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Environmental DNA (eDNA) survey of introduced freshwater species in reservoirs and streams in Hong Kong
Get PDFDifferent organisms have been introduced worldwide both intentionally and unintentionally by humans. Some of the introduced species can establish populations outside their native geographic range and invade the environment, causing negative ecological impacts to the ecosystem. Freshwater ecosystems are prone to species invasion due to the aquatic linkage between freshwater habitats, thus facilitating the dispersal of introduced species. To minimise the potential negative impacts of introduced species, early detection and rapid response is vital. Compared to traditional survey methods (e.g., hand nets and cast nets), environmental DNA (eDNA) survey is a sensitive method for species detection by extracting the species’ DNA from environmental samples (e.g., water, soil, and faeces). eDNA surveys can account for the limitation of the traditional survey methods to detect rare and elusive species, which are usually hard to capture.
In this study, I conducted eDNA surveys to detect the introduced Australian redclaw crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) and introduced freshwater fish in Hong Kong. I collected water samples from 17 reservoirs and 12 streams. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was used for species-specific crayfish detection, while eDNA metabarcoding detection was used to assess introduced freshwater fish biodiversity. This study aims to obtain baseline information on the introduced C. quadricarinatus and freshwater fish in Hong Kong to facilitate the establishment of introduced species management programmes.
In Chapter 1, I give a general introduction to introduced species and eDNA surveys, and further explain the objectives of this study. In Chapter 2, I use qPCR techniques and species-specific primers to investigate the distribution of C. quadricarinatus. Also, occupancy models were used to estimate the occupancy and detection probability of C. quadricarinatus in the field sites. A total of six reservoirs tested positive for the presence of C. quadricarinatus DNA, and no amplification was found in the water samples from all 20 streams. The study also detected this crayfish in four new reservoirs, which indicates that C. quadricarinatus is more widespread than previously known and possibly spreading in Hong Kong.
In Chapter 3, I use eDNA metabarcoding techniques to investigate the diversity and distribution of introduced freshwater fish. I used a universal primer set that targeted the 12S rRNA gene of fishes in this study. A total of 58 families, 117 genera, and 177 species were detected. In addition to introduced species, 21 native species were detected in this study, including seven species with conservation status. These results suggest that introduced species are widely distributed in Hong Kong, and can pose threats to native species.
In Chapter 4, I summarise the major findings of Chapters 2 and 3 and discuss further the application of eDNA surveys to freshwater species conservation. I recommend long-term species monitoring using eDNA surveys in hotspots of introduced species. Also, I suggest developing species-specific primers for species of special concern to improve our baseline information on presence-absence, and hence prioritise the important habitats for protection.
Introduced species may cause harm to the local environment. This study found that introduced species are extremely widespread and abundant in Hong Kong, however, their ecological impacts on the local environment are largely unknown. I hope this baseline information on introduced species obtained in this study can promote species protection by establishing management plans using the eDNA technique for long-term species monitoring. Further development of the eDNA technique to improve the accuracy of qPCR results and establish local referencing databases are necessary in order to improve species detection results for future eDNA studies in Hong Kong
The discursive representations of Africanness and blackness in Chinese cyberspace : a critical discourse-historical analysis
Get PDFRecent years have seen deepened Sino-African ties. However, unlike friendly rhetoric at the state level, racial issues at the individual level are becoming increasingly salient. This study aims to enrich our current understanding of racial issues in China by examining the digital discursive representations of Africanness and Blackness produced by Chinese Weibo users. It investigates three African/Black people-related racial occurrences in China from 2020 to 2021. Those include the release of the draft of the Permanent Residence Law for Foreigners in 2020, the Okonkwonwoye case, where Okonkwonwoye physically assaulted a nurse during quarantine in 2020, and the Abdulmatten murder case where a Nigerian man named Abdulmateen murdered his student in 2021. Specifically, the thesis attempts to address: (1) What key social groups were involved in the digital racial discussion? (2) How were Africans and Black people discursively represented by Chinese Weibo users? and (3) What racial ideologies did those discursive representations of Africans and Black people reflect, and how?
The study collected 5289 posts and 53,759 comments from Weibo, one of the most popular microblogging websites in China. Regarding data analysis and interpretation, I first conducted the thematic analysis to grasp the general information of the texts and thus conceptualize the phenomenon. Then, I carried out critical discourse analysis (Discourse Historical Approach specifically) to delve further into the questions on the linguistic realizations of stigmatization, ideological contest, and identity construction. In particular, following the Discourse Historical Approach, I examined five discursive strategies (i.e., nomination, predication, argumentation, perspectivization, intensification, and mitigation) used for constructing the ingroup/outgroup identities.
Overall, the research suggests the existence of explicit forms of racist and nationalist bias against Black people and Africans in the Chinese context. First, the thematic analysis manifests that racism in China is a complex fusion of anti-Black sentiment, anti-government sentiment, anti-upper-class sentiment, nationalism, and gender antagonism. Then, the results of DHA show that the nomination strategies, including xenonyms, dehumanizing metaphors, somatization, and historical terms, are effectively employed to construct Black people and Africans as inferior and Chinese as noble, delimiting us from them; Predicational strategies, including predicates, predicative nouns, and predicative adjectives, are also commonly used to associate Black people and Africans with unfavorable traits, erecting a division between a positive self and a negative other; This self/other dichotomy is further justified using argumentation strategies, which also help to appeal for exclusionary practices against the Black population in China; Intensification strategies are also frequently deployed to maximize the illocutionary forces of racist utterances. Lastly, the thesis uncovers the orthographic maneuverings crafted by Weibo users to circumvent censorship, exhibiting the empowerment of grassroots Chinese in digital space. However, those avoidance strategies may merely be the outcome of the “chilling effect”.
Taken together, this study presents a socio-linguistic view of racial issues in China, enriching the current scholarly discussion of race in a non-Western setting. Moreover, it also provides the implications of non-racist language use in China
Conservation genomics of endangered turtles : the Big-headed Turtle and the Beale\u27s Eyed Turtle
Get PDFTurtles are one of the most threatened animal groups in the world, with 51.3% of the turtle species categorized as globally threatened (critically endangered, endangered and vulnerable) on the IUCN Red List. Overexploitation for the food and pet trade is the main threat, especially for turtles in Asia. In Hong Kong, all five native freshwater turtles are listed as endangered species locally. This study will focus on two species, the Big-headed Turtle (Platysternon megacephalum) and Beale’s Eyed Turtle (Sacalia bealei). Some of the world’s remaining wild populations of P. megacephalum and S. bealei are in Hong Kong. With relatively healthy populations in Hong Kong, we have a unique opportunity to perform population genomics studies of these species to understand their evolutionary history and guide conservation.
In this study, I provide insight into the population genomics of two endangered freshwater turtles by using double digest restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (ddRADseq). ddRADseq is a powerful genomic method that obtains tens of thousands of SNPs randomly across the genome, providing high resolution population genomic data. With these data, I aim to contribute to turtle conservation by developing evidence-based conservation recommendations, especially genetically guiding captive breeding programmes and reintroduction of individuals from wildlife seizures.
In Chapter 1, I provide a general introduction to turtles of the world, conservation status and threats in Asia. I also briefly introduce the turtle species of Hong Kong, provide review of conservation genomic of turtles, and introduce the ddRADseq method. In Chapter 2, I examine the population structure of S. bealei from Fujian Province and Hong Kong, and infer the origin of the individuals from an ex situ breeding colony. In Chapter 3, I examine the population structure of the P. megacephalum from Myanmar and southeastern China, and infer the origin of a reintroduced population in Hong Kong. In Chapter 4, I summarise the major findings of each chapter and suggest applications to conservation the two study species
Two essays on institution, innovation and trade in China
Get PDFThe relationship between innovation and economic activity is intricately intertwined. This thesis provides an in-depth study of the causal effect of international patenting on exports and, in turn, investigates the impacts of the anti-corruption campaign on innovation. It is organized into two chapters. The first chapter of the thesis examines the implications of international patenting on the export performance of Chinese exporting firms from 2000 to 2016. Based on 289,416 international patents that Chinese residents file in other national or regional patent offices, obtained from the Google Patent Database, we map them to domestic patented exporting firms using the priority link method. We find that international patenting promotes firms\u27 exports. To establish causality, we further conduct a propensity score matching procedure and construct shift-sharing instruments. Furthermore, we leverage our detailed microdata on export and patenting activities at the firm-country-product level for firms engaged in international patenting. First, we examine the direct effects of international patenting on protection product-country pairs, where we discern a pronounced positive impact. Within this framework, we assess the ramifications of three distinct patent application outcomes: granted applications, rejected applications, and those still pending, and find that their effects on export are all positive except in the case of rejection decision appearance. Second, we turn our attention to the analysis of within-firm spillover effects. We find that international patenting has a within-product, across-country spillover effect but no within-country, across-product spillover effect. The positive across-country spillover effect occurs only after the first publication of the international patent. The separate analysis of direct and spillover effects helps us to isolate the protection and signaling mechanisms by which international patent applications promote exports. The second chapter of the thesis studies the effect of an anti-corruption campaign on innovation. Using central inspections of China aimed at SOEs as a quasi-natural experiment, we investigate the causal effect of anti-corruption campaigns on the innovation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Based on a sample of China\u27s SOEs, we find that the central inspections lead to an uplift in the quantity of SOE innovation at the expense of innovation quality. Further analysis indicates that, owing to the unique motivation of political promotion, SOE managers improve the operation indicators valued by the government when subjected to political intervention in the shape of anti-corruption, such as innovation quantity, referred to as the political monitoring mechanism. Eventually, there will be a decline in the quality of innovation that will supplement the long-term value of SOEs since the central inspection does not contribute to corporate governance
再論意境的本質及其理論定位
Get PDF從王國維以來，論者雖概稱“意境”爲範疇，却始終未從範疇的理論概括性和抽象性上來把握它，進而考慮它和古典詩歌審美特質的關係，同時顧及概念的歷史沿革和約定俗成性，只是在普通概念的層面上詮釋其内涵，以致産生諸多歧義。本文根據張東蓀對範疇的界定，由範疇屬性來對意境加以理論定位，將意境理解爲概括和衡量古典詩歌詩美生成機制的抽象範疇，并通過大量文獻證明，到19世紀的詩論中，“意境”一詞已指涉古典詩歌藝術特徵、藝術效果及其生成方式的全部内容，核心則落實於意象化抒情的詩美生成機制，其豐富性和包容性具備了範疇所必要的强大概括力和悠久的歷史淵源。
Since Wang Guowei’s time, scholars have frequently labeled “Yi Jing” as a theoretical category. However, they have not fully examined it in terms of the generality and abstraction that a category demands, nor have they deeply explored its connection to the aesthetic qualities of classical poetry. Furthermore, they have neglected the historical evolution and conventional understanding of the concept. Instead, the term has been interpreted in a more superficial way, leading to significant ambiguity. In this paper, drawing on Zhang Dongsun’s definition of “category,” I aim to establish the theoretical positioning of “Yi Jing” as an abstract category that encapsulates and evaluates the aesthetic mechanisms underlying classical poetry. Through extensive textual analysis, I demonstrate that by the 19th century, “Yi Jing” had come to refer comprehensively to the artistic qualities, effects, and generative processes of classical poetry. At its core, the term focuses on the aesthetic creation of poetry through imagery-driven lyricism. Its richness and inclusiveness provide it with the necessary generalizing force and deep historical roots to be recognized as a theoretical category
Lingnan Gardeners Newsletter (No. 71) = 彩園通訊 (第71期)
Get PDFhttps://commons.ln.edu.hk/ln_gardeners_newsletter/1071/thumbnail.jp
Exploring China’s for-profit private universities from a stakeholder perspective : two cases from Shanghai
No full textChina’s higher education has experienced a stage of rapid development since its popularisation over the past two decades. According to the ‘2020 National Statistical Bulletin on Education Development’, China is home to 2,738 general universities. The total number of higher education students reached 41.83 million, and the gross enrolment rate of higher education was 54.4%. Driven by such rapid expansion, the classification management in higher education system become a global issue, it is particularly urgent in China and has increasingly become an important topic in theoretical research and policy practice. Classification management and evaluation of universities to promote the classified development of universities is an important feature of the development of higher education from popularization to universalization. Different classification development standards and directions reflect the different value orientations, interest preferences and demands. The main forces affecting the classification of universities include the government, the universities themselves, and the education and teaching assessment centre. They try to guide and influence the development of universities by constructing corresponding classification standard systems and evaluation results. When multiple value subjects such as governments, universities, and society participate in the game of classification management at the same time, the involvement of different values will cause conflicts and contradictions between the different subjects. Since the reform and opening up, China\u27s higher education has established the 211 , 985 projects, and double first-class projects, which are the development trends of macro-level classification. At the same time, the overall scale of China\u27s private higher education has continued to expand, and the quality of teaching has been effectively improved, promoting the formation of a diversified higher education pattern and meeting the people\u27s diverse higher education needs. On 2016, the Private Education Promotion Law, clearly proposing from for-profit and non-profit classification management of private higher education. After classification management policy, for-profit private universities appeared for the first time in China\u27s private higher education institutions. Under the influence of China\u27s basic national conditions and market economy characteristics, the development background and development process of China\u27s for-profit private universities have their own uniqueness and complexity, and their educational goals are constantly changing between for-profit and public welfare balance. From a micro perspective, for for-profit private universities, whether they respect the reasonable interest demands of all stakeholders, especially teachers and students, as the most important stakeholders in universities.
This study aims to explore the impact of the implementation of classification management policy on teachers and students in for-profit private universities. As the most important stakeholders in universities, whether their interest demands have been met, and explore their choice of for-profit Issues such as the motivations of gender-based private universities will become the key to testing the success of the higher education reform. At the same time, through the analysis of the demands of teachers and students in for-profit private universities, we can better balance the relationship between various stakeholders, meet the individual needs of the public, and promote the public welfare and profitability balance.
Guided by stakeholders’ theory, this qualitative study used the 16 student participants and 10 teacher participants and 2 senior managers from two different for-profit universities in Shanghai to understand their motivation to choose the for-profit university and explore the changes and impacts to compare the experiences and feelings of the students and teachers and to analyse whether for-profit private universities meet their needs or not in a micro perspective.
Results show perceptions of profitability among both teachers and students are lacking. By contrast, the teachers have mixed perceptions of for-profit private universities, but ‘for-profit’ is not a sufficiently strong deterrent for students to choose to enrol in a college or for teachers to choose to work there. Students\u27 motivation to study is a combination of many factors. After the implementation of the classification management policy, the changes produced by the for-profit private universities are primarily reflected in the three aspects of university governance, students\u27 academic experience and teachers\u27 work experience. In terms of stakeholders\u27 demands, the interests of teachers in for-profit private universities are diversified with the most important interests focusing on the sense of belonging and identity, followed by insufficient self-worth realisation and lower salaries. On the other hand, the student group puts extra emphasis on the transformation and practicality of knowledge and pays attention to the cultivation of personal ability and the enhancement of personal value.
The contributions of this study lie in its use of semi-structured interviews with students and teachers to the literature on stakeholders’ theory. It also bring some discussion about emergence of for-profit private universities reinforces the existence of inequality in the higher education market, although emphasis of for-profit private universities on the development of speciality education is somewhat in line with students\u27 interest in knowledge transformation, it also exposes quality assurance issue, also, developing of for-profit private universities cannot be separated from the support of government policies, especially the teaching staff
Impact of kin and non-kin caregivers on the subjective well-being of children in Hong Kong during their middle childhood
No full textThis study explored how children’s subjective well-being during their middle childhood is affected by their kin (parents and grandparents/relatives) and non-kin (foreign domestic helpers) primary caregivers in Hong Kong. With the increasing labor participation and economic independence of women, hiring non-kin foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) as primary caregivers for children has become a prevalent practice in Hong Kong. However, only a few studies have explored how having non-kin FDHs as primary caregivers affects children’s subjective well-being. Furthermore, no previous study has investigated how children’s subjective well-being is influenced by their family social capital with kin and non-kin caregivers. This qualitative study aimed to fill such gap by exploring how kin and non-kin primary caregivers affect children’s subjective well-being in middle childhood from the perspective of children in Hong Kong. This exploratory study drew upon the theoretical framework of family social capital to understand how the relationship, involvement, and support of primary caregivers affect children’s happiness and life satisfaction. The findings were based on in-depth interviews with 18 children aged 9 to 11 years (primary 4 to 6) with different types of primary caregivers. Results highlighted that family and school-related activities, as well as academic and extra-curricular achievements, were the main sources of happiness and life satisfaction for children during their middle childhood, regardless of the types of primary caregivers. Family-related people and activities were particularly significant for children with kin-parent primary caregivers, while school-related people and activities were more influential for children with non-kin FDH primary caregivers. The positive impact of kin-parent primary caregivers was attributed to close relationships, high involvement, and constant support. Despite maintaining positive relationships, kin-grandparent/relative primary caregivers exhibited a diminished positive impact due to their lower involvement and limited support, which in turn can be ascribed to their physical and health limitations. The non-kin FDH primary caregivers exhibited the least positive impact given their distant relationship, low involvement, and lack of support for children. Moreover, the contractual relationship of non-kin FDH primary caregivers constrained their time to perform household duties and limited their meaningful interactions with children, and constant disagreements and arguments between parents and non-kin FDHs negatively affected children’s subjective well-being. These findings offered policy implications for enhancing children’s well-being. Policymakers should introduce intervention programs and educational activities to help caregivers improve the subjective well-being of children during their middle childhood
Comparing the responses to the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic by the Chinese and American governments : a historical institutionalist analysis
No full textThe dissertation compares how the Chinese and American governments responded to the outbreak of the COVID-pandemic in 2020. It focuses on the first year of the pandemic. Drawing on archival sources and fieldwork, the study makes three major arguments.
First, it aruges that the COVID-pandemic is a severe global public health crisis with a spurious precedent of SARS endemic that caused millions of death and countless cases of long-term illness. In hindsight, how a government responded to in the initial phase of the pandemic determined the life or death of tens of millions of people in a populous country like China and the United States.
Second, China and the United States have similar economic power and international status, fundamentally different political systems, but similarly strong political leaders.
Lastly, the two governments adopted entirely different responses that led to different outcomes. The Chinese government resolutely enforced zero-COVID approach, contained the highly virulent virus and its dangerous variants by the end of 2020, and won enormous public confidence and support. By contrast, the American government missed opportunities to contain the pandemic. Numerous lives were lost and the incumbent president, Donald Trump, lost his bid for election despite his administration’s previous economic achievements and the development of the mRNA vaccines.
Based on in-depth historical institutionalist analysis, the study draws three conclusions.
First, the Chinese political system is better-tuned to handle global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. The study argues that routine governance is fundamentally different from crisis response. The former requires established rule-enforcement mechanisms while the latter requires prompt and flexible rule-making leadership. The former presupposes adequate information while the latter is characterized by incomplete information. The former allows a large room of trials and errors while the latter allows only small margin of error. Based on in-depth institutional analysis, the study argues that the Chinese and American governmental systems are distinctive but comparable in terms of maintaining routine governance. When it comes to crisis response, however, the Chinese governmental system has a clear comparative advantage in that it allows for high level of concentration and highly efficient topdown mobilization. Both characteristics proved critical for ensuring the effective enforcement of the strict zero-COVID measures, i.e., testing, tracing and quarantine.
Second, by far President Xi outperformed President Trump. Although they are both well-known for their strong leadership, President Xi acted like a true statesman, demonstrating an unwavering commiment to putting people’s lives above all other priorities, including economic growth, a clear vision and a decisiveness in handling the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast, President Trump acted like a typical politician, giving gave his bid for reelection the top priority. Through the first year of the pandemic, President Trump was more concerned about the stock market than about American people’s lives and health. Even when he appeared to take the pandemic seriously, President used his daily press conference at the White House as a campaign platform. President Xi could make courages decision with incomplete information and facing different expert analyses and policy proposals. By contrast, President Trump was indecisive, waving back and forth on how to respond to the pandemic. The study argues that the strong leadership can reaches its optimal effectiveness by fully bringing out the mobilizing potentials of the Chinese government system. By contrast, President Trump was hamstrung by the American governmental system, which is characterized by checks and balance.
Lastly, both strong leadership and effective institutions are critical for governance and crisis response. However, proactive, decisive and courageous leadership plays a far more important role than institutions during times of crisis, particularly at the initial stage of a rare and global public crisis with a spurious recent precedent. The study provides a solid foundation for further research on comparative governmental responses to the COVID-19 pandemic
Determining the factors affecting the employment quality of Chinese college fresh graduates under the new employment forms in the digitalized economy
No full textThe employment of college graduates has been a subject of research in the social sciences research. This study aims to investigate the factors that affect the employment quality of Chinese college fresh graduates under the new employment form in the digitalized economy. By 2024, the number of Chinese college graduates is expected to exceed 11 million. The economic downturn in the post-pandemic era has intensified the pressure on the labor market. The emergence of the digital economy, characterized by advances in big data and AI, has led to new employment forms that reshape work and labor relations, as well as promote employment and innovation. However, these new employment forms also pose challenges to labor relations and the social welfare system, and raise important questions about the quality of employment.
The study targets fresh graduates and examines the factors that influence their employment quality in a digitalized economy. Through a comprehensive review of relevant literature, the study defined the characteristics of the new employment forms. Interviews were conducted with graduates employed in the new employment forms, based on the existing employment quality index system, to gather their perspectives. Evidence from experts and researchers is also included in the study. An index to assess the factors influencing employment quality of college fresh graduates under the new employment forms was developed using the analytical hierarchy process.
Finally, there was a self-assessment questionnaire, focus on the survey results, conduct a comprehensive difference analysis and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation to explore the current employment quality and policy implications to improve their employment quality. The interview findings suggest that the employment quality of fresh graduates under the new employment forms is influenced by 7 second-level indicators and 25 third-level indicators. Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), the weights of the indicators at each level were calculated and ranked. The ranking of factors as follows: personal preferences, job characteristics, career development, college support, family support, compensation and benefits, government support. The sequence of tertiary indicators is personal feelings, Income level, career opportunities, income stability, industry prospect, work intention, family capital support, family emotional support, personal interests, work welfare, autonomy, college reputation, work intensity, flexibility, in-house skills training, work stability, socially acceptable, policy support, college resources, skill level, major matching, interpersonal relationship, policy perception, employability and the employment guidance. According to the difference analysis and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation, it can be seen that the employment quality of fresh graduates with urban household registration, graduates from 985-211 colleges, male, other-employed employment type is better than other regions, gender, college level, employment type. The study highlights that not the higher the income level, the higher the quality of employment. This is related to the labor social security, income stability and work intensity.
Based on the above analysis, recommendations are proposed to enhance the social security system, adapt career planning programs, actively promote facilitate industry-education integration, and explore new models for fostering undergraduates suitable for contemporary employment forms. By proposing policy implications based on these factors, the employment quality of fresh graduates could hopefully be improved, thus contributing to the overall development of the labor market in the digitalized era