Table of Content

20 November 2019, Volume 39 Issue 6

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Dual Powers of Virtual-Real Transformation in Social Networks

BIAN Yanjie, MIAO Xiaolei

2019, 39(6):  1-22. 

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How do online social networks transform to offline social networks? This paper discusses online pushing power and offline pulling power of such transformation. The number of close online friends and professional orientation toward online networking are the two indicators of online pushing power, and interpersonal communication needs and exchange networking abilities are the two indicators of offline pulling power. JSNET 2014 dataset shows that the number of online close friends has a positive pushingimpact on the virtual-real transformation, but such an impact is not linear because when someone has more than 50 close online friends, this impact will begin weakening, which confirms the existence of Dunbar's digital law in China. At the same time, the other indicator of the online pushing power also generates a positive impact, because professional online users have significantly more close online friends to become offline friends than non-professional online users.The variables of offline pulling power generate equally impressive effects. For one, the frequency of attending social eating activities, a variable of social exchange needs, increases the transferring of online friends to offline friends. For another, economic income, a variable of economic ability to entertain social eating activities, also significantly increases this virtual-to-real transformation of friendships. Importantly, all of these empirical results are obtained after personal characteristics of the survey respondents are statistically controlled for, which indicate that the online pushing powers and the offline pulling powers both have independent effects.Sheaf-coefficients analysis shows that the influence of online pushing power is greater than that of offline pulling power. Statistical models also show an interactive effect of social exchange needs and abilities, because higher-income groups are not only free of the effects of social-eating frequency, but their willingness of interpersonal networking also gets lower when their income gets higher.

Migration Pattern and Marriage Instability among Migrant Workers: From a Gender and Cohort Perspective

LI Weidong

2019, 39(6):  23-61. 

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The data for this study come from "Social Integration, Marriage and Family Survey in Guangzhou" in 2016. The study investigates the influence of migration pattern on marriage stability among migrant workers from the perspective of gender and cohort. The findings reveal significant cohort and gender differences in marriage stability among migrant workers with younger generation exhibiting higher instability than older generation, females than their male counterparts, and female young generation scoring the highest in marriage break up. Migration pattern has significant effects on marital instability but the impact differs in gender and cohort. Marriages of the first-generation migrants appear to be little affected by inter-provincial migration.Nevertheless, migration without spouse seems to have some impact on the marriage stability of first-generation female migrants butits most significant influence is on young female migrants. Both mediation and moderation analysis show that between migration with or without spouse, marital satisfaction acts as a mediation variable among female young generation but as a moderation variable among all male migrants. In terms of the relationship between inter-provincial migration and marriage stability, marital satisfaction has moderating effect among all female migrant workers but not male migrants. This study shows that migration pattern exerts significant but different influences on marriage stability among migrants of different gender and cohort.

The “Outsider” and “Good Man” in Peking Opera Four Scholars: An Unexplored Facet of “the Differential Mode of Association” in Ming and Qing Traditional Society

LING Peng

2019, 39(6):  62-86. 

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The concept of "the differential mode of association" was crafted by Fei Xiaotong and became one of the classics in Chinese social theory. In recent years, the concept has been quite thoroughly examined by scholars with a focus on the inner structure of the model, leaving one question largely unanswered. That is how the differential mode of association extends from kinship to "all under the heaven" (tianxia, the universal world). This paper provides an in-depth analysis of Four Scholars by looking into two key concepts of "outsider" and "good man" in the play.During Ming and Qing, the burgeoning economy brought frequent population movements that led to a new category of so-called "outsiders" who were somewhat removed from the conventional social relations and ethical obligation. Upon this category, the concept of "good man" was introduced into the popular vocabulary to distinguish those "outsiders" who seemed to represent a new type of ethical order. Actions of the main characters in Four Scholars were examined to explore the potential as well as the process of transforming an "outsider" into a "good man"-an important process of "extension" in the differential mode of association. Here the "ethical spirit" is also reexamined through the relationship between kinfolks and outsiders.

Poetry and Traditional Scholars' Spiritual World: A Sociological Exploration of Wang Wei's Life and His Chronological Poetry

WANG Jianmin

2019, 39(6):  87-120. 

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In his later years,Fei Xiaotong advocated the subject of spiritual world in sociological research. His position emphasized the humanistic aspect of sociology and suggested the importance of understanding our mind through locating the root of our traditional intellectual sources. This study takes Wang Wei,a poet during the peak period of the Tang,as an example typifying the dilemma common to the Chinese literati (Shi) between serving in office and retreating from it. Wang's life,his poems and his exchanges with fellow poets are discussed against the background of his time and the contradiction in the poet's spiritual world is explored. Wang's poems and his personal correspondences reflect the social changes,intellectual trends as well as individual life of his days. They touch spheres of social communication,natural landscape and spiritual Buddhism and Taoism,and all together constitute a life universe that integrates nature and humanity,upon which the spiritual balance between active participation and a life of withdrawal depends. In other words,spiritual sufferings are an indication of the absence of such a life universe. This study also suggests that an appreciation of customs and mores of the time and an ability to relive and understand their life are the key to comprehend the spiritual world of the Chinese traditional scholars.

From Tax-Sharing System to the Program System: Institutional Evolution and Organizational Mechanism

JIAO Changquan

2019, 39(6):  121-148. 

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The 1994 fiscal reform brought in a new tax-sharing system that greatly changed the landscape of China's public finances and ushered in an era of "expansionary government fiscal policy". In order to effectively manage the huge revenue, the central government established the program system as a new budget management system that is based on departments as budget unit and program for funding.
Under the system, local governments incur three types of expenditure:earmark transfers, nongrant program funds from the superior government, and the program funds from the local government. The earmark transfers are an important piece of budgetary revenue at superior levels, and thus they should be treated as an integrated part of local government finance. These three types of expenditures have largely shaped the financial structure and governance mechanism of local governments. Typically,in practice, itemized departmental budgets at the beginning of fiscal year are rarely realized at the end. This problem has further encouraged program funding and has hastened off-table maneuvers in allocating money.
In essence, the program system is an attempt by the central government to improve and perfect the bureaucracy system. Its immediate goal is to "solidify" budgeting and ultimately to make the government more responsive to societal needs.Our study shows that in practice, tension rises between these two goals, suggesting that rationalization and professionalization of governance do not necessarily improve government responsiveness to public needs, in fact, the reverse is also quite possible.

Transcendent Space, Mandala and Our Holy Empire: Multiple Spatial Imaginations of Mount Wutai and Multiple Identifications in the 18th Century

ZHANG Fan

2019, 39(6):  149-186. 

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During the 18th century, Mount Wutai gradually became a trans-local sacred center, attracting visitors and pilgrims from China proper, Tibetan and Mongolian regions, India, Japan and Korea. Its popularity gained the patronage and frequent visits from Qing emperors. Consequently, writings about Mount Wutai mushroomed in various versions, editions, and languages, such as the Chinese, Tibetan, and Mongolian pilgrimages guides composed by Buddhist monks of different Chinese and Tibetan traditions, as well as the imperially approved mountain gazetteer compiled by the Qing officials. This study, by comparing four 18th century texts on Mount Wutai, analyzes the Chinese Buddhist, Tibetan Buddhist and imperial narratives in the texts, investigates their imaginations of the world and the empire, analyzes their conceptualizations of space, landscape, and power, and discusses the relationship between knowledge production, sacred space and imperial formation. This article demonstrates the process in which the sacred landscape of Mount Wutai was shaped by various knowledge traditions and fluid actors across the boundaries of the region, ethnicity, and religion in the 18th century. It points out that the openness of space and the fluidity of actors gave birth to the multiple identifications and belongings through the diverse spatial imaginations of Mount Wutai as transcendent space or mandala, which at the same time contributed to the emerging sense of "our holy empire". In unfolding this process, this article endeavors to untangle the bundle of ethnicity, nation, state, language and culture by highlighting the multiple identifications and expressions. This article also tackles the dichotomy of marginality and centrality, arguing that instead of the imperial center "civilizing" the peripheries and transforming the landscapes, it is the knowledge traditions and the landscapes in the margins that generated the sacredness of the imperial sovereignty.

Kang Youwei's Revolution of the Confucian Religion: An Investigation Based on the Weberian Concepts of Charisma and Value-Rationalization

Lü Yuchen

2019, 39(6):  187-213. 

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What kind of forces can break the alliance between the imperial monarchy and Confucian elites, and disenchant the popular belief in magic, and thereby clear paths for the process of rationalization? This is the essential question in Max Weber's inquiry of the eventual transformation of Chinese society. Inspired by Li Meng's writing, this paper undertakes a case study on the initial stage of rationalization in modern China by examining Kang Youwei's revolutionary endeavor of refashioning Confucianism around the Hundred Days' Reform. Applying Weberian concepts of "charisma" and "value-rationalization", the paper explains how Kang, with a conviction of his own charismatic potential to be a religious reformer, reinterpreted Confucius and Confucianism religiously and mythically, and thus played a role of breaking the tradition and reshaping ethics in pre-modern China. The Confucian Religion (Kongjiao) in its revolutionary period articulated universalism rather than nationalism. Drawn from the historical experience of Christianity, Kang attempted to lift Confucian teachings beyond the limits of literati and national ceremonies to a universal religion not only for China but the whole world. Although Kang's vision failed, his call of reinventing Confucianism heralded the later social campaigns such as the "Building Schools with Temple Property" and "Anti-Superstition". The spiritual dimension in Kang's ideas and the need to fend off the challenges from the modern West made his "value-rationalizing" effort almost impossible to succeed. Despite of its radical appearance and rejection from Confucian traditionalists, in the end the goal of Kang's Kongjiao movement is still about preserving the social integrity of Confucian literati. The historical mission of rational transformation of China eventually fell upon the revolutionary parties in the Republican era.

Resource Redistribution and Health Inequality in Post-Disaster Recovery: On Three Surveys of Wenchuan Earthquake Recovery (2008-2011)

HONG Yanbi, ZHAO Yandong

2019, 39(6):  214-237. 

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This paper examines the relationship between the state resource redistribution and the change in health inequality in post-earthquake Wenchuan. Three Wenchuan disaster recovery surveys from 2008 to 2011 constitute the base of this study. The government resource distribution is examined in sequent phases of emergency relief,recovery,and post-recovery against its possible effect on the health of different occupational and educational groups during the period. The data analysis shows a significant gradient in 2011 on self-rated health among different educational groups,a phenomenon nonexistent in 2008 and 2009. Similarly,on mental health,the year of 2011 also shows the most noticeable degree of gradient. However,no systematic occupational gradients present in all three years on either self-rated health or mental health. In addition,a comparative analysis between disaster areas and surrounding areas and between pre-disaster and post-disaster period indicates a unique pattern of health inequality in disaster areas:a decline of inequality during the emergency relief period and a climb back in the post-recovery period. It is argued that the decline is due to the fact that at the initial stage of the concerted relief effort,the disadvantaged groups have direct access to the medical and health resources distributed by the state. However,the gain is only temporary. With the dramatic reduction of aids in the post-recovery period and the lack of a good redistribution mechanism,health inequality quickly bounces back to the "normal" level.