Improvised Hybridity in the “Fixing” of Chinese Infrastructure Capital: The Case of Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway

The article explores the role of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the globalisation of China's infrastructure capital. Examining how accumulation strategies of Chinese SOEs are driven by a complex set of political and economic, state and private, interests, it foregrounds the inherently hybrid nature of China's state capitalism. We use Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) as a case study to analyse how state infrastructure capital traverses borders, and the specific ways that contradictions of accumulation in China are relocated through the improvised hybridity of SOEs. In Kenya, China Road and Bridge Corporation, the main SGR contractor, shifted and adapted its strategies as the pursuit of economic productivity gave way to political priorities in China, simultaneously responding to changing socio-political circumstances in Kenya and across East Africa. Analysing these dynamics, we highlight the contingencies of, and limitations to, structural reorganisation of actually existing forms of state capitalism in China and beyond.     

The Archaeometry and Archaeology of Ancient Chinese Glass: a Review

This paper provides a new review of archaeometric research carried out on glass found in China, set in an archaeological context, from its earliest occurrence to the Song dynasty. It is set within a broad geographical context taking the terrestrial and maritime Silk Road contacts into account. We discuss chemical and isotopic compositional contrasts in glasses from different periods found in different parts of China, the glasses that were almost certainly made in China and those that were imported. A theme that runs through the paper is the problem of provenancing glass found in China, along with a lack of evidence for primary glass‐making sites and minimal evidence for secondary glass production. We discuss the glass artefacts that are of typical Chinese types and contrast these with imports; the structure reflects this contrast. We discuss potential new scientific and archaeological approaches to Chinese glass.     

普洱茶与滇藏间茶马古道的兴盛

云南、西藏两地间交易茶叶、马匹等商品的交通线,近代以来称为"茶马古道"。茶马古道的出现,与相关道路的形成演变、清代普洱茶的兴起及运销西藏有关。在特定的历史条件下,清朝以普洱府、顺宁府为主要产地经营的大叶种茶,种植、生产获得迅速发展,同时运销西藏等地,西藏的骡马也赶到云南销售,"茶马古道"由此形成并趋兴盛。     

Safe spaces of refuge,shelter and contact: introduction

State and societal responses to a diverse range of abuses, injustices and exclusions often take the form of providing designated spaces of temporary shelter from the hostility. This introduction to the themed section on Safe Spaces of refuge, shelter and contact outlines the five contributions on such gendered spaces in Australia, Cambodia, England, India and USA. Across the varying rationales and regimes of refuge, shelter and contact, three key themes emerge: the boundary work necessary to carve out safe spaces in a hostile world, the practices within designated safe spaces, and what is achieved in terms of safety and autonomy from gender-based violence.     

一批流散海外的吐蕃文物的初步考察

吐蕃文物曾通过不同途径流散于海外,主要包括金银器与织锦。从中反映出吐蕃作为七世纪以来兴起于青藏高原的强大政治集团与唐、粟特、萨珊波斯等都有着密切的文化联系,并已形成具有自身特色的金银器制作风格;以对兽纹为主题的织锦是吐蕃人最为喜好的"番锦"之一,有可能为粟特锦,也有可能为包含粟特锦、波斯锦等中亚风格在内的"胡锦"。吐蕃银器上的纹饰更是多见于吐善时期的装饰性图案当中,并且影响到以后的藏族艺术。     

Queers in the American City: Transgendered perceptions of urban space

This paper explores the complex relationship between transgendered people and cities in the USA, and, in particular, their relationship with queer spaces within those cities. Some have argued that queer spaces occur at the margins of society and constitute a safe haven for LGBT oppressed by the hetero-normative nature of urban areas. Data from a survey of 149 transgendered individuals indicate that although queer spaces provide a measure of protection for gender variant people, the gendered nature of these spaces results in continued high levels of harassment and violence for this population. The author argues that the strongly gendered dimensions of these spaces suggests that a discursive re-visioning of gender is needed to create more transgender friendly urban spaces.     

丝路开通之初帕提亚帝国境内的东西交通路线

丝绸之路的具体路径是学界在中外交流领域长期关注的焦点.张骞凿空之时,正是帕提亚帝国疆域大扩张时期,从两河流域到中亚的道路基本在其控制之下.从西到东,帕提亚帝国的领土可分为三大区域:亚述一巴比伦尼亚地区、伊朗高原上的波斯腹地以及赫卡尼亚以东的不稳定控制地域.自亚历山大东征至四大帝国并立时的1-2世纪,帕提亚帝国境内的东西...     

Exposure to Cadmium and Lead in an Agropastoral Iron Age Population

Metals present in the environment (soil, water and atmosphere) can affect food safety and human health through bio‐accumulation and bio‐magnification phenomena. Human exposure to the metals may take place through the environment and by ingesting contaminated food (including water), determining harmful effects usually detectable over the long term. Starting with the Industrial Revolution, local occurrence and concentration of metallic contaminants in the environment have been exponentially increasing: it has been assessed that, nowadays, daily absorption of lead, by North American people, is noticeably greater than that during prehistoric times. In this study, we measured concentrations of cadmium, lead and zinc in 153 bone samples (femurs) of Iron Age inhabitants of Central Italy (Abruzzo): the Samnites from the Alfedena Necropolis (2600–2400 bp ). The data found are in agreement with the results of similar published studies. Heavy metal concentrations varied widely among samples with the exception of zinc. A significant difference (p same Mann–Whitney test <0.05) in cadmium bone levels was found between male (0.08–1.8 mg/kg, median 0.31 mg/kg) and female samples (0.05–1.3 mg/kg, median 0.53 mg/kg). Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

唐玉门关地望新探——基于历史文献与考古遗存互证

在实地调查的基础上,根据传世典籍和出土文献的记载,结合年代测定、考古发现和遥感影像资料,通过空间分析,作者认为唐玉门关和墨离军驻地应在河西走廊西段的常乐故城,即今瓜州县“六工古城”遗址。这里是丝绸之路的交通枢纽,是西域出入口的重要关卡,亦即北魏时期新开伊吾道的起首。唐代玉门关地处疏勒河和榆林河下游洪积冲积扇缘的古绿洲,地貌和水资源等地理环境因素是制约关城选址的基础条件,而政治、军事等人文地理因素则是决定玉门关时空变迁的关键。     

成都光华村街唐墓出土琥珀的红外分析

我国古代先民很早就意识到琥珀的装饰和药用价值,汉代开始从西域引入琥珀,唐代时琥珀已比较常见。我国古代琥珀多为进口琥珀,琥珀产地分析可以反映中外文化交流情况。国内仅对私人琥珀藏品进行过分析,考古出土琥珀的科技分析尚未见报道。本研究通过红外光谱分析,判定成都光华村街低阶官员唐墓出土红色饰品为琥珀;再与若干产地的琥珀开展红外光谱对比,鉴定其产地为波罗的海地区。琥珀经过丝绸之路到达蜀地并为低阶官员所使用,足见唐代琥珀制品的盛行及当时国际贸易文化交流的盛况。