Suchergebnisse

First published in 1979. Sociology flourished in China during the 1930s and 1940s but with the establishment of the People's Republic of China, controversies arose over the place of sociology in the process of socialist construction. Siu-lun Wong analyses the reasons for this change in the fortune of sociological studies in China and examines it in relation to the country's contemporary political system.

The Chinese and Indian diasporas constituted two of the most massive migration flows in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Yet they were seldom compared. This commentary explores one of their key differences, namely, how they handled their lost souls. For the Chinese migrants of that period, what they dreaded most was dying alone in a foreign land and becoming a stray ghost. Their fervent wish was for their bones and souls to be reunited with their forebears in the ancestral graves. Much effort was made individually and collectively to ensure that this final wish would be realized. However, for the Hindu migrants, the same dread induced quite a different response. Their physical remains were of little importance to them. There was no urgency in seeking a return of their souls to their ancestral land. Their fervent wish was for their souls to be ritually purified and reunited with their ancestors in the sacred cosmos. This commentary further examines how these cultural differences also bear on how Chinese and Hindu migrants differ in their remittance behavior, network patterns and homeland ties.

Hong Kong, by now, is quite modern. At the same time, it remains essentially Chinese. Measured by most accepted indicators, Hong Kong qualifies as a newly industrialized region. It is using so much inanimate power to drive machines that the increase in fuel consumption is no longer proportionate to the increase in population size. It has joined the ranks of the "ecological phase 4 societies" in which the livelihood of the inhabitants is dependent on "extrasomatic energy". As it began its transition in the pattern of energy usage much later, Hong Kong is still well behind western industrial nations in per capita energy consumption. But in Asia, in 1981, it had the third highest per capita use of commercial energy after Japan and Singapore, which stood at 1,487 kilograms of coal equivalent. Between 1960 and 1979 its average annual growth rate in energy consumption was about 10 per cent, a rate higher than those of all the industrial economies and most Asian countries except Singapore and the Republic of Korea. Hong Kong's productivity is high, ranking third in Asia after Japan and Singapore with a Gross National Product (GNP) per capita that grew at the annual rate of 6 8 per cent. By 1980 its GNP per capita reached US$4,240.5 In terms of employment, in 1981, 49 per cent of its labour force was engaged in manufacturing and construction, 47 per cent in commerce and various lines of services, and just 2 per cent in agriculture. The inhabitants of Hong Kong are keen participants in the mass media.

After several ebbs and flows a new high-tide in population control has been gathering force since 1978. This new birth control campaign has three major features which separate it from earlier ones: consensus as to its desirability among the top leadership, the high priority being awarded to it, and a sense of urgency in achieving results.

After several ebbs and flows a new high-tide in population control has been gathering force since 1978. This article is concerned with possible side-effects of the new population policy and the damage these may cause in other areas of social life. On the political front, the present birth control campaign has encountered resistance from the people as a result of a clash between national and individual interests. The official norm of one child per couple is by no means widely accepted by the people. (DÜI-Sen)

After a period of vigorous growth in the 1930S and 1940s, sociology as an academic discipline in China ceased to exist soon after the establishment of the People's Republic. During a brief period of free expression in 1957, some of the former sociologists sought a place for sociology within the framework of socialism. Their attempt failed as they tried to link the revival of sociology with the political vision of creating an effective opposition party of intellectuals. Though professional and institutional sociology does not exist, other forms of social inquiry are carried out in contemporary China. The first area of research involves some former sociologists and anthropologists in the study of national minorities and emigrant Chinese communities. The second area includes social and historical studies of four institutions—the family, the factory, the village, and the communes-which have been conducted as part of a popular campaign to instil revolutionary consciousness among the masses. The third area consists of the survey research carried out mainly by party cadres to formulate, implement, and evaluate policies. These forms of social inquiry are mainly shaped by the political pre-occupations in contemporary Chinese society, namely, the `contradictions' of `rightist conservatism and leftist adventurism', `democracy and centralism', and `redness and expertness'. The demise of professional sociology also testifies to the shaky institutional roots that the group of western-trained intellectuals had in modem China.

"Security and Migration in Asia explore how various forms of unregulated and illegal forms of human movement within Asia and beyond the region have come to be treated as 'security' issues, and whether and how a 'securitisation' framework enables a more effective response to them. The process and theory of 'securitisation' and 'desecuritisation' have been developed within the international relations literature by the so-called Copenhagen school scholars, including Barry Buzan and Ole Waever among others."--Jacket

Purpose
The paper aims to explore the road to independence of the less-fortunate women in early Hong Kong society and their means in passing of wealth after death. In the 1970s, about 400 Chinese wills from the 1840s to the 1940s were dug up on a construction site in Hong Kong. One-fourth of these were from women who had held a substantial amount of property. How they obtained this property intrigued us because, at that time, women were seen as subordinate to men and excluded from the labor market. Why they had wills led to further questions about Hong Kong society of that time and the role of women in it.


Design/methodology/approach
The analysis of this paper is based on archival data gathered from the Hong Kong Public Records Office. These data include 98 women's wills filed from the 1840s to the 1940s and a 500-page government investigation report on the prostitution industry released in 1879. The former recorded valuable information of brief testators' family and personal life history, amount of assets, and profolio of investment, etc. The latter included testimonials of brothel keepers and prostitutes and their life stories and the background of legalizing prostitution in early Hong Kong. Apart from basic quantitative analysis on women's marital status, number of properties, nature of wills and number of brothels, qualitative analysis is directed to review the testator's life of self-reliance, wealth accumulation and reasons of using wills for arranging wealth transmission after death.


Findings
In this paper, the authors found that because the colonial government declared prostitution legal, and only women could obtain employment by becoming prostitutes or brothel keepers, they earned their own livelihood, saved money and finally became independent. However, because these professions were not seen as "decent", and these women were excluded from the formal marriage system, intestacy could cause problems for them. Through their socio-business connections, they became familiar with the Western concept of testate inheritance. So, they tended to use wills – a legal document by which a person assigns someone to distribute his or her property according to his or her wishes after his or her death – to assign their property.


Research limitations/implications
Because only archival data are chosen for analysis, the research results may lack generalizability. Follow-up researches to examine whether the studied women acquired their wealth through their own work or simply as gifts from others are required.


Originality/value
This paper explores the understudied women's life and method of estate passing after death in the early Hong Kong society. It fills the academic gap of women's contribution to Hong Kong's success and enriches our understanding on the important factors that could attribute women's real independence.