The Liverpool Economy during the War of American Independence, 1775–83

Much has been written about how the American War of Independence, a key imperial event, affected the British Isles. However, within this body of work there is limited reference to Liverpool, which was arguably becoming ‘the second city of empire’. This article attempts to fill this gap in the historiography, and addresses the economic impact of the war upon this key port town. It shows that there were four overall stages to Liverpool’s foreign commerce during this period—initially trade remained broadly steady, then there was a noticeable decline, the penultimate stage marked a sluggish improvement, and finally it was not until the post-war years that a sustained recovery took hold. That said, despite these overall trends, individual markets such as the trans-Atlantic slave trade often had their own dynamics. Although privateers (private ships of war) contributed towards the town’s eventual commercial recovery, this activity was by no means the only factor in explaining this rebound. Furthermore, the American war had an impact upon other sectors of the Liverpudlian economy, including shipbuilding and infrastructure projects. Combined, this evidence suggests that eighteenth-century warfare had positive and negative repercussions for the UK economy. As a result, we learn more about being ‘at home with the empire’.     

Statecraft,Scalecraft and Urban Planning: A Comparative Study of Birmingham,UK, and Brisbane,Australia

Recent discussions on state rescaling have pointed towards the need for a greater focus on how and why state activity may change over time in order to generate insights into the provenance, trajectories and outcomes of rescaling in different global regions and national state spaces. Consequently, this paper explores the dialectical and recursive relationship between the concepts of “statecraft” and “scalecraft” to explore the evolving sites, objects and mechanisms for urban planning within two key urban centres in different parts of the world—Birmingham, UK, and Brisbane, Australia. It is illustrated how a range of actors—from the national to the local level—have sought to craft and reshape the strategies and structures for urban planning according to different imperatives. In turn, the implications for a tighter specifying of the process of state rescaling are considered, as well as the subsequent nature of urban planning arrangements.     

City branding in polycentric urban regions: identification,profiling and transformation in the Randstad and Rhine-Ruhr

In polycentric urban regions several distinct cities, none of which is dominant, cooperate and compete with each other to attract inhabitants and firms. In such settings city branding strategies do not solely affect one city, but the entire region. We examined how city branding in the face of ecological modernization, that is, delivering higher added economic value, while lowering environmental impacts, is playing out in the Dutch Randstad and the German Rhine-Ruhr. Our findings show that regional identity formation occurs at the sub-polycentric urban region level, coinciding more with (historical) economic profiles than with planning imaginaries. The Dutch cities profile themselves more along the lines of ecological modernization than their German counterparts. Differences between subregions within each polycentric urban region are also noticeable, where more industrialized regions, such as the Ruhr or southern Randstad focus on ‘green’, ‘liveable’ and ‘knowledge-oriented’, while cities with stronger knowledge-intensive sectors portray themselves as ‘smart’ or ‘sustainable’. Cities generally substantiate their profiles through projects, but a significant gap persists between reality and aspirations for improved environmental conditions. This is especially true for the Dutch cities, where many claims, but little visible action can be observed.     

Canadian geopolitical culture: Climate change and sustainability

Considering recent formulations of geopolitical culture in combination with concerns that environmental change be included in contemporary geopolitical analysis, this paper examines the implicit geopolitical formulations in recent Canadian federal political discourse both in Stephen Harper's Conservative government and the subsequent Liberal administration. Contrasting earth system science ideas about global transformations with Canadian nationalist rhetoric concerning petroleum production and notions of unlimited resource extraction as parts of national identity sharply highlights the contours of Canadian identity. If sustainability is to be taken seriously, the official nationalist formulation will have to be drastically changed, but as the widespread rejection of the LEAP manifesto suggests, such ideas of a sustainable mode of globalization have yet to substantially influence Canadian political discourse, despite the rhetorical support offered to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change by the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau.     

《女界钟》:解读国民革命思想中性别意识的重要文本

中国近代历史上的第一部系统介绍女权思想的著作《女界钟》,首次比较系统地提出了女性参政的思想。《女界钟》批驳了女性不宜参政的生理差异决定论,并从女性参政权与女权、女性参政权与国民革命两个方面讨论了女性如何参政的问题。诞生于辛亥革命前的《女界钟》带有过渡时期的某些特点,亦中亦西,希图摒弃传统追求现代。     

庄一拂《古典戏曲存目汇考》再补

庄一拂先生编著的<古典戏曲存目汇考>①(以下简称<庄目>),因资料搜罗较为完备,常为治曲者称道.然以个人之力寓目曲海,终不免罅隙存焉.笔者在编撰<古代戏曲总目>、<古代戏曲总目提要>、<明代传奇要录>等著作时,曾剔出<庄目>"本事漏考"、"误标作者"、"一目多出"、"本事误注"、"漏收剧目"、"生平失考"六大类疏漏,涉及剧目百馀种,先后整理发表在<中国文化报>、<艺术百家>等报刊上②,为学界同仁所认可.今又有所获,遂笔之于后,对<庄目>再作补正.     

Google Earth软件在考古探测中的应用评析

Google Earth软件因其独特的视角、先进的性能、广泛的用途、低廉的价格决定了其在考古工作中大有作为,在探测研究历史文化遗产上将起到不可替代的重要作用。探讨Google Earth软件在考古学中运用的优缺点,以便更好地开发考古专用软件。     

敦煌地区寺院行像活动财政考

敦煌文献记载,敦煌地区寺院每年都举行盛大的行像活动."行像"亦称为"行城"和"巡城",乃指庄严佛像用宝车载之巡行城乡,以纪念悉达太子出家的一种佛事活动.就敦煌行像活动的研究,学者们已经取得了丰硕的成果.罗华庆先生在<9至11世纪敦煌的行像和浴佛活动>中对中土行像活动起源、历史演进及敦煌地区的行像活动做了考察,指出敦煌行像活动具有浓厚的政权色彩和世俗性.