A systematic review of research on flipped language classrooms : theoretical foundations, learning activities, tools, research topics and findings

This paper presents a systematic review of the literature on flipped language classrooms from the perspectives of theoretical foundations, learning activities, tools, research topics and findings based on an analysis of 34 published articles. The results indicate that various research methods (e.g., tests, surveys, and interviews) were applied in the selected studies and different types of e-tools (e.g., video-watching tools, online learning platforms, online discussion tools, and video-making tools) were used in the flipped language classrooms. The findings also reveal that the flipped language classroom not only improved students’ academic performance and cultivated their learning motivation but also developed their self-regulation, confidence, and higher-order thinking skills. Other research topics in the reviewed articles included the effects of external and learner factors on the flipped learning approach, students’ readiness and technology acceptance, the flipped learning process, students' interactions, and teacher perceptions.

Computer Assisted Language Learning, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. XIE, Haoran 謝浩然, Associate Professor, Dept of Computing and Decision Sciences

Africans in post-COVID-19 pandemic China : is there a future for China’s ‘new minority’?

In this article, we reflect on critical questions relating to the future of African migration to China in the post-COVID-19 world at the backdrop of the mistreatment many Africans received as part of the pandemic control in China. These questions include: Is this the end of African migration to China as we know it? Will COVID-19 fundamentally change how we think about migration, mobility and wellbeing in the People’s Republic of China (PRC)? What will be the effect of the post-COVID-19 regime on the social identity and wellbeing of the African diaspora in Guangzhou and other Chinese cities?

Asian Ethnicity, 21(4), 560-565, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. CASTILLO BAUTISTA, Roberto Carlos 陳古城, Assistant Professor, Dept of Cultural Studies
Prof. AMOAH, Padmore Adusei, Research Assistant Professor, School of Graduate Studies & Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies; Core Centre Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies

Anticorruption, political connections, and corporate cash policy : evidence from politician downfalls in China

We examine how firms change their cash policies in response to the downfall of corrupt politicians in China. We find that firms connected to their local government increase cash holdings when high-profile politician downfalls occur in the government. Consistent with the precautionary saving argument, the effect is stronger for firms that have greater investment opportunities or face greater financial constraints. Compared to unaffected firms, affected firms save more cash out of cash flows and have a higher marginal value of cash holdings. Overall, we show that the collapse of firms' political connections has significant impacts on those firms' financial policies.

Emerging Markets Review, 45, Art. 100745, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. ZHAO, Xiaofeng 趙小峰, Assistant Professor, Dept of Finance and Insurance

Birth tourism and migrant children’s agency : the ‘double not’ in post-handover Hong Kong

The present study examines how, in the context of birth tourism, children cope with the tensions between migration, family strategy, poverty, and societal exclusionary practices directed against immigrants. The example of economically disadvantaged ‘double not’ children – that is, children born in Hong Kong to non-affluent mainland Chinese parents described as ‘birth tourists’ in post-handover Hong Kong – brings to the fore children’s agency in navigating spatial mobility and coping with its consequences. The study examines the diverse ways in which such children talk about migration, the range of strategies they deploy to cope with their new and at times difficult circumstances after migration, and the effects these strategies have on their identity, action, emotions, and well-being. The study explores the different forms of agency of migrant children in the context of birth tourism. It situates their experiences within structural constraints and anti-migration campaigns that often see them as disrupting territorial cohesion. The findings fill a research gap in the literature on migrant children who are born in a context of birth tourism, a growing phenomenon of global mobility that blurs territorial boundaries and citizenship claims associated with those boundaries.

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Dr. LAI, Yuen Shan Ruby 黎苑姍, Research Assistant Professor, Dept of Sociology and Social Policy

Censorship in Japan

This book explores censorship, particularly film and video censorship, in Japan in modern times. It shows how most censorship has been the film and video industry exercising self-censorship, but how this system has been problematic in that it has allowed dominant players in the industry to impose their own standards and exclude independent film makers. It outlines notable obscenity cases, and discusses how industry self-censorship bodies have been undermined both by industry outsiders setting up their own alternative regimes, and by the industry self-censorship bodies themselves being prosecuted for obscenity. The book also examines the conflict between the obscenity law, introduced in Meiji times when Japan was importing Western models, and the freedom of speech law, which was put in place by the American Occupation administration after the Second World War. The book concludes by assessing the current state of censorship in Japan and likely future developments.

Routledge, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Dr. YAU, Hoi Yan 邱愷欣, Senior Lecturer, Dept of Cultural Studies

China's quest for sporting mega-events : the politics of international bids

This book vividly elucidates the inseparable nature between politics and sport in China.
The holding of sporting mega-events is viewed by the Chinese authorities as a prominent way to push forward the Reform and Opening up, arouse the patriotism among the public, and display national resurgence in the world. Chinese cities thus have keenly quested for the Olympics, the Asian Games and the World University Games since the 1980s. Theoretically, the President, the Premier and the central government should provide all-out support, so boosting the Chinese cities’ odds of success. The reality yet shows that their attitude towards the bids vary from case to case. Through reviewing the 20 bidding cases, this book aims to demystify the reasons behind.
The findings provide an in-depth account of (1) how domestic and international political factors determine the state leaders’ blessing and silence as well as the central government’s backing, indifference and opposition, and (2) how the bids for the sporting mega-events are used to serve the broader political goals of the Chinese authorities at home and abroad. Additionally, they shed light on the political strategies to boost the Chinese cities’ chance of success, and the political reasons for their win, loss and discontinuation, in the bidding contests.
The book will be a valuable resource for researches interested in the domestic politics and international relations of China.

Routledge, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. CHU Pok 朱博, Assistant Professor, Dept of Political Science

Class consciousness of rural migrant children in China

The state of class consciousness of working-class children in China has received scant attention in the scholarly literature. This study examines the class consciousness of rural migrant children as they are about to join their migrant parents and become “China's new workers.” Qualitative investigations were conducted in two primary schools in Beijing. Focus group and individual interviews were held with 87 fifth- and sixth-grade migrant children in the two case schools and 324 valid student questionnaires were collected. The findings reveal that migrant children are aware of the unequal class relationships suffered by migrant workers; however, their interpretations of class-based injustices exhibit false consciousness, shadowed by individualism, meritocracy and the duality of images. Family and school may play vital roles in shaping migrant children's class consciousness.

The China Quarterly, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Dr. CHEN, Jiaxin 陳佳欣, Research Assistant Professor, School of Graduate Studies; Core Centre Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies

Comparative analysis of the fecal microbiota of wild and captive beal’s eyed turtle (Sacalia bealei) by 16S rRNA gene sequencing

There has been less research on the costs of occupational stress attributed to certain job stressors in Chinese contexts. This study identified and validated common job stressors and estimated the economic cost in Hong Kong. The role of positive emotions in alleviating the economic costs of job stressors was also examined. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were adopted. The findings obtained from five focus group discussions and a survey validated five common job stressors: Job insecurity; quantitative workload; organizational constraints; interpersonal conflicts; and work/home interface. A total of 2511 employees were surveyed, with 2032 valid questionnaires returned (925 males, 1104 females, and 3 unidentified, whose ages ranged from 18 to 70 years). The economic costs were estimated by combining the costs of absenteeism, presenteeism, and medical expenses. Absenteeism mainly caused by job stressors of the work/home interface, job insecurity, and quantitative workload accounted for an annual economic cost of HK$550 million to HK$860 million. The annual economic cost due to presenteeism mainly caused by job stressors of job insecurity, interpersonal conflict, quantitative workload, and organizational constraints ranged from HK$1.373 billion to HK$2.146 billion. The cost of medical treatments associated with occupational stress was HK$2.889 billion to HK$4.083 billion. Therefore, the total annual economic cost of occupational stress was approximately HK$4.81 billion to HK$7.09 billion. Positive emotions, representing a less explored individual factor in the cost of occupational stress studies, was found to be negatively correlated with presenteeism and buffered the negative impact of job stressors on absenteeism. The theoretical contributions and practical implications of findings are discussed.

Frontiers in Microbiology, 11, Art. 570890, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. FONG, Jonathan, Assistant Professor, Science Unit
Prof. SUNG, Yik Hei 宋亦希, Assistant Professor, Science Unit

Converging humanitarian technology and social work in a public health crisis : a social innovation response to COVID-19 in Hong Kong

Public health crises disproportionately affect vulnerable population groups. Interventions aimed at curtailing the spread of diseases or improving the overall health of the population must aim to reduce existing inequalities rather than exacerbate them. Drawing on social innovation and asset-based community development literature, this article describes the design principles of a project utilising humanitarian technology for disinfectant and sanitation purposes in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides insights into the merits of cross-sector collaboration, particularly between social work and engineering, in effectively addressing the health and sanitation needs of low-income families living in subdivided units in Hong Kong. The project underscores the potential of social innovation in addressing the needs of the vulnerable communities in public health crises.

Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and Development, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. KO Wing Yin Albert 高永賢, Director of Service-Learning, Director of Entrepreneurship Initiative, Office of Service-Learning; Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Graduate Studies

Cost-sensitive ensemble of stacked denoising autoencoders for class imbalance problems in business domain

Standard classification algorithms assume the class distribution of data to be roughly balanced. Class imbalance problem usually occurs in real-life applications, such as direct marketing, fraud detection and churn prediction. Class imbalance problem is referred to the issue that the number of examples belonging to a class is significantly higher than those of the others. When training a standard classifier with class imbalance data, the classifier is usually biased toward the majority class. In this work, we propose two novel cost-sensitive methods to address class imbalance problem, namely Cost-Sensitive Deep Neural Network (CSDNN) and Cost-Sensitive Deep Neural Network Ensemble (CSDE). CSDNN is a cost-sensitive version of Stacked Denoising Autoencoders. CSDE is an ensemble learning version of CSDNN. Random undersampling and layer-wise feature extraction from the hidden layers of the deep neural network are applied in CSDE to improve the generalization performance over CSDNN. In some literatures, various methods handling class imbalance problem were proposed. However, the experiments discussed in those studies were usually conducted on relatively small data sets and also on artificial data. The performance of those methods on modern real-life data sets, which are more complicated, is unclear. In our experiment, we examine the performance of our proposed methods and the other methods using six large real-life data sets in different business domains ranging from direct marketing, churn prediction, default payment to firm fraud detection. The results show that the proposed methods obtain promising results in handling class imbalance problem and also outperform all the other compared methods.

Expert Systems with Applications, 141, Art. 112918, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. WONG, Man Leung 黃文亮, Head & Professor, Dept of Computing & Decision Sciences; Director, LEO Dr David P. Chan Institute of Data Science

Data triangulation in consumer neuroscience : integrating functional neuroimaging with meta-analyses, psychometrics, and behavioral data

This article reviews a wide range of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies conducted in the field of consumer neuroscience to (1) highlight common interpretative approaches of neuroimaging data (i.e., forward inference and reverse inference), (2) discuss potential interpretative issues associated with these approaches, and (3) provide a framework that employs a multi-method approach aimed to possibly raise the explanatory power and, thus, the validity of functional neuroimaging research in consumer neuroscience. Based on this framework, we argue that the validity of fMRI studies can be improved by the triangulation of (1) careful design of neuroimaging studies and analyses of data, (2) meta-analyses, and (3) the integration of psychometric and behavioral data with neuroimaging data. Guidelines on when and how to employ triangulation methods on neuroimaging data are included. Moreover, we also included discussions on practices and research directions that validate fMRI studies in consumer neuroscience beyond data triangulation.

Frontiers in Psychology, 11, Art. 550204, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. CAO, Cong Clark 曹聰, Assistant Professor, Dept of Marketing and International Business

Derek Parfit’s reasons and persons : an introduction and critical inquiry

Derek Parfit (1942-2017) is widely considered to be one of the most important moral philosophers of the Twentieth Century. Reasons and Persons is arguably the most influential of the two books published in his lifetime and hailed as a classic work of ethics and personal identity.
Derek Parfit’s Reasons and Persons: An Introduction and Critical Inquiry is an outstanding introduction to and assessment of Parfit’s book, with chapters by leading scholars of ethics, metaphysics and of Parfit’s work.
Part One provides a much-needed introduction to key topics and themes in Reasons and Persons that will be useful for those new to Parfit’s complex work. These include Parfit’s idea of self-defeating theories, rationality and time, personal identity, future generations, and well-being.
Part Two explores various debates generated by Reasons and Persons, including its connections with Buddhism, metaethics, theory of rationality, transformative choices and further developments in personal identity and metaphysics such as conativism.
Combining clear exposition of the major topics and arguments in Reasons and Persons with scholarly perspectives on more advanced themes, this book is ideal for students of ethics, metaethics, metaphysics and anyone interested in Derek Parfit’s philosophy.

Routledge, 2020

Lingnan Editor(s) :
Prof. SAUCHELLI, Andrea, Head & Associate Professor, Dept of Philosophy; Associate Dean (Research and Postgraduate Studies), Faculty of Arts

Effects of input vouchers and rainfall insurance on agricultural production and household welfare : experimental evidence from Northern Ethiopia

We report on a randomized field experiment designed to relax credit and risk constraints for agricultural activities. We conducted a study in a drought-prone region in northern Ethiopia among poor smallholders who depended on rainfed agriculture and were members of the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP). Data were collected from over 1100 farmers in 32 rural villages over two years. We find that unconditional voucher transfers designated for the purchase of agricultural inputs significantly increased usage of seeds and fertilizers (a flypaper effect), raised the amount of farmland used (a complementary effect), and induced substitution of own effort by hiring casual labor (a local spillover effect). Subsidized rainfall insurance with reduced input vouchers produced weak average effects but greatly increased investments for farmers who were relatively more patient. We do not find heterogeneous effects by farmers’ risk attitudes, however, suggesting that the effects of insurance adoption were mainly determined by how farmers in the safety net made tradeoffs inter-temporally. Insurance demand dropped quickly with the reduction in subsidy and did not correlate with time or risk preference. Therefore, to improve cost-effectiveness, insurance programs should include procedures that help identify forward-looking farmers and encourage their adoption. While our results show that initial subsidies increase future insurance demand, the effect was small and thus initial subsidies would not be a cost-effective mechanism for financially sustainable insurance. Other complementary strategies on the design, promotion, and bundling techniques of insurance would be needed.

World Development, 135, Art. 105074, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. WONG, Ho Lun Alex 黃浩倫, Adjunct Associate Professor, Dept of Economics
Prof. WEI, Xiangdong 魏向東, Professor, Dept of Economics; President’s Special Advisor on Mainland Initiatives

Gendered division of labour and “sympathy” in artisanal and small-scale gold mining in Prestea-Huni Valley Municipality, Ghana

Understanding the gender relations and dynamics in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is crucial for formalization interventions and gender-sensitive on-site policies in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, there is very little research on how gender influences women's economic opportunities and power relations at ASM sites in Ghana. Drawing from a qualitative research in the Prestea-Huni Valley Municipality, Ghana, this paper examines the local gender dynamics and division of labour in ASM. Findings show that while men were mainly engaged in the extraction – digging, shoveling and loading of women's head pans with mineral ore – and processing work at the colluvial mining sites, women were basically working as labourers for the men. The women were directly involved in three main activities – provision of water on mineralised sand, transportation of gold ore and forewomen role – where they received lower remuneration for their labour. In relation to women's access to “dig and wash” work and hard rock mining sites, there was an element of “gendered sympathy” which involved some power dimensions in ASM. In this paper, the empirical analysis of gendered division of labour in ASM provides the basis to understand the gendered organization of ASM and its management structure.

Journal of Rural Studies, 2020

Lingnan Postgraduate(s) :
Mr. ARTHUR-HOLMES, Francis, PhD, Dept of Sociology and Social Policy

Government innovation policy and higher education : the case of Shenzhen, China

Set against broader theoretical debates regarding the role of the developmental state in driving social and economic developments in Asia, particularly in higher education and research, the present article critically examines the synergies between government, enterprise and universities in China, in promoting innovation-centric entrepreneurship. The example of Shenzhen, China, including its response to the Greater Bay Area initiative, highlights how new governance modalities have emerged to embrace multiple actors and diverse non-state/non-government sectors in support of innovation-centric entrepreneurial ventures. Our analysis reveals new forms of network governance. These include hybrid organisations that have become more proactively engaged in fostering a spirit of entrepreneurship, including in the higher education sector, albeit against a backdrop of tensions in the mainland governance model, between the drive for innovation and re-assertion of Party control.

Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 42(2), 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. MOK, Ka Ho Joshua 莫家豪, Vice-President, Office of the President; Lam Man Tsan Chair Professor of Comparative Policy, Dept of Sociology & Social Policy; Dean, School of Graduate Studies; Co-Director, Institute of Policy Studies
Dr. KANG, Yuyang 康宇揚, Core Centre Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies; Research Fellow, School of Graduate Studies

Handbook on the geographies of creativity

How can the ‘where’ of creativity help us examine how and why it has become a paradigmatic concept in contemporary economies and societies? Adopting a geographically diverse, theoretically rigorous approach, the Handbook offers a cutting-edge study of creativity as it has emerged in policy, academic, activist, and cultural discourse over the last two decades. To this end, the volume departs from conventional modes of analyzing creativity (by industry, region, or sector) and instead identifies key themes that thread through shifting contexts of the creative in the arts, media, technology, education, governance, and development. By tracing the myriad spatialities of creativity, the chapters map its inherently paradoxical features: reinforcing persistent conditions of inequality even as it opens avenues for imagining and enacting more equitable futures.

Edward Elgar Publishing, 2020

Lingnan Editor(s) :
Prof. DE DIOS, Anjeline Eloisa Javate, Assistant Professor, Dept of Cultural Studies

Household dynamics and the bargaining power of women in artisanal and small-scale mining in sub-Saharan Africa : a Ghanaian case study

With the increasing participation of women in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) across many sub-Saharan African countries, the ASM sector offers women artisanal miners considerable income that gives them better opportunities at household decision-making. While the existing literature has widely studied intrahousehold dynamics in domains such as agriculture and health, very little is known about the bargaining power of women in ASM and their household dynamics. Through in-depth interviews with 49 women artisanal miners in Prestea-Bondaye mining area in the Prestea-Huni Valley Municipality of Ghana, this paper considers how women's engagement in ASM changes the dynamics within their households and impacts their bargaining power. Findings showed that most women artisanal miners were not in support of pooling income with their husbands with most of them using their income to alter the dynamics of household decision-making concerning food to cook for the family, children's education and family size. Extended family relations as a form of social norm were found to determine women artisanal miners' decision not to pool income with their husbands. The findings, therefore, problematise the unitary model of household decision-making and provide a nuanced analysis of rural household power dynamics in a mining context, which is grossly unexplored. However, various aspects of intrahousehold bargaining models – cooperative, non-cooperative and collective – were found under different circumstances depending on the household needs and artisanal women miners' relations with husbands and their extended family. Findings also showed that women's participation in ASM was changing household dynamics, particularly sexual interactions with their partners and childcare responsibilities. Although women's participation in ASM results in higher levels of bargaining power, the Minerals Commission of Ghana, gender advocacy institutions and other relevant stakeholders must engage in policy discussions to streamline women's activities and find possible ways of dealing with their challenges in the sector.

Resources Policy, Art. 101884, 2020

Lingnan Postgraduate(s) :
Mr. ARTHUR-HOLMES, Francis, PhD Student, Dept of Sociology and Social Policy
Mr. ABREFA BUSIA, Kwaku, PhD Student, Dept of Sociology and Social Policy

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on international higher education and student mobility : student perspectives from Mainland China and Hong Kong

The study critically examines how students in Mainland China and Hong Kong conceive overseas studies plans against the COVID-19 crisis. Amongst the 2,739 respondents, 84% showed no interest to study abroad after the pandemic. For those respondents who will continue to pursue further degrees abroad, Asian regions and countries, specifically Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan, are listed in the top five, apart from the US and the UK. The pandemic has not only significantly decreased international student mobility but is also shifting the mobility flow of international students. This article also discusses the policy implications, particularly reflecting on how the current global health crisis would intensify social and economic inequalities across different higher education systems.

International Journal of Educational Research, 105, Art. 101718, 2021

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. MOK, Ka Ho Joshua 莫家豪, Vice-President, Office of the President; Lam Man Tsan Chair Professor of Comparative Policy, Dept of Sociology & Social Policy; Dean, School of Graduate Studies; Co-Director, Institute of Policy Studies
Dr. XIONG, Weiyan 熊衛雁, Research Assistant Professor, School of Graduate Studies; Core Centre Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies
Ms. KE, GUOGUO Rainie 柯果果, Project Officer, School of Graduate Studies; Core Centre Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies

Indigenous cultural translation : a thick description of Seediq Bale

Atanarjuat and even Dances With Wolves have been recognized for their use of dialogue in endangered indigenous languages, but the 2011 Taiwanese blockbuster Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale, filmed mainly in the endangered indigenous language Seediq, has not received the recognition it deserves. Seediq Bale celebrates the warriors who rebelled against or collaborated with the Japanese in the central Taiwanese hill station of Musha in 1930; this book celebrates the translators, all grandchildren of the rebels and the collaborators, who translated the dialogue in the Mandarin language screenplay into Seediq.
This book is an account of translation in the textual history of the Mandarin language screenplay, tracing how it was adapted into Mandarin from Japanese written and Seediq oral sources and then back-translated into Japanese and Seediq. In the process, the Seediq translation team turned the translation into a work of art, thereby contributing to the artistic achievement of the film. They also manipulated the text, making it a vehicle for Seediq interpretations of the Musha Incident based on the translators’ different understandings of Seediq culture. Their indigenous cultural translations demonstrate how translation may be part of language and culture revitalization projects that articulate alternative indigenous modernities in settler states like Taiwan.

Routledge, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. STERK, Darryl Cameron 石岱崙, Assistant Professor, Dept of Translation

Institutional constraints for the extension of social insurance coverage to informal economy workers in China

This research brief considers institutional and administrative barriers for expanding social insurance coverage to workers in the informal economy in China.While urban employee social insurance has widened significantly in recent years, workers in the informal economy lack pension and medical coverage to the extent and at the levels of adequacy enjoyed by urban formal employees.China’s fragmented and decentralized social protection delivery and fiscal systems limit the country’s capacity to implement national policy guidelines promoting social insurance coverage.The decentralisation of social insurance administration creates opportunities for service innovation, responsiveness, and adaptation to local social and economic circumstances.However, the mismatch between national policy objectives and local capacities and incentives for their implementation crowd out efforts to secure the adequate protection of workers in the informal economy.The brief presents some of the causes of these misalignments and illustrates some ways through which China is attempting to overcome regulatory and administrative barriers to policy implementation.

ILO Research Brief, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. WEN, Zhuoyi Vincent 温卓毅, Research Assistant Professor, Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies; Core Centre Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies

Integrating and updating wildlife conservation in China

China has about 11% of the world's total wildlife species, so strengthening China's wildlife conservation is of great significance to global biodiversity. Despite some successful cases and conservation efforts, 21.4% of China's vertebrate species are threatened by human activities. The booming wildlife trade in China has posed serious threat to wildlife in China and throughout the world, while leading to a high risk of transmission of infectious zoonotic diseases. China's wildlife conservation has faced a series of challenges, two of which are an impractical, separated management of wildlife and outdated protected species lists. Although the Wildlife Protection Law of China was revised in 2016, the issues of separated management remain, and the protected species lists are still not adequately revised. These issues have led to inefficient and overlapping management, waste of administrative resources, and serious obstacles to wildlife protection. In this article, we analyze the negative effects of current separated management of wildlife species and outdated protected species lists, and provide some suggestions for amendment of the laws and reform of wildlife management system. Gong and colleagues analyse the state of wildlife management in China and make suggestions for better integration of management efforts.

Current Biology, 30(16), R915-R919, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. FONG, Jonathan, Assistant Professor, Science Unit

Is the policy environment for Zambia supportive of a thriving whole-of-government monitoring and evaluation system?

A whole-of-government monitoring and evaluation system (WoGM&ES) is a robust system that not only provides an integrated and all-encompassing framework of M&E practices, principles and standards to be used throughout government institutional structures,but also functions as an apex-level system for information and draws from the component systems in a framework meant to  deliver essential M&E products tailored to satisfy information needs of users[1].To implement a successful WoGM&ES, a supportive policy environment is crucial for any organisation, governments inclusive. The Zambian government is currently rolling out an ambitious WoGM&ES to strengthen its public sector accountability, feedback and learning functions. It was the objective of this study to investigate the policy environment in Zambia in respect of M&E practice in the  public sector. In that regard, particular policy aspects were considered and these included assessing the availability of an M&E plan; whether the difference between M (monitoring) and E (evaluation) was recognised; and if the need for M&E autonomy and impartiality was mentioned. Others were to determine if feedback mechanisms were explicit as well as whether there was integration of M&E results in planning and budgeting processes. The study findings have shown that the policy environment to support a thriving M&E practice in the Zambian public sector was still fragmented and weak. While efforts by government to put policy measures were in place, evidence of transformational shift to implement these measures remained weak. However, it is promising that, in many ways, Zambia was on the right path regarding the introduction and  articulation of policy provisions in support of M&E and broadly in promoting a culture of results.

Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 7(1), 542-554, 2020

Lingnan Postgraduate(s) :
Mr. MUBITA, Aurick, PhD Student, Dept of Sociology and Social Policy

Managing on-demand ridesharing operations : optimal pricing decisions for a ridesharing platform

We investigate an on-demand ridesharing system consisting of a ridesharing platform, multiple drivers, and multiple passengers. We begin by analyzing a choice problem for a passenger who chooses either a ridesharing or taxi service and also studying a choice problem for a driver who decides on whether or not to serve. Then, we obtain the ridesharing platform’s optimal service price charged to passengers and its optimal wage paid to drivers. We perform sensitivity analysis to draw a number of managerial implications. An increase in the number of potential passengers (drivers) usually results in an increase (a decrease) in both the price and wage. We also find that the platform is better off when both the number of passengers and the number of drivers are higher, and an increase in the passengers’ mental costs for the taxi service can help increase the platform’s profit. Moreover, the dynamic pricing strategy can not only improve the platform’s profit but also generate larger surpluses to passengerjavascript:void(0);s and drivers.

International Journal of Production Economics, Art. 107958, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. LENG, Mingming 冷明明, Dean, Faculty of Business; Professor, Dept of Computing and Decision Sciences

Merely possessing a placebo analgesic improves analgesia similar to using the placebo analgesic

Background: Placebo analgesia studies generally reported that the actual use of a placebo analgesic reduces pain. Yeung, Geers and Kam (2019) found that the mere possession (without use) of a placebo analgesic also reduces pain.
Purpose: We investigated the relative effectiveness of using versus possessing a placebo analgesic on pain outcomes.
Methods: In Study 1a, 120 healthy adults were randomized to either the experimental (EXP) conditions (EXP1: used a placebo analgesic cream, EXP2: possessed a placebo analgesic cream) or control (CO) conditions (CO1: possessed a sham cream, CO2: no cream). All participants underwent a cold pressor test (CPT). Study 1b further delineated the effect of possession from the effect of use. Sixty healthy adults were randomized to either the placebo-possession condition (merely possessed a placebo analgesic cream) or the placebo-possession-use condition (possessed and used a placebo analgesic cream). All participants did a CPT.
Results: In Study 1a, as expected, a placebo effect was found—participants who used a placebo analgesic cream showed better pain outcomes than the two CO groups. Surprisingly, participants who merely possessed a placebo analgesic cream performed equally well as those who actually used it. In Study 1b, participants in the two conditions did not differ in most pain outcomes. Participants who possessed and used a placebo analgesic cream only showed slightly more reduction in pain intensity compared to participants who merely possessed the placebo analgesic cream.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that merely possessing a placebo analgesic could enhance pain outcomes similar to that of applying the placebo analgesic.

Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 54(9), kaaa007, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. YEUNG, Wai Lan Victoria 楊慧蘭, Associate Professor, Dept of Applied Psychology

Methodological and ethical considerations in the study on children’s everyday lives under COVID-19 in three African countries : Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa

As an increasing number of countries across the globe face the unprecedented global crisis imposed by COVID-19, it is clear that individuals' everyday lives will be impacted for a long time to come. Nations have already experiences the closure of everyday institutions (kindergartens, schools, universities, offices and so on) and the impact of the restrictive lockdown measures to curb the spread of the virus. Locked up in our houses, our sense of time and space has been altered. Physical human contact is very important for emotional and psychological wellbeing.
Children's' lives today are strongly influences by global structures and trends (Allerton, 2016). Although children's lives are predominantly studied at a much smaller scale, their everyday lives are shaped by processed that take place at a larger scale (Ansell, 2009). Hendrick (2008) argues that research with children has often included asking the adults in their lives and not the children themselves and the dominant narratives frames children as 'vulnerable'. The sociology childhood paradigm changed this view and argues that children have the right to be heard. The COVID-19 lockdown, as with other global crises, presents such an opportunity to hear directly from children about their everyday lives. However, the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic mean that studying children may require researchers to deploy methodologies that pose no or minimal threat to the lives of these children as well as their parents.
This chapter describes the methods and ethical considerations in a study that examined children's everyday lives during COVID-19 in three African countries, namely Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. The chapter will include a description of methodology that was used in the three countries to gather children's experiences during the lockdown. This will be followed by a discussion on the ethical considerations for the overall study, including examples from the three case studies. We will then discuss some challenges being faced by the researchers as they collect(ed) data. The chapter ends with some reflections about the choice of method that may be useful for future studies with children during crises and a conclusion.
It is imperative to note that the study in still ongoing, hence the language used in some parts of the chapter will be perspective. Additionally, due to the focus on methodology, we will only discuss the methods and ethical considerations, but not the data themselves.

Researching in the Age of COVID-19. Volume II: Care and Resilience, H. KARA & S.-M. KHOO (Eds.), 2020

Lingnan Postgraduate(s) :
Mr. OLADOSU, Ayomide Oluwaseyi, PhD Student, School of Graduate Studies
Ms. SAM, Sarah Tara, PhD Student, Dept of Sociology and Social Policy

Mirroring theorems in free logic

The recent surge in protectionist sentiment in countries around the world has rekindled the long-standing debate over the determinants of citizens’ trade policy preferences. We examine the influence of two understudied but increasingly relevant factors – misinformation and economic threat – on support for international trade in the United States. We first show that more than 6–in–10 Americans endorse a salient misperception about Chinese currency manipulation despite extensive evidence to the contrary. Then, based on a preregistered survey experiment, we show that misinformation can be corrected, regardless of whether the threatening frame is present or not. In contrast to these results on factual beliefs, however, we find that trade policy preferences are considerably stable: neither anti-trade misinformation nor an economically threatening frame significantly reduces support for international trade. These findings suggest that political elites’ strategy of ‘playing the China card’ by using misleading and threatening rhetoric is not so effective in mobilizing opposition to trade.

Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Dr. BRAUER, Ethan Erich, Research Assistant Professor, Dept of Philosophy

Misinformation, economic threat and public support for international trade

The recent surge in protectionist sentiment in countries around the world has rekindled the long-standing debate over the determinants of citizens’ trade policy preferences. We examine the influence of two understudied but increasingly relevant factors – misinformation and economic threat – on support for international trade in the United States. We first show that more than 6–in–10 Americans endorse a salient misperception about Chinese currency manipulation despite extensive evidence to the contrary. Then, based on a preregistered survey experiment, we show that misinformation can be corrected, regardless of whether the threatening frame is present or not. In contrast to these results on factual beliefs, however, we find that trade policy preferences are considerably stable: neither anti-trade misinformation nor an economically threatening frame significantly reduces support for international trade. These findings suggest that political elites’ strategy of ‘playing the China card’ by using misleading and threatening rhetoric is not so effective in mobilizing opposition to trade.

Review of International Political Economy, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. ZHANG, Dong 張冬, Assistant Professor, Dept of Political Science

Models of the human in twentieth-century linguistic theories : system, order, creativity

This book provides a refreshingly new perspective for investigating linguistic texts, which foregrounds models of the human. It presents a close reading of major linguistic theories in the twentieth century with a focus on three main themes: linguistic system and the individual speaker; social order; and linguistic creativity. The examination of these three fundamental themes concerning language and human nature, on the one hand, provides a fine-textured exposition on the implicit and explicit models of human nature endorsed by major theorists; on the other, it reveals the methodological dilemmas faced by linguistics. In light of the fact that the importance of considering posthumanist ideas is increasingly being underscored today, both within and outside linguistics, this focus on the human makes the book highly topical.

Springer Singapore, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. ZHOU, Feifei 周菲菲, Assistant Professor, Dept of English

Mozi

This chapter introduces the basic philosophical tenets of the Mozi. It is a vast collection of texts attributed to the eponymous figure, who probably lived in the late fifth century BCE, and his followers in the next few centuries. This chapter is divided into three sections. The first discusses the biographical details of this shadowy figure Mozi, the problematic textual history of this tome, and the historical significance of this tradition of ethical and political thought that bears his name. The second section focuses on the method of the philosophy of the Mozi, with a special focus on its reliance on etiological rhetoric. The third and last section discusses the core teachings of the Mozi, including the idea of the Heaven’s will, the efficacy of meritocracy, the virtue of impartiality, the necessity of moderate expenditures, the veritable existence of ghosts and spirits, as well as its impassioned arguments against warfare, fatalism, and what Mozi and his followers understood to be the teaching of the Confucians popular in their own time.

The Oxford Handbook of Early China, E. Childs-Johnson (Ed.), 685-697, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. LEUNG, Vincent Sueh Han 梁萃行, Head & Associate Professor, Dept of History

Music, modernity, and publicness in India

With the onset of modernity in 20th-century India, new social arrangements gave rise to new forms of music-making. The essays provide fresh perspectives on the history of musicians and migration in colonial India.

Oxford University Press, 2020

Lingnan Editor(s) :
Prof. NIRANJANA, Tejaswini 寧蒂珠, Head & Professor, Dept of Cultural Studies; Director, Centre for Cultural Research and Development

Musicophilia in Mumbai : performing subjects and the metropolitan unconscious

Musicophilia in Mumbai examines the popularity of Hindustani-North Indian-music in Mumbai from the late 19th century to the present by seeking to understand the historical context through which the music entered into and structured urban spaces. Tejaswini Niranjana argues that the formation of an aural community around Hindustani music engendered the formation of a new musical subject: the musicophiliac. In doing so, Niranjana offers an indirect critique of formations of modernity, arguing against a totalizing modernity as posited by European thinkers, and instead offering a view of modernities that are different, spatially divergent, and co-existent. For Niranjana, the musicophiliac is the subject of Mumbai's modernity. Weaving together theories of the unconscious and Bourdieu's notion of the habitus, Niranjana names the "metropolitan unconscious"-the collective unconscious built from, and continually transformed by, the experiences of those who settled in Mumbai under colonial modernity-as that which allowed for creation of the musicophiliac subject. In the colonial modernity of Mumbai, Niranjana argues, subjects "re-vision" the past by drawing from the collective archive of Hindustani music-a subject formation which bypasses differences of caste, class, religion, gender, and language.

Duke University Press, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. NIRANJANA, Tejaswini 寧蒂珠, Head & Professor, Dept of Cultural Studies; Director, Centre for Cultural Research and Development

Occupational stress and its economic cost in Hong Kong : the role of positive emotions

This study examines how PCAOB international inspections of non-U.S. auditors affect international Merger and Acquisition (M&A) outcomes. We find that clients of inspected auditors are more likely to become acquisition targets after the public disclosure of auditor’s inspection report. We also find that deal completion is more likely and deal announcement returns are higher if deals involve targets with auditors for which inspection reports are available. Engagement deficiencies and unremediated quality control deficiencies identified in inspection reports weaken the positive effect of PCAOB oversight on M&A outcomes. Collectively, our results suggest that PCAOB oversight reduces information uncertainty in M&A deals.

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(22), Art. 8601, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. SIU, Oi Ling 蕭愛鈴, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences; Director, Wofoo Joseph Lee Consulting and Counselling Psychology Research Centre; Lam Woo & Co Ltd Chair Professor of Applied Psychology, Dept of Applied Psychology

PCAOB international inspections and merger and acquisition outcomes

This study examines how PCAOB international inspections of non-U.S. auditors affect international Merger and Acquisition (M&A) outcomes. We find that clients of inspected auditors are more likely to become acquisition targets after the public disclosure of auditor’s inspection report. We also find that deal completion is more likely and deal announcement returns are higher if deals involve targets with auditors for which inspection reports are available. Engagement deficiencies and unremediated quality control deficiencies identified in inspection reports weaken the positive effect of PCAOB oversight on M&A outcomes. Collectively, our results suggest that PCAOB oversight reduces information uncertainty in M&A deals.

Journal of Accounting and Economics, 70(1), Art. 101318, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. SU, Lixin Nancy 蘇黎新, Head & Professor, Dept of Accountancy

Politeness and relational work in novel digital contexts of healthcare communication

This paper focuses on one context of professional communication that is rapidly becoming common place in the delivery of healthcare services: mobile health and medical apps. More specifically, the paper examines how the users of these apps (medical professionals and lay public) negotiate norms of appropriate interactional behaviour in this novel context of communication, and the relational work that they engage into in this process of negotiation of norms (Locher and Watts 2005, 2008). Locher et al. (2015) maintain that these norms serve as backdrop against which the app users make judgements about the (im)politeness of the interactions in the analysed context.

Politeness in Professional Contexts, D. ARCHER, K. GRAINGER, & P. JAGODZINSKI (Eds.), 107-126, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. ZHOU, Feifei 周菲菲, Assistant Professor, Dept of English

Prior pain exposure and mere possession of a placebo analgesic predict placebo analgesia : findings from a randomized, double-blinded, controlled trial

A recent study found that merely possessing a placebo analgesic reduces pain. The current study tested for a possible moderator of this effect. Specifically, does the mere possession of a placebo analgesic affect pain for individuals with and without immediate prior experience with the pain task? Healthy participants (N=127) were randomized to prior pain (PP) condition or without prior pain (No-PP) condition. In the PP condition, participants first did a preliminary trial of a cold pressor test (CPT) to induce direct experience with this pain stimulus. Then they were randomized to possess an inert cream described as either an analgesic cream or an anti-itch cream (pain-irrelevant control object). Participants then completed the main CPT. In the No-PP condition, participants underwent identical procedures and randomization except that they did not do a preliminary CPT, thus having no immediate prior CPT pain experience. We found a significant prior pain experience and possession status interaction effect on placebo analgesia. Participants in the No-PP condition showed evidence of lower pain when they merely possessed an analgesic cream than an anti-itch cream. Such mere possession effect was not found in the PP condition. The impact of expectancy and emotion on the underlying process are discussed.

Journal of Pain, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. YEUNG, Wai Lan Victoria 楊慧蘭, Associate Professor, Dept of Applied Psychology

Quoting the classics : an alternative reinforcement of regime legitimacy in China

After the opening reform of China, the revival of Chinese traditional culture has raised by the CCP. One characteristic of this revival has emerged with the continuous adaption of the Chinese classics in speeches of top leaders of the CCP . In particular, the current president Xi Jinping likes to cite Chinese traditional classics more than his two predecessors. This paper examines this tendency. At the same time, the CCP propaganda department also actively matches up Xi’s citation. They have published official interpretation books, raised Xi’s personal prestige as a Confucian gentleman possessing the good values of Chinese traditional philosophy. These values are aimed at gaining the support of the conservative climate in Chinese society and adapted to be an alternative for the reinforcement of CCP legitimacy. This paper also examines some concrete governmental policies of raising this adaption and observes that Xi and the CCP have begun to use it to connect with current social problems and their solutions in China, such as officials’ morality, social justice and equality, rule by law and nationalism. However, Xi has not matched this perfect commitment in reality.

Cross-Cultural Communication, 16(1), 2020

Lingnan Postgraduate(s) :
Mr. KANG, Zeyu 康澤宇, Doctorate Degree Student, School of Graduate Studies

Revisiting the innovation systems of cross-border cities : the role of higher education institution and cross-boundary cooperation in Hong Kong and Shenzhen

Over the past decades, the development of knowledge-based and innovation-led economy has gained the attention of higher education (HE) institutions. The Quadruple Helix Model of the relations amongst universities, industries, government and society provides a general framework for systematically investigating the dynamics of innovation amongst these agents. However, knowledge about their influence on cross-boundary cities is limited. The ways in which HE institutions bridge different innovation systems also remain unknown. This study thus examines the innovation systems of two neighbouring cities along the border, namely, Hong Kong and Shenzhen, and their multidirectional innovation cooperation. Research findings suggest that the two innovation systems differ in terms of the unequal role of the agents. The systems seem mutually complementary in terms of HE capacity and industrial composition, and cross-boundary cooperation in HE sectors currently occurs through various means. This study sheds light on the development of and cooperation between cross-border innovation systems.

Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 42(2), 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Dr. KANG, Yuyang 康宇揚, Core Centre Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies; Research Fellow, School of Graduate Studies

Rural ageing in low- and middle-income countries

Since the introduction of the economic Reform and Open Door policy in 1978, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has experienced significant economic, social, political and cultural transformations. The country’s concerted economic efforts have established China as the second largest economy in the world (Garnaut, Song and Fang 2018). In addition to its economic achievements, the country has experienced positive developments, including an impressive reduction of absolute poverty, improvements in people’s livelihoods, expansion of social welfare provisions, increases in education opportunities and enhancements in housing, medical care and various social services (Sander, Schmitt and Kuhnle 2012; Mok, Kuhner and Huang 2017). However, the same socio-economic transformations in the last few decades have caused various social problems, such as the widening income gap between the rich and the poor, the intensifying regional development disparities and the increasing social and economic inequalities among the citizens. All these unintended social consequences inevitably cause an adverse impact on social harmony and social cohesion of the country (Ngok and Chan 2016; Mok and Lau 2014; Mok and Qian 2018). This chapter examines the Chinese government’s management of the unintended consequences of the rapid economic growth and modernisation in the last four decades through social policy expansion and social service reforms for enhancing social harmony and cohesion. It begins with a discussion on the similarities and differences between Western concepts of social cohesion and the Chinese understanding of social harmony, which reflects the concepts’ effects on the different aspects of the country’s development. The following section critically reviews the insights of the Social Cohesion Radar for Mainland China. Next, we discuss the Chinese government’s social policy strategy reforms by utilising social service delivery and social welfare provisions to promote social cohesion. The last section assesses the role of social policy expansion, social welfare and social service provisions in enhancing the country’s social cohesion. The final section presents some tentative conclusions.

Rural Gerontology : Towards Critical Perspectives on Rural Ageing, M. Skinner, R. Winterton, & K. Walsh, K. (Eds.), 26-49, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. AMOAH, Padmore Adusei, Research Assistant Professor, School of Graduate Studies & Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies; Core Centre Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies
Prof. PHILLIPS, David Rosser 傅大衛, Emeritus Professor

Service-Learning Outcomes Measurement Scale (S-LOMS) : the user manual

This book outlines the development and how to make use of the Service-Learning Outcomes Measurement Scale (S-LOMS) in assessing student developmental outcomes after service-learning experience. This book results from a cross-institutional project named “Cross-institutional Capacity Building for Service-Learning in Hong Kong Higher Education Institutions (PolyU4/T&L/16-19)”, aiming at enhancing and supporting the development of service-learning as an effective pedagogical strategy under the collaboration of Lingnan University, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Baptist University, and The Education University of Hong Kong.

Office of Service Learning, Lingnan University, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Mr. LAU, Ka Hing Calvin 劉嘉慶, Senior Project Officer, Office of Service-Learning
Prof. SNELL, Robin Stanley 施樂民, Adjunct Professor, Dept of Management

Social cohesion and welfare reforms : the Chinese approach

Since the introduction of the economic Reform and Open Door policy in 1978, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has experienced significant economic, social, political and cultural transformations. The country’s concerted economic efforts have established China as the second largest economy in the world (Garnaut, Song and Fang 2018). In addition to its economic achievements, the country has experienced positive developments, including an impressive reduction of absolute poverty, improvements in people’s livelihoods, expansion of social welfare provisions, increases in education opportunities and enhancements in housing, medical care and various social services (Sander, Schmitt and Kuhnle 2012; Mok, Kuhner and Huang 2017). However, the same socio-economic transformations in the last few decades have caused various social problems, such as the widening income gap between the rich and the poor, the intensifying regional development disparities and the increasing social and economic inequalities among the citizens. All these unintended social consequences inevitably cause an adverse impact on social harmony and social cohesion of the country (Ngok and Chan 2016; Mok and Lau 2014; Mok and Qian 2018). This chapter examines the Chinese government’s management of the unintended consequences of the rapid economic growth and modernisation in the last four decades through social policy expansion and social service reforms for enhancing social harmony and cohesion. It begins with a discussion on the similarities and differences between Western concepts of social cohesion and the Chinese understanding of social harmony, which reflects the concepts’ effects on the different aspects of the country’s development. The following section critically reviews the insights of the Social Cohesion Radar for Mainland China. Next, we discuss the Chinese government’s social policy strategy reforms by utilising social service delivery and social welfare provisions to promote social cohesion. The last section assesses the role of social policy expansion, social welfare and social service provisions in enhancing the country’s social cohesion. The final section presents some tentative conclusions.

Social Cohesion in Asia : Historical Origins, Contemporary Shapes and Future Dynamics, A. Croissant & P. Walkenhorsti (Eds.), 26-49, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. MOK, Ka Ho Joshua 莫家豪, Vice-President, Office of the President; Lam Man Tsan Chair Professor of Comparative Policy, Dept of Sociology & Social Policy; Dean, School of Graduate Studies; Co-Director, Institute of Policy Studies
Dr. KANG, Yuyang 康宇揚, Core Centre Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies; Research Fellow, School of Graduate Studies

State‐NGOs relationship in the context of China contracting out social services

China's practice of contracting out social services raises two related questions. The first one seeks to determine “the contractual relationship” between the Chinese government and its third sector in a mixed welfare regime. The second one inquires whether China's commissioning welfare strategy has increased the power of its civil society. This study attempts to address these two issues based on the experiences of non‐governmental organisations (NGOs) in a Chinese city. It was found that the contracted NGOs were unable to obtain an equal status but were treated as assistants of local governments. The NGOs were also asked to do extra work that was not listed in the service contracts. Moreover, the service performance assessment criteria were unable to accurately evaluate the work of NGOs. Thus, the welfare participation of Chinese NGOs has not brought with them more political power. It is proposed that China's welfare reform needs to be backed up by its legal reform to put in place a mechanism that tackles the unequal power distribution between welfare purchasers and welfare providers. The study further illustrates that the Chinese government has adopted a pragmatic instrumentalism strategy by placing NGOs in a supplementary and subordinate role. This paper offers a conceptual discourse on analysing the state‐NGOs relationship against China's market reform and its search for a better welfare management strategy.

Social Policy and Administration, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. MOK, Ka Ho Joshua 莫家豪, Vice-President, Office of the President; Lam Man Tsan Chair Professor of Comparative Policy, Dept of Sociology & Social Policy; Dean, School of Graduate Studies; Co-Director, Institute of Policy Studies
Prof. CHAN, Chak Kwan Dickson 陳澤群, Director & Research Professor, Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies; Core Centre Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies
Prof. WEN, Zhuoyi Vincent 温卓毅, Research Assistant Professor, Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies; Core Centre Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies

Sustainability practices of higher education institutions in Hong Kong : a case study of a sustainable campus consortium

Eight University Grant Committee (UGC)-funded public universities in Hong Kong positively and successfully responded to the global call for sustainability efforts in higher education institutions (HEIs). Various initiatives are transpiring within these eight campuses. The Hong Kong Sustainable Campus Consortium (HKSCC) was co-established by eight UGC-funded universities, which is an excellent example of integrating resources and efforts to achieve sustainable development goals and exert positive social impacts. Through interviews with HKSCC administrators and members and reviewing relevant documents, this study aims to examine the roles and challenges of HKSCC toward Hong Kong HEIs’ sustainability efforts, and present the good practices and achievements of HKSCC. Findings of this study reveal that although HKSCC and each UGC-funded university contribute in reaching the sustainability goals, they should pay considerable attention to the external impact of sustainability practices on communities and society. Moreover, we propose that the sustainable development of public universities in Hong Kong should look beyond the narrowed definition of sustainable development and broaden their roles to exert a social impact by addressing the negative consequences of the massification, privatization, and internationalization of higher education.

Sustainability, 12(2), Art. 452, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. MOK, Ka Ho Joshua 莫家豪, Vice-President, Office of the President; Lam Man Tsan Chair Professor of Comparative Policy, Dept of Sociology & Social Policy; Dean, School of Graduate Studies; Co-Director, Institute of Policy Studies
Dr. XIONG, Weiyan 熊衛雁, Research Assistant Professor, School of Graduate Studies; Core Centre Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies

Tariffs and formation of free trade agreements networks

This paper examines the formation of bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) on the basis of country heterogeneity in the tariff level. We demonstrate that a country's unilateral incentive to form an FTA depends on the relative magnitudes of the (negative) market concession effect and the (positive) market expansion effect, both of which are determined by the tariff levels of the two FTA partner countries. Global welfare is maximised when all country pairs form FTAs. Two countries in equilibrium are more likely to form an FTA when their tariff gap is smaller or when their tariff levels are neither very high nor very low. This finding is robust to several extensions of the model. Our preliminary empirical analysis provides some evidence for the finding.

World Economy, 43(1), 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. QIU, Dongxiao Larry 丘東曉, Head & Sydney S. W. Leong Chair Professor of Economics, Dept of Economics; Director, Pan Sutong Shanghai-Hong Kong Economic Policy Research Institute; Director, China Economic Research Programme

The faces of success : beauty and ugliness premiums in e-commerce platforms

Given the positive bias toward attractive people in society, online sellers are justifiably apprehensive about perceptions of their profile pictures. Although the existing literature emphasizes the “beauty premium” and the “ugliness penalty,” the current studies of seller profile pictures on customer-to-customer e-commerce platforms find a U-shaped relationship between facial attractiveness and product sales (i.e., both beauty and ugliness premiums and, thus, a “plainness penalty”). By analyzing two large data sets, the authors find that both attractive and unattractive people sell significantly more than plain-looking people. Two online experiments reveal that attractive sellers enjoy greater source credibility due to perceived sociability and competence, whereas unattractive sellers are considered more believable on the basis of their perceived competence. While a beauty premium is apparent for appearance-relevant products, an ugliness premium is more pronounced for expertise-relevant products and for female consumers evaluating male sellers. These findings highlight the influence of facial appearance as a key vehicle for impression formation in online platforms and its complex effects in e-commerce and marketing.

Journal of Marketing, 84(4), 67-85, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. PENG, Ling 彭玲, Associate Professor, Dept of Marketing & International Business; Associate Director, Hong Kong Institute of Business Studies
Prof. CUI, Geng 崔耕, Professor, Dept of Marketing & International Business
Prof. CHUNG, Yu Ho Sebastian 鍾宇豪, Research Assistant Professor, Faculty of Business

The mediating role of social capital in the relationship between socioeconomic status and adolescent wellbeing : evidence from Ghana

Background: Social capital is generally portrayed to be protective of adolescents’ health and wellbeing against the effects of socioeconomic inequalities. However, few empirical evidence exist on this protective role of social capital regarding adolescents’ wellbeing in the low-and middle-income country (LMIC) context. This study examines the potential for social capital to be a protective health resource by investigating whether social capital can mediate the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and wellbeing of Ghanaian adolescents. It also examines how SES and social capital relate to different dimensions of adolescents’ wellbeing in different social contexts.
Methods: The study employed a cross-sectional survey involving a randomly selected 2068 adolescents (13-18 years) from 15 schools (8 Senior and 7 Junior High Schools) in Ghana. Relationships were assessed using multivariate regression models.
Results: Three measures of familial social capital (family sense of belonging, family autonomy support, and family control) were found to be important protective factors of both adolescents’ life satisfaction and happiness against the effects of socioeconomic status. One measure of school social capital (school sense of belonging) was found to augment adolescents’ wellbeing but played no mediating role in the SES-wellbeing relationship. A proportion of about 69 and 42% of the total effect of SES on happiness and life satisfaction were mediated by social capital respectively. Moreover, there were variations in how SES and social capital related to the different dimensions of adolescents’ wellbeing.
Conclusion: Social capital is a significant mechanism through which SES impacts the wellbeing of adolescents. Social capital is a potential protective health resource that can be utilised by public health policy to promote adolescents’ wellbeing irrespective of socioeconomic inequalities. Moreover, the role of the family (home) in promoting adolescents’ wellbeing is superior to that of school which prompts targeted policy interventions. For a holistic assessment of adolescents’ subjective wellbeing, both life evaluations (life satisfaction) and positive emotions (happiness) should be assessed concomitantly.

BMC Public Health, 20, Art. 20, 2020

Lingnan Postgraduate(s) :
Ms. ADDAE, Evelyn Aboagye, PhD Student, Dept of Sociology and Social Policy

The national security argument for protection of domestic industries

Tracing the origin of the national security argument for protection of domestic industries to Adam Smith, Alexander Hamilton, and Friedrich List, we study its post-GATT applications with reference to Article XXI of the WTO and highlight some recent abuses. We compare the use of tariff, production/input subsidy, and government procurement as alternative instruments of protection from the perspective of economic efficiency and study the disapproval of inward FDI to gain insights into the underlying national security concerns. The case studies of a) the US tariffs on aluminum and steel, b) German disapproval of the acquisition of a technology firm Leifeld Metal Spinning by a Chinese firm, and c) US’ all out global effort to cripple China’s telecom equipment giant Huawei are presented for illustration.

Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, 17(4), 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. CHENG, Kwok Hon Leonard 鄭國漢, President, Office of the President; Chair Professor of Economics, Dept of Economics
Prof. WHITTEN, Gregory William, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Dept of Economics

The philosopher as moral activist : a call for ethical caution in publication

It is normal to think that philosophers’ first dedication is to the truth. Publishers and writers consider ideas and papers according to criteria such as originality, eloquence, interestingness, soundness, and plausibility. I suggest that moral consequence should play a greater role in our choices to publish when serious harm is at stake. One’s credence in a particular idea should be weighed against the potential consequences of the publication of one’s ideas both if one turns out to be right and if one turns out to be wrong. This activist approach to philosophical writing combines moral concern with epistemic humility.

Essays in Philosophy, 21(1/2), 2020

Lingnan Postgraduate(s) :
Mr. YORK, Kyle Nathaneal, PhD Student, Dept of Philosophy

The politics of MPF reform : lessons from public attitudes in Hong Kong

This article examines public attitudes towards two reform options for the defined-contribution (DC) Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) scheme in Hong Kong: (i) increasing MPF contributions; or (ii) introducing a universal pension partly funded by switching MPF contributions to the universal pension. Drawing on a phone survey conducted with 975 active contributors to the MPF, we examine whether agreement with these MPF reform options can be explained by respondents’ self-interest, attachment to different welfare ideologies, their level of confusion with the MPF, uncertainty about future MPF income, and trust in the Hong Kong government to deal with MPF issues. This research identifies that it is uncertainty with future MPF income and low trust in the Hong Kong government to deal with MPF issues that have the most significant effect on respondents’ MPF reform preferences. Mainstream accounts of the effect of liberalist, universalist, conservative, and familistic welfare ideologies are only partially confirmed.

Social Policy and Society, 19(3), 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. KÜHNER, Stefan, Associate Professor, Dept of Sociology and Social Policy

The psychometric properties of the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R) regarding Internet gaming disorder in a general population of Chinese adults

Background and aims: Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has been recognized as a mental illness. Cognitive and emotional illness representations affect coping and health outcomes. Very little is known about such perceptions related to IGD, in both general and diseased populations. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R) for IGD in a general population that included mostly non-cases while a small proportion of the sample was IGD cases.
Methods: An anonymous cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted in a random sample of 1,501 Chinese community-dwelling adults (41.3% male; mean age = 40.42, SD = 16.85) in Macao, China.
Results: The confirmatory factor analysis identified a modified 6-factor model (i.e., timeline cyclical, consequences, personal control, treatment control, illness coherence, and emotional representations) of 26 items that showed satisfactory model fit and internal consistency. Criterion-related validity was supported by the constructs' significant correlations with stigma (positive correlations: timeline cyclical, consequence, emotional representations; negative correlations: illness coherence). Ever-gamers, compared to never-gamers, reported higher mean scores in the subscales of personal control and illness coherence, and lower mean scores in time cyclical, consequence, and emotional representations. Among the sampled gamers, probable IGD cases were more likely than non-IGD cases to perceive IGD as cyclical and involved more negative emotions.
Conclusions: This study shows that the revised 26-item version of IPQ-R is a valid instrument for assessing illness representation regarding IGD in a general population of Chinese adults. It can be used in future research that examines factors of incidence and prevention related to IGD.

Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 9(3), 654-663, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Dr. CHEUNG, Yu Hin Ray 張宇軒, Research Assistant Professor, Dept of Applied Psychology

Unsupervised cross-domain named entity recognition using entity-aware adversarial training

The success of neural network based methods in named entity recognition (NER) is heavily relied on abundant manual labeled data. However, these NER methods are unavailable when the data is fully-unlabeled in a new domain. To address the problem, we propose an unsupervised cross-domain model which leverages labeled data from source domain to predict entities in unlabeled target domain. To relieve the distribution divergence when transferring knowledge from source to target domain, we apply adversarial training. Furthermore, we design an entity-aware attention module to guide the adversarial training to reduce the discrepancy of entity features between different domains. Experimental results demonstrate that our model outperforms other methods and achieves state-of-the-art performance.

Neural Networks, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. XIE, Haoran, Associate Professor, Dept of Computing and Decision Sciences

Vertical integration and disruptive cross‐market R&D

We study how vertical market structure affects the incentives of suppliers and customers to develop a new input that will enable the innovator to replace the incumbent supplier. In a vertical setting with an incumbent monopoly upstream supplier and two downstream firms, we show that vertical integration reduces the R&D incentives of the integrated parties, but increases that of the nonintegrated downstream rival. Strategic vertical integration may occur whereby the upstream incumbent integrates with a downstream firm to discourage or even preempt downstream disruptive R&D. Depending on the R&D costs, vertical integration may lower the social rate of innovation.

Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 29(1), 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. LIN, Ping 林平, Director, Centre for Competition Policy & Regulation; Professor, Dept of Economics; Core Centre Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies
Prof. ZHANG, Tianle 張天樂, Associate Professor, Dept of Economics

Webs of care : qualitative GIS research on aging, mobility, and care relations in Singapore

The connections between time and space have been studied considerably in quantitative and qualitative research on the geographies of care; however, researchers tend to prioritize one approach over the other. Our article integrates analyses of activity spaces and space–time paths with conceptualizations of care developed in qualitative studies to deepen understanding of the spatiotemporal care routines of older adults in Singapore. Using qualitative geographic information systems (QualiGIS), we develop a comparative frame to understand the differential sociopolitical logics that shape the care routines of older adults who are Singapore citizens and nonmigrants vis-à-vis temporary migrants from the People’s Republic of China. Building on recent writing about care assemblages, we conceptualize webs of care as the interlinked chains, in and through which individuals—in this case, older adults—exercise agency to give and receive care in the context of political, institutional, and social structures. Our article shows how the relational thinking of assemblage theory can inform geographic information systems analyses of activity space and space–time paths. We advance research on care assemblages by identifying in actual time–space how various resources within care assemblages (or the lack of) can diminish or enhance the capacity and resilience of older adults to give and receive care.

Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. CHIU, Tuen Yi Jenny 趙端怡, Assistant Professor, Dept of Sociology and Social Policy

“Who are our support networks?” A qualitative study of informal support for carers

There is little information about the types of social support and content of assistance for informal carers. This article aims to fill this knowledge gap by studying 37 informal carers in a region of the UK. It was found that adult children were the main source of support for older carers regardless of ethnic backgrounds, minority ethnic carers supported their husband to fulfill traditional caring duties by taking care of mother-in-law in the same household. Young carers received support mainly from uncles and aunts to look after sick parents while adult carers obtained information and peer support from the internet. Surprisingly, support from neighbors was limited. Additionally, social support for carers was undermined by the stigmatization of drug and alcohol misuse and mental illness. It is proposed that different types of online support services and appropriate educational programs need to be offered to carers to set up self-help groups and tackle stigmatization associated with health problems. It is suggested that future studies can use a large representative sample to give a comprehensive picture on the contents of informal support for different types of caregivers and the impact of social support on helping informal carers to fulfill their duties.

Journal of Social Service Research, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. CHAN, Chak Kwan Dickson 陳澤群, Director & Research Professor, Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies; Core Centre Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies

Lingnan Postgraduate(s) :
Ms. NG, Yeuk Nam 吳若楠, MPhil Student, Dept of Sociology & Social Policy

Worker training, firm productivity, and trade liberalization : evidence from Chinese firms

Firm productivity and trade liberalization is an important research topic in international trade and economic development. Growing empirical research using firm-level microdata has found evidence that trade liberalization from both input goods and final good fosters firm productivity. Amiti and Konings (2007) used Indonesian firm-level data to find that firms' gains from reduction of output tariffs. Similarly, Topalova and Khandelwal (2011) found close evidence for Indian firms. Using a Chinese firm-level dataset, Yu (2015) found that the impact of input tarif reductions on productivity improvement, overall, is weaker than that of output tariff reductions are found to contribute at least 14.5% to economy-wide productivity growth of China.

The Effects of Globalisation on Firm and Labour Performance, C. H. Hahn, D. Najoko, H. T. T. Doan, & S. Urata (Eds.), 169-187, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. QIU, Dongxiao Larry 丘東曉, Head & Sydney S. W. Leong Chair Professor of Economics, Dept of Economics; Director, Pan Sutong Shanghai-Hong Kong Economic Policy Research Institute; Director, China Economic Research Programme

文咸街里 : 東西南北利四方

本書匯聚多位大學學者和歷史專家，以南北行聚集地的上環文咸東、西街為中軸，講述19世紀中起，香港與海內外不同地區的交通與聯繫。文咸街方便船隻上落貨物，除了本身的廣府人，更吸引了從潮州、福建、上海、山東等地而來的商人買賣海味、大米、藥材等貨物。原本南北行是指華南與華北間的貿易，後來範圍擴大，「南」至東南亞，「北」至日本。與此同時，美澳加等地先後發現金礦，時稱「金山」和「新金山」，大量華人勞工（俗稱「豬仔」）通過香港金山莊橫渡太平洋，這些四面八方的貿易往來與聯繫，日後更帶動了香港船務運輸、出入口轉運、華僑匯兌、外匯找換等行業發展，是香港聯繫東西方世界的歷史見證。

中華書局(香港)有限公司, 2020

Lingnan Editor(s) :
Dr. CHOW, Man Kong 周文港, Director, STEAM Education and Research Centre; Associate Director, China Economic Research Programme

方志中的古代香港 : 《新安縣志》香港史料選 (修訂再版)

香港位處南海之濱，既遠離朝廷，亦非國防重鎮，因此在古代極少引起史官注意。要了解香港的古代面貌，文字資料方面主要依賴地方志。歷史上與香港有關的地方志有數種，然而論與今日香港特別行政區關係最為密切的方志，則非《新安縣志》莫屬。
《新安縣志》除了記錄新安縣的人、事、地、物，也保留了不少重要的地方文獻，對重構香港歷史有重大幫助。本書2007年初版。此次由三聯書店（香港）有限公司修訂再版，編者做了重要的增補和注釋工作，值得關心香港歷史的機構和讀者收藏。

三聯書店(香港)有限公司, 2020

Lingnan Editor(s) :
Prof. LAU, Chi Pang 劉智鵬, Associate Vice-President (Academic Affairs and External Relations), Office of the President; Professor, Dept of History; Co-ordinator, Hong Kong and South China Historical Research Programme; Director, Jockey Club Hong Kong History Learning Programme
Prof. LIU, Shuyong 劉蜀永, Senior Research Fellow, Hong Kong and South China Historical Research Programme

歷史不止一種寫法 : 十篇書評裏的歷史學景觀

本書展現了十幅不同景觀的歷史學研究地圖，引領讀者探索主流歷史敘事以外的別番景緻。 作者甄選近年來歐美港臺中國史和東亞史的新研究，用學術書評的方式梳理相關研究領域的現狀和脈絡，並在此脈絡中細緻剖析作品得失，探討歷史寫法的多種可能：以小人物書寫大歷史、以笑代淚重寫中國近代史、以邊疆定義中國、以底層視角審視現代化……
本書涵蓋政治外交史、邊疆史、社會史及文化史等，帶領讀者見樹亦見林—不僅對每本著作的內容有深切瞭解，更能明晰作者的問題意識、學術源流與其所立足的學術傳統。作者爬梳英語學界的中國史及北韓史研究，亦對多部學術專著進行了解剖麻雀般的細緻分析。透過這些研究筆記與書評，作者指出：歷史不止一種寫法，不同學術圈的學者，均立足自身的問題意識和學術傳統，進行各具特色的歷史書寫，並因此互相發明。讀者亦可以此學術地圖，開啟一段對近代史的全新探索。

香港中文大學出版社, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Dr. MAO, Sheng 毛升, Lecturer, Dept of History

前塵與前程 : 舞鶴的小說與湯湘竹的紀錄片的兩種「餘生」

本文旨在比較兩部紀念霧社事件倖存賽德克族族人劫後餘生的作品。兩者皆以「餘生」命名，顯然彼此間有互文關係。湯湘竹2014年上映的紀錄片《餘生 : 賽德克•巴萊》背後隱藏舞鶴於1999年出版的實驗小說《餘生》。兩部作品有諸多相似之處，皆以探索歷史創傷和英雄主義為主題，並以尋根之旅收場；其間亦有相異之處，特別是對於「英雄」所抱持的態度。舞鶴解構英雄主義，湯湘竹則將倖存者視為英雄，彰顯其活下去的勇氣。因此，紀錄片中尋根之旅結束之際，族人們心中的創傷得以紓解；反觀小說的反高潮帶來的卻是難以平復的失落，創傷似乎沒有得到療癒的跡象。從這方面來看，湯湘竹拍這部片的用意在於向舞鶴致敬，同時也對小說有所批判。

霧社事件 : 台灣歷史和文化讀本, M. Berry (Ed.), 405-424, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. STERK, Darryl Cameron 石岱崙, Assistant Professor, Dept of Translation

流動香港飲食誌

《流動香港飲食誌》匯集作者蕭欣浩多年來累積的經驗，為飲食相關的書籍和電影，留下了一些評論，也有抒發對香港和台灣的飲食文學、文化的一點看法。書中更多文章來自《明報‧語文同樂》的專欄，數年前作者得編輯貞貞邀約，定期為教育版撰寫文章，逐漸養成寫作的思維和習慣，記錄自己感受世界的文字足跡。後來專欄由Gem接手處理，他們都給予作者很大自由，容許作者作個人的嘗試和發揮。作家蘇童與作者蕭欣浩的酒食對談放於附錄，像餐後點綴的甜點，對整頓飯起重要的作用。

初文出版社, 2020

嶺南作者 :
Dr. SIU Yan Ho 蕭欣浩, Lecturer, Dept of Chinese

苦海无边, "退让" 是岸 : 叔本华悲剧理论述评

叔本华是黑格尔之后又一位影响深远的悲剧理论家。他敏锐地把握住悲剧"表出人生可怕的一面"之文类特征，将其归人"力量崇高"的审美范畴。这进一步发展了从朗吉诺斯到康德关于"崇高"的美学话语。可惜的是，叔本华将审美主体之升华完全等同于"退让"，使其在评判悲剧作品之优劣时频频出错。尽管如此，叔本华在拓宽悲剧题材方面所做的贡献不容忽略。虽然他把生活世界描绘得过于灰暗，但他"众生皆苦"的人生哲学迫使他将悲剧的目光投向普通百姓，有助于打破帝王将相和才子佳人对悲剧舞台的垄断。

马克思主义美学研究, 王杰 (主编), 271-281, 2020

Lingnan Author(s) :
Prof. DING, Ersu 丁爾蘇, Professor, Dept of English

香港 · 1960年代

要了解現在的香港，要回到1960年代！六〇年代是一個複雜的年代，香港本身經歷了由難民心態為主導的五〇年代，來到這個階段，戰後在本地出生的一代開始逐漸成長。世界各地出現了戰後以來重要的變化；香港也發生了動亂。雖然社會動盪，各地文化藝術的發展卻異常精彩，香港本土身分正式啟航。本書分為四個部份：文學、電影、藝術及社會，題材多樣和豐富，展示了香港六〇年代的文化特色。這段六〇年代之旅，絕對不是懷舊。面對眼前香港巨大的變化，我們想明白更多過去的種種。回到六〇年代的場景，是一條很重要的線索讓我們探索未來。

文訊雜誌社, 2020

嶺南編者 :
Prof. WONG, Shuk Han Mary 黃淑嫻, Associate Professor, Dept of Chinese