Review: Women and Their Warlords: Domesticating Militarism in Modern China, by Kate Merkel-Hess

The beginning of modern educational system in China, was regarded Hundred Days" Reform in 1898 related foundation of modern university as a starting point. The modern and contemporary China, had been faced with the most endangered era: in the major significance of this crisis, was a kind of impact or shock from aggression by the Western imperialism. Especially in academy and culture, there was tension in the air as though something was going to happen. In national crisis, discourse of general education in Modern China should be focused on more pragmatical parts, not on the traditional cultivation of the mind or whole-rounded education. The most distinctive characteristics of education discourse in modern China was enlightenment and esthetics education from consciousness of crisis. The both seems to be different and oppositive, but intrinsically have many things in common. In this age, there were representative thinkers, Liang Qi-chao and Cai Yuan-pei, who played a crucial role in modern transformation of Chinese education. This paper is tried to examine the discourse of general education in modern and contemporary China, especially from these two thinkers" view and thought. The definitions of general education(or liberal education) is about humanities and education of humanism which is different from specialism. The discourse of education from the early years in 1900"s to establishment of New China in 1949, was about contemporary general education that mainly focused on elite education by study of chinese culture and heritage and socialism.

Reviewed by: Daoism and Anarchism: Critique of State Autonomy in Ancient and Modern China by John A. Rapp Yuri Pines (bio) John A. Rapp. Daoism and Anarchism: Critique of State Autonomy in Ancient and Modern China. Contemporary Anarchist Studies. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012. xi, 240 pp. Paperback $32.95, isbn 978-1-4411-7880-0. Throughout most of its known history, China was a monarchic state, and, in the eyes of many, it was a paradigmatic monarchic state. While the actual power of kings and emperors varied in time and space, the ideology of monarchism—namely, the conviction that all under heaven should be ruled by a single, omnipotent sovereign who should preside over a powerful bureaucracy—remained intact. Yet it would be patently wrong to identify the entire Chinese political or intellectual history as merely a manifestation of uninhibited Oriental despotism. Actually, Chinese political thought had a powerful countercurrent of strong and pointed criticism of individual rulers and of interventionist state apparatus. A few of the most radical critics even questioned the very legitimacy of the monarchic rule and of the organized state in general; their views strongly resonate with modern anarchist thought. Although historically these radical critics remained a tiny minority, their ideas might have been conducive to the acceptance of anarchist ideology in China at the beginning of the twentieth century. These ideas may be of relevance to current critics of the state in China and elsewhere. The history of China’s anarchism—from its origins to current attempts to revitalize it—has not been heretofore systematically addressed in a single study; hence, publication of John Rapp’s Daoism and Anarchism could have become a most welcome addition to the Sinological library. Unfortunately, the book is disappointing. In particular, its first part, dealing with Daoist philosophy, is so full of inaccuracies that it cannot be recommended to any scholar interested in the supposed anarchist strands in so-called Daoist thought. This failure, in addition to manifold methodological weaknesses and an inadequate understanding of [End Page 381] primary sources, invalidates the book in general, even though its second part, which deals with anarchism in modern and current China, is undoubtedly stronger than the first. Actually, the book improves from chapter to chapter, so the last two—which deal with extra-Party and inner-Party neoanarchist critiques of the state in the People’s Republic of China—are, indeed, the best; they are well written and are highly informative. However, in what follows, I shall focus exclusively on the first part, which is essential for the author’s project to “help non-China specialists to see anarchism as not just a Euro-American concept” (p. 3) and which is, unfortunately, the weakest. Weaknesses of Rapp’s first chapters are manifold. To begin with, they are written so haphazardly that one may well believe that the manuscript was never edited by either the author or the publisher. The chapters are full of inaccuracies and typos. These include wrong transliterations (e.g., Shen Nong 神農 and Xu Xing 許行 are consistently transliterated as Shen Nung and Xiu Xing; Empress Lü 呂后 loses the umlaut to become Empress Lu [pp. 96, 247]), incorrect dates (e.g., 141–187 c.e. for the reign dates of Emperor Wu of Han [漢武帝, r. 141–87 b.c.e.], or incomprehensible ca. 220 b.c.e.–62 c.e. for the Wei-Jin period [魏晉, 220–420 c.e.]), and odd syntaxes, for example, on p. 22, where a single sentence comprises no fewer than 132 words. At times, Rapp’s statements are simply misleading, for example, when he attributes to unnamed opponents an argument that “separation of Daoism into daojia (philosophical Daoism) and daojiao (Daoist teaching, for example, alchemical and religious traditions) is itself only a later concept of the historian Sima Qian (165–110 b.c.e.)” (p. 8). This sentence is doubly wrong: First, Rapp means not Sima Qian 司馬遷 but his father, Sima Tan 司馬談; and, second, Sima Tan did not “separate Daoism” into “daojia and daojiao,” but was arguably the first to define daojia as scholastic lineage.1 Making two obvious mistakes in a single sentence is not a good start for the book, and, unfortunately, many...

How is China's nuclear strategy changing and why should we be interested? In Northeast Asia's security reality, which seeks to exercise collective self-defense and strengthen its military power, the U.S., Russia, and Japan, which are traditional nuclear powers, we need to recognize and respond to military changes, especially when we do not have nuclear weapons. Since its first development of nuclear weapons in 1964, China has developed qualitatively and quantitatively in nuclear power, and its nuclear strategy has changed accordingly. China, which had been based on a small number of nuclear weapons since its first nuclear development until the 1960s, had a minimum level of deterrence through quantitative expansion of nuclear weapons and establishment of a “Nuclear Triad system.” This trend has moved on since the 1990s and has been modernized in terms of quality rather than quantitative changes in nuclear power. Having secured the reliability of deterrence through modernization, China began to reveal its nuclear capabilities, transforming it into a “minimum deterrence strategy based on visibility.” China's recent modernization of nuclear power and changes in its nuclear strategy are important issues that will directly and indirectly affect Northeast Asia and our security, and we have considered the implications for Northeast Asia's security. First, China's modernization of nuclear power could serve as a nuclear development driver for neighboring countries, and second, China's nuclear modernization process could serve as a role model for North Korea's future nuclear modernization and negotiations with neighboring countries. Third, recognition of the possibility of changes in China's nuclear strategy, and fourth, it showed that China's nuclear power modernization trend is increasing the possibility of future changes in its nuclear strategy. As a response to this, we need first multilateral cooperation and efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation and competition in Northeast Asia, second, diverse and flexible foreign strategies, third, risk distribution, fourth, recognition of the possibility of change in China's nuclear strategy and long-term military response in connection with the “Defense Reform 2.0”. There are many restrictions on finding a clear response from the perspective of the changing international order and the non-nuclear nation, but we should look beyond the perspective limited to the Korean Peninsula and clearly at the surrounding security situation. Therefore, continuous efforts are needed to lead the security environment of Northeast Asia in our favor based on a clear understanding and evaluation of changes in China's nuclear power and nuclear strategy.

As the second of two concluding chapters for this collection on Chinese architecture, this chapter reviews the contributions on modern China, as the preceding chapter did on ancient China). As the last chapter, it also provides an overall review. Observing the chapters on modern China, six themes are detected – knowledge, design, practice, space, technology, and theorization. Connecting to Part I on ancient China, the chapter discovers discontinuities as well as continuity in the role of state authority – an active agent, a producer of other agents, and a cultural force. The chapter ends with an observation regarding three emerging trends – long perspective, sociology with history, and theorization.

Disaster-mitigating and general innovative responses to climate disasters: Evidence from modern and historical China

In this paper, I show that narratives of historical conflicts between the Han Chinese and Muslims have been deployed to justify anti-Muslim sentiment and practices in modern and contemporary China. My study analyses Han Chinese narratives during and after the Northwest Muslim Rebellion – the largest ethnic conflict in 19th-century China. The historical narratives about the rebellion have passed down inter-generationally and have been reiterated and reconstructed to fuel modern-day bias against Muslims in the 20th century and beyond. My study contributes to the debate of Chinese Islamophobia by revealing how narratives of ethnic conflicts could help legitimize hostility against Muslims in modern China.

With the development of reform and opening up and modernization process, the development of China's socialist modernization construction into the high speed development period, society also entered the non-steady state of the disaster-prone period, all kinds of public crisis seriously affect our country's economic and social development. Scientific crisis warning is the effect to the magic weapon of the crisis. as one aspect of government ability, the crisis warning ability has increasingly become the measure and assess the government ability. This paper will discuss the related problems of the government crisis warning ability construction in the process of China's modernization.

What I wish to discuss under this topic is how China's cultural tradition has hindered China's modernization.

ABSTRACTThis study approaches the history of China's public relations (PR) industry from the perspective of modernity. Coupled with China's modern transformation and modernization since the late 1970s, Chinese PR industry and practitioners sought to establish legitimacy in the following 30 years. Three developmental stages are identified: Introduction and Enlightenment (1978–1992), Marketization and Professionalization (1992–2003), and Diversification (2003–present). In each stage, the theme and practice of PR interplayed with China's modernization and modern transformation. Situated under unique political, economic, and social contexts, China's PR faced, and is still facing, crises in reputation, utility, social values, identity, legitimacy, and professional ethics.

China's epidemic of child obesity:: An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of treatment

Anatomy is an early researched discipline of natural science. Ancient civilizations (e.g., Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China) made significant contributions to our current understanding of medicine, including human anatomy. However, in modern China (from 1912 to the present), some contemporary scholars prefer to overlook the fact that anatomy was studied before modern China. Therefore, the author chronologically lists typical hallmark events and publications related to human anatomy before modern China, summarizes the influences of anatomy on traditional Chinese medicine, and analyzes the reasons for the slow progression of anatomy before modern China. The purpose is to better understand the history and culture of anatomy before modern China, serving as the first step of anatomical education for medical students in mainland China.

In this paper, I show that narratives of historical conflicts between the Han Chinese and Muslims have been deployed to justify anti-Muslim sentiment and practices in modern and contemporary Northwest China. My study analyses Han Chinese narratives during and after the Northwest Muslim Rebellion—the largest ethnic conflict in nineteenth-century China. The historical narratives about the rebellion have been passed down inter-generationally and have been reiterated and reconstructed to fuel contemporary bias against Muslims in the twentieth century and beyond. My study contributes to the debate of Chinese Islamophobia by revealing how narratives of ethnic conflicts could help legitimize hostility against Muslims in modern-day China.

The development of medical education in China occurred quite differently to medical education in the rest of the world. A review of the literature has been presented regarding the historical development and the evolution of medical education research and development (MERAD) units in modern China. The history of medical education in modern China has been divided into three periods: (1) the 17 years before the 'Cultural Revolution' (1949-1966); (2) the period of the 'Cultural Revolution' (1966-1976); (3) the post 'Cultural Revolution' period (1976 onwards). Although a number of MERAD activities had existed on China's medical campuses since 1949, there was no formal organizational structure for MERAD before 1978. The change of the political situation in 1978 led China to seek modernization, with education as its basis. In the process of health care system modernization, medical education was given priority, and the Western model of establishing MERAD units as a means of improving the training of health professionals was introduced. The evolution of medical education research and development in modern China appears to be following the Western pattern due to the multitude of Western consultants and fellowships in Western countries provided to Chinese medical education leaders. A group of people from medicine is gathering in the MERAD field and MERAD units are beginning to take shape in modern China.

Chinese Christian (Catholic) architecture is not only an important type of religious architecture, but also an important witness of cultural exchanges between China and the West. This article comprehensively summarizes the architectural styles of Christian (Catholic) churches in modern mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong, and compares the differences in the main styles of their churches horizontally. Based on the data results, a comprehensive analysis of various factors such as age, region, religion, and society is carried out to further explore the reasons for the differences in the architectural styles of Christian churches in the three regions, and discover the historical and religious significance of the Christian churches in modern China.

Examination of gender specifics of processes, which are take place in China and modern Ukraine and their comparison is an important component of the scientific discourse of domestic social and humanitarian studies. This article focuses on the representation of female military personnel in Chinese and Ukrainian electronic publications. Comparative analysis of the characteristics of female military personnel in warring Ukraine and modern China had been made. It is stated that the army is a certain model of society, and the attitude towards female military personnel can demonstrate the achievements, problems and prospects of a specific society. For Ukraine, it is also a manifestation of the community’s ability to withstand the brutal battle for the existence of the country, state and nation. The analysis of the problem was carried out on the basis of a study of the most influential online publications of modern Ukraine and China. Attention in this article is focused on the features of some Chinese Internet resources and the specifics of working with them. The review of Chinese publications was carried out by surfing the Internet by leading news agencies and official websites of Chinese government agencies through the censored algorithms of the Baidu search engine (百度). The initial query was “female soldiers” (女兵). Posts of users with Baidu (百度), Bilibili (哔哩哔哩)，Zhihu (知乎)，Douban (豆瓣) profiles and others that have a considerable number of readers had been analyzed.The authors in the article made conclusions about global trends in the media’s attitude towards women in the army, namely: gender stereotypes in the coverage of women’s military topics are still present in the media, but both countries make their armies more accessible to women; internet media in every possible way participates in the popularization of service in the army among women; the army is becoming a financially attractive employer in both countries, the prestige of a military career for women is increasing.The Russian influence on the Chinese mass media, in particular in the formation of ideas about military women in the world’s armies, had been studied. This study confirmed the hypotheses that had been made in 2016 by a number of Ukrainian researchers, that the Ukrainian position is often incomprehensible to China and can be conveyed in a distorted Russian way, in terms of forming the image of military servicemen. During the research in the format of Internet surfing by Chinese media, information that would discredit Chinese military women had not been found. It has been noted, that in the conditions of war, Chinese practices of protecting military women from discredit in the media and real informational support for their activities in the field of national security and defense of Ukraine may be interesting for Ukraine.