Suchergebnisse

Scholarship on China's role in the Mekong region tends to focus on investment, trade, aid and immigration flows, while its cultural expansion receives little attention. The establishment of Confucius Institutes (CIs) in the Mekong region can be seen as an effort on the part of China to enhance the strength of its cultural power in relation to its neighbors. While Thailand and Cambodia appear to be widening their doors to welcome the institutes, other countries in the region tend to be reserved about accepting this special cultural vehicle from China. This article examines the activities of Confucius Institutes in the context of the growing presence of China in the Mekong region. By focusing on Thailand as a special case, the paper provides an initial assessment of the extent, nature and effect of China's Confucius Institutes, which is aimed at understanding how China develops its soft power assets in the Mekong region. The establishment of Confucius Institutes in Thailand and other countries in the Mekong region does, however, play an important role in connecting China's mainland and overseas Chinese communities in the region. Furthermore, by placing Confucius Institutes in the educational systems of these countries. China is increasing its diplomatic presence in the neighboring countries. and thereby enlarging its soft border. (Issues Stud/GIGA)

Based on fieldwork conducted in various locations in Vietnam, this article examines the different types of Chinese migration to Vietnam since the normalization of Vietnam-China relations in 1990. The article notes differences between the old and new Chinese migration. Recent Chinese migration is characterized by the diversity in the composition of migrants. Furthermore, recent Chinese migration is fuelled by the government's "go-out strategy" and is closely linked with increasing flows of investments, economic aid, trade and culture from China.

This article is based on interviews with 12 shoeshine boys in Hanoi, Vietnam, aged 11 to 16. All but one had finished primary school, and all were working to help support their families. Their childhood narrative is characterized by family obligations which motivated them to work hard and conscientiously, taking responsibility for their own day-to-day survival. It is a childhood narrative different from the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) vision of a childhood free of labor and protected from abuse and risk, but it is also different from the image of children working in the streets as homeless and deviant, abusing drugs and stealing. This narrative underlines the need to recognize different childhood experiences when addressing the rights and health of working children. (Original abstract)

Background: Using social media (SM) for educational purposes might improve academic performance. Aim: This paper aims to describe health science students' use of SM for educational purposes and its association with their academic performance. Methods: Two hundred ninety-seven undergraduate health science students completed a self-administered questionnaire comprising 4 sections related to social media. Results: Almost all students (99.7%) reported using SM for learning, most (90.9%) of them daily. The most preferred type of SM learning was Facebook. Most students thought that using SM for learning is convenient and useful. They suggested there should be 1 Facebook account for each subject, that every classmate could access to obtain knowledge from lecturers and to interact between students and lecturers. The logistic regression model showed that the more time students practiced following the advice on posted information, the more likely they were to achieve a GPA at distinction level or above (OR = 4.2; OR = 5.4, and OR = 9.4, respectively with times of practicing). Conversely, the students who used SM for learning less than once a month were less likely to obtain a GPA at distinction level (OR = 0.5). Conclusions: Almost all health science students used SM to support learning and use of SM for learning was associated with higher academic performance.

New Chinese migration is a recent development that has just entered an initial phase. An overarching theme and conclusion across the sixteen chapters in this volume is that China's policy towards Chinese migrants has changed from period to period, and it is still too early for us to determine if Beijing will continue to pursue the policy of luoye guigen (return to original roots) or will revert to one of luodi shenggen (sink into local roots). The various chapters also show that the profile, motivations and outlooks of xin yimin (new Chinese migrants) have become more diverse, while local reactions to these new migrants have become less accommodating with increasing nationalism