84,971 research outputs found
The fiscal framework and urban infrastructure finance in China
No full textChina has experienced more than 25 years of extraordinary economic growth. Underlying this growth has been a decentralized fiscal system, in which provinces and large cities are given the freedom to make infrastructure investmentsto stimulate local development, and are allowed to retain a large part of the fiscal revenues that are generated from economic activity. Although successful as a growth strategy, this policy created two problems for national fiscal management. First, it significantly reduced the central government's share of fiscal revenues, which fell from 34.8 percent in 1980 to 22 percent in 1992. Second, it widened economic and fiscal disparities between the rapidly growing urban coastal region and the rest of the country. Rapid growth in subnational debt (which rose 23-fold in a decade) and subnational nonperforming loans (estimated by the authors to range between US150 billion) has placed pressure on China's financial system. Traditionally, China has favored bank lending as a source of finance because the banking system has provided a vehicle for central political control over local debt. But as China's financial system matures, creditworthiness standards must become more important. The authors recommend greater use of the revenue streams from infrastructure assets as a financing source, and gradual relaxation of central political control over subnational debt. One step in this direction would permit leading cities to issue municipal bonds based on objective financial standards.Banks&Banking Reform,Urban Economics,Public&Municipal Finance,Municipal Financial Management,Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations and Local Finance Management
Fu Su shi ming.
No full text考納丘克[柯涅楚克]著 ; 水夫譯.原書名(transliterated): Missia mistera perkinsa straun bolshevikov.Kaonaqiuke [Keniechuke] zhu ; Shui Fu yi.Yuan shu ming (transliterated): Missia mistera perkinsa straun bolshevikov
Epistolary Culture in the Southern Ming Period
No full textThis study examines the evolution, function, and social meaning of letters during the Southern Ming period (1644-1683). Existing scholarship focuses on letters in the social context of the late Ming and early Qing period, either analysing letter collections or using letters as historical sources to explore the life experiences of literati. I show that many of these letters cannot be simply identified as Ming or Qing letters, due to the turbulence that characterized the dynastic transition from the Ming to the Qing. Concentrating on the period of the Southern Ming regime allows the epistolary culture of the period to be assessed as the regime moved from establishment to decline; letters, due to their capacity to fuse materiality, literary, and social concerns in a written conversational exchange, provide key insights into this period of cultural transition.
I examine Southern Ming letters from both material and literary perspectives. The first half of this study investigates the material composition of letters and epistolary processes of exchange, including networks of correspondents. I argue that the Southern Ming epistolary activities continued to be carried out under a Ming identity, although many correspondents were technically Qing subjects as a result of adopting the hairstyle and clothing of the new Qing dynasty.
The second half of this study explores how letters helped to form emotional communities for correspondents who suffered after the collapse of the Ming dynasty, showing how both Southern Ming loyalists and Qing subjects displayed ambivalence in their correspondence with one another. I argue that letters were a medium for Southern Ming correspondents to remain emotionally connected to the Ming dynasty. Letters provided comfort and facilitated monitoring, helping those identifying as Southern Ming loyalists to resist pressure to conform to the new Qing regime. I show that the letters exchanged between Southern Ming loyalists and Qing subjects evidence the evolution of their relationship from political opposition to increasing interdependence as the Qing regime became more firmly established. At this stage, letters were a critical mechanism for Southern Ming loyalists to exercise agency to survive, as they were relatively powerless in the political field dominated by Qing subjects
Power devices and integrated circuits based on 4H-SiC lateral JFETs
No full textSilicon carbide (SiC) is a wide-bandgap semiconductor that has drawn significant research interest for the next-generation power electronics due to its superior electrical properties. Excellent device performance has been repeatedly demonstrated by SiC vertical power devices. However, for lateral power devices that offer the unique advantage of possible monolithic integration of a power electronics system-on-chip, the progress has been limited. This dissertation describes the 4H-SiC vertical-channel lateral JFET (VC-LJFET) technology that provides a suitable solution for power integration applications. Power devices based on this structure have a trenched-and-implanted vertical channel and a carefully designed lateral drift region, enabling normally-off operation with a high-voltage blocking capability. Low-voltage (LV) versions of VC-LJFET feature nearly identical device structures with a reduced drift length, and can be readily fabricated on the same wafer with the power devices. Essential components for a power integrated circuit, such as gate drive buffers, can be thus implemented monolithically on the VC-LJFET technology platform. This dissertation research starts with the process improvement investigation for the TI-JFET structure. Particularly, a novel ohmic contact scheme is developed using Ni to replace the troubling process in TI-VJFETs. The entire process flow of VC-LJFET is then designed and demonstrated in experiments, leading to the world’s first demonstration of a normally-off lateral power JFET in SiC. As of today, power JFETs fabricated in this technology are still representing the best-performing lateral power transistors in SiC and silicon. Based on the VC-LJFET structure, low-voltage circuits critical to the power integration applications are investigated. Gate drive buffer provides the interface between low-voltage control circuits and the power device, and is recognized as a key component for an integrated power electronics system. A thorough design, modeling and optimization work on the LJFET-based gate drive circuits is described. These buffer drivers using resistor or transistor loads will enable high-frequency switching of the power LJFETs at megahertz levels. The results achieved in this research strongly suggest the feasibility of SiC power integration technologies in general, as well as the suitability of the SiC VC-LJFET platform for such applications in particular.Ph.D.Includes abstractVitaIncludes bibliographical referencesby Ming S
The politics of fashion: perceptions of power in female clothing and ornamentation as reflected in the sixteenth-century Chinese novel Jin Ping Mei
No full textThis thesis examines issues of female power and influence in sixteenth-century China focusing on how women and their roles were perceived in the changing social environment of the mid-late Ming dynasty. Using aspects of a New Historicist approach, information from contemporary literary and historical sources are analysed alongside each other. With its emphasis on the lives of women and preoccupation with the description of material objects, the late Ming novel Jin Ping Mei forms an important element in the thesis. China in the sixteenth century saw expanding urbanisation, the emergence of a new wealthy merchant class, increasing visibility of women and a questioning of traditional morality. Fashion consciousness, as one of the most conspicuous aspects of the new material culture, is a possible indicator of these trends. Traditional Western theories contend that fashion began in the particular context of Renaissance Europe. However, this study argues that a similar fashion awareness existed in China too, and was manifested in a competitive striving for social status, in this case specifically among women. In contrast to previous studies which downplayed the impact women had on defining traditional Chinese culture, this thesis demonstrates how women and their sartorial choices began to redefine the boundaries of material culture, influencing literati discourse which, in turn, re- influenced female behaviour
Aspects of macroeconomic policy with reference to the Republic of China in Taiwan
No full textThe objectives of this dissertation are threefold. The first is to examine theoretically the sustainability of a monetary policy coordination between Taiwan and the United States in the light of the trade imbalance that has existed between them since the early 1980s. Secondly, in view of the persistent trade surplus, we empirically determine whether the savings behaviour of the Taiwanese is precautionary, and if so, in which aspects, so as to propose a policy which might reduce the savings and decrease the persistent trade surplus. Thirdly, in view of accumulating government debt and potential inflation, we theoretically investigate the role of an independent central banker when fiscal discipline and the likelihood of a successful public debt stabilisation programme are taken into consideration. As regards the first point, we conclude that, in the Miller-Salmon (1985b) two-country model with different country sizes initiated with asymmetrical disturbance, a cooperative monetary policy may be sustainable when both governments precommit themselves and ignore their perceived ability to exert an influence on real exchange rates. On the second point, following Skinner's (1988) approach, we show that the household savings of Taiwan are determined by significant earnings uncertainty. Furthermore, on the basis of Hubbard, Skinner and Zeldes (1993), and the analysis of housing data in Taiwan, we find that sources of uncertainty as regards `cash on hand' include uncertainty over opportunity costs for housing, earnings uncertainty concerning standards of education, and uncertainty over expenses for medical care. Thus, we predict that an improvement in social security may well decrease the uncertainty regarding cash on hand, and may reduce the precautionary savings of the Taiwanese and hence the persistent trade surplus.</p
Su wen bing ji qi yi bao ming ji
No full textV.1-3. 劉河間八書 -- v.1. 素問玄機原病式 / 劉完素 ; 吳勉學校 -- 素問病機氣宜保命集 : [三卷] / 劉完素述 ; 吳勉學校 -- v.2. 黃帝素問宣明論方 : 十五卷 / 劉完素撰集 ; 吳勉學校 -- v.3. 傷寒標本心法類萃 : [二卷] / 劉完素編集 ; 吳勉學校正 -- 劉河間傷寒醫鑒 / 馬宗素撰 ; 吳勉學校 -- 劉河間傷寒直格論方 : [三卷] / 葛雍編 ; 吳勉學校 -- 附: 河間傷寒心要 / 鎦洪編集 ; 吳勉學校正 -- 附: 張子和心鏡別集 / 常德編集 ; 吳勉學校正 -- v.4. 劉河間二書 -- 新刊註釋素問玄機原病式 : 二卷 / 劉守真撰集 ; 薛時平註釋 ; 劉一杰校正 ; 吳繼宗重訂 -- 素問病機氣宜保命集 : [三卷] / 劉守真撰.Detailed table of contents in vernacular field only.[劉河間撰 ; 吳勉學校].綫裝.框17.3x12.3公分, 20行38字. 白口, 四周雙邊, 單黑魚尾. 版心上鐫題名, 下鐫葉次.《素問病機氣宜保命集》及《劉河間傷寒直格論方》分上, 中, 下卷 ; 《傷寒標本心法類萃》分上, 下卷.題名據書名頁. 書名頁為描補, 書名背頁印"宣統己酉年秋月上海千頃堂石印".《中國叢書綜錄》(p.721)著錄.鈐"莊兆祥印", "莊兆祥".Xian zhuang.Kuang 17.3 x 12.3 gong fen, 20 hang 38 zi. Bai kou, si zhou shuang bian, dan hei yu wei. Ban xin shang juan ti ming, xia juan ye ci.Detailed notes in vernacular field only.Detailed notes in vernacular field only.Detailed notes in vernacular field only.[Liu Hejian zhuan ; Wu Mianxue jiao].Qian "Zhuang Zhaoxiang yin", "Zhuang Zhaoxiang"
Study on the Book of Rites in Ming Dynasty
No full textThis paper aimed to unveil the related issues on the Book of Rites by analyzing the literary works about the Book of Rites in Ming dynasty. The study started with the discussion of Chen Hao\ue2s position in Li Ji Ji Shuo and Li Ji Ji Shuo Da Quan. Secondly, by investigating Yang Shen\ue2s view of Tan Gong Cong Xun, the research argued that the study of the Book of Rites in Ming dynasty differed much from Song dynasty. Thridly, the interpretation of Hao Jing\ue2s Li Ji Tong Jie outlined the development of the study on the Book of Rites in the late Ming dynasty. Furthermore, this paper analyzed the approaches that Wang Fu Zhi had adopted in Li Ji Zhang Ju, concluding the possible influences Wang had made on the study of the Book of Rites in Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty. In short, the paper concluded the contributions that the study of the Book of Rites in Ming dynasty had made to the academic field of the Book of Rites.
The result showed that the position of the study on the Book of Rites in Ming dynasty was to promote Zhu\ue2s interpretation and eliminate Zheng\ue2s perspective on the Book of Rites. Moreover, the combination of interpreting and commenting on the classic that \ue2Tan Gong\ue2 had adopted reinterpreted the interaction of \ue2Jing\ue2 and \ue2Wen\ue2. Besides, Yang Shen quoted many interpretations on the Book of Rites in Song dynasty, which implied that the study of the Book of Rites in Ming dynasty was not influenced by the atmosphere of \ue2the revival of Han study\ue2. In the late Ming dynasty, Hao Jing\ue2s Li Ji Tong Jie pushed the concept of \ue2the elimination of Zheng Xuan\ue2 to the extreme, which attempted to form a new approach different from that of Han dynasty and Song dynasty on studying the Book of Rites. Last but not least, Wang Fu Zhi\ue2s Li Ji Zhang Ju followed Hao\ue2s idea but adopted Zhu\ue2s interpretation of \ue2the Great Learning\ue2 and thus implemented the concept of \ue2the elimination of Zheng Xuan\ue2.
All in all, the study of the Book of Rites in Ming dynasty focused on \ue2the elimination of Zheng Xuan\ue2, which made it the distinguishing characteristic. In addition, the approach of \ue2the regression of \ue2the Great Learning\ue2 and \ue2the Doctrine of the Mean\ue2 \ue2 in the late Ming period had the Ming dynasty school stand out from Song dynasty and Yuan dynasty. Even \ue2the classical hermeneutics\ue2 in Qing dynasty was under the influence of the study on the Book of Rites in Ming dynasty. Compared with Yuan dynasty and Song dynasty, the study of the Book of Rites in Ming dynasty had long been considered valueless. The study served to help clarify the characteristics in Ming dynasty and reevaluate the study of the Book of Rites in Ming dynasty
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