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- Creators: Arizona State University
Description
Sacred apocalyptic texts claim to foretell coming events, warning the faithful of some terrible fate that lies beyond the present. Such texts often derive their power from successfully recasting past events in such a way as they appear to be "predicted" by the text and thus take on additional meanings beyond the superficial. This ex eventu status allows apocalyptic texts to increase the credibility of their future predictions and connect emotionally with the reader by playing on present fears. The fifth-century Daoist apocalyptic text, the Scripture on the Cycles of Heaven and Earth (Tiandi yundu jing, 天地運度經), is no exception. This thesis examines the apocalyptic markers in the poetic sections of the text, attempting to develop a strategy for separating the generic imagery (both to Chinese texts and the apocalyptic literary genre as a whole) from the more significant recoverable references to contemporary events such as the fall of the Jin dynasty and the subsequent founding of the Liu-Song dynasty.
ContributorsBussio, Jennifer Jean (Author) / Bokenkamp, Stephen (Thesis advisor) / Chen, Huaiyu (Committee member) / Cutter, Robert J (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Chinese activists came forth in unprecedented numbers to compete as independent candidates in the 2011-12 local people's congress elections throughout China, directly challenging the ruling Chinese Communist Party within the electoral arena. In response, the government threatened, harassed and obstructed the campaigns of these candidates, and as a result only a handful of independent candidates made it onto the official ballots, let alone win the elections. Despite their lack of success, independent candidates have been promoted by media sources as the latest movement with the potential to bring about democratic reform within China. However, independent candidates as a collective have not been sufficiently analyzed in order to determine the extent of these candidates' shared desire for democratic reform or their powers to effect such reform. Therefore, within the theoretical framework of electoral authoritarianism and utilizing a single-case, exploratory case study, this thesis explores the potential of the 2011-12 independent candidate movement to initiate democratic reform in China. Relying upon the statements of the candidates as reported by English-language news media, I create a typology of the movement and examine the candidates' goals and motives, as well as their interactions with the local people's congresses and the Chinese Communist Party, in hopes of revealing a clearer picture of the balance of power between the movement and the current regime. I conclude that due to the inability of independent candidates to win a significant number of seats, the limited power of deputies on local people's congress to effect structural change, and the lack of unity and organization among independent candidates, the 2011-12 independent candidate movement will not immediately result in structural democratic reform in China. Nevertheless, I contend that the increased awareness of electoral rights and democracy in China as a result the independent candidate movement will, in the coming years and decades, compel the ruling Chinese Communist Party to take significant steps to appease the ever-growing demand for political participation in China.
ContributorsFitch, Elizabeth Carol (Author) / El-Meehy, Asya (Thesis advisor) / Murphy-Erphani, Julie (Committee member) / Wang, Ning (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Exercising is becoming an important part of life, and yet not everybody is exercising regularly as they should. This project is focused on the exercising level of people in China and the United States therefore to determine the factors that prevent people from exercising. By extensive research and observations in the gyms of China and the United States, 6 major factors were determined and those are: Food, Education, Aesthetic/ Beauty standard, Gym membership fee, Government and control, and Work/ Society. The author found that with the extensive government control, people in China do not have full access to internet and therefore they do not have information about exercising. Education is should be refocused because government and school are not paying attention to students' health, students at school have excessive homework and assignment which prevent them from playing sports and exercising. Government of China should become more open-minded and open the access of internet instead of control. Both the United States and China should set more sports related classes, and reduce assignment and homework load. For China, more public infrastructure and facility should be built and open to the public who has less income can have access to exercise. Lastly promote healthy lifestyle, and bring knowledge to the general population such as healthy diet, and the dangers of being unhealthy.
ContributorsShao, Dongnan (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
This dissertation integrates humanities with social science methodologies within a critical framework, seeking to explore the relationship between the neoliberal restructuring and the intersection of gender, class and heteronormativity in contemporary China. In this project, neoliberalism is conceptualized as an art of governance centering on the intersection of race, gender, class and sexuality to create market subjects and sustain market competition. Focusing on China's recent socio-economic and cultural upheavals, this dissertation tries to address these questions: 1. How have class inequalities, binaristic gender and heteronormative discourses been employed intersectionally by the Chinese state to facilitate China's social transformation? 2. How has this process been justified and consolidated through the intersection of gender, class, sexuality and race? 3. How do the marginalized groups respond to these material and cultural practices? Building on the discursive analysis of China's televised 60th anniversary ceremony and If You Are the One, a popular Chinese reality show, as well as the data from the interview, focus group and participant observation of more than 100 informants, it is found that the intersection of gender, class and heteronormativity is central to China's neoliberal transition. A group of flexible and cheap laborers have been disarticulated and rearticulated from the population as the voluntary servitude to China's marketization and re-integration with the global economy. New controlling images, such as the bourgeois nucleus family, are created to legitimize this process. However, these disparate material and discursive practices have entailed contradictions and conflicts within the intersectional biopolitical system, and created contingent spaces of ungovernability for the marginalized groups. Building on these discursive analyses and empirical data, I reconceptualize intersectionality as a multi-dimensional-and-directional network to regulate and manage power for social organization and regulation, which grounds the biopolitical basics for the neoliberal economy. Thus I argue that we need to engage with the dynamics between the intersectional biopolitical structure and people's emerging experiences to construct a grounded utopia alternative to the neoliberal dominance for substantive social changes.
ContributorsZhang, Charlie Yi (Author) / Quan, H. L. T. (Thesis advisor) / Fonow, Mary Margaret (Thesis advisor) / Martinez, Jacqueline M. (Committee member) / Lee, Charles T. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Regarding the question “Why do sanctions fail?” the majority of sanctions studies take the perspective of the target countries or the interactions between the dyadic countries involved, but the sender countries’ impact on sanctions’ effectiveness is largely neglected. This dissertation looks at the domestic economic actors, i.e., enterprises and consumers, of the sender countries. By answering “Who participates in economic sanctions?” this dissertation assesses one factor potentially influencing the sanctions’ effectiveness: the sanctions participation and evasion inside the sender countries. More precisely speaking, this dissertation applies the factor of the political connections economic actors have with their governments to explain their participation in or circumvention from sanctions imposed by their own countries. This dissertation consists of three independent empirical papers, respectively. The first looks at the anti-Japanese consumer boycotts in China 2012, the second at the trade controls by companies inside mainland China targeting Taiwan in 2002, and the third, the Steel and Aluminum Tariffs imposed by the US since 2018. Generally speaking, the papers find that strong political connections in China promote sanctions participation, reflected via the larger transaction reduction by organizational consumers and State-Owned Enterprises, yet facilitate sanctions evasion in the US, reflected by the larger chance for tariff exemptions for companies with more political importance and monetary investment to the governments. Dissertation findings reveal the effect of connections on sanctions, and at the same time show how divergent institutions make one variable function in the opposite way.
ContributorsKONG, FANYING (Author) / Thies, Cameron (Thesis advisor) / Shair-Rosenfield, Sarah (Committee member) / Thomson, Henry (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
This mixed-methods action research study aimed to improve school climate through the creation of a student advisory program that addresses the need to build strong relationships between middle school students and teachers. The program also intended to help students build a variety of skills that would help them meet challenges at school and in life. The implementation of this program took place in an international school in China over a period of 3 school years (2021/2022 to the mid-point of the 2023/2024 school year). With the conclusion of each school year, changes were made based on three rounds of quantitative and qualitative data in the form of questionnaires given to students and advisors. Small group discussions with students and the use of reflective logs written by advisors were also used. An analysis of the data indicated that the student population felt an increasingly overall positive experience in the advisory program through the 3 years. They experienced increased positive relationships with classmates and advisors and were more comfortable advocating for themselves than before. Meanwhile, actions taken to increase the collective efficacy of the group of teachers serving as advisors, including (a) the increase of resources and materials, (b) more frequent communication, and (c) the elevation of particular advisors to the role of lead advisor, lead to an improvement in overall experience. Advisors felt increasingly positive about their understanding, buy-in, and ownership of the advisory program. Overall, teachers felt the work they did in advisory was helpful to students. Lastly, in additional surveys taken by parents and students, perceptions of the school experience improved during this 3-year period. Implications for future practice and recommendations are discussed.
ContributorsWilkerson, Mark Lee (Author) / Garcia, David (Thesis advisor) / Frias, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Ayers, Aaron (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
Description
Avian influenzas are zoonoses, or pathogens borne by wildlife and livestock that
can also infect people. In recent decades, and especially since the emergence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in 1996, these diseases have become a significant threat to animal and public health across the world. HPAI H5N1 has caused severe damage to poultry populations, killing, or prompting the culling of, millions of birds in Asia, Africa, and Europe. It has also infected hundreds of people, with a mortality rate of approximately 50%. This dissertation focuses on the ecological and socioeconomic drivers of avian influenza risk, particularly in China, the most populous country to be infected. Among the most significant ecological risk factors are landscapes that serve as “mixing zones” for wild waterfowl and poultry, such as rice paddy, and nearby lakes and wetlands that are important breeding and wintering habitats for wild birds. Poultry outbreaks often involve cross infections between wild and domesticated birds. At the international level, trade in live poultry can spread the disease, especially if the imports are from countries not party to trade agreements with well-developed biosecurity standards. However, these risks can be mitigated in a number of ways. Protected habitats, such as Ramsar wetlands, can segregate wild bird and poultry populations, thereby lowering the chance of interspecies transmission. The industrialization of poultry production, while not without ethical and public health problems, can also be risk-reducing by causing wild-domestic segregation and allowing for the more efficient application of surveillance, vaccination, and other biosecurity measures. Disease surveillance is effective at preventing the spread of avian influenza, including across international borders. Economic modernization in general, as reflected in rising per-capita GDP, appears to mitigate avian influenza risks at both the national and sub-national levels. Poultry vaccination has been effective in many cases, but is an incomplete solution because of the practical difficulties of sustained and widespread implementation. The other popular approach to avian influenza control is culling, which can be highly expensive and raise ethical concerns about large-scale animal slaughter. Therefore, it is more economically efficient, and may even be more ethical, to target the socio-ecological drivers of avian influenza risks, including by implementing the policies discussed here.
can also infect people. In recent decades, and especially since the emergence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in 1996, these diseases have become a significant threat to animal and public health across the world. HPAI H5N1 has caused severe damage to poultry populations, killing, or prompting the culling of, millions of birds in Asia, Africa, and Europe. It has also infected hundreds of people, with a mortality rate of approximately 50%. This dissertation focuses on the ecological and socioeconomic drivers of avian influenza risk, particularly in China, the most populous country to be infected. Among the most significant ecological risk factors are landscapes that serve as “mixing zones” for wild waterfowl and poultry, such as rice paddy, and nearby lakes and wetlands that are important breeding and wintering habitats for wild birds. Poultry outbreaks often involve cross infections between wild and domesticated birds. At the international level, trade in live poultry can spread the disease, especially if the imports are from countries not party to trade agreements with well-developed biosecurity standards. However, these risks can be mitigated in a number of ways. Protected habitats, such as Ramsar wetlands, can segregate wild bird and poultry populations, thereby lowering the chance of interspecies transmission. The industrialization of poultry production, while not without ethical and public health problems, can also be risk-reducing by causing wild-domestic segregation and allowing for the more efficient application of surveillance, vaccination, and other biosecurity measures. Disease surveillance is effective at preventing the spread of avian influenza, including across international borders. Economic modernization in general, as reflected in rising per-capita GDP, appears to mitigate avian influenza risks at both the national and sub-national levels. Poultry vaccination has been effective in many cases, but is an incomplete solution because of the practical difficulties of sustained and widespread implementation. The other popular approach to avian influenza control is culling, which can be highly expensive and raise ethical concerns about large-scale animal slaughter. Therefore, it is more economically efficient, and may even be more ethical, to target the socio-ecological drivers of avian influenza risks, including by implementing the policies discussed here.
ContributorsWu, Tong (Author) / Perrings, Charles (Thesis advisor) / Collins, Jim (Committee member) / Daszak, Peter (Committee member) / Minteer, Ben (Committee member) / Kinzig, Ann (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Although researchers often conceptualize shyness as stable across different situations (e.g., Rubin, Coplan, & Bowker, 2009), evidence has suggested that shyness may consist of situation-specific components (e.g., Asendorpf, 1990a; 1990b; Gazelle & Faldowski, 2014; Xu & Farver, 2009). This study was aimed at developing a systematic measurement tool for situational shyness in adolescence, as well as examining the relations between situational shyness and other popular measures of shyness and between situational shyness and adjustment. A sample of Chinese adolescents (N = 492) from an urban school participated in the study during 7th (T1) and 8th (T2) grades. Adolescents self-reported their situational shyness using a new measure of hypothetical scenarios, as well as their general shyness, anxious shyness, regulated shyness, depressive symptoms, and loneliness. Peers reported adolescents’ general and conflicted shyness, and popularity and peer rejection. The school provided records of their academic achievement (exam scores).
Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the situational shyness measure consistently supported that shyness in the hypothetical scenarios can be separated into three components: shyness with familiar peers, shyness with unfamiliar peers, and shyness in formal situations. These components had differential associations with other measures of shyness. Self-reported general and anxious shyness were related consistently to shyness with unfamiliar peers and in formal situations, and occasionally to shyness with familiar peers. Self-reported regulated shyness was not related to self-reported shyness in any situation. Peer-reported conflicted shyness was associated with shyness with familiar and unfamiliar peers, whereas peer-reported general shyness was associated with shyness with unfamiliar peers and in formal situations. Moreover, situational shyness showed differential relations to maladjustment. Shyness with familiar peers was associated positively with maladjustment in multiple domains, especially academic and peer difficulties. Shyness with unfamiliar peers and shyness in formal situations, in contrast, were associated primarily with internalizing problems. In addition, shyness with unfamiliar peers and in formal situations occasionally related to positive adjustment, suggesting shyness in specific situations may still be protective in contemporary urban China. The findings provided new evidence that the correlates of shyness depend on the situation in which shyness occurs, and may inform future intervention programs.
Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the situational shyness measure consistently supported that shyness in the hypothetical scenarios can be separated into three components: shyness with familiar peers, shyness with unfamiliar peers, and shyness in formal situations. These components had differential associations with other measures of shyness. Self-reported general and anxious shyness were related consistently to shyness with unfamiliar peers and in formal situations, and occasionally to shyness with familiar peers. Self-reported regulated shyness was not related to self-reported shyness in any situation. Peer-reported conflicted shyness was associated with shyness with familiar and unfamiliar peers, whereas peer-reported general shyness was associated with shyness with unfamiliar peers and in formal situations. Moreover, situational shyness showed differential relations to maladjustment. Shyness with familiar peers was associated positively with maladjustment in multiple domains, especially academic and peer difficulties. Shyness with unfamiliar peers and shyness in formal situations, in contrast, were associated primarily with internalizing problems. In addition, shyness with unfamiliar peers and in formal situations occasionally related to positive adjustment, suggesting shyness in specific situations may still be protective in contemporary urban China. The findings provided new evidence that the correlates of shyness depend on the situation in which shyness occurs, and may inform future intervention programs.
ContributorsAn, Danming (Author) / Eggum-Wilkens, Natalie D (Thesis advisor) / Spinrad, Tracy L (Committee member) / Eisenberg, Nancy (Committee member) / Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
This dissertation aimed to identify the factors that facilitated the friendship initiation, development, and maintenance between Taiwanese and Chinese students and the influential relationship among those factors. Nine Taiwanese and nine Chinese students studying at one Taiwanese university were recruited for this study. The Chinese students were in Taiwan for at least two years. The participants were friends with the other party for at least 8 months. This study was divided into three stages. In the first stage, participants were required to provide factors that facilitated their friendship with the other party. Fifty ideas were collected. In the second stage, participants were asked to clarify those factors and then categorize those factors. Fourteen categories were identified in this stage. The participants, then, voted on factors that affected their friendship formation, development, and maintenance with other party. Fifteen factors were voted the highest among those factors. Those 15 factors were imported into interpretive structure modeling (ISM) software for the next stage. In the third stage, 18 one-on-one interviews were conducted, and 18 ISM diagrams were generated. ISM provided a method to identify the influential relationship among those factors. According to the results, the friendship formation model was proposed. Five stages were identified in this model: exploring, matching, engaging, deepening and bonding.
ContributorsChen, Tzu-Chiao (Author) / Broome, Benjamin (Thesis advisor) / Martin, Judith (Committee member) / Romero, Mary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Based on multiple case studies of the transactions in China by private equity funds, this paper attempts to explore the value-creation capabilities of private equity funds at the transaction/deal level.
Previous studies on financial performance of PE funds utilized data collected from publically traded companies in European/US markets. By measuring financial performance of both “pre- and post-transactions,” these studies researched two questions: 1) Do buyout funds create value? 2) If they do, what are the sources of value creation? In general, studies conclude that private equity/buyout funds do create value at both the deal level and investor level. They also identified four possible sources of such value creation: 1) undervaluation, 2) leverage effect, 3) better governance, and 4) operational improvement.
However, relatively little is known about the process of value creation. In this study, I attempt to fill that gap, revealing the “secret recipe” of value creation.
By carefully looking into the process of value creation, this study suggests five propositions covering capabilities at 1) deal selection/screening, 2) deal structuring, 3) operational improvement, 4) investment exit, and 5) Top Management Team (TMT). These capabilities at private equity/buyout funds are critical factors for value creation. In a thorough review of the value-creation process, this paper hopes to:
1) Share real-life experiences and lessons learned on private equity transactions in China as a developing economy.
2) Reveal the process of deal/transaction to observe measures taken place within deal/transaction for value creation.
3) Show how well-executed strategies and capabilities in deal selection/screening, deal structuring, operational improvement, and investment exit can still create value for private equity firms without financial leverage.
4) Share the experience of State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) reform participated in by private equity firms in China. This could provide valuable information for policy makers in China.
Previous studies on financial performance of PE funds utilized data collected from publically traded companies in European/US markets. By measuring financial performance of both “pre- and post-transactions,” these studies researched two questions: 1) Do buyout funds create value? 2) If they do, what are the sources of value creation? In general, studies conclude that private equity/buyout funds do create value at both the deal level and investor level. They also identified four possible sources of such value creation: 1) undervaluation, 2) leverage effect, 3) better governance, and 4) operational improvement.
However, relatively little is known about the process of value creation. In this study, I attempt to fill that gap, revealing the “secret recipe” of value creation.
By carefully looking into the process of value creation, this study suggests five propositions covering capabilities at 1) deal selection/screening, 2) deal structuring, 3) operational improvement, 4) investment exit, and 5) Top Management Team (TMT). These capabilities at private equity/buyout funds are critical factors for value creation. In a thorough review of the value-creation process, this paper hopes to:
1) Share real-life experiences and lessons learned on private equity transactions in China as a developing economy.
2) Reveal the process of deal/transaction to observe measures taken place within deal/transaction for value creation.
3) Show how well-executed strategies and capabilities in deal selection/screening, deal structuring, operational improvement, and investment exit can still create value for private equity firms without financial leverage.
4) Share the experience of State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) reform participated in by private equity firms in China. This could provide valuable information for policy makers in China.
ContributorsYe, Youming (Author) / Lee, Peggy (Thesis advisor) / Zhu, Ning (Thesis advisor) / Wahal, Sunil (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016