Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Quick Q & A With Tom Scocca–Author Ofbeijing Welcomes You, Jeffrey Wasserstrom

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Tom Scocca’s engaging new book, Beijing Welcomes You: Unveiling the Capital City of the Future, which explores his experiences in China during its pre-Olympic and Olympic moments, has been getting enthusiastic reviews, includingone by Jonathan Yardley of the Washington Post and one that yours truly did forTime. Seeing references online to the author giving talks about his book at various East Coast venues, I decided to send a few questions his way on topics ranging from the reaction he’s getting from audiences to how he keeps up with Chinese events now that he’s based back in the US. He readily …

Dalian’S Past, Dalian’S Present, Part 2, Miriam Kingsberg

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The tens of thousands of Dalian residents who gathered this weekend to demand the relocation of a chemical plant were responding to a contemporary situation. Their protest, though, reflected a complicated relationship among the people, the state, and the environment that was inscribed in the city from the very moment of its founding.

Screening Tiananmen, Chris Berry

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Recently, I’ve been spending a lot more time in Shanghai than in Beijing. This is because of a research project comparing moving image screens—mostly Lighting-Emitting Diode (LED) screens—as part of everyday culture in public places in Cairo, Shanghai and London. (If you’re interested, you can read more about that here.) But in the meantime, I had heard about the Jumbotron screen installed in the middle of Tiananmen Square. So, when I made it back to Beijing for the first time since just before the 2008 Olympics to do a bit of teaching at the Chinese Film summer school organized by …

Reading Round-Up, 1/11/11

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

• When a football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings was canceled in late December due to heavy snow in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell was not pleased. Calling the United States “a nation of wusses,” Rendell went on to say

The Man In The Picture

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Earlier this week, we published Alice Miller’s post on what wasn’t new about Hu Jintao’s recent comments on human rights; at about the same time, Time.com posted a commentary by China Beat consulting editor Jeffrey Wasserstrom that listed other things that weren’t novel about the recent summit.

China Events In Southern California, February 8-22

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

China Beat readers living in and around the Southern California region might want to check out one or more of these events in the upcoming weeks:

Reading Round-Up: Richard Mcgregor’S The Party

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Financial Times journalist Richard McGregor is this year’s recipient of the Asia Society’s Bernard Schwartz Book Award for his 2010 investigation into Chinese leadership, The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers. If you haven’t caught up with McGregor’s book yet, here are a few links about it to whet your appetite:

Harbin’S Past, Modern Style, James Carter

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Historical preservation in China’s ever-growing cities is a challenge. Transformations to Beijing and Shanghai are best documented (for example, as evocatively narrated by Michael Meyer in his Last Days of Old Beijing), but dozens of cities, up and down the coast especially, are witnessing historically rapid change, and a rapid change to their histories.

Factories Without Smoke: Wang Jia Yi And Gao Tian Ci, Chris Cherry

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Wang Jia Yi and Gao Tian Ci, Dalian to San Li Village, Anhui Province

“How Can We Hope To Make A Living If Our Roots Are Cut?”: Track-Laying, Modernization, And People’S Livelihood In Republican Beijing, Jared Hall

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

In a post yesterday at this site, I discussed recent cleavages between the rapidly expanding Beijing Subway and segments of the public the system is meant to serve. In that post, I pointed to residents who voiced concerns about property seizures, safety lapses, and excessive noise from nearby tracks. When the subway corporation attempted to shut out community objections related to each of these issues, residents then utilized a common repertoire of protest that included petitions, visits to government offices, and public demonstrations.

Chinese Tour Groups In Europe, Chinese Tour Groups In Yunnan: Narrating A Nation In The World, Tami Blumenfield

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The first winter I stayed with a Moso (sometimes spelled Mosuo) family in southwest China, my weeks of Naru language tutoring did not help me get very far in understanding their conversations. I had trouble sorting out the names and relationships of the ten to eighteen family members who ate meals together and lived in that household. The apu (grandfather) joked to me that I, an American citizen who had been living in China, was now in the foreign country’s foreign country; no wonder I was disoriented. Their corner of Yunnan was culturally and linguistically distinct from other parts of …

China’S Water Challenges: A Quick Q & A With Environmental Historian Kenneth Pomeranz, Jeffrey Wasserstrom

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Ken Pomeranz, Kate Merkel-Hess and I had various reasons for launching this blog at the start of 2008. One thing that led us to start the venture, at a time when Kate was the only one of us with any blogging experience, was simply a sense that some of the things that we were saying to one another over lunch and in the hallways at UC Irvine might be of interest to people in other places who were working on, living in, or just curious about China. As much as the venture has developed since then (adding new contributors continually, …

Excerpt: Why Taiwan Matters: Small Island, Global Powerhouse, Shelley Rigger

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Taipei 101, the blue-green glass tower that reigned for six years as the world’s tallest building, is everywhere in Taiwan. Its image appears on advertisements, magazine covers, brochures, guidebooks, and billboards; the soaring structure itself is visible from nearly everywhere in Taipei City. As ubiquitous as Shanghai’s Oriental Pearl TV tower—and considerably more graceful—Taipei 101 has become the iconic image of contemporary Taiwan.

Soft Power With Chinese Characteristics: Promoting Creative Industries While Maintaining Political Control, Thomas Glucksmann-Smith

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

On October 15-18th 2011 during the latest Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee, China’s leaders discussed ways to make China a ‘culturally strong nation’ (文化强国) and defined strategies to enhance China’s international soft power. This meeting coincided with tax evasion charges laid against China’s world renowned artist Ai Weiwei—charges he now plans to challenge.

Ai Weiwei, recently described by Art Review as the ‘world’s most powerful artist’ would, in any other nation, be regarded as a perfect diplomat for his country’s cultural industries. But, for China’s CCP leaders Mr Ai’s political activism and provocative behaviour has gone too …

Chinese Parents’ Perspectives On Adolescent Sexuality Education, Wenli Liu, Kali S. Van Campen, Carolyn P. Edwards, Stephen T. Russell

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

There is growing interest in China to understand how young people learn about sexuality, but there are few existing studies about the role of parents as sex educators of their children. This study surveyed 694 Chinese parents of adolescents in three cities about their knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding sexuality education for their children. The majority supported sexuality education, yet few parents had provided it. High-income parents had more favorable sexual attitudes and, in turn, were more likely to educate children about sexuality. The findings provide insight into parents’ role in adolescents’ sexual behavior and can be useful to sexuality …

Infectious Diseases In Yellowstone’S Canid Community, Emily S. Almberg, Paul C. Cross, L. David Mech, Doug W. Smith, Jennifer W. Sheldon, Robert L. Crabtree

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Each summer Yellowstone Wolf Project staff visit den sites to monitor the success of wolf reproduction and pup rearing behavior. For the purposes of wolf monitoring, Yellowstone National Park (YNP) is divided into two study areas, the northern range and the interior, each distinguished by their ecological and physiographical differences. The 1,000 square kilometer northern range, characterized by lower elevations (1,500–2,200 m), serves as prime winter habitat for ungulates and supports a higher density of wolves than the interior (20–99 wolves/1,000 km² versus 2–11 wolves/1,000 km²). The interior of the park encompasses 7,991 square kilometers, is higher …

Evaluating The Success Of Market-Based Incentives Against Child Labor: The Case Of The Harkin- Engel Protocol And Goodweave, Emily Lafferrandre

Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking: 3rd (2011)

Heralded as a success of the anti-slavery movement, the recent phenomena of market-based incentives, appeals to the consumer for direct action in combating human trafficking and child labor. One of the most successful examples of this is Rugmark, a transnational non-profit utilizing the social labeling model to promote fair labor practices in the production of Indian carpets. The organization attempts to extirpate child labor in India’s carpet belt region of Mirzapur and Bhadohi through strategic marketing, labeling of licensed carpets and enforcement of fair labor practices. Utilizing this case study, the research will scrutinize and objectively measure the level of …

Annual Review Of The World Pheasant Association, 2010/2011, World Pheasant Association

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Reports and Other Materials

Overview

Chairman of Trustees' report,Tim Lovel

Treasurer's Report for the year ended April 30, 2011, Jon Riley

Pursuing our charitable objectives,Philip J. K. McGowan

The IUCN-SSC/WPA Galliformes Specialist Group: A global network of technical excellence,Pater J. Garson and Ilse Storch

Captive Management

Tragopan DNA research, Ludo Pinceel

Monitoring the captive population of Salvadori's pheasant, Frédéric Verstappen

Identifying hybrid green peafowl, Jonathan Barton

Highlights from the European Conservation Breeding Group, Keith Chalmers-Watson and Heiner Jackson

Making the Most of Resources: Capacity Building

A flourishing network, Philip J. K. McGowan

Training and capacity-building for surveying Himalayan Galliformes in Pakistan, David Lee

WPA's …

Excitatory Conditioning To The Interoceptive Nicotine Stimulus Blocks Subsequent Conditioning To An Exteroceptive Light Stimulus., Jennifer E. Murray, Rick A. Bevins

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Previous research has shown that a nicotine conditional stimulus (CS) can compete with (i.e., overshadow) a brief light CS. Another form of competition, blocking, has not yet been examined with the nicotine CS. Groups of rats were assigned to an element training condition. For the N+ group, during each daily 2-hr element training session, there were ten intravenous nicotine infusions (0.03 mg/kg) followed 30-sec later with 4-s access to sucrose. In the N- group, nicotine and sucrose presentations were explicitly unpaired. The chamber alone group (C alone) had no stimulus presentations. Element training was followed by compound training in all …

Public Engagement For Informing Science And Technology Policy: What Do We Know, What Do We Need To Know, And How Will We Get There?, Lisa M. Pytlik Zillig, Alan J. Tomkins

Alan Tomkins Publications

This article examines social science relevant to public engagements and identifies the challenges to the goal of meaningful public input into science and technology policy. Specifically, when considering “which forms, features, and conditions of public engagement are optimal for what purposes, and why?” we find social science has not clarified matters. We offer a model to guide systematic research that defines and empirically connects variations in features and types of public engagement activities to specifically defined variations in effective processes and outcomes. The specification of models, as we have done, will guide policy makers, practitioners, and the public in determining …

Animal Welfare: Perceptions Of Nonmetropolitan Nebraskans: 2011 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley Lubben, Connie Reimers-Hild

Nebraska Rural Poll

Almost all rural Nebraskans recognize the importance of livestock and poultry production to the state’s economy and most rural Nebraskans are familiar with livestock care practices. In fact, many rural Nebraskans have experience raising beef cattle, poultry and swine. They have less experience with dairy production.

Most rural Nebraskans believe animal welfare means providing adequate exercise, space and social activities for the animals in addition to food, water and shelter. However, the vast majority of rural Nebraskans agree that animal welfare means at least providing adequate food, water and shelter to livestock animals.

Most rural Nebraskans trust livestock farmers and …

Quality Of Life In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: 2011 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley D. Lubben, Connie Reimers-Hild

Nebraska Rural Poll

Most rural Nebraskans are positive about their current situation. And, they continue to be generally positive about their future situation. Over one-half (52%) of rural Nebraskans think they are better off than they were five years ago and just under one-half (45%) think they will be better off ten years from now.

Certain groups remain pessimistic about their situation. Persons with lower household incomes, older persons, persons with lower educational levels and persons who are divorced or separated are the groups most likely to be pessimistic about the present and the future.

When asked if they believe people are powerless …

A New Look At Quantifying Tobacco Exposure During Pregnancy Using Fuzzy Clustering, Hua Fang, Craig Johnson, Christian Stopp, Kimberly Andrews Epsy

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Background—Prenatal tobacco exposure is a risk factor for the development of externalizing behaviors and is associated with several adverse health outcomes. Because pregnancy smoking is a complex behavior with both daily fluctuations and changes over the course of pregnancy, quantifying tobacco exposure is a significant challenge. To better measure the degree of tobacco exposure, costly biological specimens and repeated self-report measures of smoking typically are collected throughout pregnancy. With such designs, there are multiple, and substantially correlated, indices that can be integrated via new statistical methods to identify patterns of prenatal exposure.

Method—A multiple-imputation-based fuzzy clustering technique was designed …

A Preliminary Investigation Of Worry Content In Sexual Minorities, Brandon J. Weiss, Debra A. Hope

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This preliminary study examined the nature of worry content of lesbians, gay men, and bisexual individuals and the relationship between worry related to sexual orientation and mental health. A community sample of 54 individuals identifying as sexual minorities was recruited from two cities in the Great Plains to complete a packet of questionaires, including a modified Worry Domains Questionnaire (WDQ; Tallis, Eysenck, & Mathews, 1992) with additional items constructed to assess worry over discrimination related to sexual orientation, and participate in a worry induction and verbalization task. The content of self-reported worries was consistent with those reported in prior investigations …

Review Of Web 2.0 And Libraries: Impacts, Technology And Trends, Dave Parkes & Geoff Walton, Eds., Marcia L. Dority Baker

Marvin and Virginia Schmid Law Library: Faculty Publications

Busy library professionals will appreciate the practical and user-friendly information in this book edited by Dave Parkas and Geoff Walton. Both are Staffordshire University (UK) librarians with experience working in and with technology of all types. The book is divided into four parts that cover specific aspects of Web 2.0 and libraries. While it focuses on academic libraries, the data and information could translate to special academic libraries and may be of interest to some public libraries. ... This book would be a useful addition for librarians interested in the details and effects of Web2.0.

Reader Responses: Celebrating Jianbing, Maura Elizabeth Cunningham

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

[Editor’s note: It seems that quite a few of our readers are as fond of jianbing as we are here at China Beat HQ. This morning’s post on the tasty breakfast dish garnered a number of responses on Twitter (revealing that not everyone is a fan, though all have strong feelings on the jianbing issue), which I’ve collected below, followed by one story sent in by a reader via email. And fellow UC Irvine graduate student Aubrey Adams directed my attention to this basic recipe for jianbing, in case I (or anyone else) wants to attempt making them at home.]

Soft Power Struggle: Ai Weiwei And The Limits Of Sino-German Cultural Cooperation, Adam Cathcart

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

As an attempt to drain the seemingly endless reserves of paranoia fed by China’s rise, the extension of Chinese “soft power” [ruan shi li 软实力] into Western Europe is one of the more interesting stories of our day. How the Chinese Communist Party uses culture and cultural exchange to shape its image in Europe varies, like any good guerrilla strategy, depending on conditions. In the performing arts, PRC-sponsored groups tour European stages, acting out a meta-drama that pits twirling autonomous-region Uighurs against the ubiquitous Falun Gong-affiliated Shen Yun ballerinas (and their army of granny pamphleteers). Embassy-sponsored photographic exhibits celebrating modernization …

Finding The Right Metaphor: Restructuring, Realigning, And Repackaging Today’S Research Libraries, Joan Giesecke

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

To change from collection-centric to user-centered research libraries and to survive in tough economic times, libraries face 2 major challenges: 1st, libraries need to change how they are viewed by their constituencies so they are seen as indispensable; and 2nd, libraries need to help the librarians and staff change their own mental models of their roles to remain relevant in these changing times. Metaphors are one way to help people connect terms in new ways so they develop new images of those terms. For more than 100 years, libraries have used metaphors to seek connections that will help people see …

Tei Texts That Play Nicely: Lessons From The Monk Project, Brian Pytlik Zillig

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Text curation, like most human endeavors, requires tools. A technique developed for the MONK Project, schema harvesting, provides a useful platform for facilitating the digital conversion and curation of text corpora. The author describes Abbot, an XSLT-based application that has had success in converting various Text Creation Partnership collections, and others, during and after MONK.

Ages And Stages: 2- And 3-Year-Olds .G2105, Leslie Crandall, Mary E. Nelson, Jacqueline M. Guzman, Ruth E. Vonderohe, Gail L. Brand, Marilyn S. Fox, Lisa M. Poppe, Ladonna Werth, Tonia Renee Durden, Rasheema Pitt

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Two- and three-year-olds are busy, independent, and eager to explore. Learn the milestones of this growth stage and how you can help them develop new and positive skills and abilities.

The life of a two- or three-year-old is exciting, busy, and very demanding. Two-year-olds have grown to be very independent, using favorite words such as “Mine,” “No,” and “I do it!” as they strive for autonomy. When caring for a two- or three-year-old, enthusiasm, patience, and a sense of humor are most important. This is a time when just exploring can look more like trouble-making to an adult. Fair rules …