In Search of an Innovative State: The Development of the Biopharmaceutical Industry in Taiwan,South Korea and China

Recent developments in the biopharmaceutical industry in Taiwan, South Korea and China bear witness to the transformation of these states in nurturing an innovation‐based industry. This article argues that the segmentation of the value chain of the biopharmaceutical industry has provided industrializing countries with a window of opportunity. These East Asian states have modified their former catching‐up approaches by establishing a more effective institutional platform that can attract knowledge‐creation players to the industry. Through case studies, the authors show that the Taiwan state's promotion of the biopharmaceutical industry has been based on an incremental approach; existing state policies have been modified to cope with the demands of the industry, which has resulted in the continuation of its SME‐based industrial structure. The methods of the Korean state have been more radical, in that the policies that previously favoured the chaebols have gradually been reoriented toward the promotion of smaller, science‐based firms that now co‐exist alongside the chaebols. Finally, the Chinese state and local governments have sought to promote this innovation‐based industry by building biotech parks. This approach has resulted in a boom in new science firms, which have become increasingly isolated from the flourishing domestic SOE‐led market.     

数字时代的历史事实建构——以电子族谱编撰为例

近年在网络世界出现的帮助用查考及编撰族谱的网页,是探讨数码时代在万维网上衍生的历史叙述的建构过程,以及其有可能产生的社会和心理后果的一个例证。电子族谱在内容上虽然可以沿用既有的手钞和印刷族谱的素材,然而,电子族谱所衍生的编撰传统绝对不能视作手钞和印刷族谱的延续。相反,电子时代的族谱编撰和字时代的族谱编撰,分别见证着两种不同的社会事实建构的过程。进入数码时代,族谱的编撰很有可能从一个传统的、集体的、乡村社会的配套仪式,变成是个人的、存在于城市和网络空间的孤立的仪式。     

Economic interdependence and international interactions: the impact of country size on political conflict and cooperation

The trade–conflict model claims that one state, designated as the ‘actor’, is deterred from initiating conflict against a trading partner, designated as the ‘target’, for fear of losing the welfare gains associated with trade. This article extends the trade–conflict model to examine the effect of country size on the trade gains among countries. We derive three propositions with regard to international interactions that pertain to the links between trade, conflict and country size. These hypotheses all imply that a country with an improvement in its terms of trade with a large country will decrease conflict more than it would with an improvement in its terms of trade with a small country. A 30‐country sample from the Conflict and Peace Data Bank (COPDAB) is used for empirical tests. The empirical analyses support the derived hypotheses. The model predicts that a country's ability to influence domestic consumption in a trading partner is an important determinant of international interactions.     

Generating a voice among ‘media monsters’: hybrid media practices of Taiwan’s Anti-Media Monopoly Movement

This article assesses how social movement actors strategically use a hybrid mix of social and traditional media to organise political actions in an attempt to influence media and public agendas. Using the case study of the Anti-Media Monopoly Movement in Taiwan, it investigates how the activists’ use of social and mainstream media contributed towards their collective action and mediated visibility. We argue that the effectiveness of social media activism is augmented by the activists’ engagement in protest actions and tactics catering to news media logics. Through their hybrid media practices, the activists were able to mobilise local and overseas groups into forms of collective and connective action and amplify the impact of protests.     

清末粤商所建戏园与戏院管窥

Around the year 1891, four theatres were established in the Guangzhou Prefecture. Three were located in the provincial city of Guangzhou, and one was in the town of Foshan. For a long time, Chinese operas were, on most occasions, performed either in private gardens or in public outdoor spaces. We may presume that the rise of these theatres as an urban phenomenon in the late nineteenth century would ultimately transform the form and style of opera performance in one way or another. However, material concerning the above-mentioned theatres is too limited for us to understand their buildings, furnishings, stage and seat arrangements, lighting and sound effects, and other related aspects. It is therefore very difficult for us to explore the possible connection between the physical elements of these theatres and the style of opera performances. Fortunately, in the mid-nineteenth century, some Cantonese merchants who were active in San Francisco hired a number of opera troupes from Guangzhou to travel to San Francisco and perform in American theatres. Some years later, they even built their own theatres in China Town especially for the performance of Chinese opera. English materials describing these overseas performances and theatres allow us to have some idea of what a Chinese theatre might be like, and to speculate how these overseas experiences may have left an impact on local opera troupes back in Guangzhou.     

A Preliminary Study of the Theatres Built by Cantonese Merchants in the Late Qing*

Around the year 1891, four theatres were established in the Guangzhou Prefecture. Three were located in the provincial city of Guangzhou, and one was in the town of Foshan. For a long time, Chinese operas were, on most occasions, performed either in private gardens or in public outdoor spaces. We may presume that the rise of these theatres as an urban phenomenon in the late nineteenth century would ultimately transform the form and style of opera performance in one way or another. However, material concerning the above-mentioned theatres is too limited for us to understand their buildings, furnishings, stage and seat arrangements, lighting and sound effects, and other related aspects. It is therefore very difficult for us to explore the possible connection between the physical elements of these theatres and the style of opera performances. Fortunately, in the mid-nineteenth century, some Cantonese merchants who were active in San Francisco hired a number of opera troupes from Guangzhou to travel to San Francisco and perform in American theatres. Some years later, they even built their own theatres in China Town especially for the performance of Chinese opera. English materials describing these overseas performances and theatres allow us to have some idea of what a Chinese theatre might be like, and to speculate how these overseas experiences may have left an impact on local opera troupes back in Guangzhou.