Sow One Seed, Gain One More Life

The meadow on the highland is as broad as an ocean, yet it is also as quiet as a painting, without the limitation of a frame. It seems more natural and lively than a painting. It is as simple as the clear eyes of a Tibetan sheep, reflecting the rippling green grass and the scent of the soil as carried by the breeze. This scent followed me all the way as I followed spring＇s progress across the highland and as we drove deeper into the wide prairie in the County of Hongyuan. A Tunnel Enclosure in Camouflaged Clothing On average, Hongyuan is more than 3600 meters above sea level and is mainly involved in animal husbandry. It is the only county largely inhabited by Tibetans in the Prefecture of Aba. There is a vast area （777,200 ha.） of lush native grassland, 91.8 percent of the whole county. ＂Tashi Delek, welcome my reporter＂ said Tsepudan, Chairman of the Karlama Village Committee in the Township Village of Achok in the County of Hongyuan. He greeted me with smiles. He looked tall and strong in his traditional Tibetan robe, with a large-screen cell phone at his waist. ＂What＇s the fence for＂ I asked in curiosity. Before me was a huge fenced paddock. ＂A tunnel enclosure, they helped us build it,＂ said Tsepudan, pointing towards our companions （Professor Li Jian, and Professor Tang Cheng from the Southwest University for Nationalities, as well as Mr. Liu Gang from the Sichuan Prairie Institute）. Made of steel, the tunnel enclosure is shaped in a hexagon, 10 meters long. At first sight, it seems to be without any technical content. Actually, it contains a certain delicacy in its awkwardness. It saves a lot of labor and time when it is used to give an injection or medicine, or shear sheep, weighs something, or transport yaks and sheep. The Southwest University for Nationalities, the Sichuan Prairie Institute and local herdsmen produced it together, including its design, site selection and construction. Eight national     

缠足再议

缠足之最初出现是由于男性社会对女性舞姿的审美趣味,初起于宫廷,其后在少数供男性消遣欣赏的歌舞妓中流行。随着男性社会的心理变迁,缠足最终盛行于全社会,并从一种美的时尚逐渐发展成为一种女性规范行为,被赋予了礼教意义。缠足的发展变化脉络与男性社会的心理变迁轨迹表明,缠足之兴起与发展正与男权强化、女性地位下降和礼教对女性束缚的加强相一致。     

再论川东长江沿岸的史前文化

川东长江沿岸历年来发现了许多史前遗存,积累了较多的考古发掘资料,本即根据这些考古资料,对这一地域的史前化作了探讨,并着重论述了在这一区域发展起来的一种地方性特征较强的考古学化——哨棚嘴化。     

萨拉乌苏河旧石器时代考古史(上)

萨拉乌苏河旧石器是中国旧石器时代考古序幕的重头戏,“河套人”与“北京人”和“山顶洞人”及其文化曾经以“三步曲”长期掌控中国旧石器时代考古舞台。萨拉乌苏河的旧石器时代考古历经将近一个世纪,地层和古人类学等方面有了较大发展,然而旧石器时代考古研究却进展甚微,特别是有关考古术语的畸形演化,突显出中国旧石器时代考古不甚严肃的科学作风。本文对这一历程的开拓期和稳固期(19世纪末至20世纪50年代)作了回顾性研究。     

Towards a More Critical Theory of ‘Development’ in the 21st Century

In response to the article by Horner and Hulme which opens this Debate section, this contribution argues that while the call for a shift from international to global development by Horner and Hulme is justified, their approach is confined to what has been called traditional or problem‐solving theory. On the levels of concepts, theory and metatheory, it fails to transcend orthodox approaches in development theory. Concerning concepts, it employs the traditional concept of ‘development’ without recognizing its ambiguity, referring at different times to social change, positive social change or social change according to the European model. Concerning theory, it is based on the nation state as a unit of analysis, not differentiating between different socio‐economic groups or classes, and neglects questions of power. Concerning metatheory, its knowledge interest, epistemology and methodology also remain within orthodox boundaries, for example reproducing the measurement of aggregate per capita income and its evaluation as progress. In the last section of this article, the author presents an outline sketch for a more critical theory of ‘development’.     

A Zero‐One Programming Model for Contiguous Land Acquisition

The land acquisition problem is a spatial partitioning problem that involves selecting multiple parcels to be acquired for a particular land use. Three selection criteria are considered: total cost, total area, and spatial contiguity. Achieving contiguity or connectivity has been problematic in previous exact methods for land acquisition. Here we present a new zero‐one programming model that enforces necessary and sufficient conditions for achieving contiguity in discrete cell landscapes, independent of other spatial attributes such as compactness. Computational experience with several demonstration problems is reported, and results and extensions are discussed.     

‘Minilateral’ Development Banks: What the Rise of Africa's Trade and Development Bank says about Multilateral Governance

Multilateral development banks (MDBs) are one of the most popular forms of international organization, with at least 27 operating in the world today. Although most academics and policy makers focus on the World Bank and major regional MDBs, the majority of MDBs are in fact relatively small, and controlled by developing as opposed to industrialized countries. How do the differing governance arrangements of these ‘minilateral’ development banks (MnDBs) impact their operations? This article takes the Trade and Development Bank (TDB), an MDB in Africa with 22 regional member countries, as a case study to consider this question. Based on an analysis of TDB's track record since 2005 and interviews with management and shareholders, the author finds that borrower‐led governance leads to substantial disadvantages in terms of access to finance. Borrower‐led governance permits TDB and other MnDBs greater operational flexibility, which partially compensates for this financial disadvantage, but these operational strategies come with trade‐offs in terms of developmental effectiveness. The findings suggest that MnDBs have substantial latent potential and, in an increasingly multipolar world, they are likely to grow in coming years. However, MnDBs need to ensure that their developmental value added is strengthened in step with their financial power.