Cattle Slaughter Industry in Qing China: State Ban,Muslim Dominance,and the Western Diet

Cattle slaughter and beef consumption are barely mentioned in the literature on Chinese economic, food, or animal history. This is possibly due to the widely held popular and scholarly assumption that beef was avoided and even considered taboo in the daily diet of Chinese people in premodern times. This article investigates the tangible regulation and practice of cattle slaughter in Qing China—the period when the beef taboo was argued to be formally subsumed into Chinese morality. I ask the following questions: To what extent did the Qing state ban cattle slaughter? How was the ban enforced in the localities? Did Chinese people slaughter cattle for consumption? Were there lawful beef markets in Qing China proper? How did increasing beef-eating Western sojourners since the mid-19th century impact this sector? Accordingly, I demonstrate that with the leeway provided by the state, the cattle slaughter industry developed in many regions of China proper, especially large cities. In this sector, Chinese Muslim merchants played a dominant role, even though the Han merchants could outnumber them. Their efforts have prepared the state and Chinese merchants to better cope with new circumstances since the mid-19th century. Broadly, this paper sheds light on how different religious, ethnic, and national groups affected the economy and the practice of law in the Qing dynasty.     

从世界历史的演进解读中共抗战史的发生——由“李顿调查团”档案文献说起

14年抗战,九一八事变是毫无疑义的起点。在这历史的起点,中共是当事各方都没有忽视的重要存在。实际上,当时日本利用一切机会强调中国共产党这一因素在东北问题复杂性中的地位。当国际联盟(League of Nations)派员到东北实地考察时,日方以当地“土匪”有受共产党“策动之虞”,配置装甲车,作为国联专列的“先导”,①以作微妙的提醒。     

邢台市馆藏宋金时期陶瓷枕选介

上世纪以来,邢台市各级文物部门通过发掘、征集等方式入藏了一批宋金时期的陶瓷枕。这些陶瓷枕造型有椭圆形、如意形、银锭形、扇形等,釉彩有素白釉、白釉黑彩、绿釉、三彩釉等,装饰技法有印花、划花、贴塑等,具有较高的历史和艺术价值。     

"承上制下"与"从左转右":北宋物资转输区域的互动——以东南地区为中心

北宋时期,朝廷在淮南地区运河沿岸州军设置转般仓,这些州军具有了转般粮食物资进京的功能;又先后置发运司于真州和泗州,使其开始具有总管东南漕运事务的职能;盐利也集中于此,同时亦掌控着地方物资的上供经费.其他物资转输区域则经常出现改变转运方式的情形,中转区域改变了起始区域输出物资的运输方式,减轻了部分运输成本.起始区域在加重中转区域负担的同时,亦对中转区域的经济繁荣有促进作用.     

Micro-CT-assisted determination of the shattering and non-shattering phenotypes of charred rice spikelet bases from archaeological sites: a new methodological approach

The selection of a non-shattering phenotype is a pivotal change in the process of rice domestication. However, current research is heavily restricted by the preservation conditions of macro-plant remains in early and middle Neolithic sites, as very limited well-preserved rice spikelet bases could be retrieved. We present a non-destructive method based on micro-computed tomographic (CT) scanning, which could provide detailed visualization of the internal structures of charred spikelet bases and efficiently discriminate the shattering and non-shattering phenotypes of rice spikelet bases according to the abundance of fusiform echinate phytoliths. It could be widely applied in different contexts, especially those poorly preserved specimens and tempers in pottery sherds, greatly improving our knowledge of rice domestication.     

Information transparency,monitoring, and incentives under decentralization: Evidence from China's fiscal reform of “province managing county”

Monitoring is deemed crucial for the incentivization of a decentralized organization, but its function relies on information transparency between the central authority and the delegated individuals. We test this hypothesis by considering changes in the fiscal behavior of Chinese county governments following an exogenous fiscal reform in 2004/2005 that removed information obstacles between provinces and counties. Employing data on 590 Chinese counties from 2000 to 2009, we find that counties in the reform provinces adopt a more proactive fiscal policy after the reform, suggesting that they become more incentivized in the political competition for economic growth. Such effects are stronger in counties with fewer competing peers and counties with either high or low ranks in the records of economic growth among peers. The increase in counties' productive spending leads to higher economic growth in later years.     

西安城墙东门箭楼砖坯墙体风化因素研究报告

论述了西安城墙东门箭楼的文化背景,实地考察了风化外状,并对风化外状进行了分类测试。通过对砖坯墙体材料进行化学全分析、X－射线衍射分析、吸水率测定（含他和系数）、冻融实验、泛霜实验、环境污染与水文气象监测资料的分析,研究了东门箭楼砖坯墙体不同风化外状的风化因素,同时对现代修缮用砖的理化性能及质量进行了评估。结果表明,温度的交替变化、水的冻结与融化使得砖坯裂解成碎块;干湿引起可溶盐的结晶与潮解以及自然界中的雨水、地面水或地下水、污染气体等通过溶解、水化、水解、碳酸化、氧化等方式,使得砖坯墙体表面酥碱粉化。同时说明研究适用于古建筑修缮使用的抗风化仿古青砖是当务之急。     

A Gravity Model with Variable Coefficients: The EEC Trade with Third Countries

Gravity models with fixed coefficients have been used to explain the trade flows between countries different in income levels and separated by long distances. It is unrealistic to assume that these models can hold with the same parameters across very heterogeneous countries. This paper proposes and estimates an international trade model with variable coefficients constructed by combining Pöy-hönen's and Linnemann's gravity-based trade models via the expansion method.     

汉代漆器的剖析

通过制备并分析一系列模拟漆膜样品。建立了有助于鉴定汉代漆器成分的剖析方法。经裂解气相色谱、差热分析、色谱一红外联用等现代分析技术对出土的汉代漆器残片样品的综合分析,证实在西汉漆器制造中已使用桐油或其它的添加剂,并依据剖析的结果,对某些汉代漆器的原材料差异作了初步探讨。     

Locating Vehicle Inspection Stations to Protect a Transportation Network

We develop a new conceptual approach to locating inspection stations for hazardous vehicles, prevention, and compare it to the previous, punitive, philosophy of the flow-capturing location model. We implement this preventive protection philosophy with a new mixed integer program that maximizes hazard avoidance by locating a number of inspection stations to detect and remove hazardous vehicles as early in their trips as possible. We test the model's performance and analyze the spatial characteristics of solutions simulating several potential applications. Our computations demonstrate that a relaxed integer-linear program is overly demanding computationally and that a simple greedy heuristic lacks robustness. We suggest further approaches to developing more powerful and efficient solution methods.