Perspectives on South-South relations: China's presence in Africa

This paper explores the broad questions on China's presence in Africa from the perspectives on South-South relations. More generally, China has a diffuse and growing presence in Africa through trade relations, as the importation of various consumer goods is highly visible in most African capital cities, and numerous smaller towns. The racial problem is compounded by the prevalence of a sinophobic media in which a racial hierarchy constructs the China below whites, albeit with blacks being relegated to the bottom. Yet there are empirically observable racist tendencies amongst the Chinese settlers towards Africans, although this is often overstated. China has become influential in Africa at the level of trade, investments and geo-political relations, but it is far from being a hegemonic recolonizer. Moreover, Africa is increasingly militarized, but China is not substantially engaged at this level. The paper concludes by suggest that much more research is necessary in the future in terms of understanding South-South international relations, so that many more people learn more about countries in the Global South and their complex set of interactions. This requires various African intellectual networks to re-visit the Bandung spirit and reconstruct the idea of non-alignment and solidarity.     

Another May Fourth

The May Fourth Movement is most often understood as a precursor to the China that emerged under the rule of Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party. In this essay, Mizoguchi presents an alternative reading of May Fourth, one envisioned by Liang Shuming as more deeply rooted in Chinese tradition than the heavily Marxian, class-based May Fourth later positioned as the forebear of the Cultural Revolution.     

“China loves Italy”: transnational co-productions between China and Italy behind the mask of market†

Since the term “transnational cinema” first appeared in 1997, most studies have focused on films epitomizing the logic of either profit maximization or ethnic affinity to explain phenomena such as the mainstreaming of Kung Fu movies. Yet, these two logics do not account for the entirety of the transnational projects that have been produced to date, hence the call for more studies on “trans-border patterns” that operate beyond both of them (Berry 2010, 123). In this article, we take up this call and approach the co-productions between China and Italy as exhibiting a “trans-border pattern” which satisfies interests beyond both the market and ethnic affinity. We trace the history of such a “pattern” back to the arrival of the Italian pioneer of Chinese cinema, Amerigo Lauro, in Shanghai in the early 1900s. We contextualize the productions of Michelangelo Antonioni’s Chung Kuo/China (1973), Giuliano Montaldo’s Marco Polo (1982) and Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (1987) to provide exemplary cases of a non-market oriented affinity between two culturally distinct nations: China and Italy. We conclude by suggesting that China has pursued transnational co-productions with European countries such as Italy to exercise a more productive control than censorship over the ways China is to be represented internationally.     

Coping with the threat of westernization in Hong Kong

Most developing countries show great concern that they will compromise their cultural integrity if they import foreign models of economic development. The Chinese in Hong Kong have been dealing with this problem since they were colonized in 1841. This paper explores their various responses to this potential threat. Tajfel's (Tajfel, H. (1974). Social Science Information13, 65–93) social identity theory is advanced as a theoretical tool in considering (a) how Chinese understand Westernization throughout history and in contemporary Hong Kong, and (b) how they stereotype themselves and various relevant groups. It is hoped that this analysis will be of some value to persons in countries considering the problem of importing models of development.     

Women in politics: A global review

At the end of the 1970s, discrimination against women as political participants continues, but it is being challenged and, in some countries, steadily eroded. There are only eight countries in the world today in which national law excludes women from political processes that are open to men. While in most countries that have elections, women lag behind men in exercising the franchise; the tendency is for the difference in men's and women's voting rates to narrow over time in stable electoral systems. However, there is an enormous disparity between women's attainment of formal political equality and their real exercise of political power. The numbers of women in public office remains low in most countries; in very few do women fill even 10% of such positions. Yet there are scattered signs of improvement, with slowly rising numbers of women in elective and appointive offices. The real centers of political power are still overwhelmingly dominated by men, but the fact that women in most countries can enter the political contest on a routine basis is a sign that exclusion based on sex roles is diminishing.     

Women in politics: A global reviewFemmes en politique: Une revue globaleLas mujeres en la política: Un punto de vista global

At the end of the 1970s, discrimination against women as political participants continues, but it is being challenged and, in some countries, steadily eroded. There are only eight countries in the world today in which national law excludes women from political processes that are open to men. While in most countries that have elections, women lag behind men in exercising the franchise; the tendency is for the difference in men's and women's voting rates to narrow over time in stable electoral systems. However, there is an enormous disparity between women's attainment of formal political equality and their real exercise of political power. The numbers of women in public office remains low in most countries; in very few do women fill even 10% of such positions. Yet there are scattered signs of improvement, with slowly rising numbers of women in elective and appointive offices. The real centers of political power are still overwhelmingly dominated by men, but the fact that women in most countries can enter the political contest on a routine basis is a sign that exclusion based on sex roles is diminishing.     

Communication Experiences and Adaptation of Mainland Chinese in Hong Kong and Hong Kong Chinese in Mainland China

In-depth interviews were conducted for 203 Hong Kong Chinese in Mainland China (HIM) and 198 Mainland Chinese in Hong Kong (MIH), followed by two-level theme analyses, to examine their communication experiences and adaptation. The two groups were found to be dissimilar in terms of socioeconomic status, purpose of migration, and process of adaptation. Many HIM tended to evaluate the new environment from a “new workplace” view, mentioning adjustment and communication at workplace. Most MIH, on the other hand, used a “new home” approach, expecting a happy life with good income. The major challenge for most HIM was getting used to a less developed physical environment and an organizational culture with lower efficiency and work ethics. For most MIH, the main source of hardship came from insufficient protection for workers’ rights and interests. Hong Kong is more urbanized with superficial relationships while the Mainland society is more communal, nurturing long-term relationships.     

Creative industries in “developing” countries: Questioning country classifications in the UNCTAD creative economy reports

The UNCTAD Creative Economy Reports (CERs) are arguably the most influential policy-oriented texts on the global scope and potential of the creative economy. They contain arguments for greater policy attention to the creative economy worldwide and statistical data to illustrate their claims. These reports argue that the creative economy is an area of growth, not only in “developed”, but also in “developing” economies. The central argument of this article is that the way the country classification used in the CERs increases the share of “developing countries” in global creative goods exports in contrast to The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) classifications. When singling out China, the share of these countries decreases even further. According to The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in 2010, 41 “developed” countries account for 51.18 per cent and 158 “developing” countries for 48.03 per cent of the global creative economy with 17 economies in transition accounting for 0.79 per cent. This obfuscates reality and obstructs the creation of evidence-based policies relevant to the creative industries. The classification of developed and developing countries is redrawn in accordance with building on data on the export of creative goods, provided by UNCTADstat. This article proposes that a more correct, balanced, and disaggregated outlook on the classification of countries is needed because one single “developing country” (China) is the single biggest exporter of creative goods in the world (25.51 per cent in 2010) yet the 49 “least developed countries” account for merely 0.11 per cent of creative goods exports (in 2010) while they comprise 880 million people (or some 12 per cent of the world's population). In conclusion, it is argued that different kinds of developing countries need different approaches and policies. Reference is made to Burkina Faso to illustrate this point.     

Multiculturalism in Malaysia and Singapore: Contesting models

Malaysia and Singapore are good examples of multicultural societies albeit with different acculturation ideologies. Both countries comprise three main ethnic groups but in diametrically opposite proportion. In Malaysia, 50.4% of the population is Malay, 23.7% Chinese, 11% indigenous peoples, 7.1% Indian, and 7.8% other races. In Singapore, the ratio is 74.1% Chinese, 13.4% Malay, 9.2% Indian and 3.3% other races. Due to its colonial past, “ethnicity” has been the central policy issue in Malaysia and remains so up to this day. The dominance of communal politics can be understood in Stephan and Stephan's (2000) model of integrated threat theory. In Singapore, the city-state does not believe in affirmative action and it prefers to manage cultural identities on the basis of a multicultural ideology (Berry and Kalin, 1995, Berry et al., 1977). In this article, multiculturalism is used to refer to public policies carried out by the two countries to manage their plural societies. We will discuss the development of the multicultural models that have evolved in the two countries. While Malaysia's model of multiculturalism is based on policies that have been instituted to manage inter-group tensions, prevent violence, and pursue social justice between the ethnic groups as a result of its past, Singapore's model is guided by pragmatic realism and market fundamentals associated with the needs of a global city. Both models will face challenges in the coming years as they each adapt to the seismic shifts in the geo-economic landscapes.     

The Story of Two Big Chimneys: A Frame Analysis of Climate Change in US and Chinese Newspapers

Despite mounting research on how the news media portrayed climate change in developed countries, disproportionately little attention was paid to one of the top greenhouse gas emitters in the world—China. This study systematically examined and compared how the US and Chinese newspapers portrayed climate change. An analytical framework, grounded in framing research traditions, took into account both theoretical and practical challenges in frame analysis by creating a hybrid structure of interlocked generic and issue-specific frames. The results showed both convergent and divergent pictures from the two countries’ newspapers shaped distinctly by the sociopolitical realities in both countries. The research also cautioned against making simplistic explanations of the results and offered culturally informed interpretations. A discussion on better research focus and design was offered for future research in this avenue.     

Experimenter language choice and ethnic affirmation by Chinese trilinguals in Hong Kong

When communicating with a member of his or her ethnic in-group, a multilingual typically uses his common first language. If, however, the multilingual uses a common second or third language, we believe this choice will indicate his or her endorsement of attitudes believed to be held by that language out-group. An audience will respond to this implicit statement by a shift in its ethnically relevant altitudes either towards or away from the position of the speaker. Convergence is assumed to occur if relations between the language communities are harmonious, ethnic affirmation if relations are hostile. To explore this reasoning, experimenters addressed Chinese trilinguals in their first language of Cantonese, their second language of English, or their third language of Mandarin. When instructed in Mandarin, subjects assumed their experimenter held more traditional Chinese beliefs and they themselves completed a measure of traditional Chinese beliefs in a more Western direction. Although most Hong Kong students at university are ambivalent about their colonial status under Great Britain, they oppose Hong Kong's reversion to China in 1997 and are threatened by this prospect. Consequently, we believe that they responded to an experimenter speaking the Mandarin language of China by affirming a more Western identity.     

Measuring intercultural contact and its effects on intercultural competence: A structural equation modeling approach

This study utilizes a structural equation modeling approach to construct a scale to measure Chinese college students’ intercultural contact and to explore the pathways from intercultural contact to intercultural competence and their significance. Through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, the study conducted a series of reliability and validity analyses. The results indicate that the intercultural contact scale for Chinese college students has good reliability and validity. Moreover, a path analysis with the structural equation model was performed and reveals that the pathways of intercultural contact are beneficial for improving Chinese college students’ intercultural competence. In terms of direct contact, domestic social media is the most important, whereas for indirect contact, cultural products are relatively more important than multimedia and courses. The implications for the theoretical development of intercultural contact could be significant for scholars engaged in intercultural communication as well as for planning international education training programs.     

Foreign-born Chinese students learning in China: (Re)shaping intercultural identity in higher education institution

With the trend of globalization, promising development in China has attracted a growing number of descendants of Chinese immigrants who choose to return to China to pursue higher education. Furthermore, the cultural pluralism that accompanies economic globalization is increasingly changing the pattern of world civilization. However, this leads to new issues of conflict, integration, and symbiosis between different cultures among international students. To address a gap in the literature, this study explored the trajectory of how international students of Chinese origin transcend their identities and build intercultural identities during their higher education study in China. The study investigates 13 participants from different countries, focusing on the process of (re)shaping identity under multiple cultural backgrounds and how they understand this process. These findings show that for students to adapt to Chinese culture it is crucial to encourage them to mitigate language barriers, awake cultural memories, consolidate values, expand educational exchanges, and continue to improve international understanding and broad recognition from an intercultural perspective.     

An exploratory study of inter-relationships of acculturative stressors among Chinese students from six European union (EU) countries

This study examined the inter-relationships of acculturative stressors experienced by Chinese international students. A sample of 463 Chinese students in six EU countries (UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, Spain and Belgium) responded to a web-based survey. The results showed that Chinese students in France suffered from bigger constraints in linguistic issues and dealing with life tasks than Chinese students in UK. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis revealed that language constraints and perceived cultural differences play a key role in influencing other stressors. The findings indicated that language constraints and perceived cultural differences accounted for 62% of the total variance of academic integration difficulty; language constraints accounted for 17% of the variance of problems in dealing with daily tasks; perceived cultural differences accounted for 56% of the variance of social integration difficulty; academic integration and problems in dealing with daily tasks explained 14% of the variance of homesickness.     

Unsettled “structure of feeling” of Chinese migrant workers – cases from the service sector of Shanghai

The suffering, struggling status and controversial political identity of Chinese internal migrant workers have put them in the academic spotlight for decades. An abundance of literature has analysed the problems faced by Chinese migrant workers from mainly three theoretical perspectives. However, not enough attention has been paid to migrant workers’ subjective understandings and feelings about their work and lives. The current article tries to illuminate the ambivalent feelings of migrant workers of the service sector in Shanghai, based on a brief comparison between migrant workers of three Asian countries, and the interviews with 16 Chinese migrant workers, two government officers and two local citizens in Yan community attached to Po district of Shanghai. It is argued that the migrant workers share an unsettled “structure of feeling” in everyday practices. They simultaneously feel bewildered and sanguine, depressed in a sombre mood and happy, passionate and indifferent. The unsettlement of the structure of feeling constitutes a political passivity for migrant workers. It is urgent to find ways to break up such a stalemate of consciousness.     

Who is allowed to stay? Settlement deservingness preferences towards migrants in four European countries

Following the refugee crisis, European countries have tried to stimulate the integration of migrants into local society. However, the public, influenced by negative framing of migrants by media and political actors, may feel that not all migrants are equally deserving of settlement. In this study, we obtain greater insight into the public’s attitudes towards migrants by applying the deservingness framework to migrant settlement in four European countries: Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Sweden, using the CARIN typology (control, attitude, reciprocity, identity, need). We use data from the European Social Survey Round 1 (2002) and Round 7 (2014), and online survey data from 2017. We can draw four main conclusions: 1) (at least) three out of five CARIN-criteria (attitude, reciprocity, and identity) apply to settlement deservingness, 2) the identity criterion is considered the ‘least’ important criterion, while attitude is considered most important, but 3) identity has become increasingly important over time, and 4) there is significant variation in deservingness preferences between countries and over time. Findings indicate that older respondents, men, and Christians are more restrictive towards accepting migrants than younger respondents, women, and Muslims. The role of education is twofold: lower educated individuals value identity more, highly educated individuals value attitude and (future) reciprocity.     

Intercultural communication between Chinese college students and foreign teachers through the English corner at an elite language university in Shanghai

This paper uses an ethnographic approach and draws critical pedagogical and sociolinguistic insights from Pierre Bourdieu to explore Chinese college students’ participation in an English Corner program at an elite language university in Shanghai. Accordingly, this paper promotes scholarly conversations about intercultural communication between Chinese college students and foreign teachers from English-speaking countries. By underpinning the concepts of intercultural capital, this paper analyzes these themes: (a) linguistic habitus and capital in the stratified field of elite language education; (b) articulating English proficiency; (c) bridging cultural distance and improving intercultural competence; and (d) personal growth and professional development. This paper critically interprets Chinese college students’ benefits and mutual relationships with foreign faculty from English-Speaking Countries; how they cultivated intercultural capital in the field of elite education beyond linguistic capital, how they strove to maintain their accumulated capital to secure better career prospects, and what the roles of international faculty should be.     

Comment on Hanasaki Kohei: decolonalization and the assumption of war responsibility

Abstract

The first Asian Lesbian Film and Video Festival, held in Taipei in August 2005, brought forth media art, social activism and cultural exchange on one occasion. It provided a rare opportunity to showcase the experience of Asian lesbians, which is vastly different from the experience of those in Western countries. While there were great similarities in their love experiences among the 36 Asian lesbian shorts selected, they also reflected the differences among the Asian countries in terms of local development of tongzhi culture and community as well as the visibility of tongzhis. Among the Chinese communities, Taiwan was seen to be at the forefront of the development of tongzhi culture, Mainland China was new to the movement, and Hong Kong was somewhere in‐between. Japanese and Korean videos took a critical and reflective attitude towards social regulations and mainstream thoughts, although witty and farcical at times. While the Filipinos show a more tolerant attitude to the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community, the major oppressive forces on lesbians were poverty, gender inequality and sexual violence. Only one Israeli documentary was shown at the film festival, which focused on lesbians living in the Jewish Orthodox traditions. The film won international acclaim and attracted much public attention to the issue. Films and videos were found to be an effective means to transcend language barriers and cultural differences for a true cross‐cultural exchange among Asian lesbians. During the few days of festival, a ‘queer nation’, not defined by nationalities or languages, but by the pursuit of love expressions, was constructed around The Taipei House.     

Is active social media involvement associated with cross-culture adaption and academic integration among boundary-crossing students?

Social networking sites (SNSs) have become significant communication platforms for numerous international students and their acculturation process. However, the underlying mechanisms of how and to what extent certain types of social media could facilitate cross-cultural adaption are remain under-investigated. Drawing on cross-culture adaption theory, the article seeks to address this gap by investigating the potential influences of differentiated patterns of social media usage on international students’ social support from host and home countries, and acculturation process from both psychological and behavioural perspectives. Data were gathered through a web-based survey from 298 Chinese international students studying in German universities. The outcomes demonstrate that international students’ social media use, especially active use, is associated with increased level of perceived social support from both host and home countries. Additionally, the findings verify that the positive association between active use and cross-cultural adaption is mediated by these two types of social capital. The article may make meaningful contributions to present acculturation studies and managerial practice for universities which target overseas markets.     

Cross-cultural differences in apology

The current study examined the effects of national culture (U.S., China, and Korea) and interpersonal relationship type (a stranger and a friend) on apology. Findings revealed that participants (N = 376) from the three cultures differed in their perceptions of the offended person's emotional reaction and their propensities toward apology use (i.e., desire, obligation, and intention to apologize, as well as their perception of normative apology use). Regardless of their cultures, participants showed stronger obligation and intention to apologize to a stranger than to a friend. With regard to the intention to apologize, both American and Korean participants showed a greater discrepancy between themselves and their estimate of most people in their own culture than did Chinese participants. Although participants from the three cultures did not differ in their propensities toward apology use for a friend, both American and Chinese participants showed greater discrepancy than did Korean participants for feeling obliged to apologize to a stranger. For intention to apologize to a stranger, both American and Korean participants, compared to Chinese, showed greater discrepancy between themselves and their estimate of most people in their own culture. Other findings and implications thereof are discussed in more detail in the paper.