Evolution of Knowledge Intensive Services in a High-tech Region: The Case of Hsinchu,Taiwan

Communication costs have reduced markedly owing to improvements in communication technology. Despite this development, face-to-face interactions facilitated by geographic agglomeration remain important in high-tech innovation activities owing to the ambiguity and uncertainty related to new knowledge. Consequently, location remains a major influence on global strategies of transnational companies, and enables global cross-border divisions of labour in high-tech industries. On the one hand, this phenomenon transforms the geographic distribution and structure in industry; on the other hand, it creates demand for strategic functions in management and organizational innovation. The emergence, introduction and operation of such functions all rely on the support of specialized service industries. During the two decades of development of the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (HSIP), the area around HSIP saw the gradual formation of a distinctive and strong network including production, incubation and research and development (R&D) activities. Within this network, knowledge intensive services provide a crucial interface between the supportive environment and technological infrastructure. This investigation analyses the interactions, geographic transformation and distribution between HSIP firms and producer services around HSIP, as well as the coordination between HSIP firms and research institutions. This investigation found that competition strongly influences the development and geographic transformation of producer services. Together with different industrial resources, they formed production networks. Such networks caused the development and geographic transformation of the Hsinchu area, and thus further influenced the growth of knowledge-intensive service businesses.     

Climate change and Zhou relocations in early Chinese history

In Chinese history, the development of the Zhou tribes and the dynasties that succeeded them between 3550 and 2200 BP in the middle reaches of the Yellow River is known as the period of ‘Five Relocations’. Most of these relocations appear to have been forced by the pressure of nomadic invasions and occupations from the northern steppe. Historians simply attributed these relocations to political and military causes. However, palaeoclimatic studies show that the Zhou tribes and their successor dynasties developed at the demise of the Holocene Climatic Optimum when regional climate became highly variable and unstable. An integrated analysis of environmental change over the Loess Plateau and the Mongolian steppe facilitates a credible understanding of the linkage between climatic events and these relocations. It indicates that the relocations caused an expansion or contraction of the settled regions over the drought-prone semi-arid lands. During climatic amelioration, dry farming societies pushed upward to the Loess Plateau where increased precipitation and soil moisture allowed cereals to be cultivated. When hit by droughts and the associated disasters, both the dry farming societies and the nomadic tribes had to move southward to find an environment suitable for their food production. Migration and relocation were, therefore, basic strategies to secure the resources necessary to sustain an agricultural economy. The settled frontier was pulled back as dry farming societies from the upland plateau retreated to the lowland riverbanks of the Guanzhong Basin. Even though there were political and military intentions, climatic events played an essential role in the relocations of the Zhou tribes and the successive dynasties.     

虢国墓地出土的周代圆雕玉器

位于河南省西部的三门峡,其建城历史可以追溯到西周时期,有明确历史记载的如杜预在注释《左传》僖公五年“晋侯围上阳”载：“上阳,虢国者,在弘农陕县东南。”还有学者在《晋大康地道记》载：“扶风郡雍,西虢地也。平王东迁,虢叔自此为上阳,为南虢矣。”班固《汉书·地理志·弘农郡。陕县下》自注云：“陕,故虢国。有焦城,故焦国。”     

The Qing Dynasty Ministry of Justice Memorials and “The New History”

The Qing Dynasty Grand Secretariat Archives are considered to be among the four great ancient texts discovered in modern Chinese history, and the memorials from the Ministry of Justice have garnered particular attention due to their well-preserved socio-economic content(s). From the 20th century onwards the New History, with its emphasis on drawing upon the social sciences’ discussions of citizens, communities and society, came to replace the more traditional “Imperial Genealogy” style of historiography, affording us a grander view of history. Progressing forward with “the times,” the New History continued to innovate and diversify the field; in terms of Qing dynasty social historical research, it brought about constant exploration and change within the field, first having shifted from socio-economic history to social history, then moving on to life history, the investigation of the “seeds of capitalism,” class relations, lower-class society, marriage and family relations, law and justice, gender studies, daily life (“life, livelihood and environment”), and so on, continually pushing the boundaries of academic research. Yet, underlying all this change was a close relationship between the use of the Ministry of Justice Memorials and the field’s overall development. This article not only introduces several findings made by academicians in using the Ministry of Justice Memorials, but also sets out to further reveal the relationship between the New History and the memorials themselves, probing into the deeper question of broader changes in historiography and their relationship with generational shifts in intellectual thought.     

建国初期国家农贷的历史考察——以中南区为中心

国家银行业务在农村的延伸是新中国乡村借贷关系转型和现代化的标志之一。建国初期,为了活跃农村金融,促进农村经济的恢复与发展,国家大力举办了农贷。这一时期,国家农贷在规模上是逐年增加的,在发放对象上倾向照顾农村合作经济组织和广大贫困农民,在贷款利率上有逐年下降的趋势,在贷款用途上绝大部分是为了解决农民的生产困难。总体上看,国家农贷作为建国初期人民政府扶持和发展农村经济的重要措施之一,对当时农民的生产经营和农村经济的发展发挥了重要作用,但也存在一定的缺陷和不足。     

Between universal spaces and unique places: heritage in Universal Studios Singapore

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a case of Singapore's latest theme park, the Universal Studios Singapore (USS). While theme parks are commonly perceived as money-making entities providing entertainment to the masses, the study argues that heritage is an equally important dimension of a commercial theme park's development, identity and profile. As a heritage-rich environment, the USS is a tourism landscape shaped simultaneously by the forces of corporate heritage and local cultural considerations. ‘Glocalization’ – the interaction of global and local forces – offers a conceptual insight into understanding how themed environments are created and marketed as tourism destinations welcoming to all and yet distinctive to its community and locality. Caution, however, is also sounded as to whether an international attraction can or should ever be ‘too local’ at the risk of diluting its global brand name and broad-based appeal.     

魂系敦煌──新版“九十春秋敦煌五十年”选载(二)

常书鸿先生40年代只身前往敦煌 ,在极其艰难困苦的条件下 ,对敦煌莫高窟进行了卓有成效的保护 ,并开展了临摹研究等一系列工作 ,终于迎来了敦煌的解放和中华人民共和国的成立。为了事业 ,他吞下了妻离子散的苦果 ,心血沥沥 ,饱尝艰辛。他以牺牲个人幸福为代价 ,保护了祖国优秀文化遗产。全国解放初期 ,中央即决定在北京举办“敦煌艺术展览” ,周总理亲临参观指导并对他进行了亲切表彰勉励 ,中央人民政府政务院文教委员会为敦煌文物研究所颁发了时任政务院副总理的郭沫若先生亲笔书写的奖状。     

赏石文献六种题解

本文从中国古代奇石鉴赏的著述中,选取名篇要籍六种,考订其作者、内容、价值及版本诸项,为探讨赏石美学和赏石文化的学人提供求书问道之便。