Category Archives: Media

Rule of law: one term, two characters, many meanings

Article written by Cary Huang and published by the South China Morning Post on November 10th, 2014.

President Xi Jinping called for it, the Communist Party endorsed it and the country’s judicial system is to be governed by it but there is still no consensus on how it should be rendered in English.

At the end of the annual gathering of the party’s elite last month, leaders backed Xi’s push to promote fazhi – a concept officially translated as “rule of law”. But others argue that the term is better translated as “rule by law” or “rule through law” to drive home the point that whatever the changes to the system, the law is not something unto itself – it’s there to serve the party.

Please click here to read the rest of the article (restricted access): http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1635985/rule-law-one-term-two-characters-many-meanings

Miguel Elosua

Spanish qualified lawyer; PhD in Chinese Law. UrbaChina Research Officer. Has lived in China since 2006.

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Urban heroes

Captura de pantalla 2014-07-17 a las 22.00.09

It’s becoming very rare to read about heroic citizens helping out victims in the midst of an aggression. In many Western cities, aggressors act with impunity, perhaps due to increasing judicial leniency, perhaps because aggressions are more and more violent and examples of acts of heroism ending badly abound.

Therefore, I was surprised to learn about this brave 64-year-old Shanghainese bank cleaner, Gu Jinfang, who did not hesitate for a second to wield her mop at a 35-year-old thief, in order to help capturing him. The burglar had run up huge debts betting on the World Cup, and held a hostage with a knife he had just taken from a nearby restaurant. It would be interesting to know about the train of thought or the value system of this amazing woman that led to taking such a bold action against the attacker.

Shanghai is particularly well known for being safe. The concept of a bad neighbourhood should be re-thought altogether since here it has no similarity whatsoever with what we understand by that in the West. On the other hand, Chinese assaulters sometimes remind me of the bicycle thieves in Vittorio De Sica’s masterpiece. One can easily be moved by and have an emotional attachment with the assaulter, especially knowing the kind of punishment that he might receive for such an offense.

To see the news footage on CCTV, please click here: http://news.cntv.cn/2014/07/15/VIDE1405422106010328.shtml

Miguel Elosua

Spanish qualified lawyer; PhD in Chinese Law. UrbaChina Research Officer. Has lived in China since 2006.

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International conference on environment, health, and media

Environment and health are two major issues that affect our well-being. In recent decades, educators, communicators, policy makers, and public health professionals have increasingly recognized the powerful role of the media in our understanding and decision making about environment and health. It shapes us about which environmental issues are important, what kinds of products and services will improve our environment and health status, and which policies will be able to solve environment and health problems. The proposed conference will advance our research frontier on the interplay of media, environment and health choices.

Objectives and Themes

The objectives of the conference are

  • To bring together international scholars, educators and industry practitioners to share ideas about theories and practices to promote responsible environmental and health behaviours
  • To bring different academic disciplines together to share theoretical insights and empirical evidence of current issues in media and health as well as environment. Scholars can represent a variety of disciplines including communication, marketing, anthropology, sociology, psychology, education, environmental science, public health, linguistics, and cultural studies.

Specifically, topics for this conference shall include (but are not restricted to)

  • Environmental news reporting
  • Environmental framing and media discourse
  • Environmental promotion campaigns
  • Food advertising and promotions among adolescents
  • Food and consumer culture
  • Social construction of beauty
  • Culture and health
  • Young people’s media production on health issues
  • Public health campaigns
  • Creativity in health messages
  • Doctor patients communication
  • Media and health education

Organizing Committee (list of members)

  • Prof. Kara Chan (Chair) Department of Communication Studies
  • Dr. Judy Siu (Member)  David C. Lam Institute for East-West Studies
  • Dr. Dong Dong (Member)  David C. Lam Institute for East-West Studies
  • Mr. Lennon Tsang (Member) Department of Communication Studies

Date

January 5-7, 2015

Place

School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University

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Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

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