Bamboo Curtain Research Articles

Breaking the “Bamboo Curtain” and the “Glass Ceiling”: The Experience of Women Entrepreneurs in High-Tech Industries in an Emerging Market

Despite the role women play in job creation, economic growth and society revitalization, especially in economies undergoing fundamental transformations, issues emerging from women in entrepreneurship have not received adequate attention in academic research. As a result, our understanding of women entrepreneurship in emerging markets as well as in nontraditional industries is even more limited. In this study, I attempt to partially fill the gap by comparing entrepreneurial orientations and venture performance between men and women entrepreneurs in electronics industry in Chinese transition economy. I offer insights gained from statistical analyses based on a survey as well as case study. Results reveal that while women are influenced by the same factors that affect decision making among men and exhibit some similarities, they differ from men in their willingness to take more risks and make bolder moves in pursuit of greater returns and future competitive advantage. In addition, women entrepreneurs outperform their male counterparts. I compare these findings with existing literature and offer suggestions for future research.

Looking Through the Bamboo Curtain: An Analysis of the Changing Role of Forest and Farm Income in Rural Livelihoods in China

SUMMARY Forestry and poverty analyses in China show an ambiguous relationship. While the co-occurrence of forest rich areas and poor counties has been noted by some authors, others have stressed the role played by forestry in these areas where it is frequently one of the few options available. Our study indicates that the expansion of off-farm income is the fundamental development process taking place in many areas of rural China. Forestry can offer good income generating options to farmers, but as the local economy develops forestry tends to be displaced by more attractive alternatives. There are niche specialisation opportunities even for rich farmers, normally linked to a certain degree of vertical integration, enhanced by specific features of some forestry uses like bamboo.

'Behind enemy lines': Menzies, evatt and passports for peking

This article focuses primarily on Australian government responses to the 1952 Peace Conference for Asia and the Pacific Regions. Because the conference was to be held in Peking, it was the subject of immense controversy: Chinese communists were fighting Australian soldiers in Korea and Australian peace activists, most communist or 'fellow travellers', sought to travel behind the 'bamboo curtain'. In this context, the Menzies government's policies on passports were sharply silhouetted. Although this conference has been overlooked in the literature, we can infer from the trajectory of relevant Cold War historiography that Prime Minister Menzies would adopt restrictive, even draconian, policies. This article argues otherwise. It suggests that it was that consistent champion of civil liberties, former deputy prime minister, attorney-general and secretary of the General Assembly of the United Nations and now, in 1952, Leader of the Opposition, Dr Evatt, who favoured more repressive action towards prospective delegates. In contrast, Menzies and his Cabinet were more lenient and shifted towards a harsher policy belatedly and reluctantly. This episode, therefore, challenges some comfortable assumptions about how the early Cold War was fought in Australia.

Catching the Dragon´s Tail: China and Southeast Asia in the 21st Century

Introduction: China's Role in the Post-Cold War Era One of the most enduring confrontations of the last half of the twentieth century was that which pitted non-communist Southeast Asia, backed by the United States, against communist China and its proxies. Europe had its iron curtain, so Asia had the so-called bamboo curtain. Tens of thousands of men and women died in wars and insurgencies that supposedly kept China in check. Military governments were promoted and. protected; dictators were coddled, and freedoms were suppressed -- all in the name of battling communism. The Cold War maybe over, but China's presence looms if anything larger and a key question for everyone is what a stronger, wealthier, and developed China means for the region. If history is any guide, there is more to gain and less to worry about. For centuries the old Southeast Asian kingdoms and principalities regarded powerful imperial China as a source of prosperity and lucrative trade rather than an expansionist threat. Although they bridled at Chinese imperial arrogance and paternalism -- the rituals of tribute and recognition that were central to Chinese dealings with its barbarian fringe -- countries in the region enjoyed formal relationships with China that generally resulted in commercial gain. (1) The end of formal imperial rule in China and the long period of turmoil that eventually led to communist rule first modified and then, briefly, interrupted this profitable exchange. Not insignificantly, this was also a period when large numbers of Chinese migrated to the region, settled, and integrated with their host societies. With the opening of China's economy from the late 1970s, commercial ties resumed. Today, trade between the ASEAN states and China is on track, being greater in some countries of the region than trade with Europe and the United States. (2) Yet, as the ASEAN countries hurry to cement commercial ties, seek investment opportunities, and tap into China's vast market, contrasting views of this development persist. On the one hand, there are those who see Southeast Asia's economic future umbilically tied to China. Then there are those who warn that sovereignty and prosperity may be threatened by drawing too close to a nascent empire reinventing a 2,500 year old autocracy to control its population and hector non-Chinese neighbouring peoples. (3) These contrasting views of China's burgeoning ties with Southeast Asia, one exuberant and hopeful, the other dark and full of foreboding, mask more sober perceptions commonly heard within the region s business community. Firstly, the region has never relied on a sole market or source of trade, well-positioned as it is to benefit from the flow of trade between east and west. Moreover, no one assumes that China's market alone will guarantee everyone's economic security. The United States remains the region's single biggest destination for exports, and will be for some years to come. China's economy is still only about 10 per cent of the total size of the U.S. economy. Moreover, problems of market saturation, price wars, and the rise of able local competitors are all seen on the horizon in China. Much as the region's large conglomerates like to see China as a real opportunity, they are equally interested in exploring opportunities in India. Nor would it be prudent to bank on China's enduring political and econom ic stability. China faces the daunting task of cleaning up a hugely indebted banking system within the next five years, before WTO (World Trade Organization) rules force open the financial sector. Both a cyclical economic downturn and a mini-financial crisis are possible. Set against these economic pressures, it is hard to imagine that the Chinese Communist Party can maintain its monopoly on power forever. With political change and reform, some form of federalism or devolution of power could fragment and dilute the current scope of Chinese power. …

Australian Expatriates' Experiences in Working Behind the Bamboo Curtain: An Examination of guanxi in Post-communist China

Existing literature examining business relationships in China suggests that China has a business culture that is based on strong family networks or cultural ties secured in guanxi connections, which are underpinned by strong Confucian ethics. We agree that Chinese business may have cultural attributes that are distinctly national (that international businesses and their expatriates ignore at their peril), but we also question the continued significance of these historical cultural concepts in a globalizing world. We query whether a system of networks arising from existing state-owned enterprises that has been consolidated during 50 years of communism can still be applicable on the considerably larger scale of multinational corporate business on which Chinese capitalism in the 21st century operates. Interview data collected from Australian expatriates in Shanghai in November 2001 is used to assess the relevance of guanxi. Our findings suggest that the necessity for expatriates to establish guanxi is determined by company size and the individual expatriate's length of service in China.

A comparison of confidence in the police in China and in the United States

Few studies, either qualitative or quantitative, have been done on public attitudes toward the police in the People's Republic of China. The “bamboo curtain” still covers China, which since 1979 has launched ambitious economic reforms but has continued to maintain restrictions on public opinion surveys on key political issues. This study analyzed a rare data set that contains information about public confidence in the police in China as well as in the United States. The data show that the public in the U.S. has greater confidence in the police than do their Chinese counterparts. The Tiananmen incident has undoubtedly attributed to this gap, although how much is directly attributable to it cannot be determined. The study also indicated that a universal pattern of evaluating the police is emerging despite the cultural, economical, and political differences.

Innovation and risk-taking in a transitional economy: A comparative study of chinese managers and entrepreneurs

This research was set in the People's Republic of China. As former socialist China moves from central planning toward a more market-driven economy, improved knowledge about the new environment and firm decisions within such an environment has significant implications. For organizational researchers, such a transition represents a genuine shift of paradigm, and thus offers a unique opportunity to test existing organizational theories and develop new ones. For multinational businesses seeking business opportunities, they have to compete or cooperate with these Chinese firms, whether state-owned or privately owned. Motivated by a deep curiosity in, using the language of Williamson (1996), “What is going on there” behind the “bamboo curtain,” and underpinned by a strong conviction that organizational researchers have much to gain as well as to offer by focusing on transitional economies, I undertook this study to examine characteristics of a regulatory environment and the impact on innovation and risk-taking among Chinese managers and entrepreneurs. I collected original primary data that represents managers from large state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and entrepreneurs from small privately-owned enterprises (POEs) through personal interviews and a survey. Significant differences were found between managers and entrepreneurs in their reported environmental characteristics, strategic orientations, size, and firm performance, indicating that managers are not as innovative and are less willing to make risky decisions than entrepreneurs. Being smaller and faster than SOEs, entrepreneurial firms have adopted some strategies that distinguish them from their larger and more established competitors. Speed, stealth, and sound execution allow entrepreneurs to harvest first-mover advantages and thus increase their chances for survival in a turbulent environment.

The Fall of the Bamboo Curtain: A Review of Complementary Medicine in South Africa

This paper considers the increased interest in and usage of complementary medicine. The movement is being led worldwide, not by healthcare professionals or the funders of healthcare, but by consumers. In South Africa, a pilot study was undertaken in 1999 to identify existing sources of data and collate information as an initial baseline of the practice of and interest in complementary medicine. The paper summarises the findings of that study. The legal framework for the practice of complementary medicine in South Africa is described, the range of therapies is given and the number of practitioners is estimated. First indications of the use by consumers and the coverage by medical schemes are reported. An introduction to the status of African traditional medicine is given. Resources for the actuary wishing to gain more understanding of this consumer-driven movement are suggested.

Mist Across the Bamboo Curtain: China's Internal Crisis and the American Intelligence Process, 1961-1962

In examining the developments leading to the war between the United States and Japan, the latter's signing of the Axis Pact in September 1940 accelerated the already deteriorating relations between the two countries, a downward spiral that had been quickening since the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in July 1937. But from May to mid-July of 1940, the period when Admiral Yonai Mitsumasa was the Japanese prime minister, opportunities existed for Japan to gain American recogni tion of its hegemony in the Far East, including the recognition of Manchukuo. Because of Adolf Hitler's successes in Europe, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was willing to explore the possibility of a settle ment with the Japanese in the Pacific. Between May and July he per mitted official dialogues to consider a rapprochement between American and Japanese diplomats. During that time, the Japanese business community was orches trating a major effort to improve relations with the United States and obtain U.S. economic assistance for the industrialization of Japan and Manchukuo. Two projects were being carried out at the time, one by the Japan Economic Federation and the other by the industrialist who founded the Nissan business conglomerate, Ayukawa Yoshisuke, and his aides.1 These efforts reflected a strong support within the Japanese business community for a rapprochement with the United States by

Negotiation: Lessons from behind the Bamboo Curtain

Negotiation: Lessons from behind the Bamboo Curtain

Why Accept Stories About China?

I am always amazed by the fascination of the American public with the "stories" from behind the Bamboo Curtain. The data of Dr. Wray in his article1 are biased, i.e., "I was told," etc. Any other article based upon similarly described data, especially from the United States, would not even be considered for publication by an editor, especially not by the editors of the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Wray's last sentence, "... Chairman Mao's command: ‘Serve the People!’" sounds more like a Marxist manifesto than the conclusion of a scientific report.

Education behind the bamboo curtain

Education is regarded as one of the State's main ways to achieve Chinese communism and to create the new Chinese man and woman.

Behind the Bamboo Curtain: What the Communists Did to the Peking Opera

Behind the Bamboo Curtain: What the Communists Did to the Peking Opera

North Korean Educational System: 1945 to Present

An examination of the educational objectives of North Korea and the system which implements these objectives reveals the true image of a country only dimly perceived since it disappeared behind the Bamboo Curtain after its liberation from the Japanese in 1945.

Behind the Bamboo Curtain: The Experiences of an American Doctor in China

Behind the Bamboo Curtain: The Experiences of an American Doctor in China

Behind the Bamboo Curtain: The Experiences of an American Doctor in China

Behind the Bamboo Curtain: The Experiences of an American Doctor in China

Review: Behind the Bamboo Curtain. The Experiences of an American Doctor in China, by A. M. Dunlap

Review: <i>Behind the Bamboo Curtain. The Experiences of an American Doctor in China</i>, by A. M. Dunlap