Book reviews

Joseph Camilleri, Chinese Foreign Policy: The Maoist Era and its Aftermath. Martin Robertson and Company, Oxford, 1980, pp.xiv + 311. £25.00.

Gerald Segal (ed.), The China Factor: Peking and the Superpowers. Croom Helm, London, 1982, pp.210 £12.95.

Josef Fullenbach und Eberhard Schulz (eds.), Entspannung am Ende? Chancen und Risiken einer Politik des Modus vivendi (An End to Detente: Risks and Opportunities of a Policy of Modus Vivendi). R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich, 1980, pp.381. No price given.

J.J. Fox, R.G. Garnaut, P.T. McCawley, J.A.C. Mackie (eds.), Indonesia: Australian Perspectives, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra 1980, pp. x + 772. $24.00.

Shirley W.Y. Kuo, Gustav Ranis and John C.H. Fei, The Taiwan Success Story: Rapid Growth with Improved Distribution in the Republic of China. 1952–1979. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1981, pp. xviii + 160. No price given.

William H. Newell (ed.), Japan in Asia 1942–1945. Singapore University Press, Singapore, 1981, pp. vii +123. $S12.00.

Elizabeth E. Graves, The Minangkabau Response to Dutch Colonial Rule in the Nineteenth Century. Cornell Modern Indonesia Project, Cornell University, 1981, pp. ix+ 147.$7.50.

Talukder Maniruzzaman, The Bangladesh Revolution and its Aftermath. Bangladesh Books International Limited, Dacca, 1980, pp. xvi + 259. $US10.00.

U Maung Maung, From Sangha to Laity: Nationalist Movements of Burma 1920–1940. Australian National University Monographs on South Asia No. 4, South Asian History Section, Australian National University, Canberra, 1980, pp. xvi + 311. $7.50.

Roger C. Thompson, Australian Imperialism in the Pacific: The Expansionist Era 1820–1920. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1980, pp. 289. $25.00.

John Robertson, Australia At War 1939–1945. Heinemann, Melbourne, 1981, pp. 269. $27.50.

Adam Bromke, Harold von Riekhoff, Jacques Levesque and J.F. Fedorowicz, Canada's Response to the Polish Crisis. Canadian Institute of International Affairs, Toronto, 1982, pp. 45. $CAN2.00.

Edward C. Thaden (ed.), Russification in the Baltic Provinces and Finland, 1855–1914. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1981, pp. xiii + 497. $US52.50 (cloth), $US23.00 (paper).

Philip Towle (ed.), Estimating Foreign Military Power. Croom Helm, London, 1982, pp. 276. $13.95.

Ted Robert Gurr (ed.), Handbook of Political Conflict: Theory and Research. The Free Press, New York, 1980, pp. ix + 566. $52.95.

G.W. Jones and H.V. Richter (eds.), Population Mobility and Development: Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Australian National University, Development Studies Centre, Monograph No. 27, 1981, pp. xx + 474. $9.00.

John D. Conroy, Essays on the Development Experience in Papua New Guinea, IASER Monograph 17, Port Moresby, 1982, pp. xi + 147. K6.50.

Jan Jelmert Jorgensen, Uganda. A Modern History. Croom Helm, London, 1981, pp.345. £13.195.

Christian P. Potholm and Richard A. Fredland (eds.), Integration and Disintegration in East Africa. University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland, 1980, pp. x + 219. No price given.

Olga A. Narkiewicz, Marxism and the Reality of Power 1919–1980. Croom Helm, London, 1981, pp. 337. £14.95.

P.T. Bauer, The Third World and Economic Delusion, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London, 1981, pp. x + 293. £15.00.

Andrew P. Rasiulis, On the Utility of War in the Nuclear Age. Canadian Institute of International Affairs, Toronto, 1981, pp. 95. $CAN4.75.

Edward Dommen (ed.), Islands. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1981, pp. 135. No price given.

Wilfred Burchett, The China Cambodia Vietnam Triangle. Zed Press, London, and Vanguard Books, Chicago, 1981, pp. 235. $9.95.

Andrei Amalrik, Will the Soviet Union Survive until 1984? Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1980 (revised from 1970 edition), pp. 224. $5.50.     

The Karo Batak population of Boven Deli (Sumatra) 1894–1914

Neumann gives the results of his census of Boven Deli in 1914 (13,000 inhabitants), comparing part of it to two earlier but smaller censuses by himself (1904) and by his predecessor, Wijngaarden (1894). In this twenty‐year period, the area's population apparently doubled. Neumann suggests that the major part of the increase happened before 1904, when, after the annexation of the Karo plateau, the government clamped down on migration. He determined that the average family size in 1914 was 4.21 persons.     

Revisiting the lead isotopic compositions of the Shang bronzes at Hanzhong and the new hypothesis of Qinling as the source of highly radiogenic lead

The provenance of the highly radiogenic lead (HRL) contained in Chinese Shang bronzes has attracted great scholarly attention in recent years. A new study of the Hanzhong Shang bronzes has put forward a hypothesis that the HRL metal may come from the adjacent Qinling Mountains. This article reanalyses the lead isotope ratios and alloy compositions of the Hanzhong bronzes. Combining the analytical results, the modern ore data and the slags from Guanzhong area, we propose that there is no direct evidence to identify Qinling as the provenance of HRL metal (especially lead). Whilst over 80% of the Hanzhong bronzes contain HRL, the indigenous artefacts containing both HRL and special alloying elements (As, Sb, Ni) account only for minor portions. This fact cannot verify that HRL originates from Qinling, and even makes it difficult to prove that most of the Hanzhong bronzes use local metal resources. An alternative argument might be that the HRL used in Hanzhong derived from the Shang dynasty. The use of HRL reflects a unified system for allocating metal resources centred on the Shang kingdom, which has great significance for further understanding of the resource circulation patterns among different bronze cultures and locations during the Shang period.     

Cities in a pandemic: Evidence from China

This paper studies the impact of urban density, city government efficiency, and medical resources on COVID-19 infection and death outcomes in China. We adopt a simultaneous spatial dynamic panel data model to account for (i) the simultaneity of infection and death outcomes, (ii) the spatial pattern of the transmission, (iii) the intertemporal dynamics of the disease, and (iv) the unobserved city-specific and time-specific effects. We find that, while population density increases the level of infections, government efficiency significantly mitigates the negative impact of urban density. We also find that the availability of medical resources improves public health outcomes conditional on lagged infections. Moreover, there exists significant heterogeneity at different phases of the epidemiological cycle.