Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Australian China'

Understanding the Chinese tourism market to Australia is important for managers of Australian tourism product suppliers, marketing practitioners and academics, when China is an emerging market to Australia. This research examines contemporary issues in the Australian tourism product suppliers tapping into the Chinese tourism market. The research problem in this thesis is: How do Australian tourism product suppliers develop their strategies into the Chinese outbound tourism market? A case study methodology was applied in this research by interviewing the major players of Australian tourism product suppliers. The iterative research design was applied in this research due to the lack of previous research. Data from indepth interviews with key senior managers from case studies is analysed by within-case and cross-case analysis. From the findings, it is evident that cun-ently it is still at the early stage to talk about the Chinese outbound tourism market to Australia, because Australia was granted Approved Destination Status by the Chinese government on 22 April 1999. Nevertheless, the characteristics of Chinese travel patterns, the characteristics of Chinese tourists to Australia, the problems that the Australian tourism product suppliers of Australia have met and their strategies to solve these problems are investigated based on the previous experience of the Australian tourism product suppliers dealing with the Chinese tourism market. The major contribution of this research is the development of the understanding of the Chinese tourism market integrating all the detailed findings of the three research issues to answer the research problem in this research. The thesis also suggests the possible theoretical and practical ways for Australian tourism product suppliers to develop their strategies into the Chinese tourism market.

In the new International Division of Labour (IDL ), the traditional pattern that developing countries produced raw materials in exchange for the manufactured products of developed countries has been reversed. China, as a developing countries has been currently supplying a considerable quantity of labour-intensive goods to the developed countries, particularly Australia. The aim of this study was to examine China's exports of clothing to Australia in exchange for foodstuff, raw materials and more advanced products. The main thrusts of the thesis show that China, since 1979, has been enthusiastically participating in the International Division of Labour and adopting an export-oriented strategy. Based on its comparative advantage, a host of clothing production has been relocating to China from the NICs. In the wake of such relocations, China has been launching an aggressive clothing exports to the rest of the world. Of these countries, Australia has been one of China's important clothing destinations. By the early 1990s, more than half of Australia's clothing imports came from China which constituted about 30% of China's total exports to Australia. Such success was attributable to the political affinity of the two governments, the business strategies of Australian retailers, China's improvement in quality and marketing, cost advantage, currency devaluation, wider use of natural fibres, the NICs withdrawal from the Australia's market. However, China's dominating position in Australia has been facing challenges by Australian nationalistic consumerism and from other would-be clothing producers in some developing countries. Facing the flood of clothing imports, Australia had switched its protectionist stance to a liberalisation policy. Coupled with such a liberalisation, the Australian government has been attempting to revitalise and downsize its domestic clothing industry In the new IDL, China has become a significant labour-intensive manufacturing exporter, particularly clothing, whereas Australia has to restructure its exports to be more resource oriented and more technology-intensive.

This study examines the experience of Australian drama educators working as professional development facilitators in China between 2017-2019. Limited literature exists that highlights the perspectives of professional development facilitators in this field. This thesis highlights the impact of engaging in this role on the practice of drama educators. Using an autoethnographic approach, data were collected from five individuals through semi-structured interviews. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, 2004) highlighted that the participants' experiences acted as critical moments that led to positive personal and professional outcomes. Three key supporting factors for positive outcomes were identified: 1) critically reflective practice; 2) knowledge and experience in theatre practices and drama pedagogies; and 3) collaborative approaches to delivering professional development.

Nearly two-thirds of Australians and up to half of all Chinese are overweight. Global obesity figures have tripled since 1975 (WHO, 2018b), which demonstrates that obesity is a major global health problem. It is critical to examine how print media represent obesity because they influence public understanding of the problem. It is also essential to determine ways to improve health journalism and health outcomes. While there is a significant body of literature that has examined representations of obesity in the Australian press through mixed approaches, there is a deficit of media research into how China’s press has represented this issue. This study investigated how obesity was represented in two national newspapers—China Daily and The Australian—between 2013 and 2018. Content analysis was performed to reveal the types and frequency of obesity-related news items regarding causes, determinants, impacts, solutions and sources. Additionally, discourse analysis was undertaken to qualitatively reveal the framing of obesity based on findings from the content analysis. China Daily was selected because it is China’s largest-selling national daily English-language newspaper, while The Australian is Australia’s largest daily national newspaper. More than 1000 news items on obesity published in the two newspapers between 2013 and 2018 were retrieved through Factiva. Content analysis uncovered that obesity was under-presented in both newspapers. Individual causes and solutions were the most prominent news items in both newspapers, whereas genetic and biological determinants were less likely to be presented. For childhood obesity, parental determinants appeared more often than social determinants. Findings from the discourse analysis found three prominent frames—legitimation, responsibility and stereotype—in which individual responsibility was highlighted, while social responsibility was backgrounded. Individual responsibility and blaming were the dominant discourses in both newspapers. Further, stereotypes, weight stigma and the thin ideal discourse were mentioned in the news items. Framing analysis revealed that news items on obesity tended to shift health costs onto individuals rather than highlight the responsibility of the food and drink industries. The presence of stereotype frames was greater in China Daily than The Australian.

As a contribution to understanding the Chinese immigrants and their community, this study seeks to explore the factors influencing the formation and development of cultural identity among members of the Chinese diaspora in Australia. These include Chinese community life, family and professional networks, media use and its influences, and the changes that have taken place over the past ten years. Chinese communities in Australia are not homogeneous. Although they may all call themselves Chinese, they differ among themselves according to dialect, subdialect, clan and family, all of which are linked to their place of ancestral origin in China, as well as by country of birth outside of China. The degree to which these differences are considered important varies from individual to individual, but a community, whether it is constituted for social or business purposes, always comprises individuals who share one or more of these secondary characteristics in addition to their collective cultural characteristics. The study focuses on Canberra as a case study. First, it examines the similarities and differences within the Chinese diaspora coming from different geographical origins. It uses interviews and narrative analysis to examine the nature of Chinese immigrants and to assess their social, political and cultural context, with the aim to challenge the monolithic view that only one kind of Chinese community exists. It investigates how cultural background and other factors affect the formation and development of people's identity. In addition, as a point of secondary comparison, this study also analyses the differences between the Chinese diaspora in Canberra and Sydney. The aim here is to assess how the different locations and different characteristics of these cities communication networks affect migrants' adaptation to Australian society. Special attention will be given to differences between Dalu ren (the mainland Chinese), who came to Australia after the events of Tiananmen Square in 1989, and the other diasporic Chinese groups in Australia, which include Taiwan ren (Taiwanese), Xianggangren' (Honkongese), Malaixiya hua ren (Malaysian Chinese), and Xinjiapo hua ren (Singaporean Chinese). Since mainland China has had a different political system and the Communist Party replaced much Chinese tradition, people from the mainland have kept the least Chinese cultural traditions. Chinese from other regions try to keep the Chinese tradition as it was. However, the culture in mainland China has already changed. Therefore, the understanding of the Chinese tradition and culture among the Chinese from different regions varies greatly. This thesis explores the changing understanding within the members of the diasporic community of cultural identity. It attempts to show the strong influence of the notion of an original culture on the Chinese diaspora and how these ideas influence the way that diasporic Chinese community members interact within Australian society. It will investigate the changing characteristics, both social and individual, of mainlanders and other groups of Chinese immigrants in the 1990s, in the context of their professional, social and family networks. It will examine areas such as media use, languages and involvement with community development activities, and whether there are significant differences in their acculturation according to their different gender and places of origins. 1 Although Hong Kong has become part of China since 1997, there have, however, been different political and social systems in Hong Kong and the mainland, so this study researches Hong Kong in a separate category for the purpose of exploring differences.

This study analyzes the share price reactions to real estate development and building/construction materials corporations in relation to FIRB rule changes. It appears companies as a whole were indifferent to the rule changes; however individual securities returns were wildly different. These findings suggest that the FIRB rule changes had a mixed effect on different corporations possibly based on their exposure to the Australian real estate market.

This thesis focuses on two major issues in the formation of international joint ventures (INs): partner selection and management control. The particular problem studied in this thesis is: How do Australian building products and service companies achieve their strategic objectives in China by forming joint ventures with Chinese companies? The case study approach is employed in this study. The data were collected from eight case companies, which mainly relied on in-depth interviews with Australian managers who were personally involved in the formation of their joint ventures (Ns) and managers who were in charge of the operation of the N s. In some cases, Chinese managers were also interviewed. By analysing these data, this study identifies the rationale underlying companies' decisions on partner selection criteria. These criteria can be categorised into three areas: task-related, environment-related and partner-related. And the rationale may include weakness/strength-resource, critical success factor, environment deficiency, perceived opportunity behaviour and perceived cooperation uncertainty etc. Findings of this study suggest that partners which case companies eventually get quite often are not exactly the same as they expect, due to Chinese companies' ability and willingness to contribute. As to the management control Australian building products and service companies adopt, it consists of different components, such as level of control and extent of control, which are dynamic, rather than static. This study investigates why the case companies want to adopt such control and how they get the control that they want. The results of data analysis show that neither dominated control nor shared control necessarily leads to the success of the joint venture, an important factor is the unity between the two partners. This study makes contributions to IN literature by shedding light on areas where previous research has paid little attention. The findings of this study have important managerial implications for Australian companies that have interests in China.

In terms of numbers and volume of meat produced, the Chinese beef industry is one of the largest in the world. Development of the industry has only occurred within the last thirty years, and despite extensive cross-breeding programs with imported breeds, performance of Chinese cattle is low, and the industry is still subject to traditional farming methods. This study looks at the Australian-developed genetic evaluation system BREEDPLAN, which is regarded worldwide as one of the best systems for assisting with selection of beef cattle for increased performance by evaluating genetics and identifying superior animals, and asks if BREEDPLAN can be successfully applied to the Chinese beef industry. Issues discussed include the complementarity of BREEDPLAN to existing Chinese breeding programs and the benefits of BREEDPLAN if introduced, as well as opportunities for Australians to provide consultancy services to facilitate introduction. The marketing of Australian genetic material in China, and cross-cultural marketing issues are also considered. Field research was conducted in China using itinerant interviews and observational research, together with unstructured, informal interviews and discussions with Australian beef industry experts. It is found that breed improvement programs in China are controlled by the Ministry of Agriculture, and management practises within the government-run herds make them eminently suitable for the application of BREEDPLAN. The objective measurements of BREEDPLAN would provide observable genetic gain, resulting in increased industry productivity and profitability. In addition, it is found that a need exists within the Chinese beef industry for consultants not only with expertise and knowledge about BREEDPLAN, but also with an understanding of Chinese language and culture, which would be an advantage for dealing with cross-cultural difficulties. Market opportunities for Australian genetic material are considerable, but not unlimited, and further research is required to assess the size of the market. It is recommended that immediate steps be taken to introduce BREEDPLAN to the Chinese beef industry.

The research is a critical analysis of the operational aspects of doing environment business with China through cross-cultural networks. In particular the investigation involved establishing an intensively documented, longitudinal profile of a single network. This network comprised Australian Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Chinese players based in the People's Republic of China. This profile covers a period of two decades. The research adopted a broad multi-disciplinary and inductive approach, using action research, case study methods, and systems analysis techniques. An innovative approach used time values as a constant to analyse the relativity of player connections, activities and structural levels in the network. This approach drew its applied orientation from the environmental sciences, and its theoretical base from the social science disciplines of marketing and international business. The specific field of study was the structure and evolutionary dynamics of networks. The outcome of the research is a model Australian SMEs can use for doing environment business with China. This model sets environment business in the context of a wider trading network of Chinese, Australian, South East Asian, and Middle Eastern players. The cornerstone of this model is the corporate role of the academic sector in accessing the Chinese environmental market. The research shows in detail how Australian SMEs can, and do, use cross-cultural academic linkages for trade. Such linkages facilitate market research, negotiation, risk management, product development, and the establishment of distribution channels in Asian markets. The study also demonstrates the importance of using a number of parallel nets of Chinese players to facilitate trade and overcome interruptions or obstacles. The research has contributed to knowledge by establishing an Asia-oriented, empirically derived model that differs substantially from the mono-cultural models in current practice in the Australian environment industry. The intensive investigation of the network of SMEs and Chinese players has identified the entrepreneurial strengths of SMEs in the international marketplace. This finding contrasts with the prevailing view that SMEs must depend on larger players for export success. In addition, the research has established that this kind of network has a clan-like structure. This finding is central to the model. The research demonstrates that a clan-like structure is a flexible framework that is compatible with the independence and capacity of small firms to adapt to change and to make decisions. This characteristic of SMEs enables them to proceed without, and at times in spite of, the encumbrances of large and unwieldy corporate and institutional structures. This finding is directly contrary to the belief prevalent in the Australian environment industry that SMEs depend on larger players to enter international markets. The finding also challenges the established view that Chinese networks are relatively closed systems based on family ties. The research shows that Australian SMEs can become part of these systems either directly or through links, and have many common attributes with their Chinese counterparts. The research has made a key contribution to theory by using these findings to develop an organic network model that differs from the so-called contrived network. This empirically derived theoretical model represents the seven dimensions of cross-cultural collaboration. The four social dimensions are the personal, organisational, sectoral and regional levels of a person-centred network, composed of nets of individuals with extensive linkages to other individuals and to organisations. The three dynamic dimensions are the triadic, the temporal, and the trading levels of interaction between the players. This theoretical model also demonstrates the depth of cross-connection between the nets of individual, and the embeddedness of the network in other networks. The model emphasises the centrality of time as the key connector between the social dimensions of the network and the exchange processes that characterise clan-like interactions. The model also represents the layers of evolutionary development that characterise the exchange processes in the network. These layers include adaptive processes, short-term exchanges, and long-term exchanges, and exchanges that derive from particular arrangements of players and market openings at critical points in time. This model extends concepts that have emerged from the original International Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) Interaction Model, and gives empirical credence to recent philosophical, but untested, views on the relevance of time as a context for interaction.

This thesis presents the results of three studies that extend understanding of ethical decision making in negotiation. First, by comparing how Chinese and Australian negotiators think about contextual variables in an interpretive study, an extended model of ethical decision making in negotiation is offered. This study suggested differences in how codes of ethics and perception of the other party were understood as well as a shared understanding of the influence of the legal environment across the two cultures. Importance of organisational goals and personal and business reputation also emerged as important variables in negotiators' ethical decision making. The next study began testing the extended model with an investigation of the interaction between culture and closeness of the relationship with the other party using the SINS scale (Robinson, Lewicki, & Donahue, 2000). It was found that Chinese negotiators generally rated ethically ambiguous negotiation tactics as more appropriate than Australians, and that Chinese differentiated more in their ratings of appropriateness according to the social context. In the test for metric equivalence of the SINS scale, this study found that the existing approach of inductively deriving types of ethically ambiguous negotiation tactics based on ratings of perceived appropriateness is flawed since patterns of ratings are likely to vary across groups of negotiators. In light of this, a new typology of ethically ambiguous negotiation tactics is offered based on an a priori identification of conceptually distinct types of tactics. This new inventory of items represents the first step in the process of producing a cross-culturally generalisable scale of ethically ambiguous negotiation tactics.

This thesis presents the results of three studies that extend understanding of ethical decision making in negotiation. First, by comparing how Chinese and Australian negotiators think about contextual variables in an interpretive study, an extended model of ethical decision making in negotiation is offered. This study suggested differences in how codes of ethics and perception of the other party were understood as well as a shared understanding of the influence of the legal environment across the two cultures. Importance of organisational goals and personal and business reputation also emerged as important variables in negotiators' ethical decision making. The next study began testing the extended model with an investigation of the interaction between culture and closeness of the relationship with the other party using the SINS scale (Robinson, Lewicki, & Donahue, 2000). It was found that Chinese negotiators generally rated ethically ambiguous negotiation tactics as more appropriate than Australians, and that Chinese differentiated more in their ratings of appropriateness according to the social context. In the test for metric equivalence of the SINS scale, this study found that the existing approach of inductively deriving types of ethically ambiguous negotiation tactics based on ratings of perceived appropriateness is flawed since patterns of ratings are likely to vary across groups of negotiators. In light of this, a new typology of ethically ambiguous negotiation tactics is offered based on an a priori identification of conceptually distinct types of tactics. This new inventory of items represents the first step in the process of producing a cross-culturally generalisable scale of ethically ambiguous negotiation tactics.

The Insurance Law 1995 (PRC) is the first comprehensive insurance legislation since the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. It consists of insurance contract law and insurance regulation. This study concerns only the insurance contract law, focusing on three fundamental principles, namely the principles of insurable interest, utmost good faith, and subrogation. The main theme of this study is that, through examination and analysis, and by comparative methodology, of the provisions relating to the three principles, problems in these provisions are to be found and recommendations on how to amend them are to be proposed. It is intended this study will also help us to understand other similar problems in the whole Chinese insurance contract law. Many concepts adopted in the Insurance Law (PRC) are English in origin. This research attempts to trace the origin and the evolution of these concepts in England and to seek their real meanings in order to find and solve problems of confusions, ambiguities, contradictions and unfairness in Chinese insurance law. The Australian Insurance Contracts Act 1984 codifies the common law and insurance practice in Australia and mitigates the common law for its harshness to consumers and is regarded as a model for insurance law reform. So many Australian approaches are suggested as suitable to follow in order to amend Chinese law. This thesis starts with a brief introduction stressing the purpose and methodology of this research. Then the background is laid down concerning China's politics, economic reform, legal system and the development of China's insurance industry, under which the Insurance Law has been shaped. This is followed by three chapters - the main part of this study dealing with the three fundamental principles of the insurance contract law by examining and comparing the Chinese approach with the English and Australian counterparts. By doing so, problems in the Insurance Law are identified and better solutions are figured out. This research concludes with an emphasis on the urgency for amendment of the Chinese insurance contact law by summarising the preceding examination and analysis of the three principles. It finally ends with a number of proposed amendments of relevant provisions of the Insurance Law which it is hoped will provide useful models for the improvement of the whole Chinese insurance law.

Australia finds itself increasingly poised between its traditional security alliance with the United States, and the economic opportunities afforded by its relationship with China. As tensions rise and recede between the U.S. and China, Australia's future seems to precariously balance between two divergent geostrategic objectives. How does the Australian government choose between these objectives? Dominant theorisations of foreign policy behaviour from International Relations literature focuses primarily on the system level-of-analysis, largely failing to consider the influence of individuals on the international climate. This thesis investigates whether the individual influence of the last the Australian Prime Ministers has impacted upon Australia's relationship with China. The study utilises a multiple-case study approach in order to analyse the foreign policy response of the Howard (1996-2007), Rudd (2007-2010) and Gillard (2010 - 2013) governments. Each case study investigates the foreign policy outcomes of each administration in terms of the economic relationship with China, the diplomatic response to Chinese domestic insecurities, and defence policy concerning China. Within each of these aspects, the foreign policy responses are considered as either cooperative or antagonistic policies. The study finds that while systemic forces contribute the overarching structure of Australian foreign policy concerns, the individual influence of the Prime Ministers' interpretation and response significantly influence the policy outcomes. Using these case studies of Australian foreign policy behaviour, the study argues that the mainstream understanding of the level-of-analysis problem is insufficient in explaining and predicting the foreign policy decisions of states. Rather, an alternative conceptual understanding of analytical levels as necessarily interacting is required. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that Australia's leaders can influence the outcomes of the Sino-Australian relationship.

This doctoral thesis considers the significance of Australian engagement with China within British imperial history between the late-eighteenth and early-twentieth centuries. It sets out to explore the notion that colonial and early-federation Australia constituted an important point of contact between the British and Chinese Empires. Drawing on a long tradition of imperial historiography and recent advances in British World and Anglo-Chinese history, it utilises extensive new archival research to add a colonial dimension to the growing body of scholarship on the British Empire’s relations with Qing China. In doing so, it also seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the internal dynamics and external relations of Britain’s late-Victorian and Edwardian Empire. The following chapters centre around two overarching historical themes. The first is the interconnection between Chinese migration to Australia and the protection of British mercantile and strategic interests in the Far East as imperial issues. The second is the relationship between Australian engagement with China and the development of the idea of a Greater Britain. Each of these themes throws up a range of fascinating historical questions about the evolving character of Britain’s late-Victorian and Edwardian Empire, the inter-relation of its various parts and its ability to navigate the shifting winds of political and economic change. Taken together, they shed new light not only on Anglo-Australian, Anglo-Chinese and Sino-Australian history, but also serve to illuminate a series of triangular relationships, connecting the metropolitan, Far Eastern and Australian branches of the British Empire.

Educational services have become Australia's third largest export industry. Onshore delivery of higher education has been a major export for many years, and in recent years offshore delivery of vocational education and training has grown to become a major part of this industry. Different Australian educational institutions are involved in delivery of Australian VET programs in a wide range of cultural and socioeconomic contexts. Because of the strong demand for skills in an increasingly interconnected world, this growing industry, which at an international level encompasses a diverse range of institutions, training delivery methods and management and administrative arrangements, is increasingly directing its attention towards globalising its regulatory and training approaches. The aim of this research is to investigate the process of adapting Training Packages and the Australian Quality Training Framework, the two main instruments of regulation in the Australian skill formation system, for an international audience. This thesis will examine what process of adaptation is involved when the Australian VET approaches are used as a model to develop skills formation overseas. Factors influencing the forms taken by this regulatory system in a global context will be studied through investigating the international activities of various Australian sectors in implementation of VET approaches in non-Australian systems. Two propositions underpin this key question. First is that the Australian VET system is primarily a regulatory system, which means that the export of these regulations needs to be accounted for. Secondly, the Australian VET system has been designed for Australian industrial and cultural conditions and adjustments are necessary in the regulations themselves, host country regulat ory practice, or both for Training Packages to work in these non-Australian cultural contexts.

China is a highly attractive destination for foreign direct investment, especially to Australia with which it has a strong complementary commercial relationship. Although the need for cross-cultural leadership effectiveness presents a major challenge to Australian businesses operating in China, most extant studies emphasize cultural dimensions and cultural influences on expatriate leadership effectiveness. In contrast, this study investigates the importance and implementation of transformational leadership (TL), emotional intelligence (EQ) and cultural intelligence (CQ) as key components of cross-cultural leadership capabilities within the context of Australian-Chinese cultural differences. Specifically, it answers one overarching question: What key factors contribute significantly to cross-cultural leadership effectiveness in Australian businesses operating in China? Following an interpretivist research philosophy, this inductive study employed qualitative individual and focus group interviews with a final sample of 32 expatriate managers and 19 local Chinese managers working in 30 Australian organizations. The individual participants were top- and middle-level executives of Australian businesses operating in China in different industry sectors, including minerals and energy, manufacturing, consulting, building and construction, banking, legal services and education. Participants based their responses on their own experiences and observations. These perspectives were supplemented with equally important input from the focus group interviewees, who were Chinese local managers that work closely with the expatriates. Based upon the findings of the study, the researcher developed a holistic pragmatic heuristic model of cross-cultural leadership effectiveness for Australian businesses operating in China, which emphasizes the developmental process underlying the emergence of effective expatriate leadership. This model defined and categorized three sets of cognitive, attitudinal and behavioural characteristics of effective cross-cultural leaders: personal (intrapersonal) competencies, social (interpersonal) competencies and cross-cultural competencies. Because the model is pragmatic as well as heuristic, its framework provides practitioners (e.g. Western and especially Australian expatriate leaders) with an informed understanding of the complexity of cross-cultural leadership issues in China, the importance of having theoretical knowledge on this topic, and the need to be flexible and pragmatic in applying this knowledge in daily practice. Thus, the model offers Australian firms currently investing or intending to invest in China a specific strategy to assist expatriate selection and leadership development in that the competencies it contains can be used to recruit and develop suitable candidates and training criteria. Likewise, the model provides business coaches or business consultants serving Western organizations in China a comprehensive fundamental framework for developing competent global leaders. Hence, future research should concentrate on developing and validating cross-cultural leadership effectiveness in China model using diverse approaches.

This thesis set out to ascertain the position of recent Australian Governments on the latest instalments of Asian regionalism in the context of an assessment of whether there has been a redefinition of Asia and thus a redefinition of Australia???s engagement with Asia. It will concentrate on the broad themes of politico-strategic and economic engagement. Whilst there has been extensive research and documentation on the Asian economic crisis there has been less work on the issue of a new Asian regionalism and the implications for Australia???s complex and variable engagement with the region. This is the basis for the claim to originality of this thesis, a claim supported by its focus on the practical and policy implications of Australia???s engagement, or lack of it, with regional institutions. The process of regional integration has been extremely slow, thus supporting the conclusion that there is no evidence of a major redefinition of Asia. Efforts at Asian regionalism are meeting obstacles that pose immense challenges. Asian regionalism remains nascent and poorly defined. This reflects the diversity and enormous disparities in cultures, political systems and the levels of economic development and differences over economic philosophies within East Asia. What is discernible is that the regionalism is proceeding more rapidly on financial issues than on trade, and in the security area it is conspicuously absent. This research highlights the fact that the question of Asian engagement remains a sensitive issue in Australia and continues to grow more complex. Australia???s engagement with Asia since 1996 has been variable because of the Howard Government???s broader balance of priorities between global and regional issues, and because of the changing nature of the Asian region. The perception gleaned from sources is that, for the Australian Government, regionalism initiatives are characterised by much discussion but lack substance. Consequently, this appears to have led the Government to the position that exclusion from some manifestations of regionalism is not so important. Australia is excluded from some of the regional architectures being constructed. In its efforts to seek inclusion in ASEAN + 3 and ASEM, Australia is facing the same barriers that have stood in the way of an AFTA-CER agreement. Exclusion would be important if the performance of regional groupings was not so indifferent. Exclusion from ASEAN + 3 and ASEM, however, does not equate to Australia???s exclusion from the region.

The purpose of this research is to examine the influences guanxi resources, understanding of the Chinese business environment, environmental competition and salesperson effectiveness have on business relationship initiation capabilities with customers in the People’s Republic of China for Australian exporters. Thematic analysis is used to analyse qualitative survey data from 25 Australian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) supplying services to China. Quantitative responses from 72 firms are also examined via PLS based structural equation modelling.

Children's sensitivity to the emotions expressed by their peers, and their knowledge of the display rules that govern the manifestation of facial expressions, are crucial for their social interactions and development. In compliance with display rules, the facial expressions displayed (i.e., apparent emotion) may be incongruent with the emotion experienced (i.e., real emotion). This dissertation investigated Chinese and Australian children's abilities to recognise facial expressions of emotion and to understand display rules in the two cultures. Children's acquisition of these two skills demonstrates emotional competence (Saami, 1999). Participants were 144 Chinese children living in Hong Kong ( 49 percent were boys and 51 percent were girls; 82 four-year-olds and 62 six-year-olds), and 176 Caucasian children living in Australia (56 percent were boys and 44 percent were girls; 80 four-year-olds and 96 six-year-olds). The children were recruited from 17 kindergartens, preschools, child-care centres, and primary schools in Hong Kong and Brisbane, Australia. All children were tested individually. In Study One, all children were presented with a set of facial stimuli displayed by Chinese children (C-FACE) and an equivalent set displayed by Caucasian children (A-FACE). Each set of facial stimuli consisted of seven photographs depicting facial expressions of happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, shame and neutrality. The two sets were presented in random order and children were asked to select the photograph depicting each emotion as it was requested by the experimenter. This permits the examination of both in-group perception (i.e., the observer and the displayer of the same culture) and out-group perception (i.e., the observer and the displayer of different cultures). The Chinese set of children's facial expressions of emotion (C-FACE) was constructed specifically for this research. The Caucasian set of children's facial expressions of emotion (A-FACE) was developed by Field and Walden (1982). In Study Two, hypothetical stories that elicit the application of display rules were presented to both Chinese and Australian children. The stories were audio-taped and varied in terms of cultural contexts (i.e., Chinese versus Australian contexts), appropriateness for emotional regulation (i.e., non-regulation versus regulation), emotional valence (i.e., negative versus positive), and the explicitness of motivation for emotional regulation (i.e., implicit versus explicit). Children were asked to select from an array of five different facial expressions both the real emotion experienced, and the apparent emotion shown by the story character. These photographs were from the C-FACE and A-FACE sets used in Study 1. C-FACE was used with Chinese context stories and A-FACE with Australian context stories. Chinese and Australian 6-year-olds were significantly more accurate than 4-year-olds in the recognition of facial expressions of emotion displayed by both in-group and out-group peers. Six-year-old children also had a significantly better understanding of display rules than the 4-year-olds. It seems likely that cognitive factors such as improved perceptual skills and the development of a theory of mind, and socialisation factors such as exposure to and the acquisition of emotional scripts may account for the age differences. Both cultural similarities and differences were found in children's understanding of emotional expressions and display rules. In Study 1, Australian 4-year-olds were more accurate than Chinese 4-year-olds in out-group perception, possibly because of the multicultural experience of Australian children. However, increasing the amount of exposure to Chinese peers did not increase the Australian children's accuracy of out-group perception. In Study 2, Chinese children gave more dissembled responses (i.e., selected different real and apparent emotions) than Australian children, who most often indicated the expression of genuine emotion (i.e., selected the same real and apparent emotion). Chinese and Australian children also had different interpretations of the emotion experienced by the story character in the Chinese context and they used different regulation strategies in a positive context. The provision of an explicit statement about emotional regulation in the story enhanced Australian children's performance without making any difference for Chinese children. These results are consistent with the strength of different cultural demands for emotional inhibition across the two cultures. There was also evidence of cultural similarities. Both Chinese and Australian children demonstrated that happiness, sadness and anger were more frequently recognised than neutrality and shame when they were displayed by in-group peers. Fear and surprise were least frequently identified and reciprocally confused by the two cultural groups. In addition, 6-year-old girls from both cultures were more accurate than their boy counterparts in out-group perception. Moreover, both Chinese and Australian. children had a better understanding of non-regulation and negative contexts than regulation and positive contexts. The present research also found that both Chinese and Australian children were more accurate in recognising facial expressions of emotion displayed by in-group members than out-group members. Both Chinese and Australian children also applied their own cultural display rules in the interpretation of emotional behaviour in another cultural context. These two factors may account for some of the misunderstandings that arise in inter-cultural communications. Overall, the results suggest that the abilities to recognise facial expressions of emotion and understand display rules could be influenced by the age and culture of the subjects, and the culture of the stimuli. In assessing children's ability to understand facial expressions of emotion and the application of display rules it is therefore important to use stimuli from the same ethnic group.

Speeding remains a significant contributing factor to road trauma internationally, despite increasingly sophisticated speed management strategies being adopted around the world. Increases in travel speed are associated with increases in crash risk and crash severity. As speed choice is a voluntary behaviour, driver perceptions are important to our understanding of speeding and, importantly, to designing effective behavioural countermeasures. The four studies conducted in this program of research represent a comprehensive approach to examining psychosocial influences on driving speeds in two countries that are at very different levels of road safety development: Australia and China. Akers’ social learning theory (SLT) was selected as the theoretical framework underpinning this research and guided the development of key research hypotheses. This theory was chosen because of its ability to encompass psychological, sociological, and criminological perspectives in understanding behaviour, each of which has relevance to speeding. A mixed-method design was used to explore the personal, social, and legal influences on speeding among car drivers in Queensland (Australia) and Beijing (China). Study 1 was a qualitative exploration, via focus group interviews, of speeding among 67 car drivers recruited from south east Queensland. Participants were assigned to groups based on their age and gender, and additionally, according to whether they self-identified as speeding excessively or rarely. This study aimed to elicit information about how drivers conceptualise speeding as well as the social and legal influences on driving speeds. The findings revealed a wide variety of reasons and circumstances that appear to be used as personal justifications for exceeding speed limits. Driver perceptions of speeding as personally and socially acceptable, as well as safe and necessary were common. Perceptions of an absence of danger associated with faster driving speeds were evident, particularly with respect to driving alone. An important distinction between the speed-based groups related to the attention given to the driving task. Rare speeders expressed strong beliefs about the need to be mindful of safety (self and others) while excessive speeders referred to the driving task as automatic, an absent-minded endeavour, and to speeding as a necessity in order to remain alert and reduce boredom. For many drivers in this study, compliance with speed limits was expressed as discretionary rather than mandatory. Social factors, such as peer and parental influence were widely discussed in Study 1 and perceptions of widespread community acceptance of speeding were noted. In some instances, the perception that ‘everybody speeds’ appeared to act as one rationale for the need to raise speed limits. Self-presentation, or wanting to project a positive image of self was noted, particularly with respect to concealing speeding infringements from others to protect one’s image as a trustworthy and safe driver. The influence of legal factors was also evident. Legal sanctions do not appear to influence all drivers to the same extent. For instance, fear of apprehension appeared to play a role in reducing speeding for many, although previous experiences of detection and legal sanctions seemed to have had limited influence on reducing speeding among some drivers. Disregard for sanctions (e.g., driving while suspended), fraudulent demerit point use, and other strategies to avoid detection and punishment were widely and openly discussed. In Study 2, 833 drivers were recruited from roadside service stations in metropolitan and regional locations in Queensland. A quantitative research strategy assessed the relative contribution of personal, social, and legal factors to recent and future self-reported speeding (i.e., frequency of speeding and intentions to speed in the future). Multivariate analyses examining a range of factors drawn from SLT revealed that factors including self-identity (i.e., identifying as someone who speeds), favourable definitions (attitudes) towards speeding, personal experiences of avoiding detection and punishment for speeding, and perceptions of family and friends as accepting of speeding were all significantly associated with greater self-reported speeding. Study 3 was an exploratory, qualitative investigation of psychosocial factors associated with speeding among 35 Chinese drivers who were recruited from the membership of a motoring organisation and a university in Beijing. Six focus groups were conducted to explore similar issues to those examined in Study 1. The findings of Study 3 revealed many similarities with respect to the themes that arose in Australia. For example, there were similarities regarding personal justifications for speeding, such as the perception that posted limits are unreasonably low, the belief that individual drivers are able to determine safe travel speeds according to personal comfort with driving fast, and the belief that drivers possess adequate skills to control a vehicle at high speed. Strategies to avoid detection and punishment were also noted, though they appeared more widespread in China and also appeared, in some cases, to involve the use of a third party, a topic that was not reported by Australian drivers. Additionally, higher perceived enforcement tolerance thresholds were discussed by Chinese participants. Overall, the findings indicated perceptions of a high degree of community acceptance of speeding and a perceived lack of risk associated with speeds that were well above posted speed limits. Study 4 extended the exploratory research phase in China with a quantitative investigation involving 299 car drivers recruited from car washes in Beijing. Results revealed a relatively inexperienced sample with less than 5 years driving experience, on average. One third of participants perceived that the certainty of penalties when apprehended was low and a similar proportion of Chinese participants reported having previously avoided legal penalties when apprehended for speeding. Approximately half of the sample reported that legal penalties for speeding were ‘minimally to not at all’ severe. Multivariate analyses revealed that past experiences of avoiding detection and punishment for speeding, as well as favourable attitudes towards speeding, and perceptions of strong community acceptance of speeding were most strongly associated with greater self-reported speeding in the Chinese sample. Overall, the results of this research make several important theoretical contributions to the road safety literature. Akers’ social learning theory was found to be robust across cultural contexts with respect to speeding; similar amounts of variance were explained in self-reported speeding in the quantitative studies conducted in Australia and China. Historically, SLT was devised as a theory of deviance and posits that deviance and conformity are learned in the same way, with the balance of influence stemming from the ways in which behaviour is rewarded and punished (Akers, 1998). This perspective suggests that those who speed and those who do not are influenced by the same mechanisms. The inclusion of drivers from both ends of the ‘speeding spectrum’ in Study 1 provided an opportunity to examine the wider utility of SLT across the full range of the behaviour. One may question the use of a theory of deviance to investigate speeding, a behaviour that could, arguably, be described as socially acceptable and prevalent. However, SLT seemed particularly relevant to investigating speeding because of its inclusion of association, imitation, and reinforcement variables which reflect the breadth of factors already found to be potentially influential on driving speeds. In addition, driving is a learned behaviour requiring observation, guidance, and practice. Thus, the reinforcement and imitation concepts are particularly relevant to this behaviour. Finally, current speed management practices are largely enforcement-based and rely on the principles of behavioural reinforcement captured within the reinforcement component of SLT. Thus, the application of SLT to a behaviour such as speeding offers promise in advancing our understanding of the factors that influence speeding, as well as extending our knowledge of the application of SLT. Moreover, SLT could act as a valuable theoretical framework with which to examine other illegal driving behaviours that may not necessarily be seen as deviant by the community (e.g., mobile phone use while driving). This research also made unique contributions to advancing our understanding of the key components and the overall structure of Akers’ social learning theory. The broader SLT literature is lacking in terms of a thorough structural understanding of the component parts of the theory. For instance, debate exists regarding the relevance of, and necessity for including broader social influences in the model as captured by differential association. In the current research, two alternative SLT models were specified and tested in order to better understand the nature and extent of the influence of differential association on behaviour. Importantly, the results indicated that differential association was able to make a unique contribution to explaining self-reported speeding, thereby negating the call to exclude it from the model. The results also demonstrated that imitation was a discrete theoretical concept that should also be retained in the model. The results suggest a need to further explore and specify mechanisms of social influence in the SLT model. In addition, a novel approach was used to operationalise SLT variables by including concepts drawn from contemporary social psychological and deterrence-based research to enhance and extend the way that SLT variables have traditionally been examined. Differential reinforcement was conceptualised according to behavioural reinforcement principles (i.e., positive and negative reinforcement and punishment) and incorporated concepts of affective beliefs, anticipated regret, and deterrence-related concepts. Although implicit in descriptions of SLT, little research has, to date, made use of the broad range of reinforcement principles to understand the factors that encourage or inhibit behaviour. This approach has particular significance to road user behaviours in general because of the deterrence-based nature of many road safety countermeasures. The concept of self-identity was also included in the model and was found to be consistent with the definitions component of SLT. A final theoretical contribution was the specification and testing of a full measurement model prior to model testing using structural equation modelling. This process is recommended in order to reduce measurement error by providing an examination of the psychometric properties of the data prior to full model testing. Despite calls for such work for a number of decades, the current work appears to be the only example of a full measurement model of SLT. There were also a number of important practical implications that emerged from this program of research. Firstly, perceptions regarding speed enforcement tolerance thresholds were highlighted as a salient influence on driving speeds in both countries. The issue of enforcement tolerance levels generated considerable discussion among drivers in both countries, with Australian drivers reporting lower perceived tolerance levels than Chinese drivers. It was clear that many drivers used the concept of an enforcement tolerance in determining their driving speed, primarily with the desire to drive faster than the posted speed limit, yet remaining within a speed range that would preclude apprehension by police. The quantitative results from Studies 2 and 4 added support to these qualitative findings. Together, the findings supported previous research and suggested that a travel speed may not be seen as illegal until that speed reaches a level over the prescribed enforcement tolerance threshold. In other words, the enforcement tolerance appears to act as a ‘de facto’ speed limit, replacing the posted limit in the minds of some drivers. The findings from the two studies conducted in China (Studies 2 and 4) further highlighted the link between perceived enforcement tolerances and a ‘de facto’ speed limit. Drivers openly discussed driving at speeds that were well above posted speed limits and some participants noted their preference for driving at speeds close to ‘50% above’ the posted limit. This preference appeared to be shaped by the perception that the same penalty would be imposed if apprehended, irrespective of what speed they travelling (at least up to 50% above the limit). Further research is required to determine whether the perceptions of Chinese drivers are mainly influenced by the Law of the People’s Republic of China or by operational practices. Together, the findings from both studies in China indicate that there may be scope to refine enforcement tolerance levels, as has happened in other jurisdictions internationally over time, in order to reduce speeding. Any attempts to do so would likely be assisted by the provision of information about the legitimacy and purpose of speed limits as well as risk factors associated with speeding because these issues were raised by Chinese participants in the qualitative research phase. Another important practical implication of this research for speed management in China is the way in which penalties are determined. Chinese drivers described perceptions of unfairness and a lack of transparency in the enforcement system because they were unsure of the penalty that they would receive if apprehended. Steps to enhance the perceived certainty and consistency of the system to promote a more equitable approach to detection and punishment would appear to be welcomed by the general driving public and would be more consistent with the intended theoretical (deterrence) basis that underpins the current speed enforcement approach. The use of mandatory, fixed penalties may assist in this regard. In many countries, speeding attracts penalties that are dependent on the severity of the offence. In China, there may be safety benefits gained from the introduction of a similar graduated scale of speeding penalties and fixed penalties might also help to address the issue of uncertainty about penalties and related perceptions of unfairness. Such advancements would be in keeping with the principles of best practice for speed management as identified by the World Health Organisation. Another practical implication relating to legal penalties, and applicable to both cultural contexts, relates to the issues of detection and punishment avoidance. These two concepts appeared to strongly influence speeding in the current samples. In Australia, detection avoidance strategies reported by participants generally involved activities that are not illegal (e.g., site learning and remaining watchful for police vehicles). The results from China were similar, although a greater range of strategies were reported. The most common strategy reported in both countries for avoiding detection when speeding was site learning, or familiarisation with speed camera locations. However, a range of illegal practices were also described by Chinese drivers (e.g., tampering with or removing vehicle registration plates so as to render the vehicle unidentifiable on camera and use of in-vehicle radar detectors). With regard to avoiding punishment when apprehended, a range of strategies were reported by drivers from both countries, although a greater range of strategies were reported by Chinese drivers. As the results of the current research indicated that detection avoidance was strongly associated with greater self-reported speeding in both samples, efforts to reduce avoidance opportunities are strongly recommended. The practice of randomly scheduling speed camera locations, as is current practice in Queensland, offers one way to minimise site learning. The findings of this research indicated that this practice should continue. However, they also indicated that additional strategies are needed to reduce opportunities to evade detection. The use of point-to-point speed detection (also known as sectio

The Chinese inbound tourism market to Australia has been acknowledged as an emerging market and a major export earner. However, Australian inbound tour operators experience difficulties in establishing and developing viable partner relationships with Chinese travel agents. Recognising the size, importance and complexity of this market, the major purpose of this research is to explore and investigate the crucial process of developing Sino-Australian partnership relationships in the tourism industry, and to educate Australian tourism operatives about this process to facilitate the establishment of business relationships with Chinese travel agents. Hence, the principal research question posed in this thesis is: How might Australian tourism product suppliers and marketers establish and maintain partnership relationships with Chinese travel agents to help Australia become a preferred tourist destination for Chinese tourists? This study is exploratory in nature and draws on applied marketing, management and cross-cultural theories on networking to explore the process of developing partnership relationships in the Chinese inbound tourism market to Australia. The literature on networking, and the development of networking relationships, has been theorised drawing principally on the marketing and management literature. The impact of cross-cultural differences and the effect of guanxi (connection), a key feature of Chinese business networking, on partnership relations between Chinese travel agents and Australian inbound tour operators, is also reviewed and discussed. One of the main contributions of this research is its multidisciplinary nature, drawing on relationship marketing and network theories and applying them to tourism research. Little research has been undertaken into tourism-based partnership relations in the cross-national context. Given the limited research conducted on this topic and its cross-cultural nature, a qualitative research method was adopted for this study. Specifically, this study utilised in-depth interviewing techniques to explore the relationships between Australian inbound tour operators and Chinese travel agents. This study identifies that the process of developing partnership relationships between Chinese travel agents and Australian inbound tour operators is, as expected, highly culturally embedded but in unexpected ways. Although all the Australian inbound tour operators in the study are of Chinese descent, they have adapted to Australian culture and business ethics, giving rise to communication problems that affect partnership relationships. A new stage model of the development of partnership relationships between Australian inbound tour operators and Chinese travel agents is therefore developed by incorporating cross-cultural factors into Western theories on networking and relationship marketing. In particular, the thesis identifies important factors in each stage of the process of developing business relationships. For example, resilient trust and mutual commitment, the pricing issue, word-of-mouth, and quality of services are all considered crucial in attaining long-term stable partnership relationships. Disproving popular myths about guanxi in some of the previous literature, the findings from this research demonstrate that, in China's economic transition period, guanxi plays a significant, but not decisive role in the process of developing partnership relationships between Chinese travel agents and Australian inbound tour operators. However, guanxi relationships can provide added value to the partnership relationships of Australian operators.

This study is innovative in that it draws together the concepts of suggestion from several cultural groups and develops an inventory to account for variations the occurrence of scale to studies the relatively new area of the effects of suggestion in classrooms and compares effect on personality and academic variables. As new ideas and knowledge become more widespread and accepted by the community and teaching profession, precision in the applications of suggestion in the classroom is being seen as more important. Although new to education, suggestion and similar variations has always been central to influencing behaviour and learning among pastoral, counseling and hypnotherapy fields. Teachers who had experience or influence from those fields or the ideas of Lozanov (1978) or accelerated learning groups were and are more the exception than the rule. However, as new ideas become more influential, the influence of suggestion in is becoming increasingly important in progressive, modern education. A major goal of the study was to provide a valid instrument to compare Chinese and Australian differences and similarities in use of suggestion in learning. It was hoped that such a comparison would provide increased mutual understanding of values, strategies, practices and preferences by teachers and students. A second goal was to develop a causative model that explained the relationships between the measured variables of personality and learning behaviour and suggestion in teaching and learning.. A third aim was to make a comparison on effects and performance of suggestion in teaching and learning in Australian, Chinese and Australian accelerative learning classes. This study examined differences between Australian and Chinese high school Science classrooms in their use of suggestion in teaching and learning. To ascertain the prevalence and types of suggestion in the classroom the 39-item suggestion in teaching and learning (STL) scale was developed and validated v in Year 7, 9, and 11 high school classes in China and Australia. The STL scale categorized suggestion into the following types or subscales: Selfsuggestion, metaphor, indirect non-verbal suggestion, general spoken suggestion, negative suggestion, intuitive suggestion, direct verbal suggestion, relaxation, and de-suggestion. The study involved surveying 344 participants (n=182 female, n=162 male) from four high schools in Australia and China. A further 374 participants (n=108 teachers, n=266 students) from six high schools were surveyed for selecting a Chinese sample in a pilot study. About 284 participants (China: 200 students; Australia: 84 students [includes 8 adults]) were observed for validation of the STL instrument. All subjects and classes were randomly selected and were surveyed and observed for the purpose of scale and model development. The STL scale was found to be capable of distinguishing different types of suggestion within Chinese, Australian, and Australian Accelerative Learning classes. The STL scale was significant as a first scale to measure suggestion in teaching and learning in Australian and Chinese classrooms. Items in the scale were strongly and significantly correlated with other items within the subscales and with the overall scale. Path analytic techniques were used to explain relationships between the STL scale, its subscales, nation, gender and high school students profiles on stress, depression, learning styles and academic grades. Limitations of the study included problems arising from language and cultural differences as well as newness of the scale and the field of study. Recommendations for further study included strengthening aspects of the scale with new items and further qualitative and quantitative studies on the uses of suggestion in academic learning and other forms of change in childhood and adolescence.

While Australia has long adopted the corporate veil piercing doctrine from the UK model, China has only recently enacted veil piercing provisions in 2006. This thesis compares Australia’s long standing veil piercing doctrine and China’s recent veil piercing enactment to determine which jurisdiction provides better veil piercing laws in protecting creditors’ interests. The findings of this thesis are significant for creditors such as foreign lenders or business partners who wish to choose a wellprotected and safe market in which to invest. This thesis will provide a discussion and comparison on Australia’s and China’s directors’ duties to prevent insolvent trading and instances in which veil piercing can occur. There will be an addition of another jurisdiction, United States in lieu of China, because China’s insolvent trading laws are based on US laws and there is a dearth of academic literature in the area of insolvent trading laws in China. This thesis will argue that Australia has better veil piercing laws to protect creditors’ interests compared to China due to the very limited scope of China’s veil piercing laws, which are drafted in vague terms and the Chinese civil legal system (in which the doctrine of precedent is absent). In addition, the author suggests that this is due to the fact that many companies are still State Owned Enterprises in China, subject to strong political influence and therefore protective of state shareholders.

Word-of-mouth communication (WOMC) has been recognized as a powerful marketing communication medium that many consider beyond marketers' control and yet is a reliable, creditable, trustworthy information-gathering tool, especially in credence-based services (CBS). To date, the various types of WOMC messages have not yet been adequately studied in the context of CBS. Using the individual face-toface convergence interview (CI) technique as the primary data collection method of exploratory research, this study attempts to fill this gap by describing the types, the characteristics, and the significance of WOMC messages involved in a CBS information gathering process (e.g. selection of an Australian higher education service). Marketers in the higher education sector feel WOMC advertising is unfamiliar and less manageable, but powerful in practice, especially in recruiting overseas Asian students. This study took the strengths of computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS), N*Vivo 2, to manage qualitative transcriptions and enhance the data analysis process in organizing, linking, coding categorizing, organizing, summarizing behaviour patterns in order to explore the insightful findings and answer research questions. The study summarizes participants' motivation items and the specific information gathering steps as the foundation to discover the three types of WOMC messages (service information gathering, subjective personal experience, and personal advice) the characteristics of WOMC messages and the significance of WOMC messages in the CBS information gathering process. In theoretical terms, the findings on the role of types of WOMC messages have extended Beltramini model in the information gathering stage. In terms of the management implications, this research advances the current understanding of the types of WOMC messages, insightful WOMC characteristics and significances in behaviour patterns in the CBS information gathering process. As a result, university marketers are able to effectively cultivate various types of WOMC messages in promotion campaigns.

Chinese communities, large or small, exist in almost every country in the world. The huge Chinese diaspora has played a big role in the global economy. Those in Australia are no exception. The first significant Chinese immigration to Australia came in the 1850s during the gold rush era. Since then Chinese immigration to Australia has gone through up and down periods. However, only after the diplomatic relationship between Australia and China was established in 1972, did mainland Chinese begin to come to Australia directly from China. Since 1978 when China opened its door to the world and started its economic reform, more and more Chinese students have come to Australia. In particular, after the Tiananmen Square Incident in 1989, a significant number of Chinese became Australian permanent residents and contributed to the fast growth of the established Chinese community in Australia. This thesis analyses immigration and ageing issues relating to the Australian Chinese community, which is now not only one of the oldest in Australia, but also one of the biggest, and economically, one of the most dynamic communities. It draws a historical and contemporary picture of overseas Chinese in Australia, including the Chinese migrants who remained in this country after the Tiananmen Square Incident. This study developed a model to investigate a wide range of factors that drive population movement between Australia and China. The determining factors include a wide range of push and pull forces that change constantly with the overall political, economic and environmental developments. The research findings claim that the pull, push and enabling factors interact with each other to influence Chinese people's decision to migrate from China to Australia. It becomes apparent that there are certain determinants which can help explain, understand and project this complex process in the future. This study further proves that Chinese migrants in Australia have made the smooth, but challenging transition between their native and adopted countries. Being involved into the Australian mainstream society, Chinese Australians have achieved economic adaptation and enjoy living in their new country. In addition, Chinese citizens who are studying as international students in Australia are potential skilled migrants and they are likely to apply for migration status after completing their studies. It is believed that Australia continues to be one of the most desired Western migration destinations for Chinese nationals and the magnitude of the Chinese ethnic community in Australia will continue to grow. In the future, the number of elderly Chinese in Australia is likely to increase as the majority of current economically active Chinese intend to retire in Australia and more older Chinese are expected to migrate to Australia for family reunion. As part of the general issues of Australian ageing population, this study attempts to raise the awareness of the challenging life-style of the Chinese elderly in Australia now and future. This study offers convincing evidence that Chinese immigrants play a vital bridging role in promoting business and trade between Australia and China. Due to China's economic growth, their movement between these two countries will be more frequent. Overall, this study provides important considerations for policy makers and will benefit the broad communities, migrants and policy planners in understanding the model of Chinese immigration into Australia. The insights gained from this study should have important policy implications for a more sustainable way of living not only in Australia, but also in China and other countries with Chinese immigrants.

Chinese communities, large or small, exist in almost every country in the world. The huge Chinese diaspora has played a big role in the global economy. Those in Australia are no exception. The first significant Chinese immigration to Australia came in the 1850s during the gold rush era. Since then Chinese immigration to Australia has gone through up and down periods. However, only after the diplomatic relationship between Australia and China was established in 1972, did mainland Chinese begin to come to Australia directly from China. Since 1978 when China opened its door to the world and started its economic reform, more and more Chinese students have come to Australia. In particular, after the Tiananmen Square Incident in 1989, a significant number of Chinese became Australian permanent residents and contributed to the fast growth of the established Chinese community in Australia. This thesis analyses immigration and ageing issues relating to the Australian Chinese community, which is now not only one of the oldest in Australia, but also one of the biggest, and economically, one of the most dynamic communities. It draws a historical and contemporary picture of overseas Chinese in Australia, including the Chinese migrants who remained in this country after the Tiananmen Square Incident. This study developed a model to investigate a wide range of factors that drive population movement between Australia and China. The determining factors include a wide range of push and pull forces that change constantly with the overall political, economic and environmental developments. The research findings claim that the pull, push and enabling factors interact with each other to influence Chinese people's decision to migrate from China to Australia. It becomes apparent that there are certain determinants which can help explain, understand and project this complex process in the future. This study further proves that Chinese migrants in Australia have made the smooth, but challenging transition between their native and adopted countries. Being involved into the Australian mainstream society, Chinese Australians have achieved economic adaptation and enjoy living in their new country. In addition, Chinese citizens who are studying as international students in Australia are potential skilled migrants and they are likely to apply for migration status after completing their studies. It is believed that Australia continues to be one of the most desired Western migration destinations for Chinese nationals and the magnitude of the Chinese ethnic community in Australia will continue to grow. In the future, the number of elderly Chinese in Australia is likely to increase as the majority of current economically active Chinese intend to retire in Australia and more older Chinese are expected to migrate to Australia for family reunion. As part of the general issues of Australian ageing population, this study attempts to raise the awareness of the challenging life-style of the Chinese elderly in Australia now and future. This study offers convincing evidence that Chinese immigrants play a vital bridging role in promoting business and trade between Australia and China. Due to China's economic growth, their movement between these two countries will be more frequent. Overall, this study provides important considerations for policy makers and will benefit the broad communities, migrants and policy planners in understanding the model of Chinese immigration into Australia. The insights gained from this study should have important policy implications for a more sustainable way of living not only in Australia, but also in China and other countries with Chinese immigrants.

The recent discovery of Chinese medical manuscripts in a tomb dated to the second century BC in Ma-wang-tui, Ch'ang-sha, has revealed extremely interesting new information on the subject of ancient Chinese childbirth practices. The scrolls contain detailed advice concerning a proper and auspicious treatment of the placenta, an astronomical chart for choosing the perfect location for the burial of the placenta, and a description of the custom of exposing the newborn infant on the earth directly after birth. This paper offers a translation of these paragraphs and an interpretation based on a Japanese medical text that reflects Chinese medieval practices, basic knowledge of Chinese cosmology, society and religion and also general cross-cultural patterns for the treatment of the placenta that have been established through an anthropological research into placenta-related practices, beliefs and mythology from many different traditional cultures.

Marine protected areas are recognized as an important approach to conserve marine ecosystems and biodiversity as well as to manage costal and marine resource. This thesis addresses the development and management of marine protected areas in Australia and in China. Australia and China are major maritime countries with diverse marine creatures and ecosystems. Both countries have adopted marine protected areas as a management tool to protect the marine environment. This thesis introduces their marine environment and threats, and then makes a close study of the development, legislation and management of marine protected areas in both Australia and China. Two case studies, Jervis Bay Marine Park in Australia, and Shankou Mangrove Marine Nature Reserve in China provide examples of the management strategies and lessons learnt. In order to improve the management of marine protected areas in China, the thesis analyzes the conflicts in the development of marine protected areas in China and prescribes community participation and the marine special reserve as solutions to promote the development of marine protected areas. This study also examines how the Australian Defence Force, an important stakeholder, manages its activities in the marine protected areas.

Histories of past communities are embedded in landscapes around the world but many are suffering from material change or neglect of their fabric. This study was aimed at discovering and representing the authentic intangible experience of two historic landscapes for conservation purposes. A 2500 year old site in Yangzhou, China and a 2000 year old site on St Helena Island in Moreton Bay were found to be managed under two culturally different regimes of authenticity. This research has contributed to challenging the notion that there is only one way to conserve authenticity in historic landscapes of the Asia Pacific.

The growing economic importance of China with its major economic power in the East Asia region has become a popular host destination for receiving foreign investment from Hong Kong, Korea, and Taiwan. With China’s growth and development, this nation has over time become one of Australia’s main trading partners. As new investment opportunities have emerged, Australian companies, especially from Western Australia have shown interest in the Chinese marketplace. Despite the popular consensus that Australian companies are increasingly investing in China, to date relevant literature examining this notion is limited. Specifically, studies of elements that motivate or deter owners / managers of Australian companies, especially from Western Australia to invest in China are restricted. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to investigate the likely relationships between four independent constructs (1. market size, 2. labour cost, 3. infrastructure, and 4. business ethics) in China and the intensity of foreign investment from Western Australia, and to evaluate if and how these relationships are mediated by personality attributes (i.e., gender), organisational properties (i.e., size), and networking.To empirically investigate the determining factor for undertaking investment in China, this study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The use of the quantitative method positivist approach is deemed as a suitable, partial approach, which assists in determining the statistical relationships between the investigated variables. Moreover, a qualitative approach was used in a complementing context to understand the quantitative results. Given the dynamic business environment in China, the use of a qualitative approach has potential for gaining a more comprehensive understanding of quantitative findings as well as providing rich information for further interpretations.This study was conducted with 43 respondents of Western Australian companies. A salient feature of the study companies is that they either have capabilities to invest or are already investing in mainland China (People’s Republic of China, in this study identified as China). The targeted companies are involved in manufacturing and services industries, such as mining, education, banking, and telecommunication. Although collecting primary data appeared to be a challenge, the data were robust for statistical analysis. In addition, the data were from decision makers of the study companies, which further indicate the richness of the sample.The findings of this study revealed that China’s large market size plays a positive role in attracting investments from WA to China. Similarly, the adequate level of infrastructure and the level of familiarity of business ethics in China tend to somewhat encourage WA investors to conduct business in China. In contrast, China’s cheap labour cost was not the primary driver that motivates WA companies to invest in China. In relation to the mediating effects of personality attributes (e.g., gender), organisational properties (i.e., size), and networking the study findings revealed that networking plays a significant mediating role in the investment decision. However, due to the relatively small sample size, personality attributes and organisational properties were established to provide insufficient analytical rigor in the decision to invest in China by WA companies.The implications for this study may offer insightful information to enrich the understanding of the determinants of Australian foreign investment in general, and in the Chinese marketplace in particular. In addition, by empirically investigating the perceptions of the decision makers of WA companies in relation to their investment decisions in China, the findings of this research may assist foreign companies to undertake better planning of their investment decisions. More specifically, this study may offer additional insight to those companies that are operating or planning to invest in the Chinese marketplace. For example, this study may be particularly useful for international managers or owners, as it may provide some fruitful information to assist a better understanding of the issues that relate to business ethics with Chinese operations. In addition, the phenomenon of guanxi in China has been considered as a major determinant for facilitating business engagement in the Chinese marketplace. It may, therefore, be argued that the phenomenon of guanxi in assisting business operations in China has become increasingly important, and international managers or owners may need to gain a deeper understanding of this phenomenon.

The growing economic importance of China with its major economic power in the East Asia region has become a popular host destination for receiving foreign investment from Hong Kong, Korea, and Taiwan. With China’s growth and development, this nation has over time become one of Australia’s main trading partners. As new investment opportunities have emerged, Australian companies, especially from Western Australia have shown interest in the Chinese marketplace. Despite the popular consensus that Australian companies are increasingly investing in China, to date relevant literature examining this notion is limited. Specifically, studies of elements that motivate or deter owners / managers of Australian companies, especially from Western Australia to invest in China are restricted. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to investigate the likely relationships between four independent constructs (1. market size, 2. labour cost, 3. infrastructure, and 4. business ethics) in China and the intensity of foreign investment from Western Australia, and to evaluate if and how these relationships are mediated by personality attributes (i.e., gender), organisational properties (i.e., size), and networking.
To empirically investigate the determining factor for undertaking investment in China, this study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The use of the quantitative method positivist approach is deemed as a suitable, partial approach, which assists in determining the statistical relationships between the investigated variables. Moreover, a qualitative approach was used in a complementing context to understand the quantitative results. Given the dynamic business environment in China, the use of a qualitative approach has potential for gaining a more comprehensive understanding of quantitative findings as well as providing rich information for further interpretations.
This study was conducted with 43 respondents of Western Australian companies. A salient feature of the study companies is that they either have capabilities to invest or are already investing in mainland China (People’s Republic of China, in this study identified as China). The targeted companies are involved in manufacturing and services industries, such as mining, education, banking, and telecommunication. Although collecting primary data appeared to be a challenge, the data were robust for statistical analysis. In addition, the data were from decision makers of the study companies, which further indicate the richness of the sample.
The findings of this study revealed that China’s large market size plays a positive role in attracting investments from WA to China. Similarly, the adequate level of infrastructure and the level of familiarity of business ethics in China tend to somewhat encourage WA investors to conduct business in China. In contrast, China’s cheap labour cost was not the primary driver that motivates WA companies to invest in China. In relation to the mediating effects of personality attributes (e.g., gender), organisational properties (i.e., size), and networking the study findings revealed that networking plays a significant mediating role in the investment decision. However, due to the relatively small sample size, personality attributes and organisational properties were established to provide insufficient analytical rigor in the decision to invest in China by WA companies.
The implications for this study may offer insightful information to enrich the understanding of the determinants of Australian foreign investment in general, and in the Chinese marketplace in particular. In addition, by empirically investigating the perceptions of the decision makers of WA companies in relation to their investment decisions in China, the findings of this research may assist foreign companies to undertake better planning of their investment decisions. More specifically, this study may offer additional insight to those companies that are operating or planning to invest in the Chinese marketplace. For example, this study may be particularly useful for international managers or owners, as it may provide some fruitful information to assist a better understanding of the issues that relate to business ethics with Chinese operations. In addition, the phenomenon of guanxi in China has been considered as a major determinant for facilitating business engagement in the Chinese marketplace. It may, therefore, be argued that the phenomenon of guanxi in assisting business operations in China has become increasingly important, and international managers or owners may need to gain a deeper understanding of this phenomenon.

"Kara kagami" (The Mirror of China) is something of an enigma—only six of an original ten scrolls survive, and there is no critical edition with comprehensive annotation or previous translation. A work composed for Imperial Prince-cum-Shogun Munetaka by the scion of a distinguished line of Confucian scholars, Fujiwara no Shigenori, on a topic of pressing interest in the thirteenth century—the fate of Continental China—it embodies many of the characteristic concerns of Kamakura Japan. Tensions between privatization and circulation of learning, imperial and warrior authority, Japan's envisioning of China and her relations thereto, as well as a larger cosmological narrative all run through the work. Yet they do so ways that challenge now long-held ideas of language, stance towards the Continent and its traditions, and narratives of generic development and resistance.

This dissertation explores the ways in which "The Mirror of China" defies familiar-yet-passé conceptions of medieval Japan. It examines afresh how three issues in medieval discourse—language selection, portrayals of China, and narrating Japan—are refracted in "The Mirror of China" in order to better understand text-based claims of political, cultural, and philosophical authority. "The Mirror of China"'s linguistically diverse manuscripts invite question of the worldviews or allegiances of identity a multilingual text can intimate. Its depiction of China and the implied narratives such a vision creates likewise differ markedly from those of contemporary works. And lastly, the linguistic and thematic innovation it brings to the Heian genre of "Mirror" writing marks a previously obscured turning point in medieval historiographic writing, one that allows an appreciation of the genre as a medieval experiment in crafting histories as legitimating narratives. Drawing on multiple understudied works in addition to better-known writings, this dissertation provides a new understanding of how medieval thinkers exploited languages, images, and traditions in order to create their own visions of authority.

In this thesis, I discuss how practitioners of martial arts in the Republican era of China were engaged in a process of reinventing what embodied the field of martial arts during a time when physical culture was treated as an instrument of nation-building in response to colonial discourses and the process of modernization. Martial arts were repositioned from being a loosely associated field of practice for people who engaged with a set of combative skills that focused on weapons training that championed archery and spear fighting, towards being a recreational activity with a formalized body of knowledge, skills and practices imbued with a Chinese sense of identity suitable for the modern class of urban and educated Chinese citizens. It is my belief that these efforts were a very important factor in why the practice of martial arts today is so closely associated with concepts of self-cultivation. This repositioning of Chinese martial arts was driven by a schism between the traditionalists who defended the beliefs and practices from the imperial age of China, and the modernists who saw the complete adoption of Western technologies and concepts as the only course for the modernization of China. Due to the shifting politics around education, understandings of the body and its representation in society, the efforts to preserve traditional practices were complicated through the dynamics related to identity and state power. The field of martial arts was criticized by reformists and modernists such as those involved with the New Culture Movement, who argued that China needed to embrace scientific notions of the Western nations and abandon "feudal superstitions." Within this context, the field of traditional Chinese martial arts was stigmatized by associations with the failed Boxer Rebellion, the diversity of practices and the secrecy that existed between different schools of practice. In response to the modernity movements that criticized the traditional systems of belief that martial artists drew upon to substantiate their systems of practice as a recreational pursuit, associations such as the Jingwu Tiyu Hui and the Zhongyang Guoshuguan were formed according to Western institutional models as part of the effort to unify and "modernize" Chinese martial arts. The teachers and administrators involved with these institutions wanted to preserve the practice of martial arts, and to accomplish this they had to develop new ways to systemize the training methods, essentially reinventing them by promoting them to a new generation of students in a format that had never existed before.
À travers cet essai, j'examine la façon dont les pratiquants d'arts martiaux dans l'ère républicaine de la Chine étaient impliqués dans le but de réinventer ce qu'incarnait le domaine des arts martiaux à une époque où la culture physique était traitée comme un instrument de construction de la nation en réponse au discours colonial et au processus de modernisation. Les arts martiaux ont été repositionnés à partir d'un ensemble de personnes indirectement associés qui se livraient à un ensemble de combats et qui concentraient leurs compétences sur des entraînements aux armes encourageant le tir à l'arc et le combat à la lance, afin de devenir une activité de loisir avec un corps formalisé de connaissances, de compétences et de pratiques imprégnées avec une identité chinoise adapté à la classe moderne urbaine et de citoyens chinois éduquée. Ceci est ma conviction que ces efforts ont été un facteur très important dans la raison pour laquelle la pratique des arts martiaux aujourd'hui est si étroitement associée aux concepts de la culture de soi.Ce repositionnement des arts martiaux chinois fut motivé par le schisme entre les traditionalistes qui défendaient leurs croyances et leurs pratiques de l'époque impériale de la Chine, et les modernistes qui, eux, ont vu l'adoption complète de technologies et de concepts occidentaux comme le seul mouvement bénéfique à la modernisation de la Chine. En raison de la politique à travers l'éducation, la compréhension du corps et de sa représentation dans la société, les efforts visant à préserver les pratiques traditionnelles ont été compliquées par la dynamique liée à l'identité et le pouvoir de l'état. Le domaine des arts martiaux a été critiqué par les réformistes et les modernistes incluant ceux qui furent impliqués dans le « New Culture movement», qui a fait valoir que la Chine devait embrasser des notions scientifiques des pays occidentaux et abandonner leurs «superstitions féodales. » Dans ce contexte, le domaine des arts martiaux traditionnels a été stigmatisé par des liens avec la révolte des Boxers, la diversité des pratiques et la discrétion qui existait entre les différentes écoles de pratique.En réponse aux mouvements de modernité qui ont critiqué les systèmes de croyances traditionnels dont les pratiquants d'arts martiaux ont fait appel à l'appui de leurs systèmes pour justifier leur pratique comme une forme de loisir, des associations telles que les Jingwu Tiyu Hui et le Zhongyang Guoshuguan ont été formés selon les modèles occidentaux institutionnels dans le but d'unifier et de , en quelque sorte , moderniser les arts martiaux chinois. Les enseignants et les administrateurs concernés par ces institutions voulaient préserver la pratique des arts martiaux, et pour ce faire ils ont dû développer des nouvelles façons de systématiser les méthodes de formation, les réinventer en les promouvant à une nouvelle génération d'étudiants sous une forme qui n'avaient jamais existé auparavant.

Recent research on power shift, or the change in relative power of states in an international structure, has focused on how states adapt to strategic difficulties. As a key change in international politics, scholars have long discussed how states react strategically to power shift. One school in international studies, neorealism, emphasizes the prime importance of security affairs over other strategic concerns in an anarchic international structure. It explores states’ dilemma in choosing between balancing a more powerful state or bandwagoning with it. While this approach sheds important insights on the study of international politics, the parsimony of neorealism suffers from a lot of criticisms and challenges. Among these, argument on the multi-faced nature of a state’s strategic interests has gained the strongest traction. Power shift profoundly impacts the Asia-Pacific region. The rise of China, for example, draws concerns for changing distribution of power in the region and around the globe. Others regional states, especially secondary powers, have to redefine their strategies to adapt to the changing geopolitical landscape. However, strategic choices of these states are barely studied. Australia’s reaction to the power shift, for instance, challenges the neorealists’ “balancing versus bandwagoning” model. Australia’s search for her own regional position is filtered through its threat perception. Seeing ideological differences with a rising China, Australian politicians have continuously tried to engage China to gain profit while remaining skeptical about a more assertive China. This thesis challenges the balancing literature and investigates why hedging has been the strategic response used by Australia to deal with the power shift. This research analyzes and interprets Australia’s strategic dilemma with evidence collected from the Australian government, academics, and media. This thesis affirms the neorealists’ position on the predominance of self-help principle in international politics. However, it also tries to move further to argue that security is the principle that cannot be over-emphasized. Australia simultaneously maximizes her strategic interests, which include security interests and economic interests. Principally, Australia aims at maintaining her status quo position while concurrently balancing against a rising China and bandwagoning with China economically for profit-maximization. By managing the strategic risk posed by China and not turning the China problem into China threat, Australia cautiously decides on her strategic response to prevent a riskier situation.

In December 1972 the Australian government recognised the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) at the cost of breaking off all official contacts with Taiwan. Despite the initial shock to Australia-Taiwan relations of derecognition, trade contacts between Australia and Taiwan have continued to flourish, and in recent years, political relations between the two have also been improving. This thesis examines reasons behind the recent improvements in Australia-Taiwan relations and ways in which such improvements have been implemented - given the constraints that Australia has no official contacts with Taiwan. With its main focus as trade, this thesis shows that Taiwan's importance to Australia has been slowly evolving such that Taiwan is at present a more important and reliable trading partner to Australia than is the PRC. Improvements have been occurring in Australia-Taiwan political relations, therefore, primarily as a consequence of Taiwan's growing importanée in the Australian marketplace.

This thesis entails an analysis of the relationship between space and politics in the construction and legitimisation of modern China. The thesis argues that the production of space has since the onset of modernity in China, in itself very much a spatial process, played a substantial yet, largely unexplored and academically unacknowledged role in both the construction of the nation state and the legitimisation of political ideologies. I wish to show that the production of modern space has since the mid-17th century played an increasingly vital role in the abstract concretisation and the everyday diffusion of the geographic imagination of the Chinese nation state. The state, in other words, legitimises its existence through the reification of space. This thesis contributes to a historical and spatial understanding of the role of geographies of power in creating an alternative understanding of what China is and how it is (re-)produced spatially. Such an understanding problematises the realised abstraction of the Chinese nation state and politicises the production and representation of space in China. The thesis thus questions notions of Chinese essentialism, Chinese history, Chinese architecture and other expressions of state spaces. The position that this thesis takes is that the production of space gives form and meaning to the political. The thesis looks at a variety of spatial techniques of power by analysing the politics of cartography, urban planning, architecture and other forms of production of space. By emphasising the politics of space, this thesis is a work of political geography on the subject of modern Chinese state space. This thesis comprises six chapters, an introduction and a conclusion.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD)
This thesis is a contrastive genre study which explores newspaper commentaries on terrorism in Chinese and Australian newspapers. The study examines the textual patterning of the Australian and Chinese commentaries, interpersonal and intertextual features of the texts as well as considers possible contextual factors which might contribute to the formation of the newspaper commentaries in the two different languages and cultures. For the framework of its analysis, the study draws on systemic functional linguistics, English for Specific Purposes and new rhetoric genre studies, critical discourse analysis, and discussions of the role of the mass media in the two different cultures. The study reveals that Chinese writers often use explanatory rather than argumentative expositions in their newspaper commentaries. They seem to distance themselves from outside sources and seldom indicate endorsement of these sources. Australian writers, on the other hand, predominantly use argumentative expositions to argue their points of view. They integrate and manipulate outside sources in various ways to establish and provide support for the views they express. It is argued that these textual and intertextual practices are closely related to contextual factors, especially the roles of the media and opinion discourse in contemporary China and Australia. The study, by providing both a textual and contextual view of the genre under investigation in the two languages and cultures, aims to establish a framework for contrastive rhetoric research which moves beyond the text into the context of production and interpretation of the texts as a way of exploring reasons for the linguistic and rhetorical choices made in the two sets of texts.

This thesis considers the question of heresy as it relates to the context of Song dynasty China (960-1279 C.E.). It analyzes the ways in which the Song Imperial authorities constructed a religious orthodoxy and defended it through the legal system. It will deal with how heresy is defined in a multi-religious polity without a unified church, such as the Catholic Church of the medieval West. This thesis will argue that a definition of heresy derived from western heresiology is a valid analytical model and that Song China had a religious orthodoxy constructed around the person of the Emperor.
La présente thèse prend comme sujet la question d'hérésie dans le contexte de la dynastie des Song en Chine (960-1279 C.E.). Elle analyse les méthodes donc les autorités impériales des Song ont construits l'orthodoxie religieuse et comment ils l'avaient défendu en utilisant leur système légal. Elle considère aussi la question de comment peut-on définir l'hérésie dans une société multi-religieuses sans avoir une église unifié, comme l'église Catholique en Europe du moyenne âge. On suggère que la définition et modèle d'hérésie qu'on a prit des héréseologistes dans l'Ouest reste valide quand il est appliqué en ce contexte et que la Chine des Song avaient une orthodoxie religieuse construit autour du personnage de l'Empereur.

This thesis is a study of water management systems in the late imperial (1368-­‐1912) Minnan region (southern Fujian), China. Based on stone inscriptions and local gazetteers, I present case histories of several well-­‐documented water management systems. I explore trends in social organization and state-­‐society issues relevant to water management systems, with particular emphasis placed upon the means by which lineages came to control water management structures. I then consider the causes and characteristics of water management-­‐related conflict, as well as trends in government intervention in related disputes, and the principles upon which local officials adjudicated these disputes. I argue that property rights status was important to adjudication, particularly the concepts of "official," "communal" and "private" land and resources. Finally, I contextualize Minnan water management systems among systems in other parts of China.
Cette thèse étudie les systèmes de gestion de l'eau pendant les dernières années de la période impériale dans la région de Minnan (dans le sud du Fujian) en Chine. L'histoire de plusieurs systèmes bien documentés de gestion de l'eau est présentée, à partir de l'étude de pierres avec des inscriptions et de registres locaux. Les tendances dans l'organisation sociale liée aux systèmes de gestion de l'eau et les problèmes politico-­‐sociaux associés sont analysés, avec une attention toute particulière sur les moyens employés par les groupes pour contrôler les organisations qui gèrent l'eau. Les causes et les caractéristiques des conflits relatifs à la gestion de l'eau sont étudiées, ainsi que l'intervention des gouvernements et les principes suivis par les instances locales dans la résolution de ces disputes. Les auteurs soutiennent que le statut de la propriété importe dans l'attribution des ressources, en particulier les concepts de ressources « gouvernementales », « communales » et « privées ». En dernière partie, les systèmes de gestion de l'eau dans la région de Minnan sont mis en perspective avec les systèmes d'autres régions de la Chine.

In this dissertation I trace the evolution of the institutions governing woodland in South China over the longue durée. I claim that after a high point of state forestry the imperial government lost both the interest and the ability to manage woodland effectively. Forestry was largely taken over by lineages - kin groups organized around the worship of shared ancestors. I tie this transition in woodland governance to two interrelated trends: growth in the power and independence of lineage organizations, and of long-distance trade in wood products. First, I show changes in local state capacities for tax collection and dispute resolution, the growing organizational capacity of lineages. Second, I argue that the growth of trade in woodland products affected state and lineage differently. On the one hand, government bureaus had increasing difficulty governing wood land while finding it increasingly convenient to obtain wood products on the market. On the other hand, lineages were well-equipped for the business of managing local landscapes, and saw substantial profits to be made from the export of timber and other forest commodities. Finally, I argue that the rise of lineage influence shaped the terms in which woodland was claimed for private use. Over hundreds of years, claims to woodland shifted from the formal legal discourse specified by the imperial state to focus on the specialized language of fengshui. By the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, claims no longer trumpeted the productive capacity of forests or their role in paying the taxes important to the state; they now focused on the physical and metaphysical powers of the wooded landscape and its role in protecting the graves important to lineages. Contrary to existing scholarship, I claim that the decline of state forestry did not necessarily lead to the decline of the woods themselves; lineage oversight was highly effective at managing forests for both production and protection, and areas of strong lineage control remained well-forested into the modern era.
East Asian Languages and Civilizations

Despite Australia enjoying good relations with both the United States and China at the moment, the long-term prospects are uncertain due to US-China strategic rivalry. The aim of this thesis is to examine Australia’s ability to continue strong relations with both countries over the long-term. The thesis concludes that Australia may be able to maintain good relations with the US and China in the long run despite US-China strategic rivalry. The strategic competition only increases the prospect of conflict; it does not mean a US-China conflict is bound to happen. Although the risks of a US-China military confrontation over Taiwan are real, the chances are small due to America’s continued strategic presence in the region and its military preponderance. If a Sino-US conflict were to occur, Australia would most likely side with the US despite China being economically significant to Australia. The United States is also critically important to Australia’s economic interests and, ultimately, Australia’s national security depends on its alliance with the US. Survival is the foremost goal for a state in the anarchical international system and security interests outweigh economic interests in importance in a time of crisis.

　　　The Annonaceae is a large, early-divergent family of angiosperms. Although the majority is pollinated by small beetles, there is a great diversity of floral morphologies. Evolutionary shifts of pollination mechanisms have occasionally been reported in disparate lineages including shifts to pollination by large beetles, flies, thrips, bees and cockroaches. It was previously hypothesized that floral morphological changes in different lineages are adaptive and correspond to evolutionary shifts of pollination mechanisms. This hypothesis is tested here by comparing selected species that have substantial morphological differences with their close relatives. 　Comprehensive studies of the floral biology of four Annonaceae species, Dasymaschalon trichophorum, Desmos chinensis, Pseuduvaria mulgraveana and Uvaria cordata, are presented. All are beetle-pollinated. Dasymaschalon trichophorum, D. chinensis and U. cordata were inferred to be self-compatible based on inter-simple sequence repeat marker data as there was evidence of significant gene flow and a low level of genetic differentiation between populations. This was corroborated for D. chinensis and U. cordata by experimental controlled pollination tests for geitonogamy, in which both were shown to set fruit. 　　　Similar floral phenological and pollination ecological results were obtained for D. chinensis and D. trichophorum despite significant differences in floral architecture, as the former has six petals (typical of most other Annonaceae species), whilst the latter only has three. The results suggested that the substantial change in floral morphology in these two closely-related genera is probably non-adaptive as there is no change in pollination system. It is hypothesised that the morphological change is likely due to the disruption of homeotic gene expression during floral organ development. 　　　Studies of floral phenology and pollination ecology of Uvaria cordata revealed that it has a 3-day flowering rhythm and is pollinated by small beetles. The pollination ecology is unexpectedly similar to other species with typical beetle-pollination syndromes, although it lacks a pollination chamber and has pale-colored petals. It is suggested that species that lack a pollination chamber are more likely to be pollinated by guilds other than beetles or thrips as a floral chamber increases pollinator specificity. Several morphological and phenological characters are also presumably correlated with the evolution of generalist pollination to increase the pollination efficiency and assure fruit production, including torus shape, petal orientation, stigma shape, petal color, carpel and/or ovule number and the overlap of pistillate and staminate phases. 　　　Pseuduvaria is unusual in the Annonaceae as the majority of species possess unisexual flowers. Most species were previously interpreted as having staminate and structurally pistillate flowers, with infertile staminodes in the latter. The ‘pistillate’ flowers of P. mulgraveana are shown to produce viable pollen, however, contradicting this hypothesis. It is therefore recommended that floral unisexuality in the genus be reassessed by testing more species from different clades. Different strategies to promote xenogamy in the Annonaceae are reviewed, including protogyny, herkogamy, intra- and inter-individual phenological synchrony and dioecy. Three different mechanisms were recognized to achieve dioecy, including incomplete pollen development in hermaphroditic flowers, delayed anther dehiscence in hermaphroditic flowers and loss of androecium or gynoecium (with Pseuduvaria used as a paradigm).
published_or_final_version
Biological Sciences
Doctoral
Doctor of Philosophy

The Action Research project studies the role of information management and knowledge generation in establishing overseas political and trade activity to assist regional development in Australia. It is the work of a researcher whose background in information management ranges across more than 30 years working in the newspaper and regional economic development industries. It applies a hybrid term called “communicative creativity” – distilled from Wieman’s (1963) Doctrine of Creative Interchange and Habermas’s (1984) Theory of Communicative Action – to the researcher’s professional practice of facilitating the development of two entities – the economic development organization and its method of facilitating opportunities in China – against Nonaka and Takeuchi’s (1995) Five-Phase Model of the Organisational Creation Process. The thesis describes how the researcher’s previous career and life experience in China are used in the establishment of a model that will assist his current career in regional economic development. It explains the reasons for choosing the Participatory Action Research method and uses the researcher’s personal and professional voices in a multi-vocal, neopragmatic style blended with visual rich picture presentation involving graphics and photos to tell the story. The thesis – with its style and voices – is a soft systems picture in its own right. The research outcome is a knowledge management model for promoting. Selling, organising and conducting a trade mission into China.

碩士
國立臺灣大學
政治學研究所
97
Australian Sinologist John Fitzgerald has published numerous publications that link the quest for equality and dignity amongst Chinese Australians in the 19th century to the quest for nationhood in modern China. This unique connection has provided the possibility of a different research agenda on China that is not available in those other communities, such as Europe, Japan or North America, which never experienced in the kind of White Australia policy that reflected fear toward re-colonization by the yellow race. In addition, Fitzgerald has specifically thought about the identity of Australia in the production of knowledge concerning Asia and the Confucian ethics which constituted the modern China as well. The paper introduces Fitzgerald’s major research propositions and discusses their implications to the development of an Australian sinology.