Representation without democratization: The “signature incident” and China's National People's Congress

This essay provides an analysis of China's National People's Congress (NPC) as a key institution in China's transition from an authoritarian regime to a pluralist political system. Using the revealing incident of Hu Jiwei's attempt to force a meeting of the NPC Standing Committee as a model of possible future interaction between the NPC and the CCP, the author hypothesizes that the NPC may serve as a major site for bringing about significant political change. It provides a new perspective on the NPC by adopting an institutional‐functional approach. Specially, the author tries to explain the function and strength of the legislature as an implanted Western institution in China's context by looking into how its essentially democratic core‐representation, which, to simplify gross, was dismissed by previous researchers as only existed in “sociological” terms, survived through adapting into Chinese own tradition and political infrastructure.     

“新群众”和“老传统”:新时代中国共产党治国理政中的群众路线

群众路线是中国共产党在革命年代创造的"传家宝",在保障中国共产党的先锋队性质和中国共产党的正确领导上一直发挥着至关重要的作用。作为关键的政治资源,新时代中国共产党将群众路线贯穿于治国理政的全部活动中。但由于中国社会转型与社会主要矛盾转化已经形成了"新群众",在长期实践过程中群众路线形成的传统贯彻方式方法和其地位与作用的传统认识可能不完全适应"新群众"的要求。"老传统"与"新群众"之间的距离说明,群众路线的传统地位、作用与贯彻方式同它在新时代中国共产党治国理政中被赋予的重要地位和应当发挥的关键作用可能不相称,还不能完全满足新时代党治国理政的需要,所以弥合"老传统"与"新群众"之间的距离,可以成为新时代党治国理政的政治主题。根据"新群众"的新需求,需要实现群众路线的创新,即将作为党的根本政治路线、根本组织路线、根本工作路线的群众路线上升为一种重要政治制度,这是弥合"老传统"与"新群众"之间距离的必由之路。同时,群众路线在党治国理政中占据的重要地位和发挥的关键作用说明它是中国政治体制中至关重要的组成部分,通过分析围绕着群众路线进行的政治过程,能够从中发现中国政治的原理。     

Estimation of caloric deficit in a fatal case of starvation resulting from child neglect

We report the case of a 3-year-20-day-old girl who died of starvation as a result of severe neglect. Her body weight had been 12 kg 70 days before her death, but was only 5 kg at the time of autopsy. From information supplied by her parents to police, we calculated her daily caloric intake and estimated the factors for physical activity. The daily recommended dietary allowance for the victim was calculated from 700 kcal/ day x the appropriate factor for physical activity. In the absence of enough food, body fat (7.2 kcal/g body fat) and protein (4 kcal/g protein) would have been used to compensate until death. The calculated body weight at the time of death was around 5 kg. The statements of the parents therefore appear to be true.     

Abdürreşid İbrahim's journey to China: Muslim communities in the late Qing as seen by a Russian-Tatar intellectual

An eminent Russian-Tatar alim (a scholar, or an intellectual) and Pan-Islamist known for his role as a collaborator in Japan's Islamic campaigns in the first half of the 20th century, Abdürre?id ?brahim went on a grand tour of Eurasia from 1907 to 1909. This article focuses on his journey to China in the late Qing by drawing mainly on his travel book Âlem-i ?slâm, in which he describes China's politics, society, economy and culture, as well as the Muslims dwelling there, anticipating that Chinese Muslims would join in an alliance with Japan to form an anti-imperialist corridor. In general, ?brahim succeeded in enjoying Muslims' favour in Beijing, lamenting the place of Islam in China while also being scathingly critical of its practice. He was invited to Japan again in the 1930s and played an important role in drawing foreign Muslims' attention to Japan.     

公祭·户籍·先秦历史文化——反思争夺古名人户口热潮

对传说时代先祖祭祀,历史上有民祭和官祭,官祭就是现在的公祭。一些地方为争始祖的故里,以不合史实的户籍为证据大搞公祭活动,混淆了先秦历史文化的研究,也贻误后人。     

Development of Multiple Assays using 46 SNPs for Comprehensive mtDNA Haplogrouping and Application to Highly Degraded DNA

Six multiplex PCR systems using single‐base extension reactions to analyze 46 mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)‐coding region single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that define 42 haplogroups, that is, 24 major mtDNA haplogroups and 18 subclades, were devised. To improve the usefulness of the established systems for the analysis of degraded DNA samples, novel primers to render amplicons with sizes <150 bp were designed. By applying these systems to 214 Japanese individuals, 24 different haplogroups (power of discrimination = 93.4%) were found. To assess the effectiveness of our systems in grouping degraded DNA, an ancient bone sample of a Jomon skeleton was analyzed and then classified as haplogroup N9b. We conclude that the present systems are powerful screening tools for major haplogroups of mtDNA in addition to the prevalent subhaplogroups in the Japanese population and that these systems are capable of analyzing highly degraded DNA samples in forensic studies.     

Reproduction and family building strategies in early modern Japan: Evidence from two northeastern farming villages

Drawing data from the local population registers called “ninbetsu-aratame-cho," this study examines the patterns and covariates of reproduction and family building in two farming villages in northeastern Japan in 1716–1870. Marriages in these villages were very early and universal for both sexes, but reproduction within marriage was very low, due in part to curtailment of reproduction at relatively young ages, but also to long intervals between recorded births. Stopping and spacing of family building were achieved primarily by an extensive use of sex- and parity-specific infanticide, which enabled peasant couples to control the size and gender-sequence of their progeny. Women's positions within their household and in the village also influenced their family building processes. Peasant couples in these preindustrial Japanese farming villages were active planners of their reproductive life.     

The Protection of Reputation in Japan: A Systematic Analysis of Defamation Cases

Although Japanese defamation law has been a subject of legal interest for scholars and judges, their main focus was the defamation rules that appeared in cases publicized by legal reporters. The following study coded 232 defamation cases against the media that were decided in district courts in Japan, according to the type of database that reported the cases. Statistical results reveal that newspapers are more likely to report defamation cases than other databases because stories about defamation cases may satisfy readers' interest or because the newspaper might have been informed by plaintiffs who won their cases. The results also show that the professional status of the plaintiff is a predictor of the case outcome. Politicians and officials are less likely to win in defamation cases than are executives and criminals, and they received lower damages than athletes and entertainers.     

Jews in the Japanese Mind: The History and Uses of a Cultural Stereotype,by David Goodman and Masanori Miyazawa

Abstract

The virulent anti-Semitism that characterizes many of the books found in the “Jewish” corner in Japanese bookstores bewilders the casual browser. Instead of dismissing these texts as hallucinogenic ravings, however, David Goodman and Masanori Miyazawa offer a welcome historical analysis of the ways in which Jews have figured in Japanese ideology. As the authors emphasize, their work “is not about Jews or about the Jewish experiences in the Far Fast; nor, while it touches on them, is it a history of actual Japanese-Jewish relations.     

Trial investigation of post-mortem non-invasive transnasal endoscopy

We performed a trial investigation of transnasal endoscopy for post-mortem examinations to assess its efficacy in superficial post-mortem examinations. Transnasal endoscopy proved capable of permitting detailed visual inspections of the respiratory and the upper gastrointestinal tract, equal to direct viewing, on an LCD digital display. In 18 (40.9%) of 44 cases, findings obtained by post-mortem transnasal endoscopy (PMTNE) provided valuable clues regarding cause of death. The cases examined included seven deaths by fire, four by hypothermia, four by asphyxia (three involving death by mechanical asphyxia, the other by choking), two by drowning and one case of lung cancer. In two cases, PMTNE also led to informative findings not directly related to the cause of death. Under Japan's current systems, we are required to diagnose the cause of death for over 80% of all the unnatural death cases based solely on superficial post-mortem examinations, in the absence of an autopsy. Introducing PMTNE to superficial post-mortem examinations will undoubtedly provide much more information on the cause of death than relying solely on superficial post-mortem examinations.