评蒙古帝国衰亡对蒙古社会发展的影响

成吉思汗建立了蒙古帝国,以千户制巩固了统治,国土横跨欧亚。至忽必烈在中原大地建立了蒙元王朝。１３６８年元朝灭亡后,众多蒙古人返回蒙古本土,与当地统治者发生权力斗争。蒙古本土也因无法为骤然增多的人口提供给养而导致经济崩溃。蒙古人不断侵扰明朝边境,迫使永乐皇帝率兵亲征,更加剧了蒙古困难局面。重建蒙古强力政权的努力一再破产。直至达延可汗,蒙古再现生机。     

高地亚洲三年探险记

伯希和亲口叙述了他于1906～1908年在新疆喀什、库车等地进行长时间勘察、发掘．收集了大量文物,尔后又到甘肃敦煌,通过诱骗等手段,获取大量敦煌宝藏并顺利运走的过程。法国朝野各界因此把它视为“英雄”,举行了盛大欢迎会。本文就是伯希和在欢迎会上的汇报演讲。     

INTERNAL BOUNDARIES AND DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION: A CHALLENGE TO DECENTRALIZATION AND DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT IN GHANA

Traditional institutions in Africa and their role in a decentralized administrative framework has been the subject of analysis in recent times. However, these discussions have centred largely on political power and local control of resources, to the neglect of the challenges of local government boundary setting and its consequences for local development. Therefore, in countries implementing decentralization with existing strong chiefdoms and traditional areas of jurisdictions, such as Ghana, little consideration has been given to the effects of local government boundaries on community cohesiveness and local development. This article examines the challenges of decentralization in Ghana with particular focus on district administrative boundaries. It argues that the non-coincidence of the 'traditional' ethnic boundaries, namely Traditional Areas, and the 'formal' district administrative boundaries of some districts as well as the absence of an integrative system of traditional and modern governance present a challenge to local and district development under the present decentralization process. The article concludes that district boundary setting should be a process of 'negotiated contract' between the state and communities of which the boundary is meant to create a local government territorial area of jurisdiction. This process entails that the criteria for boundary setting take into account both cultural and economic factors.     

TOWARDS A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF PLACE ATTRACTIVENESS: A MIGRATION PERSPECTIVE

The attractiveness of places is currently gaining a high policy salience in policymakers' efforts to draw mobile capital. Yet, while there are a growing number of empirical studies considering the migration of people and the attractiveness of places, there is an acute lack of conceptual understanding of the phenomena that hamper discussions between researchers and policymakers. This article suggests a conceptual framework whereby place attractiveness can be better understood from a migration perspective. The empirical material for this article mainly draws upon interviews that were carried out with migrants who seem to have considered at least one alternative in their search for a suitable destination. The conceptual framework, which comprises the main result of the article, illustrates that needs, demands and preferences are central and empirically identifiable components for properly appreciating place attractiveness in a migration context. It is argued that the attractiveness of places increases with the successive fulfilment of these factors; but on the other hand, the more factors a migrant seeks to fulfil in his or her destination selection, the fewer the choice possibilities. The article moreover shows how a life-course perspective needs to be integrated in such analyses since not only do migrants' needs, demands and preferences depend upon their current life-course phase situation, their resources and constraints are also likely to correlate with the life-course. The conceptual framework can be used to ease understanding between researchers and policymakers in issues related to place attractiveness and the migration of relatively affluent migrants with choice opportunities.     

DIGITAL COMMUNICATION, TRANSPORTATION AND URBAN STRUCTURATION IN STUDENTS' DAILY LIFE

This article explores how the use of digital communication in distributed education influences urban students' daily life movements and communication patterns. From this point the article also discusses how the structuration of urban life interplays with the socio-spatial organization of a given city. Time-geography is used as an analytical frame for analysing the time-space of the students, wherein the intersection between the social, technical, and spatial organization of the city is the main focus of interest. The discussion shows how the use of the Internet enabled the students to sustain the basic spatial organization of their life while attending higher education. At the same time, the meaning of places in their daily life was changed through the use of the Internet, especially with respect to the students' homes. It is argued that the use of communication technology contributes to the reproduction of the socio-spatial organization of the city.     

WINTER RELIGIOUS CONVENTION IN THE TSURPU MONASTERY

Forty kilometers to the west along the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, after setting off from Lhasa, there is a bridge crossing over the Todlung River. This is Lungpa Sangpa （Tibetan, meaning the hometown bridge）. Passing over the bridge and walking further into the mountain valley, you can reach the Gurong mountain area. On walking further, you will find a splendid ancient monastery standing on the green mountainside. This is the well-known Tsurpu Monastery situated beneath the snow-covered highlands.     

The Norman's Bay Shipwreck,East Sussex,UK: a possible 17th‐century Dutch ship from the Battle of Beachy Head

This report explores a hypothesis that the Norman's Bay shipwreck is the Wapen van Utrecht, a 64‐gun Dutch ship lost during the Battle of Beachy Head in 1690. The shipwreck, found off the Sussex coast, was designated by the Protection of Wrecks Act (1973) in 2006, when it was speculated that the wreck was the English 70‐gun ship Resolution, lost in the Great Storm of 1703. Dendrochronology dates the vessel after the middle of the 17th century AD, however, with timbers from Germany or the Low Countries. Initiatives by the Nautical Archaeology Society to bring the protected wreck to a wide public are also discussed.