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The purpose of this paper is to apply analysis of public discourses on Ze Xiao to explore and interpret the power relationships shaping inequality in admission to public junior high schools in urban China.

This study first introduces the rise of Ze Xiao as an educational phenomenon in China. It then elucidates power relationships in public school admission by analyzing continuities and changes in stakeholders’ interaction in public school admission. It concludes by discussing educational reform for equal public school admission in urban China. Data were collected from written and spoken texts about public school admission, including newspaper articles from the 1980s to the 2000s, policy documents and interviews with relevant stakeholders.

Findings demonstrate that multi-layered power relationships caused diverse inequalities in admission to public secondary education in urban China. These are represented by political and institutional privileges and an imbalance in education development during the social transition from a profit-driven approach in the 1990s to a balance-centered one after 2000. Arguably, there is a necessity to further promote a systematic reform to terminate the privileges and imbalance for an equal and balanced public secondary education in urban China post-2015.

This study attempts to make a contribution toward reconstructing the meaning of inequality in admission to public junior high schools in urban areas by revealing the power relationships among stakeholders constituted through their interactions in public education during the different stages of socio-economic development in urban China.

This chapter aims to investigate and interpret China’s educational aid by analyzing its history, philosophies, and practices in Africa. The study is based on review and analysis of governmental documents, reports, academic papers, and news by Chinese and foreign scholars on China’s aid, particularly educational aid to Africa. The analysis unveils three transformations of China’s aid “from pro-ideology to de-ideology,” “from single area to multiple areas,” and “from pragmatic economy driven to sustainable and humane economy focused” in Africa. Meanwhile, it indicates a continuity of the philosophy of solidarity, morality, and reciprocity in China’s South-South cooperation with African educational development.

The analysis also shows China’s educational aid does not match well with the framework of the Western donors. China, under the FOCAC framework, is devoted to higher education cooperation, human resources training program, scholarship, and Chinese language education with African partners. With the growth of its economic and political influence, China will play multiple roles as the biggest developing country and as an active promoter and provider for South-South cooperation in the negotiation and construction of the post-2015 agenda. Nevertheless, we assume China will keep a pragmatic higher education cooperation with its developing country partners to inclusively link it with business, technology transfer, and people-to-people exchange.

This study delivers a comprehensive review and analysis of paradigm shift, philosophy, mechanism, and practice of China’s educational aid to Africa to fill up the literature gap in this field. It also timely presents China’s stance toward discussion on the post-2015 agenda.

The megaproject is a vital innovation ecosystem for participants engaging in technological adoption and integration to achieve project goals. The purpose of this paper is to examine how ecosystem captains build and operate a megaproject innovation ecosystem (MIE). To be more specific, we conducted an in-depth case study to identify the roles played by ecosystem captains in establishing and managing a megaproject innovation ecosystem.

Based on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge project, the data we collected range from 2010 to 2019 and include semi-structured interviews, informal conversations, and archival documents. We employed an inductive theory building approach to address our research question and analyzed our data using the coding process and Atlas.ti software.

We find that the ecosystem captains themselves are client organizations that have evolved with the ecosystem during four distinct yet inter-related phases. In addition, we find that the captains’ roles of the client organizations include two typical activities: ecosystem establishment and ecosystem collaboration. The ecosystem captains first frame problems, plan innovative activities, set rules, and select participants for the establishment of the ecosystem, and then orchestrate resources, buffer conflicts, incorporate innovative networks, and cultivate an innovation culture to create a collaborative ecosystem.

This study proposes a theoretical framework showing how ecosystem captains engage in MIE to manage innovative activities during different stages. It highlights the importance of captainship roles in client organizations in a megaproject.

This paper aims to report on a study that used the practice theory lens to understand how Chinese ethnic culture influences restaurant workers' learning through engagement in everyday work practices.

A multiple case study approach was used. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews and site observations. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify how workers learnt the sayings, doings and relatings in their workplaces.

The findings show that the ethnic culture of the participants influences and enriches their learning in practice settings such as small Chinese restaurants.

The understandings presented here need to be verified through more research in different regions and nations. In addition, cross-cultural studies on other ethnic restaurants may contribute to deeper understandings of the influences of ethnic culture on practice-based learning.

The research contributes to understanding the influence of ethnic culture on practice-based learning.

The understandings gained from the findings of this study form a useful basis for curriculum development and instructional design of training programmes for practice-based as well as work-integrated-learning components of vocational curriculum. Furthermore, awareness of the strengths of the ethnic culture is of interest to owner/managers of small Chinese restaurants to afford supportive learning environments for workers.

The purpose of this paper is to optimize experimental parameters and gain further insights into the plating process in the fabrication of high-density interconnections of printed circuit boards (PCBs) by the rotating disc electrode (RDE) model. Via metallization by copper electrodeposition for interconnection of PCBs has become increasingly important. In this metallization technique, copper is directly filled into the vias using special additives. To investigate electrochemical reaction mechanisms of electrodeposition in aqueous solutions, using experiments on an RDE is common practice.

An electrochemical model is presented to describe the kinetics of copper electrodeposition on an RDE, which builds a bridge between the theoretical and experimental study for non-uniform copper electrodeposition in PCB manufacturing. Comsol Multiphysics, a multiphysics simulation platform, is invited to modeling flow field and potential distribution based on a two-dimensional (2D) axisymmetric physical modeling. The flow pattern in the electrolyte is determined by the 2D Navier–Stokes equations. Primary, secondary and tertiary current distributions are performed by the finite element method of multiphysics coupling.

The ion concentration gradient near the cathode and the thickness of the diffusion layer under different rotating velocities are achieved by the finite element method of multiphysics coupling. The calculated concentration and boundary layer thicknesses agree well with those from the theoretical Levich equation. The effect of fluid flow on the current distribution over the electrode surface is also investigated in this model. The results reveal the impact of flow parameters on the current density distribution and thickness of plating layer, which are most concerned in the production of PCBs.

By RDE electrochemical model, we build a bridge between the theoretical and experimental study for control of uniformity of plating layer by concentration boundary layer in PCB manufacturing. By means of a multiphysics coupling platform, we can accurately analyze and forecast the characteristic of the entire electrochemical system. These results reveal theoretical connections of current density distribution and plating thickness, with controlled parameters in the plating process to further help us comprehensively understand the mechanism of copper electrodeposition.

The purpose of this paper was to present a simple and convenient technology to produce the electronic-grade CuO. The prepared electronic-grade CuO fully meets the demands of industrial production of high density interconnect (HDI).

A new method termed as open-circuit potential-time technology is proposed to measure the dissolution time of CuO in plating solution. X-ray diffraction (XRD) scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) were used to characterize the prepared CuO. Solder shock and reflow tests were carried out to examine the Cu deposits.

All aspects of the prepared CuO meet the demands of printed circuit board (PCB) industry.

A simple and convenient technology was presented to produce the electronic-grade CuO. A new method was proposed to determine the dissolution time of CuO in plating solution.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with exceptional mechanical, thermal and electrical properties are considered to be ideal for reinforcing high-performance structures. The interfacial stresses between the CNTs and surrounding matrix are important phenomena which critically govern the mechanical properties of CNTs-reinforced nanocomposites. A number of methods have been proposed to investigate the stress transfer across the CNT/matrix interface, such as experimental measurement and molecular dynamics (MDs). Experimental tests are difficulty and expensive. MDs simulations, on the other hand, are computationally inefficient. The purpose of this paper is to present a reasonably simplified model. Incorporating the simplified model, the analytical expressions of the interface stresses including the shear stress and longitudinal normal stress are obtained.

The analytical model consists of two concentric cylinders, namely a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) cylinder and a matrix cylinder, as the representative volume element (RVE). The interfacial stress analysis is performed using the shear lag model for the axisymmetric RVE. Analytical solutions for the normal stresses in the SWCNT and matrix, and the interfacial shear stress across the SWCNT/matrix interface are obtained. The proposed model has a great ability to theoretical prediction of the stress transfer between the matrix and CNTs.

In order to demonstrate the simulation capabilities of the proposed model, parametric studies are conducted to investigate the effects of the volume fraction of SWCNT and matrix modulus on the stress transfer. The axial stress in the matrix is decreasing with the increase of the volume fraction and decrease of the matrix modulus. As a result of more loads can be transferred to the SWCNT for a large volume fraction and small matrix modulus. These results show that using a large volume fraction and a small matrix modulus improves the efficiency of the stress transfer from the matrix to the CNTs.

A simple but accurate model using a simplified 2D RVE for characterizing the stress transfer in CNT-reinforced nanocomposites is presented. The predictions from the current method compare favourably with those by existing experimental, analytical and computational studies. The simple and explicit expressions of the interfacial stresses provide valuable analysis tools accessible to practical users.

Following the upheavals of the revolutionary era, the People's Republic of China's consumer culture is somewhat over 20 years old. This research aims at discovering and thus better understanding what Chinese consumers value most among their possessions. In turn, this finding should help better understand the contemporary Chinese culture.

The general research approach utilized in this effort is qualitative. All data were collected through at‐home, in‐depth personal interviews, following established guidelines outlined by Lincoln and Guba, and Wallendorf and Belk. A snowball sampling resulted in the participation of 20 rural and 20 urban households.

Participants' demographic profile ended up matching well the national profile in terms of income, and the gender and age make‐up of the rural and urban samples were not significantly different. Four categories emerged to comprehensively represent all the favorite products identified by the participants: entertainment, functional, hedonic, and mementos. In addition, a numerically significant number of participants could neither think of a favorite product nor possess one. As developed in the paper, conventional typologies, such as Hofstede and Triandis' collectivism‐individualism do not account well for the results observed in this study. Rather, the study turns towards Lu's research and suggestion that using instruments developed by Western cultures suffer from methodological defects when applied to Chinese behaviors. This research then defines the Yi, a Confucian value related to benevolence, morality, righteousness, and the Li, a Mohist/Legalist value related to utilitarianism and profit, and suggests that the two better help understand the findings and support observations.

The nature of qualitative research clearly limits the generalization of its findings, and therefore to offer more definitive results, future efforts would have to consider other methods. Also, and while great care is taken to ensure the validity of the data collection process, there is always the possibility that some respondents may not have been as candid or truthful as would be hoped. However, and altogether, findings from this research do match well what public media have often been reporting, and what frequent casual observations point out.

China's contemporary culture is rapidly changing, somehow breaking away from traditions, yet retaining core values and reshaping them with modern, sometimes alien inputs. This research clearly indicates what motivates the younger generations, raised in a nation governed by an all‐controlling Communist party that orchestrates an openly capitalistic, materialistic societal development. Such apparent contradictions, the result of “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics,” may be puzzling to some in the Western world but are not so with today's Chinese consumers.

This research is unique in its topic and research approach, given that it deals with Chinese consumers, the largest block of consumers in the world. It offers a perspective, not yet considered within the marketing and consumer research literature, that seems to explain well what is observed.

The proportional distribution of social labor is a general law governing human social and economic activities, also a law discovered by Marxist political economy that governs socialist economic operations and development based on public ownership.

This law draws on Marx's vision of future society, but how it is adopted is not only subject to the way a country's economy interacts but also to the influence of a country's historical and cultural traditions. Generations of the CPC and state leaders since Mao Zedong have made unremitting explorations for its application.

As socialism with Chinese characteristics enters a new era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core adheres to the standpoints, viewpoints and methods of Marxist political economy, draws from the splendid Chinese traditional culture that values integrity, peace and harmony of all, builds on the reality of China's socialist market economy development, has summed up the features of socialist economy development with Chinese characteristics, and has proposed the five-sphere integrated plan, the four-pronged comprehensive strategy.

The new development concept of “innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and sharing” for socialism with Chinese characteristics, all reflecting the Party's deepening understanding of coordinated development, the gradual formation of the general thought and policy methods of the country's economic regulations based on the coordination and balance of economic structure, the continuous explorations to open a new chapter of contemporary Marxist political economy, China's experience and wisdom, and the Party's confidence in the theories it applies, the road it takes, its system and its culture. The coordination and balance of economic structure are a major theoretical innovation of socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

China is a fast‐growing economy, and many multinational companies (MNCs) have found their ways to infiltrate that market. The competition among the MNCs has generated human resource management (HRM) problems. When formulating approaches in dealing with these problems, the expatriate management of the MNCs often “speak for” their local employees, as if the latter has no voice of its own. It is suspected that MNCs know partly what their local employees value. With such limited understanding, the former may be ineffective in managing their local staff. The purpose of this paper is to report a study that explores the HRM problems from local employees' perspectives. To understand Chinese employees, the conceptual lens, stemmed from Chinese philosophical traditions instead of that derived from western experience, is used.

Data were collected through semi‐structured interviews with Chinese employees working in MNCs.

The findings suggest that “asymmetrical understanding” exists between expatriate managers and their Chinese employees, and that the former may know much less about the latter than it is normally assumed.

The findings, illustrated through interviews, have shed light on how MNCs could manage their Chinese employees, and how a meaningful dialogue could take place: understanding the other (Chinese employees) on their own intellectual ground to overcome “asymmetrical understanding”.

By allowing the voice of the other to come forth rather than to keep it in the background as, at best, a whisper, the study helps create a platform for a meaningful cross‐cultural dialogue between voices from the west and the other.