On official corruption in the Yuan dynasty

The vicious cycle of official corruption got worse unprecedentedly in the Yuan dynasty (ca. 1279–1368). Corrupt officials at all levels from the local to the central governments were “extremely shameless and greedy.” Even many court ministers got involved in the vicious cycle of corruption. The top officialdom was polluted and degenerated badly because the Mongolian nobles made their “Sauqat” (taking gifts) tradition and the Semu, both official and merchant groups, took bribes as a way to amass wealth. Although the Mongol Yuan rulers did make a set of anti-corruption policies such as detailed rules of censorship and inspection relating to corruption crimes, these didn’t work well. Of all the reasons of the Yuan official corruption, the old Mongolian steppe traditions play the most important role, which formed the context for the low salary, improper selection and poor quality of the officials and of bending the law wrongly to pardon official misconduct. __________ Translated from: Nankai Xuebao Zhexue Shehui Kexue Ban 南开学报: 哲学社会科学版 (Nankai Journal, Philosophy and Social Science Edition), Vol.5, 2004, by Zhang Weiwei     

Ukrainian Economic Policy after the Orange Revolution: A Commentary on Åslund's Analysis

One of the leading Western observers of Ukrainian affairs, before and after the dis-integration of the Soviet Union, discusses the preceding paper by Anders Åslund devoted to the economic policies of Ukraine after the Orange Revolution. The commentary covers in some detail the pervasive corruption, largely traced to Ukrainian oligarchs but also endemic in the administration and among the military. Relatively recent 2005 polls are cited to illustrate the citizenry's support for some of the government's policies and regulations pertaining to prices, privatization, and organized crime, as well as those showing presidential and ministerial approval ratings. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: H10, H80, O52, P30. 16 references.     

建立融洽的师生关系 促进学生身心健康发展

师生关系直接影响教育效果;关爱学生是班主任搞好班级工作的前提;班主任要积极创造条件,主动亲近学生,细心体察、全面深入细致地了解学生的内心世界,为学生摆脱烦恼、化解困惑;对学生存在的问题多一点理解和宽容;用一颖平等的心与学生交往,尊重学生,促进学生身心的健康发展。     

Reflections on Ukraine's Current Economic Dilemma

A prominent specialist on economic transition in the former Soviet Union presents an overview of Ukraine's economic dilemma in the aftermath of the most recent elections in that country. The author, a former economic advisor to Ukraine's government and co-chair of the UN's Blue Ribbon Commission for Ukraine, relates his insights into the causes of three acute problems (inflation, corruption, and the lack of structural reforms). Focusing on the state of economic affairs in 2008, the paper, which includes data on economic growth and exchange rates, discusses inter alia the hryvnia's peg to the dollar and the potential consequences of rising food and commodity prices. Included in the analysis is a comparison with Russia. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: E58, E60, O52, P26. 34 references.     

真德秀与朱熹弟子交游考

在理学官学化的过程中,真德秀发挥了不可替代的作用。这与他私淑朱熹有关,同时也与他积极地同朱熹弟子交游有关。考察与其交游的朱熹弟子,对了解真德秀的道德操守和学术旨趣是十分必要的。     

The spaces of UK students’ unions: extending the critical geographies of the university campus

This article seeks to further our knowledge of the university campus by focusing on one particular aspect of most UK campuses: the students’ union. UK students’ unions have rarely been the subject of scholarly attention, despite them now occupying an important place within the higher education landscape. Nevertheless, in this paper we draw on a UK-wide study of students’ unions to explore, firstly, the role played by the buildings of the students’ union and, secondly, the ways in which aspects of the university’s campus influence union activity. We pay particular attention to the expansion of the university campus, in many institutions, from a single site to multiple sites, both within the UK and overseas. We contend that a focus on the materiality of the students’ union and the level of union activity (or inactivity) across various campus spaces can illustrate the values, ideologies and power relations that dominate contemporary British higher education.     

实验探究与学生创新能力的培养

学生对生活中的一些化学现象提出置疑,利用自己已有的实验能力和认知能力,运用实验手段,印证结论或探究未知。使学生真正成为化学实验的主体和中心,使学生实现自主、体验、参与和合作的学习方式并达到掌握知识和培养创新能力的目的。     

Going It Alone: Belarus as the Non-European European State

In the second paper of a symposium devoted to the contemporary status of Belarus, a noted American specialist on the electoral geography of the states of the former Soviet Union challenges assertions in the preceding article (Ioffe and Yarashevich, 2011) that only Russia and Ukraine are valid comparators against which to gauge the success of the Lukashenka model. Expanding the scope of comparison to include the three other countries neighboring Belarus (Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland), he demonstrates that a broader range of policy changes can be considered by its leadership in efforts to limit damage from the economic crisis in Belarus and position the country for renewed growth within a global economic frame-work. Examination of a wide range of social and economic indicators and government policies reveals, however, that in many ways an unreformed Belarus is poorly positioned for competition in an increasingly interconnected world, in which the elements for successful development are quite different from those providing economic stability in the past. A closing section of the paper revisits the debate on whether most Belarusian citizens actually aspire to a more "European" way of life or instead prefer the "Eastern" alignment and reliance on a Russian benefactor whose own economic future looks increasingly uncertain.     

大学女生思想政治教育中“四弱四强”现象探析

针对当前大学女生思想出现的"四弱四强"现象,应加强理想和信仰教育,使大学女生树立正确的世界观、人生观和价值观;应深入实践,贴近实际,有的放矢,解决大学女生思想政治教育中的实际问题;应构建大学生思想政治教育的动态理念,创新大学女生思想政治教育方法,以变应变,推动大学女生思想政治教育工作。     

后五四时代部分北大师生的非政治倾向

五四运动后,在部分北大师生中曾出现一种非政治倾向,主张回归书斋、潜心学问。究其缘由,或许有四点成因:(一)借思想文化以解决问题的思维惯性;(二)教育救国与学术救国思潮的潜移默化;(三)为学术而学术风气的逐渐养成;(四)学生运动的流弊日益显现。这些因素最终造成一些知识界人士对政治产生了疏离乃至排斥的情绪。而从学术独立与社会分工的角度来看,这种非政治倾向当属另一种抉择,它诚然一时缓不济急,却也从一个侧翼执着地延续了新文化运动的思想启蒙事业,并使之逐渐趋于成熟、深化,故不宜简单片面予以否定。     

“Gedankenaustausch über Probleme und Methoden der Forschung”. Transatlantische Gastprofessoren aus Emigrantenkreisen in Westdeutschland nach 1945

The history of the sciences and humanities follows cycles in some of which there is greater emphasis on the continuity of developments, in others on the breaks in continuity. In recent years the main focus of research for the 20^th century has been on the continuities extending beyond the boundaries of 1933 and 1945. The main aim of this study, however, is to examine the impulses for the internationalization of German universities provided by a transnational group of academic migrants. These migrants, whose origins were in the German academic community, represented an alternative continuity beyond the boundaries of this period: they were visiting academics who were the conveyors and interpreters of ideas from Germany into the USA and Britain and vice versa. The study of this group therefore combines remigration history and the history of universities as institutions, focussing on actors, networks and innovations in teaching, with the history of individual subjects and disciplines.