are weak, voluntary environmental regulation can better serve as a supplement to promote firms' green innovation. The results are robust to a series of sensitivity checks. This study provides evidence that voluntary environmental regulation is more effective in encouraging enterprises to engage in green innovation activities, and it is an important supplement to mandatory environmental regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy innovation is critical to improve governance capacity; however, contemporary research mainly focuses on diffusion and adoption, disregarding the next stage, namely institutionalization. Taking the diffusion and institutionalization of China's "One Visit at Most" reform as a case study and using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, this paper examines the conditions and paths that lead local governments to institutionalize this reform. The results show that four paths lead from innovation to institutionalization: policy system and idea embeddedness, spontaneous competition, learning by seizing momentum, and entrepreneurial breakthrough. These findings extend the research on policy adoption, diffusion, and institutionalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effectiveness of carbon price in emissions trading schemes (ETS) is an important issue in China in the context of its ambitious climate change goals. This paper adopts a staggered difference-in-differences model to estimate whether China's ETS reduced CO2 emissions while maintaining economic growth even under low carbon prices. The results indicate that despite the low carbon prices, the ETS effectively reduced CO2 emissions without undermining the economy. Specifically, an increase of $1 in the carbon price reduced CO2 emissions by 1.69% and increased the per capita GDP by $286. The carbon price primarily achieved emission reduction and promoted economic development through channels, such as technological innovation, foreign direct investment, energy mix, and industrial structure. Carbon leakage to neighboring regions was not evident. Heterogeneity analysis showed that the environmental effects of the carbon price were more pronounced in regions with higher levels of economic development and CO2 emissions. Conversely, the economic effects of the carbon price were more pronounced in regions with lower levels of economic development and CO2 emissions. The carbon price achieved significant economic effects in regions that solely adopted the free allocation mode of emission allowances, while regions that used a combination of free allocation and auctioning experienced substantial emission reduction effects. Despite low carbon prices, China's ETS effectively reduced CO2 emissions without compromising economic growth. This finding provides new empirical evidence for the effectiveness of carbon price as well as decision support for the future promotion of ETS. Technological innovation, FDI, energy mix, and industrial structure are crucial channels through which the carbon price achieves emission reduction and promotes economic development. The absence of carbon leakage to neighboring regions suggests that ETS is an internally effective mechanism for emission control. Heterogeneity analysis showed that regional characteristics and allowance allocation modes can influence the effectiveness of carbon price, thus emphasizing the importance of targeted policy design and appropriate allocation methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ancient Chinese civilisation developed two ideas about the ordering of large human spaces. The first was tianxia or 'all under heaven', the inclusive and cosmopolitan world as a whole, with no exterior, and governance on the basis of shared values and benefits, which first shaped statecraft in the Western Zhou dynasty (1047–1771 BCE). Second, the centralised nation-state which emerged in the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE). Both strands have been influential through Chinese history. In the last twenty years discussion of tianxia has revived, especially through Zhao Tingyang, stimulated by globalisation and the need for practical relations beyond the nation state. This paper proposes one version of tianxia as a heuristic for understanding, rethinking and remaking ethical relations in worldwide higher education. It reviews different understandings of tianxia in China, identifies a world-centred (rather than China-centred) tianxia , and discusses the potentials of tianxia in higher education. Tianxia is appropriate to world higher education because of its spatiality and its ethical commitment to universal benefit in diverse settings on the basis of mutual respect. The article suggests four clusters of relational values that could constitute a tianxia order in higher education, and compares tianxia to existing practices of globalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]