The return of strongmen politics, exemplified by Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, has raised questions about societal influence on authoritarian regimes' foreign policies. Despite authoritarian rule... Show moreThe return of strongmen politics, exemplified by Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, has raised questions about societal influence on authoritarian regimes' foreign policies. Despite authoritarian rule tightening, vibrant debates on foreign policy persist in China. Scholars have pinpointed actors capable of influencing China's foreign policy and identified channels for exerting this influence. However, conditions under which Chinese societal actors impact foreign policy remain unclear. This dissertation investigates the influence of experts from Chinese foreign policy think tanks and International Relations scholars. Analyzing 100 official foreign policy statements, 500 think tank reports, and around 2000 academic articles using frame analysis and quantitative content analysis, I found no perfect transmission between official and societal constructs of China's national interest. This necessitates considering the impact of domestic structures. I argue that societal actors' proximity to the state and the state's openness to societal input facilitate or constrain their influence on the official construction of the national interest. My examination of political institutions and state-society relations changes under Xi Jinping reveals shifts in the state's receptivity to societal input, differing for think tanks and scholars. Additionally, I introduce a new measure of think tanks' and scholars' proximity to the state, providing fresh insights for reevaluating societal actors' impact on authoritarian regime foreign policies. Show less
This research analyses to what extent China is achieving decent work based on a case study of decent working time. The word ‘achieving’ underlines that China is still in the process of securing... Show moreThis research analyses to what extent China is achieving decent work based on a case study of decent working time. The word ‘achieving’ underlines that China is still in the process of securing this aim. This research builds on a mixed methodology of case study, historical analysis, content analysis, structured critical analysis, and comparative law. The findings show that the development goal of decent work has not been achieved in China, but there are some significant developments. Particularly, many labour standards with regard to workers’ health and safety have markedly been intensified and increased, as have the making and enforcement of Chinese labour laws, which both are signals that China has created an environment receptive to further reform and development on its path to achieving decent work. Show less
This thesis examines how innovation is practiced, imagined, mobilized, and reinterpreted by China’s local developers and its subjects. The Chinese innovation movement is not the same as the ... Show moreThis thesis examines how innovation is practiced, imagined, mobilized, and reinterpreted by China’s local developers and its subjects. The Chinese innovation movement is not the same as the “disruptive innovation” of recent years mainly driven by digital technology in the European and North American contexts. The state plays a very salient role in innovation, investing in the social and economic system to provide a constant demand for innovation to unleash the dynamism of development.The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of the state’s role in socio-economic transformation and its governance model in innovation activities. This thesis discusses the state-market-society relationship not merely from an institutionalist perspective that focuses on the interplay between the state, the market, and society. I discovered that the state creates a range of government institutions to regulate and shape society. Further, in recent years the local state has been an important producer of the emergence of China’s new civil society that drives innovation and entrepreneurship as ways to enhance social mobility. Show less
The late 1990s saw the emergence on the Chinese poetry scene of a phenomenon called “Poetry of the Nineties” (九十年代诗歌). This happened before the decade in question had reached its end. Different... Show moreThe late 1990s saw the emergence on the Chinese poetry scene of a phenomenon called “Poetry of the Nineties” (九十年代诗歌). This happened before the decade in question had reached its end. Different from what one might expect, the expression does not denote a simple calendar chronology – as in poetry written in the 1990s – but instead points to a literary-critical category, and more specifically to a particular poetics and a network of associated authors and critics. This discrepancy of calendar chronology and literary criticism offers a point of entry into a pivotal moment in critical discourse on contemporary Chinese poetry. Pivotal as it may be, this moment has remained underresearched to date, especially as regards its history, which goes back to the 1980s, and as regards its consequences, which continue to affect scholarship today. The present study addresses this blind spot by asking: What does “Poetry of the Nineties” signify, to whom, and to what effect? It engages with this question by investigating how poetry written in the 1990s is represented in 21st-century Chinese scholarship, and how this representation can be explained. Show less
This dissertation studies the construction of Chinese nationalism by the Chinese government and media companies through mass communication of government-staged and abrupt events in the reform era... Show moreThis dissertation studies the construction of Chinese nationalism by the Chinese government and media companies through mass communication of government-staged and abrupt events in the reform era between 2008 and 2012. It examines how Chinese audiences express online nationalist sentiments, representing whether the communication of media events meets the social demands established by “dream discourses.” Using mixed qualitative and quantitative methods, it focuses on two case studies: the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 Diaoyu (Senkaku) Islands incident. The dissertation finds that these mass media events play a significant role in shaping Chinese state nationalism and popular nationalism. The related mass communication helps the Chinese government increase or, at least, maintain its legitimacy through various strategies. The findings of this dissertation also show that as Chinese audiences have increasingly voiced themselves in the information age, the government will keep treating the robust, uneasy entanglement of nationalism, globalization, and digital media more cautiously for its social development and stability. Show less
This dissertation advances a new interpretation on the national formation of modern China through the lens of Chinese cinema. Primarily, this project explores how cinema—a modern invention imported... Show moreThis dissertation advances a new interpretation on the national formation of modern China through the lens of Chinese cinema. Primarily, this project explores how cinema—a modern invention imported from the West—has shaped China’s sociopolitical transition from a dynastic empire to a nation-state. It is argued that, the concurrence of motion picture’s arrival and nation-state’s advent in China at the turn of the twentieth century, is not to be considered as isolated events, but rather as a dialectical dynamism in which the imagined community of modern China has largely relied on cinema for its symbolic construction, and yet encountered constant resistance from cinematic representation. Viewing the formation of the Chinese nation-state from a cinematic perspective, this study centers on the conflicts between marginal figures and central categories in Chinese films. In approaching this unresolved dilemma, Jiyu Zhang dedicates his study to mapping out a dialectical relationship between China’s internal and external tensions. Through an extensive investigation of cinematic embodiment, Zhang hones in on four groups of characters that he terms the “central frontiers” of modern China’s cultural imaginary: children, women, ethnic minorities, and diaspora. Show less
During the Qing dynasty (1644-1912) philology dominated the scholarly discourse in China. Scholars worked extensively on received texts dating from around 500 to 200 BCE and employed their... Show moreDuring the Qing dynasty (1644-1912) philology dominated the scholarly discourse in China. Scholars worked extensively on received texts dating from around 500 to 200 BCE and employed their sophisticated methodology to them in order to distinguish the authentic from the spurious. This dissertation is a study of the discussions scholars had on the topic and argues that two factors decisively shaped Chinese textual scholarship of the 18th century. First, the conceptual framework on which it rested posited only one author for each text; second, scholars considered the sages of antiquity infallible paragons of virtue. However, received texts were at odds with both assumptions. As a result of this tension, scholars argued that the textual records could not be trusted and, based on their concept of authorship, pointed to insertions of unauthorized contributors. This dissertation shows that the narrow concept of authorship was the most determining factor in their philological work, forcing them to view received texts in a different light and giving rise to the wide-spread concern over forgeries. Show less
According to the controversial China—Raw Materials and China—Rare Earths decisions, China is prohibited from using export duties to address any environmental problems, including those associated... Show moreAccording to the controversial China—Raw Materials and China—Rare Earths decisions, China is prohibited from using export duties to address any environmental problems, including those associated with climate change. This is unfortunate because a number of climate studies have suggested that export duties can be useful to tackle carbon leakage in China, being the largest emitter and exporter of carbon dioxide emissions.This thesis argues that there is a need to consider ‘greening’ the absolute ban on China’s export duties. It accordingly proposes that, export duties - solely restricting exports - should be prohibited outright, while ‘export duties plus’ – restricting both exports and domestic consumption - should be allowed in pursuit of environmental advantages. There are three most feasible ways to achieve this balanced outcome: (i) a waiver as a stopgap measure, (ii) a Ministerial Decision or Declaration as a more flexible alternative, and (iii) a legal interpretation for the Appellate Body to distinguish between export duties and ‘export duties plus’ as a judicial correction. With regard to the proposed judicial correction, even if the Appellate Body is no longer operational, it remains relevant for the purpose of injecting valuable flexibility into the WTO’s precedent system. Show less
This thesis studied in depth the energy use and CO2 emissions of the industrial sector in China. As discussed in chapter 1, being responsible for about 84% of the Chinese CO2 emissions in 2015, the... Show moreThis thesis studied in depth the energy use and CO2 emissions of the industrial sector in China. As discussed in chapter 1, being responsible for about 84% of the Chinese CO2 emissions in 2015, the industrial sector plays a vital role in achieving the emission goals for China. The regional and sectoral heterogeneities have been considered since the industrial sector is distributed in different regions and consists of different sub-sectors. Chapter 2 studied the regional heterogeneity in industrial carbon intensity and its drivers in specific years of 1999. 2005, 2010 and 2015. Chapter 3 investigated the driving forces of industrial aggregate energy intensity (IAEI) and the contribution of each industrial sub-sector to the changes in IAEI. Chapter 4 studied to what extent performance convergence of energy-intensive industries across provinces can contribute to CO2 emission reductions and China’s emission goals. Chapter 5 provided a critical literature review on the historical drivers of industrial CO2 emissions and the projected ranges for future emissions against the backdrop of policy goals, both for the industrial sector as a whole, and for the major industrial sub-sectors (electricity generation, cement production, steel production, chemicals, petroleum and non-ferrous metals). Show less
This is a study of the mandalas that depict the teachings of the Liqujing (Guiding Principle Scripture), which was translated from Sanskrit to Chinese by the Esoteric Buddhist master Amoghavajra ... Show moreThis is a study of the mandalas that depict the teachings of the Liqujing (Guiding Principle Scripture), which was translated from Sanskrit to Chinese by the Esoteric Buddhist master Amoghavajra (705–774). These mandalas were prescribed in his Liqushi (Explanation on the Guiding Principle Scripture). Amoghavajra considered this scripture, its commentaries, and mandalas to be crucial works in a new Esoteric Buddhist system he called the Yoga of the Adamantine Crown. I examine the set called the Liqujing shibahui mantuluo (Mandalas of the Eighteen Assemblies of the Guiding Principle Scripture) in Kyoto’s Daigo Temple. The Shingon school claims that the iconography is based upon Amoghavajra’s Liqushi. A systematic investigation of the Liqushi, the mandalas it prescribes and the iconography of the Daigoji set has not been done by Asian or Western scholars. I assign responsibility for the iconographical and iconological changes seen in the Daigoji set to the transmission of the Chinese master Faquan (c. 800–870), whose transmission has not yet been studied. I investigate the transmissions of Amoghavajra and the Chinese Esoteric Buddhist masters who followed him, especially Faquan. Such an investigation reveals the concerns of these masters and the Chinese assimilation and transformation of Indian Esoteric Buddhism. Show less
Low-carbon (LE) technologies have a significant potential to reduce the total carbon emissions in China. Yet, in existing research, most authors analyzed such implications for China as a whole... Show moreLow-carbon (LE) technologies have a significant potential to reduce the total carbon emissions in China. Yet, in existing research, most authors analyzed such implications for China as a whole rather than the amount of carbon embodied in the products and services for China’s exports. We took a regional approach, since the implementation of LE and the production of products and services for China’s exports very heterogeneously distributed over the various Chinese regions. Current studies also tend to neglect the carbon emissions related to the investments in LE. Against this background, after providing an overview of China’s carbon emissions from a multi-sectoral perspective in Chapter 2, Chapter 3 analyzes the impact of LE development on carbon emissions embodied in the exports of China’s 30 provinces during 2002-2014. Moreover, Chapter 4 focuses on the carbon impact of LE infrastructure expansion using a demand-driven MRIO mode. Finally, Chapter 5 projects the carbon impact of LE investments during 2015-2040. The results show the patterns of carbon impacts of LE development across provinces and over the years, given the dynamic nature of China’s economic development and the heterogeneity of China’s regions. Show less
The Chinese economy has undergone large-scale changes since the implementation of the“reform and opening to the outside world” (gaige kaifang) policy in 1978. Thistransformation is reflected in... Show moreThe Chinese economy has undergone large-scale changes since the implementation of the“reform and opening to the outside world” (gaige kaifang) policy in 1978. Thistransformation is reflected in collective labour relations, which have evolved from anenvironment of harmony between labour and employer during the command economy toconflict between these forces in the present socialist market economy. This situation hasarisen as a result of the diversification of employer ownership in the course of theeconomic reforms. Marxist-Leninist arguments are no longer convincing for workers,especially those in the non-state economy who face particularly harsh workingconditions. Following the wave of strikes in the summer of 2010, labour relations inChina began to take on a more collective character. The increasing number of collectiveactions by workers is in tension with the labour law system, which was designed mainlyto protect and to resolve labour issues involving individuals Show less
The stable isotope ratios of carbon (d13C), nitrogen (d15N) and sulphur (d34S) are measured to examine human diet, social stratification, mobility and animal husbandry practices. Three locations... Show moreThe stable isotope ratios of carbon (d13C), nitrogen (d15N) and sulphur (d34S) are measured to examine human diet, social stratification, mobility and animal husbandry practices. Three locations comprising four sites from the Yellow River Valleys of north China are investigated: Nancheng (Hebei Province), Xishan (Gansu Province), Liyi and Shanren (Shaanxi Province), and this work represents one of the largest and most detailed isotopic research projects ever conducted in China. This thesis focused on time periods and cultures that were previously underrepresented, in the literature such as the early Bronze/Iron Ages to the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC). Further, this thesis found new evidence concerning dietary patterns, social stratification (or lack thereof), animal husbandry practices and human mobility during these formative pre-Qin Empire periods. Show less
This study focuses on the life, exploits and ideology of Guru Wuguang (1818-2000), an eclectic and influential Taiwanese Buddhist figure who studied Daoist alchemy, multiple forms of Chinese,... Show moreThis study focuses on the life, exploits and ideology of Guru Wuguang (1818-2000), an eclectic and influential Taiwanese Buddhist figure who studied Daoist alchemy, multiple forms of Chinese, Japanese and Tibetan Buddhism, as well as biology, thermodynamics, philosophy, theology, and occulture. This is done in order to understand what happens when a tradition ‘purified’ from its ‘mythical’ elements reincorporates itself in the tension between its ‘enchanted’ past and ‘scientific’ present. Wuguang is famous throughout the Chinese-speaking Buddhist world for resurrecting Zhenyan, a school of esoteric Buddhism said to have flourished in China during the Tang Dynasty. The academic community has largely ignored Wuguang, making this the first in-depth exploration of this figure, whose influence is truly global. Building upon David McMahan’s work on Buddhist modernism, Jason Josephson’s secular-religious-superstitious trinary, scholarly discourse concerning Weberian disenchantment, and employing the Religious Economy Model, I argue that Wuguang’s teachings represent an intentionally reenchanted form of Buddhist modernism aimed at harmonizing magic with modern science and philosophy. While scholarly discourse on Asian magic in the modern world has been confined to popular religion, this study additionally focuses on ‘High-Church Buddhism’ by analyzing Wuguang’s magico-scientific interpretation of complex Buddhist doctrine. Show less
In pursuit of solutions to China’s inter-regional cross-border insolvency cooperation, the doctoral dissertation provides 10 original recommendations accompanied with comments, which are entitled ... Show moreIn pursuit of solutions to China’s inter-regional cross-border insolvency cooperation, the doctoral dissertation provides 10 original recommendations accompanied with comments, which are entitled “CICIA”. Show less
This research elucidates various responses of the Yao to the social consequences of civilizing projects historically implemented by a powerful ‘Other’ to them, that is, the successive... Show more This research elucidates various responses of the Yao to the social consequences of civilizing projects historically implemented by a powerful ‘Other’ to them, that is, the successive Chinese imperial and post-imperial states. The Yao are one of the 56 nationalities in today’s China. The research reveals that the Yao’s reactions to the state’s civilizing force are gendered, as manifested in a religious domain. The research shows that Yao men embrace the power of ‘otherness’ that an imperial Daoist cosmology and manuscripts in Chinese entail, while Yao women sustain indigenous culture and belief by ‘singing’. A textual analysis of the probable products of female singing—narratives about goddesses of fertility—points to two types of Yao reaction in the position of women. On the one hand, the narratives embody a symbolic ‘space of negotiation’ in which Yao struggle to claim their agency, but the natural power of female fertility that symbolizes the layer of indigenous culture and belief is eventually domesticated. On the other hand, the narratives convey Yao’s criticisms of the social consequences of imperial Chinese state governance, imposed in the form of patrilineal ideology in marriage and kinship, showing also how different women sought their escape from that. Show less
This dissertation focused on the prolific early European trade and consumption of three Asian manufactured goods: Chinese silk and porcelain, and Japanese lacquer in the sixteenth and early... Show moreThis dissertation focused on the prolific early European trade and consumption of three Asian manufactured goods: Chinese silk and porcelain, and Japanese lacquer in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and has shown how the material cultures of late Ming China and Momoyama/early Edo Japan became inextricably linked with the West. Multiple sources provided new and unexpected documentary and material evidence of this trade by the Iberian Kingdoms of Portugal and Spain, and the trading companies formed in the Northern Netherlands/Dutch Republic and England. They also informed us about the commercial networks through which these Asian goods circulated, and the way in which they were acquired, used and appreciated in the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and English societies in Western Europe, and in the multi-ethnic societies of the colonies in the New World. Some new finds relate to the use of porcelain in Western Europe in the sixteenth century, the terminology employed in northwestern Europe to refer to Kraak porcelain, and the Japanese lacquer objects made in European shapes for the Dutch and English trading companies earlier than in Chinese porcelain. This study provides a better understanding of the intercultural exchanges that occurred between the East and West at the time. Show less
Over the last decades, income inequality has increased globally. How do social policies affect this increasing trend? How do international trade and technological progress affect inequality? What... Show moreOver the last decades, income inequality has increased globally. How do social policies affect this increasing trend? How do international trade and technological progress affect inequality? What is the profile of income inequality in China? Based on quantitative analyses of determinants of income inequality, this study provides a number of new insights into these questions. Income inequality has increased in the last decades all over the world. Several factors seem to contribute to this trend. Very prominent amongst them is the rising primary income inequality. The dominant income inequality-reducing effect comes from the tax benefit system, which offsets two thirds of the total increase in inequality. Generally speaking, the transition of welfare states from a traditional to a social investment oriented system does not lead to lower income inequality or poverty. There is also no robust and significant relationship between international trade and technology changes on the one hand, and income inequality on the other. Determinants of inequality in China are different from those in developed countries. In contrast to the tax benefit system in rich countries, the fiscal system in China does not bring a lower level of income inequality. Another explanation is the household registration system. Show less
Shanghai is a city in flux. In recent years, workers and machines have frantically destroyed large parts of the city to build a new one. But the mental maps and personal memories of its citizens... Show moreShanghai is a city in flux. In recent years, workers and machines have frantically destroyed large parts of the city to build a new one. But the mental maps and personal memories of its citizens are not as easily erased. Hence a skyscraper designed to meet the growing demand for office property may symbolize the city’s booming economy to some, while to others the sight of this very building may bring back childhood memories of the old neighborhood it replaced, becoming a symbol of lost youth and vanishing ways of life. It is precisely through literary imaginings that the citizens’ experience of Shanghai’s transformation is revealed: the city of feeling rising out of the city of fact. Show less
Popular music in Chinese languages both reflects and influences how its audiences perceive themselves and their position in the world around them. This book analyses the role of popular music in... Show morePopular music in Chinese languages both reflects and influences how its audiences perceive themselves and their position in the world around them. This book analyses the role of popular music in identity formation through detailed comparisons of the pop star Faye Wong, the rock band Second Hand Rose and the electrofolk artist Xiao He, in five thematic chapters. Chapter 1, Place, follows the history of popular music through Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei and Beijing, concluding that language is defining. Chapter 2, Genre and Classification, argues that genre distinctions, and by extension class identities, are secondary to affiliations along region, gender, generation and marketability. The psycho-analytical approach of chapter 3, Sex, Gender, and Desire, explores how popular music reiterate and challenge stereotypes surrounding the passive beauty, coolness and brotherhood. Chapter 4, Theatricality, argues that theatrical performances negotiate the boundary between stage world and ordinary reality through make-believe and reflectiveness. Finally, chapter 5, Organizing Music, submits that music happens through reproduction, variation and selection, and in constant interaction with ecologies and collectives. In the end, this book itself strives to make these sounds, images and texts available for the incessant, piecemeal work of worldmaking. Show less
