Asian Studies Commons^™

The Challenges Of Change: Causes And Consequences Of Child Labor In China, Andrea Morley

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The government of China opened its doors to the global economy in the late 1970s, with gradually but steadily increasing competition, trade, and production. The ‘Asian Tiger’ was fueled by export-led development as the number of factories and production facilities spread rapidly across the country. This rapid economic growth exacerbated labor violations, primarily due to the increased incentives for profits and demands of production on Chinese factories. In order to be more competitive, China required a strong labor force; its citizens were thrust into the global economy.

China’S Relationship With Sudan—And Human Rights Consequences, Tessa Li Powell

Human Rights & Human Welfare

China is the largest country in the world and has a rapidly expanding economy. Its streets are starting to crowd with cars instead of bicycles and there is an increasing demand for the luxuries of developed nations. The desire to keep up with major international players has pushed the Chinese government to overlook whatever human rights abuses may be occurring inside and outside of its borders. China has taken steps to support Sudan despite its use of child soldiers and the genocide in Darfur that has been occurring for years. By criticizing and withdrawing support from President al-Bashir, China could …

A Legal System That Compromises Due Process And Promotes Organ Harvesting And Human Rights Abuse Of Prisoners: A Case Study Of China, Shivani Ramdeo

Human Rights & Human Welfare

On June 21, 1989, three men were executed in Shanghai two weeks after their arrests. The Xinhua News Agency reported that Bian Hanwu, Xu Guoming and Yan Xuerong were arrested, charged and convicted for sabotaging transportation. Upon rejection of their appeals by the Shanghai People’s High Court, they were executed. Again, Xinhua reported on January 26, 2003, the execution of Lobsang Dondrub, (who was found guilty of inciting a split in the country and illegally possessing firearms and ammunition), hours after his death sentence was approved by the Sichuan Province Higher People’s Court, despite an assurance to a US delegation …

The Past, Present, And Future Of Freedom Of Speech And Expression In The People’S Republic Of China, Liza Negriff

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The international community has been criticizing China for its human rights violations for years. However, one human rights violation has received less attention than some other rights issues both inside and outside of China: censorship and restrictions on freedom of speech and expression. This scantiness of attention is largely attributed to the fact that acquiring reliable information about censorship and freedom of expression in China is challenging.

China’S Infanticide Epidemic, Winter Wall

Human Rights & Human Welfare

China’s one-child policy, initiated to curtail China’s rapid population growth, has resulted in fundamental human rights abuses. Due to the cultural stigma of having female children, the stringent policy has led to millions of female infants being aborted, abandoned, or killed. As China struggles with population control, families are faced with the necessity of bearing male children, who are perceived as being more valuable to the family and who are often charged with the care of their elderly parents. Consequently, the elimination of female infants has created a skewed sex ratio in China’s population—the social, economic, and physical repercussions of …

2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, Allison Welch

Human Rights & Human Welfare

China’s human rights record has been the subject of intense scrutiny. Therefore, when China was chosen to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, the decision was predictably controversial. There were calls for boycotts of the opening ceremony by many international actors, such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and an assortment of political figures. Institutions such as the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom argued that boycotting the games would bring critical attention to China’s troubled human rights record, which would ultimately provoke Beijing to alter its controversial policies. Others argued that boycotting the games would only serve to intensify …

Corporate Tax, Capital Structure, And The Accessibility Of Bank Loans: Evidence From China, Liansheng Wu, Heng Yue

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In this paper, we investigate whether listed firms in China adjust their capital structure in response to an increase in the corporate taxrate. Although theories of capital structure suggest that corporate tax is an important determinant of capital structure, how exogenouschanges of the tax rate affect firms’ leverage decisions has not been fully explored. We examine a unique circumstance in which the Chinesegovernment increased the corporate tax rate of firms that had previously received local government tax rebates. The evidence indicatesthat these firms increased their leverage when the corporate tax rate increased. Further investigation suggests that the adjustment ofleverage was …

Making Sustainable Creative/Cultural Space In Shanghai And Singapore, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Shanghai and Singapore are two economically vibrant Asian cities that have recently adopted creative/cultural economy strategies. In this article I examine new spatial expressions of cultural and economic interests in the two cities: state-vaunted cultural edifices and organically evolved cultural spaces. I discuss the simultaneous precariousness and sustainability of these spaces, focusing on Shanghai's Grand Theatre and Moganshan Lu and on Singapore's Esplanade-Theatres by the Bay and Wessex Estate. Their cultural sustainability is understood as their ability to support the development of indigenous content and local idioms in artistic work. Their social sustainability is examined in terms of the social …

Beware Of Radical Change: China’S Agrarian Revolution, John A. Donaldson, Forrest Q. Zhang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

The Rise Of Agrarian Capitalism With Chinese Characteristics: Agricultural Modernization, Agribusiness And Collective Land Rights, Qian Forrest Zhang, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The article discusses the agricultural transformation taking place in the rural areas of China. Details about the Chinese laws regarding rural reform and the effect they have had on rural Chinese farmers and families are included. The authors examine the expansion of agrarian capitalism in China and describe the rise of agribusiness in rural Chinese areas. The practices of Chinese agribusinesses and the Chinese land rights laws are explored. The relationships between individual farmers and agribusinesses is also examined.

Gregory Veeck, Margaret Von Steinen

International Faculty Researchers

Dr. Gregory Veeck, professor of geography, has completed extensive international research specializing in economic geography, agriculture, rural development and rural environmental/ecological issues in the United States, China, Japan, and Korea. Veeck has been conducting field research for 29 years.

Gregory Veeck's website

From Brothers To Partners: The Evolution Of China's Foreign Policy To The Middle East (1949-2008), Shuang Wen

Archived Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the evolution of the People's Republic of China's (PRC) foreign policy to the Middle East from 1949 to 2008. Using a historical analysis approach, it argues that in the past fifty nine years, the policy has changed from ideology orientated to economic oriented, from idealistic to pragmatic, and from reactive to pro-active. The reasons behind these changes are mainly due to the changing situations within and without the PRC. It concludes that in the near future, the PRC may not confront the US's policy in the region, but instead will actively engage with Middle East countries with …

Beijing's Olympics: Pride, Appearance And Human Rights, Thomas Beal

Human Rights & Human Welfare

One lazy summer evening in Beijing, about fifteen years ago, my wife and I were strolling down Jianguomenwai, the bustling street adjacent to our flat in the Qijiayuan Diplomatic Compound. The day had been sweltering, and as the sun began to set the sidewalks filled with pedestrians who, like us, had escaped their stuffy apartments to take in a cool, soothing breeze.

Sport And Politics, Christine Bell

Human Rights & Human Welfare

I found the reflection interesting, but unsurprising. Protestors use the Olympic spotlight (or should we say torch?) to shine on China’s flaws, and China tries to re-direct or extinguish its beams.

May Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

"China's Olympic Delusion" by Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom. Nation. March 19, 2008.

Seductions Of Imperialism: Incapacitating Life, Fetishizing Death And Catastrophizing Ecologies, Anna M. Agathangelou

Human Rights & Human Welfare

“China’s Olympic Delusion” is a great piece which gestures to the ironies and/or contradictions of political systems in bed with imperialist-capitalism as we know it at this time: the tensions between a dominant idea that liberal democracy is the best political system to pay attention to and address human rights, and capitalism with no limits, can go hand-in-hand. This is merely the delusion, and also the fantasy, that keeps “us” (i.e., citizens, intellectuals etc) put, and from thinking critically.

On Changes In Rural China: The Rise Of Agrarian Capitalism And Dissolution Of The Peasantry In Contemporary China, Forrest Zhang, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

For decades, Mr. Hong and his family have toiled the ground of Dounan Village, an area of Yunnan Province that became well-known throughout China for the quality of its fresh vegetables. While Hong and his neighbors have, since the early 1980s, concentrated on the small plot of land that the state allocated to them, in recent years, Dounan village has begun producing vegetables in large enough scale to market to distant, wealthy coastal areas, bringing new-found prosperity to the area. After gaining experience producing vegetables both on the plot that the government allocated to his family, and on his neighbors’ …

Japan's Missile Defense, Norifumi Namatame

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For some years, Japan has pursued its own missile defense system in cooperation with the United States. The Japanese government claims that the missile defense (JMD) program is purely defensive and will not pose a threat to other countries. JMD may seem justified by North Korea's development of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. However, neighboring states regarded it as a sign of military ambition and revival of Japan's prewar militarism. The development and deployment of JMD could have grave implications for regional and global security. This dissertation focuses on these implications, domestic and international political considerations and the future direction …

The Dark Side Of Labor In China, Karine Lepillez

Human Rights & Human Welfare

With a population of 1.3 billion and a gross domestic product growing at an impressive rate of 10 percent per year, China has quickly become one of the largest contributors to the global market. Deng Xiaoping’s reforms of the late 1970s and early 1980s vastly improved the country’s standard of living and made economic development possible; unfortunately, China’s remarkable growth has a dark side: the forced labor of men, women and children. The country’s unique combination of Communist ideology and decentralized economic power has contributed to the use of both state-sanctioned and unsanctioned forced labor, the latter of which is …

Sino-American Relations In The 21st Century: The Political, Social And Economic Realities Of China's Rise, Larry Buster Stewart

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This paper examines the political, social and economic realities of Chinas rise in an effort to better understand the potential evolution of Sino-American relations. Engagement reasons a prosperous China will become democratic and socially pluralistic, but by observing the development of freedom and rule of law in China and comparing their relationship with economic growth, trade and investment, this analysis challenges the idea that China will have to democratize to meet the pressures of globalization. Economic growth has legitimatized the authoritarian regime in China, freedom is not related to decisions of trade and investment, and the Chinese people have not …

Advocating At The Margins: Women’S Ngos In China, Ling U

Honors Theses

The development of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in China has been unprecedented in the past fifteen years. The 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women (FWCW) and parallel NGO Forum in Beijing, China, opened the door for the first time for the establishment of women’s NGOs in China. This paper examines the development of Chinese women’s NGOs with a particular focus on two organizations in Beijing for marginalized female populations: one focusing on lesbians and the other helping women with HIV/AIDS. I examine the structure and growth of each NGO; however, on a more personal level and perhaps more importantly, I use …

Technology Strategy And China's Technology Capacity Building, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

China has the potential to become a major source of innovation for the world. The scientific investment is in place and rapidly growing. But in order to reap the benefits of this investment its organisations will have to become better at managing innovation. One of the key elements of innovation management is the determination and implementation of a sound technology strategy. The purpose of this paper is to offer a framework and a detailed overview of what it entails to develop and implement a technology strategy. The paper emphasizes the alignment of the strategy with the organisational competencies and the …

The Building Of The Shenyang Jianzhu University 1998-2007: A Case Study Of The Role Of Professor Fuchang Zhang And His Communist Party Network, William D. Blizzard, Jr.

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine how the building of Shenyang Jianzhu University’s new campus was accomplished under the leadership of Professor Fuchang Zhang, Secretary General of the Chinese Communist Party for the university, using his Communist Party network. This study was conducted in the city of Shenyang, Liaoning Province, Peoples Republic of China, using interviews with Professor Zhang, his peers, government officials, and other university presidents. Archival data is also included. There were limitations in the study that included personal and professional friendships, student recruiting issues, as well as methodological limitations because all interviews had to be …

Technological Knowledge, Product Relatedness, And Parent Control: The Effect On Ijv Survival, Dean Xu, Jane W. Lu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This article examines the relationships among parent firm technological knowledge, parent-IJV product relatedness, parent control over the IJV, and IJV survival. Combining the knowledge-based perspective and institutional theory, we argue that parent control itself does not necessarily lead to higher IN survival; it contributes to IN survival when the parent firm has a high level of technological knowledge, and when the IJV is product-related to this parent. Results obtained from 1038 Japanese IJVs based in China indicate that both equity control and managerial control of a Japanese parent had a positive interaction effect, with the parent's technological knowledge, on IN …

Forecasting The Car Penetration Rate (Cpr) In China: A Nonparametric Approach, Sainan Jin, Liangjun Su

Research Collection School Of Economics

With strong economic growth, the auto industry has made great breakthroughs in recent years and has become a backbone industry in China, while cars play an increasingly important role, and are now the principal part of the auto industry. Both China's government and academic circles take strong interest in the prediction of CPR (i.e. car penetration rate or cars per thousand people), which will be the main guidance for the future industry policy. We summarize the existing problems in recent research and propose to use nonparametric methods to estimate the CPR and its elasticity with respect to GDP per capita …

China's Africa Strategy: The Puzzle Of Trade And Reform, Mahmood Monshipouri

Human Rights & Human Welfare

China’s growing presence is certainly one of the most important developments in Africa since the end of the Cold War. The strategy of “trade and non-interference” is how the Chinese government describes its relations with Africa. Oil and metals, such as cobalt, iron ore, and manganese are what China’s manufacturing industry needs; while foreign direct investment and an increase in oil production are what some African governments—especially those in Angola, Congo, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, and Zimbabwe—seek.

Integrating China Into An International Human Rights Regime: The Case Of Darfur, Harry Kreisler

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Chinese leaders find themselves in unknown territory as they guide the Chinese state. Their unusual experiment combines Communist party rule with unbridled capitalism. Under these unique circumstances, a major challenge they face is to define their country’s global role as an emerging power. From what compass will they navigate their direction? If their guidance system is built for a world of international anarchy, national interest and power politics, then the direction of their course is clear. Because of U.S. neglect and indifference, Africa, rich in natural resources, is up for grabs. Flexing its muscles on the world stage with its …

August Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“How China's Support of Sudan Shields a Regime Called 'Genocidal'" by Danna Harman. Christian Science Monitor. June 26, 2006.

Ending The Cold War Is A Good Place To Start, Judith Blau

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Recently, I told my daughter that the U.S. media had hyped the Chinese toy recall. “Just more rehashing of Cold War rhetoric,” I said. My two-year old daughter rebuked me: “Come on, Mom! You read politics into everything!” Then, after a moment or two of silence, she said, “Oh yes, I see what you mean. The Chinese toys with toxic paints could have been made in sweatshops owned by U.S. multinationals” (proud mom—politically aware daughter).

Countering Chinese Influence In Sudan, Ali Wyne

Human Rights & Human Welfare

It is difficult to imagine a more poisonous symbiosis than that between China and Sudan. The former requires a continuous flow of low-cost oil imports to satisfy its soaring oil demand, and the latter requires sufficient economic support to immunize itself against international interventions and preempt potential internal uprisings. Sudan supplies 64 percent of its oil to China (meeting seven percent of the economic power’s demand in 2006), and China, for its part, has invested heavily in Paloich, one of the country’s central oil-producing areas.