Secular Regime Shifts,Global Warming and Sydney's Water Supply

Sydney's water crisis has been attributed to long-term drought, a population growing at >50 000 a year, the early impacts of global warming and the demands of a 4.2 million population leading a water-thirsty lifestyle. In this paper the drought is linked with a return to a drought-dominated flow regime in eastern New South Wales. This began in 1991 and is associated with a shift from flood to drought domination that occurs every 20 to 50 years. Its impacts will be further exaggerated by global warming. The reduction of runoff into Sydney's reservoirs is due primarily to regime shift, resulting in the diminution of inflows to about 25% of their levels in the 42 years before 1991. Possible ways of managing these dwindling water resources include building more reservoirs, exploiting largely unknown sources of groundwater, constructing a desalination plant, harvesting rainwater in the city, recycling used urban water and reducing individual water use. Despite arguments against the first three of these options, a desalination plant is currently under construction and investigations of deep groundwater proceed (shelved 18th June, 2008). Given that sources of water are distant and located in areas where rainfall reductions have been significant, greater efforts should be made to use water already in the city (rainfall and recycled water). Water restrictions and better domestic management of water are also areas where great savings can be and have been made.     

Choice Flowers and Well-Ordered Tables: Struggling Over Gender in a Nineteenth-Century Household

Historical archaeologists have generally considered households as isolated,bounded entities, and not as sets of social relations. Consequently, the household has gone unrecognized as an arena of struggle. Analysis of documents associated with the household of nineteenth-century reformer Gerrit Smith challenges this approach. At his Peterboro, New York estate, a struggle ensued between family members because of conflicting ideologies of self-presentation, and between worker and employer on account of the period's shifting gender ideology. In order to access the meanings of objects excavated, the material remains associated with the Smith household must be considered in light of these struggles.     

辛亥革命与禁烟运动

清末禁烟新政虽然卓有成效,但却无法挽救清王朝的覆亡命运,反而加速了辛亥革命的爆发。辛亥革命使中国社会天翻地覆,自然也影响到了正在进行的禁烟运动。辛亥革命初期．由于政局动荡,禁烟运动受到了阻碍;而革命政权一旦稳固,中央及各地革命政府便立即将禁烟提上日程,雷厉风行。采取各种有效措施,进一步推动了禁烟运动的发展。袁世凯窃国后,因辛亥革命的成果尚留余波,故禁烟运动仍能继续发展。而辛亥革命的成果一旦被破坏殆尽,陷入军阀混战,则禁烟运动便沦没于无形之中。革命固然不可避免地给社会带来阵痛,但却能使整个社会得以新生,而否定革命成果,则必然为社会近代化进程带来莫大危害。民主革命与社会近代化建设之辩证关系。由此可见一斑。     

Book Reviews

Books Reviewed:
Don Mitchell, Cultural Geography: a critical introduction
Lesley Head, Cultural Landscapes and Environmental Change
F Driver and D Gilbert, Imperial cities: landscape, display and identity     

关于历史上民族归属与疆域问题的再思考──兼评“一史两用”史观

如何确定中华历史疆域的标准是中华史学一个带根本性的问题,不能人为的规定一种标准,把复杂的历史疆域问题简单化。应把问题提到一定的历史范围之内,对具体问题进行具体分析。政治──文化中心有层次之分,一个政权（包括民族地方政权）的政治中心转移,应对其转移的疆域归属作出正确判断。所谓“一支两用”史观正是因错误判断民族归属与历史疆域而产生的错误观点。     

新中国农村五保供养制度的变迁

五保对象是农村困难群体中最缺乏生存能力、最需要帮助照顾的弱势群体,为他们提供五保供养是有中国特色的农村社会保障体系的重要组成部分。50年来,在我国工业化、市场化和现代化进程中,农村五保供养制度大致历经了三次模式的更替：1956～1978年主要依靠集体公益金运行,是由生产队或生产大队组织实施的集体供养模式;1979～2001年是以村提留和乡纹筹为其经费和实物来源的集体供养模式;2002年以来以国家财政供养为主,集体保障、土地保障和社会帮扶为辅的现代社会保障模式。这三次模式的转变,既是我国五保供养工作进一步制度化、规范化和法制化与五保对象供养水平逐步提升的过程,也是五保供养从村民互助自养式的供养模式转变为由政府公共财政负担的财政供养模式的过程,又是探索建立农村现代社会保障制度的过程。     

黄宗智中国小农“三幅面孔”统一体说的误区

中国农民包括小农、大农、雇农三大类.黄宗智的中国小农"三幅面孔"统一体说,事实上是个随意拼凑的"创见".经营式农场主、雇农都不在小农范畴,"三幅面孔"只能和富农、自耕农、佃农相关.经营式农场主和雇农二者所构成的一种生产方式,根本就不能用来反映中国小农经济的内部结构以及受其影响小农经济所表现出来的某种状态.中国小农"三幅面孔"统一体说提出的目的,在很大程度上是为了把经营式农场主、富农、自耕农、佃农、雇农都被包含在小农范畴.由于和农业商品化联系最密切的是经营式农场主-雇农生产方式,所以考察农业商品化、世界经济、帝国主义等对中国小农经济的影响,就需要把经营式农场作为主要研究对象.     

论俄国农村公社与农民的兵役义务

18世纪初,俄国确立等级义务兵役制,农民的兵役义务由此产生。兵役虽属国家义务,但国家并不直接从事征兵活动,而是由农村公社来实施。村社在选派新兵时力求遵循平均主义原则。随着农村商品经济的发展,村社内部的富裕农民开始从实体人充实军队的义务中解脱出来,这是农村社会分化的标志。兵役义务不仅是地主进行农奴制统治的重要方式,而且是农奴主和村社惩罚"不顺从"农民、"纯洁"农村社会成分、"保持社会稳定"的一种有效手段。     

The coastal evacuation of Zhangpu County in early Qing: Borders,shifting zones,and social change as seen in forts and fortified villages

Abstract

Qianhai, the early Qing order that forced people in southeast coast to evacuate the coast to a distance of ten to eighteen miles inland in order to eliminate anti-Qing activities, is an excellent topic through which to examine the formation of the border in Han local society. The development of regional studies during the past 20 years encourages us to both refine our local case studies and map the wider picture. The story of social transformation in Zhangpu County during the Ming-Qing transition provides a perfect case to discuss how the coastal evacuation policy was implemented in local society. It can also promote our understanding of multiple histories. First, the lineage story of the coastal evacuation can be described in greater detail. Even in a single county, there was no standard evacuation distance. Local officials relied on mountainous terrain and existing forts and fortified villages to form a line of defense that determined the scope of the evacuation. Second, the social landscape in the communities of the county demonstrates the rise and decline of local power structures. Many of the most influential and deep-rooted lineages were badly weakened by the time they returned home after the evacuation order was rescinded. On the basis of the ebb and flow of local elites, the Qing state began to regulate households more closely, and state power thus penetrated to the local level. The household registers of Zhangpu were established based on the specific historical context of the county, but the process shared with the rest of the southeastern coastal region a pattern whereby pacification and local Defense shaped state penetration. Even in a supposedly “traditional” Han region, the empire needed to handle the problems of the border and social complexity, just as it did in “non-Han” areas. This illustrates the process of late imperial state formation in practice.