Co-evolution of institutions,culture and industrial organization in the film industry: the case of Shanghai in China

Research about the Chinese film industry is far behind the actual development of practice, especially considering its evolution and main influential factors. Furthermore, existing research on the film industry in economic geography is mostly conducted from the perspective of cluster theory, with lesser attention to institutions or culture. In this paper, the theory of co-evolution is used to tackle these two gaps. The role of institutions, culture and industrial organization as three fundamental elements of co-evolution is pointed out and discussed in the theoretical section. The phenomena of co-evolution in the Shanghai film industry as important examples of the Chinese film industry are analysed in the empirical part. We phase the development process in four periods and differentiate identified effects of co-evolution between institutions, culture and industrial organization based on the specific setting in each particular period.     

Internationalisation of the Chinese subnational state and capital: the case of Yunnan and the Greater Mekong Subregion

This article examines the participation of China's Yunnan Province in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) in order to understand the dynamics behind the regionalisation and internationalisation strategies adopted by a Chinese subnational state. It argues that the Yunnan case demonstrates the outflow of state capital—both national and provincially based—to have been instrumental in harnessing Beijing's and Kunming's political support for programs of subregional economic cooperation. This political support has led to a state capital alliance underpinning the economic expansion of provincial state capital into the GMS. It also argues that subregional governance arrangements, such as those featuring in the GMS, embed the competitive advantage of state capital through new forms of extra-territorial governance that ostensibly de-emphasises the political dimensions of state capital. The internationalisation of Yunnan subnational state is reflected in its political strategy of subregional governance. These changes point to complex rescaling of not just national state but also subnational states in Asia that find expression in variegated regional and subregional political projects.     

从上海与北方关系的演变看环渤海经济崛起

上海开埠以后,在成为全国最大对外贸易口岸的过程中,把北方变成了它的间接经济腹地,带动了北方经济的外向化。进入20世纪以后,环渤海港口城市的直接辐射作用得到加强,促使该地区的直接对外贸易迅速发展,经济现代化水平迅速提高,并迫使上海的有效辐射范围从北方逐步向长江流域退缩。直接龙头取代间接龙头,是近代区域经济发展的内在规律和必然结果。它加速了环渤海经济的崛起,不利于上海经济的更好发展。     

河南南阳市邢庄汉、宋墓群发掘报告

2006年8月,为配合南水北调中线工程,南京大学历史系等单位联合对位于南阳市蒲山镇李才村邢庄的古墓群进行发掘。发掘墓葬13座,出土器物很少,以陶器为主,年代为汉、宋时期。     

The Great Dog Massacre in Late Qing China: Debates,Perceptions, and Phobia in the Shanghai International Settlement

Modern assessments of a well-known sign in a Shanghai park that stated “Dogs and Chinese Not Admitted” have established that the dog aspect of it was not true, but the sign remains highly visible in the Chinese historiography of Western imperialism. Such reassessments do not seem to recognize that the sign might have meant something considerably different to Chinese and foreigners in late Qing Shanghai than it would have in later periods of modern Chinese history. Dog–human relations had changed through a mix of two processes: dog-keeping as a social practice and the challenges of rabies in the management of urban space. Under the rule of the Shanghai Municipal Council, animals, health, and imperialism converged in the Shanghai International Settlement to destabilize the traditional roles of dogs and introduce modernity through the disciplining of both animal and human bodies and the demarcation and management of new urban spaces.     

The Civic Survey of Greater London: social mapping,planners and urban space in the early twentieth century

This paper examines work conducted between 1915 and 1919 by a group of architects and planners based at the Royal Institute of British Architects. The project, called the Civic Survey of Greater London, and the substantial collection of maps and diagrams that resulted from it are currently unknown in histories of mapping and planning, thus this paper offers a preliminary account and analysis of the work. The paper begins by assessing the development of surveying and mapping techniques in the nineteenth century with the aim of situating the Survey within broader historical trajectories. The following section of the paper examines the immediate context for the Survey, in particular the place of Patrick Geddes and his ideas. The third part of the paper focuses on the work of the Survey itself. The fourth part draws out key analytical threads in dialogue with a number of the maps of the Survey. The emphasis placed here is on exploring lines of continuity between the Civic Survey of Greater London and earlier techniques of representation and governmentality. The concluding section reflects briefly on the reasons for the Survey's subsequent relative obscurity and the importance of the project for later traditions of surveying.     

Eco-socialism and the political ecology of forest conservation in the Greater Khingan Range,China

State-owned forestry enterprises (SOFEs) in China, established during the Maoist era for forest exploitation, have undergone significant reorganization under the Natural Forest Conservation Program (NFCP). In this study, drawing on the perspectives of political ecology and a case study from a SOFE in the Greater Khingan Range in northeast China, we develop an eco-socialist perspective to understand this particular approach to forest conservation. The concept of eco-socialism is mobilized to describe how, as a form of all-encompassing social organization with overwhelming political, social, and economic power in the forestry regions, the eco-restructuring of SOFEs is key to the success of forest conservation. Four eco-restructuring processes have been identified: (1) declining timber sales and increasing central subsidies; (2) restructuring of work-units; (3) creating redundancies; and (4) developing new sustainable economic activities. Furthermore, these eco-restructuring processes, both mandated and supported by the central government, have a significant impact on state-society relationship. While the resources given by the central government allow SOFEs to maintain a stable relationship with some workers by providing them a relatively stable livelihood, the laid-off workers are the major victims of the process, as they suffer from loss of income, economic stability, and social self-esteem. This study enriches the literature by incorporating eco-socialist governmentality into the political ecology of forest conservation and illustrating how the political ecology perspective can be a powerful tool in the collective effort to craft sustainable and socially just futures in China.     

塑造新思想:建国前后北京与上海的“五四”纪念活动

建国前后,北京和上海都举行了规模盛大的"五四"运动纪念活动,这两次活动都不仅仅是群众性的纪念仪式,更深刻的意义在于,它一方面号召继承"五四"革命精神,表达对现实服务的方向;另一方面则书写着自"五四"运动以来中国革命胜利的历史必然性,从而确证新民主主义理论的正确性以及对中国革命和即将展开的新中国建设的指导意义,即为新中国确立了一个新的思想坐标——马克思主义、毛泽东思想。这种以"五四"为中介而实质上是为了引导和塑造新思想的纪念活动方式,成为后来"五四"纪念的传统,为社会主义意识形态确立领导地位发挥了积极的作用。     

Writing in wartime China: Chongqing,Shanghai, and Southern Zhejiang

ABSTRACT

The outbreak of the full-scale Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) brought an end to the printing and publishing industry centered in Shanghai in the 1930s. Chongqing then emerged as a nerve center of information and opinion. Writers everywhere worked under wartime conditions of social dislocation, economic dependency, and political control. This article examines the writing and publishing of three notable pieces of work completed in wartime Chongqing, Shanghai, and southern Zhejiang, respectively. The article explores the context in which each work was written and then evaluates the broader significance of the texts with regard to a historical assessment of the Chinese intellectual experience during wartime.     

Planting Peace: The Greater London Council and the Community Gardens of Central London

‘Peace’ has not lent itself easily to emblematic or mnemonic forms of representation. In Europe’s furnished urban landscapes of the 19th century peace was often personified in female allegorical form. She can be seen in many of the sculpted memorials that commemorate distant battles fought on the edges of Empire. Invariably, however, the figure of ‘Peace’ had a more modest role in the allegory of commemoration than that of ‘Victory’ or ‘Triumph’. As an ideal, peace and pacifism is more often regarded as a process, a long‐term goal that cannot be captured in single static form. To this end, the promotion of peace has most often been realised through intervention, occupation, and fluid, temporal forms such as campaigns, marches, songs, dances and other extended programmes. Peace has also been promoted through slow, evolutionary forms such as designed landscapes, parks and gardens. Drawing on international parallels, this paper examines in detail two community gardens in central London. Each owes its origins to radical local agendas set within the political climate of the Cold War of the 1980s, but both were born out of grand visions for world peace, multilateral disarmament, and global accord. Twenty years after their creation, the author explores their current condition and examines their value as sites of political value and heritage.     

非基运动与民国上海大学师生群

民国上海大学对1922—1927年的非基运动具有重大影响。不仅促成运动在1924年8月的"复活",且使其在同年底发生从宣传到行动的重要转折,推动该运动成为一项全国性运动。相当一批非基运动中的活跃分子具有上海大学师生和中共党团员的双重身份。非基运动在一定程度上是中共借助上海大学这一革命平台成功领导的一场社会运动。上海大学的个案集中显示了由师生关系和社团组织两条路径共同形成的革命性、开放性的群体对非基运动乃至整个早期中共学生运动的影响。     

论晚清上海作为全国外贸中心的影响力(1864-1904)——以外贸埠际转运为视角

作为中国最早开放的通商口岸之一,上海开埠后即迅速跃升为全国对外贸易中心。上海通过与各口岸间的外贸埠际转运,将其外贸影响辐射至大半个中国,显示出其全国外贸中心的地位。本文利用系统的海关数据及文字报告,阐述了晚清上海外贸埠际转运在全国的地位、上海的外贸转运网络及其特点,以此为视角反映出晚清上海作为全国外贸中心的影响力。     

革命与生意——以辛亥革命时期的上海为例

From 1911 to 1913, in big streets and small lanes, in famous parks and thriving stores, and in tea houses and grand restaurants located in such cities as Shanghai, Nanjing, Beijing and Wuchang, numerous business opportunities were born out of the Revolution of 1911. By using the political giants and military leaders around Shanghai, business firms skillfully dealt with the difficulties of the continually changing political situation and managed to keep their businesses afloat, succeeding in their response to the consumption demands of the public. It can be argued that the Revolution of 1911 played a distinct role in the development of businesses in Shanghai during that time. __________ Translated by Zhong Chen from Shilin 史林 (Historical Review), 2008, (3): 137–150     

Wedding Culture in 1930s Shanghai: Consumerism,Ritual, and the Municipality

By the 1930s, a variety of forces were chipping away at the traditional Chinese wedding in urban centers like Shanghai. “New-style” weddings—with a bride in a white wedding dress—took place outside of the home and featured networks of friends, choice of one’s spouse, autonomy from one’s parents, and the promise of happiness and independence. With the publication of wedding portraits and detailed discussions of new-style wedding etiquette and its trappings, women’s magazines further shaped the new-style bride as a consumer and an individual. Early reformers had envisioned the new-style ceremony as a streamlined and affordable alternative to traditional ceremonies, but for most city residents these weddings remained out of reach. After the Nationalist consolidation of power in 1928, Shanghai was deemed a crucial site for the promotion of ritual reform and economic restraint. Weddings were at the crux of this movement, which was buttressed by the Civil Code of 1931 allowing children to legally marry without parental consent. New Life Movement group weddings came next. These ceremonies co-opted urban wedding culture in an attempt to frame the new-style wedding as a ritual of politicized citizenship under the Nationalist government. The tension between the popular, commercial, new-style wedding and the Nationalists’ Spartan political vision, as played out in the market, is examined below.     

The Suburb as a Space of Capital Accumulation: The Development of New Towns in Shanghai,China

Drawing attention to the governing role of capital accumulation and its interaction with the state, this study examines the dynamics of the new wave of suburbanization in China, which is characterized by the development of new towns. New towns essentially function as a spatial fix in China's contemporary accumulation regime. Rather than resulting from capital switching from the primary to the secondary circuits, new towns help to collect funds for the leverage of industrial capital and thus simultaneously sustain both circuits. Meanwhile, the development of new towns is also a process of territorial development, in which municipal governments expand the space of accumulation under strengthened fiscal and land controls and develop a metropolitan structure. Underlying the specific form and dynamics, however, is the worldwide trend of capital switching from declining manufacturing industries in developed countries to the new investment frontier in developing countries.     

西方人在华博物馆的本土化转向——以震旦博物院和上海博物院为例

以震旦博物院和上海博物院为代表的西方人在华建立的博物馆,除了是西方在华文化殖民的表现外,还是西方在华收集自然史信息的机构,旨在开展自然史标本收藏和研究工作,以服务西方自然史研究和了解中国的需求.到了 20世纪二三十年代,它们开始重视博物馆作为公共文化机构的作用,展览和社会教育成为这些博物馆的重要活动,并以此向中国社会开...     

水电煤:近代上海公用事业演进及华洋不同心态

上海开埠后,租界当局和外侨在英法租界创建水电煤等近代公用事业,对此上海人有过惧怕、抵制,但更多的是刺激、羡慕,并最终走向认同。华界七绅向两方先进物质文明学习,努力变被动近代化为主动近代化,在华界自办照明和供水系统等公用事业,也取得了一定的成功。租界当局和外商水电煤公司将上海城市近代化的进程完全置于他们的操纵之下,并利用其政治上的特权,从而达到扩张政治影响、扩展租界势力范围、分享巨大的经济利益的目的,但客观上也促进了上海照明和供水系统的建设,极大提高了上海城市近代化的程度。     

The Subsumption of Space and the Spatiality of Subsumption: Primitive Accumulation and the Transition to Capitalism in Shanghai,China

Abstract: Based on extensive interviews, this study is the first systematic attempt to map the spatio‐temporal evolution of production networks linking urban, state‐owned enterprises and rural, township and village‐owned enterprises in reform‐era China. It identifies two distinct regimes of urban‐to‐rural subcontracting patterns and conventions. The first, which developed and prospered from the mid‐1980s until the mid‐1990s, brought rural workers and the countryside into a relatively extensive relationship with urban capital, and thus represented a partial transition to capitalism. Its violent reconfiguration in the wake of a series of sectoral crises in the late 1990s led to the widespread privatisation of rural enterprises, and the emergence and consolidation of a second regime that simultaneously constituted a significant intensification of relations, the capture of the rural by the urban, and a new stage in this region's transition. This paper argues that these regimes are analogous to the formal and real subsumption of labor to capital, respectively, and that subsumption may be a more useful analytic for understanding the process of capture and transition than primitive accumulation: the latter concept alone, without reference to the dynamics of the social/spatial division of labor, risks missing other ways that exploitive connections can be constructed between places. This paper thus seeks to recast the relationship between these two concepts, and to develop a larger vocabulary in which subsumption, like primitive accumulation, is both spatial and ongoing and internal to capitalist accumulation.     

Spatial Poetics Under Authoritarianism: Graffiti and the Contestation of Urban Redevelopment in Contemporary China

This article investigates the expression of resistance to urban redevelopment in the authoritarian context of contemporary China. Where conventional channels of public expression are closed, the very space of urban transformation becomes an important medium of contestation. Through the practice of “spatial poetics”, residents manipulate the taken-for-granted meanings attached to urban space, challenging the spatial codes that authorise redevelopment. Working across four spatial dimensions—territory, place, scale, and network—these poetic manipulations allow residents to de-naturalise existing power structures, escape their effects, and re-code space with alternative meanings. The article illustrates the practice of spatial poetics through an analysis of Ciqikou, a historic district of Chongqing undergoing redevelopment. Residents expressed their resistance to redevelopment by writing slogans on buildings slated for demolition. By emphasising relationships of scale, network, and place, residents’ graffiti challenged the territorial basis of the Chinese party-state’s redevelopment project and revalorised the neighbourhood as worthy of preservation.