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Abstract
During the nineteenth century, the study of language developed into an independent academic discipline in the West. Through comparison the many languages of humankind were divided into different language families according to morphology and genealogical relationships. Some Sinologists also began searching for the proper location of Chinese within the genealogical tree of human language development. How was Chinese to be studied scientifically? Did Chinese possess genetic relationships with the other languages of humankind? Missionaries and diplomatic officials living in China, and professional scholars teaching at the most prestigious academic institutions in the West each had proposals in response to such questions. The questions that Sinologists encountered in the search for a scientific methodology for the study of Chinese also became subjects of long-lasting debate in broader Western scholarship at the time. Combining information about the historical background of the development of early modern Western linguistics and the analysis of Sinologists’ investigations and debates on the methodology of Chinese language research not only helps deepen our understanding of the historical development of Western Sinology, but more importantly demonstrates the intimate connection between Sinology and early modern thought in the disciplinary history of the Western academy.
Based on provincial panel data, we tested the effects of openness, denationalization, fiscal reform, and their interactions on Chinese regional economic growth. We found the following: (1) Openness, especially the growth of foreign-direct-investment/gross-domesticproduct ratio, has been important in enhancing China’s growth since the mid-1980s, while this effect is not so significant in western China. (2) Fiscal reform is another significant factor for economic growth. If local governments deregulate, higher growth will be obtained. In particular, reducing extrabudget expenditure helps push economic growth, especially in western China. (3) The interaction of economic policies, such as openness, denationalization, and fiscal reform, also plays an essential role in local economic growth. Both for the whole nation and for the eastern area, denationalization does not affect growth independently but expands the effects of deregulation. (4) After controlling economic policies and their interactions, conditional convergence exists. (5) With other factors controlled, eastern China achieved higher growth, while the middle and western areas did not differ significantly in growth. (6)Western China, where policy variables have lower explanatory power for growth, has a growth pattern different from those of the eastern and middle areas.
In recent years, increasing numbers of smallholders in developing countries such as China have begun to sell agricultural products directly to consumers via online shops using a third-party trade platform. It is increasingly clear that e-commerce has become a new and effective way to help smallholders gain access to the market. The investigation of agricultural e-commerce practices has a significant role in helping to understand the development of the agri-food sector in China. This teaching case provides an example of adopting e-commerce in the interaction and trading activities between participants in the food sector through a typical agricultural products e-commerce company in China, Minyu E-commerce. Particularly, the case analyzes the business model evolution through the ecosystem life cycle at the company. This case can be used to teach graduate/postgraduate students in agricultural business, MBA and executive programmes about the agri-food e-commerce business model.
Leaning trunks and branches of Trochodendron aralioides Sieb. & Zucc., a primitive vessel-less dicotyledon, show increased radial growth and gelatinous fibers on the upper side similar to the features found in dicotyledons with vessels. The patterns of peripheral longitudinal growth strain are variable among trees but similar at different heights within the same leaning trunk. Growth strains on the lower side of the trunks are very small but they are relatively large on the lower side of the branches. Growth stress in the branches is partly affected by the gravitational bending stress, which would be exerted mostly on the lower side. Large spring back strains of branches are associated with large surface strains. Both the microfibril angle (MFA) and the percentage area of gelatinous fiber show positive relationships with the measured strains. The MFA of the S2 wall layer in tracheids in the opposite wood is 24.6 ± 2.2°, whereas the MFA of gelatinous layer in the tension wood is only 14.2 ± 2.7°. The difference of MFA between the gelatinous fibers and the opposite wood is one of the factors accounting for the large contracting force for reorientation.
Abstract
This study dealt with three species of ornamental palaemonid freshwater prawns of the genus Macrobrachium, based on morphological and molecular analysis. Macrobrachium pentazona He, Gao & Guo, 2009; M. laevis Zheng, Chen & Guo, 2019; and M. bilineare sp. nov. are distinguishable from closely related species by segmental ratios, spination of the second pereiopods and the slender scaphocerite. Macrobrachium bilineare sp. nov. can easily be recognized in the field by its bright colour pattern. Molecular evidence of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI), also supports the characterization of this new species, raising the total number of Macrobrachium spp. known from China to 41. Detailed description, illustrations, colour photographs, habitat information, distribution maps and features of conservation significance are also briefly discussed.
Abstract
This article undertakes a thorough investigation of the assertion in recent publications, both Chinese and foreign, that Zheng He’s fleet “discovered” the Americas, and traces it back to its origins. It comprehensively examines all the major arguments that have been made concerning the question of whether Chinese people sailed to the Americas before Cristopher Columbus, from the pre-Qin dynasty to the early Ming dynasty. It reveals both contributions and problems of previous studies of the subject, pointing out how the various theories on this topic and surrounding discussion have evolved, the reliability and dubiousness of the various points of view, and the academic significance of the debate. As the long-standing academic dispute over this question, it has helped collect relevant American archaeological, written, and oral sources as well as other such historical data, and has brought to light related Chinese documents as well as ancient Chinese and foreign maps and other materials. The academic significance of the relevant scholarship also lies in the comparative study of the civilizations of ancient China and the Americas on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean. Through the identification and thorough study of Chinese and foreign materials, careful, serious, and responsible historians have not only refuted the exaggerated claims for Chinese “discovery” of the Americas, but have also tried to reject the Sinocentrism that arises from these distortions. The scholars in China have also discovered, within the study of Zheng He’s maritime expeditions, the true aspects of their history that Chinese people can feel proud of. This article sifts through both the arguments and counterarguments as well as their respective evidence, and it pursues further textual research on relevant documents and materials for the purpose of examining the possibility for Chinese visits to the Americas before Columbus. Seen from the point of view of globalization, even if Zheng He’s fleet or other Chinese people reached the Americas before Columbus, their journey (which awaits confirmation) could not have had as much influence on the links between the New and Old Worlds as did those of later explorers. In spite of this, the seven large-scale voyages of Zheng He’s fleet in the Indian Ocean promoted maritime links within the Old World before Columbus’s great voyages in the Atlantic, making contributions to the history of globalization that are as important as those made later by Columbus.
The surface growth strains and the distribution of internal stresses in woody palms, coconut (Cocos nucifera L.), were determined by measuring the strains released by the kerf method using strain gauges. Measurements of the surface strains showed that longitudinal tensile stresses existed at the cortex, while longitudinal compressive stresses existed at the periphery of the central cylinder. These stresses may be generated from the fibers located in the scattered fiber and vascular bundles. In the central cylinder of narrow and wide trunks, both positive and negative stresses were observed, indicating the existence of some tensile and compressive stresses in the trunks. The amount of stress varied from base to top and from periphery to core because of the variation in proportion of the vascular bundles and the fibers, and the cell wall layers of fibers along these points. Furthermore, changes in the angle of vascular bundles and of the fiber microfibrils were correlated with the various tensile and compressive stresses located in the central cylinder of the trunks.
Abstract
A new species of Steinernema (Rhabditida), S. hebeiense sp. n. was isolated from sandy soil, Hebei Province, China. Diagnostic characters of infective juveniles of S. hebeiense sp. n. include total body length of 658 (610-710) μm, distance from anterior end to excretory pore of 48 (43-51) μm, tail length of 66 (63-71) μm, and E% ratio of 72 (65-80). The lateral field has eight ridges at the mid-body region (two very thin submarginal ridges, poorly discernible under light microscope, but visible in SEM); and the anterior end is slightly offset and flattened. First generation males have a body length of 1177 (1036-1450) μm, spicule length = 57 (51-63) μm, and gubernaculum length = 46 (38-50) μm. The spicules are light brown in colour and slightly curved; the manubrium is longer than wide. A tail mucron is present in second generation males. These morphometrical and morphometric features classify S. hebeiense sp. n. within the ' feltiae-kraussei-oregonense ' group. Molecular data also classify the new species within this group. Within this group, the smallest differences between the sequences of S. hebeiense sp. n. is with S. weiseri – 73 bp in the ITS rDNA and 13 bp in the studied partial sequence of the D2D3 expansion segment of LSU rDNA.