Power of Religion in Rural Areas and Its Public Service （Ⅱ） ——An Analysis of Cases in Five Villages

In rural areas in Tibet where religion believers occupy a very high proportion of the population, religious service can also be included into the scope of public services, because it is not only related to local social stability, but also bound up with the quality of life (such as a sense of happiness and the perceived meaning of life) in the view of local people. Investigation in five villages shows how in the rural areas in Tibet, various religious authorities provide such services.     

Modernization And Adjustment： Case Study Of Kham Village

When talking about Tibetans, people naturally think about Tibet （Tibet Autonomous Region, which will be referred to as TAR in the following text）, but seldom realize that the Tibetan region extends far past the borders of Tibet. Based on Tibetan historical and cui tural differences, the Tibetan region of China can be divided into three major sections： Kham （khams）, Amdo and Weizang（dbus-gtsang）. Nowadays, as a result of administrative divisions, the Tibetan region belongs to different administrative areas in five provinces. Weizang includes most of today＇s Tibet Autono- mous region. Kham and Amdo are both historical conceptions, Kham lying to the east of Weizang and Amdo to the northwest. Kham and Amdo are divided into different administrative areas. Kham includes today＇s Chamdo Autonomous Prefecture （TAR）, Ganzi Autonomous Prefecture and part of Aba Autonomous prefecture （Ganzi and Aba both belong to Sichuan Province）,     

News in Brief

Tibet to Hold ! ITH Mountaineering Assembly The llth Tibet Mountaineering Assembly is going to be held from Sep.26 to Oct.7. It is aimed to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Qomolangma by human beings. The organizers will also hold several mountaineering activities for amateurs to learn mountaineering skills. i,hasa Issued China＇s Firstlmrism Law Lhasa issued the offprint of the Tourism Law of the People＇s Republic of China in August, which is the country＇s first tourism law. Deliberated and approved by the 12th Standing Committee of the National People＇s Congress （NPC）, the law will be put into force on October 1, 2013. Overseas Chinese Painters X＇isited Tibet Nearly 20 overseas artists from 11 countries and areas including the US, Canada, Japan, Australia, France and Italy set out for the journey of ＂Famous Chinese Painters to Tibet＂ on August 16. In the next ten days in Tibet, they produced art works and had seminars with local artists. 2013 Tibetan Thangka Industrial Dexelnpment Forum Ileid in Lhasa The forum was held in the Mass Art Gallery in Lhasa on August 15, attracting the relative experts, scholars and painters in Tibet to have an in-depth discussion about Thangka＇s industrial development pattern and path, and the inheritance and protection in the new media age. Grand Tibetan Musical Yarluag Zangbo Premiered Musical Yarlung Zangbo premiered at the Yarlung Theatre in Lhoka Prefecture on August 15, 2013. The musical showed the time-honored history and culture of Lhoka and also highlighted the Yarlung Cultural Festival from August 15 to 21. Tibet Invests 100 Million Yuan to Build Sehool Bathrooms Almost 100 million Yuan has been invested in building bathrooms for primary and middle school students in Tibet since 2012. It is expected that 109 bathrooms, which make use of solar energy by installing solar power water heaters, will be finished until the end of 2013. Nachen Bridge, connecting the North Circular Road and the 318 National Highway after completion, has realized its closure of the main part structure and is expected to open to traffic within the year. The scenic zone Nanyigou, located in Nyingchi Prefecture, has adopted a tourist quota policy to allow a limit of up to 2,000 per day since August in order to support Chinas bid to build ecological shelter. The 2013 Shoton Festival of Tibet has wrapped up on August 12th. During the seven days＇ festival this year, a total number of 1.38 million tourists have visited Tibet, reaching an all-time high. The Xiahe Airport in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Gansu Province opened on Aug. 19.     

Marks,Robert B., China.Its Environment and History

In recent years foreign scholars have produced major studies of China＇s environmental history, or its environment and history. Most seem to focus on various periods and regions. Such an approach to China＇s environmental history is understandable and reasonable, since writing a synthesis of this history is no easy task： China has both a variety of ecosystems ranging from alpine mountains to tropical forests, and a long history with the longest unbroken written record of all the world＇s civilizations. But Robert B. Marks,     

History and Culture of the Tibetan-Inhabited Areas in Highland

With regard to the Tibetan-inhabited area in Sichuan, people are most familiar with Garze and Aba Tibet Autonomous Prefectures, and the Moli Autonomous County, but several Tibetan-inhabited townships in Ya＇an such as Qiaoqi are not so well known. During the last ten days of January 2005, along with Professor Li Shaoming, Li Xingxing, and Shi Shuo from Sichuan Ethnic Research Institute and Sichuan University＇s Tibetology Research Institute, I went to Qiaoqi on a cultural investigation.     

蕃尼古道及其宋元明清时期的主要遗迹（英文）

<正>Ancient Tubo-Nepal Road, namely, the ancient road from Lhasa in Tibet to Kathmandu in Nepal, is one of the crucial main roads connecting Tibet and inner China with Nepal, India and Central Asia and it is also a pivotal part of the Silk Road. Since its initiation, it not only has generated huge political, economic, social and cultural impact on Tibet but also has greatly influenced the communication between     

Unprecedented Developments In Tibet

The visit of our delegation to Tibet was, indeed, an eye-opener. Ours was one of the first political delegations fromIndia to visit the Tibet autonomous region in many decades. The economic development that we could see in the capital city of Lhasa as well as in the other urban and rural areas clearly showed that compared to Nepal, Bhutan or other Indian Himalayan areas, the Tibet region is witness to unprecedented economic and other consequent social     

Power of Religion in Rural Areas and Its Public Service （I）——An Analysis of Cases in Five Villages

In the study of socio-economic development in Tibet, one tends to stress the role of non-economic elements, especially the role of humans and social background.Of these, the role of religious culture is regarded as the most important. However, there are basically two approaches to the issue: First of all, although religion exerts a varied role on economic growth, legal construction, public welfare and ethics, one tends to each only a general judgment. Secondly, study of the role played by religion focused on the religious doctrines held by monks, and monks themselves. Although many point out the fact that religious power over people varies, it roots in the rural areas and among the folk at large is still neglected.Hence, there is the need to study individual cases.     

加快推进西藏经济社会高质量发展

Keeping abreast of China's massive economic and open-door reform,the social productive forces of the Tibet Autonomous Region(TAR)have gradually started to match the same pace as other areas of the country.All ethnicities living in the region have been enjoying the ever-increasing achievements of an abundant modern civilization,and with fullscale assistance from both the central government as well as Chinese people nationwide,local residents have united as one to fight against poverty and backwardness.     

Rural Growth Points and Rural Industries in Zimbabwe: Ideologies and Policies

A Rural Service Centre which provided all basic infrastructure, had a strong residential component and offered a wide range of services would automatically attract rural non-farm activities. This is the term applied to the whole range of activities connected with trading, manufacturing, construction, transport and government and other services. improved infrastructure is the key to more rural manufacturing. The deficiency in manufacturing may therefore be expected to right itself if given the necessary Government support through the provision of infrastructure. (Whitsun Foundation, 1980: 60–1; emphases added). Rural Service Centres ‘do not offer any major form of non-agricultural employment other than trade and certain jobs connected with the provision of services for agricultural communities’. (Hanratty and Heath, 1984:27)     

Determinants of Net Migration to Rural Areas,and the Impacts of Migration on Rural Labour Markets and Self-Employment in Rural Sweden

Abstract

Across most of Europe, the countryside seems to show a polarized development in which large districts are depopulating, while certain areas, mainly around big- and mid-sized cities, are increasing in population. The latter development is often described in concepts of “rural gentrification” and “rurbanization”, symbolizing a transformation of rural communities to communities with urban values and lifestyles. Most studies of the effects of these processes have focused on social and cultural consequences, as e.g. the displacements of lower-income households with higher-income residents and of rural culture and values with urban ones. This paper examines the phenomenon from another perspective, namely the effects of the “rurbanization” processes on countryside's labour markets and economic life. This paper aims at analysing the determinants of net migration to rural areas in general and to different types of regions, and the impacts of in-migration on rural labour markets, self-employment and other socio-economic conditions in Sweden for the period of 2003–2005. We find that net migration into rural areas increases with the size of adjacent local and regional centres, whereas net migration decreases with the average commuting distance of workers in the rural areas. When comparing in-migrants to rural areas with rural area stayers, our results indicate that the former has lower incomes, a lower employment ratio and a lower degree of entrepreneurial activities. These differences could—at least partly—be explained by the fact that rural area stayers were on average 6 years older than rural area in-migrants, i.e. the two groups were in different stages of their life cycles.     

Rural masculinities and fathering practices

Fatherhood and fathering practices have been surprisingly absent from the literature on rural men and masculinity. This article draws on interviews with two generations of farm fathers in Norway to examine how rural masculinities are constructed through fathering practices. It explores how fathering creates potential for the development of alternative rural masculinities in two socio-historical contexts. Findings demonstrate that farm work is important for masculine legitimization in both generations, but, in contrast to the older generation, for the current generation farm work and fathering practices have become spatially separated. Their greater involvement in childcare within the domestic spaces indicates a slight shift towards more equal co-parenting driven by the movement of mothers into the non-farm labour force and the new fathering moralities in society. However, fathering practices through outdoor sports, wilderness activities and hunting constitute stable sites of rural masculinity. As fathering requires nurture and compassion, these ‘traditional’ rural activities display the fluidity of rural masculinity.     

Transport Costs and Rural Development

Innovations that reduce costs of transport from rural locations may also reduce transport costs to rural areas. As transport costs fall, producers can afford to concentrate and achieve economies of scale. This paper explains an initially negative, but ultimately positive, relationship between reductions in transport costs and rural development. A two-region general equilibrium model with firm and worker spatial mobility highlights the firm and household location implications of costly transport-service use by both industry and agriculture in the context of scale economies and product differentiation. The computable general equilibrium model is initialized and verified with a bi-regional social accounting matrix and then used for simulations. Changes in relative transport costs are shown to affect relative regional wage rates, thus also determining the location of "production-cost-oriented" firms.