Suchergebnisse

Despite the universality of marriage in Chinese society, involuntary bachelorhood exists, and is becoming an increasingly critical issue. While many studies have addressed the problem from the standpoint of demographic imbalance, we argue that the issue should be understood as a manifestation of the gendered features of the marriage system which work against low-class men. This understanding relates involuntary bachelorhood to the combined effects of spouse selection and marriage practices. To elaborate our argument, the present study explores nuptiality plights of involuntary bachelors. In particular, it examines their marginalisation in the marriage market, defiant choices in the face of market exclusion, and instability of marital relationships.

In discussing the main forces shaping rapid fertility decline, current studies take the Yicheng two-child program as an example showing that the role of the birth-control policy in China's fall in fertility is not as strong as commonly thought. Based on a close examination of documentary evidence, this paper demonstrates that the Yicheng program is not vastly different from the national population-control effort with regard to the timing of marriage, the number of children and the childbearing interval. We argue that in Yicheng the two-child policy has done more to effect a demographic transition to low fertility than has socioeconomic development. (China J/GIGA)

The past three decades have witnessed the fundamental achievements of China's marketization. Through this process, state-owned enterprises have been restructured, monopoly is giving way to competition and private sectors are increasingly participating in public service provision. The concept of concession was first introduced in public utilities through the Circular on Questions Concerning the Ratification of Pilot Foreign Invested Concession Projects (1995), after which there were many experimental projects with BOTs and TOTs. In 2002, with the issuance of Opinions on Accelerating the Marketization of Urban Utilities, the concession system was officially introduced in public utility regulation. In the same year, the water pipelines were opened to foreign investment; concessions have since been extended into integrated municipal water groups. Concessions have become the major approach of public utility provision. In recent years, the accountability in concessions has raised wide concern. Problems exposed include fixed rate-of-return, state-owned assets losses, undue concession transfer, illegal concession award, unreasonable water tariff increase, and problematic service provision by private concessionaires. Commentators have claimed that an accountability gap exists in concessions. Taking water sector concessions as the subject of discussion, the author distinguishes three types of accountability: traditional bureaucratic accountability, legal accountability and public accountability. Through systematical examination of the problems, this dissertation attempts to achieve a better understanding of concession and its application in public utilities, and finds that the alleged accountability gap is attributed to traditional bureaucratic accountability and concession system per se. Four aspects of regulation in water concessions are considered: concessionaire selection; water pricing regulation; regulation by contract; and the regulatory framework. The findings suggest that under concessions, traditional bureaucratic accountability is neither adequate nor appropriate to hold the government accountable. More formal legal rules on transparency, due process and public participation should be explored. ; published_or_final_version ; Law ; Doctoral ; Doctor of Philosophy

AbstractDespite purpose measures being developed for adolescents, quantitative research investigating purposes prior to late adolescence and in non‐Western societies remains nascent. This study evaluated the psychometric soundness of the Claremont Purpose Scale among Chinese adolescents. An initial prestudy (n = 34) was conducted to ensure linguistic equivalence. Subsequently, Study 1 (n = 1691) assessed the scale's reliability and factor structure, also investigating its functional equivalence across gender, adolescence stages, and language versions at the item level. Study 2 (n = 7842) investigated the scale's construct, convergent, predictive, and incremental validity, as well as tested for the scale's measurement invariance across different groups at the scale level. The results support the scale's use as a tool for researchers and practitioners to understand and cultivate purpose in adolescents.