Overseas Chinese Investments in Transition: The Case of Dongguan

An economic geographer based in Hong Kong presents a study of overseas Chinese investment coming from Hong Kong and Taiwan to Dongguan, a rapidly developing manufacturing metropolis in China's Pearl River Delta, attempting to compare the transformation of these two major sources of investment during the past quarter century. Based on systematic field work and interviews at ca. 60 firms through mid-2006, the paper argues that Hong Kong and Taiwan investments have followed different transformation paths with regard to sectoral composition, investment motivations, market orientation, entry modes, and strategies in response to institutional changes. Most of the substantive differences are related to the distinctive comparative advantages of the two source regions and the specific character of their interactions with the host region. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F21, O16, R11. 4 figures, 4 tables, 60 references.     

The identification of the medieval church of St Sabas in Jerusalem in the light of new documentary evidence

ABSTRACT

For over a century the church that the Greek monks of Dayr Mar Saba are known to have possessed inside the walls of Jerusalem in the twelfth century has usually been associated with a chapel surviving inside the Disy family house opposite the police barracks south of the Citadel, while the Zāwiyyat al-Shaykh Ya?qūb (Ya?qūbiyya), on the east side of Christ Church, has been identified as having originally been built in the twelfth century, possibly by Monophysites, as a church dedicated to St James the Persian, or the ‘Cut-up’ (Intercisus). New documentary research, however, now makes it appear more likely that Mujīr al-Dīn was correct in attributing the building of the Ya?qūbiyya to the Greeks and that it was also the church referred to by pilgrims in the twelfth century as that of St Sabas. This means that the identity of the church in Dār Disy, if indeed it was a church, remains to be determined.     

Hits,Misses and Close Calls: An Image Essay on Pattern Formation in On Growth and Form

Abstract

The second edition of D’Arcy Thompson’s On Growth and Form was written only shortly before the advent of computers made it possible to develop more sophisticated mathematical models of processes of growth, morphogenesis and pattern formation in nature. It also predates the blossoming of several branches of science with the conceptual tools to investigate complex phenomena such as self-organization, nonlinear dynamics and chaos, fractal geometry and self-organization. As a result, Thompson’s aspirations sometimes fall short of his means — and occasionally he sets out on the wrong path. This image essay explores some of the instances in which Thompson surpassed his limitations or, alternatively, was constrained by them. In either circumstance, it illustrates how his themes remain areas of significant scientific activity today.     

Way Down East, ��Way Down West��: Hollywood cinema and the rise of conservatism in 1920s China

This article investigates the distribution and consumption of Way Down East (directed by D. W. Griffith, 1920) in Chinese cities in the 1920s in an attempt to explore the impact of foreign films on early Chinese filmmaking in particular and on Chinese society in general. Griffith’s Way Down East highlights a young woman’s trials and tribulations caused by male tyranny and deception. Such films by D. W. Griffith struck a chord in China in the 1920s, when the concerns of women and the loss of family values after the May Fourth movement found expression in film. The embracing of Way Down East in China, particularly among progressive intellectuals, indicates the existence of an anti-May Fourth conservatism. Chinese intellectuals were inspired by Way Down East to deny Chinese women’s subjectivity as new women who could control their own destinies; such a denial thereby rejected romantic love as a means of women’s emancipation and enlightenment. The intellectual class’s jettisoning of the rhetoric of “free love” and free marriage and re-emphasizing family values in the 1920s were conducive to the Nationalist Party’s conservative agenda to discipline individuals and Chinese society in the late 1920s and 1930s. Therefore, the “partification” of China during the Nanjing Decade (1927–37) was a direct outgrowth of a conservative consensus that followed upon May Fourth.     

周人祭天以祖配天考

周人举行郊天礼时要以祖配天而祭。周代祭天的最高祀典就是郊天礼,举行郊天礼时以始祖后稷配祭,这是周人祭天礼的常制,然亦不只是以后稷配祭。文献中还有所谓祭之礼,实为宗庙祭礼,与周人郊天配祖的制度无关。     

基于L-3D方法的云南省物流经济空间格局研究

为科学分析物流经济空间格局,基于经济地理学3D理论的密度(density)、距离(distance)和分割(division)框架,建立了物流经济空间格局的L-3D分析体系,利用地理集中度、物流经济联系强度及区位商等测度指标,分析了云南省物流经济空间格局的密度、距离及分割特征。结果表明:云南省物流经济密度的空间分异特征显著,呈现以昆明为中心的横纵扩散模式,外圈物流经济明显薄弱;物流经济空间距离呈现中心-通道发展模式,滇中城市群发展优势明显,西部边界物流经济距离较大;物流经济分割特征体现于昆明的区位商值较低,滇中城市群物流经济发展差异显著,以昆明为基准,大理及其周边地区分割严重。     

Integrated geophysical surveys at the archaeological site of Tindari (Sicily,Italy)

The results of geophysical survey carried out at the archaeological site of Tindari, located 70 km west-north-west of Messina (Sicily, Italy), are presented and discussed. The site is one of the most important archaeological sites, about 90 ha large, on the north-eastern side of Sicily and it was one of the last Greek settlements in Sicily. Keeping in mind the vastness of the site, according to the archaeologists an area, of about 1200 m² was selected, for a geophysical survey. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), including induced polarization (IP) measurements, and seismic refraction tomography were applied in the course of geophysical exploration in the area. The objective of this preliminary geophysical investigation was to verify the effectiveness of the technique for a spatial definition of the buried archaeological structures (mostly walls, columns, etc.) to determine their characteristics and to study the presence of collapsed columns within the zone of archaeological interest, in view of their application in the rest of the site, that, for obvious reasons, could not be entirely excavated in brief times. The geophysical data, visualized in 3D space, revealed a distribution of low-contrast shallow anomalies that indicate the presence of different types of buried structures in the surveyed area. Also, the probable accumulations of collapsed columns could be determined. These results confirm the hypothesis of a large northern extension of the archaeological site and provide useful information to design a more efficient excavation plan.     

民间资源保护队的缘起和历史地位

民间资源保护队是罗斯福新政期间从事资源保护工作的重要“组织”。它的成立是由一种保护自然资源的愿望和为城市失业青年提供有报酬的工作的需要所决定的;同时它也是罗斯福具有进步主义内涵和特征的社会改革和资源保护思想与实践发展的逻辑结果。民间资源保护队在美国现代历史上占有非常重要的地位,它不仅一定程度上缓解了美国当时所面临的“环境”危机和社会危机,而且扩展了资源保护运动的范围和群众基础,为战后美国的环境运动埋下了伏笔。     

Structured light scanning for high-resolution documentation of in situ archaeological finds

Archaeologists strive to document the process of excavation and discovery as completely as possible. Over the past several decades archaeologists have incorporated a growing number of computerized techniques for documenting archaeological finds. Scanning is one such technique. There are a number of technologies that now allow archaeologists to scan structures, excavation surfaces and in situ artifacts to create high-resolution, 3D data sets. We report here on a trial application of one of these, a structured-light scanner, to create 3D representations of excavated surfaces and associated artifacts at two Middle Paleolithic sites in southwest France. In each instance, surfaces of approximately 2.5 m² were scanned in approximately 1 day. The resulting data sets are very good representations of the originals in terms of colors and spatial details, and as such provided an important piece of archaeological documentation. To use this equipment successfully in the field, however, required solving a number of logistical issues, and the amount of time required to learn to use this equipment was significant. Once these issues are addressed, this technology is appropriate for documenting extraordinary, unique finds where time and costs are offset by the importance of good documentation.     

两张英藏晚清广州洪兵舆图成图时间再考——兼及舆图成图时间考证的“断限逼近法”

成图时间考证是传统舆图研究中最初步最重要的工作,本文利用“断限逼近法”重新考察两幅清代广州洪兵舆图的成图时间。通过对新发掘档案的梳理,判断将F.O.931/1079图的成图前限推至咸丰四年六月二十四日的结论尚不成立,而F.O.931/1892图的成图断限则可由原来的八月三十日至九月初五日进一步推断为九月十一日至十二日。