Activities In China Research Articles

Rise of China and its behaviours in the South China Sea: an analysis of defensive realism perspective

With the continuous improvement of China's comprehensive national strength, international observers could find that China has become more assertive in dealing with its territorial disputes with its neighbours. The debate about whether China is a revisionist state in the balance of power in its regional affairs is a hot topic and the discussion about her disputes in the South China Sea (SCS) is a subset of this important topic. For Beijing's apex, the significance of the SCS does not need more elaboration because it concerns a series of Chinese interests, especially her national security. Based on the precondition about Chinese security, the article analyses China's behaviours in the SCS to prove that Beijing has not turned aggressive even though it has some so-called assertiveness in its recent actions. The article's purpose is to use defensive realism as an analysis framework to help people think about Beijing's shifting behaviours in territorial disputes, especially when power competition is one factor forming the situation. In investigating the specific cases, the study proves that China's activities in the SCS in recent years are based on self-defence after strength enhancement rather than the beginning of the aggression, especially regarding its regional security and territorial disputes.

Carbonyls from commercial, canteen and residential cooking activities as crucial components of VOC emissions in China

Cooking in China supply the large population with nutrition and, as a commercial activity, it also promotes the economic growth of Chinese society. The specific cooking styles in China can produce complex volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. The resulting adverse effects on the environment and human health of carbonyls from cooking should not be ignored. We quantitatively evaluated the contribution of carbonyls to common VOCs (carbonyl/VOC ratio) from cooking activities in China through the establishment and comparison of the source profiles, emission factors (EFs), emission amount and ozone formation potential (OFP). It was found that carbonyls are crucial components of VOCs from commercial, canteen and residential cooking activities (COC, CAC and REC, respectively). The carbonyl/VOC ratio from cooking activities in China had EFs, emissions, and a total OFP of 22–65 %, 23–34 %, and 49–104 %, respectively. The high OFP was due to the high OFP emissions intensity (OFPEI) and maximum incremental reactivity (MIR) values of carbonyls. This indicates that to alleviate O3 pollution, OFP-based control measures that target carbonyls might be more efficient than measures that target common VOCs. Priority should be given to emission controlling COC emissions, specifically those from medium- and large-scale catering. Formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and hexanal were the key carbonyl species that form O3 in the environment. Our findings imply that cooking-emitted carbonyls should not be overlooked in investigations of O3 formation and that these compounds should be subject to strict regulations.

Board diversity and firm performance: impact of ESG activities in China

The investigation of association between board diversity and the firm performance is the subject of many studies. However, the empirical results presented in the extant literature are inconclusive at best. The inconclusive empirical results could be due to several factors and one of them could be that the relationship is contingent on some key factors. Given the rising trend of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) activities, in this paper the relationship between board diversity and the firm performance is tested in the context of ESG activities. The subject of examination in this study is the listed Chinese firms. The sample period spans for 6 years and is collected from 2014 to 2019. This work uses a dynamic approach to modelling relationships. The generalised method of moments (GMM) is used in a two-step system. An endogeneity-free estimate may be achieved by using this strategy. We can learn a great deal from these hypotheses. There is a positive and substantial correlation between board diversity and the firm's success, which suggests that diverse boards are beneficial to businesses. Both ESG activities and a positive coefficient on company performance are significant. This shows investors appreciate companies that are involved in ESG activities because they see this as an investment that pays off. Last but not least, the report shows that board diversity has a negative and considerable impact on ESG efforts. According to the results, board diversity and ESG efforts are not necessary for a company's success. According to the data, board diversity is not particularly beneficial in the context of significant ESG initiatives. Board diversity really hurts a company's success when it engages in high ESG activities. The study also discusses the work's policy ramifications. Finally, the work lays out a clear path for further study.

Library and Bookstore of Sergei A. Polevoy in Beijing

The article reveals previously unknown facts about the sinologist Sergei Alexandrovich Polevoy (1886—1971), who became famous due to his scientific, pedagogical and social activities in China. Being a native of dynasty that gave the world talented literary critics, writers and journalists, Polevoy from his youth was passionate about literature and collecting books alongside learning about China. His first academic work, prepared as a graduation paper at the Oriental Institute (Vladivostok), was devoted to periodicals in China; and his unique library composed of literature in many languages originated from the books on Oriental studies and linguistics. Living in China since 1917, Polevoy was a professor at Nankai University in Tianjin (since 1918) and then Peking University (since 1921), where he taught Chinese students the Russian language and literature. Using the introduction to Russian culture and literature as a new method of teaching, he brought up some famous Chinese writers and translators. His bookstore, opened in Beijing and having contacts with the International Book Company in Moscow, became a cultural bridge between Russia and China. Using the bookstore, Polevoy supplied Chinese students with textbooks and Russian classical literature, replenished the department of Slavic literature at the Beijing National Library, distributed Marxist literature and helped Chinese communist leaders establish contacts with the USSR. The authors also report the facts on the biography of Polevoyʼs son, Leonid, thanks to whom the Oriental Institute of the Far Eastern Federal University (Vladivostok) received the manuscript of S. Polevoy’s English-Chinese dictionary and his other materials on oriental studies. Leonid also presented his father’s book collection to Irkutsk, and these books served as the basis of the Humanitarian Centre — Library named after the Polevoys’ family. The article is based on materials from the Polevoys’ family archives and other private collections abroad.

Dancing in Public Squares – Toward a Socially Synchronous Sense of Place

This study advances how we understand sense of place in leisure research by considering how social interactions lend to ‘lived emplacement’. Taking a behavioral geography perspective, that aligns with Social-Interaction Theory, this paper contributes to how we think about collective forms of dancing in public squares. To develop these understandings, we focus on a popular dancing activity in China, Guang-Chang-Wu 广场舞. Conceptual directions discussed in this paper challenge researchers to consider how socially synchronized dancing connects middle-aged and elderly Chinese women. Perspective and insight into sense of place, influenced by place attachment and place dependence are guided by participant desires to increase socialization and well-being. In-depth semi-structured interviews and participant observations were qualitative methods used to investigate social interactions in urban public squares. Interpretations reinforce interactions, and provide insight into unique communal characteristics and the social meanings associated with dancing in public squares. This research offers new ways of thinking about sense of place in public squares through behavioral reflections of public dancing aligned with how participants transcend space and place meanings. Considerations are also positioned alongside social and cultural change in China, which are important to the story of leisure practices in public squares.

Social-mediated frame alignment: A study of menstrual activism in China during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT At the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in China, an urgent appeal for the donation of menstrual products for female medics was ignored by medical institutions. This soon triggered an unprecedented wave of socially-mediated menstrual activism. By adopting frame alignment as a theoretical framework, this study aims to explore the frames social media influencers utilize to represent topics relating to menstruation and menstrual activism and how the public responded on this taboo issue. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of the frames adopted by WeChat posts. Statistical results showed that news organization accounts used fewer conflict, human interest, and feminism frames than individual and corporate accounts in order to avoid controversy in cyberspace. This study also demonstrated the use of frames of menstrual stigma and public invisibility of menstruation was associated with the pro-feminist attitudes of followers, while the use of efficiency and respect frames was correlated with anti-feminist attitudes. These findings should also provide insights into social-mediated frame alignment strategies for future menstrual and other types of activism.

Biotech key to unlock mineral resources value

This work aims to describe the history of biometallurgy in China, introduce the development and application of biometallurgy technologies in exploitation of mineral resources, and identify the main challenges and future directions. Although the earliest biometallurgy activities in China were documented in 6th−7th century BC, fundamental research and biometallurgy applications started relatively late in this country. Rapid development, from phenotypic to genotypic characterization of biometallurgy microorganisms, as well as from theoretical to practical applications, has been made in China since the 1950s. The integrated applications of biometallurgy technology in copper, gold, and uranium extraction ensured China's economic reserves of strategic mineral resources. Developing more efficient microorganisms and strengthening the micro-interface reactions will be an effective way to improve the biometallurgy efficiency. Biometallurgy technologies can also be adapted to recovery of valuable metal from marine minerals and e-wastes and environmental protection including carbon sequestration and heavy metal polluted soil/sediment bioremediation.

The Impact of Social Media Marketing on Customer Satisfaction at Hermes in China

This paper aimed at critically analyzing how the social media marketing influence on customer satisfaction at Hermes in China. It analyzed the benefits and losses of social media marketing. It critically evaluated the way social media marketing affects customer satisfaction. It made recommendations that can help Hermes effectively use social media marketing to enhance its customer satisfaction. Data was collected by carrying out fifty questionnaires with Hermes customers in China. The findings show that customers like Hermes social media activities in China. The conclusion is that social media marketing positively effect customer satisfaction of Hermes in China. Hence, Hermes needs to increase its social media activities in China as this can help it to attract new customers and improve its business performance. The importance of this study lies in that it can point out the deficiency of Hermes in the Chinese market, so as to help it to be more sensitive to the psychological needs of Chinese consumers.

The influences of the East Asian Monsoon on the spatio-temporal pattern of seasonal influenza activity in China

Previous research has extensively studied the seasonalities of human influenza infections and the effect of specific climatic factors in different regions. However, there is limited understanding of the influences of monsoons. This study applied generalized additive model with monthly surveillance data from mainland China to explore the influences of the East Asian Monsoon on the spatio-temporal pattern of seasonal influenza in China. The results suggested two influenza active periods in northern China and three active periods in southern China. The study found that the northerly advancement of East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) influences the summer influenza spatio-temporal patterns in both southern and northern China. At the interannual scale, the north-south converse effect of EASM on influenza activity is mainly due to the converse effect of EASM on humidity and precipitation. Within the annual scale, influenza activity in southern China gradually reaches its maximum during the summer exacerbated by the northerly advancement of EASM. Furthermore, the winter epidemic in China is related to the low temperature and humidity influenced by the East Asian Winter Monsoon (EAWM). Moreover, the active period in transition season is related partially to the large rapid temperature change influenced by the transition of EAWM and EASM. Despite the delayed onset and instability, the climatic condition influenced by the East Asian Monsoon is one of the potential key drivers of influenza activity.

Vegetation Responses to Climate Change and Anthropogenic Activity in China, 1982 to 2018.

Climate change and human activities significantly affect vegetation growth in terrestrial ecosystems. Here, data reconstruction was performed to obtain a time series of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) for China (1982–2018) based on Savitzky–Golay filtered GIMMS NDVI3g and MOD13A2 datasets. Combining surface temperature and precipitation observations from more than 2000 meteorological stations in China, Theil–Sen trend analysis, Mann–Kendall significance tests, Pearson correlation analysis, and residual trend analysis were used to quantitatively analyze the long-term trends of vegetation changes and their sources of uncertainty. Significant spatial and temporal heterogeneity was observed in vegetation changes in the study area. From 1982 to 2018, the vegetation showed a gradually increasing trend, at a rate of 0.5%·10 a−1, significantly improving (37.15%, p < 0.05) more than the significant degradation (7.46%, p < 0.05). Broadleaf (0.66) and coniferous forests (0.62) had higher NDVI, and farmland had the fastest rate of increase (1.02%/10 a−1). Temperature significantly affected the vegetation growth in spring (R > 0; p < 0.05); however, the increase in summer temperatures significantly inhibited (R < 0; p < 0.05) the growth in North China (RNDVI-tem = −0.379) and the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (RNDVI-tem = −0.051). Climate change has highly promoted the growth of vegetation in the plain region of the Changjiang (Yangtze) River (3.24%), Northwest China (1.07%). Affected by human activities only, 49.89% of the vegetation showed an increasing trend, of which 22.91% increased significantly (p < 0.05) and 9.97% decreased significantly (p < 0.05). Emergency mitigation actions are required in Northeast China, Xinjiang, Northwest China, and the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. Therefore, monitoring vegetation changes is important for ecological environment construction and promoting regional ecological protection.

Opening up mediation opportunities by engaging grassroots data: Adaptive and resilient feminist data activism in China

This article explores the dynamics and practices of feminist data activism that engages with grassroots data to archive cases of sexual violence in China. Drawing on Cammaert’s notion of the mediation opportunity structure, we investigate the mediation process of a feminist data campaign and activists’ communicative practices in contemporary China. By practicing data-activist research, our study shows that the data-based action repertoire opens up hybrid and contingent mediation opportunities for an anti-sexual violence campaign under the current political opportunity structure. We find the paradox of seeking visibility while refusing mainstream media coverage in activist tactics, which embodies a form of adaptive and resilient feminist data activism in the authoritarian context of China. This case study suggests that the dynamics of feminist data activism in China are configured by the tripartite interaction among the disruptive action repertoire, mediation opportunity structure, and political conditions.

Malmquist productivity indices and plant capacity utilisation: new proposals and empirical application.

The purpose of this contribution is to compute the popular Malmquist productivity index while adding a component representing plant capacity utilisation. In particular, this is—to the best of our knowledge—the first empirical application estimating both input- and output-oriented Malmquist productivity indices in conjunction with the corresponding input- and output-oriented plant capacity utilisation measures. Our empirical application focuses on a provincial data set of tourism activities in China over the period 2008–2016. The results contain the output- and input-oriented Malmquist productivity indices, some Spearman rank correlations between both, a t-test whether these indices differ from unity, and some bootstrapping analysis.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10479-022-04771-8.

The Firm Fried. Krupp in the Chinese Market prior to the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894/95

Abstract The Self-Strengthening Movement that started in China at the beginning of the 1860s included, along with other steps and measures, new plans for importing modern weapons from the West. This reform process therefore provided a new opportunity for foreign arms producers, including the German firm Fried. Krupp. This article analyses Krupp’s first activities in China, describes significant circumstances affecting the arms trade, evaluates the rivalry with British and French companies in the Chinese market and assesses the significance for the German company of its involvement in building a modern Chinese navy. The article’s approach is comprehensive and it is based on extensive research focusing on mostly unpublished sources, especially materials from German archives, often used here for the first time.

Community Structure of Benthic Macrofauna and the Ecological Quality of Mangrove Wetlands in Hainan, China

Few studies have systematically assessed the ecological status of mangrove wetlands following the stress of anthropogenic activities in China. This study investigated the spatial and seasonal distribution of benthic macroinvertebrate communities and assessed the ecological quality of mangrove habitats on an island scale in Hainan, China (containing the third largest mangrove area of China and the highest mangrove species richness). For the benthic macrofauna community structure, a total of 102 macrobenthic taxa belonging to 50 families were identified, with Crustaceans, Molluscs, Polychaetes, and Oligochaeta having relative abundances of 52.3%, 36.1%, 10.8%, and 0.8%, respectively. Decapoda and Gastropoda dominated the benthic community abundance. Non-metric multidimensional scaling and an analysis of similarities revealed significantly different macroinvertebrate assemblages among the regions during the two seasons. The South mangroves had the lowest macrofauna species numbers, biodiversity, richness, and abundance. The macrofaunal species richness, Shannon index, Margalef index, abundance, and biomass markedly affected by region and season. As indicated by the biotic indices AMBI (AZTI’s Marine Biotic Index) and M-AMBI, more than half of the mangrove habitats on Hainan Island were slightly to heavily disturbed and had poor to moderate ecological quality. Our results recommend long-term monitoring for evaluating the quality status of mangrove wetlands and avoiding extensive land-use conversion of mangroves. Holistic approaches considering ecological characteristics and combining information on both floral and faunal functionality would contribute to the effective management and conservation of mangroves in disturbed areas.

Interprovincial Differences in Air Pollution in the Background of China’s Carbon Neutrality Target

Increasing air pollution, particularly in terms of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3), caused by large-scale fossil fuel combustion, affects human health and economic activities in China. In this study, we analyzed the spatiotemporal trends of carbon emissions, carbon emission intensity, and concentrations of PM2.5 and O3 in 30 provincial-level administrative regions of China during 2010–2019. Overall, an increasing trend was observed in carbon emissions, with high emissions occurring in Shandong, Hebei, and Jiangsu in particular. The highest growth rates of carbon emissions were 169% and 117% in Xinjiang and Ningxia, respectively. Conversely, the carbon emission intensities and concentrations of PM2.5 and O3 decreased across the study regions at different rates. The western and central regions experienced the greatest decrease in carbon emissions in 2019 compared with that of 2010, followed by those in the northeastern and eastern regions. Spatiotemporal variations suggest that pollution control is essential for improving air quality and offsetting the negative impact of increased energy consumption. Overall, this study shows that pollution control policies lead to short-term improvements in air quality, and hence that the implementation of stringent environmental protection policies is essential.

A Game of Power or Discipline: Minority Shareholders’ Activism in China

This paper examines 781 proposals sponsored by minority shareholders of Chinese listed companies since the Company Law was revised in 2005, which made proposals more accessible to smaller shareholders. I find that the shareholder structure is essential for minority shareholders to target a company. When the controlling ownership is smaller and minority ownership is relatively larger, a company is more likely to be targeted by minority shareholders’ proposals (MSPs). There is also evidence that minority shareholders target poor performers, but that only happens when the shareholder structure is optimal for minority shareholders to initiate activism. Power, in the form of ownership and identity, dominates the probability of activism behavior. The passage of MSPs heavily depends on whether the proposal is friendly to the management, the identity of the sponsor, and the issues involved. Being targeted by MSPs are often followed by forced top management turnover, but there are no performance improvements in the medium term. Minority shareholders’ activism is more of a game of power.

Lightning climatology across the Chinese continent from 2010 to 2020

Understanding the lightning climatological distribution is of great significance but remains challenging which is in part due to the lack of continuous and uniform lightning observations. In this paper, for the first time, an 11-year ground-based cloud-to-cloud lightning dataset of China National Lightning Detection Network from 2010 to 2020 is used to investigate the lightning climatology over China's land area in terms of spatial distribution, seasonal, monthly and diurnal variations. Lightning activity in China's land area generally decreases from south to north and from east to west. The mean cloud-to-ground lightning density of China's land area is 0.9 fl km−2 yr−1, with the average maximums (exceeding 10 fl km−2 yr−1) are found in the south and east coastal provinces, such as Guangdong, Hainan, Fujian and Zhejiang Province. The lightning activity in spring, summer and autumn seems consistent throughout the daytime cycle, with the lightning activity is rather weak in the morning and most active in the afternoon, while winter lightning appears to be more active in the nighttime and in the very early morning produced from nocturnal thunderstorms. The cloud-to-ground lightning activity in the tropical and subtropical areas within 15–25°N is mainly concentrated in the late spring and early summer, with two weak peaks in May and August, while lightning in mid latitudes within 25–55°N mainly occurs in the summer (June–July-August). The percentage of positive cloud-to-ground lightning flashes with peak current higher than 75 kA is more than 3 times than that of negative cloud-to-ground lightning flashes. Meanwhile, the mean peak current of cloud-to-ground lightning flashes shows an inverse diurnal pattern to the cloud-to-ground lightning activity.

Study on the Reform and Development of Modern Physical Education Teaching Based on 5G Internet Communication Technology.

Physical education (PE) is, in general, one of the most important skills developed for human healthiness. Many barriers exist in society to improve the performance in Chinese physical activities. Furthermore, the incorporation of 5G communication network technology is becoming a trend in the increase of physical activity in China on a daily basis. Physical exercise may assist Chinese people to enhance their mental abilities, self-concept, and goal orientation and avoid mental illnesses such as sadness and anxiety. Physical exercise without education is like having a body but no soul. There is no doubt about the value of physical education and other types of exercise in the educational system. In this paper, we propose refined physical education teaching based on 5G network technology to obtain everlasting data without termination. First, we preprocess the sports dataset using a stacked denoising autoencoder (SDAE), and a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) is utilized for the feature extraction process. A random forest approach (RFA) is then used in the selection of the features. Furthermore, we adopted a CNN-based upgraded classifier for classification and efficient data allocation (EDA) algorithm for storing data generated by the 5G network. Experimental results reveal that our proposed method outperforms the baseline methods by a huge margin.

Political Turnover and Innovation: Evidence from China.

This paper explores cycles in innovative outcomes corresponding with the timing of political turnover. Using data on local government officials and firm level innovation activities in China, firm innovation is found to be negatively associated with a turnover of local political leaders. We examine several potential explanations and find evidence supporting the premise that political turnover reduces firms’ incentives to innovate until the uncertainty is resolved. This paper also indicates that local political turnover significantly inhibits firms’ research and development investment, government subsidies, and expansion decisions, leading to less innovative outcomes. Moreover, reductions in innovation are greater in cities with higher levels of government expenditure or intellectual property rights trials, or in smaller firms or non-state-owned enterprises during the rotation of local government leaders.

Statistical Analysis of the Patterns of Global Investment Development in China

The purpose of the study is to assess the possible impact of patterns and trends in the development of foreign investment activity of China on the prospects of Russian-Chinese economic cooperation in this area, including in terms of support for the Russian energy sector. The relevance of the study is due to the growing influence of the People’s Republic of China in solving global economic and political issues, as well as the importance of its role as a strategic partner of the Russian Federation, which makes it necessary to assess future prospects.The research methods are methods of analyzing time series, including identifying trends, as well as assessing the structure and structural shifts to obtain an overall picture of the structural transformations of foreign direct investment of China in regional and sectoral sections.The results of the study. Chinese foreign direct investment in the last two decades has been characterized by an intensive growth in volumes, resistant to global economic crises; analysis of their geographical structure demonstrates the constancy of such a feature as maximizing the opportunities of global offshore zones and countries granting privileges to foreign investors; the sectoral structure of Chinese foreign direct investment has certain patterns of change that are consistent with the goals and objectives of economic development of China set by five-year plans, which makes it possible to predict and find solutions in the field of Russian-Chinese cooperation; a trend has been identified to increase the attention of Chinese investors to the issue of capital formation in the Russian economy. In addition, an assessment of the analytical capabilities provided to users by the official statistics of China in terms of information about investment processes is given.Conclusion. Statistical analysis of the indicators of foreign investment activity of China over a long period of time allows us to evaluate and characterize its strategic behavior as one of the world’s largest investors, focused primarily on solving the problems of developing its own economy and its global expansion in the long term. The significance of such studies will now increase, given the importance of the development of foreign economic relations with China for the Russian Federation based on the increased potential of interaction between the two countries in recent years.