The British government,child welfare,and child migration to Australia after 1945

In 1943, the British Colonial Office initiated a far-reaching process of arrangements to prepare plans for detailed reconstruction in the territories subject to British control. Reconstruction as a concept, a tendency and an action plan was basically directed at building and constructing that which had been destroyed in the war, based on a plan thought out in advance. This article explores the struggle between the British plan for the reconstruction of Mandatory Palestine and the Jewish interpretation that the main aim of their steps is to implement the White Paper policy of May 1939. After six months of confrontation, the British intention to promote economic steps while presenting them as separate from the political tension over Palestine's political future and the Jewish-Arab confrontation proved to be a false assumption.     

英国华侨社团的历史演变与当代华人社会的转型

历史上英国华侨社团是维系当地华人社会的支柱。巴黎和会、华盛顿会议前后, 受列强出卖中国利益的冲击, 英国华侨在民族主义风潮的影响下掀起了组建社团的高潮。抗日战争中, 华侨社团也积极支持了祖国的抗日运动。二战后, 土生华人的成长及香港新界移民改变了旅英华人的构成, 传统宗亲会、同乡会得以复苏, 同时出现了专业性社团、跨国性社团联合及华人社区中心。在当今英国政府的多元文化政策下, 部分华人社团获得新的发展空间, 部分社团却随着第二代华人的本土化而面临着衰落。     

The great war and the British people

The “Adam Smith Problem” is the name given to an argument that arose among German scholars during the second half of the nineteenth century concerning the compatibility of the conceptions of human nature advanced in, respectively, Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and his Wealth of Nations (1776). During the twentieth century these arguments were forgotten but the problem lived on, the consensus now being that there is no such incompatibility, and therefore no problem. Rather than rehearse the arguments for and against compatibility and incompatibility, this paper returns to the German writers of the 1850s–1890s and demonstrates that their engagement in this argument represents the foundation of modern Smith scholarship. It is shown that the “problem” was not simply a mistake best forgotten, but the first sustained scholarly effort to understand the importance of Smith's work, an effort that lacked any parallel in English commentary of the time. By the 1890s British writers, overwhelmingly ignorant of German commentary, assumed that there was little more to be said about Smith's work. Belated international familiarity with this German “Problem” played a major role in transforming Smith from a simple partisan of free trade into a theorist of commercial society and human action.     

The Italian welfare state after the financial crisis

The essential characteristics of the Italian welfare state as it developed after the Second World War generated social cleavages and inequities that affected the Italian economy and provided grist for future reforms. At the same time, the welfare state provided political actors with incentives and resources that constrained attempts at reform. With the financial crisis beginning in 2008, serious reform was no longer optional. But austerity politics have generated pressures for changes to the welfare state which are unlikely to moderate most of the underlying inequities generated by the post-war system. Going forward, Italian policymakers must chart a path that is informed by efforts to overcome the pathologies of the past without further undermining the social and economic health of the country.     

“巨文岛事件”与英国东北亚政策

"甲申政变"之后,辅佐谁来保护朝鲜,是英国制定东北亚外交政策的焦点。朝鲜"背清亲俄"、日本不断挑战中朝宗藩关系、《天津条约》的撤兵造成朝鲜半岛即将出现政权、军事真空局面,导致中国在政治、军事两方面掌控朝鲜的力度空前薄弱,加剧了域内域外国家对朝鲜主导权的争夺。为了防止朝鲜半岛的动荡局势向着于己国不利的方向演变,维护在远东地区的战略格局,1885年3月,英国精心策划了一个"由中国保护朝鲜"和"有一打算"的外交计策,并于1885年4月在防御"英俄战争"的大义名分下,占领了巨文岛。由此,开始了近两年的辅佐"中国保护朝鲜"的外交活动,最后如愿获得了一个在中国宗主权掌控下的相对稳固的东北亚局势。可以说,巨文岛事件是在英国军事力量支持下,中英联手巩固东亚宗藩体制的外交事件,英国是这一事件的最大赢家,中国是最大的受益者。而英国高调渲染占领巨文岛的大义名分和辅佐"中国保护朝鲜"的真实用意,如同一枚硬币的两面,反映了巨文岛事件的复杂性、多面性。1885年以后,在强化宗藩体制的过程中,以遏制日本和朝鲜进一步破坏中国宗主权为目的的英国外交活动发挥了关键作用,巨文岛事件是其中的重要历史拐点。     

The evolution of rice: molecular vignettes on its origins and spread

The domesticated species Oryza sativa or Asian rice evolved starting approximately 9,000 years ago and from its centers of origin in China and India has subsequently spread throughout the Old World (and in historical times in the New World as well). This species is one of the key domesticated crop plants in the world and has emerged as a model for studying the origins and spread of domesticated taxa as well as in investigating the genetic basis for plant variation under domestication. Archaeological data has been critical in dissecting the origins and spread of rice throughout Asia, but molecular information has also provided a complementary approach to examining the evolutionary dynamics of this species. The evolutionary history of a species can leave its footprints within its genome. Moreover, genetic studies allow us to study the history of traits that do not leave an archaeological record—for example, grain stickiness or flowering time—which can provide insights into how crop species are adopted by different cultures. In this review, several molecular studies into the origin and spread of Asian rice are discussed and we explore the advances these genetic studies offer in our understanding of the evolution of domesticated species. We also explore how archaeological data can provide critical insights that can help refine genetic models of the origin and spread of domesticated species.     

略论晚清乡村社会教化体系的历史变迁

清朝统治者在实践中确认了“教化为本”的统治原则,且逐渐形成并完善了自己的乡村社会教化体系。清代乡村社会的教化体系乃是一个二元同构性的组织系统,即以保甲制为代表的官方教化组织和形式与以宗族、乡约为代表的非官方教化组织与形式同构而成。鸦片战争后,随着社会结构的变动,乡村教化体系的变迁表现为两个方面：其一是传统乡村教化组织趋于形式;其二是乡村教化的内容开始发生变化。与传统乡村社会的教化体系─—官方与非官方教化组织二元同构性体系──不同,晚清乡村社会的教化体系乃是一个新兴教化体系与旧式教化体系异质并存的复合体。晚清乡村社会的教化体系呈现出多元化的趋向,这首先表现在教化组织形式属性的多元化上。其次还表现为教化主体的多元化。而且,晚清乡村社会教化体系嬗变的历史趋向,是以王朝对于基层社会控制的失控为标志的。清王朝逐渐失去了对乡村社会教化主体的控制,使得乡村社会的教化呈现出一种空前的失范状态。晚清乡村社会教化体系变迁所产生的影响是深远的。它与晚清政府走向灭亡时各项制度的衰落变迁同步进行着,并在相互之间产生着互动,共同构成了王朝灭亡的全部内容。     

英属印度茶业经济的崛起及其影响

印度是当今世界主要产茶和茶叶出口大国.100多年前,为了打破中国茶叶对世界茶叶市场的垄断,牟取厚利,英国殖民当局从中国全面输入茶籽、茶苗、茶工、种制技术,大力发展印度茶业.经几十年努力,一跃成为世界主要茶叶生产和出口地区,对世界茶业产生了深远影响.