Engineering China’s Science

In the midst of exceptional scientific advancements, China’s top academic institutions are receiving unprecedented attention for their contributions to the nation’s progress in science and engineering. The Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, home to the country’s top scientific think tanks, are leading the way to China’s future. Following this issue, Beijing Review will introduce a member from one of the aforementioned academies every three weeks, highlighting their achievements and presenting to readers the hardcore leaders of Chinese science and engineering development.     

50 Years of a Think Tank

Once a small,secretive institute with the sole target of providing information services for the government,the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS) has grown into a full-fledged academic body and one of the leading think tanks in China,and even the world,over the past five decades.Shortly before the SIIS' 50th anniversary commemorative conference on July 24,SIIS President Yang Jiemian sat down with Beijing Review reporter Yan Wei to explain how the SIIS has strived to be successful academically while also serving the country's economic development and foreign affairs needs.     

新时代贵州高校新型统战智库建设研究

按照党的十九大关于加强中国特色新型智库建设的要求,本文结合贵州高校智库建设实际以及高校统战工作开展的实际,对新时代贵州高校新型统战智库建设的重要意义、有利条件、存在主要问题等方面进行分析阐述,有针对性地提出了“五度一体”的贵州高校统战智库建设新模式的见解。     

The Evolution of China's Nonproliferation Policy since the 1990s: Progress,problems, and prospects

This article offers an overview of China's evolving nonproliferation policy over the past decade. It documents the key developments during this period and identifies both the internal and external factors that have brought about significant change in Chinese policy. It argues that China's growing recognition of the threats posed by WMD proliferation, image concerns, its interest in maintaining stable Sino-US relations, and the US policy initiatives aimed at influencing Chinese behavior are largely accountable for Beijing's gradual acceptance of nonproliferation norms, pledges to adhere to selected multilateral export control guidelines, and the introduction of domestic export control regulations. It suggests that the future direction of China's nonproliferation policy to a large extent will depend on how Beijing and Washington manage their increasing differences over missile defenses and the Taiwan issue.     

Brain Banks Among the Best

China's colossal number of think tanks on international relations are earning greater international recognition and exerting increasing influence on China's foreign policymaking.Leading think tanks,such as the China Institute of International Studies,China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations,China Center for Contemporary World Studies and Shanghai Institutes for International Studies,have made significant progress in the past decades.Beijing Review reporter Li Li recently interviewed Professor Jin Canrong,Associate Dean of the School of International Studies,Renmin University of China,to find out the latest development trends of these organizations.     

China's Climate Change Expert Community—principles,mechanisms and influence

Since China joined the international climate negotiations, the role of systematic research and expert advice has grown steadily. A small but highly specialized expert community of semi-official research institutes and university-based research units has formed around Chinese policy-making institutions. The findings of this article indicate that these climate experts have become important actors in Chinese climate policy. Political leaders frequently consult members of this expert community and draw on their substantive conclusions. In some cases, experts have been able to influence policy action by raising awareness of climate vulnerability and contributing to the definition of national emission targets. However, experts seeking to alter the general framework of ‘common but different responsibilities’ have had limited impact.     

多中心参与视角下的社会管理创新——以北京市物业管理立法实践为例

北京市物业管理办法出台的目的是为了满足广大业主参与物业管理、处理自身事务的需要.在此次北京市物业管理办法出台过程中,北京市政府在立法过程、立法目标和立法实施上,充分发挥了包括政府部门、业主群体和智囊机构的作用,通过多中心共同参与的立法方式,不但协调了各方的利益冲突,还在一定程度上探索了一种具有中国特色的政府协调、多中心共同参与的新的社会管理模式.     

析中国民族学北派和南派的学术倾向--以吴文藻、杨成志为例

中国民族学界在20世纪三四十年代就有了"北吴南杨"之说.北学派的代表人物吴文藻和南学派的代表人物杨成志虽求学、治学和教学经历不同,学术倾向各异,但他们对中国民族学的贡献都非常突出.比较和分析南北两派,凸显其与学派的关系,客观地看待两个学派的学术传统,师其所长,大有裨益,同时,有助于中国民族学研究的发展定向.     

中国农村女性形象的重构及其对策——以互联网新媒介为视阈

信息科技的飞速发展使互联网正以日渐强势的姿态呈现在大众面前,媒介传播的性别失衡也引发了学界的探究并催生了一批女性网站的崛起,但是在中国女性构成中占绝对比例的农村妇女却鲜从互联网环境中受益。因此,从中国农村女性的角色变迁、国内女性网站的发展现状出发。探析互联网作为新媒介重构中国农村女性形象的可能性及对策,无疑具有十分重要的意义。     

Local States,Institutional Changes and Innovation Systems: Beijing and Shanghai compared

The purpose of this paper is to look into the transformation of local innovation systems in the high-tech parks of Shanghai and Beijing and their technological learning and upgrading. The areas that we have chosen to investigate are Beijing's Zhongguancun and Shanghai's Yangpu District. The main reason that we selected these two areas for study is because they are home to most of the top universities and R&D institutes in these two cities. Our main focus will be on how institutions—the local state, inter-firm relations and the relationship between R&D institutions and firms—are co-evolving to shape and constrain a local system of innovation. Our research finds that the capacities and autonomy of the Zhongguancun of Beijing's Haidian District and Yangpu District of Shanghai differ in various aspects, but both regions are struggling to upgrade innovation and enhance economic development. The ‘high-tech cluster’ provides a useful instrument or label to achieve goals other than innovation and R&D. Elite universities are regarded as engines for network formation, but visible and invisible walls of Chinese universities discount efforts to foster a university-centered innovation hub which especially shows in the Yangpu case.     

Heavenly Pleasures

MANY specialists think that world gastro-nomic variety can be divided into three maingroups: French, Middle Eastern and Chinese cuisines. There are people who do not agree: Italians will bombard you with pizza and pasta, Spaniards have paella, and even my fellow Belarusians can take part in this argument with our famous potato pancakes - draniki. Many Americans also think that pizza and pancakes belong to their national     

How Do Americans Evaluate China's International Responsibility? An Empirical Assessment

China in recent years has been asked by other major powers to take a greater share in international responsibility in response to the rise in China's national capability. Negative perceptions about how China is dodging its international responsibility exist not only among policy makers around the world, but have spread to worldwide mass publics, especially across the American people. In this article, we apply the dataset from the ‘Americans’ Attitudes toward China Survey' (AACS) to investigate what the American public think of China's international responsibility and which factors explain the varying evaluations from different theoretical perspectives. The results indicate that Americans' negative evaluations of China's international responsibility are associated with poor ratings regarding China's fulfillment of its domestic obligations and apprehension regarding China's potential threat, but has little to do with China's international behavior. To reduce these negative evaluations, China needs to improve its human rights conditions, give people more political rights, and convince the American public of the benevolence of its ascending power. In addition, persistent efforts toward soft-power construction are also very important since Americans who are interested in Chinese culture or knowledge tend not to think that China is dodging its international responsibility.     

‘The Chinese and the Thais are Brothers': the evolution of the Sino–Thai friendship

During the late 1970s and 1980s, the Chinese and Thais forged a close, friendly relationship based on their security cooperation in an informal alliance against Vietnamese regional hegemonism. In the 1990s, after the end of the Cambodian conflict and the Vietnamese threat, the Sino-Thai cooperative friendship became deeper and broader, rather than dissipating. How are we to explain the closeness of Sino-Thai relations today? While the dynamics of the international political structure in East Asia have played a critical role in shaping the relationship between these two countries since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the emerging regional international structure—particularly the rise of China—provides indeterminate incentives. Thailand could balance against or bandwagon with rising China, or try to hedge its bets; nor does the emerging structure direct how the Chinese will wield their growing influence and power over their neighbors. This article argues that the best explanation rests in a combination of the structural argument (the rise of China) with the desire of both countries to maintain the mutually beneficial partnership they constructed during the 1980s, in particular Thailand's role as a link or facilitator between the PRC and ASEAN.     

关于中国女性学学科建设的几点思考

女性学学科建设包括三个方面:学术规范、社会建制和女性学教育。本文通过反思女性学成长的过程,从学科性、社会建制两个方面讨论了应该加强和如何加强女性学学科建设的问题,并就其中的一些具体问题进行了详细的分析,提出了自己的看法。     

Touching stones to cross the river: Evolving telecommunication policy priorities in contemporary China

This article, drawing on fieldwork in China, charts the ascendancy of Lian Tong (China Unicom), the first competitor to the incumbent Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. Commencing with an historical overview of Chinese telecommunications, it suggests that Lian Tong's formation has been contingent upon support from key constituencies within China's political elite. The company's emergence mirrors technological trends and user pressure evident globally. It embodies the drive towards market liberalisation now evident within the Peoples’ Republic. While the Chinese policy community is sensible of the need to make haste slowly toward the goal of telecommunications competition — ‘touching stones to cross the river’ in the contemporary aphorism — the success of this ‘policy experiment’ depends both on the subtleties of Chinese politics and the construction of bold new regulatory frameworks. Lian Tong's genesis is symbolic of developments in the telecommunications sector, and maybe also more generally in the Chinese economy.     

关于唐律"化外人相犯"条的再思考

唐律“化外人相犯”条是中国封建法律中一项具有重要意义的规定。目前比较流行的观点认为:“化外人”即外国人。另一种观点认为中国古代所称的“化外人”是指少数民族。通过深入分析,笔者指出:“化外人”包括外国人和部分少数民族。“化外人相犯”条不仅适用于处理外国人在大唐境内的犯罪,是唐代处理涉外案件的原则,也适用于与唐朝关系比较疏远的少数民族,是当时少数民族适用法律的特别规定。     

Weiwen at the Grassroots: China’s stability maintenance apparatus as a means of conflict resolution

This article assesses stability maintenance (weiwen) as a means of conflict resolution in China. It argues that the resolution of local disputes in China, particularly outside cities, is now being influenced and facilitated by the discourse and practice of stability maintenance, rather than legal methods and traditional mediation processes. This conclusion adds to the existing academic views of stability maintenance, which have previously emphasized social control to the exclusion of almost all else, and suggests that stability maintenance-focused conflict resolution may have practical benefits to Chinese citizens, given the state’s withdrawal from legal conflict resolution methods and its ambiguous attitude towards mediation.     

Pollution,Institutions and Street Protests in Urban China

Street protests have become commonplace in China. Utilizing extensive survey data, this study attempts to shed light on the nature of environmental street protests in China. The key question to be answered in the article is: why, facing the same issue, do some people choose the option of participating in street protests while others do not? Multivariate analytical findings indicate that Chinese urban residents’ willingness to participate in street protests over a hypothetical pollution issue in China is significantly related to their attitudes toward institutions in China. What motivates people to participate in street protests has a lot to do with their trust and support of the political system in China and their perceived government transparency. In other words, these protests are not just what Lewis Coser calls ‘realistic conflicts’ which primarily involve specific issues and solutions. One implication from this study is that street protests in China may not be as benign and non-regime threatening as some scholars might think.     

Assessing China's Rise and US Leadership in Asia—growing maturity and balance

The common prediction in media and specialist commentary during much of the past decade was that Asia was adjusting to an emerging China-centered order and US influence was in decline. Over time, it became clearer that developments in the region showed a more complex reality. A growing contingent of scholars and specialists looked beyond accounts that inventoried China's strengths and US weaknesses and carefully considered other factors, including Chinese limitations and US strengths, before making their overall judgments. These more comprehensive and balanced assessments tempered sometimes alarming implications of earlier predictions of China's rise and decline in US leadership. This article reviews the evolution over the past decade of media and specialist assessments of China's rise and its implications for US leadership in Asia in order to draw lessons from this evolution in analysis and what the lessons might mean for future assessments of China's increasing role in Asian and world affairs.     

论新时代两岸关系学术话语体系的构建与创新——以厦门大学师生的台湾研究成果为例

面对日益复杂严峻的台海局势,我们亟须以习近平总书记对台重要论述为指导,构建和创新“以我为主、对我有利、为我所用”的新时代两岸关系学术话语体系。必须思考如何打破西方的“话语垄断”和“话语霸权”,揭露台湾当局的“话语扭曲”和“话语抹黑”,体现新时代的“中国特色、中国风格、中国气派”。新时代两岸关系学术话语体系应该具有时代性、政策性、理论性、开放性、包容性等特点,进行包括追求国家统一正当性、遏制“台独”分裂必要性、延续和平发展重要性、深化融合发展必然性、反对外部干涉合理性等内容的话语构建。新时代两岸关系话语体系建设路径,至少包括两岸关系的理论体系、学科体系和传播体系三个子系统的建设。厦门大学师生的台湾研究成果为两岸关系学术话语体系建设作出了积极努力,本文以他们的部分研究成果为例加以阐述,以纪念厦门大学百年校庆。