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Jellyfish are commonly known as dangerous sea creatures that humans should avoid. Focusing on the newly discovered freshwater jellyfish in the late nineteenth century, this article explores a global history of Craspedacusta sowerbii, a species native to China first noted in nineteenth-century Britain but since traveling the world over. The worldwide distribution of C. sowerbii, as both polyps and medusae, made it a global subject of scientific inquiry. However, no independent study has examined the history behind the origin, circulation, and implication of the freshwater jellyfish and its relationship with marine types. The late nineteenth century was the period when our premodern knowledge of jellyfish transformed from it being purely a marine life to the modern recognition of jellyfish as both marine and freshwater organisms, triggered by the discovery and discussion of the Chinese freshwater jellyfish C. sowerbii among naturalists and philosophers. This article focuses on Arthur de Carle Sowerby's engagement with C. sowerbii in terms of narratives of evolution, nomenclature, and bioinvasion between 1880 and 1941. I argue that jellyfish, as a lowly form of invertebrates, should be taken more seriously by historians of modern China and historians of biology who are interested in the diverse roles of animals in shaping human–animal interactions in the Anthropocene. While the scientific research of jellyfish's global bloom abounds, the interpretation of the global rise of jellyfish could benefit from a historically and culturally bound analysis of this classical animal. This is particularly so as scientists recognized the diverse perceptions of jellyfish. The global jellyfish bloom requires historical perspectives on a topic that has hitherto received scant attention from historians of science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article sheds light on the efforts of intellectuals and women’s circles in the struggle for equal inheritance rights in modern China. By analyzing various social campaigns for women’s equal rights during this period, specifically in relation to daughters’ access to inheritance rights, this article explores the complexities and contradictions surrounding daughters’ inheritance rights in twentieth-century China. The argument put forth is that the interaction between the new state-building process and the influence of social campaigns enabled female to explore new rights holder. However, local practices often adhered to traditional customs that marginalized daughters without inheritance rights. Nevertheless, with the assistance of feminist movements, daughters’ inheritance rights have gradually gained acceptance as an essential component of social claims in modern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debate over the existence of a "public sphere" in China's Late Qing/Early Republican era began nearly three decades ago, but it has yet to generate a special socio-cultural review on the "Confucian social imaginary" of the Chinese people. The article builds on existing "economic-political approach" and "idea-communication approach" to argue decisive factors hindering the development of a Habermasian "public sphere." These includes (1) people's traditional-collectivist lifestyle, (2) lack of understanding of "universal equality," (3) conservative self-positioning during social transition, (4) regionalist attitude toward outsiders, (5) lack of access to Enlightenment ideas, (6) disregard for parliamentary systems, and (7) ignorance of the rule of law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article delineates the multifaceted significance of the Golden Sunbird, a pivotal cultural relic that not only encapsulates the historical essence of the ancient Shu civilization but also plays a critical role in the contemporary sociocultural and urban developmental landscape of Chengdu, China. Through an indepth analysis, the study explores the relic’s transformation from a historical symbol of sun worship to a modern emblem that epitomizes the city’s unique identity, characterized by vibrancy, openness, and dynamic energy. The Golden Sunbird, beyond its intrinsic historical value, serves as a compelling brand that underpins Chengdu, fostering sustainable development while promoting the city’s image on both national and international stages. The research elucidates how the symbol operates as a cultural mediator, encapsulating values such as innovation, harmony, and optimism, and facilitating dialogues between traditional and modern paradigms, thus contributing to a comprehensive understanding of sustainable development embedded within the Chinese cultural matrix. The article also highlights the practical strategies employed to integrate the Golden Sunbird into the broader framework of cultural development, showcasing its role in enhancing the global outreach of the Jinsha culture, supporting heritage conservation initiatives, and acting as a driver of socioeconomic benefits. Through an analysis of the Golden Sunbird’s semiotic structure and its evolving relationship with the people of Chengdu, the study unveils new insights, offering valuable references for future initiatives in cultural preservation, artistic creation, and sustainable urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discipline of folklore studies was introduced to China in the early twentieth century while the country faced a grave national crisis resulting from intense foreign pressure and a rigid political system that was incapable of adapting to the challenges of the modern world. Nationalism contributed to the rising interest in folklore from the late 1910s to early 1920s, then became the dominant theme of folklore studies thereafter. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, folklore studies spread all over the country and developed vigorously within China. However, the eruption of the War of Resistance in 1937 interrupted this revitalization process and most folklore activities came to a standstill. In wartime China, leading scholars looked to the past in part as a reaction to Japanese imperialism, but also to strengthen cultural cohesion for the nation. In Japanese-occupied areas, some scholars persisted in independent folklore investigations and writing even though most upper tier Chinese universities and leading figures in the folklore movement gradually relocated to non-occupied territory. Scholars who remained in the occupation zone often had contact with foreign-backed institutions and were able to continue working during the war years. Their research activities served the purpose of rallying the nation and fed a growing popular demand for more and deeper investigations into China's folk traditions. This work examines the influence of nationalism on folk studies in Beiping and Shanghai, shining a light on folklorists' activities, folklore organizations, and primary publications during China's War of Resistance against Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization is key to advancing national modernization and regional socioeconomic sustainable development. This paper empirically investigates the impact of urbanization on industrial transformation and upgrading in early 20th-century China, based on historical data from the initial stages of China's economic development. We utilized industrial and commercial data from China spanning 1910 to 1927 to construct a fixed-effect model, incorporating instrumental variables to ascertain the causal relationship between urbanization and industrial transformation and upgrading. Additionally, this study tested the hypotheses concerning the effects of human capital and transportation scale, which are identified as the primary channels influencing this relationship. Our findings reveal that (1) the development of urbanization in modern China has significantly promoted industrial transformation and upgrading, and this conclusion remains valid under various robustness tests and the examination of instrumental variables. (2) The improvement in urbanization levels has a more obvious promoting effect on secondary industry, commercial enterprises, and small and medium-sized enterprises, and the positive effect of urbanization on industrial transformation and upgrading is most prominent in the eastern region. (3) Modern Chinese urbanization promoted industrial transformation and upgrading by improving the level of human capital and expanding the scale of transportation. This paper provides historical empirical evidence to study the current social urbanization and industrial policy formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reframes the introduction of Taylorism in early Republican China as the origin point for an enduring social ideal of "scientific management" across modern Chinese society. Previous scholars have argued that Taylorism had a limited impact on Chinese industry before the 1920s and 1930s, but this conclusion overlooks a pervasive intellectual impact. A global phenomenon originating in the United States, Taylorism was not just methods to increase production efficiency. It was also a utopian vision to reorganize society around perfected technocratic hierarchies. Its first Chinese translators all enthusiastically embraced this universal vision, promoting this American "science" as a panacea that would both accelerate China's industrialization and improve its supposedly inefficient public. China's first advocates of scientific management spread these ideas far beyond industry through mainstream publications and urged their universal adoption. While Taylor's methods only shaped a few industrial enterprises before the 1920s, they nonetheless seeded a capacious ideal of a scientifically managed society that remains today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modern China, industrialization has formed a critical foundation for the transition to modernization. However, the spatiotemporal evolution patterns and driving mechanisms of urban industrial development in Nanjing from 1840 to 1949 remain unclear. Based on textual historical sources, this study examined the spatiotemporal patterns of urban industrial development in Nanjing from 1840 to 1949 by using spatial analysis methods, GeoDetector, regression models and industrial structure indices. The results reveal the following: (1) The overall spatial distribution pattern of the industry in modern Nanjing exhibited a "one main, one secondary" dual-center "ladle-shaped" arrangement. Over time, industry has expanded from the urban center toward the east and north. (2) The modernization level of different industries was uneven, exhibiting a "center-periphery" spatial pattern. (3) At the micro level, transportation and population density were the primary influencing factors for industrial location, whereas at the macro level, government intervention mainly affected the industrialization pattern. (4) The industrial development pattern in modern Nanjing, in alignment with the "pole-axis" spatial system, serves as a microcosm of China's urban modernization transition. This study represents the application of GIS methods in the humanities and provides valuable insights for urban planning and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Divine healing, as an important part of the Pentecostal teaching, was introduced to China at the beginning of the twentieth century through independent Western missionaries as well as Western Pentecostal publications; and although it was highly regarded in the same way as by Western Pentecostals, the situation in modern China gave it a distinctive face. It was seen as spiritual war which was a struggle between God and the deities of the local folk beliefs, and therefore the Chinese indigenous polytheistic beliefs were integrated into the framework of this dualistic discourse; thus total trust in God became a prerequisite for the successful implementation of divine healing and was presented to the healer or the healed respectively during the healing process, and thus modern medical treatments were also rejected as unnecessary; the relationship between divine healing and salvation was further elaborated, and divine healing was especially emphasized as a gift of the Holy Spirit. Finally, divine healing became an important force in the expansion of the Pentecostal message and has been integrated into the local Christian revival communities in modern China, which is of great scholarly value and practical significance for deeper exploration and reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accredited secondary school enrolment system, which originated from the certificate enrolment system of American universities in the 1870s, was the main enrolment method of Christian universities in modern China. This study mainly uses methods of literature and comparison. It focuses on the design and implementation of the system, including the admission standards, the number of admissions, the changes and corresponding reasons, to examine the development of the accredited secondary school admissions system of Chinese Christian universities from 1879 to 1952. The research found that the accredited secondary school admissions system of Christian universities in modern China has roughly gone through five stages: rise, reform, shutdown, re-emergence and demise. As a foreign system, its development, change and final demise are affected by complex internal and external factors such as changes in the superstructure of modern China, traditional Chinese examination culture and improvement of the university's own quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The silk culture in modern China from 1949 to 1988 is a cultural and economic microcosm of China' s transition from the nascent democracy to the exploration of socialism and later to the historical process of reform and opening up. Although the silk culture of this period is preserved by different types of media such as literature archives and objects which reconstruct the cultural memory under the historical context and social framework it also faces problems such as the inevitable fading of individual memories the dispersed yet diluted media attention and the inefficient passing of generational memories. Activating the memory of silk culture in modern China has the practical importance of protecting and inheriting the illustrious traditional Chinese culture strengthening national cultural identity and establishing national cultural confidence. With the continuous development of technology and its successful application in the cultural field the integration of digital design and digital media has become a new topic for activating the memory of silk culture in modern China. The methods used in this study include literature research interdisciplinary research and practical research. To meet the needs of the research direction the article extensively collected and organized domestic and foreign literature related to cultural memory theory and conducted longitudinal and horizontal comparisons to extract content that has enlightening significance and value for constructing the memory of silk culture in modern China. The article also analyzed successful cases of cultural digital design in China. Guided by the core theory of cultural memory the article proposed a framework to reconstruct the memory of silk culture in modern China. The transformation from traditional memory media such as texts images and places to digital media such as knowledge graphs apps and virtual exhibition halls is one of the focal points of the study. This article documents the digital design practice for the memory of silk culture in modern China while exploring the organic connection among silk culture design and cultural memory. By combing and reconstructing the memory connotation and memory media of the silk culture in modern China using digital design methods such as information visualization design APP interactive design and 3D virtual scene design this article constructs an organic whole of culture and memory encompassing both individual and collectivity virtuality and reality. It guides the audience to establish cultural memory and awaken cultural identity based on the cultural information conveyed by design thus realizing the replication reproduction and resurrection of the memory of silk culture in modern China and exploring new ideas and paths for activating its memory. This article expands the application field of cultural memory theory provides a theoretical basis for the inheritance and dissemination of silk culture in modern China and reorganizes its internal structure from the dimensions of memory connotation and memory media. It reconstructs the memory of silk culture in modern China and highlights its cultural memory value. In the future the in-depth exploration and application of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality will bestow digital design with more possibilities of integration with Chinese silk culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Publishing Journal is the property of Wuhan University, School of Information Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Economic Science / Jingji Kexue is the property of Economic Science Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

All across the world, folklore studies are often closely tied to the emergence of modern nation states and were used to (re)build national identities. In post-WWI China, a growing community of academics and enthusiastic amateurs began working on folklore projects as part of a larger cultural effort to stoke nationalist sentiment and, by consequence, encourage resistance to foreign encroachment. After Japan’s invasion in the 1930s threw the whole country into crisis, this campaign transformed from the abstract into a strategic component of the Chinese war effort. During China’s War of Resistance against Japan, folklore activities played a valuable role in boosting the national spirit and promoting the idea of China as home to a rich cultural legacy. In communist bases of the North China Plain in particular, a New Literature and Art Movement began with the collection and organization of folk literature and art, which was in turn remoulded into effective and highly politicized anti-Japanese and social reform messages to promote mass mobilization. This article examines folksongs, yangge and storytelling to reveal how folklore, reshaped by communist intellectuals, was designed to serve political aims and address peasants and soldiers in order to unite the masses against its enemies both foreign and demestic. The Chinese Communist Party used traditional forms of folklore with revised content to launch a mass movement that served its primary political needs: winning support of the masses and spreading revolutionary communist ideology to a broader audience. This wartime revolutionary folklore approach continued into peacetime and greatly affected the People’s Republic of China.

This paper examines the introduction and indigenisation of western ice sports in modern China, unpacking their socio-cultural implications and intersection with nationalism. Utilising historical records, this paper employs a perspective centred on Chinese society, emphasising the nuanced adaptation and incorporation of these sports within the distinct socio-cultural landscape of China. This perspective reveals the significant role ice sports played in shaping modern self-identity among Chinese youth, driving societal change, and highlighting the confluence of athletics and nationalism during the Republican period. Furthermore, the paper underscores how ice sports in modern China mirrored larger societal dynamics of assimilation, adaptation, and redefinition, culminating in an enriched local culture that symbolises China’s resilience and adaptability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Electronic Turkish Studies is the property of Electronic Turkish Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Survival discourse has emerged as a prominent theme in online discussions about the US–China trade war on the Chinese social media platform Zhihu. This study undertakes a critical discourse analysis of this emergent discourse by examining 80 answers (totaling 95,753 words) from Zhihu users within the broader context of the invocation of survival discourses in modern Chinese history. An intertextual method was adopted in this study, which helps us to better understand netizens' arguments in favor of the Chinese government's tough stance on the trade war with the US and the probable success of this strategy. The analysis reveals the historicity and intertextuality of these discourses, identifies strategies which are employed to support a tough stance on the trade war, and reflects on their implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the emergence and development of playgrounds in the most significant treaty ports of China — Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Tianjin — during the first half of the 20th century. It contributes to understanding the unique evolution of playgrounds and children's play in modern China by exploring the interaction between imported ideas from the endogenous development of playgrounds in Europe and America and new ideas on children's development with local circumstances and social ideas. It reveals that initially, children's play was mainly adult-oriented, but after certain ideas on safety, education, and physical development were introduced, playgrounds were constructed. Later, physical constructions and management methods were added until they developed into particular landscapes that were constructed to meet the perceived physical, social, and mental needs of children. During this process, urban citizens changed their ideology on play, viewing playgrounds as a tool for training children to conform to society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modern China, industrialization has formed a critical foundation for the transition to modernization. However, the spatiotemporal evolution patterns and driving mechanisms of urban industrial development in Nanjing from 1840 to 1949 remain unclear. Based on textual historical sources, this study examined the spatiotemporal patterns of urban industrial development in Nanjing from 1840 to 1949 by using spatial analysis methods, GeoDetector, regression models and industrial structure indices. The results reveal the following: (1) The overall spatial distribution pattern of the industry in modern Nanjing exhibited a “one main, one secondary” dual-center “ladle-shaped” arrangement. Over time, industry has expanded from the urban center toward the east and north. (2) The modernization level of different industries was uneven, exhibiting a “center-periphery” spatial pattern. (3) At the micro level, transportation and population density were the primary influencing factors for industrial location, whereas at the macro level, government intervention mainly affected the industrialization pattern. (4) The industrial development pattern in modern Nanjing, in alignment with the “pole-axis” spatial system, serves as a microcosm of China’s urban modernization transition. This study represents the application of GIS methods in the humanities and provides valuable insights for urban planning and development.

This paper examines how smallpox vaccination has been implemented in China from a technological perspective. It is an attempt not only to investigate the impact of technology and instruments on medical advances, but also to deepen the understanding of modern Chinese society through smallpox vaccination.Smallpox vaccination helps people develop immunity to smallpox by inoculating into them pus from cowpox which is an infectious disease that affects cows. In 1805, Alexander Pearson succeeded in smallpox vaccination using the arm-to-arm transfer method for the first time in China thanks to the arrival of the vaccine in Macao. As Pearson and Quixi, who followed in the footsteps of Pearson, used the arm-to-arm method, they did not have much interest in vaccine containers. However, the vaccine administration technique changed: the vaccine obtained from people was inoculated into cows, and then again, into people. It thus resulted in the manufacturing of various vaccine containers including glass vials and tubes. The development of tools contributed to the expansion of cowpox vaccination. In addition, cowpox vaccines were imported directly from foreign countries. Advertisements which remain to date indicate that vaccines were widely imported. Pharmacies promoted vaccines, contending that the sale and import of vaccines was for the Chinese people. On the other hand, there were voices against imported vaccines, saying that they were expensive and foreign-made. Under the banner of patriotism and nationalism, people demanded that vaccines be made in China, which led to the production of vaccines in large cities such as Shanghai and Beijing. Along with the aforementioned efforts to obtain vaccines, techniques for smallpox vaccination can also be understood in the Chinese context. For example, traditional Chinese medicine maintains that acupuncture can be used as a vaccination lancet. Since traditional Chinese medicine already embraced the use of cowpox for protection against smallpox, they advocated using acupuncture instead of western instruments in order to expand the influence of traditional Chinese medicine. The belief that inoculation should be done into acupuncture points in the upper arms shows the significant influence of traditional Chinese medicine. On the other hand, Chinese people being reluctant to leave vaccine marks show the general view of what was considered as beautiful at the time, rather than the Chinese traditional perspective.Consequently, smallpox vaccine techniques in China, while following the technological advancement in general, could not help but be adapted to the Chinese context under the influence of modern Chinese society. Thus, smallpox vaccine techniques provide clues for understanding modern Chinese society. As such, historians who conduct research mainly with literature should also take interest in medical technology and instruments as well.

Fashion information refers to a series of information about clothing and accessories, such as style, design, sewing, and display. The journal is an important carrier of publishing information. Through retrieval and collection, and from the perspective of communication, this paper conducted research on the related journals that published fashion information in modern China. It investigated publication conditions, types and ways of related journals publishing fashion information, and made statistical analysis on the features of fashion subject content. It provides precious historical materials for the study of fashion and culture in modern China.By professional retrieval and screening for full-text databases of journals in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China in Shanghai Library, combined with evidence and supplement of other literature, this paper collected important journals publishing fashion information and analyzed the number, type, launching time, publishing place, information concentration and search term of these journals. Six major conclusions were drawn. First, there were 100 important journals that published fashion information in modern China. Second, these related important journals fall into two broad categories. The first category is professional fashion journals, including special issues, which are called the fashion category; the second category is non-professional fashion journals that regularly or irregularly published fashion information. These could be divided into comprehensive pictorial, fine arts, photography, film, women, children, life, literature and art, social science, economy, news, etc. There were only a few professional fashion journals concentrating on publishing fashion information, and fashion information was published mostly in fashion columns of various kinds of other journals, among which, comprehensive pictorials were the most frequent, accounting for about one third of the total, followed by women’s magazines, accounting for nearly one seventh of the total. Third, the publication of fashion information was not densely concentrated. A minority of fashion information was published in professional fashion journals and a few non-professional fashion journals in high density, but most fashion information was more widespread over various journals in lower density. Fourth, the origin and development stages of these journals and their published fashion information can be divided into four periods: the budding period, the development period, the peak period and the falling period. Fifth, the places of publication of these related journals were big Chinese cities including Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Nanjing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Shanghai accounted for the majority, which matched Shanghai’s historical position in modern China. Sixth, the subject contents of fashion included suit, dress, coat, followed by cheongsam, skirt and underwear.This paper analyzed the fashion subject features of 10 typical journals as well, whose contents on fashion subjects mainly included popular styles of Chinese and foreign clothing, fashionable costumes of celebrities, fashion shows, national costumes of various regions, history of Chinese and foreign clothing, purchasing, wearing, maintenance and other knowledge of clothing. They also included information on accessories such as hats, shoes, socks, scarves and ties as well as sewing, weaving, embroidery and other skills. In reviewing The Young Companion, LINLOON and Pictorial Weekly as examples, this paper analyzed the subject contents and nature of fashion information published in detail and discovered that they have different emphases on fashion information. Finally, this paper analyzed the characteristics and functions of the important journals publishing fashion information in modern China, concluding that the method of publishing information took on a multi-dimensional form, the theme content of clothing built an all round clothing structure system, the clothing fashion concept penetrated into every aspect of people’s life, and the spreading of fashion information promoted the progression of people’s concept of fashion and evolution of modern clothing. This paper’s style of collecting, reviewing related important journals and making statistical analysis by using professional search terms to search the database has great reference value for the research of other modern professional fields, especially those fields with few or no related professional journals published in modern times. At the same time, database-based retrieval statistics, especially the use of multi-angle statistics and analysis methods, could make up for the shortages of previous manual collection and collation of data, thus avoiding the omission of important journals. The 100 important journals listed in this paper are comprehensive historical materials related to modern fashion, which can greatly reduce the time of collecting and reviewing materials for relevant future researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past few years, the medical knowledge transfer in a West-East direction has attracted increased scholarly attention from European and American historians, whereas studies on such "knowledge travels" conducted in the East Asian context focus mainly on political and socio-cultural concepts. To provide an alternative perspective on the travel of Western medicine to Chinese soil, a case study on "diabetes" is conducted, under the theoretical framework of "transcultural conceptual history." This article systematically analyzes the standardization, popularization, politicization, and derivatization of "diabetes," calling for further attention to transcultural histories of medical concepts in modern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social Anthropology / Anthropologie Sociale is the property of Berghahn Books and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Between 1916 and 1918, a group of Chinese intellectuals opened a school in Paris for Chinese workers who came to Europe in aid of the Allied cause. One of them, Cai Yuanpei, created a textbook based on lectures he gave at the school, which included chapters on moral and intellectual topics. This article focuses on two of these chapters – History and Geography – and situates them within the context of Chinese modern history, curricular and pedagogical debates in mainland China, and the history of textbook publication at the time. In doing so, I argue that Cai Yuanpei utilised these chapters to instil critical thinking skills among workers in a pedagogical move that, while consistent with contemporary discussions on the goals of education, was nevertheless unique in the context of other contemporary approaches to education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the first half of the twentieth century, the possibility of weaponizing bacteria and waging a biological war became a frequently discussed topic in Europe, America, and Asia. This article traces the discourse on bacteriological warfare (xijunzhan) before, during, and in the aftermath of the Second Sino-Japanese War and puts it in the historical context of the development of biomedical sciences, epidemic prevention, and governance in Republican China. The discussion of biowarfare might be understood as an expression of both the skepticism about the scientization as well as technologization of warfare and the fear of epidemics ravaging China at the time. Considering the prevalence of epidemics in China during the first half of the twentieth century, the horror scenario of biological warfare did not necessarily lead to the direct expansion of or change in actual anti-epidemic measures during the Republican era. However, the very possibility of bacteriological attacks increased the sensitivity and knowledge of decision makers, military personnel, and large parts of the population regarding the threat of infectious disease and epidemics. The dread of enemies dropping vessels filled with disease vectors helped to justify the promulgation and implementation of hygiene protocols, vaccine campaigns, and microbiological knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its inception almost fifty years ago, Modern China has kept pace with international scholarly trends and greatly influenced global academia. As the founder and editor of Modern China, Philip C. C. Huang's editorial principles, scholarly ideas, and personal theories and methodologies have been prominently embodied in the themes and contents of the journal, which has guided the development, evolution, and changing currents in the field of China studies. Reflecting back on the older methodologies of China studies, Huang abandoned the existing theoretical framework of either/or binaries and, basing himself firmly in empirical practice, pursued a new perspective focusing on the interrelationships and interpenetrations between dualities. Huang's work has laid out the path for the future development of theory and practice in China studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following victory in the Russo-Japanese War, the Meiji government sought to expand its maritime influence in Northeast Asia by developing pelagic fisheries in the newly acquired Kwantung leased territory, but it encountered immediate resistance from the Qing court, which had just embarked upon ambitious reform to strengthen maritime defence through the building of a national fishing industry. The dispute first emerged as a clash between Japanese and Chinese fishery protection companies on the seas adjacent to the Chinese city of Xiongyue. It then gave rise to a protracted Sino-Japanese legal debate on the question of whether the Xiongyue fishing ground was in the free sea or part of Chinese territorial waters. However, the 1912 settlement agreement made no mention of the legal status of the fishing ground. By examining this oft-neglected dispute, this article not only provides a rare East Asian case that illustrates the tension between the requirements of national sea borders and the principle of navigational freedom, but also explores how the Meiji and Qing governments perceived and practised international maritime law at the turn of the twentieth century. It argues that neither government viewed international maritime law as the only referential framework to solve the dispute, especially when it contributed little to the conflict settlement and contradicted their perceptions of the historical relations between East Asian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the rise and fall of the Administrative Bureau of Prohibited Drugs in 1920s Shanghai. It identifies the factors associated with the endeavours of the central government to experiment with establishing a Bureau dedicated to regulating refined drugs and the reasons why the Bureau operated for just about two years. It argues that the concerns regarding the widespread of refined drugs and the expected profits of regulating the business pushed the central government to experiment establishing the Bureau. Moreover, this experiment was a tool with which the Beiyang government aimed to centralise its authorities on the issue of drug control. However, the room for manoeuvring the Bureau was limited, mainly because of the resilience of the drug economy and the politicised regulations. Struggling in the narrow space between the colonial powers, the merchant groups, and the local authorities acting under the influence of warlords, the Bureau was doomed to be short-lived. Its history reveals the resilience of both licit and illicit drug economy and the power struggles that resulted from efforts to regulate refined drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Changzhou University (Social Science Edition) is the property of Editorial Department of Journal of Changzhou University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

How did a new science initially promoted by only a few individuals eventually become a widespread cultural phenomenon practiced and known by thousands of people? Following a transnational approach, this article traces the introduction of psychical research into China during the first two decades of the 20th century. Known in the Republican period (1912–1949) as Spiritual Science (xinling kexue or xinling yanjiu), psychical research flourished between the 1920s and 1930s, playing a key role in the popularization of applied psychology and mind‐cure across China. This article takes a step back from the heyday of Spiritual Science by looking at the period that immediately preceded and helped define it. Focused on wide‐circulation newspapers, popular manuals, and stage performances, it teases out the ways in which Chinese popular culture translated European, American, and Japanese psychical research to local Chinese audiences in the midst of China's search for modernity. By naturalizing the reality of psychic powers, spiritual scientists blurred the boundaries between science and superstition in a period when these were posited as diametrically opposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development and transformation of design strategies and paradigms are closely related to national strategies economic models ideology and other macro social factors. The attention and cognition of design strategies and design paradigms is a new perspective for the study of design history. The discussion and interpretation of Chinese modern silk design strategies and paradigms is not only a new approach to the study of modern silk design history but will help the construction of innovative design strategies and the revolutionary transformation of design paradigms of Chinese silk. "Chinese modern silk design" mainly refers to the period from the founding of the people's Republic of China in 1949 to the early stage of reform and opening up in 1988. Due to many changes in social values and ideology during this period as well as the transformation of two completely different modes of planned economy and market economy silk design has gradually developed from the independent construction state in the initial stage to a relatively mature independent design system. If we ignore the research on silk design strategies and paradigms in the 1950s and 1980s we cannot make an accurate objective and scientific interpretation and it is difficult to clearly understand the systematic causes and contemporary values of the development of modern China's silk design let alone grasp the overall picture of Chinese silk design in the 20th century as a whole. With an interdisciplinary perspective contemporary academic vision and the position of local culture in document research the author is not passively " letting historical materials speak for themselves" but actively selecting analyzing and organizing documents creatively recognizing and discovering problems raising problems and creating the " object" of research. Using design sociology as the method and guidance of design criticism the author pays attention to the social role of design strategies and design paradigms. Using the interactive demonstration of the original code and the original thing this paper puts forward questions and hypotheses from the variables of historical context and makes a critical and reflective interpretation of the historical value and academic value of Chinese modern silk design strategies and paradigms. Using the cross vision of design iconology and philosophy of science this paper combs and discriminates the logical relationship between design strategies design paradigms and design practices and achievements from the macro and micro levels and gives scientific and objective evaluation and conclusions. Due to the influence of different market mechanisms trade policies and ideologies the development of Chinese modern silk design strategies and design paradigms has led to both brilliant achievements and major contributions as well as mistakes and biases in the design achievements in these stages. Chinese modern design strategies and paradigms not only present the ideology of the national political dimension but also reflect the active and passive creation of social values national cultural identity and the national subject image at that time. At the same time strategies have also become the basis for the generation of design paradigms. The constructive and innovative research on the development and transformation of Chinese modern silk design strategies and paradigms as well as the attention and introduction of design strategies and paradigms can make the study of modern silk history more academic and critical and also provide useful enlightenment for the construction of design strategies and paradigms in the new era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The North China Ice Games (NCIG, Huabei bingyunhui, full name: Ice Performance of the 19th North China Games, Dishijiujie huabei yundonghui bingshang biaoyan dahui) were held in Beijing in 1935. As the first regional Ice Games independently were held by Chinese people in modern times, it showed the achievements of ice sports in North China, especially in Beijing and Tianjin. In the past, due to the limitation of data, the investigation and research on the North China Ice Games were insufficient, mainly focusing on the schedule and results. However, there was little research on its background, preparation process, and significance. Based on previous studies, the methods of literary and historical analysis were taken as the main research methods, based on the rich collection of modern books and newspapers in National Library of China and relevant databases at home and abroad, to fill the gap in relevant research. Although there are a lot of imperfections in the North China Ice Games, it still left a significant mark in modern Chinese sports history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, Jane Austen has undergone an amazing metamorphosis from an obscure foreign writer disregarded or disapproved of for a long period to a great novelist highly acclaimed and fully acknowledged. Only recent years have seen the publication of a few scholarly articles on the reception trajectories of Austen in the Chinese academic world. This article revisits the issue, particularly the reception of Austen in early modern China from a canonical perspective. During the first major wave of literary translation, Austen was absent in the translation projects of dominant male translators, especially in Lin Shu's choice. It was not because of their gender discrimination as generally considered, but because of their lack of canon consciousness. The literary light of Austen, too bright and too sparkling to ignore, was finally shed upon the Chinese land, but her canonical place was not instantly recognized. The wartime translators' efforts to render Pride and Prejudice into Chinese reflect the difficulty in the making of a canonical Austen under very different historical circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the history of camels in Beijing from 1900 to 1937. Since the Qing period, the camel living in the villages on the western outskirts of Beijing had become the beast of burden for carrying coal from the Western Hills to the city and stimulated interconnection between the urban and rural areas. The use of camels was scrutinized during the urbanization that followed the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. However, camels did not disappear. After Beijing lost its status as the political capital in 1928, camels were reimagined as a symbol of nostalgia and part of the city's new identity to reconstruct Beijing as a cultural capital and tourist city in a global context. The article argues that the urbanization of camels in Beijing was not a deanimalized process; instead, it was reordering of the relationship between animals and the city beyond a utilitarian perspective to address social and cultural dimensions, it was also a process that preserved the past and accommodated the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 1979 to 1991, Modern China , a landmark journal of Chinese studies, published a large number of articles in the field of peasant studies. These articles are of two types: studies of peasants in premodern China, which focus on the rural economy, politics, and ideology; and studies on the history of "peasant studies" itself, which focus on the problems, paradigms and directions of the field. Taken together, all these articles reveal the influence of three major approaches to history: the longue durée perspective of the French Annales school, the "bottom-up" approach to lived experience of the British new social history movement, and the time, space, and demography frame of reference of G. William Skinner. 摘要: 20世纪中后期西方新兴的农民学学科与区域研究具有内在的关联。在中美学术交流正常化时期，《近代中国》(1979–1991年) 作为中国学研究的标志性刊物，集中刊发了大量农民学领域的学术成果。这些成果可分为两类: 其一是农民问题研究，从乡村经济、政治与思想等方面探讨中国前现代社会时期农民的具体问题；其二是农民学学术史研究，讨论农民学研究本身面临的问题、范式与方向。《近代中国》的农民学研究延续了法国年鉴学派的"长时段"视域和社会史学派"自下而上"的材料意识，以及"施坚雅模式"区域细分的方法，这些学术成果展现了西方农民学发展历程以及美国的中国史研究思路与方法。 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land inequality is a global and historic issue. There is a problem of unequal distribution of land ownership in modern China; research results on this topic are extensive, but the conclusions are quite different or even completely opposite. This study systematically reviewed the research results obtained for land inequality in modern China and performed an international comparison. The results show that the debate on the estimation of land inequality in modern China has existed for a long time. The overall estimation of land inequality has been repeatedly revised, and many subdivision estimates show great regional variability. The application of the Gini coefficient and other methods can address the drawbacks of traditional methods. A change trend toward equality was found to be more likely in the late modern period. The majority of studies support the notion that debt burden, power, and strength exacerbated land inequality in modern China, whereas the inheritance system with equal sharing, revolution, and reform reduced the land inequality. However, the impact of disasters and commercialization remains controversial. Compared with relevant international studies, the study on land inequality in modern China focused on estimations with unique interpretation perspectives, but there are limitations in terms of the research methods used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]