Search Results (24)

Grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study examines how perceived educational support influences entrepreneurial intentions among university students in India and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), through the mediating effects of entrepreneurial attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. It further explores how gender and cultural context moderate these relationships, extending the TPB into cross-cultural and gendered domains. Using survey data from 734 undergraduate students, structural equation modeling was employed to test the proposed model. The results reveal that perceived educational support significantly enhances entrepreneurial attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control in both contexts, although the magnitude and pathways differ across gender and country. Entrepreneurial attitude and perceived behavioral control emerge as consistent predictors of entrepreneurial intention, while subjective norms exert a greater influence for Indian women. These results highlight that entrepreneurial intentions are culturally and gender-contingent, challenging TPB’s universal applicability. The study advances TPB-based entrepreneurship research by embedding perceived educational support within a contextualized, gender-sensitive framework, contributing to a deeper understanding of entrepreneurship education in Asia. These insights can guide universities and policymakers in designing entrepreneurship education that fosters inclusive innovation across diverse cultural contexts. Full article

This study examines the symmetric and asymmetric impacts of international trade on consumption-based carbon emissions (CBEs) in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the United States of America (USA) from 1990 to 2018. The analysis uses autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) and non-linear ARDL (NARDL) methodologies to capture short- and long-run trade emissions dynamics, with economic growth, oil prices, financial development and industry value addition as control variables. The findings reveal that exports reduce CBEs, while imports increase them, across both economies in the long and short run. The asymmetric analysis highlights that a fall in exports increases CBEs in the USA but reduces them in the PRC due to differences in supply chain flexibility. The PRC demonstrates larger coefficients for trade variables, reflecting its reliance on energy-intensive imports and rapid trade growth. The error correction term shows that the PRC takes 2.64 times longer than the USA to return to equilibrium after short-run shocks, reflecting systemic rigidity. These findings challenge the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, showing that economic growth intensifies CBEs. Robustness checks confirm the results, highlighting the need for tailored policies, including carbon border adjustments, renewable energy integration and CBE-based accounting frameworks. Full article

China plays a significant role in the global fishing industry. The small-scale fisheries (SSFs) operating along its coast have made noteworthy and invaluable contributions in the areas of poverty alleviation, protein provision, social equity, and overall socioeconomic development. Coastal small-scale fishing management is a persistent challenge for all fishing nations, including China. In recent years, China has made significant strides in adopting scientific and refined approaches to fishery management in this sector. This paper provides an overview of the development of China’s coastal fishery management practices, including changes in policies, methods, and modes since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. To address these challenges, this research seeks to enhance the governance system of small-scale coastal fisheries by assessing values from three dimensions: society, economy, and ecology. Full article

In the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) left many writers severed from their cultural roots. Starting in the 1980s, literary authors sought to address this disconnection by turning their attention to rural communities. This tendency is exemplified by the emergence of two significant trends: root-seeking literature and new fiction from Tibet. Root-seeking authors focused on local customs, marginalized cultures, and minority groups to reinvigorate Chinese literature and fill the perceived cultural void. Around the same time, new fiction from Tibet featured diverse responses to post-Mao changes, with some idealizing Tibet as a repository of “authentic” traditions, while others criticized its perceived backwardness. Both trends have been interpreted in scholarship as responses, often critical, to state policies. The short story “Mountain Pass” (1985) by Hui writer Bai Lian intersects with these movements temporally and thematically. However, unlike them, Bai Lian’s portrayal of rural communities emphasizes the Hui’s historical role in resisting the Qing empire, pivotal to the emergence of the PRC, while also highlighting the group’s Arab and Persian origins. This three-layered identification with the local, national, and transnational enriches our understanding of the 1980s literary landscape, challenging the notion that this era was solely characterized by resistance to the central state. Full article

This article examines church–state relations in the early period of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) by scrutinising the thoughts and the administration of Chao Tzu-chen—a prominent Chinese Christian leader—at Yenching University’s School of Religion and its successor organisation. This article largely relies on the archives of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, delving into Chao’s psychological conflicts and the role of the Anglican churches in Chao’s plan for the separation of the School of Religion from the university. It argues that Chao Tzu-chen’s self-contradictions in his public versus private expressions after 1949 signify his disillusionment in fostering the convergence between Christianity and Communism, as demonstrated in his dilemma regarding church–state relations. Although Chao tried to adapt to the new political order by urging Chinese churches to offer practical and concrete social services, he continued his independent, critical theological reflections on the indigenisation of Christianity, as reflected in his private portrayal of the incompatibility between Christianity and Communism, and in his close connection with foreign churches in his fund-raising campaign. Moreover, apart from highlighting the importance of the Hong Kong Anglican church in financially supporting the Yenching School of Religion, this article seeks to contribute to academic research of Chinese higher education in the 1950s through examining how the Chinese Communist Party’s remolding of the School put an end to the emerging public sphere of a civil society. It reveals that this liberal Christian institute, which lost its control over curriculum design and the right to accept foreign funds, was quickly converted into a government-funded, socialist theological college in service of two masters: the Party and the Church. Full article

Climate change impacts will continue to worsen with rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, underscoring the growing necessity to foresee and comprehend the impact of climate change risks on economic activity. Using quarterly firm-level data of 209 firms from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) over the period Q1 2018–Q2 2022, this study estimates the impact of firms’ exposure to climate-related risks on their financial performance. The results indicate a notable adverse effect of climate change exposure on firms’ rate of return, with a lag of around two years. Firms located in more climate-vulnerable coastal areas and high-income provinces experience relatively greater negative impacts on their financial returns. Our findings have important policy implications for firms aiming to maximize their returns through enhanced climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. Full article

Extant research on students’ feedback conceptions has reported effects on performance, but the relationship of feedback conceptions to important motivational factors is not empirically evidenced. This study fills this gap by providing empirical data about students’ conceptions of feedback in relation to their motivational beliefs and achievement goals. Measurement and structural modelling analyses were based on undergraduate student data from New Zealand domestic (n = 832) and Chinese (People’s Republic of China, PRC) international students (n = 504) in New Zealand universities. Based on cross-ethnic invariant measurement models of conceptions of feedback, motivational beliefs, and achievement goals, a structural equation model uncovered links between feedback conceptions, motivational beliefs, and achievement goals. Specifically, feedback conceptions believing in actively using feedback and the value of teacher comments significantly promoted self-efficacy and task value beliefs, as well as mastery and performance-approach goals. In contrast, maladaptive feedback perceptions (i.e., feedback is ignored or used for judging performance against external standards or relative to others) had a minimal-to-negative impact on motivational beliefs and triggered stronger performance-avoidance goals. This study empirically demonstrates that conceptions of feedback support motivational beliefs and goal approaches consistent with previous claims concerning their self-regulatory role. Full article

Antimicrobial resistance is now widely regarded as a global public health threat. A growing number of studies suggest that antibiotic resistance is higher in China than in most western countries. Despite the current official regulation prohibiting pharmacies from the unrestricted selling of antibiotics, there is little sign of declining consumer demand. China now ranks as the second largest consumer of antibiotics in the world, after India. Drawing on published historical data, unpublished archival documents, and recently collected oral interviews, this paper provides a historical overview of antibiotic use and abuse in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from the second half of the 20th century to the present. It demonstrates how the political demand for health improvement, along with the state-sponsored popularization of allopathic medicine, on the one hand, and the lack of access to adequate medical care for the majority of the population, as well as the existing culture of self-medication, on the other hand, are working in tandem to create antibiotic dependency in China. In addition, the privatization and marketization of biomedicine and health care in post-Mao China have helped to build a new and ever-thriving network of production, distribution, and marketing of antibiotics, which has often proven difficult for the authorities to monitor. At the same time, increased purchasing power and easier accessibility created by this new network of production, distribution, and marketing have further contributed to the prevalence of antibiotic overuse in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Full article

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has appeared to be inattentive towards the globally lobbied Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) movement that endeavors to leverage sport for non-sporting development, currently subscribing to the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By adopting the concept of ‘tiyu (体育)’—the supposed Chinese counterpart of ‘sport’—which also seeks to achieve wider objectives grounded on its premise of ‘body cultivation’, this paper proceeds with a text-based qualitative study incorporating document analysis and literature review to examine its current links to SDP. The findings suggest that: (1) While the national development foci of the PRC have demonstrated alignment with the SDGs, its tiyu policies have not. (2) Mainstream SDP projects have failed to be accommodated in the PRC, although some non-SDP tiyu practices have shown a commitment to SDP-desired outcomes. (3) The relative lack of interest in SDP in the PRC has not prevented some tiyu scholars from heeding this movement. Accordingly, this paper assesses the prospects of changing attitudes in the PRC toward SDP. Full article

In the context of the Chinese churches, religio-political relations or interaction is an unavoidable but widely controversial issue. On the one hand, the political control of religion can be regarded as the dominant model of the relationship between state and church in Chinese society. On the other hand, different religions and even diverse traditions within religious bodies have developed divided attitudes and stances on how to deal with their relationships with state and politics. The year 1949 was an important watershed in the contemporary history of China. The new regime carried out a comprehensive remolding and reformation of all sectors of Chinese society, and the religious sphere was not spared. “Supra-politics” (“chao zhengzhi”) was one of the charges that often appeared in the communists’ criticism and reform movement against Christianity after the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This article aims to address the following questions: (1) What does “supra-politics” mean? What is the political context of the emergence of this discourse? (2) Why and how did the Communist Party of China (CPC) use the discourse of “supra-politics” to criticize Christian churches? (3) What are the different understandings and interpretations of the “supra-politics” discourse among churches in China? This article offers a review of the controversy and discourse of the “supra-political” position of Christianity, which may contribute to the critical investigation of the religio-political relations of the early PRC. Full article

The main purpose of this article is to compare the state and dynamics of e-commerce development in selected countries: Poland, Turkey and the PRC (People’s Republic of China), from the point of view of individual customers. The comparison was carried out in two stages: the first months of 2020 (before the COVID-19 pandemic) and the first months of 2021 (during the pandemic). The study conducted involved university students. The surveys were carried out using the CAWI method, and they were made available on the servers of the Faculty of Management at the University of Warsaw. The research sample included 650 individuals. Differences in the obtained results were evaluated using the City distance. The hypothesis concerning the lack of differentiation between the evaluations of individual e-commerce criteria was formulated, and it was disproved in the course of the study. The results of the research indicate that the variation between countries appeared mainly in relation to the direction of the development of e-commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic, the type of (mobile/traditional) device used to shop online and, above all, the specificity of the country where the study took place with its past experiences, cultural circumstances and shopping habits, as reflected in the development of online commerce. The limitation of the study was the fact that it was conducted in an academic environment and, at this stage, it was limited to the analysis of the results covering selected countries. Nevertheless, the valuable contribution and undoubted achievement of the work consist in the fact that, for the first time, e-commerce solutions have been compared for countries that are so culturally, economically and demographically different. The results of this study may be used by business practitioners to guide them on possible strategies regarding the development of e-commerce in their countries in the post-pandemic reality. Full article

This paper examines how contextual and institutional factors are associated with individual subjective well-being, which is measured by individuals’ happiness, during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data collected in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Republic of Korea, Japan, Italy, the United Kingdom (UK), and the four biggest states of the United States (US) in April 2020, we find that the financial effects (represented by employment and income change) and nonfinancial effects (represented by experiencing negative nonfinancial effects including mental health issues and enjoying positive benefits) caused by nonpharmaceutical measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 are associated with individual subjective well-being. Moreover, positive benefits could reduce the likelihood of becoming unhappy for those who have experienced negative nonfinancial effects or those who have lost their jobs. The results also suggest that the degree to which people agree with their government’s approach to dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic is positively correlated with their happiness. The risks associated with the pandemic, however, are only slightly associated with people’s happiness. We also find that the correlation between the above factors and individual well-being varies from country to country. Full article

The dialogue about study abroad is a contemporary trend. Since 2011, enrolments from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have gradually increased and PRC students have now become one of the largest groups of incoming study abroad participants in Taiwan. In this study, investigators explored the characteristics of PRC students in comparison with other international students studying in Taiwan universities. Data were collected from 1870 study abroad students. Data collected include the various study abroad goals, prior study abroad experiences, the Short-term Study Abroad Situational Change Survey, the revised East Asian Acculturation Measures, the Study Abroad Acculturative Hassles, and their overall study abroad satisfaction. Data analyses included computation of the mean, frequency, cross-tabulation of respondents’ responses for identified questions, and various group comparisons. Implications suggest that the characteristics of PRC students are valuable and potentially transformative markers for sustainable cross-strait ties. Study abroad programs in Taiwan are noted as one piece of the emerging discourse for sustainable co-existence between Taiwan and the PRC. As such, PRC study abroad participants along with faculty and students in Taiwan universities have an opportunity to play a role in reshaping future exchanges as well as transforming themselves into stewards of a trans-Pacific community. Full article

The objective of this contribution is to predict the development of the Czech Republic’s (CR) exports to the PRC (People’s Republic of China) using ANN (artificial neural networks). To meet the objective, two research questions are formulated. The questions focus on whether growth in the CR’s exports to the PRC can be expected and whether MLP (Multi-Layer Perceptron) networks are applicable for predicting the future development of the CR’s exports to the PRC. On the basis of previously obtained historical data, ANN with the best explanatory power are generated. For the purpose specified, three experiments are carried out, the results of which are described in detail. For the first, second and third experiments, ANN for predicting the development of exports are generated on the basis of a time series with a 1-month, 5-month and 10-month time delay, respectively. The generated ANN are the MLP and regression time series neural networks. The MLP turn out to be the most efficient in predicting the future development of the CR’s exports to the PRC. They are also able to predict possible extremes. It is also determined that the USA–China trade war has significantly affected the CR’s exports to the PRC. Full article

This study collected and analyzed dynamic spatial data of eight traditional villages scattered in different regions of China. A multi-temporal analysis of morphological metrics of spatial patterns and a regression analysis of the morphological evolution were used to analyze and contrast the historical spatial processes of different villages. These were then compared using patch texture and rural macro-morphology perspectives. This led to an assessment of the general laws and trends associated with rural spatial processes. (1) There has been a significant shift in the stability of rural spatial development since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). (2) Most small and medium-sized villages have maintained a relatively stable spatial texture, while large villages have changed significantly. (3) The mean and variance of the patch area, and the Euclidean nearest-neighbor distance, are correlated in some cases. (4) The mode of rural expansion may be relevant to limitations in the total area of growth. (5) The fractal dimension of the rural macro-morphology may follow a morphological order of oscillation around the equilibrium level. (6) The common mean value of the projected area of rural building patches is expected to be 100 m². Full article