System Identification and Adaptive Control

Revitalization in Asia: Adaptive Reuse in Macao, Mumbai, and Penang offers a clear understanding of the value of sustainable adaptive reuse within an Asian context. Three highly urbanized places (Macao, Mumbai, and Penang) are considered in detail from conservation and planning perspectives (with essays and timelines for each). For each place, five case studies offer a comparative framework for understanding similarities and differences in adaptive reuse projects. Six essays examine adaptive reuse in terms of its connection to the three dimensions of sustainability, with reference to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. This book is envisioned as a continuation of Asian Revitalization: Adaptive Reuse in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Singapore.

This volume is the first book-length monograph on the most widespread and deadly infectious disease in China, both historically and today: tuberculosis (TB). Weaving together interviews with data from periodicals and local archives in Shanghai, Rachel Core examines the rise and fall of TB control in China from the 1950s to the 1990s. The answer to this, Core argues, lies in the socialist work-unit system. Under the work-unit system, the vast majority of people had guaranteed employment, a host of benefits tied to their workplace, and there was little mobility—factors that made the delivery of medical and public health services possible in both urban and rural areas. The dismantling of work units amid wider market reforms in the 1980s and 1990s led to the rise of temporary and casual employment and a huge migrant worker population, with little access to health care, creating new challenges in TB control. This study of Shanghai has major implications for institutional research on diseas

Adaptive reuse refers to reusing an old building for a purpose other than which it was originally built or designed. This conservation approach has become increasingly popular around the world. However, there are few publications that focus on its application in Asia. This book fills this gap by looking at both unique and shared aspects of adaptive reuse in three Asian urban centers: Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Singapore. Building on government policy documents and extensive field work, this book contextualizes adaptive reuse in each city and reveals the impetus behind a wide range of projects from revitalization in Hong Kong, commercial development in Shanghai, to community building in Singapore. The introductory chapter sets adaptive reuse within an international perspective, noting salient differences and similarities between Asia and other parts of the world. It also anchors the discussion within a regional perspective, focusing on the similarities and differences between Hong Kong,

What do you know about getting healthy and staying healthy? Eat better, exercise, and sleep more... But what should we eat and why? Do our daily food choices really impact our heart, lungs, and brain? Is getting sick an inevitable occurrence or one we have control over? Much of our medical knowledge is gated behind complicated concepts that are too hard to understand. As a result, we have a heavy dependence on doctors and a blind reliance on prescriptions and medical technology. For us to lead healthy and productive lives, we need the knowledge to prevent sickness and disease. This knowledge should not be hidden behind incomprehensible gibberish. It should be easily accessible and easy to apply to our own lives on a daily basis. Good health comes down to the little things, like what foods we serve to our families and what we buy at the grocery store. Educate Act Thrive: EAT for the Immune System does its best to distill the complex topics of health and diet into easily digestible fra

In Working the System: Motion Picture, Filmmakers, and Subjectivities in Mao-Era China, 1949–1966, Qiliang He inquired into the making of the new citizenry in Mao-era China (1949–1976) by studying five preeminent Shanghai-based filmmakers. These case studies shed light on how individuals’ subjectivities took shape in the cinematic arena under a new sociopolitical system after 1949. He suggests that a filmmaker’s subjectivity was not fixed or stable but constantly in flux, requiring a host of “subjectivizing practices” to (re)shape and consolidate it. These filmmakers endeavored to reap maximal benefits from Mao’s sociopolitical system and minimize the disadvantages that would make them victims under the system. In short, Qiliang He argues that the filmmakers not only worked under the socialist system imposed upon them but also worked the system in their best interests.

BY 1945, EVERYWHERE ONE LOOKED IN THE FAR EAST THE BRITISH EMPIRE WAS BEING OPENLY QUESTIONED OR WAS FAILING OUTRIGHT. YET IN THE PREVIOUS CENTURY, THE BRITISH HAD BEEN THE PRE-EMINENT IMPERIAL POWER FROM WEIHAIWEI TO NORTH BORNEO. READING COLONIES: PROPERTY AND CONTROL OF THE BRITISH FAR EAST INVESTIGATES HOW THE BRITISH HELD ON FOR SO LONG. RENT CONTROL LEGISLATION, AND OTHER MEASURES OF PROPERTY LAW SUCH AS LAND IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES, ARE NOMINATED AS KEY TOOLS USED TO FRUSTRATE DECOLONIZATION IN MOST EASTERN COLONIES. BRITISH COLONIAL ADMINISTRATIONS TRIED LONG AND HARD TO INHIBIT THE DIALECTICAL DISCORD BETWEEN THEIR COLONIAL HIERARCHISM AND LOCAL FORMS OF NATIONALISM WITH THE PROMPTS AND PLAUDITS OF PROPERTY POLICY. IN CASES WHERE INDIGENOUS LANDLORDISM MASQUERADED AS PATRIOTISM, INDEPENDENCE CAME QUICKLY (CEYLON AND BURMA). WHERE PUBLIC HOUSING ESTABLISHED ITSELF AS A KEY POST-WAR PLANK OF SOCIAL POLICY, FREEDOM FROM BRITISH RULE WAS A MORE GRADUAL AFFAIR (BRITISH MALAYA

安康*的《中国农产品蔬菜批发市场的性质与变迁研究--基于CAS和主观博弈契合》尝试性地提出了复杂适应性系统(Complex Adaptive System，简称CAS)和主观博弈契合的理论框架，从宏观和微观两个层次上对市场的性质进行新释义，进而从整体和个体两个层次上对我国农产品蔬菜批发市场的性质和变迁进行了理论透视，并选用我国东部和西部两个有着代表意义的案例对理论进行检验。本书通过对本质的分析，来挖掘现象产生的深层次原因，从而在理论层面上给出政策意蕴。

Moving Forward Together with ESG and USR Partners Every inch of national park land presents a golden opportunity for businesses to realize its ESG goals. Labor shortages are currently regarded as one of the greatest challenges for Taiwanese enterprises. However, recent climate changes have also caused crises such as work stoppages, flooding, fires, and raw material shortages. Businesses must treat environmental protection and biodiversity preservation as issues just as critical as solving labor shortages; we all need to step up the pace in realizing the SDGs. In 2015, the United Nations launched the 2030 SDGs. These serve as a beacon guiding the world toward sustainability. Taiwan’s national park system encompasses nearly 25.4% of Taiwan’s land and marine areas, and is tasked with protecting a range of resources including alpine and low-elevation mountains, marine ecosystems, wetlands, volcanic landscapes, and cultural resources. Taiwan’s park system diversely and comprehensively a

Appropriate for use by students at varying levels of competence, Burmese: A Cultural Approach provides a thorough and systematic introduction to the Burmese writing system in Part One and a series of true-to-life conversations in Part Two. Students with some prior knowledge of the spoken language but little familiarity with the Burmese script can use Part One to solidify their grasp of the Burmese sound system as well as its orthography. Intrepid beginners could also start their study of the language by making use of Part One. Doing so would mean making a slower start at formulating phrases as compared to using a romanization system but learners would gain a firmer foundation for the later—and eventually, faster—development of their speaking and reading skills. The conversations in Part Two are extensively annotated in order to illustrate grammatical patterns, characteristic turns of phrase, and typical habits of social interaction. True to an anthropological approach to language le

China stands as a major “Red Swan” challenge to the social sciences. The resilience of the Communist party-state, in combination with a rapidly expanding and internationally competitive economy, challenges conventional models of economic development and political change. This book focuses on crucial governmental action programs and examines the manner in which they were developed, formulated, implemented, adjusted, and revised. It finds that Chinese policy making has been driven by a distinctive political methodology—an unusual combination of long-term national agendas with versatile local policy experimentation—that serves as an effective mechanism for policy innovation and correction, and thus provides strong adaptive capabilities in a perpetually shifting economic, technological and international context. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An original and persuasive book by one of the leading scholars of China’s policy-making process. The paradox of China’s successful market reforms is that they wer

Nutrition aside, there are other interesting topics worth exploring in the pursuit of health. Can cancer be prevented? Why doesn’t everyone live long, healthy lives? What is the relationship between cardiovascular disease and the immune system? How does the immune system affect overall health? Which is a healthier food option: natural and wholesome plant foods or animal-based foods? How do our lifestyles affect our health? Good health is not a secret. To achieve good health, we must first understand it. By drawing links between diet, health, and the immune system, this book provides fascinating insights into the preventive science of Nutritional Immunology.

The Chinese system is like no other known to man, now or in history. This book explains how the system works and where it may be moving. Drawing on Chinese and international sources, on extensive collaboration with Chinese scholars, and on the political science of state analysis, Stein Ringen concludes that under the new leadership of Xi Jinping, the system of government has been transformed into a new regime radically harder and more ideological than the legacy of Deng Xiaoping. China is less strong economically and more dictatorial politically than the world has wanted to believe. By analyzing the leadership of Xi Jinping, the meaning of ＂socialist market economy,＂ corruption, the party-state apparatus, the reach of the party, the mechanisms of repression, taxation and public services, and state-society relations, The Perfect Dictatorship broadens the field of China studies, as well as the fields of political economy, comparative politics, development, and welfare state studies.

Will the rise of China change the international system built by the industrial and constitutional democracies of the West of the past centuries? Should China be content with the maintenance of that system: one of competing nation-states of absolute sovereignty and relative power? Does the Confucian past contain a moral vision that may connect with universal human values of the modern world? And will the rising China become an engine for a renewed Chinese civilization that contributes to the equity in the international system? Pondering these fundamental questions, historian Prof. Wang Gungwu probes into the Chinese perception of its place in world history, and traces the unique features that propel China onto its modern global transformation. He depicts the travails of renewal that China has to face and betters our understanding of China’s position in today’s interconnected world. This collection of Prof. Wang Gungwu’s thoughts is a must-read for us to contemplate China’s root an

Understanding how the Chinese writing system illustrates universal design features of writing and literacy learning, as well as how it differs from alphabetic literacy, has become one of the cutting edge areas of research in the cognitive sciences. A major part of this book is devoted to the presentation of a series of proposals for collaborative research with investigators working in East Asia on cross-writing system comparisons and bilingual literacy—Comparing alphabetic and morpho-syllabic literacy. The part that corresponds to "International perspectives" proposes new avenues in research on problems of bilingualism shared by speakers of all languages. With a broad survey of research advances drawing from recent investigations, this book will provide non-specialist readers with examples of how the relevant concepts might be applied to practical problems-age of acquisition effects in first and second language development; analysis of language attrition and asymmetries of different k

Although the arts have been firmly planted in the Hong Kong school system since the 1950s, they are often sacrificed in place of core subjects and preparation for examinations. Drawing on over fourteen years of exploration and experience, Yau makes the case that arts are critical to cultivating creative mindsets, which are our best resource for innovating and responding to challenges in this complex world of sudden changes. Through case studies and conversations with practising artists and educators, this book demonstrates why arts and education, two normally discrete disciplines, should be broadly integrated into the local Hong Kong curriculum, and how this can be – and has been – achieved. This book is intended for policymakers, educators, arts heads, and artists. The volume will also appeal to readers curious about how and why the arts should be foundational to education and capacity building in the twenty-first century.

This is probably the first book dedicated to the life and times of the doctors who have shaped the medical development of Hong Kong. It is a fascinating story of how the pioneers transformed a city with primitive medical services into what it is today—a city with advanced medical facilities as in any major Western city. —Dr. Mak Wai-ping Chairman (Executive Committee) and Board of Directors Hong Kong Museum of Medical Science Society The development of Western medicine in Hong Kong to its current sophisticated state over more than 150 years is a fascinating story. And this book tells the above history from a special perspective—the personalities responsible for this remarkable achievement. These individuals, spanning over a period of over 150 years, comprised doctors in government public medical and health services who advocated new initiatives and laid the infrastructure; those who established health policies, and moved the health system forward; the medical educators who trained t

Surrealism in China initially gained a foothold in Shanghai’s former French concession during the early 1930s, disseminated by returning Chinese students who had directly encountered the movement in Paris and Tokyo. Shanghai surrealism adopted a dialectical form, resonating with the modus operandi of the Parisian movement as well as China’s traditional belief system of Daoism. Reconciling the thought of Freud and Marx, Surrealism subsumed the multiple contradictions that divided Republican Shanghai, East and West, colonial and cosmopolitan, ancient and modern, navigating the porous boundaries that separate dream and reality. Shanghai surrealists were not rigid followers of their Parisian counterparts. Indeed, they commingled Surrealist techniques with elements of traditional Chinese iconography. Rather than revolving around a centralized group with a leader, Shanghai Surrealism was a much more diffuse entity, disseminated across copious different periodicals, avant-garde groups, and th

地球文明存在著東、西兩個文明波，因為「地球轉動」的緣故，帶動文明波消長，各以約八百年為一個周期，交替循環，二者合計約一千六百年形成一個周期。 林英臣先生以「文明波周期」（Civilization Cycle）、「社會系統」（Social System）的「文明法則史學」分析中國各朝代的興亡，書成《中國文明興亡史》，從西周到中華人民共和國的成立。他認為一個「社會系統」（Social System）大約四百年，並分析其a、b、c、d、e、f、g點，a為「創造起始點」、b至c為「成長期」，c、d、e為「高峰（原）期」，e為「衰弱開始點」，f為「續衰點」，g為「滅亡點」。但也可能出現Double Social System，例如西漢、東漢；北宋、南宋。

In Hong Kong Public and Squatter Housing: Geopolitics and Informality, 1963–1985, Alan Smart and Fung Chi Keung Charles trace two decades of development of squatting in Hong Kong. The authors reconstruct the government policy on squatting through both ethnographic and archival research. The book sheds new light on the consequences of various attempts to control encroachment on scarce urban space. It argues that intersecting policy agendas resulted in decisions that were often not desired, but which emerged as practical solutions from prior failures. The authors address the challenges of explaining confidential policy decisions and offer new approaches applicable in other contexts. Overall, Smart and Fung make an important contribution to the understanding of how public housing and squatting interacted in influential ways that have been poorly understood and offer new perspectives on the challenges of urban governance and housing problems.

This book describes and analyses the role of the public sector in the often-charged political atmosphere of post-1997 Hong Kong. In this second edition, Ian Scott explores public sector accountability in terms of Hong Kong’s constitutional framework and the structure, functions, and personnel policies of its civil service system. He examines critical issues facing the administration of the public sector and the formulation and implementation of public policy with particular attention to the political challenges confronting the Hong Kong government over the past decade. A concluding chapter assesses how contested values in a changing political environment have affected the public sector in recent years. This edition has been fully updated to incorporate the latest statistics and research, including Scott’s work in such areas as integrity management, corruption prevention, and policing. This book is an essential resource for scholars and students of public administration and public poli

The Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong SAR (the “NSL”) promises to be the most important legal development in Hong Kong since the advent of the Basic Law. Many wondered in the aftermath of the NSL how the foundations of Hong Kong’s system might be changed and in what way the freedoms valued by Hong Kong may be affected. Supporters view the law as essential for the preservation of public order and the national security of China and for supporting the fundamental well-being of “One Country, Two Systems”, an arrangement that has been in place since the return of Hong Kong to China. Critics fear an adverse impact on the spirit of “One Country, Two Systems”. From a discussion initiated by the University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Law, this collection of essays brings together leading experts on Hong Kong and Chinese law to offer an exploratory study of the NSL and its impact on the legal system and the principle of the rule of law in Hon

In Painting Architecture: Jiehua in Yuan China, 1271–1368, Leqi Yu has conducted comprehensive research on jiehua or ruled-line painting, a unique painting genre in fourteenth-century China. This genre relies on tools such as rulers to represent architectural details and structures accurately. Such technical consideration and mechanical perfection linked this painting category with the builder’s art, which led to Chinese elites’ belittlement and won Mongol patrons’ admiration. Yu suggests that painters in the Yuan dynasty made new efforts towards a unique modular system and an unsurpassable plain-drawing tradition. She argues that these two strategies made architectural paintings in the Yuan dynasty entirely different from their predecessors, as well as making the art form extremely difficult for subsequent painters to imitate.

The purpose of this book is to explain both the historical context and current practices of land administration in Hong Kong. Although Hong Kong has an open and business-friendly environment, it is underpinned by a socialist leasehold land tenure system. The government is landlord to virtually all land and so it plays a pivotal role in the administration of this scarce, and therefore, valuable resource.As land administration is governed by private contract law rather than legislation, it is constantly evolving with the courts handing down significant decisions on a regular basis. Government practice has to respond to this, as well as the community’s concern on how best land can be administered. The fifth edition has some substantial and important updates which should continue to be useful to both students and practitioners of surveying, architecture, planning and law, as well as the wider business and financial community.

The coronavirus pandemic that broke out in 2019 has finally calmed down in China, after the bungling occasioned by the iron hand of lockdown. But beginning in March 2020, the disaster spread abroad, and at present there is no end in sight. In this work, Qin Hui offers a bracing examination of the impact of coronavirus pandemic on political institutions in both China and the West. Deliberating on the contradiction between “human rights” and “human survival,” he contends that China has achieved success in imposing coercive lockdowns to control the virus, but it will be a challenge to prevent the normalization of emergency measures from worsening human right conditions. The West, in contrast, must learn how democracies can efficiently enter a state of emergency and put an end to these measures at the proper time. ---------- “Qin Hui is one of the most original thinkers and commentators active in China today. In this wide-ranging and meticulously researched book he argues that the COVID-1

This collection of selected works by Professor Albert H.Y. Chen shows the contours of the author’s scholarship as it developed over 35 years of his academic career, from 1984 to the present. The essays are divided into three sections which cover the three major domains of Professor Chen’s research. Part I covers the legal developments and controversies of “One Country, Two Systems” since the Hong Kong interpretation on “the right of abode” in 1999 to the anti-extradition movement of 2019. Part II shifts to focus on tradition and modernity in Chinese Law, including China’s Confucian and Legalist traditions and how the socialist legal system in China evolved and modernized in the era of “reform and opening”. Part III examines the transplantation of Western thinking and constitutionalism to East Asia in modern times and discusses the achievements and failures of these efforts. In conjunction with an introductory chapter that sets out the basic orientation and paradigm of these legal and c

Maid to Queer is the first book about Asian female migrant workers who develop same-sex relationships in a host city. Based on participant observation and in-depth interviews with Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong, the book explores the meanings of same-sex relationships to these migrant women. Instead of searching for reasons to explain why they engage in a same-sex relationship, this book provides an ethnographic perspective by addressing their Sunday activities and considering how migration policies and the practices of Hong Kong people unintentionally produce alternative sexuality and desires for them. The author contrasts the migrant experiences of same-sex relationships with the Western discourse that individuals carry a strong sense of sexual identification prior to migration; same-sex desires among Indonesian domestic workers are often not realized until they leave home. Addressing the changes from maid to queer, this book documents the intersections of domestic work, la

Paul A. Van Dyke’s new book, Whampoa and the Canton Trade: Life and Death in a Chinese Port, 1700–1842, authoritatively corrects misconceptions about how the Qing government treated foreigners when it controlled all trade in the Guangzhou port. Van Dyke reappraises the role of Whampoa in the system—a port twenty kilometres away from Guangzhou—and reassesses the government’s attitude towards foreigners, which was much more accommodating than previous research suggested. In fact, Van Dyke shows that foreigners were not bound by local laws and were given freedom of movement around Whampoa and Canton to the extent that they were treated with leniency even when found in off-limit places. Whampoa and the Canton Trade recounts the lives of seamen who travelled half-way around the globe at great risk and lived through a historic period that would become the framework for subsequent encounters between China and the rest of the world. Were it not for the exchanges between the major powers and t

An indefatigable discoverer and preserver of lost traditions in the field of classical Chinese medicine, Liu Lihong has done it again—The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Transmission of Acupuncture features a passionate and clinically relevant synthesis of his discipleship with Yang Zhenhai, one of the last remaining master practitioners of Daoist acupuncture in mainland China. At the forefront of an international discourse on the definition and clinical significance of classical Chinese medicine, Yang and Liu promote yet another holistic medical system that radically contrasts the current penchant for symptom-oriented procedures. This English edition of their book lifts an important esoteric acupuncture lineage out of obscurity and presents it to us in complete and accessible form. The holistic approach has also defined Liu’s relentless search for the heart of Chinese medicine during the last three decades, driving his commitment to become the promoter of a diverse spectrum of healing tradit

The First Estates shows the impact on Hong Kong’s urban history of Fairview Park and Hong Lok Yuen, the earliest examples of private estates provided in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Completed in the 1970s and 1980s, both are examples of land development projects built as low-density, American-style suburban house living, the first true alternative to the typical high-rise urban living of Hong Kong. In this book, Roger Nissim traces their evolution—from retreats for urban dwellers to family residences—that followed the expansion of Hong Kong’s public transportation system. The book draws heavily on the original documents that are reproduced in the book. These unearthed documents detail land acquisition process and the negotiations with the government, financiers, local villagers, contractors, and new residents. Read together, this collection of key primary sources—concerning government approvals, site selection, planning and implementation, layout plan, and sales policy—provide the

This work offers the most comprehensive account of the origin and consequences of the Yan’an Rectification Movement from 1942 to 1945. The author argues that this campaign emancipated the Chinese Communist Party from Soviet-influenced dogmatism and unified the Party, preparing it for the final victory against the Nationalist Party in 1949. More importantly, this monograph shows in great detail how Mao Zedong established his leadership through this party-wide political movement by means of aggressive intraparty purges, thought control, coercive cadre examinations, and total reorganizations of the Party’s upper structure. The result of this movement not only set up the foundation for Mao’s new China, but also deeply influenced the Chinese political structure today. The Chinese version of How the Red Sun Rose was published in 2000, and has had twenty-two printings since then. ~~~~~~ “This lucid translation of Gao Hua’s seminal study of the Yan’an rectification movement and the rise of

This study tests the factors of transaction costs (TC) and resource-based views (RBV) to explain the MNEs’ entry decisions in China. By using large firm-level data from China, I show in this paper that variables related to internal uncertainty (e.g., management) and firm-specific assets tend to affect MNEs’ entry decisions in a way that is consistent with the transaction cost logic; that is, the higher degree of internal uncertainty, the MNEs may require more control over the foreign facilities or the JV. On the other hand, those variables related to external uncertainty (e.g., marketing) and intangible assets tend to conform to the resource-based view, which means higher external uncertainty would cause the MNEs to leverage the resources or local experience of local partners. This suggests that MNEs may need complementary resources from local partners to reduce the external uncertainty and enhance the value of their intangible resources.

Kung Fu has evolved from a traditional means of defence to become a system of attacking and defending oneself, with or without weapons, exercising the body and maintaining good physical and mental health. As such, these practices have found an international following. Yet what has remained a largely unexplored area is the scientific principles behind these martial arts. This book not only covers the brief history of Chinese martial arts, but also brings together the wisdom of a Kung Fu grand master with a scientist and teacher to explain the scientific reasons why Kung Fu is the powerful practice that it is. Using the principles of physics, biomechanics and biology, with a number of drawings showing some basic postures of Kung Fu, the authors present a deep understanding of how the styles, the specific movements and methods of attack and defence operate.

The main purpose of this research was to explore culture shock and cross-cultural adaptation of foreign English teachers in Taiwan. According to the findings in this research, recommendations were made for foreign English teachers and educational organizations in Taiwan to serve as a basis of conducting further researches or setting relevantly educational policies. A convenient sampling was conducted, and six participants, including American, British, and Canadian teachers, filled in semistructured questionnaire and had in-depth interviews. The results were shown as follows: 1. Influence of culture shock: (1) The first impression in Taiwan was mostly negative feelings. (2) Guanxi and Face were the most distinguishing cultural characteristics. (3) Culture shock had little impact on life, but lack of English environment caused inconvenience. (4) Impact of work mainly resulted from management style, communicative mode, and supervisory system. (5) Classroom management emphasized on respon

The Confucian revival which manifests itself in the Modern Confucian current, belongs to the most important streams of thought in contemporary Chinese philosophy. The Rebirth of the Moral Self introduces this stream of thought by focusing on the second generation Modern Confucians— Mou Zongsan, Tang Junyi, Xu Fuguan and Fang Dongmei. These scholars argue that traditional Confucianism, as a specifically Chinese social, political, and moral system of thought can, if adapted to the modern era, serve as the foundation for an ethically meaningful modern life. In this most timely monograph, Jana S. Rošker is visionary in anticipating the role Confucianism might serve as a world resource in reshaping a newly emerging cultural order for our own time and place. She brings the complexity and heterogeneous nature of the philosophical contributions of the second generation of Modern Confucians into clearer focus, and documents the inspiration their discourses have given contemporary scholars eng

Different global healthcare challenges bring threats to the healthcare system. Like other developed countries, Hong Kong is also focusing on how to manage the ageing population, how to meet the rising public expectations, and how to finance the ever increasing medical costs. Strengthening community care services may provide a way out for settling these concerns. Written by a team of renowned scholars and leading practitioners, this book aims at evaluating how different parties can assist in building up local community capacity to achieve sustainable health and wellness. The book is divided into three sections. The first section discusses the different roles and practices of specialised community care that contribute to the relative success of the healthcare system in Hong Kong. The second section makes use of various research practices to extrapolate future healthcare needs and practices in Hong Kong. And the last one addresses the values of health care which underlie the healthcare c

The return of Macao from the Portuguese administration to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1999 marks the beginning of its transformation in the 21st century. Macao was confronted with various issues concerning then existing political system, economic downturn and gangland violence during the transition period. Beijing put Macao under the "One country, Two Systems" and implemented a wide variety of measures in order to restore its law and order as well as to recover its tourism dependent economy. Gradually, Macao transformed itself to "Las Vegas of the East". This volume of 18 essays highlights the key dimensions of Macao's remarkable "One country, Two Systems" actualisation experience in its first 15 years, and discusses how Macao transformed and what challenges it encountered during its post-handover transformation. The volume has several focuses. It first investigates the political and electoral issues in a critical manner─ post-handover Macao suffered from maladministratio

Over the years auditing has developed into a specialised function with complex ethical, legal and economic implications. The role of auditors in providing credibility is even more important in a society like Hong Kong, which relies heavily on its reputation as an international financial and business centre. The financial crises and accounting scandals reported in recent years, which led to economic meltdowns and massive loss in capital resources across the globe, highlights the vital role of auditors as gatekeepers and the importance of high quality auditing in ensuring corporate transparency and honest financial reporting. The third edition is thoroughly revised to take into account the new Companies Ordinance (Chapter 622, effective 2014) and Hong Kong Standards on Quality Control, Auditing, Assurance and Related Services (updated June 2014), and numerous developments of a full range of auditing topics since the previous edition, including: - Auditor's legal duties and liabilities

Tsering Woeser and Wang Lixiong are widely regarded as the most lucid, insightful writers on contemporary Tibet. Their reportage on the economic exploitation, environmental degradation, cultural destruction and political subjugation that plague the increasingly Han Chinese-dominated Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) is as powerful as it is profound, ardent and analytical in equal measure, and not in the least bit ideological. Voices from Tibet assembles essays and reportage in translation that capture many facets of the upheavals wrought by a rising China upon a sacred land and its pious people. With the TAR in a virtual lockdown after the 2008 unrest, this book sheds important light on the simmering frustrations that touched off the unrest and Beijing's relentless control tactics in its wake. The authors also interrogate long-standing assumptions about the Tibetans' political future. Woeser's and Wang's writings represent a rare Chinese view sympathetic to Tibetan causes. Their powe

Competition is Fierce, 2013 Taiwanese Industry Expects Transition Global economy, surviving from the impact of the previous financial crisis, is now presenting a slow-to-moderate growth rate in 2013. Taiwan is now facing the pressure from regional economy expansion, new threats from Asia’s newly developing countries and competition from Japan/Korea with their strong industrial vertically integrated power. Moreover, there is a trend for those major western multinational companies to move their overseas manufacturing and technical services back to their mother lands, creating a new face of the global supply chain. More severe industrial competition is being expected. As such, Taiwan needs to aggressively proceed with its own industry structural transformation concentrating on the industries, investment, human resources and industrial efficiency. One of the government efforts could be made to continue building the industrial intelligent information service system through the mechanism of

"On an autumn morning in 1793, Lord Macartney waited to be ushered into the imperial summer retreat to take part in the celebration of the Qianlong Emperor's 82nd birthday. It was a long day; the celebration drama, Ascendant Peace in the Four Seas, lasted five hours. There were many scenes of fish, turtles and other sea creatures, and Macartney guessed it must have had something to do with the marriage between the ocean and land. He could not have been more wrong…" For the Qing court, entertaining foreign visitors was only one of the numerous ritual and political purposes dramas served. Delving into a rich collection of first-hand materials, the author meticulously excavates and combs historical data including court records, eunuchs' memoirs, pictorial archives of opera costumes, and period news. She investigates the development of imperial drama and its influence on the Peking Opera, as well as the function and system of imperial organizations responsible for drama. Also discussed