Chinese Professors Research Articles

Concept and Practice of Traditional Garden Heritage Conservation: A Report of 2020 Asia-Pacific Region Historic Buildings Protection and Restoration Technologies Senior Talent Seminar

In December 2020, the WHITRAP-Suzhou Branch jointed Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University that successfully held a 9-day “2020 Asia-Pacific Region Historic Buildings Protection and Restoration Technologies Senior Talent Seminar and Yangtze River Delta Region Classical Gardens Talent Seminar.” During the event, Chinese professors and overseas scholars gave a series of academic lectures in the on-off line interactive way to 30 trainees from all over China. Furthermore, through the field inspections and in-depth on-site workshops in classical Suzhou Gardens, the participants discussed the garden historiography and the meaning of landscape painting in the gardens, and summarized the skills and principles for rockery-making in the gardens. Moreover, the participants also presented the principles for garden heritage conservation. The Internet-of-Things-based method was introduced as an effective tool for monitoring the health of classical gardens. Although this training course was during the prevention and control of the COVID-19 Pandemic, it still demonstrated the promotion of the Yangtze River Delta region in heritage conservation, and provided a reference to the heritage training, promoting the Suzhou Gardens history research, and the interaction between historical research and heritage value.

The moral behavior of ethics professors: A replication-extension in Chinese mainland

ABSTRACT The relationship between professional ethical reflection and corresponding moral behavior is an important theme of moral psychology in recent years. Following Schönegger and Wagner’s research in German-speaking countries, through a replication-extension of the original US-based research carried out by Schwitzgebel and Rust, we aim at examining their results in the Chinese context. The previous researchers have shown that ethical reflection generally has no positive effect on moral behavior. A cross validation of this result was conducted in Chinese mainland, and three issues concerning Confucian virtues were added. Through reaching out to 4482 professors and collecting 368 responses altogether, we attempted to explore whether professional ethical reflection can influence normative attitude and the moral attitude-behavior consistency. Unfortunately, the results failed to show a statistically significant difference between ethicists and other professors on most of the moral issues, with the exception of paying academic membership fees and vegetarianism, wherein ethicists do express more stringent normative attitudes, and their moral attitude and self-reported behavior are statistically consistent. Notably, Chinese professors mainly expressed morally neutral attitudes toward the issue of eating meat, and they tended to believe that ethical reflection contributes to more and better moral behaviors.

The perception of counselling services through the lens of college faculty in China

AbstractCounselling has become a growing profession in many countries around the world and is now viewed as an international profession. Gaining insights into the perceptions of college professors on counselling has been an ongoing challenge. With the high number of international students, particularly those from China, the purpose of this study was to describe the perceptions of professional counselling held by Chinese professors in China. The authors identified six themes that made up the essence of the Chinese faculty's perceptions of professional counselling: roles of college counsellors in China; common challenges that brought Chinese college students to counselling; Chinese professors’ expectations of college counsellors; training and requirements of college counsellors; credentials and experience of counsellor supervisors; and future development of college counselling in China. The results led the authors to note that research focused on the intersections of specific cultures and the basic foundations of counselling is needed so that counselling becomes a more relevant means to improving mental health around the world.

Chinese Faculty Members at Japanese Universities: Who Are They and Why Do They Work in Japan?

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the key aspects of the demographic characteristics and motivations of Chinese faculty at Japanese universities. Design/Approach/Methods: Main methods include an analysis of relevant data from a national survey of full-time international faculty in Japan in 2017 and results from semi-structured interviews with several full-time Chinese faculty hired in different Japanese universities. Findings: This study suggests that, compared to the average level of international faculty, there are larger numbers of female Chinese faculty, greater numbers of Chinese professors, Chinese doctoral degree holders, Chinese faculty in engineering, and larger numbers of them being engaged in research rather than teaching. Further, this study argues that the most important reasons for Chinese faculty to work in Japanese universities are academic or professional reasons, followed by their fondness for Japanese life and culture and their agreement with better living conditions in Japan than in China. Originality/Value: It is the first time that the key characteristics of full-time Chinese faculty at Japanese universities and their motivations to come to Japan are investigated and discussed based on both quantitative and qualitative methods.

Problematizing enterprise culture in global academic publishing: Linguistic entrepreneurship through the lens of two Chinese visiting scholars in a U.S. university

Abstract The global spread of English has made it the dominant language in academic publishing (Hyland, Ken. 2015. Academic Publishing: Issues and Challenges in the Construction of Knowledge. Oxford: Oxford University Press). Influenced by enterprise culture, scholars from peripheral non-Western countries face mounting pressure to publish in English (Curry, Marry Jane & Theresa Lillis (eds.). 2017. Global academic publishing: Policies, perspectives and pedagogies. Bristol, UK: Multilingual matters). The English academic publishing industry has also ballooned in China (Tian, Mei, Yan Su & Xin Ru. 2016. Perish or publish in China: Pressures on young Chinese scholars to publish in internationally indexed journals. Publications 4(2). 9.). In response to the Chinese government’s commitment to developing world-class universities and disciplines to enhance the internationalization of its higher education system, local Chinese scholars are increasingly encouraged to produce research that has international impact, as well as to engage in international academic exchange and cooperation arrangements (Li, Yongyan & Guangwei Hu. 2018. Collaborating with management academics in a new economy: Benefits and challenges. Publications 6. 1–17). In seeking academic collaboration, a growing number of Chinese academics have participated in visiting scholar programs offered by western-based universities. In light of this emergent phenomenon, this study explores how Chinese visiting scholars, driven by an ethical imperative to enhance human capital at “neoliberal universities” (Holborow, Marnie. 2013. Applied linguistics in the neoliberal university: Ideological keywords and social agency. Applied Linguistics Review 4(2). 229–257), exploited language-related resources available to them to succeed in English academic publishing. Data, which include in-depth interviews, social media posts, journals, resumes and manuscripts that were in press at academic journals, were collected from two Chinese professors who took part in a one-year visiting scholar program in the U.S. university. Our findings revealed that under the mounting expectations to publish in English-dominated SSCI journals, our focal participants enacted linguistic entrepreneurial practices.

Bad Memories and IR

Bad Memories and IR Walter C. Clemens Jr. (bio) Ezra F. Vogel, China and Japan: Facing History (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2019). Barry Buzan and Evelyn Goh, Rethinking Sino-Japanese Alienation: Historical Problems and Historical Opportunities (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2020). Gregory Afinogenov, Spies and Scholars: Chinese Secrets and Imperial Russia's Quest for World Power (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2020). Actors on the world stage often behave in ways they hope will enhance their material interests, but intangibles also play a role—not just feelings and ideals but also memories of pain and pleasure. Blends of tangible and intangible factors probably shape the behavior of most individuals and larger entities—communities, businesses, nongovernmental bodies, and governments. For more than a century, most US citizens have forgotten whatever pains earlier Americans suffered when dealing with the British Empire. Many Americans have also pushed away the factual record of how many whites treated (and still treat) Native Americans, Afro-Americans, Asians and other non-whites. But memories of negative experiences linger in other parts of the world, including East Asia. Even in the United States, some elderly Chinese living in their adopted land do not forget trying to save their own lives, cattle, and other possessions from Japanese invaders in World War II. Some of these individuals refuse to buy a Honda or Toyota no matter how highly they are rated by Consumer Reports. How China and Japan have faced history is chronicled by Ezra Vogel in a book that covers the last two millennia. An emeritus professor at Harvard, Vogel notes the importance of memory and perception in the introduction to his book. When Chinese and Japanese scholars meet to try and clarify what happened in the past, their meetings often end in rancor. So he seeks to address Asian as well as Western and other audiences to lay out so objectively as possible wie es eigtenlich gewesen [End Page 767] ist—how and why things really happened. Similar goals probably helped to inspire Rethinking Sino-Japanese Alienation by Buzan and Goh. Actions not intended to offend can produce hurt feelings that linger. Japanese early on sought to learn from China, but trouble arose from the Chinese claim that their emperor was the "Child of Heaven," while leaders of tributary states could be no higher than "king." In 697, however, the top Japanese leader Suiko wrote that "the Child of Heaven in the land where the sun rises addresses the Child of Heaven in the land where the sun sets." Offended by her effrontery, the Chinese emperor instructed a subordinate that "if memorials from barbarian states are written by persons who lack propriety, do not accept them." Japanese began referring to their country as Nihon—"the origin of the sun." After Suiko died, Japanese began to refer to her as tenno (emperor or heavenly lord). The first character of the Japanese word for emperor, ten (Heaven), is the same character as tian (Heaven, in Chinese) (Vogel, pp. 8–9). From times nearly immemorial, Japanese and Chinese have taken turns purporting to be superior to and mentor of each other. When I hiked with Chinese professors in Taiwan in 1992, they joked with each other in Japanese—the language in which they had been schooled in Taiwan and later in Japan. Vogel's essays about China and Japan range across the centuries from ancient times to the present. They include trade without transformative learning, 838 to 1862; responding to Western challenges, 1839–1882; and rivalry in Korea and the Sino-Japanese war, 1882–1895. This chapter illustrates again the way that admiration can turn to disdain. Some Japanese were enamored of Chinese classics and culture; others, Western models of modernization. When Chinese troops put down the "Soldiers' Riot" in Korea in 1882, Japanese resented the rise of Chinese influence and new Korean trade laws that curbed Japanese interests. The "Kapsin coup" in 1884 led by a Korean admirer of Japan, Kim Ok-kyna, was suppressed in three days. China's influence again rose. Kim's plan for Meiji-type reforms in Korea (but not the coup) had been encouraged by Fukuzawa Yukichi and other Japanese...

Is China's IR Academic Community Becoming More Anti-American?

Is China's IR Academic Community Becoming More Anti-American? Meng Weizhan It is my impression that the majority of American scholars who study China and the majority of Chinese scholars who study the United States are committed to promoting friendly relations between the two countries and to helping their own people understand each other better. Unfortunately, their efforts are often misunderstood. Starting at the end of 2018, a disturbing rumor began to circulate in China's international relations (IR) academic community: several scholars told their peers that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was prohibiting them from visiting the United States. By April 2019, a report in the New York Times confirmed that "the FBI has mounted a counterintelligence operation that aims to bar Chinese academics from the United States if they are suspected of having links to Chinese intelligence agencies. … As many as 30 Chinese professors in the social sciences, heads of academic institutes, and experts who help explain government policies have had their visas to the United States canceled in the past year, or put on administrative review, according to Chinese academics and their American counterparts" (Perlez 2019). According to a report in the Global Times (Fan 2019), more than 280 Chinese scholars have been investigated or harassed by the FBI. These incidents have shocked academic circles in both China and the United States. Perhaps the US government assumes that this is fair treatment for Chinese scholars because many American scholars have complained that they have been banned from entering China due to expressing views that offend the Chinese government. I fully support academic freedom and believe that all governments should be tolerant of any views expressed by scholars. Nevertheless, it is puzzling that the Chinese scholars whose visas have been canceled include some of those best known for their balanced views of the United States and its foreign policy. In order to verify this, we should explore whether the Chinese scholars whose US visas have been canceled have said anything that would harm the interests of the United States. If they have not done so, then they have been treated unjustly. [End Page 139] I will also examine the changes in the perceptions of the US among mainstream IR scholars in China since President Donald Trump took office, focusing in particular on the period after the Sino-US trade war that began in June 2018. Despite the trade war, there is no evidence of a trend toward greater hostility among mainstream IR scholars in Beijing toward the United States. Many doves (wen he pai) with respect to US policies openly and strongly advocate pacifism, oppose nationalism, and call for maintaining friendly relations with the United States. Some well-known hawks (qiang ying pai) have also expressed their views that the Chinese government should seriously reflect upon its own domestic and foreign policy decisions to consider how it may prevent China from becoming isolated. In short, my conclusion, from extensive reading of these scholars' writings and listening to their public remarks, is that an overwhelming majority of Chinese IR scholars do not regard the United States as an enemy at all, and I argue that China should continue to reform its economic system and be more open to better integration with the Western-led international economic system. My assessment is that few among them advocate that the Chinese government should adopt tougher policies toward the United States or promote anti-American sentiment among the general public. China's state media and public opinion are indeed becoming increasingly anti-American, but mainstream IR scholars rarely publish extreme views in newspapers or new media. In this essay, I examine the public views of IR scholars at universities and research institutions in Beijing. The vast majority of Chinese IR scholars and the editorial departments of academic and policy research journals on this subject are based in Beijing, and they are likely to have a direct impact on decision making within the Chinese government. In Beijing, there are only ten universities and institutions with a true academic and policy influence on China's strategies, including policies toward the United States. Four of these are top universities, namely Peking University...

A Critical Discourse Study of Chinese Professors' Image Construction in Microblogging Discourse

With the aim of elaborating what and how Chinese professors' identities are constructed in microblogging discourse, through high-frequency words, collocates and concordance lines, the present study analyzes the ideologies, the academic and moral image of professor behind the collected microblogging data posted on Sina Weibo with topic of "'Mistress Gate' in Fudan University". The results suggest that: (1) Under the new media, Weibo, network catchwords are growing popular and tucao (revealing the inside story) is full of violence. (2) Although most of the netizens hold decent ethics and values, they go emotional easily. (3) A series of negative cases in the media have already made "professor" who usually has a relatively decent social status have a negative connotation.

Practices and challenges of internationalization of higher education in China; international students’ perspective

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to conceptualize international students’ perception on the internationalization of higher education in China and identify some challenges faced by some of the higher educational institutions (HEIs) in their internationalization practice.Design/methodology/approachThis study utilized the qualitative research method, specifically, the researchers employed structured interview for investigation. The population of this research includes 15 international students and five Chinese professors teaching in BNU. Participants’ responses were categorized to provide a better understanding of the subject of study.FindingsThis study identified some push-pull factors that influenced international students’ decision making to pursue their studies in China. Some of the push factors identified include the high cost of graduate education, unavailability of some academic courses in some students’ home countries, international exposure, and unemployment, whereas the pull factors identified constitute scholarship opportunities, an alliance between BNU and others foreign universities, global job opportunity, universities’ prestige, and ranking, Chinese history and culture, and technological advancement. Finally, the challenges discovered are professors and students’ relationship, language barrier, separation of international and Chinese students, and lack of internship opportunities.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides an in-depth understanding of the case presented and has outlined some key areas to be improved in the internationalization process of Chinese HEIs. Further studies in this area are encouraged to critically analyze foreign faculty members’ experiences and contributions to Chinese internationalization of HE process in different institutions and provide a substantial framework to help mitigate some of the challenges that will emerge.Originality/valueThis research collated and addressed the lived experiences and perception on matters relevant for international practices by Chinese HEIs. Researchers have explained the assumptions and theory used in this study to better understanding the issues that emerged.

Chinese professors turn entrepreneurial

Jianmin Fang is a professor of molecular medicine at Shanghai’s Tongji University who for decades has been studying the mechanisms by which tumors develop. Fang also has two companies in Yantai in Northeast China. One, RemeGen, he founded in 2008 to develop biological drugs for cancers and other diseases. It now employs 250 people. The other provides manufacturing services to RemeGen and other drug firms. In Beijing, Xiaodong Wang is the founder of the National Institute of Biological Sciences, a government lab that conducts basic life sciences research and employs 700 people. On the side, Wang is founder and director of BeiGene, an oncology drug research firm he launched in 2010. BeiGene has several drug candidates being tested on patients in China and other countries. Fang and Wang are pioneers who started their companies before it was fashionable for Chinese academics to do so. China has long been fertile ground

Building world class universities in China: exploring faculty’s perceptions, interpretations of and struggles with global forces in higher education

Employing a glonacal (global, national and local) heuristic as a theoretical lens, and a qualitative analysis with interview data, this study highlights how Chinese faculty members interpret the definitions and implications of pursuing world class universities (WCUs) and struggle with the multiple dimensions of their academic lives across global, national and local dimensions. The findings indicate that faculty members believe that the quest to build WCUs in China has been narrowly defined by the government, which emphasises international/global dimensions, rather than national or local. Because of this, Chinese professors believe that there are growing gaps between administration and faculty. Yet they recognise significant advancement in hardware and facilities, especially in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This study confirms that faculty’s academic lives are intricately interlinked across the glonacal economy and that faculty continue to navigate their roles across all dimensions.

Two Expatriate English Instructors in China: Their Experiences, and Perspectives of Local Students and Teachers

This study explores how two expat English writing instructors in Chinese universities teach and reflect on their role, as well as how their students, colleagues, and administrators perceive the role and teaching of the two expats. Findings illustrate that both expats worked hard to teach the English academic writing style they were familiar with. One (Allan) did so by adopting a “Chinese style” of lecturing and the other (Barbra) did so by focusing on process-oriented writing activities. Students, however, complained about a lack of interaction in Allan’s classes and a planned curriculum in Barbra’s classes. The Chinese professors believed that the expat teachers, without knowing students’ needs for a combination of systematic knowledge learning and interactive classroom teaching, are disadvantaged over the local Chinese teachers. The study, by illustrating how the local and expat participants are “otherized,” suggests that the two parties should exchange views to discuss better practice and to avoid stereotyping.

Words From Guest Editor

The Second Annual International Symposium on Public Human Resource Management was held in October 2012 in the School of Business Administration, Zhejiang Gongshan University, Hangzhou, China. The symposium was a joint effort by several universities and organizations, including the Psychology and Behavior Science Department of Zhejiang University; the School of Business Administration of Zhejiang Gongshan University; the Training Center of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs of China; the International Public Management Association for Human Resources (IPMA-HR), United States; the College of Education of the University of South Florida; and the American Scholars Press, United States. This forum invited more than 150 people including scholars, professors, and graduate students to meet and exchange their research and ideas. The forum encouraged development of further study and communication via increased international and domestic cooperation. The symposium invited new research in the following eight categories: team performance, enterprise knowledge innovation, employee traits and ability, organizational justice (OJ) and administration, mental health, consumer psychology, organizational ethics, and other related areas. Researchers examined the public human resource management (HRM) from different perspectives, especially that of Chinese professionals. From the unpublished work presented at the symposium, the academic committee selected the following seven articles for publication. All of these articles are written by Chinese college professors and graduate students. These articles have been reviewed by peers and subject matter experts. These articles fall within the scope of Public Personnel Management, a journal published by SAGE publication. These research articles explore various aspects of work dynamics from an organizational and individual perspective, such as the integrative negotiation between collaborators, the effects of OJ, and specific case studies pertaining to the Chinese context of human resources. Brief synopses of the selected studies follow: Making Collaborators Happy: The Outcome Priming Effects in Integrative Negotiation. The study is focused on developing the quality of collaboration in a negotiation process by improving collaborator's level of satisfaction. Authors conducted a research to investigate the impact of collaborator's satisfaction level on performance and negotiating experience. Factors contributing to various mind-sets of a negotiator were examined. The study contributes to the literature of collaborative negotiations. The Effects of Organizational Justice on Organizational Citizenship Behavior in the Chinese Context: The Mediating Effects of Social Exchange Relationship. The article contributes to the existing literature on OJ, and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), by exploring the mediating effect of social exchange on the relationship between OJ and OCB. Based on their research, the authors propose a more comprehensive four-factor OJ model, which can be further evaluated in various cultures. Moral Identity as a Moderator of the Effects of Organizational Injustice on Counterproductive Work Behavior Among Chinese Public Servants. The article makes a significant contribution to the literature of organizational behavior by identifying moral identity as a factor that impacts the level of counterproductive work behavior induced in an environment characterized by organizational injustice. Stress, Burnout, and Job Satisfaction: A Case of Police Force in China. Authors have presented a complex and detailed multidimensional model that depicts the relationship between stress, burnout, and job satisfaction in the context of a high-stress job. Authors have suggested various measures to help improve job satisfaction as a mean to minimize job stress and burnout factors. The model developed by the author can be used in subsequent studies to quantify the effects of many other variables identified in the model. …

New Approach of erhua(儿化) Education - From the Point of View of Korean Professors and Students

This article presents current issues in erhua(儿化) education in Korea and suggests a new approach of it. Since 1992, certain changes have arisen in the Chinese language curriculum in Korea due to the diplomatic relationship: especially from Twainese to Putonghua. Putonghua erhua(儿化) does not correspond to Beijing accent erhua(儿化). Without telling this linguistic classification, erhua(儿化) began to be considered as one of the most characteristic phonetic features either in Beijing accent or in Putonghua, and it made Korean students as well as professors confused, stressed, and frustrated. We try to propose the reason why this misconception, the structure and the function of Beijing erhua(儿化) arose, in tandem with certain suggestions of methodologies for Chinese professors and students who need differentiated instruction.

China’s Educational Soft Power: International Students’ Perceptions of Classroom Instruction in Wuhan-Area Universities

Education is a major platform for building and expanding a nation’s soft power. And international students in particular are key participants in China’s developing and exercising that power. That platform has its strengths and challenges. One such challenge, instructional communication (IC), that is, communication for the purpose of engaging students academically while reducing significantly problematic understanding in the classroom, is a bane of the educational experience of international students in China. Therefore, this study extends a conceptual framework of IC and draws upon the general model of IC and the instructional beliefs model to analyze perceptions of a purposive sample of international students (N = 681) vis-a-vis classroom instruction in nine Wuhan-area universities. Key findings from Mann-Whitney U-tests: (a) male respondents indicate that language is their top barrier to achieving academic excellence, while financial issues are the top barrier among female students; (b) female students seek their Chinese classmates to resolve IC difficulties while male students prefer to approach their professors directly to resolve their IC problems; (c) female respondents report that their expectations of Chinese universities are met more significantly than do their male counterparts; and (d) significant positive association exists between instructional misunderstandings in the classroom and professors’ interest in addressing them, suggesting a willingness among Chinese professors to respond to the instructional needs of international students. Implications of these results for enhancing China’s educational environment for international students and for expanding its educational soft power as a beachhead for strengthening its global influence are presented.

Exploring the nature of teacher-student interaction in small-group discussions in a Chinese university setting

Rapid evolution of information technology has changed traditional classroom pedagogies, and a number of computer-supported collaborative learning forms have burgeoned. However, research concerning the analysis of teacher-student interaction in actual classroom discussions is still less established. This article addresses the nature of teacher-student interaction in small-group discussions in a Chinese higher education setting. We analysed the social network and verbal behavioural features of teacher-student interaction using an analytical framework that integrates the social network analysis (SNA) and Flanders interaction analysis (FIA). The results of SNA indicated that the teacher exerted the main control of the social network and the group leaders were more actively engaged than other students. The findings of FIA showed a range of teacher-student behavioural characteristics. Teacher lecturing, student-initiated talk and teacher’s clarifying student ideas accounted for the largest percentage of interaction. Although the teacher spent a large percentage of talk in lecturing, he acted more like a guide and facilitator, developing student ideas with appropriate comments and providing ample opportunities for student talk. The students as a whole were found to be active in verbal behaviours and vigorous in raising questions. This case study provided a framework for analysing teacher-student interactional behaviours in higher education context. It also added our understanding of Chinese professors’ and graduate students’ experience in small-group discussions.

"Walking on two legs in Chinese law schools": A Chinese/U.S. Program in Experimental Legal Education

Dong Jingbo, a young faculty member at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, used to teach using only the traditional lecture technique which she had experienced in her own legal education in China and Korea. Until, that is, Professor Dong attended summer workshops given by Pacific McGeorge, in partnership with American University’s Washington College of Law, and also earned an LL.M. at Pacific McGeorge, in the Teaching of Advocacy. Her classes no longer are limited to lecture. She has developed a simulation to use in Chinese criminal law classes, has demonstrated it to other Chinese law professors and has written a law review article about it.2 The simulation is based on a news story about a man who used his wife’s ATM card to make two successive withdrawals of 10,000 RMB, while the receipts reflected a total withdrawal of only 2 RMB, and even though his wife had only 10,000 RMB in her account. The man was charged with theft. Professor Dong assigns students to play the role of the prosecutor, defense counsel and judge. They are given the definition of theft, and must argue and decide the case. She then provides a series of additional facts, requiring deeper analysis. Introduction of this role play into the class builds on learning theory to provide deeper understanding of the elements of the crime of theft than a student could obtain by listening to a lecture. Moreover, this learning by doing encourages analysis, fact development, understanding of the important role of the theory of the case, and independent thinking. For these reasons, and as our experience in China affirms, role play is a useful learning method in traditional, simulation, and clinical law courses.

Translation and the British Colonial Mission: The Career of Samuel Turner Fearon and the Establishment of Chinese Studies at King's College, London

AbstractThe University of London was the first institution in the United Kingdom to establish a professorship in Chinese. Within a decade of the first half of the nineteenth century, two professorships in Chinese were created at its two colleges: the first at University College in 1837 and the second at King's College in 1847. Previous studies of British sinology have devoted sufficient attention to the establishment of the programme and the first Chinese professorship. However, despite the latter professorship being established by the same patron (Sir George Thomas Staunton; 1781–1859) during the same era as the former, the institutionalisation of the Chinese programme at King's College London seems to have been completely overlooked. If we consider British colonial policy and the mission of the Empire in the early nineteenth century, we are able to understand the strategic purpose served by the Chinese studies programme at King's and the special reason for its establishment at a crucial moment in the history of Sino-British relations. Examining it from this perspective, we reveal unresolved doubts concerning the selection and appointment of King's first Chinese professor. Unlike other inaugural Chinese professors appointed during the nineteenth century at other universities in the United Kingdom, the first Chinese professor at King’s, Samuel Turner Fearon (1819–1854), was not a sinophile. He did not translate any Chinese classics or other works. His inaugural lecture has not even survived. This is why sinologists have failed to conduct an in-depth study on Fearon and the genealogy of the Chinese programme at King’s. Nevertheless, Samuel Fearon did indeed play a very significant role in Sino-British relations due to his ability as an interpreter and his knowledge of China. He was not only an interpreter in the first Opium War (1839–1842) but was also a colonial civil servant and senior government official in British Hong Kong when the colonial government started to take shape after the war. This paper both re-examines his contribution during this “period of conflict and difficulty” in Sino-British relations and demonstrates the very nature of British sinology.

China's Progress with IFRS Convergence: Interviews with Chinese Professors

ABSTRACT: The focus of this paper is to examine China's process of convergence with international accounting standards, through a review of the history and through the experiences of its accounting academics. The review of China's accounting history establishes a framework for understanding the current standards. The experiences of Chinese academics during the convergence process are of particular interest to other academics, and offer insight into the training and development of an internationalized accounting profession. To gain insights from the Chinese academics, we conducted interviews with ten professors, and solicited comments, suggestions, and advice from these academics. These academics report between 6 to 50 years of experience in Chinese accounting education. The focus of our interviews was to gain an understanding of the forces and circumstances that characterized the period during which China changed from an internal, rules-based accounting system to a system that has now achieved significant progress toward convergence with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The insights from these Chinese accounting professors will be of interest to educators in other countries that are dealing with IFRS-related issues in their curriculum.

Striving for Success and Equity: Chinese Professors in American Business Schools

This study investigated the status quo of first-generation Chinese immigrants holding tenured and tenure-track faculty positions in American business schools concerning several key indicators of ca...