Traditional Chinese herbal medicine as cultural power along the Southeast Asian belt and road corridor

In 2013, President Xi Jinping launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a global strategy to catapult China onto the global stage through port and infrastructure development, financial, technological, trade and cultural connectivity. The BRI embraces six corridors, one of which is the Southeast Asian corridor. Among the BRI portfolio, the Chinese government has identified traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as an important health commodity for the global and Chinese Diaspora market. It is also promoted as part of the cultural and intangible Chinese heritage. This paper explores TCM as an important cultural power - a variant of soft power - that connects Mainland Chinese and global Chinese communities and enables the formation of regional social and economic networks that assist in the development of trade, leading to the formation of collaborative cultural basins between TCM institutions in China and Southeast Asian nations.     

Confucius Institute in the Sino-Thai relations: A display of China's soft power

The establishment of Confucius Institutes (CIs) is a great endeavor by the Chinese government to spread Chinese language and culture in neighboring countries. It is commonly regarded by foreign countries as part of China's soft power initiative. With the implementation of BRI, it becomes a platform to promote systematic connections with countries along the route. Based on the examination of CIs’ programmes run in Thailand, this article finds that CIs made extensive efforts in these respects and garnered the support of the Thai government, Thai royal family and local business. In this sense, CIs also serve as a soft power for the Thai government and royalty to cement their Sino-Thai relationship. Within the local community, there are varying voices. While some supported the Chinese language and cultural programme, others have expressed some dissatisfaction over the role of the CIs in the community.     

China’s modern image – contemporary Chinese art

Abstract

As a worldwide cultural phenomenon, contemporary art in China has not only been used as a diplomatic language but also a reflection of contemporary Chinese culture. Contemporary Chinese art, as an emerging field to display China’s global role, provides an important perspective to study China’s self-position in global relations, China’s diplomacy in exercising its soft power, contemporary Chinese culture, and the reinvention of China’s cultural/national identity in post-Mao China. Using the 2000 Shanghai Biennale and the Chinese pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale as case studies, this article investigates how the fluid construct of Chineseness is successfully promoted and demonstrated through the government’s support of contemporary Chinese art.     

伦敦世界城市建设的特征及对我国城市发展的启示

20世纪70年代以来,伦敦地方政府通过各项改革措施,成功实现了从世界文化古都向可持续发展的世界城市转变。伦敦建设世界城市的每个阶段都尤为注重规划;金融服务业为伦敦世界城市建设提供强大的发展引擎;多元完善的交通设施是伦敦成为世界城市的重要基础;国际多元文化中心、创意城市建设是伦敦世界城市软实力构成的核心;都市囤建设及大伦敦政府体制管理新模式是伦敦成为世界城市的重要保障;多层次的住房保障体系是伦敦世界城市吸引高端人群,增强宜居性的重要原因。伦敦的阶段性发展经验对我国一些大城市加快国际化进程建设有一定的启发意义。     

Talent flowscapes and circular mobility in a Belt and Road (BRI) perspective - Global talent flows revisited

This article brings the role of talent migration to the discussion of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) mainly focusing on academic talents. We explore the foundation for BRI's talent development as a long-term and gradual process building on policies dating back to China's opening in 1978. China's opening saw an increased number of individuals who could improve their skills, knowledge, and network from China globally or inside China from elsewhere on the globe. These global experiences have resulted in the Chinese government, companies, and institutions' necessity to compete for talent or human resources on a global “market”. We interpret the call for establishing people-to-people connections within the BRI as an intensification of China's existing talent strategy. However, at a micro-level, we continue to find that international talents and returned migrants perceive themselves as outsiders which hinders China's talent attraction policies and results in a circular movement of academic talents to and from China     

Navigating the landscape of Guangzhou's time-honoured business: From the 19th-century flowscape to the Belt and Road Initiative

Guangzhou's dynamic time-honoured businesses, commonly known as laozihao 老字号, while grounded in a locality, have nevertheless been caught up in the economic and cultural flowscapes of their times as they have followed the migration trajectories of the mainland Chinese. As these traders, businesspeople and migrants have moved and relocated from their hometown to overseas locations, they have also brought along their understanding of their culture, including the cultural elements that are associated with the businesses that they are involved in. This paper will explore the flowscapes and transformation of Guangzhou's laozihao that involved the mainland Chinese and Chinese diaspora communities during two periods. The first period stretched from the 19th century through to 1949 when mainland China came under Communist rule. The second phase started after the 1978 Open Door Policy and has continued through the introduction of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013 till today. The Belt and Road Initiative has provided a strategic and opportunistic moment for these time-honoured businesses to reinvent and realign their business to suit the modern needs of the 21st century.     

Transnational Networks and Institutional Embeddedness: Reengagement of the New Generation of Malaysian Chinese Entrepreneurs with China

The new generation of Southeast Asian Chinese society, who were locally born and grew up, have largely weakened their interaction with China. However, the growing business opportunities presented from the Belt and Road Initiative (the BRI), which was launched in 2013, serve as a big impetus for the new generation entrepreneurs to reengage China. Drawn upon an empirical case study of the new generation of Malaysian Chinese entrepreneurs, this paper argues that, the entrepreneurs regard institutional embeddedness as a critical channel to enhance their abilities to accumulate transnational social capital and strengthen their socio-economic networks with China. The transnational networks facilitate them to seize business opportunities from the BRI, and simultaneously reinforce their Malaysian national identity. Moreover, this study demonstrates the emergence of knowledge networks in the transnational space. It not only reflects the increasing interests of the new generation entrepreneurship in China's innovation and technology, but also reveals the developmental strategies of both the Malaysian and Chinese states.     

我国城镇化发展的多维价值

我国城镇化发展具有重要的国家意义并产生深远的世界影响。城镇化是中国崛起的战略选择，是经济发展方式转变的核心动力，是破解“三农”问题的根本途径，是构建和谐社会的必由之路，是促进区域均衡发展的重要保障，是参与全球经济治理的主要平台，具有重要的经济和社会价值。     

Alibaba’s discourse for the digital Silk Road: the electronic World Trade Platform and ‘inclusive globalization’

The digital Silk Road, which involves the internationalization of Chinese internet firms across countries that are party to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has remained underexplored in the literature. This paper employs a poststructuralist discourse theory to analyze one of the most important Chinese internet firms, Alibaba, and its initiative for global trade: the electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP). The article argues that the eWTP is a counter-hegemonic discourse that, based on the economic and technological power of Alibaba and its support of the BRI, attempts to globalize a China-centered and privately led global digital trade order to challenge the previous wave of US-led globalization. However, the eWTP has at least five contradictions. First, despite its criticisms of globalization, the initiative remains essentially neoliberal. Secondly, it sidelines inherent tensions with the Chinese state-centric internet governance model. Thirdly, it excludes some social identities and makes utopian promises. Fourthly, it is unclear to what extent it really will be inclusive. Finally, unless carefully hedged, it might entrap partner countries in new types of problematic digital dependence.     

Changes in the junket business in Macao after gaming liberalization

Before Macao's gaming liberalization, people from Macao and Hong Kong took the active lead as junket operators to entice high-betting gamblers from neighbouring places. With the People's Republic of China as the dominating source of visitors to Macao, there have been some changes in the junket business. The qualitative research interview was adopted due to the under-researched nature of the junket business. This study is based on the institutional theory to analyse human interactions and activities structured in terms of overt or implicit rules involved in the junket business in Macao. A review of the literature and interview findings indicates that the active role played by local people appears to have diminished. As junket activities like patron recruitment and gambling debt collection are primarily conducted in Mainland China, together with the business opportunities from gambling and junket operators' preference for working with ethnically homogeneous groups, the previous active role played by local people is gradually being replaced by the Mainland Chinese. The junket business in Macao has been under the increasing influence of the Mainland Chinese. Based upon this, Macao needs to consider how to better regulate these junket operators.     

The influence of culture and infrastructure on CSR and country image: The case of Kuwait

The study examined how CSR is practiced in Kuwait, a country in an understudied region of the world, and considered the impact of the political and economic structure of a country on CSR practices. Semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of communication executives found strong cooperation between the public and private sectors in Kuwait for CSR projects and for promoting country image, related to the sociocultural context of the country. Kuwaiti corporations associate themselves with the country of Kuwait when engaging in CSR activities in other countries and have a strong sense of corporate citizenship that reflects the collectivistic culture. Understanding CSR in different societal and cultural contexts and how it can affect country image is important for global public relations scholarship as well as for successful business practice.     

现代服务业集聚区“软实力”：城市服务经济发展新引擎——上海长风生态商务区文化品牌建设与发展的思考

现代服务业集聚区（MCBD）是现代服务业发展的新高地,城市服务功能的新载体,经济增长方式转变的新动力和城市形象的新名片。上海现代服务业集聚区建设与发展不仅强调经济、产业、配套设施等＂硬实力＂的目标与定位,更要关注文化、品牌等＂软实力＂的不断提升,以便将上海真正建设成为名副其实的现代化国际大都市。以上海长风生态商务区为例,针对商务区文化品牌建设与发展的成效与不足,提出针对推进现代服务业聚集区文化品牌建设与发展的对策建议。     

International women's magazines in China: Global and local perspectives

Unlike other global media products that are imported from overseas, international women's magazines in China are published via licensing agreements or joint ventures with local companies. These ownership patterns allow local editions of international women's magazines to negotiate the tensions and contradictions between the global players and local publishers. Given the influence of cultural and commercial forces in different economic environments, international women's magazines provide a challenging platform for exploring the interaction between global and local forces. Through a theoretical framework of hybridity theory and in-depth interviews with editorial personnel from the magazine industry, this study explores the global and local forces that have contributed to the production process of international women's magazines in China. The findings reveal that these magazines are a result of a multi-level convergence of local realities and global influences. Although there are factors of control and dependence in many areas such as the publishing ideas, editorial policies, the training of personnel, and the quality of production, both Western-style and Japanese-style women's magazines tend to appropriate and rework global cultures to satisfy local readers' needs, albeit in different ways. As a result, local and transnational influences are inextricably interwoven in the production process of international women's magazines in China. The study provides an extensive understanding of the global processes, the consumers, and the cultural forces that are shaping the media, particularly magazines in China.     

The Chinese Policy of Highly-Qualified Human Capital: A Strategic Factor for Global Competition in Innovation

International migration is a historical phenomenon, which only recently has gained increasing importance, representing a focal point on the political agenda in most countries. One of the reasons is the deep transformation occurring in last decades, both at global and local level, of the role played by its protagonists that are turning to be transnational agents. This is especially true for the skilled professionals, who migrate internationally. As a matter of fact, international human capital mobility is now regarded as “brain circulation” rather than “brain drain”: this new concept concerns individuals who maintain frequent and continued social, economic and political ties with their country of origin, exceeding thereby the territorial and cultural boundaries. In this scenario, China is one of the main sending countries of highly-skilled migrants, through which it can built economic and academic relations with other economic and technological advanced countries. Recently, Chinese policy makers have started to consider the brain drain phenomenon as an opportunity for the transmission of business and technological know-how, as well as tacit knowledge that is hard to find through official channels. This article intends to contribute to the scientific debate on the subject, highlighting the international relevance of the so-called Overseas Chinese Professionals (OCPs), investigating their spatial distribution and features. Besides, the paper will examine the emerging returning flow and the challenge that the country will have to cope with in the next future to impose itself as a innovative leading economy.     

From "Us" to "Them": Diasporic Linkages and Identity Politics

Global diasporas-a type of social formation mediating economic, political, and cultural affairs across borders-have been a focus of globalization researchers for some time. However, up to now, little knowledge exists on how social identification affects business participation in diaspora communities and how such participation modifies social identification. This article, based on empirical research on diasporic linkages between Taiwanese transnationals and ethnic Chinese overseas, serves to illustrate a) how globalization has enhanced the practical and economic roles of diasporas, and b) how economic practices and ethnic identification interact within diasporic communities. The author argues that ethnic membership still remains contested, despite diasporas serving as flexible forms of social organization in the mediation of capital flow.     

Oppositional consciousness,cultural preservation,and everyday resistance on the Uyghur Internet

The Internet has potential as a tool for propagation of minority cultures and identities. As China is a multi-ethnic, multilingual society, people of varying cultural backgrounds and across the Chinese diaspora may be found participating in Chinese language sites. However, little attention has been paid to the separate online activity among any of China’s 55 officially recognized ethnic minority groups, such as the Uyghurs, especially in their native languages. In this paper, we consider in what ways digital media such as interactive online community forums (UY: munbar) may be used by one ethnic group, Uyghurs, as a means of mobilizing their community to preserve their culture and support their community. As the majority ethnic group within a region of China noted as among China’s most politically sensitive, Uyghur use of computer-mediated communication provides a rich source of study.     

Introduction: New Dynamics of Chinese Migration to Europe

This introduction provides a presentation of the articles in this special issue by framing the contributions in the context of new dynamics related to Chinese migration studies and the ongoing discussions of the impact of China’s powerful economic position. The articles offer new empirical insights to develop new understandings of recent migration and mobilities between China and Europe. By focusing on the changing socio-economic composition of Chinese migrants in Europe towards highly skilled professionals and investors, changes in Chinese entrepreneurship, increasing Chinese political engagement and activism, and new migration from Europe to China by Chinese descendants, these contributions reflect the importance of developing new theories to better grasp the causes and effects of China’s new global economic and political position for Chinese migration. The selected articles identify promising directions for future work on the global discussions of the impact of China as a diaspora state and ensuing policy implications.     

上海环人民广场区域文化产业集群发展路径及对策研究

加快文化产业集群发展是调整区域产业结构、转变区域经济增长方式、提高区域市场竞争力的重要抓手和战略性举措,也是提升文化软实力的有效途径。上海环人民广场文化产业集群建设,是以上海建设国际文化大都市为动力,以满足人民群众的文化需求和社会需求为出发点,围绕市区加快文化产业发展的总体目标,集成各方有效资源,加强集群内部的有机联系,发挥产业聚集效应和企业创新能力,带动产业结构升级和经济发展方式的优化,促进区域经济发展的核心竞争力进一步提高。     

Sixty years of “peaceful liberation” at the Tibet Museum in Lhasa: triumphant modernization at the rooftop of the world

In recent years, China has developed an increasingly ambitious public diplomacy program to enhance its soft power abroad. Although several scholars have sought to assess the effects of this program, little attention has been paid to the Chinese governmental conception of soft power and its use in propaganda. This article explores how the state's view of soft power is transformed into policy through the cultural bureaucracy and, conversely, how it limits the program's effectiveness. The article concludes that the limited success of soft power is due to the following main factors. First, although China's public diplomacy programs are planned and implemented in ways that reflect its domestic cultural policy, they are rarely successful even in their home markets. Second, China's conception of soft power focuses on top-down, State-centered image management, thereby overlooking the relational and context-dependent aspects of soft power.     

BEYOND THE BIBLE AND THE CROSS: A SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF CHINESE ELDERS' PARTICIPATION IN CHRISTIAN CONGREGATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

Mainland Chinese elders constitute a unique group in popular Christian participation and conversion. This work aims to explore the social contexts and cultural facets of Mainland Chinese elders' Christian practice in the United States. Based on face-to-face, in-depth interviews with 20 Mainland Chinese elders as well as participant observation at selected congregational settings, this study suggests that the existing theories on aging and religion as well as religious practice among immigrants are inadequate to explain Chinese elderly immigrants' participation in Christian congregations in the U.S. Instead, social isolation and lack of social support system resulting from immigration and aging process serve as the major drive for the elders to pursue social and cultural recognition from Chinese Christian gatherings. Besides religious services, social service functions of churches and opportunities for fellowship are other factors that explain Chinese elders' church involvement. In conclusion, we argue that social and cultural services are needed to particularly assist Chinese seniors to adjust and adapt to their elderly lives in the host country.