Food Safety and Social Risk in Contemporary China

2012 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 705-729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunxiang Yan
Keyword(s):  
Food Safety ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
Risk Society ◽  
Rapid Decline ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Social Risk ◽  
Chinese People ◽  
And Control ◽  
Contemporary Chinese

Food-safety problems constitute a new, urgent, and multifaceted challenge to Chinese people, society, and the state, involving a number of social, political, and ethical issues beyond those of food safety, nutrition, and health. In light of Ulrich Beck's theory of risk society, this article examines food-safety problems in contemporary Chinese society at the levels of food hygiene, unsafe food, and poisonous foods and argues that food-safety problems not only affect the lives of Chinese people in harmful ways but also pose a number of manufactured risks that are difficult to calculate and control. More importantly, food-safety problems in China have contributed to a rapid decline of social trust, thus posing a risk of distrust that has far-reaching social and political ramifications. In this sense, a risk society has already arrived in China but it comes with certain local characteristics and poses some new theoretical questions.

Strategy to motivate and facilitate compromise in Chinese mediation

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiheng Deng ◽  
Kaibin Xu
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Chinese People ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Common Goals ◽  
Language Strategies ◽  
Contemporary Chinese ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
External Reasons

Purpose – This paper aims to explore language strategies and techniques in Chinese mediation that are adopted by mediators to motivate and facilitate compromise among disputants. Design/methodology/approach – Ten cases were audio-recorded on the spot, transcribed for analysis in their Chinese form, and then translated into English for English readers. The translation of excerpts used in this paper to demonstrate points was double checked to ensure accuracy. Discourse analysis was adopted to explore the meanings and functions of the utterances in these excerpts. Findings – It is found that power is embedded in the mediator's position and in his/her role in the mediation. Furthermore, neutrality is less of a concern as compared to justice in the mediator's terms. Finally, socio-cultural indications of the language strategies and techniques were drawn about contemporary Chinese society. Practical implications – When dealing with Chinese people in conflict, one may emphasize common goals and bring in external reasons such as seniority, face, and status to motivate and facilitate compromise. Originality/value – Studying transcripts of cases that were recorded in real time and recently is rare in studies of Chinese mediation. Studying what people actually say provides us data in reality, in contrast to the ideals as well as what they say they do in mediation.

scholarly journals Moral diversification and moral agency: contesting business ethics among Chinese e-commerce traders

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Linliang Qian
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Moral Agency ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Chinese People ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
The Public ◽  
Business People ◽  
Moral Crisis ◽  
Contemporary Chinese

AbstractScholarship on morality in contemporary Chinese society is divided. Some studies concur with the public discourse that a moral crisis is occurring. Others argue that there has been a continuity or revival of morality. By examining the divergent ethical trajectories of Chinese e-commerce traders in their business encounters, this study identifies more complicated moral states in these business people, who join a newly emerging industry but are undifferentiated from other ordinary Chinese people in terms of their political, social, and cultural backgrounds. The coexistence of moral, immoral, and morally divided personhoods indicates the diversification of the understandings and practices of morality in Chinese society. This article suggests that this diversification has roots in the moral agency of Chinese individuals, which comes into being in a relatively free space that has been created both by China’s changing sociopolitical structure and by people’s strategies and tactics in everyday life.

Villains, Victims and Morals in Contemporary Chinese Literature

1971 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 331-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe C. Huang
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Relations ◽  
Chinese Literature ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Chinese People ◽  
The Social ◽  
Revolutionary Romanticism ◽  
Social Conduct ◽  
Contemporary Chinese ◽  
Source Materials

Novels reflect social realities at given times and under given conditions. When the direct survey method cannot be applied to the study of Chinese society, novels constitute one of the available sources from which useful information concerning the structure, order and conditions of society and interpersonal relations may be inferred. However, the difficulty of reconstructing the social conduct of Chinese people from such elusive source materials is enhanced since Communist novels reflect less the realities as they are than the realities as they should be. The theory of the combination of revolutionary realism and revolutionary romanticism demands that the plots and characters must be “romanticized” to give a picture of the society corresponding to the needs of ideology. Even if this is so, the stories still have to be based on social realities for the readers to appreciate them. A somewhat modified interpretation holds that romanticization is based on the foundation of realism. It is from the discernment of this element of realism in Chinese Communist fiction that we may attempt to reconstruct the nature of Chinese society.

scholarly journals A Behavioural Study on the Influences of Confucianism in Chinese Society

2019 ◽  
pp. 109-132
Author(s):  
Helal Uddin Ahmed ◽  
Zhang Jielin
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Population ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
World History ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Chinese People ◽  
Social Lives ◽  
The Social ◽  
Traditional Chinese Culture ◽  
Contemporary Chinese

Confucius (551-479 BC) is considered to be a great philosopher and educator in Chinese society and one of the greatest scholars ever in world history. He was the founder of Confucianism, which constitutes a major part of traditional Chinese culture and made tremendous contribution to the unfolding of Chinese civilization over the centuries. In this study, the authors have presented a comprehensive outline of Confucianism and have attempted to gauge the attitude of contemporary Chinese people towards Confucian concepts, values and attributes as well as their influences on the social lives of present-day Chinese population. The Likert Scale was applied in the study to assess the attitude of the Chinese educated class belonging to the educational institutions like the universities in Beijing towards Confucianism. It was found from the survey that the Confucian concepts still wield substantial influence on the social outlook of the modern-day Chinese people and these attributes are still relevant in the day to day lives of the Chinese society. Philosophy and Progress, Vol#61-62; No#1-2; Jan-Dec 2017 P 109-132

Research Participation Experiences of Informants of Suicide and Control Cases

Crisis ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 238-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul W. C. Wong ◽  
Wincy S. C. Chan ◽  
Philip S. L. Beh ◽  
Fiona W. S. Yau ◽  
Paul S. F. Yip ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Research Participation ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Initial Contact ◽  
Psychological Autopsy ◽  
Autopsy Study ◽  
The People ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact

Background: Ethical issues have been raised about using the psychological autopsy approach in the study of suicide. The impact on informants of control cases who participated in case-control psychological autopsy studies has not been investigated. Aims: (1) To investigate whether informants of suicide cases recruited by two approaches (coroners’ court and public mortuaries) respond differently to the initial contact by the research team. (2) To explore the reactions, reasons for participation, and comments of both the informants of suicide and control cases to psychological autopsy interviews. (3) To investigate the impact of the interviews on informants of suicide cases about a month after the interviews. Methods: A self-report questionnaire was used for the informants of both suicide and control cases. Telephone follow-up interviews were conducted with the informants of suicide cases. Results: The majority of the informants of suicide cases, regardless of the initial route of contact, as well as the control cases were positive about being approached to take part in the study. A minority of informants of suicide and control cases found the experience of talking about their family member to be more upsetting than expected. The telephone follow-up interviews showed that none of the informants of suicide cases reported being distressed by the psychological autopsy interviews. Limitations: The acceptance rate for our original psychological autopsy study was modest. Conclusions: The findings of this study are useful for future participants and researchers in measuring the potential benefits and risks of participating in similar sensitive research. Psychological autopsy interviews may be utilized as an active engagement approach to reach out to the people bereaved by suicide, especially in places where the postvention work is underdeveloped.

On Sinofuturism

Screen Bodies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 46-62
Author(s):  
Yunying Huang
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Pop Culture ◽  
Chinese People ◽  
Modern Chinese ◽  
The Future ◽  
Dominant Design ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Cultural Expressions ◽  
Contemporary Chinese

Dominant design narratives about “the future” contain many contemporary manifestations of “orientalism” and Anti-Chineseness. In US discourse, Chinese people are often characterized as a single communist mass and the primary market for which this future is designed. By investigating the construction of modern Chinese pop culture in Chinese internet and artificial intelligence, and discussing different cultural expressions across urban, rural, and queer Chinese settings, I challenge external Eurocentric and orientalist perceptions of techno-culture in China, positing instead a view of Sinofuturism centered within contemporary Chinese contexts.

A Jungian Analysis of the Chinese Kitchen God Image

2021 ◽  
pp. 002216782110208
Author(s):  
Jingyu Liang ◽  
Yancui Zhang ◽  
Ruitong Guo ◽  
Heyong Shen
Keyword(s):  
God Image ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Chinese People ◽  
Sandplay Therapy ◽  
Jungian Analysis ◽  
Graphic Symbol ◽  
Psychological Significance ◽  
Conscious Level ◽  
God Imagery ◽  
The Impact

This article studies the impact of Kitchen God beliefs and worship on Chinese mentality and behavior, both consciously and unconsciously. At the conscious level, the evolution of the Kitchen God beliefs has gone through four stages; Nature God, Animal God, Half-animal/Half human God, and finally Human God. The evolution of the Kitchen God in China displays the features of a couple, aging and secularization. The experience of “returning to the sacred origin” can be obtained through Kitchen God worship by burning an old paper image of the Kitchen God and pasting of a new one of him beside the kitchen stove year after year during the Kitchen God festival. The secret to continuity of life lies in repetition. The image of the Kitchen God as an important graphic symbol is formed by a constellation of images; good pot and evil pot, two dragons playing with a bead, rooster and dog, the psychological archetypes as yin and yang, unity of opposites, transformation and integration. This ritual serves as a bridge between Chinese people and their “ancestors,” “the other realm” (nirvana), and “the Self.” On an unconscious level, the psychological significance of Kitchen God beliefs is analyzed through “the family hexagram.” The collective unconscious for the Chinese can be revealed by a continuous pattern of concentric circles structure, that is, “heaven and earth—the Kitchen God—ancestors—parents—offspring.” Through a clinical case using Sandplay Therapy, this article will show that Kitchen God imagery unconsciously shows the constellation of “family.” Family is the place of belonging and home for Chinese people, helping the client return to his inner source and gain strength through acceptance and transformation. The implication of Kitchen God beliefs for today’s Chinese society is to return to the most primitive “Tao,” which presents a possible cure for many kinds of psychological problems we are facing. It suggests that researchers pay attention to the psychological phenomenon of clients’ using the Kitchen God image to express their cultural feelings toward family in psychological practice.

Patents, Governance and Control: Ethics and the Patentability of Novel Beings and Advanced Biotechnologies in Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 529-542
Author(s):  
Aisling McMahon
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Patent Law ◽  
European Patent ◽  
Human Consciousness ◽  
Patent Holder ◽  
Patented Invention ◽  
Patent Grant ◽  
And Control

AbstractThis article focuses primarily on to what extent novel beings, and particularly, beings which display something akin to human consciousness or agency would be (or should be) patentable under current European patent law. Patents grant the patent holder a right to exclude others from using the patented invention for the period of patent grant (usually 20 years). This allows the patent holder to control how that invention can or cannot be used by others downstream, granting patent holders a governance like function over the patented technology for the duration of the patent. Accordingly, the potential for patentability of novel beings gives rise to a myriad of ethical issues including: to what extent is it appropriate for patent holders to retain and exercise patents over “novel beings”; how issues of “agency” displayed by any “novel beings” would fit within the current patent framework, if at all; and to what extent existing exclusions from patentability might exclude patents on “novel beings” or whether changes within patent law may be needed if patents in relation to “novel beings” are deemed ethically problematic. This article focuses on such issues, and in doing so, also sheds light on the role of ethical issues within the patenting of advanced biotechnologies more generally.

scholarly journals Rapid decline of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 among infected healthcare workers

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Marot ◽  
◽  
Isabelle Malet ◽  
Valentin Leducq ◽  
Karen Zafilaza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neutralizing Antibodies ◽  
Healthcare Workers ◽  
Disease Onset ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Infection Prevention And Control ◽  
Rapid Decline ◽  
Prevention And Control Measures ◽  
Few Data ◽  
Antibody Levels ◽  
And Control

AbstractThere are only few data concerning persistence of neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) among SARS-CoV-2-infected healthcare workers (HCW). These individuals are particularly exposed to SARS-CoV-2 infection and at potential risk of reinfection. We followed 26 HCW with mild COVID-19 three weeks (D21), two months (M2) and three months (M3) after the onset of symptoms. All the HCW had anti-receptor binding domain (RBD) IgA at D21, decreasing to 38.5% at M3 (p < 0.0001). Concomitantly a significant decrease in NAb titers was observed between D21 and M2 (p = 0.03) and between D21 and M3 (p < 0.0001). Here, we report that SARS-CoV-2 can elicit a NAb response correlated with anti-RBD antibody levels. However, this neutralizing activity declines, and may even be lost, in association with a decrease in systemic IgA antibody levels, from two months after disease onset. This short-lasting humoral protection supports strong recommendations to maintain infection prevention and control measures in HCW, and suggests that periodic boosts of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination may be required.

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