Contemporary China

The opportunities to grow the ‘organic pie’ are substantial for both China and Australia. However the challenges and the opportunities are far from identical, although the goals of growing the production area, increasing the market awareness, fostering consumer confidence in certification and labeling, broadening the product offering and availability, and increasing sales are shared issues. Some of the aspects of organics opportunity and challenge are examined in this book chapter. Comparative statistics between Australia and China are presented in Table 3.1.

The New Global Politics of the Asia Pacific: Conflict and Cooperation in the Asian Century, 3rd Edition
©2017 Routledge: London & New York. 341pp. + x. Link: https://www.routledge.com/The-New-Global-Politics-of-the-Asia-Pacific-Conflict-and-Cooperation-in/Connors-Davison-Dosch/p/book/9781138647022

Now in its new and fully updated third edition, The New Global Politics of the Asia Pacific continues to provide a compelling analysis of a region undergoing dramatic changes. Based on new research and offering fresh interpretation, this edition evaluates the prospects for continuing US dominance in the ‘Asian Century’. Whilst presenting evidence for a multifaceted ‘Beijing Strategy’, which aims to counter the US by building an alternative regional order, it also explains Japan’s definitive departure from its limited military role. Key content includes:
- Intra-regional conflicts in the South China Sea and the Korean peninsula,
- The different responses within the Asia Pacific to globalisation and western ideas of democracy and political economy,
- The underappreciated success of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in building a regional identity
- The European Union’s soft power in the region.
A highly topical account, which offers an overview of the main actors, institutions and contemporary issues in the Asia Pacific, the book will be essential reading for students of Asian Studies, International Politics, and anyone interested in the region.

Michael K. Connors teaches at the University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus and is a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University. He is the co-editor of Thai Politics in Translation: Monarchy, Democracy, Constitution (forthcoming).
Remy Davison holds the Jean Monnet Chair in Politics and Economics at Monash University. He is the author of The Political Economy of Single Market Europe (2011).
Jörn Dosch is Professor of International Politics and Development Cooperation at the University of Rostock, Germany, and Adjunct Professor at Monash University Malaysia. His recent publications include Malaysia Post-Mahathir: A Decade of Change (2015).

From Chinese Brand Culture to Global Brands uses a Chinese
perspective to examine the capacity of Chinese brand culture to
serve as a complement to existing models of brand globalization.
Moving away from the trend to study the managerial aspects of
Western brand building in Chinese contexts, we examine how
Chinese branding efforts express significant aspects of their own
brand culture. Our selection of Jay Chou, the 2008 Beijing Olympics
Opening ceremony, and Shanghai Tang, an aspiring global fashion brand with aesthetic roots in Chinese historical culture, as illustrative cases, is fully consistent with this unwritten and unspoken consensus around exploiting Chinese cultural specificity towards the global development of Chinese brands. Although these three cases may seem “under the radar,” we believe that, together, they provide unique insights into the relation between brands and Chinese culture, and offer intriguing possibilities for thinking about global Chinese brands.

Bilge Strateji dergisi yılda iki kere Bilge Adamlar Stratejik Araştırmalar Merkezi (BİLGESAM) tarafından yayınlanan hakemli bir dergidir. EBSCOhost, CIAO ve ASOS tarafından taranmakta ve dizinlenmektedir. Dergide ifade edilen görüş ve fikirler yalnızca yazarlara aittir, BİLGESAM'ın düşünce ve politikasını yansıtan metinler olarak değerlendirilemez. Bilge Strateji Dergisi'nin tüm hakları saklıdır. İzinsiz yayımlanamaz. Kaynak gösterilerek alıntı yapılabilir. BILGESAM's Wise Strategy Journal is a peer-reviewed journal published on a biannual basis.

Among the deficiencies demonstrated by the world financial crisis of 2008–9, one was the limited capacity of G-8 to provide for global economic governance. The developed economies quickly realised that they should seek joint solutions and coordinated policies in cooperation with the leading emerging-market economies. As a result, the G-20 turned into the main forum for managing the crisis. This in fact pointed to an early institutional acknowledgement that important changes were underway in the global distribution of power. These changes derive from the substantially higher growth rates of the emerging-market economies in comparison with those of the developed economies, a trend named ‘the rise of the rest’ (Zakaria, 2008, pp. 2–3).

China’s dazzling infrastructure and energy-driven Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a US$1 trillion investment across Eurasia and beyond, has lost its shine. Increasingly, China’s leveraging of the initiative is being perceived by a growing number of recipients and critics alike as a geopolitical power play, a tool to shape a new world order partly populated by autocrats and authoritarians, and progressively characterized by intrusive surveillance, potential debt traps, and perceived as a self-serving way to address domestic overcapacity

On Saturday March 23, 2019, during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Rome, Italy formally joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with the signing of an official Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between both countries. This marked a significant milestone in the growth of the BRI.

In April 2005, the blind activist Chen Guangcheng led a group of families to a courthouse in rural China. After suffering unlawful detentions and forced sterilisations under the government’s one-child policy campaign, they planned to sue the township mayor. A judge initially refused to accept the case. But Chen and the villagers argued there was no legal basis to reject it and insisted it be accepted. The judge relented and the lawsuit proceeded.

Chen recounts this story in his new autobiography, The Barefoot Lawyer. He is the most famous member of a group of mostly self-taught individuals providing low-cost or free legal services, despite lacking any licence to do so. The book’s release coincides with a heated debate about the appropriate role for barefoot lawyers in China’s developing legal system, which was sparked by recent legislative amendments that will restrict their work.

During the past 20 years, Chinese law made it very easy to use barefoot lawyers and their role in the legal services market grew. A litigant could choose any other citizen to represent him so long as the court approved; such approval was routinely granted.

Proponents of barefoot lawyers note that they provide at least some form of legal representation to the many citizens who are unable to hire lawyers or obtain other help. For, while the number of Chinese lawyers has grown significantly, they are highly concentrated in urban areas. And even when rural residents can find lawyers, their fees may be prohibitively expensive.

Barefoot lawyers also play a significant role in administrative litigation – that is, when a citizen sues the government. In various localities, barefoot lawyers represent plaintiffs in up to a third of all such cases. These claims often contest government land seizures, fines and taxes, environmental pollution, or local corruption.

Lawyers are reluctant to take these “high risk, low reward” cases. Plaintiffs are often seeking to change the government’s behaviour, not recover monetary damages. Lawyers also fear retaliation by the local government, such as revocation of their law licence. Legal aid is generally unavailable in sensitive cases because the local government controls that system. A barefoot lawyer is sometimes the only option.

But barefoot lawyers also have their critics. Some party officials warn that their rights protection activities threaten social stability. Judges have argued they inadequately
represent parties due to their lack of legal expertise and employ disruptive tactics in court. Even worse, barefoot lawyers may simply cheat parties out of their money.

Licensed lawyers, echoing these arguments, have also lobbied for limiting this perceived source of competition.

In this context, China amended the law governing civil cases, effective as of 2013, to restrict citizens’ ability to employ barefoot lawyers. An identical amendment for administrative cases takes effect in May. No longer can any citizen represent a party simply by obtaining court approval. Instead, barefoot lawyers may only appear in court in two instances.

First, a party’s close relative may serve as his representative. But few people have an immediate family member with legal expertise. The second method requires the party to obtain a letter recommending the barefoot lawyer from either the party’s employer, the residents’ or villagers’ committee where the party lives, or a “social organisation”.
For civil cases, the recommendation requirement has not weeded out the “bad” barefoot lawyers, as the committees lack guidance on when to issue the recommendations. However, when the new rule is applied to administrative cases, those barefoot lawyers seeking to bring sensitive cases will be screened out. Employers are unlikely to risk their relationship with the government by issuing recommendation letters. And many rural residents have no employer.

The residents’ and villagers’ committees essentially function as branch offices of the local government. Similarly, China’s larger “social organisations”, such as the trade union, are staffed by civil servants and largely indistinguishable from government organs. These entities will not assist citizens to sue the government over sensitive matters.
Thus, the new rules on administrative cases will effectively prevent all barefoot lawyers from appearing in such actions.

If they are unable to find representation, citizens may forego the courts altogether and resort to more drastic measures. Thus, China’s desire to maintain social stability requires bridging the representation gap. For its part, the government could grant lawyers more independence, create financial incentives to litigate administrative matters, encourage pro bono work, and ensure legal aid is available in sensitive cases, particularly in rural areas. But, ultimately, it falls to Chinese lawyers to fill the void.

Aaron Halegua is a research scholar at New York University School of Law’s US-Asia Law Institute

A história tem para a narrativa do presente uma influência que foge normalmente aos mais escapistas ou desatentos. David Hume, o filósofo inglês disse num livro famoso "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding" que "os homens são de tal forma os mesmos, em todos os tempos e lugares que a história não nos diz nada de novo ou estranho neste aspecto. A sua utilidade essencial é que nos permite descobrir os princípios constantes e universais da natureza humana."

From February 2020 to the end of 2021, China's state-controlled media focused on creating its "victorious" narrative of combating the COVID-19 pandemic. This article focuses on two high-profile and COVID-19-themed TV series that aim to rewrite the collective memories of the Wuhan lockdown as part of state's affective governance strategies. Using a feminist textual analysis, the article examines the gendered nature of state narratives by dissecting the representation of national heroines of the pandemic. It demonstrates the centrality of heterosexual families and gender performances in romanticizing individual sacrifices and mass suffering. Unlike the socialist-era role models, the personal weakness and emotional flaws of China's new heroines are tactically displayed to enhance emotional authenticity and resonate with contemporary audiences. Yet these state narratives reflect only stereotypical depictions of femininity within a hierarchical gender order in post-reform China, where moralized womanhood is imbued with a sacrificial attitude that serves to discipline China's female citizens.

In the past decade, relations between Israel and China have become closer, following a decision in Jerusalem to diversify and expand Israel’s ties with emerging powers and countries that do not belong to the European Union and are less identified with the American coalition. The visit to Israel by China’s vice president is evidence of the warming of relations between the two countries.

It is March in Beijing. Many local friends tell me that it is the loveliest month here, as one can see, smell, and feel the change of seasons coming after a long smoggy winter: The day is warm and the golden sunlight streams brilliantly on a blue sky -so blue that it seems as if it had been washed by the Dragon King, the deity for water and weather in Chinese folk beliefs. Plum and apricot blossoms and willows glow with life. Indeed, the divide between all the four seasons is more distinct here in the north than in Jiangnan, the southern region by the Yangtze River where I grew up, echoing loudly the 24 solar terms. After the Rain Water (yushui 雨水) reaches Equinox, then it arrives Clear and Bright (qingming 清明), the day when people sweep the graves of their ancestors. Ancient solar terms such as these gure centrally in Ian Johnson's new book, Souls of China, which includes sections named for them, one of the rst things that intrigued me about his approach to the topic of the revival of religion in the PRC. TING GUO: This is really a fascinating book. I particularly enjoyed how each chapter corresponds with a seasonal note, a beautiful way to weave the threads together. Did you choose certain religions to go with certain seasons? Was this done intentionally or did it INTERVIEWS ESSAYS EVENTS BLARB A READER-SUPPORTED MAGAZINE INTERVIEWS, THE CHINA BLOG AWAKENING, RETURNING, AND LOOKING FORWARD: AN INTERVIEW WITH IAN JOHNSON MARCH 29, 2017 | LARB BLOG | LEAVE A COMMENT

"Even though I am poor and I have AIDS, I am happy. Each day brings hope." Ximei

Ximei, a documentary filmed in China over a seven-year period by Andy Cohen and Gaylen Ross, follows the HIV-positive titular protagonist and plain-spoken community leader named Ximei, a local "peasant" woman in her thirties. Ximei is filmed as she negotiates the government bureaucracy in remote Henan province while acting as a community activist and advocate for the 300,000 other people in the region that developed HIV/AIDS as a result of a national government program during the 1990s, whose goal it was to increase blood bank reserves at a minimal cost. The program offered a month's wages (about five dollars) to blood donators. Tragically and stupidly, the public health workers in the province didn't decontaminate their transfusion equipment. As a result, many local residents that took advantage of the opportunity to earn extra money, contracted HIV, either from coming in contact with contaminated medical equipment or by receiving transfusions of untested, tainted blood during treatments for an accident or disease.

Building on existing studies, this chapter examines cyberpolitics in the world’s largest authoritarian regime, China, and attempts to evaluate the impact of the Internet and social media on the authoritarian rule. Through analysis of cyberactivism and state adaptation in relation to each other, I argue that though the digital technology has empowered Chinese citizens in multiple ways, their general political inactiveness and the pluralization of cyberactivism, exacerbated by state censorship, have prevented regime transition from becoming the shared awareness. Moreover, the Chinese state has adapted far beyond censorship and propaganda. Its attempt to accommodate cyberactivism is also crucial to explain the authoritarian regime’s resilience.

With particular emphasis on the years 2016 and 2017, the series "Artificial Intelligence in China in its direct sources" collects four independent volumes that bring together the AI news in that country. Volume 1: Specific Policies; Volume 2: Strategic Policies; Volume 3: Cooperation, Research and Events and, Volume 4: Market.

The middle school period is seen as one when a child goes into adolescence; and during that stage, an adolescent tends to become psychologically rebellious against adults. From the perspective of religious education, it is noteworthy to understand how the religious faith of adolescents is shaped. Basing on the "faith development" theory proposed by James Fowler, Professor of Theology and Human Development at Emory University, the present paper takes as a case study the interview materials of nine middle school Christian students from three Protestant churches in City A and B along the coast of Fujian Province, China. These materials are analyzed, focusing on two central elements, that is, 1) interpersonal relationship and 2) religious WANG Zhixi 王志希 is a PhD Student in the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

This paper reports findings from an ethnographic case study of multilingual Zhuang university students, many of whom are commencing a personal migration away from the Zhuang language ‘homelands’ in South China. The Zhuang comprise China’s largest official ethnic minority; nevertheless, their language is losing vitality. While out-migration from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has been common since the 1980s, the young people who participated in this study are especially mobile because of their education and thus can be considered as vectors of change for the Zhuang language. Combining interviews and ethnographic observation with Zhuang students at seven universities across China, the study finds an association with a Zhuang identity not characterized by Zhuang language practices. Minority language proficiency is increasingly less relevant to inclusion within the Zhuang community, though certain participants’ self-characterization as “fake Zhuang” reveals the shift in mechanisms of inclusion is a point of tension, not yet completely accepted. The participants’ Zhuang language - even when fluent - is often seen as “useless”, it is largely absent from everyday linguistic practices, and rarely written. Most participants had an extensive multilingual repertoire including Putonghua, English, Zhuang, dialects including Guilinhua, and sometimes Thai or Vietnamese language. This repertoire is stratified, however, and their linguistic resources are usually unremarked and undervalued; thus, the students’ linguistic identities are not perceived as “multilingual.” Although the Zhuang have legally-enshrined language freedoms and autonomous provincial government, such State-led mechanisms have done little to counter language practices being jettisoned from Zhuang identity, because these mechanisms do not alter the ‘market’ of resources in which minority languages are of low value. Rather, China’s legal framework plays a significant role by insisting upon minority identities yet detaching those identities from linguistic realities. The decoupling will likely precipitate further decline in the vitality of Zhuang language.

GERMAN culture is unique, not universal. Certain characteristics explain why Germany became what it became, and did onto others what it had to. Ever since their discovery of China, German missionaries and philosophers had feverishly tried to convert the Chinese to Christianity and the Greco-Hellenic ways. That included a form of brutal ‘language imperialism' by which all important Chinese key terminologies were translated into biblical and philosophical words and categories. The result, to this day, is a German ‘Chinabild’ [China image] that is virtually Chinese-free.

This paper discusses a project in which we are currently engaged entitled “Orienting Engineering Ethics in terms of China and Chinese Values: Its Significance Based on Three Case Studies.” This research has a two-fold aim: 1 to identify and rectify shortcomings in curricula addressing the ethical, social, and political dimensions of engineering in international environments, as well as misunderstandings in international engineering environments that result from these shortcomings; 2. to identify and rectify deficiencies within engineering curricula offered in China, as well as safety concerns that result from these deficiencies.

As this research is ongoing, here we simply share our findings thus far: the nature of shortcomings within current curricula and the way we seek to rectify these deficiencies by researching large-scale engineering projects in China and writing case studies to be used in courses dealing with the ethical, social, and political dimensions of engineering. These case studies address the decision to build the Three Gorges dam, the construction of the West-East pipeline, and coal mining and energy in China. We focus on differences between China and other countries rather than China and any other specific country. Although our project focuses on China specifically, these issues in China are relevant in addressing global engineering challenges, improving cross-cultural understanding and strengthening international collaborations as a result.

Justo después de saber que había conseguido su tercer Oscar por Amarcord (1973), un periodista le pidió a Federico Fellini que diera un consejo a los jóvenes cine-astas. La respuesta del director italiano empezaba así: "Que hablen de sí mismos". Así se entiende mejor el empeño de Lulu Wang (Posthumous, 2014) por cimentar su incipiente carrera en una historia autobiográfica hasta en los detalles más pequeños. Lulu Wang nació en China pero tuvo que mudarse a Estados Unidos con sus padres cuando tenía 6 años. Igual que Billi, la protagonista de The Farewell, papel interpretado por Nora Lum, Awkwafina de nombre artístico.

This book places the presidency of Donald Trump as well as the brewing Sino-American Cold War within the broader historical context of American hegemony in Asia, which traces its roots to Alfred Thayer Mahan’s call for a naval build up in the Pacific, the subsequent colonization of the Philippines and, ultimately, reaching its apotheosis after the defeat of Imperial Japan in the Second World War. The book, drawing on visits from Cairo to California and Perth to Pyongyang as well as interviews and exchanges with heads of state and senior officials from across the Indo-Pacific, provides an overview of the arc of American primacy in the region for scholars, journalists, and concerned citizens.

Sceptics query China's economic and political ability to realize its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Less attention has been paid to BRI's implications for one of the defining features of China's foreign policy: low engagement in areas beyond its traditional sphere of influence. The Middle East is such a case. Addressing this issue, the article explores the mutual impact of China's low political involvement in the Middle East and BRI's realization. Distinguishing cross-border connectivity projects from other BRI-associated activities, the article examines the challenges to executing BRI-related projects in Israel. It finds that realizing connectivity projects-the essence of the BRI vision-will require China to increase its regional engagement, a shift that it has so far avoided.

In 2007, China overtook the US to become the largest emitter of CO2 into the Earth's atmosphere. China's vital role in global efforts to combat climate change creates a pressing challenge to explore the unique characteristics of Chinese environmental values and policy processes, and to identify the frames that are employed to understand climate change and related environmental issues domestically. This paper investigates a) how the political context, as well as differing political agendas and policy goals within which actors operate, affects and sometimes constrains the frames they generally employ; and b) the specific frames used to understand and discuss climate change by interview subjects and in written documents. It finds that different frames are employed by those supporting the current regime and its attendant official discourses on climate change and the environment (mainly government officials) and those challenging or in opposition to such dominant framings (particularly NGOs).

... a typical naive set of assumptions about "group oriented" cultures it that the participants within them are basically altruistic, self-effacing, self-sacrificing and sociable. A society of such individuals should exhibit the very best of human civilization working in equitable, democratic communities. By contrast, those from individualistic cultures should be cold, grasping, selfish, egotistical and almost incapable of the cooperation demanded by a civil society. Indeed, a society of individualists, by this stereotype would be a dog eat dog affair, dedicated to conflict, riven with disloyalty and betrayal, forever failing to build a stable and humanistic community.

Using Apple's 2015 published list of supplier companies and their subsidiaries, this paper analyses how one of the world's most significant lead technology companies and its network of core and non-core suppliers have become increasingly embedded in China's information and communications technology (ICT) global value chain. By mapping both the global networks and the networks within China of Apple's supply chain, this paper provides insights into the significance for China and for Chinese companies of its increased integration in the ICT global value chain (GVC). By examining the geography of outsourcing and offshoring by Apple's suppliers, it distinguishes between locations where intellectual property is being generated and consumed and refers to the particular challenges faced by a latecomer country such as China in achieving the best balance between technology autonomy and benefiting from GVC integration.

Le trasformazioni delle città degli ultimi decenni hanno fatto emergere una nuo¬va questione urbana che pone paesi molto diversi tra loro per storia, economia e struttura sociale di fronte ad importanti temi di riflessione comuni. Tra questi: il dibattito sulla “fine della città”, favorito dalla crescita vertiginosa delle aree urbanizzate e dall’emergere di nuove strutture insediative che hanno rotto i tradizionali equilibri tra costruito e natura; la crisi ambientale e il paradigma dello “sviluppo sostenibile”, ormai da tempo indicato come la direzione verso cui dovranno tendere le modificazioni future delle città; la globalizzazione, con gli aspetti opposti e complementari dell’omologazione e delle nuove disuguaglianze che, soprattutto nei paesi emergenti, rende urgente l’analisi critica del rapporto tra identità locali e trasformazioni globali. In questo quadro l’esperienza cinese sembra poter riassumere, grazie alla forza con cui si manifestano, tutte le ambizioni, le tensioni e le sfide che le città sono chiamate oggi ad affrontare; un panorama in cui emerge Shanghai che, nella costante ricerca di un dialogo tra cultura orientale e occidentale, fornisce interessanti spunti per una riflessione sul futuro della post-metropoli.
Il libro, nelle tre parti di cui si compone e che ne definiscono la struttura interpretativa, descrive tre figure della città, la “città liquida”, la “città sostenibile” e la “città emergente”, attraverso politiche, strategie e progetti significativi per il racconto delle città in cui viviamo e delle idee che ne hanno influenzato la loro costruzione. Ciascuna parte si conclude con una domanda: si può ancora parlare di città?, quale città dopo Kyoto?, quale città tra locale e globale?. Tre domande cui non si cerca di dare risposte definitive ma che si propongono piuttosto di indicare direzioni possibili per il progetto della città contemporanea, di cui comunque resta l’impossibilità di coglierne un senso definitivo.

"Authors: Adam Horálek and Pavel Ptáček
"The book contains eight chapters in four major fields (each field contains two chapters) - environment, demography and population, economy, and geopolitics. As an introduction, the short outline of major reforms China took under the rule of Deng Xiaoping is used. In stead of conclusion, the vision of China in 2030 is incorporated according to the official plans and prognoses. The book is structured as a study text, including topics and questions for further reading and thinking about the topics. It is mainly focused on Chinese studies and Geography undergraduate as well as postgraduate students in Czechia (as it is in Czech).

Content:
Otec čínské transformace Deng Xiaoping
2. 1. Environmentální problémy současné Číny
2.2. Projekt jiho-severního transportu vody jako odpověď na deficit vody v severní Číně
3.1. Stárnutí populace Číny
3.2. Populačně-národnostní politika Číny
4. 1. Měnící se role Číny v globální ekonomice a její dopad na místní obyvatele
4.2. Rozvoj západu: analýza hlavní čínské regionální „kohezní“ politiky 21. století
5.1. Afrika jako sféra čínských zájmů
5.2 Energetická geopolitika Číny
Čína roku 2030
"""

In political science an accent on individuals (political leaders) in researching politics is neither popular nor advocated one. In authoritarian countries like Russia or China, however, political leaders and their personalities are a crucial factor in trying to understand the political processes there. Both Vladimir Putin in Russia and Xi Jinping in China have dominated their respective political systems. This, combined with good state of Russia-China relations makes it an interesting case study of the influence of political leaders on authoritarian countries. Both Putin and Xi are new type of leaders: they both follow the main ideas of political realism (though with "national differences") and they share a 19 th century outlook on the global affairs ("concert of powers") yet they use contemporary means to fulfil these interests. Their personal understanding provides a predictability and stability: both Putin and Xi function in accordance with balance of power and respect for zones of influence concepts. That is why differences in other spheres, like Rus-sia's and China's approaches to the USA do not influence the general good mood of Sino-Russian relationship.

China and the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries have been engaged recently in dynamic diplomatic exchanges under the umbrella of 16+1 platform and the Belt and Road Initiative. The article offers an explanation of why the massive Chinese diplomatic effort did not lead to an improved image of China in the CEE region. We adopt the approach of cultural sociology and focus on how the two sides’ ‘meaning structures’ relate to each other. It is argued that main China’s discourse frame of ‘traditional friendship’ based on the shared socialist past is not well received in most of the CEE region which has quite problematic view of Communism due to own historic experience. The dissonance between the Chinese friendly rhetoric and the CEE lukewarm reception imply some deep-cutting differences when it comes to views of history which have significant political implications for current and future relations between the two sides.

Les médias officiels chinois sont contraints par les réseaux sociaux à s’adapter et à jouer un jeu concurrentiel auquel ils ne sont pas habitués. Amenés par de nouvelles règles du jeu à descendre dans une arène qui n’est pas la leur, ils sont souvent distancés par des opérateurs privés. S’ils bénéficient des subventions de l’État pour affronter dans de bonnes conditions la concurrence, la nécessité d’être encadrée par les directives qui régissent l’action des médias officiels constitue un obstacle dans cette lutte acharnée pour séduire les internautes chinois. La notion de « nouvelles faussées » devient un enjeu pour les médias officiels pour reprendre l’avantage et restaurer leur autorité menacée.

In Weihui’s banned novel, _Shanghai Babe_ (1999), the social effects of globalization can be seen in changing ethical discourses concerning what it is to be a responsible citizen, friend or lover. Beginning with a discussion of cosmopolitanism and cultural citizenship, this paper explores how class inequalities and gender hierarchies undercut these ideals. For while the novel celebrates cosmopolitan choice and cultural empowerment, its plot also foregrounds the fragility of interpersonal commitments in the face of market capitalism’s promotion of both a culture of immediate pleasure and an elite culture based on deferred gratification. Similarly, the novel celebrates sexual freedom, but its graphic accounts of the protagonist’s sado-masochistic affair with a married German businessman may leave readers wary of the dangers of transgressing conventional norms.

In this article I am making a comparison between France's diplomatic recognition of the National Transitional Council of Libya in 2011 and its diplomatic recognition of the Chinese communists in 1964. In both cases France took a leading role.

The purpose of this article is to investigate the shifting semiotic meanings of bicycles within the cultural context of contemporary China. I seek to interrogate the ways in which the symbolic capital of bicycles becomes established, reformulated, and reconstituted through different social structures. By looking at the shifting social meaning of riding bicycles, I illuminate the ways that social forces define and shape commodities. Informed by discourse analysis of online forums and ethnographic research, this article sheds light on the ways in which ordinary people and national initiatives use material objects and physical culture to remake themselves in an increasingly globalized and capitalistic world.

Recently, much scholarly attention has focused on the various mechanisms involved in the redefinition of Chinese citizenship in the reform era, or the formation of the post-Communist personality. 1 General agreement among scholars discussing these trends exists that an ideological vacuum has come into being in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Moreover, these scholars share the view that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has not been able to construct a value system that adequately mirrors the liberalization of the economy and that succeeds in replacing the old Maoist elements of collectivism, asceticism and altruism. Of course, the CCP has attempted to create a 'socialist spiritual civilization' (SSC) not only to provide new norms and values, but also to offset the formation of an autonomous popular culture, which party ideologists believed could only be of a vulgar, superstitious, pornographic and unhealthy nature. 2 But by invoking the same stale elements of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, fortified or updated with elements of Deng Xiaoping Theory, the goal of this new civilization is bogged down by an internal contradiction. After all, while attempting to combat the negative consequences of uneven development, (CCP-based) corruption and ever sharper inequalities in the distribution of wealth and welfare, SSC precisely turns to the old patent medicine of ideology that can be held accountable for the appearance of the negative phenomena it tries to combat.

It is an undeniable fact that China has basically succeeded in controlling the spread of the epidemic in China in the first half of 2020. Behind this success there may be several reasons, among which the cultural factors have certainly played an important role. What kind of cultural values helped Chinese to combat the COVID-19 Epidemic? This paper attempts to discuss this issue by analysing some data from the newly released results in Wave 7 of the World Values Survey and combining with the study of Chinese cultural concepts. It finds that, generally speaking, Chinese culture is characterized with the following cultural spirits and values which are relevant to Chinese people's responding to the crisis of COVID-19 outbreak: the value of the supremacy of human life, believe in science rather than religion, the preference of the value of security over the value of freedom, the idea that the fate of an individual is inextricably linked to that of a group, nation, and humanity, and the spirit of trust and obedience to political leadership. At a time when humanity need to unite in the face of a major disaster such as the Covid-19 pandemic, these Chinese cultural values clearly have some advantages that deserve to be summarized and studied.

Review of Jin Feng, Tasting paradise on earth: Jiangnan foodways (University of Washington 2019) and Guo Huiling 郭慧玲, 美味与权力: 一个华北村庄70年饮食生活变迁 [Taste and Power: 70 years of culinary transition in a north Chinese village] (China Economic Press 2020)

Forthcoming in Asian Ethnology