John Thompson: Seeing through China

In 1848, Karl Marx predicted that a flow of cheap commodities would be the heavy artillery which would batter down all Chinese walls and open up the country to the west (Marx, 1978, p. 477). The Scottish photographer John Thomson (1837-1921) was both chronicler of and participant in the early moments of this process. Thomson was a commercial photographer who first arrived in the Far East in 1862. He earned the moniker of 'China' in a decade-long stay during which he photographed what he considered to be the key aspects of its culture and landscape. In this body of work, Illustrations of China and its People (first published in 1874) is perhaps the most comprehensive. It explores, through two hundred photographs and accompanying texts, a series of phenomena from the macro-scale of landscape, infrastructure and industry to the smaller scales of streetscapes, domestic spaces, individual portraits, and other details of everyday life. Despite his own description of the volumes as encyclopedic, Illustrations is geographically quite limited. Thomson's explorations into the hinterland proceed up the country’s principal rivers from those coastal ports which had already been wrested into western hands during the Opium Wars (of the 1840s) and subsequently opened up to trade. This is perhaps one of the reasons why Illustrations has been described as an explicitly colonial text, a guide-book for the prospective settler whose content offered the strategic knowledge of land, culture and natural resources necessary if the territorial advantages of the coastal periphery were to extended to the interior (Jeffrey, 1981, p. 64). It can also be argued, however, that Thomson’s volume offered justification for a potential colonial presence. Faced with a civilization whose history was as sophisticated as the west, it depicts a culture that is static and moribund, its addiction to traditional values an impediment to progress. While this is perhaps most explicit in the texts of Illustrations of China, it can also be seen in the images whose uniform chemical rendering also serves to make an essentially diverse culture seem homogenous. Yet it is these images that distinguish Illustrations from previous attempts to collate China’s culture and landscape. Here, the mechanical precision of his camera captures a reality that often subverts the colonial narrative, confounding stereotypes as Thomson’s mass-produced images allow another China to emerge.

Accuracy of rural refractionists in western China

Purpose. We assessed the prevalence and predictors of inaccurate refractive error among rural refractionists in western China. Methods. A subset of primary school children with visual acuity (VA) ≤6/12 in ≥1 eye, undergoing subjective refinement by local refractionists after cycloplegic autorefraction in an ongoing population-based study, received repeat refraction by university optometrists for quality control. Results. Among 502 children (mean age 10.5 years, 53.2% girls), independent predictors of poor (inaccurate by ≥1.0 diopter [D]) refraction by 21 rural practitioners (66.7% with high school or lower education) included hyperopia (odds ratio [OR], 4.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.4-7.3, P < 0.001), astigmatism (OR = 3.8; 95% CI, 2.5-5.6; P < 0.001) and VA uncorrectable to >6/12 by the rural refractionist (OR = 4.7; 95% CI, 3.1-7.3; P = < 0.001). Among 201 children whose vision was uncorrectable in ≥1 eye by the rural refractionists, vision could be improved to >6/12 by the university optometrist in 110 (54.7%). We estimate vision could be so improved in 9.1% of all children refracted by these rural refractionists. A reason for inaccuracy in this setting is the erroneous tendency of rural refractionists to adjust instrument values for accommodation, even under cycloplegia. Conclusions. Rural refractionists in western China have little formal training and frequently fail to optimize VA among children, even when autorefractors are used. Training is needed emphasizing better use of automated refraction, particularly in children with astigmatism and hyperopia. © 2014 The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Inc.

The impact of overseas training on curriculum innovation and change in English language education in Western China

This article assesses the impact of a UK-based professional development programme on curriculum innovation and change in English Language Education (ELE) in Western China. Based on interviews, focus group discussions and observation of a total of 48 English teachers who had participated in an overseas professional development programme influenced by modern approaches to education and ELE, and 9 of their colleagues who had not taken part, it assesses the uptake of new approaches on teachers’ return to China. Interviews with 10 senior managers provided supplementary data. Using Diffusion of Innovations Theory as the conceptual framework, we examine those aspects of the Chinese situation that are supportive of change and those that constrain innovation. We offer evidence of innovation in classroom practice on the part of returnees and ‘reinvention’ of the innovation to ensure a better fit with local needs. The key role of course participants as opinion leaders in the diffusion of new ideas is also explored. We conclude that the selective uptake of this innovation is under way and likely to be sustained against a background of continued curriculum reform in China.

English language teaching and educational reform in Western China: a knowledge management perspective

This study examines the impact of a large-scale UK-based teacher development programme on innovation and change in English language education in Western China within a knowledge management (KM) framework. Questionnaire data were collected from 229 returnee teachers in 15 cohorts. Follow-up interviews and focus groups were conducted with former participants, middle and senior managers, and teachers who had not participated in the UK programme. The results showed evidence of knowledge creation and amplification at individual, group and inter-organizational levels. However, the present study also identified knowledge creation potential through the more effective organization of follow-up at the national level, particularly for the returnee teachers. It is argued that the KM framework might offer a promising alternative to existing models and metaphors of Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

Innovation and change in English teaching in the western provinces of China: the impact of overseas training

In this article we explore issues around the impact of continuing professional development (CPD) for secondary teachers of English offered by an overseas provider through the lens of participants from the Western provinces of China who completed courses at a UK university between 2003 and 2012. We start by offering an overview of English teaching in China. We then report two complementary studies of the same programme. The first aimed for breadth of understanding and involved the collection and analysis of interviews and focus groups discussions with former participants, their teaching colleagues and senior management, as well as classroom observation. The second aimed for depth and drew on data collected from a cohort of 38 teachers on one of the courses, using pre- and post-course surveys; focus group discussions at the end of the course with the whole cohort; and interviews with five of the participants both before they left the UK and again six months later. Evidence is presented for changes in teachers’ philosophies of education directly attributable to participation in the courses; for improved teacher competencies (linguistic, cultural and pedagogical) in the classroom; and for the ways in which returnees are undertaking new roles and responsibilities that exploit their new understandings. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings for both providers and sponsors of CPD for English language teachers.

A biogeographically mixed, Middle Permian brachiopod fauna from the Baoshan Block, Western Yunnan, China

A small brachiopod fauna is described from the carbonate rocks of the basal Shazipo Formation of the Baoshan Block, western Yunnan, south-west China, including significant new ventral and dorsal internal morphological features of Cryptospirifer omeishanensis Huang. This fauna is regarded as Wordian (Middle Guadalupian, Middle Permian) because of the presence of Cryptospirifer omeishanensis Huang and associated fusulinids (Neoschwagerina craticulifera Zone). Palaeobiogeographically, the brachiopod fauna is of considerable interest because of its admixed nature characterized by typical warm-water Cathaysian elements intermingled with temperate Peri-Gondwanan taxa. This in turn is interpreted to indicate that the Baoshan Block may have been situated in an intermediate palaeogeographical position between Gondwanaland to the south and Cathaysia to the north during the Mid Permian and, as such, it probably furnished an important 'stepping stone' for the dispersal of Mid Permian eastern Tethyan marine invertebrate taxa (e.g. Cryptospirifer) to the western Tethys.

High-resolution terrestrial permian-triassic eventostratigraphic boundary in western Guizhou and eastern Yunnan, southwestern China

The adjoining area of western Guizhou and eastern Yunnan Provinces in southwest China is an ideal place to investigate the feasibility of correlating marine and nonmarine Permian–Triassic boundary (PTB) sequences, as it contains outcrop sections of shallow marine, marginal marine (or paralic), and terrestrial PTB sections, all in close geographic proximity. This paper documents for the first time multiple stratigraphic data from several well-preserved terrestrial PTB sections in the area and attempts to use these data to define, locate, and correlate the PTB in the area. A study of the spores and pollen and vegetation types across the terrestrial PTB sections in the study area suggests three distinct evolutionary stages across the boundary: Stage 1 (Xuanwei Formation) is characterised by Late Permian or Paleozoic-type ferns and pteridosperms (85.0%), with a few gymnosperms (15.0%); stage 2 is marked by an abrupt drop of sporopollen elements of Late Permian aspects, coupled with the appearance of fungal spores and limited Early Triassic palynomorphs; stage 3 (top Xuanwei Formation and Kayitou Formation) is dominated by gymnosperm pollen (58.8%) of clearly Early Triassic aspect, although still retaining limited ferns and pteridosperms. The three biotic stages seem to well correspond with the changing trend of the δ13Corg curves from the same sections, which is characterized by a sharp drop just before the PTB, followed by a short term partial recovery across the boundary, and then succeeded by a gradual decline after the PTB in the Early Triassic. Combining evidence from eventostratigraphic (i.e., the succession of boundary clay beds), biostratigraphic (using both macroplants and palynomorphs), and chemostratigraphic (i.e., organic carbon isotope excursion signals), we propose that a high-resolution PTB succession, closely correlatable to its marine counterpart at the Meishan section in eastern China, is recognisable at the terrestrial PTB sections in the western Guizhou–eastern Yunnan area in southwest China.

Permian brachiopods from the Baoshan and Simao Blocks in Western Yunnan, China

This paper describes and illustrates four Permian brachiopod assemblages (Assemblages A–D) from western Yunnan, southwest China. Assemblage A occurs in the basal part of the Yongde Formation in the Xiaoxinzhai section in the southern Baoshan Block and is assignable to the latest Artinskian or earliest Kungurian. Assemblage B occurs about 50 m stratigraphically above Assemblage A in the same section, and is of Chihsian (Kungurian–Roadian) age. Assemblage C was collected from the Yongde Formation in the Anpaitian section in the southern Baoshan Block and is most likely Roadian to Wordian in age. Assemblage D came from the Longtan Formation in the Simao Block and is of late Wuchiapingian in age. The brachiopod faunas from the Yongde Formation of the Baoshan Block, as a whole, is dominated by species characteristic of the Cathaysian Province, although some links with Peri-Gondwanan faunas are also evident. In contrast, Assemblage D from the Simao Block is characterised exclusively by taxa of the Cathaysian Province. New taxa described and illustrated are Neochonetes (Huangichonetes) inflatus n. sp. Costatumulus minor n. sp. and Celebetus yunnanensis n. sp.

Shanghai's western townscape and changing perceptions of cultural heritage in China

[No Abstract]

Australian businesses in China : examining motivations and influences on entry modes for service providers

Purpose : The purpose of this paper is to examine the explanatory power of internationalisation theory for service firms internationalising into China.

Design/Methodology/Approach : Interviews were conducted with Australian based 23 service businesses that had entered China. Internationalisation theory was examined in this research. A number of constructs were investigated, which included the type of service (hard or soft), internationalisation motivation/pathways, previous international experience and whether companies plan or not. A number of propositions were tested in relation to these constructs.

Findings : The research found that soft services were more likely to choose full control modes, and hard services choose lower control modes. The most common motivation for entering China was to seek markets there, and these resulted in lower involvement modes. There was no relationship found between having international experience and entry mode, and it was found that businesses with low levels of planning still engaged high control modes. Internationalisation theory was partially supported in the research and was found to correctly predict the progression of equity in Chinese businesses owned by Australian companies.

Research Limitations/Implications : The limitation of the research was the small sample size, and future research should consider the constructs over a larger sample.

Practical Implications : The implications for other Australian service businesses is they should consider the type of service they have (hard or soft), and then make appropriate entry mode choices.

Originality/Value : There is limited research on the internationalisation of service businesses, and no other research has examined Australian service providers going to China.

Middle and upper Cambrian strata, depositional environments and tribolite faunas on the Fenghuang-Chenxi area, western Hunan, China

Three new and a single open nomenclature species are described in this thesis which contains the first record of Erixanium from Human. Also included is the first systematic description of the carbonate platform margin slope deposits and paleogeography of the study area and a comprehensive analysis of the tribolite community features and paleoenvironments.