The development of eating pathology in Chinese-Australian women: acculturation versus culture clash

Recent research suggests there has been an increase in the incidence of eating pathology among Asian women residing in the West. Two alternate explanations for the development of this eating pathology have been proposed; acculturation versus culture clash. The present study was designed to further examine the influence of acculturation versus culture clash on the development of eating pathology in Chinese-Australian women. Eighty-one Chinese-Australian women completed a questionnaire investigating their level of eating pathology, perceived sociocultural influences to lose weight, parental overprotection and care, selfperceptions of physical appearance, sociability and global self worth, and the strength of their ethnic identity. It was found that overall, low levels of satisfaction with physical appearance, high levels of parental overprotection, and high levels of perceived pressure from best female friends to lose weight predicted greater eating pathology in both acculturated and traditional women. However, acculturated women who perceived higher levels of pressure from their fathers and best male friends to lose weight and traditional women who experienced higher levels of parental care, reported the greatest eating pathology. The findings suggest that there are both similarities and differences between the risk factors that correlate with the eating pathology among acculturated and traditional women.

Teaching Chinese, teaching in Chinese, and teaching the Chinese

This article examines specific issues encountered in various areas of Chinese teaching in Australia. These issues are linked to the spheres of language planning as acquisition and as recovery and language planning as retention (Lo Bianco, 10.1007/s10993-006-9042-3). Specifically relevant to Chinese in Australia is its current prominence in formally declared national language policy, its changing status over time and its similarities and differences with Chinese in the United States (Wang, 10.1007/s10993-006-9043-2). The internationalization of education, and its commodification, has in recent years led to a major expansion in the range of offerings in Chinese in Australia, now catering to growing, and in some institutions to numerically dominant, groupings of native speakers with radically different language and academic needs from the traditional clientele of tertiary and school Chinese programs.

People's war under modern conditions : an investigation into Chinese defence strategy, 1977-2049

This thesis is an investigation of the relevance of ‘people's war’ to contemporary Chinese defence policy. This loose concept has been eroded by 'modernity’, but a guerilla-based defence remains the essential theme. Prior to China's acquisition of nuclear weapons, people's war was the sole element of the state's deterrent policy, aiming to swamp an invader with China's numerical strength. In the 1980s and beyond people's war finds effectiveness through a combination of materiel of middle range technology and the traditional usage of massive manpower. People's war under modern conditions remains essentially defensive, but now incorporates 'active defence’ with accent on greater mobility. However, the central thesis of this work relates to how the traditional strategy may influence nuclear doctrine. This thesis proposes that China could abandon long-range ballistic missiles and adopt a new concept in nuclear strategy: that of, Guerilla Nuclear Warfare. Trained in guerilla tactics and equipped with battlefield nuclear weapons, this would represent the logical extension of China's people's war strategy to the new nuclear conditions associated with superpower research into space-based ballistic missile defences and which, in full deployment, could nullify a Chinese nuclear deterrent based only on 'mid-tech' delivery systems. Guerilla Nuclear Warfare, as a strategy, would involve the irregular use of locally held and controlled tactical nuclear weapons, but it would also be a method of circumventing the proposed Soviet missile defence shield by not challenging it. Guerilla Nuclear Warfare does not exist in the late 1980s, but evidence exists to suggest its development. It cannot yet be proven as the new direction but China's strategic circumstances add weight to available indications: unless the Strategic Defence programs of the established superpowers are arrested then it appears the sole option available to the Chinese for the maintenance of a nuclear deterrent in the early part of the 21st Century.

Walking for recreation and perceptions of the neighbourhood environment in older chinese urban dwellers

Engagement in walking for recreation can contribute to healthy aging. Although there is growing evidence that the neighborhood environment can influence walking for recreation, the amount of such evidence in relation to older adults is scarce and limited to Western low-density urban locations. Asian urban environments are typified by distinctive environmental and cultural characteristics that may yield different patterns to those observed in Western countries. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to examine associations of perceived environmental attributes with overall and within-neighborhood walking for recreation in Chinese elders (65+ years) residing in Hong Kong, an ultradense Asian metropolis. A sample of 484 elders was recruited from 32 neighborhoods stratified by socio-economic status and walkability (dwelling and intersection densities). Validated questionnaires measuring perceived neighborhood environment and weekly minutes of overall and within-neighborhood walking for recreation were interviewer administered. Results showed that the level of recreational walking was twice to four times higher than that reported in Western adults and elders. While overall walking for recreation showed a general lack of associations with perceived environmental attributes, within-neighborhood recreational walking was positively related with proximity of recreational facilities, infrastructure for walking, indoor places for walking, and presence of bridge/overpasses connecting to services. Age and educational attainment moderated the associations with several perceived environmental attributes with older and less-educated participants showing stronger associations. Traditional cultural views on the benefits of physical activity and the high accessibility of facilities and pedestrian infrastructure of Hong Kong may explain the high levels of walking. Although specific neighborhood attributes, or their perception, may influence recreational walking within the neighborhood, the compactness and public transport affordability of ultradense metropolises such as Hong Kong may make it easy for elders to compensate for the lack of favorable neighborhood attributes by walking outside the neighborhood.

Exploiting side information in distance dependent Chinese restaurant processes for data clustering

Multimedia contents often possess weakly annotated data such as tags, links and interactions. The weakly annotated data is called side information. It is the auxiliary information of data and provides hints for exploring the link structure of data. Most clustering algorithms utilize pure data for clustering. A model that combines pure data and side information, such as images and tags, documents and keywords, can perform better at understanding the underlying structure of data. We demonstrate how to incorporate different types of side information into a recently proposed Bayesian nonparametric model, the distance dependent Chinese restaurant process (DD-CRP). Our algorithm embeds the affinity of this information into the decay function of the DD-CRP when side information is in the form of subsets of discrete labels. It is flexible to measure distance based on arbitrary side information instead of only the spatial layout or time stamp of observations. At the same time, for noisy and incomplete side information, we set the decay function so that the DD-CRP reduces to the traditional Chinese restaurant process, thus not inducing side effects of noisy and incomplete side information. Experimental evaluations on two real-world datasets NUS WIDE and 20 Newsgroups show exploiting side information in DD-CRP significantly improves the clustering performance.

Cross-artform creative practice as still-life recovery: Chinese-Western materialisms of time, writing and death

As argued by Norman Bryson, the still-life genre is sorely neglected by theorists and critics, largely because its concern with ‘low-plane reality’ (everyday items and acts) has obscured its genuine relevance to material thinking. By reappraising rather than abandoning the genre’s traditional themes of death and time—using a cross-cultural, Chinese-Western approach—it is possible to re-energise materialisms of time, writing and death within still life. Such a move depends above all on a re-evaluation of still life as ‘Vanitas’—the term which to date has unified, and more to the point limited, traditional still-life understandings of death and time. This article tracks a more explosive and creative materialism of still life simultaneously through the specifically Chinese approach to death (which includes the ‘Yin Yang’ 阴阳 as a sort of author of time) and via Gilles Deleuze’s cinematic philosophy of the time-image; what connects these is the very Deleuzean notion of time that subtends Chinese engagements with death. In this way, the still-life genre may be recovered from its current critical and theoretical malaise. Reconnecting with practice is a crucial aspect of this recovery, and so in its early stages this article analyses an example of still-life, creative non-fiction (authored by Cher Coad), and it concludes by establishing the value of this potentially ‘new chapter of the “still life” genre’ (in Matilde Marcolli’s terms) for the cross-artform analysis of the short story ‘Nhill’ (authored by Patrick West). Analysis, though, is only half the picture: a fully recovered still-life genre would see theory and practice endlessly circulating through each other, spurring on practice and impelling theory. Coad’s and West’s literary examples are introduced in the hope that they might trigger fresh theoretical and practice-based, still-life discoveries in prose and also in poetry.

The inner circle of technology innovation : a case study of two Chinese firms

In the era of information economy, Chinese firms have realised that technology innovation is fundamental for organisations to gain competitive advantages in the global market. This case study evaluates the drivers and antecedents of technology innovation of two emerging Chinese multinational firms. Institutional theory, the resource-based view and the competency-based strategic perspective are used as the basis for case analysis. The findings show some similarities and differences between the growth of Chinese multinational firms and those of more traditional ones. Chinese firms appear not to follow single innovation pathways but take multiple routes combining several types of innovation, such as strategic, organisational and operational innovation. The key component in the successful technology innovation process among Chinese firms was found to be in alignment with several human resource management strategies. The case study concludes with discussion on managerial and pedagogical implications. These help address inherent differences in the innovation management process between emerging Chinese and established multinational firms.

Organizational rewards and employee commitment: a Chinese study

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess how the cultural value orientations of individual employees moderate their attitudinal responses to different categories of organizational rewards. Specifically, it seeks to examine how one dimension of traditionality, respect for authority, moderates the relationship between affective organizational commitment and three variables: pay satisfaction, autonomy and satisfaction with supervision. Design/methodology/approach: Hierarchical regression analysis was utilized to analyze survey data obtained from a sample of 290 employees of a major Chinese airline company. Findings: Employees high in traditionality were found to exhibit higher levels of affective commitment when autonomy and satisfaction with supervision was low. When autonomy and satisfaction with supervision was high employees low in traditionality exhibited higher levels of emotional attachment to the organization. Research limitations/implications: The cross-sectional design is an obvious limitation of the study. Another limitation relates to the generalizability of the study findings outside the context in which the research was undertaken. Social implications: Organizations should consider taking the cultural orientations of their workforce into account when developing appropriate human resource policies aimed at heightening employee commitment. This should enhance employee well-being, which is especially important in a global economy characterized by uncertainty and rapid change. Originality/value: This is the first study to examine how employees with different cultural value orientations respond to different categories of organizational rewards, in a predominantly traditional society.

[CONSORT 2010 Explanation and Elaboration: updated guidelines for reporting parallel group randomised trials (Chinese version)]

Overwhelming evidence shows the quality of reporting of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) is not optimal. Without transparent reporting, readers cannot judge the reliability and validity of trial findings nor extract information for systematic reviews. Recent methodological analyses indicate that inadequate reporting and design are associated with biased estimates of treatment effects. Such systematic error is seriously damaging to RCTs, which are considered the gold standard for evaluating interventions because of their ability to minimise or avoid bias. A group of scientists and editors developed the CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) statement to improve the quality of reporting of RCTs. It was first published in 1996 and updated in 2001. The statement consists of a checklist and flow diagram that authors can use for reporting an RCT. Many leading medical journals and major international editorial groups have endorsed the CONSORT statement. The statement facilitates critical appraisal and interpretation of RCTs. During the 2001 CONSORT revision, it became clear that explanation and elaboration of the principles underlying the CONSORT statement would help investigators and others to write or appraise trial reports. A CONSORT explanation and elaboration article was published in 2001 alongside the 2001 version of the CONSORT statement. After an expert meeting in January 2007, the CONSORT statement has been further revised and is published as the CONSORT 2010 Statement. This update improves the wording and clarity of the previous checklist and incorporates recommendations related to topics that have only recently received recognition, such as selective outcome reporting bias. This explanatory and elaboration document-intended to enhance the use, understanding, and dissemination of the CONSORT statement-has also been extensively revised. It presents the meaning and rationale for each new and updated checklist item providing examples of good reporting and, where possible, references to relevant empirical studies. Several examples of flow diagrams are included. The CONSORT 2010 Statement, this revised explanatory and elaboration document, and the associated website (www.consort-statement.org) should be helpful resources to improve reporting of randomised trials.

Effects of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine (Zhi Mu 14) on hot flushes and quality of life in postmenopausal women: results of a four-arm randomized controlled pilot trial

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of a clinical trial investigating the effects of acupuncture (AP) and Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) on hot flushes and quality of life in postmenopausal women. METHODS: Forty postmenopausal women reporting at least 20 hot flushes per week were enrolled in a randomized controlled trial. They were randomly allocated to receive traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) AP, sham AP, verum CHM, or placebo CHM for 12 weeks. Follow-up assessment was conducted 12 weeks after intervention. Primary outcome measures included hot flush frequency and severity. As a secondary outcome measure, the severity of menopausal symptoms was assessed using the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) II. RESULTS: TCM AP induced a significant decline in all outcome measures from pretreatment to posttreatment compared with sham AP (hot flush frequency, P = 0.016; hot flush severity, P = 0.013; MRS, P < 0.001). In the TCM AP group, a larger decrease in MRS scores persisted from pretreatment to follow-up (P = 0.048). No significant differences were noted between the verum CHM group and the placebo CHM group. Compared with the verum CHM group, there was a significant decrease in MRS scores (P = 0.002) and a trend toward a stronger decrease in hot flush severity (P = 0.06) in the TCM AP group from pretreatment to posttreatment. CONCLUSIONS: TCM AP is superior to sham AP and verum CHM in reducing menopausal symptoms, whereas verum CHM shows no significant improvements when compared with placebo CHM.

The Gender of Chinese Christianity: Evaluating a New Research Perspective

This paper will discuss how the gender perspective can be applied to the study of the Early Modern Jesuit China mission. I will show that the category of gender provides a promising research perspective on Sino-Western cultural exchange, for it brings to the forefront important aspects of social life in the “contact zone” of Chinese Christian communities. I will argue that through the intercultural contact initiated by the Jesuit China mission, gender roles started to shift slightly on both sides. On the one hand, the Jesuits adopted the Confucian ideal of the separation of the sexes (nannü zhi bie), building for example separate Churches for women, something unknown in Europe. On the other hand, Chinese Christians were urged to reconsider aspects of their traditional gender norms, when for instance some men left their concubines in order to become Christian. The paper will be divided in three parts. First, it will focus on the history of concepts and discuss what gender relations meant in the context of the Early Modern China mission. Then it will turn to the representation of female religiosity in Jesuit Annual Letters and show how the gender perspective can lead to a re-evaluation this source genre. Finally, it will reflect on how the gender perspective can give us fresh insights into well-known paradigms on Sino-Western relations, taking the accommodation paradigm as an example.

Prescriptions of Chinese medicinal herbs in Switzerland: the example of suan zao ren (Ziziphi Spinosae Semen)

Introduction According to the Swiss Health Survey 2007, 1.7% of the adult population use traditional Chinese medicine (including Chinese herbal medicine, but excluding acupuncture). In contrast to conventional drugs, that contain single chemically defined substances, prescriptions of Chinese herbs are mixtures of up to 40 ingredients (parts of plants, fungi, animal substances and minerals). Originally they were taken in the form of decoctions, but nowadays granules are more popular. Medium daily dosages of granules range between 8 to 12g. In a recent work we identified the most commonly used Chinese herbs (all ingredients are referred to as herbs for reasons of simplicity) and classical formulas (mixtures). Here we present a short overview and the example of suan zao ren (Ziziphi Spinosae Semen), which is used in the treatment of insomnia and anxiety and contains saponins that have been shown to increase sleep in animal studies. Material and Methods A random sample of 1,053 prescriptions was drawn from the database of Lian Chinaherb AG, Switzerland, and analysed according to the most frequently used individual herbs and classical formulas. Cluster analysis (Jaccard similarity coefficient, complete linkage method) was applied to identify common combinations of herbs. Results The most frequently used herbs were dang gui (Angelicae Sinensis Radix), fu ling (Poria), bai shao (Paeoniae Radix Alba), and gan cao (Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma); the most frequently used classical formulas were gui pi tang (Restore the Spleen Decoction) and xiao yao san (Rambling Powder). The average number of herbs per prescription was 12.0, and the average daily dosage of granules was 8.7g. 74.3% of the prescriptions were for female, 24.8% for male patients. Suan zao ren was present in 14.2% of all prescriptions. These prescriptions contained on average 13.7 herbs, and the daily dosage of granules was 8.9g. Suan zao ren was more frequently prescribed by practitioners of non-Asian than of Asian origin but equally often for female and male patients. Cluster analysis grouped suan zao ren with yuan zhi (Polygalae Radix), bai zi ren (Platycladi Semen), sheng di huang (Rehmanniae Radix) and dan shen (Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma). Discussion Prescriptions including suan zao ren contained on average slightly more herbs than other prescriptions. This might be due to the fact that two of the three most popular classical formulas with suan zao ren are composed of 13 and 12 herbs with the possibility of adding more ingredients when necessary. Cluster analysis resulted in the clustering of suan zao ren with other herbs of the classical formula tian wang bu xin dan (Emperor of Heaven’s Special Pill to Tonify the Heart), indicating the use of suan zao ren for the treatment of insomnia and irritability. Unfortunately, the diagnoses of the patients were unavailable and thus correlations between use of suan zao ren and diseases could not be analysed.

The Hybrid Spirit Animating Chinese Pentecostals in Malaysia

This dissertation interrogates the assertion in postcolonial scholarship, especially from the work of Homi Bhabha that the construction and performance of hybrid identities act as a form of resistance for marginalized communities against structures of oppression. While this study supports this assertion, it also critiques how hybridity fails to address issues of unequal power relations. This has led to an uncritical use of hybridity that reproduces the very idea of static identity which its proponents claim to transcend. Through qualitative study of Chinese members of a Pentecostal church in Malaysia, this study argues that church members engage in "unequal belonging" where they privilege certain elements of their identities over others. In concert with Pierre Bourdieu's conceptions of habitus, field, and capital, unequal belonging highlights how hybridity fails to capture the intersecting and competing loyalties, strategies, and complexities of identity formation on a contextual level. Unequal belonging challenges postcolonial scholars to locate the subtle workings of power and privilege that manifest even among marginalized communities. The study first situates the Chinese through an analysis of the historical legacy of British colonialism that has structured the country's current socio-political configuration along bounded categories of identification. The habitus constrains church members to accept certain Chinese ethnic markers as "givens." Although they face continuous marginalization, interviewee data demonstrates that church members negotiate their Chineseness and construct a "Modern Chinese" ethnic identity as a strategic move away from Chinese stereotypes. Moreover, conversion to Christianity affords church members access to cultural capital. Yet, it is limited and unequal capital. In particular, the "Chinese Chinese," who church members have demarcated as backward and traditional, are unable to gain access to this capital because they lack fluency in English and knowledge in modern, westernized worldviews. Unequal belonging nuances monolithic conceptions of hybridity. It demonstrates how church members' privilege of Christianity over Chineseness exposes the complex processes of power and privilege that makes westernized-English-speaking Chinese Christians culturally "higher" than non-English-speaking, non-Christian, Chinese. This study provides significant contribution to the complex aspect of hybridity where it is both a site of resistance and oppression.

The impact of the post-1993 economic reforms on Chinese state-owned enterprises:evidence from the electronics industry

Since 1979, China has embarked on a series of economic reform programmes, leading its socialist economy away from a Soviet planning model towards a much greater reliance on the market. In the course of the last twenty years, the Chinese economy has enjoyed a phenomenally high economic growth rate. However, earlier research suggests that Chinese state-owned enterprises remain a financial 'black hole' for the Chinese economy, in spite of various enterprise reform measures. This thesis tries to assess the impact of the reforms after 1993, especially the so-called Modern Enterprise System, on the behaviour and management practices of state firms. The central research question is whether the new rounds of economic reform have changed state firms into commercial entities operating according to market signals, as intended. In order to explore this question, an institutional approach is employed. More specifically, the thesis examines how the behaviour and management practices of state enterprises have changed with changes in the institutional environmental resulting from the introduction of new reform measures and especially the MES. The main evidence used in this research comes from the Chinese electronics industry (CEI). Non-state firms, namely collectives and joint ventures, are involved in the study to provide a benchmark against which changes in the behaviour of state firms in the mid and late 1990s are compared. A comparative statistical analysis shows that state-owned firms, both traditional and corporatised ones, still lag behind collectives and joint ventures in terms of both labour and total factor productivity. The further empirical work of this research consists of a questionnaire survey and case studies that are based on interviews with senior managers of 17 firms in the CEI. The findings of these analyses suggest that there has been little fundamental change in the behaviour pattern of state firms in the 1990s, despite the introduction of the Modern Enterprise System, and that the economic reforms after 1993 so far seem to have failed to transform the state firms into commercial entities operating according to market signals.

Food Services Styles in Chinese Hotels: Traditions and Tourism Pressures Merge

Tourist often want to experience their hosts' culture including cuisines. Their reactions can be negatively influenced by vastly different customs which confront them. What can be done, for example, when traditional food serving styles violate the tourist's sanitation standards? The authors discuss a Chinese case study-- and tell what hoteliers in China gace done to make good serving more desirable, with minimal compromise to culinary traditions.