Sounding the Journey: The Silk Road Journey by Genjō Sanzō (602–664 CE) in Daylight,Moonlight Kitarō Live In Yakushiji

Since receiving international acclaim in the 1980s for the soundtrack of the popular NHK/CCTV documentary series The Silk Road, Kitarō has tapped into the cultural heritage of Asia. In 2001, Kitarō presented a live performance in the 1,300 year-old temple of Yakushiji in Nara, Japan, selecting works from his repertoire to pay homage to the Buddhist monk Genjō Sanzō, a significant figure in religious history who undertook an epic 16-year journey westwards along the Silk Road in the seventh century. This article investigates how Kitarō portrays that journey in the Yakushiji performance. It first examines how three cultural components used in the homage – namely, Genjō Sanzō, the Silk Road and the concept of journey – are deeply connected to Japanese cultural heritage. It then analyses the performance to reveal how these components are delivered through Kitarō’s music to portray the physical and spiritual journey of the monk. It argues that by selecting music that links to his own associations with the Silk Road, Kitarō has created a concept album that not only unifies New Age music with elements of Japanese cultural and spiritual practice, but also makes them more accessible for the increasingly secularised contemporary society.     

Soft balancing against the US ‘pivot to Asia’: China’s geostrategic rationale for establishing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

The existing accounts about the China-led multilateral development bank—the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)—have focused on the USA’s policy concerns and the economic and commercial reasons for China having established it. Two deeper questions are left unaddressed: Was there any strategic rationale for China to initiate a new multilateral development bank and, if so, how effective is China’s strategy? From a neorealist balance-of-power perspective, this article argues that China has felt threatened by the Obama administration’s rebalance to the Asia-Pacific strategy. In response, China is opting for a soft-balancing policy to carve out a regional security space in Eurasia in order to mitigate the threat coming from its east. China’s material power, premised on the fact that the country is a huge domestic market and flush with cash, has proved irresistible for Asian states, with the exception of Japan, to be enticed away from the USA. On the one hand, this article adds weight to the claim that although the USA remains the pre-eminent military power in the Asia-Pacific, it has fallen into a relative decline in regional economic governance; on the other, China’s soft balancing has its own limitations in forming like-minded partnerships with, and offering security guarantees to, AIIB members. A China-led regional order is yet to have arrived, even with the AIIB.     

发展中的甘肃博物馆事业

博物馆事业的质量和规模 ,是衡量一个国家和地区科学文化发展水平的重要标志之一。本文在对甘肃省博物馆事业的发展状况、取得的成绩、存在的问题进行分析论述的同时 ,提出了改进的意见和建议     

全球化背景下我国生态安全问题及应对措施

生态安全问题是最突出的全球性问题之一,已经成为影响国家安全及人类社会整体生存安全的大问题。我国的生态安全面临着来自国内和国际两方面的双重压力,而且生态安全恶化对我国经济社会的可持续发展带来了极大的负面影响。处理这些问题时,既要从国际环境法的角度加以考虑,又要从国内环境法的角度加以防范。     

地缘战略视角下“一带一路”倡议对中国对外直接投资的影响研究

“一带一路”倡议的提出兼具改善地缘环境和拉动对外投资的目的。然而，现有研究较少采取地缘战略视角分析“一带一路”倡议对于中国向“一带一路”沿线国家投资的影响。本文基于中国对外投资数据，通过整合政治地理学和经济地理学的相关研究成果，运用双重差分的面板回归模型考察“一带一路”倡议对中国在“一带一路”沿线国家投资的政策效应。研究发现，“一带一路”倡议提出后中国向中亚和西亚地区的投资比“一带一路”沿线其他国家增长更快，说明地缘战略对中国海外投资有重要影响；此外，中国对“一带一路”沿线国家的投资受中国与东道国经贸联系和东道国市场规模的影响，但是地理邻近性、东道国的制度环境和东道国自然资源等因素的影响不显著。本研究对于加强政治地理和经济地理的结合和制定中国对“一带一路”沿线国家投资政策等有参考意义。     

20世纪60年代中加小麦贸易对中国的重要意义

1960年中国首次从加拿大进口粮食度荒,并由此改变此前的粮食自给自足现状。中 加小麦贸易不仅可以巩固粮食安全、促进农业改革,也可使中国重返加拿大与西方市场,使外贸渠 道多样化,同时还促进了中加建交、打破美国的封锁孤立政策。     

罗马共和国时期的道路建设

罗马共和国时期的道路建设在罗马社会中占有重要地位,也是罗马国家生活中的重要内容之一。罗马道路建设的根本原因在于军事扩张的需要,政治和经济方面的考虑并不多。共和国时期的道路建设主要在意大利本土进行,并呈现出鲜明的特色。这一时期的道路建设对罗马的政治、经济和文化方面都产生了重要的影响,对它进行研究有助于我们从另一角度考察罗马社会。     

理性的追求：抗战前浙江农民经营副业管窥

中国农民千百年来的生存之道是＂安全第一＂。抗战前浙江农民以种粮为主业,收入有限而支出庞大,必须寻求副业收入加以平衡。显然副业已成为浙江农民生存的＂安全阀＂,他们根据市场的刺激和机会理性地配置副业资源来寻求最大收益,以保证安全的最大化。但随着三十年代以降影响市场景气指数的各种不利因素的叠加,副业衰落,＂安全阀＂失效,农民生活恶化,农村经济破产。     

Deterrence Theory and the Implementation of Speed Limits in the American States

Despite the ubiquitous nature of these policies, there is disagreement in the literature regarding the direction and size of the impact that speed limits have on traffic‐related fatalities. We argue in this paper that the mixed results in previous work may arise because these studies have missed an important component of the implementation of speed limit laws. More explicitly, they have failed to adequately control for the deterrent effect of enforcement and sanctions. We develop the argument that the observed impacts of speed limits will be overly large when the certainty and severity of punishment are not accounted for. We test this assertion in a cross‐sectional time series analysis of state‐level traffic fatalities from the years 1990–2006 and find that lower speeds do save a significant number of lives. Interestingly, we find that the impact is significantly overestimated for 65‐mph limits and significantly underestimated for 70‐mph limits when enforcement, penalties, and the interaction of the two are excluded. The results also suggest that fines have a rather modest impact on fatalities unless states employ a sufficient number of troopers to enforce posted limits. In addition to clarifying previous findings related to speed limit policy, therefore, the findings contribute to the general application of deterrence theory by empirically confirming that the importance of sanction severity is dependent on the perceived certainty of punishment.     

空间信息技术在茶马古道遗产保护管理中的应用初探

空间信息技术近年来在文化遗产保护领域发挥了巨大的作用,在大遗址、运河遗产、长城资源等文化遗产调查、保护和管理中得到了广泛的应用.茶马古道作为特殊的线性文化遗产,所经之处受自然环境和地理条件的影响,对其保护和调查都存在很大的难度.而空间信息技术由于其全天时、全天候、覆盖范围广、信息化程度高、不需要人亲临现场的特点,在文化资源调查和管理中发挥巨大的作用,可以适应这一特殊要求.本文通过对茶马古道在保护和规划中对空间信息技术的需求进行了分析,探讨了空间信息技术在茶马古道文化遗产资源的调查、保护、规划及管理中的应用.