Performing Guangzhou and Guangzhou Ren: analysing popular music in Guangzhou

The main purpose of this article is to examine the ways in which popular music in Guangzhou is implicated in the performance of places and identities, and how it is located in Guangzhou. Drawing on the qualitative methods of participant observation and interviews, this research analyses the popular music and musical performances in Guangzhou through three spatial dimensions: the place of Guangzhou, the performance venues and the human bodies. The findings of this research suggest that popular music in Guangzhou sets up the emotional communications and engenders different spaces for the participants to negotiate their embodied identities; popular music and musical performances make the connections between three spatial scales—the place of Guangzhou, the performance venues, and the human body—through its capacity of social mediation and the musical performances articulate the power relations between local residents, the local and national authorities, and the global. This research can be read as a contribution towards the wider literatures on musical performance and the exploration of doing/making place and place-based identity through popular music.     

Teaching English in South Korea: mobility norms and higher education outcomes in youth migration

In many Western contexts, travel has a long historical association with youth, young adults and coming of age, an association that often connects temporary mobility with the lives of the educated middle classes and elite. Indeed, from the colonial adventure and the ‘grand tour’, to contemporary ideas of the ‘gap year’ or ‘overseas experience’, the mobility of Western youth and young adults is often considered voluntary and based on a desire to explore places and develop positive personal attributes, marking a stark contrast to depictions of migration from the developing world as directly or indirectly forced and driven primarily by economic considerations. This paper questions this depiction of developed world mobility in the context of the changing economic conditions that face young graduates in many Western countries. Drawing on survey and interview data I focus on the profiles and biographies of young adults from English-speaking countries working as foreign language instructors in South Korea. Although the personal narrative of travel and exploration amongst these individuals remains significant, findings from this research also suggest that many of these young graduates are also driven by economic circumstances: unemployment or underemployment and high levels of debt usually associated with tertiary studies. This tension between the opportunities available to young people and the constraints imposed by their own circumstances raises important questions about the multiple layers of social and economic differentiation operating through higher education and international mobility in the lives of young people.     

Contested enclave metageographies: The offshore islands of Taiwan

The offshore islands of Taiwan (Republic of China) are dynamic examples of contested metageographies, island spaces caught in between competing and opposing interpretations of their identities, relativities, notions of sustainability and futures. Three cases – (1) population growth, land use conflict, a switch from a military to a tourism economy, and ever closer links between mainland China and Kinmen Island; (2) the rejection of a move to establish a casino economy on the Penghu archipelago; and (3) protests against the storage of spent nuclear waste on Orchid Island – are presented as illustrative of such changing topographies, themselves reflective of a transition to a more democratic and pluralist society in Taiwan. The paper hints at an evolving shift in both vertical (top/down) and horizontal (island-to-island) relations in the construction of development paths and futures for Taiwan's de facto archipelago. This re-territorialization offers a fresh, archipelagic repivoting of political geography for and beyond Taiwan.     

‘Filial son’, the family and identity formation among male migrant workers in urban China

This article is based on an ethnographic study of life histories of 28 rural–urban (internal) migrant men located within southern China. It explores their narratives with a particular focus on changing social relations within the family, from the perspective of migrant sons. It argues that traditional gender norms, such as those attached to being a ‘filial son’, are lived out, albeit reworked, among Chinese male migrant workers across generations. The men recount the role of traditional familial gender norms, which are central cultural resources in forging their ‘dislocated’ identities within specific temporal and spatial conditions. For example, being a ‘filial son’ has become an important reference point for these mobile male workers to actively negotiate their emerging masculine identities in the process of negotiating urban lives, while living away from their rural homes. The article also explores a more complex understanding of rural–urban migration in terms of critically engaging with the men's well-being as urban workers.     

民初贵州的“实业兴黔”讨论

辛亥革命后,振兴实业成为朝野各界的共同心声。贵州的知识分子也借助报刊这一传媒,对在贵州振兴实业进行了广泛而深入的讨论。贵州舆论界普遍认为,贵州落后的经济社会状况和特殊的自然条件决定了贵州必须振兴实业。振兴实业要分轻重缓急,应以农业和矿业为要务,要群策群力,有的放矢,要引进西方先进技术和经营管理模式等。这次大讨论,为贵州知识分子就实业兴黔问题深入交换意见搭建了一个平台,展现了知识分子的思想脉动、贵州情怀。但是,知识界设计的实业兴黔的路子存在着明显的缺陷。     

中国网络媒体中的移民报道框架——以新浪网为例的分析

论文从新闻传播学的角度,运用框架分析(Framing Analysis)方法,通过对新浪网2012年中国移民报道的文本分析,考察中国网络媒体中出境移民的报道框架和网络媒体是如何建构中国出境移民的形象以及如何引导公众对移民的舆论的。结论是,不少移民话题并不在新浪网的移民报道框架之内,受众在网络上所看到的是对移民的不完整表达。大众媒体的新闻报道并非对现实的镜像反映,而是根据一定的新闻立场和新闻价值标准对事实进行取舍和加工的过程,是对现实世界的"重构"。     

旧石器时代亚欧大陆高纬度地区人群的扩散及其对中国旧石器文化格局的影响

欧亚大陆高纬度地区气候与资源环境迥异于人类的起源地——热带非洲。人类需要具备更多的文化适应手段才能适应高纬度地区的生存。在旧石器时代早中期,人类向该地区的迁移扩散极为有限,而旧石器时代晚期,随着技术、社会组织等文化层面的进步,人类开始广泛向高纬度地区扩散,打破了东亚地区与欧亚大陆西侧的文化隔离屏障,对中国旧石器时代西北、东北及华北地区的文化格局产生了不同程度的影响。本文拟通过人类适应的视角,结合考古材料,分析人类向欧亚大陆高纬度地带的扩散历程及由此而引发的人类迁徙、交流对中国旧石器时代文化面貌格局产生的具体影响。     

太平洋战争爆发后伪满的金融统制

太平洋战争爆发后,中国东北地区成为日本战争经济所需的重要战略物资的供给基地。为满足日本的战争需要,伪满政权采取了一系列金融管制措施,使得日伪在中国东北地区的金融统制较此前更加严酷。本文从统一汇兑巩固“元元等价”、统制资金促进战争产业发展、强制储蓄直接剥夺劳动收入、管制利率强迫共同融资削弱金融机构经营自主权、改革《满洲中央银行法》消除央行独立性等角度全面分析太平洋战争爆发后日伪如何强化对中国东北地区的金融统制。     

Continuity and transformation: the institutions of the Beijing government, 1912–1928

The period of the Beijing government of Republican China (1912–1928) occurred after the 1911 Revolution that toppled the imperial system and before the rule of the Nanjing Nationalist government. For modern China, it was an era of frequent trial and error in implementing political systems, as well as a significant phase of institutional transition following the New Policy reforms of the late Qing. Many twists and turns during this period of historical evolution stemmed from problems of the late Qing political reform. The three major issues occurring during the 1912–1928 era, namely the legitimacy of the government, the relationship between its legislative and executive branches, and the relationship between the central government and the provinces, were all dominated by the profound influence of traditional Chinese political and cultural frameworks. All of this made the 1912–1928 era more complicated than the late Qing period, increased the difference between one stage of institutional change and another, and accelerated the change in political systems while also broadening the choices available. Therefore, we should not only focus on the complex contention among all parties, but also acquire a deeper understanding of the limits imposed upon institutional renovation by tradition and circumstances through examination of the institutional adaptations behind the chaotic partisan politics.