Mainland East Asia Research Articles

Transported and Local Organic Aerosols over Fukuoka, Japan

In order to understand transported and local pollution in an urban area that are strongly affected by long-range transport of air pollution, daily concentrations of 15 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and 20 n-alkanes in the total suspended particles were simultaneously measured at sites in Western Japan on Fukue Island (FI), located downwind of mainland East Asia, and Fukuoka City (FC), a megacity close (< 200 km) to the FI site, in spring and winter 2010 and summer 2011. The average total PAH concentration observed at the FC site (2.93 ± 2.17 ng/m 3 ) was higher than that at the FI site (1.78 ± 1.70 ng/m 3 ). The average total n-alkane concentration at the FC site (34.7 ± 21.8 ng/m 3 ) was also higher than that at the FI site (12.2 ± 9.2 ng/m 3 ). However, the total PAH and n-alkane concentrations measured at the FI site were considerably high, despite its remote location. The seasonal changes in the specific PAH ratios, used to determine the source of pollutants, were similar between the FC and FI sites. The average fluoranthene/(fluoranthene + pyrene) ratio was 0.57–0.65 in winter and spring and 0.48–0.51 in summer. PAHs observed at both sites mainly originated from coal or biomass combustion in spring or winter, whereas those were affected by petroleum combustion as well as coal and biomass combustion in summer. These field results show that pollutants transported from mainland East Asia make a significant contribution to the total PAHs and n-alkanes at the FC site in the winter and spring seasons.

Increased Y-chromosome resolution of haplogroup O suggests genetic ties between the Ami aborigines of Taiwan and the Polynesian Islands of Samoa and Tonga

The Austronesian expansion has left its fingerprint throughout two thirds of the circumference of the globe reaching the island of Madagascar in East Africa to the west and Easter Island, off the coast of Chile, to the east. To date, several theories exist to explain the current genetic distribution of Austronesian populations, with the “slow boat” model being the most widely accepted, though other conjectures ( i.e., the “express train” and “entangled bank” hypotheses) have also been widely discussed. In the current study, 158 Y chromosomes from the Polynesian archipelagos of Samoa and Tonga were typed using high resolution binary markers and compared to populations across Mainland East Asia, Taiwan, Island Southeast Asia, Melanesia and Polynesia in order to establish their patrilineal genetic relationships. Y-STR haplotypes on the C2 (M38), C2a (M208), O1a (M119), O3 (M122) and O3a2 (P201) backgrounds were utilized in an attempt to identify the differing sources of the current Y-chromosomal haplogroups present throughout Polynesia (of Melanesian and/or Asian descent). We find that, while haplogroups C2a, S and K3-P79 suggest a Melanesian component in 23%–42% of the Samoan and Tongan Y chromosomes, the majority of the paternal Polynesian gene pool exhibits ties to East Asia. In particular, the prominence of sub-haplogroup O3a2c* (P164), which has previously been observed at only minimal levels in Mainland East Asians (2.0–4.5%), in both Polynesians (ranging from 19% in Manua to 54% in Tonga) and Ami aborigines from Taiwan (37%) provides, for the first time, evidence for a genetic connection between the Polynesian populations and the Ami.

Inland post-glacial dispersal in East Asia revealed by mitochondrial haplogroup M9a'b

BackgroundArchaeological studies have revealed a series of cultural changes around the Last Glacial Maximum in East Asia; whether these changes left any signatures in the gene pool of East Asians remains poorly indicated. To achieve deeper insights into the demographic history of modern humans in East Asia around the Last Glacial Maximum, we extensively analyzed mitochondrial DNA haplogroup M9a'b, a specific haplogroup that was suggested to have some potential for tracing the migration around the Last Glacial Maximum in East Eurasia.ResultsA total of 837 M9a'b mitochondrial DNAs (583 from the literature, while the remaining 254 were newly collected in this study) pinpointed from over 28,000 subjects residing across East Eurasia were studied here. Fifty-nine representative samples were further selected for total mitochondrial DNA sequencing so we could better understand the phylogeny within M9a'b. Based on the updated phylogeny, an extensive phylogeographic analysis was carried out to reveal the differentiation of haplogroup M9a'b and to reconstruct the dispersal histories.ConclusionsOur results indicated that southern China and/or Southeast Asia likely served as the source of some post-Last Glacial Maximum dispersal(s). The detailed dissection of haplogroup M9a'b revealed the existence of an inland dispersal in mainland East Asia during the post-glacial period. It was this dispersal that expanded not only to western China but also to northeast India and the south Himalaya region. A similar phylogeographic distribution pattern was also observed for haplogroup F1c, thus substantiating our proposition. This inland post-glacial dispersal was in agreement with the spread of the Mesolithic culture originating in South China and northern Vietnam.

Altruism – the enigma of self-interest

The definition of altruism will be presented, highlighting the enigma behind this phenomenon in today’s highly competitive world of market economy. The growing challenges of hunger and poverty plague the world even as we entered the new millennium. As the gap between the rich and the poor widens, there is also a trend showing the increase of charitable acts and a growing interest in altruistic activities. Hong Kong, where the East meets the West, has developed into a community that is highly competitive and market-oriented. Yet its citizens, while famous for being hard-driven and target-oriented, have also nurtured a charitable spirit that is widespread and deep-rooted. Most, if not all, of her citizen regularly engage in charitable donations and sacrificial services. Each year, the community here donates an amount that, on a per capita basis, ranks amount the top of the world. Data from donor profiling by one of the larger fundraising charities provide clues as to why people give and how they choose their favorite charities. While donating money was the starting point of charitable work, current trend showed that more and more people now choose to donate their time serving the needy, by volunteering and even working fulltime with charities of their choice. The author recounts his 14-year experience of fulltime service with an international charitable organization in Mainland China and East Asia, and discusses what motivated many of his colleagues to serve in impoverished regions of Asia. Foregoing the comfort and luxuries of modern world, young professional people with high education background chose to use their professional skills to serve the needy rather than making money for themselves. The motivation behind their decisions is discussed. Evidence point to the fact that instead of being selfless, most donors and workers choose to serve because of a conviction that serving others bring satisfaction and / or reward to themselves. This concept of rewards is of course not in monetary terms. Alternative worldviews are common among workers in charitable organizations. The basis of these worldviews will be discussed.

Studies Regarding Peat Land Monitoring

SUMMARY Covering an estimated area of 400 million hectares in some 180 countries, equivalent to 3% of the Earth’s land surface, peat lands are not only valued for their ecological services (water quality and storage, biodiversity, carbon de posits) but, historically, have met human needs for food, energy, construction material, live stock bedding and in arts and health. Most of peat lands (c.350 million ha) are in the norther n hemisphere, covering large areas in North America, Russia and Europe. Tropical peat lands occur in mainland East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean and Central America, South America and southern Africa where the current estimate of undisturbed peat land is 30-45 million ha or 10-12% of the global peat land resource. Globally, natural peat lands are des troyed at a rate of 4,000 km2 per year; the global peat volume decreases by 20 km3 per year. These losses largely occurred (and occur) in the temperate and tropical zones. Fifty per cent of natural peat land loss has been attributable to agriculture, 30% to forestry and 10 % to peat extraction. About 14% of European peat lands are currently used for agricult ure, the great majority being used as meadows and pastures. In countries such as Hungary (98%), Greece (90%), The Netherlands, (85%), Germany (85%) and Poland (70%), almost all organic soils are cultivated. In Finland, United Kingdom and Sweden only small areas of peat land are currently under agricultural use (2%; 4%; and 5% respectively), the great majori ty of this peat land being used as meadow and pasture. In Romania, there are just over 70 km 2 of peat lands, representing 0.03% of the country surface, of which 2,000 hectares are situated in Mures and O lt sources. The proved amount of peat in place is reported by the Romanian WEC Member Committee to be 25 million tonnes, of which just over half is deemed t o be economically recoverable.

Gene flow between Zhuang and Han populations in the China–Vietnam borderland

In epidemiological studies, it is easier to glean information from isolated populations with simple genetic backgrounds than from populations with relatively complex genetic backgrounds. Regarded as an isolated population, the Minz (Hei-Yi Zhuang) in Napo County (in the China-Vietnam borderland) has been the subject of numerous recent studies. To assess the genetic isolation of this population, we studied Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA from Minz and Han in Napo. Both populations exhibited southern Chinese genetic characteristics in both paternal and maternal lineages. Using NETWORK analyses, we found pronounced gene flow between these two populations only in maternal lineages. We also observed gene flow from other populations into the Minz gene pool. We thus concluded that the Minz is not a genetically isolated population and it is increasingly difficult to find isolated populations in mainland East Asia.

Magnetic mineral dissolution in Pleistocene fluvio-lacustrine sediments, Nihewan Basin (North China)

The Nihewan fluvio-lacustrine sequence (North China) has recorded late Pliocene–Pleistocene climatic and environmental changes, and contains valuable information on early human evolution in high-latitude East Asia. We carried out a combined mineral-magnetic and geochemical investigation on a sequence from the Xiantai section, eastern Nihewan Basin. Results suggest that large-amplitude magnetic-property variations between so-called ‘high-magnetic’ and ‘low-magnetic’ units mainly result from preservation/dissolution cycles of detrital magnetic minerals in alternating oxic and anoxic depositional environments. In our preservation/dissolution model, the high- and low-magnetic units represent glacial and interglacial deposits, respectively. This contributes to a better understanding of the link between magnetic properties and climate in the Xiantai fluvio-lacustrine sequence. Based upon this relationship, early humans may have occupied the Xiantai and Xiaochangliang sites during an interglacial period, during both interglacial and glacial periods at the Donggutuo site, and during a glacial period at the Maliang site. Our work provides a paleoenvironmental context for early human adaptation and occupation in mainland East Asia during the early Pleistocene.

Early evidence of the genus Homo in East Asia

The timing and route of the earliest dispersal from Africa to Eastern Asia are contentious topics in the study of early human evolution because Asian hominin fossil sites with precise age constraints are very limited. Here we report new high-resolution magnetostratigraphic results that place stringent age controls on excavated hominin incisors and stone tools from the Yuanmou Basin, southwest China. The hominin-bearing layer resides in a reverse polarity magnetozone just above the upper boundary of the Olduvai subchron, yielding an estimated age of 1.7 Ma. The finding represents the age of the earliest documented presence of Homo, with affinities to Homo erectus, in mainland East Asia. This age estimate is roughly the same as for H. erectus in island Southeast Asia and immediately prior to the oldest archaeological evidence in northeast Asia. Mammalian fauna and pollen obtained directly from the hominin site indicate that the Yuanmou hominins lived in a varied habitat of open vegetation with patches of bushland and forest on an alluvial fan close to a lake or swamp. The age and location are consistent with a rapid southern migration route of initial hominin populations into Eastern Asia.

The Pigs of Island Southeast Asia and the Pacific: New Evidence for Taxonomic Status and Human-Mediated Dispersal

This paper undertakes a major survey of the genus Sus from Island Southeast Asia and specifically attempts to re-examine the taxonomic status of the pigs of Wallacea, in order to re-evaluate the complex evidence for human mediated dispersal. This was undertaken using the combined approach of tooth outline and mitochondrial DNA analysis. The data provide clear evidence for three dispersal events: The first involved domesticated pigs, originating from wild Sus scrofa stock in mainland Southeast Asia, being introduced to the Greater and Lesser Sunda Islands, to the Mollucas, New Guinea, and Oceania. Archaeological specimens clearly link these pigs with the Lapita and subsequent Polynesian dispersals. Since the pigs on New Guinea are specifically linked with this dispersal, it follows that the current wild populations of the island must be the feral descendants of introduced domestic pigs from mainland Southeast Asia, which came into New Guinea via the Lesser Sunda Islands. A second dispersal event also involved domesticated pigs (this time from wild Sus scrofa populations from mainland East Asia), introduced to the Philippines and Micronesia, while a third involved the endemic warty pig of Sulawesi (Sus celebensis), which data from Liang Bua cave shows was introduced to Flores perhaps as early as 7000 B.C.

CURRENT RESEARCH ON ARCHAEOLOGY IN MAINLAND EAST ASIA] A study of Neolithic water buffalo remains from Zhejiang, China

CURRENT RESEARCH ON ARCHAEOLOGY IN MAINLAND EAST ASIA] A study of Neolithic water buffalo remains from Zhejiang, China

CURRENT RESEARCH ON ARCHAEOLOGY IN MAINLAND EAST ASIA] Ground stone tool production at Huizui, China: an analysis of a manufacturing site in the Yilou River Basin

CURRENT RESEARCH ON ARCHAEOLOGY IN MAINLAND EAST ASIA] Ground stone tool production at Huizui, China: an analysis of a manufacturing site in the Yilou River Basin

CURRENT RESEARCH ON ARCHAEOLOGY IN MAINLAND EAST ASIA] Settlement pattern survey in the Rizhao area: a preliminary effort to consider Han and Pre-Han demography

CURRENT RESEARCH ON ARCHAEOLOGY IN MAINLAND EAST ASIA] Settlement pattern survey in the Rizhao area: a preliminary effort to consider Han and Pre-Han demography

CURRENT RESEARCH ON ARCHAEOLOGY IN MAINLAND EAST ASIA] The settlement patterns in the upper Ying river valley based on the excavation of the Wadian site

CURRENT RESEARCH ON ARCHAEOLOGY IN MAINLAND EAST ASIA] The settlement patterns in the upper Ying river valley based on the excavation of the Wadian site

CURRENT RESEARCH ON ARCHAEOLOGY IN MAINLAND EAST ASIA] Ritual and residential: the Bang River and Laohushan River surveys, Aohan Banner, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia China

CURRENT RESEARCH ON ARCHAEOLOGY IN MAINLAND EAST ASIA] Ritual and residential: the Bang River and Laohushan River surveys, Aohan Banner, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia China

CURRENT RESEARCH ON ARCHAEOLOGY IN MAINLAND EAST ASIA] Pig husbandry strategies in an emergent complex society in central China

CURRENT RESEARCH ON ARCHAEOLOGY IN MAINLAND EAST ASIA] Pig husbandry strategies in an emergent complex society in central China

Fossil Cypriniformes from China and its adjacent areas and their palaeobiogeographical implications

Abstract Fossil cypriniforms are abundantly represented in China and its adjacent areas, with the described taxa approximating to a total of 80 genera and 100 species and subspecies. They are known mainly from the Eocene, Miocene and Pliocene deposits. The Oligocene and Quaternary materials are relatively rare. These fossil cypriniforms represent three of the five Recent families: the Catostomidae, Cobitidae and Cyprinidae. Comparison of the Eocene catostomids from mainland East Asia with those from western North America points to an obvious transpacific distributional pattern, whereas there is only one species in Asia and more than 70 species in North America at present. Fossil cobitids are comparatively rare. Cyprinids are the most diverse and widespread group among the three families. The Miocene and Pliocene taxa shared by east mainland Asia and the Japanese Islands indicate that the fishes from these areas must have belonged to the same ichthyofauna during the Neogene. At the same time, some of them are quite similar to those from Europe, which is indicative of a closer connection between the two areas than previously thought.

Macro‐scale bird species richness patterns of the East Asian mainland and islands: energy, area and isolation

AbstractAim To create a map of bird species richness (BSR) in East Asia and to examine the effect of area, isolation, primary productivity, topographic heterogeneity, and human population density on BSR.Location East Asia (from 70° E to 180° E longitude), including the eastern half of the Palaearctic Region, the entire Oriental Region, and the entire Wallacea Subregion.Methods The breeding ranges of 2406 terrestrial bird species were mapped and overlaid to create a species richness map. The BSR map was transformed into a 100 × 100 km quadrat system, and BSR was analysed in relation to land area, average normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), elevation range, and average population density.Results In general, BSR declined from the Tropics to the Arctic. In mainland East Asia, however, BSR was highest around the Tropic of Cancer, and fluctuated between 30° and 50° N. Islands had lower BSR than adjacent mainland areas. The NDVI was strongly positively correlated with BSR in mainland areas and on islands. For mainland areas, NDVI explained 65% of the BSR variation, and topographic heterogeneity explained an additional 6% in ordinary least‐squares regression. On islands, NDVI explained 66% of BSR variation, island area explained 13%, and distance to mainland accounted for 1%.Main conclusions In East Asia, we suggest that primary productivity is the key factor underpinning patterns of BSR. Primary productivity sets the upper limits of the capacity of habitats to support bird species. In isolated areas such as islands and peninsulas, however, BSR might not reach the richness limits set by primary productivity because the degree of isolation and area size also can affect species richness. Other factors, such as spatial heterogeneity, biotic interactions, and perturbations, may also affect species richness. However, their effects are secondary and are not as strong as primary productivity, isolation, and area size.

The External Connections of Sanxingdui

An idiosyncratic Bronze Age culture, thought to be roughly contemporaneous with the Late Shang (ca. 1300–1050 BC) in the Yellow River Basin, has recently been discovered in the Chengdu Plain. The large walled settlement at the type site of Sanxingdui, Guanghan (Sichuan) and its highly developed bronze and jade manufacturing traditions indicate the presence of state-level civilization. This article attempts to clarify some of the relationships to the Sanxingdui culture to earlier, contemporaneous, and later archaeological cultures in the surrounding areas. Objects from the so-called sacrificial pits at Sanxingdui and at the slightly later site of Jinsha, Chengdu (Sichuan) are compared to archaeological finds from other parts of China, revealing significant connections to Neolithic and Early Bronze Age cultures along the Middle and Lower Yangzi as well as in the Central Plain, and showing that, for all its unusual features, Bronze Age Sichuan was by no means isolated in the cultural interaction sphere of mainland East Asia. Moreover, it can now be shown that Sanxingdui traits survived in later archaeological contexts, mainly in Southwest China.

Agro-climatic classification systems for estimating the global distribution of livestock numbers and commodities

Investment in agricultural research in developing countries is being increasingly targeted at those agro-climatic zones and issues where the economic and environmental benefits may be expected to be greatest. This first requires that the zones themselves be defined, along with information on domestic livestock numbers and commodity output within agro-climatic zones in different countries. Different methods for classifying agro-climatic zones were compared. These included methods based on estimated length of growing period (LGP) using rainfall and temperature data, the ratio of precipitation to potential evapotranspiration (PET), and on more detailed agronomic models, remote sensing data and land use information. Zonation based on LGP has already been linked to existing national livestock data. By defining agro-climatic zones and relating concentrations of livestock populations to those of humans, it is possible to make realistic estimates of livestock populations and the production of livestock commodities for most developing countries. Detailed agro-climatic analyses of Mainland East Asia and Sri Lanka have recently been undertaken using the GROWEST agronomic model. Using this model as the basis of agro-climatic classification appears to be significantly superior, particularly in temperate environments, to approaches based solely on LGP. Different ways of subdividing countries and continents into agro-climatic or agro-ecological zones (AEZs) are reviewed in this paper. In addition, we show how the numbers of production and commodities from domestic livestock can be allocated to such zones. We also indicate how some of this information can be applied.

A study of early metal age crania from Ban Chiang, Northeast Thailand

Multivariate procedures are applied to metrical and non-metrical data recorded on early metal age crania from Ban Chiang, Northeast Thailand, for a comparison with prehistoric and more modern samples from Southeast Asia, Mainland East Asia, and the Pacific. While craniometric analyses (Mahalanobis' D 2 and stepwise discriminant function analysis) fail to show any associations between Ban Chiang and the remaining samples, distances based on the percentage frequencies of discrete traits of the skull suggest a relatively close relationship between Ban Chiang and two other prehistoric samples from Southeast Asia. Slightly different results were obtained when a recently suggested ( Green & Suchey, 1976 ) modification of Berry & Berry (1967) distance statistic was applied to these non-metrical data. Because of the limited size of the present sample and the different results obtained when discrete traits and cranial measurements are used, the continued use of metrical and non-metrical kinds of data is recommended.