Bao Shichen and Agrarian Reform in Early Nineteenth-Century China

Known primarily for his reformist proposals in the areas of military affairs, foreign policy, the salt monopoly, and the grain tribute system, the influential early nineteenth-century literatus Bao Shichen 包世臣 (1775–1855) also made throughout his life numerous suggestions regarding the improvement of agricultural practice and of rural life. Contrary to the arguments of his older contemporary Hong Liangji that the empire was facing an imminent demographic and provisioning crisis, Bao argued that there was ample possibility for increasing crop yields, and improving popular livelihoods, if a more rational approach was taken to cropping decisions, farm labor allocation, agricultural commercialization, and local-level social organization. Bao was fond of quantification, and, far more than Hong, employed statistical analysis (albeit crude) to bolster his arguments. Fundamentally committed to increasing the power and wealth of the imperial state in the face of threats both foreign and domestic, Bao was highly optimistic that this could be achieved simultaneously with fulfilling his other basic commitment, relieving what he saw as widespread popular immiseration.     

Female Workers,Political Mobilization,and the Meaning of Revolutionary Citizenship in Beijing, 1948-1950

After entering Beijing in January 1949, the Communist Party immediately sent cadres to local factories in order to mobilize female industrial workers into a women＇s movement and to establish the idea of ＂revolutionary citizenship.＂ The Party wished to nurture this idea in both the local political arena and in women＇s lives inside and outside the factories. This article demonstrates that a host of factors defined revolutionary citizenship, including party directives, choices in revolutionary strategy, cadres＇ interpretations of directives and their own initiatives, and workers＇ reactions to mobilization. It was in this complex mix of mobilization, women＇s strategies to protect and advance their own interests, and the politics of group representation in the revolution, that female workers came to understand the meaning and impact of revolutionary citizenship and the shape of labor-state relations in the emerging socialist China.     

Public Health and Private Charity in Northeast China, 1905-1945

Medical charity in northeast China evolved through the confluence of three processes： the foundation of state medicine, the legal and political transformation of private charities, and the militarized competition for influence between China and Japan. Following the plague of 1910, a series of Chinese regimes began building medical infrastructure in areas under their control, but their ultimate inability to establish a comprehensive public health program left private charities to fill the gaps. In contrast, the Japanese administered concessions in Kant6 and along the South Manchuria Railway instituted a farsighted and multivaleneed medical policy. The Japanese model did not merely tolerate medical charities, it reserved for them a very specific role in the larger strategic framework of healthcare provision. Under the client state of ＂Manzhouguo,＂ the Japanese model further evolved to channel medical voluntarism into a hybrid state-charitable sector.     

The Urban “Cultural Nexus of Power”： Intellectual Elites in Shanghai and Beijing, 1900-1937

In the decades before the full-scale war with Japan in 1937, a robust series of institutions connected the bourgeois with intellectuals （which included professionals and journalists, as well as academics） in Shanghai. Collectively, these institutions can be understood as forming an urban ＂cultural nexus of power＂ that allowed non-state actors to effectively control aspects of Shanghai＇s political life. This bourgeois-intellectual alliance was not inevitable; no similar bonds existed between these same two groups in Beijing. It was forged in Shanghai due to the city＇s unique historical position as a Treaty Port and its dynamic economy, which included an extensive structure of private higher education and a market-based publishing industry. Unlike the rural ＂cultural nexus of power＂ originally described by Prasenjit Duara, this urban nexus grew stronger during the political and economic changes of the early twentieth century. War and revolution in the 1930s and 1940s, however, destroyed the connections between the bourgeoisie and the intellectuals, ending the vibrant urban environment they had created.     

Lady Avengers in Jin He＇s （1818-1885） Narrative Verse of Female Knight-Errantry

Jin He 金和 (1818–1885), a pioneering poet of mid-nineteenth century China, wrote in a colloquial style strongly influenced by the ballad tradition. Jin’s style was prose-like and broke all the structural limitations of earlier poetry in order to create formal innovations, while at the same time experimenting with new subject matter. Liang Qichao 梁啟超 (1873–1929) and Hu Shi 胡適 (1891–1962) considered Jin He and Huang Zunxian 黃遵憲 (1848–1905) to be the major poets of the nineteenth century. Jin had a major impact both on other late nineteenth-century poets and on the “Poetic Revolution” that led to the rise of modern Chinese literature. However, his verse has been largely ignored ever since. Among the most striking contributions Jin made to the literary transition in the nineteenth century was his innovation in presenting the female knight-errant 女俠 (nüxia). This invented image of the female knight-errant reflected a new tradition of women’s voices in the literary works of his time, and had a great impact on the representation of swordswomen in modern literature. This paper examines how the image of nüxia in Jin’s writing is distinct from those found in past poetry, how the female knight-errant in Jin’s works inverts conventional gender norms, and how Jin’s female knight-errant image is both connected with and distinct from those in other literary forms.     

History,Culture, and Politics： On Historical Formation and Identity Dilemmas of ＂China＂

This lecture is concerned with some historical issues of ＂China,＂ ＂territory, culture＂ and ＂identity＂ that are placed against the background of politics, culture and scholarship in contemporary China. I want to draw attention to the question of how historians understand and interpret ＂China.＂ It addresses the following questions. First, where did the idea of ＂China＂ come from？ and how did it become a topic of scholarly research？ What kind of dilemmas does ＂China＂ confront in its current condition and historical interpretation？ Second, how do various new historical theories and methods in international academic circles enrich our understanding of ＂China＂？ Third, how does China＇s history and reality challenge the theories of ＂empire＂ and ＂nation-state＂？ Fourth, is it possible to write ＂East Asian history＂？ Does ＂national history＂ prove still effective in describing China or East Asia？     

Reconstruction of birth histories using children ever born and children surviving data from the 1900 and 1910 U.S. censuses

Abstract

This paper describes a method to reconstruct birth histories for women in the 1900 and 1910?U. S. census IPUMS samples. The method is an extension of an earlier method developed by Luther and Cho (1988 Luther, N. Y., and L. Cho. 1988. Reconstruction of birth histories from census and household survey data. Population Studies 42 (3):451–72. doi: 10.1080/0032472031000143586.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The basic method relies on the number of children ever born, number of children surviving, number of children coresident in the household and age-specific fertility rates for the population to probabilistically assign an “age” to deceased and unmatched children. Modifications include the addition of an iterative Poisson regression model to fine-tune age-specific fertility inputs. The potential of birth histories for the study of the U.S. fertility transition is illustrated with a few examples.     

The Development of a Scientific Understanding of Synesthesia from Early Case Studies (1849–1873)

The first case of synesthesia was reported in 1812 (Jewanski, Day, & Ward, 2009 Jewanski, J, Day, SA and Ward, J. 2009. A colorful albino: The first documented case of synesthesia, by Georg Tobias Ludwig Sachs in 1812. Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 18: 293–303. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). However, it took almost seven decades before the idea of synesthesia entered the mainstream of science and, subsequently, art. There are no known new cases described between 1812 and 1848, but in the following three decades there are at least 11 reported cases of synesthesia and many reviews of these cases. This comes at an important period in the history of the neurosciences, and for sensory physiology in particular. However, the literature that describes synesthesia during this period is largely unknown to contemporary researchers and historians. The aim of this review is to discuss the reports of synesthesia during this period, providing translations of some key passages, and to place these reports within the contextual framework of nineteenth-century neuroscience.     

A Test of the Applicability of NGA Models to the Strong Ground-Motion Data in the Iranian Plateau

The Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) project has now published several new sets of empirical ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs) for PGA, PGV, and response spectral ordinates. These models significantly advance the state-of-the-art empirical ground-motion modeling and account for many effects that have not been directly accounted for in the existing Iranian GMPEs. Assuming that the present strong-motion database in Iran is unlikely to drastically change in the near future, the question we ask in this study is: Can the NGA models be applied in Iran? In order to answer this question, the NGA models of Boore and Atkinson [2008] Boore, D. M. and Atkinson, G. M. 2008. Ground-motion prediction equations for the average horizontal 99 component of PGA, PGV, and 5%-damped PSA at spectral periods between 0.01 s and 10.0 s. Earthquake Spectra, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, 24(1): 99–138. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], Campbell and Bozorgnia, [2008] Campbell, K. W. and Bozorgnia, Y. 2008. NGA ground motion model for the geometric mean horizontal 139 component of PGA, PGV, PGD and 5% damped linear elastic response spectra for periods ranging from 0.01 to 10 s. Earthquake Spectra, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, 24(1): 139–172. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], and Chiou and Youngs [2008] Chiou, B. and Youngs, R. R. 2008. An NGA model for the average horizontal component of peak 173 ground motion and response spectra. Earthquake Spectra, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, 24(1): 173–216. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], which are shown to be representative of all NGA models, are compared with the Iranian strong-motion database. The database used in this study comprises 863 two-component horizontal acceleration time series recorded within 100 km of epicentral distances for 166 earthquakes in Iran with magnitudes ranging from 4.0–7.4. The comparisons are made using analyses of residuals. The analysis indicates that the NGA models may confidently be applied within the Iranian plateau. To provide more reliable constraint on finite-fault effects and nonlinear site response in the Iranian equations, it would be useful to drive new GMPEs based on a merger of the NGA and Iranian databases.     

Feminism in the Post-Soviet space: the geopolitics of Estonian feminism

The article deals with the problem how Estonian geocultural difference (Estonia as a small, economically vulnerable post-socialist country in the borderlands of Europe) constructs Estonian feminism(s) both in today’s and historical context. The geocultural location has had a great influence upon Estonian society and culture, and the Estonian situation can be understood as a state of being somewhere in-between (see Koobak and Marling 2014 Koobak, Redi, and Raili Marling. 2014. “The Decolonial Challenge. Framing Post-Socialist Central and Eastern Europe within Transnational Feminist Studies.” European Journal of Women’s Studies 21 (4): 1–14. doi:10.1177/1350506814542882.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), not only geographically but also socio-culturally. Estonian feminism began in close connection to the Estonian national movement in the second half of the 19^th century. The Soviet period in Estonia (1940–1991; from 1941 to 1944 Estonia was occupied by Nazi Germany) which interrupted the feminist tradition had a controversial meaning considering the gender aspect. Although the idea of gender equality was an integral part of Soviet ideology, it was not implemented in reality. Estonia was regarded as the Soviet republic both economically, geographically (the neighborhood of Finland) and culturally closest to the West. Thus, Estonian gender ideas consisted of a mixture of Soviet gender equality rhetoric, the ideas of Estonian nationalism, some Western influences, puritanical attitudes toward sexuality and the female body. Feminism reappeared in Estonia after the restoration of independence. The Estonian experience belongs to those small stories set in a specific local context (see Lykke 2010 Lykke, Nina. 2010. Feminist Studies: A Guide to Intersectional Theory, Methodology and Writing. New York, London: Routledge.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) and as such, it has shaped feminist practices that are a result of complex socio-spatial power relations and intersections of ethnicity/nationality, gender, geocultural place etc., both historically and in today’s context.     

Swiddening Practices in the Micronesian Past: Macrocharcoal Quantification From a Gardening Site in Pohnpei

A recent publication (Levin and Ayres 2015 Levin, M. J., and W. S. Ayres. 2015. Managed agroforests, swiddening, and the introduction of pigs in Pohnpei, Micronesia: Phytolith evidence from an anthropogenic landscape. Quaternary International. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.12.027.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) presented evidence for cyclical swiddening over a 700-year sequence at an old gardening site on Temwen Island, Pohnpei, Micronesia, using phytolith and microcharcoal evidence. Here, we corroborate this evidence by quantifying macroscopic charcoal from flotation occurring at the same site. Notably, the macrocharcoal provides evidence for burning in the immediate local area rather than the regional evidence that microcharcoal can provide. This method allows for a more robust interpretation of gardening microenvironments.     

The Periphery's Terms of Trade in the Nineteenth Century: A Methodological Problem Revisited

Abstract.

There is a major downward bias in the trend of most existing estimates of the periphery's nineteenth-century terms of trade. By using prices from the North Atlantic core as proxies for prices in the peripheral countries themselves, historians ignore the dramatic price convergence that took place during the nineteenth century. Measured correctly, the periphery's nineteenth-century terms-of-trade boom would appear considerably longer, greater, and more widespread than Jeffrey Williamson (2008 Williamson, J. G. 2008. Globalization and the great divergence: Terms of trade booms, volatility and the poor periphery, 1782–1913. European Review of Economic History 12:355–91. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S136149160800230X.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 2011 ———. 2011. Trade and poverty: When the Third World fell behind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. [Google Scholar]) supposes, greatly reinforcing his grand narrative about the relation between globalization and the “great divergence.” Many of the details of his narrative, however, must be revised. This is illustrated by the case of India.     

Seismic Hazard Assessment of the NW Himalayan Fold-and-Thrust Belt,Pakistan, Using Probabilistic Approach

The Seismic Hazard Assessment (SHA) based on probabilistic approach has been carried out for the entire seismically active NW Himalayan Fold and Thrust Belt in Pakistan. Additional information in the form of earthquake catalog, delineation of 41 active faults in a structural map, their relationship to the seismicity, and establishment of seismotectonic zones has also been undertaken.

From the distribution of the 813 events within the study area, it appears that seismicity (≥4.0 M_w) is associated with both surface and blind faults. The clustering of events in specific parts along the surface faults shows that some fault segments, especially in the hinterland zone, are more active. In parts of the active deformational front, like the Salt Range, southern Potwar and Bannu, lesser seismic activity (≥4.0 M_w) could be due to damping effect of the thick Precambrian salt.

A majority of the earthquakes (86%) range in magnitude from 4.0 to 4.9 M_w, followed by 107 events (13%) ranging from 5.0 to 5.9 M_w. The remaining 1% range from 6.0 to 6.7 M_w. There is a predominance of shallow seismicity (<50 km focal depth). Larger magnitudes events are more in the hinterland zone. In contrast, based on distribution of 683 (≥4.0 M_w) events, a deeper level of seismicity (50 to 200 km) prevails especially in the adjoining Hindukush Range of Afghanistan.

Four seismotectonic zones have been established in the area. The b value is highest for the Peshawar-Hazara Seismic Zone (PHSZ) at 1.27, followed by 1.12 for the Surghar-Kurram Seismic Zone (SKSZ). The Swat-Astor Seismic Zone (SASZ) and Kohat-Potwar-Salt Range Seismic Zone (KPSZ) have b values of 0.99 and 1.03, respectively, thereby indicating the occurrence of more events of relatively higher magnitude as compared to the other two zones. The mean activity rate of the earthquakes (λ) ranges from 4.26 to 1.73. In decreasing order, the values are 4.26, 2.62, 2.07, and 1.73 for PHSZ, SASZ, KPSZ, and SKSZ, respectively. Using four regression relationships, the maximum potential magnitude (m₁) has been determined for the 4 Quaternary faults. The highest value within each seismic zone represents its m₁. Our calculations show that m₁ is 7.8 in the hinterland (SASZ and PHSZ) and 7.4 in the foreland part (KPSZ and SKSZ).

SHA, incorporating probabilistic approach, has been undertaken at 10 sites, along with disaggregation at the assigned amplitude of 0.2g. Pakistan does not have an attenuation equation of its own. The two equations of Ambraseys et al. (1996) Ambraseys, N. N., Simpson, K. A. and Bommer, J. J. 1996. Prediction of horizontal response spectra in Europe. Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, 25: 371–400. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] and Boore et al. (1997) Boore, D. M., Joyner, W. B. and Fumal, T. E. 1997. Equations from estimating horizontal response spectra and peak acceleration from western North American earthquakes: a summary of recent work. Seismological Research Letters, 68: 128–153. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] have been used and the results obtained using the equation of Boore et al. (1997) Boore, D. M., Joyner, W. B. and Fumal, T. E. 1997. Equations from estimating horizontal response spectra and peak acceleration from western North American earthquakes: a summary of recent work. Seismological Research Letters, 68: 128–153. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] have been preferred. In the Probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA), the PGA values with 10% probability of exceedance in the 50 years, i.e., the return period of 475, have been determined using the EZ-FRISK (6.2 beta version) software. Best-estimated seismic hazard parameters (λ, m₁, m₀, and the β value) of the four seismic zones were used as the input. Results were generated in the form of total hazard curves. Values obtained range from 0.08g (for Bannu) to 0.21g (for Malakand and Kohat). For the other seven sites they are: Astore (0.082g), Kaghan (0.12g), Muzaffarabad (0.13g), Islamabad and Peshawar (0.15g), Talagang (0.16g), and Mangla (0.18g). High population density and more poorly constructed structures in Rawalpindi (twin city of Islamabad) and Peshawar make them more hazardous.     

Captain Canuck,audience response,and the project of Canadian nationalism

This paper addresses the role of comic books in interpellating national identities, locating the process of national identity formation in the interplay between popular culture producers and their audiences as described by Althusser (1977 Althusser, L. 1977. Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays, London: New Left Books.  [Google Scholar]) and McGee (1975 McGee, M. 1975. In search of ‘the people’: a rhetorical alternative. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 61: 235–249. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The empirical section of this paper focuses on Captain Canuck, a Canadian-produced comic book originating in the 1970s and sporadically published through the present day. The authors engaged in a qualitative content analysis of the Captain Canuck comic books, searching for themes and markers of Canadian-ness and looking for audience identifications with those themes and markers in the ‘letter to the editor’ columns published within the comic books themselves. The study finds that through the many incarnations of Captain Canuck various versions of Canadian identity have been projected, with varying degrees of support by the readership. The role of the USA in Canadian identity formation looms large, especially in the positioning of Canadian quality and multiculturalism against the tacitly American lack thereof. Another finding of this research is that there has been a fundamental change in the way Canadian identity is structured as a new, commercially driven Canadiana culture industry has arisen since the 1970s.     

Two new species of Nevania (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea: Praeaulacidae: Nevaniinae) from the Middle Jurassic of China

Two new species of Nevania Zhang & Rasnitsyn 2007 Zhang, H.C. & Rasnitsyn, A.P., 2007. Nevaniinae subfam. n., a new fossil taxon (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Evanioidea: Praeaulacidae) from the Middle Jurassic of Daohugou in Inner Mongolia, China. Insect Systematics & Evolution 38, 149–166.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], Nevania perbella sp. nov. and Nevania aspectabilis sp. nov., are described and illustrated. They are assigned to Nevania based on their unique morphological characters: forewing venation complete; 2A complete; metasoma with first and second segments long and tube-like. A key to the known species of Nevania is provided. These fossils, collected from the Jiulongshan Formation (Middle Jurassic) of Daohugou in Inner Mongolia, China, broaden the known diversity of this genus in mid-Mesozoic ecosystems.     

Iron age chronology and biblical history rejoinders: The late bronze/iron age transition,Tel ʿEton and Lachish

ABSTRACT

In this article, I review three recent articles. In the first, Asscher and Boaretto (2018 Asscher, Y. , and Boaretto, E. , 2018. ‘Absolute time ranges in the plateau of the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition and the appearance of Bichrome pottery in Canaan, Southern Levant’, Radiocarbon 60, 1–25. doi: 10.1017/RDC.2017.96 [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]. ‘Absolute time ranges in the plateau of the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition and the appearance of Bichrome pottery in Canaan, Southern Levant’, Radiocarbon 60, 1–25) suggest that the Late Bronze/Iron I transition occurred in neighboring sites a century and more apart. In the second, Faust and Sapir (2018. ‘The “Governor's Residency” at Tel ?Eton, the United Monarchy and the impact of the old-house effect on large-scale archaeological reconstructions’, Radiocarbon 60, 801–820.) date the construction of a solid building at Tel ?Eton to the tenth century bce and interpret this as validation for the historicity of the United Monarchy of ancient Israel. In the third, Garfinkel et al. (2019a Garfinkel, Y. , et al. , 2019a. ‘Lachish fortifications and state formation in the Biblical kingdom of Judah in light of radiometric datings’, Radiocarbon 61, 1–18. doi: 10.1017/RDC.2019.5 [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. ‘Lachish fortifications and state formation in the Biblical kingdom of Judah in light of radiometric datings’, Radiocarbon 61, 1–18) announce the discovery of a city-wall belonging to Level V at Lachish, and affiliate it with the building operations of King Rehoboam of Judah, described in 2 Chronicles. Scrutiny of the methods and facts dismisses all three theories.     

Ceramic Production and Interaction in the Northern Range of Trinidad

Regional syntheses based on data recovered mostly from outside of the Northern Range have characterized the mountainous region in northern Trinidad as a boundary between two distinct interaction spheres during the Early Ceramic Age (ca. AD 350–650/800) (Boomert 2000 Boomert, A. 2000. Trinidad, Tobago and the Lower Orinoco interaction Sphere: An Archaeological/Ethnohistorical Study. Alkmaar: Cairi Publications. [Google Scholar]). Changes occurring on Trinidad, other islands of the southern Lesser Antilles, and the South American mainland resulted in the disintegration of these earlier style zones during the final centuries of the Early Ceramic (Boomert 2000 Boomert, A. 2000. Trinidad, Tobago and the Lower Orinoco interaction Sphere: An Archaeological/Ethnohistorical Study. Alkmaar: Cairi Publications. [Google Scholar], 2010). This period of Late Ceramic cultural realignment was characterized by climate change, the renegotiation of political and social networks, and demographic transformations. We consider newly recovered ceramic evidence from the central Northern Range in order to evaluate the characterization of the region as a boundary and the region's role in broader Caribbean trends. We examine participation in interaction spheres to provide a more nuanced understanding of regional dynamics as they were expressed locally. Ceramic data indicate that occupants of the central Northern Range interpreted regional styles using locally derived materials, thus simultaneously engaging regional traditions and constructing local patterns of resource exploitation.