Table of Content

15 November 2021, Volume 38 Issue 6

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Social Governance: Problems and Regulation of Algorithm Bias in the Age of AI

YUE Ping, MIAO Yue

2021, 38(6):  1-11. 

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The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data has ushered us into a society of algorithm. Algorithm has penetrated into every aspect of social economy, life and management. However, algorithm is not an absolutely objective and neutral technology. The  bias and problems generated during algorithm operations are essentially the reflections of social prejudices in the age of AI. These bias and problems cause harm to the society, infringing on the right of equality, privacy and posing threats and even damage to data security. Therefore, instead of being confined to the “technological utopia” in algorithms, we should get a better understanding of where algorithm bias are generated and what legal and factual risks they will bring about so as to reduce their hazards on social order given their uncertainties. It is necessary to construct a risk prevention and control system of law and comprehensive governance in time, thus bringing the prevention and control of algorithm bias into regular social governance system.

The Private Law Approach to Algorithmic Regulation

LIU Ying, WANG Jiawei

2021, 38(6):  12-32. 

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The black box state of the algorithm conceals and solidifies unequal social power structure, resulting in runaway problems such as algorithm discrimination. The private law approach to algorithm regulation is to clarify the rights and obligations between the algorithm controller and the data subjects, so as to protect individuals from the discipline of the algorithm. The premise of private law regulation is that the algorithm should be recognized as a tool, and the controller (developer) behind it should be responsible for the consequences of the algorithm getting out of control. Algorithm decision-making is inseparable from data. The root of the algorithm’s runaway problem lies in the data collected by the algorithm controller. As data subjects, individuals have the right of personality for personal information (data), while the algorithm controller provides services to obtain the right to use. The legal relationship between the two should be interpreted as a fiduciary relationship. Under the framework of fiduciary duty, the algorithm controller has the duty of diligence, loyalty and information disclosure. After clarifying the obligations of the algorithm controller, we should look for the tools to regulate the algorithm in the spectrum of rights in private law, including establishing personal information rights of data subjects and consolidating privacy rights.



Multimodality and Smartphone Films: Envisaging Visual Anthropology 3.0 Version

BAO Jiang

2021, 38(6):  33-42. 

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Combing the history of visual anthropology from the screen perspective, we build a tripartite model of version 1.0, version 2.0 and version 3.0. Visual anthropology version 1, the first phase of its academic history, dates back to the 1950s when cinema screens as first electronic audio-visual screens presented visual anthropological works. The second phase of the academic history of visual anthropology, version 2.0, began in the 1970s during which television screens gained gradual popularity and professional teaching and research institutions of visual anthropology boomed as a result. Viewing from the present and looking into the future, we predict that the third phase of the academic history of visual anthropology, the 3.0 version, should be regarded as a time when phone screens are used as the carriers of presentation. Between visual anthropology version 2.0 and 3.0 is a computer-based DV phase, lasting from 1995 to this day. The DV phase can be considered as a threshold period, which connects the past with the future.



Transcending Cultural Spaces: The Strategy of Holistic Expression of Cultures in Festival Video Ethnography

WANG Haifei, ZHANG Liyuan

2021, 38(6):  43-55. 

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As a special form of ethnographic text, video ethnography has advantages in detailed description of cultures. Traditional video ethnography has an edge in offering a detailed partial elaboration of a culture in a specific situation, but it is confined to the linear video recording of the “visible” world. In recent years, festival video ethnography, an important subcategory, aims at a description of cultural systems behind festivals through long-term field work under the guidance of related theories such as visual anthropology. Through the production of the festival video ethnography of The Winter Solstice in the Jinyi Valley, we tried to get rid of the presentation structures confined to the linear time sequence in real spaces, a practice adhered to by traditional video ethnography. In this way, the interpretation and expression of the cultural system were untethered from the scenes and the “invisible” world was revealed. Accordingly, we were able to transcend and shuttle freely through different levels of cultural spaces. The experience is a case of multimodal video ethnography production which may present new opportunities and directions of development for the discipline and push forward holistic expression of cultures in video ethnography.


Transcending Cultural Spaces: The Strategy of Holistic Expression of Cultures in Festival Video Ethnography

WANG Xin, HUANG Haoyu

2021, 38(6):  56-67. 

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As cultural fields where multiple discourses and ideologies compete, historical films provide a “mirror of images” to reflect social problems from a cultural perspective. Each time a historical text is rewritten, it means a change or reshaping of the discourse ecology and cultural system. The problem of race, deeply rooted in the history of the founding and development of the United States, has been extended into different narrative texts by movies and TV programs in different historical eras which in turn reflects the changes in the direction and attitudes of racial politics in American society. By examining the changes in the narrative discourse of American historical films through a contrast between different video texts representing the same historical event but produced in different eras, the paper concludes that the racial turn in American historical films is not only the result of the intensification of racial conflicts, but also an intervention in reality with different articulation strategies which have directed ethnic minorities to fight for equal rights and constantly shaped the topography of American racial politics with video discourses.
Key words：  historical film; racial politics; cultural identity; discourse; articulation theory


Market Spillover Effect of Auditor Penalty

REN Yongping, XU Mengqi

2021, 38(6):  68-83. 

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Based on the incidents of administrative penalties imposed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission on auditors and CPA firms from 2001 to 2018, this article uses event research and regression analysis to study whether administrative penalties affect the stock prices of audited customers other than the company involved and how they affect it. The study found that: when the auditor (and CPA firm) punishment incident occurred, the capital market made significant negative reactions to the audit clients of the penalized auditors, the audit clients of the same group of colleagues, and the audit clients of colleagues in the same CPA firm.This paper even observed the negative market reactions of other companies in the industry involved in the case, which more fully confirms the market spillover effect of auditor penalties. The study also found that: the market spillover effect caused by the punishment decays as the connection with the penalized auditor decreases, which has the pattern of difference sequence; the degree of the market spillover effect is affected by the punishment intensity of CPA firm and the nature of the client's property rights. This study has brought warnings to the practice of auditors and the selection of auditors, and has enlightening significance for auditor supervision departments and the development of the CPA industry.



Research on the Welfare Governance Logic in Governmental Purchase of Public Services

TONG Feng, XU Lin, CHEN Rui

2021, 38(6):  84-94. 

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The financial austerity caused by economic crises in welfare states after World War II gave rise to welfare governance. However, the system that relied too much on the government to provide generous welfare proved to be hardly sustainable. Studies have shown that in the process of rebuilding the welfare supply, each participating subject has the right and responsibility to promote its own risk-resisting ability and improve welfare supply through welfare governance. Against such backgrounds, however, welfare dilemmas arose when local governments purchased public services in government-subsidized housing areas, caused by specific community type requirements for both subsidy and governance and other complex objective factors. Taking the H government-subsidized housing area in N city as a typical case, we made an investigation through data collection and screening of interviewees, finding that other problems followed the government’s purchase of public services. For instances, community organizations were confronted with the supply-demand gap; public service projects proved to be hardly sustainable. In view of this, we conducted further in-depth discussions and analysis in the hope of providing useful reference to China’s current welfare governance.



On Regulation of Cross-border Flow of Personal Financial Data

LIN Jie, TIAN Chen

2021, 38(6):  95-107. 

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 With the deep integration of digital technology and financial services, the cross-border flow of personal financial data has become an irreversible trend. Extraterritorial data legislation attempts to seek balance between the freedom of cross-border flow of personal financial data and the protection of personal financial data. China’s personal financial data has experienced a shift from absolute localization requirements to conditional cross-border flow. The regulation of cross-border flow of personal financial data faces multiple difficulties: the norms of cross-border flow of personal financial data are not clear and unified; the security review does not take into considerations the financial industrial factors; and it is hard for China to exert influence on the formulation of its international rules. To further improve the regulation of cross-border flow of personal financial data, it is essential to move “forward” by establishing dynamic values of personal financial data, refining specific regulatory measures and building differentiated regulatory models for different scenarios of cross-border flow of personal financial data, and retreat “back” by identifying different legal interests concerned and actively seeking and exploring comprehensive and diversified paths to the protection of personal financial data under the current framework of legal system.



Virtual Property: Legal Attribute and Criminal Law Protection

XIAO Zhike

2021, 38(6):  108-118. 

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Despite stipulations about virtual property in Civil Code, there are still disputes about the legal attribute of virtual property in theory. In essence, the civil law provisions of virtual property only have declarative significance. In other words, the problem of legal attributes of virtual property has not been fundamentally solved by the legislative subject who still needs to make specific identification according to practical needs. From the perspective of criminal law, how to understand virtual property, especially the relationship between electronic data and virtual property, is undoubtedly of great significance in judicial application. After the stipulation of the crime of illegally obtaining computer system information and data in the Seventh Amendment to the Criminal Law, the characterization of illegally obtaining virtual property has aroused controversy in the theoretical circle. As far as virtual property is concerned, it needs to be differentiated according to its content, so as to provide reasonable judgment for the judicial subject to accurately understand its attributes. At present, it is also necessary for the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate to issue judicial interpretations or guiding cases to explain the judicial significance of virtual property, so as to provide guidance and reference for the characterization of illegal acquisition of virtual property.



The Face of Animals: Levinas’ Face Theory and Criticism of Ecological Ethics 

WANG Qian

2021, 38(6):  119-129. 

Asbtract ( 1748 )  

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According to Levinas， the Face of the Other as an unlimited self-expression， is prior to and transcends the self， defining the subject’s basic ethic dimensions while transmitting an ethic decree that “thou shalt not kill”. If we follow Levinas’ inclination to further deconstruct the sameness in the light of his theory of the Other and eradicate the remnants of the stand of humanity as the priority， we will come out with the issue of animal face. The reflection on the face of animal is conducive to eliminating the influence of utilitarian ecological ethics in which animals are perceived in the interest of mankind and making up for the weaknesses of ecological holism ethics which often ignore the differences in specific living situations. In this way， it may enable ecological ethics to shift from the thinking perspective of “Self-Other” to that of “Other- Self-Other” and from intervention mode which humans endow non-humans with ethical positions to the deconstruction mode which advocate minimum human intervention. Meanwhile， it may facilitate  the establishment of an ecological ethics that is based on an ecological aesthetics aiming at cultivating people’s good sensibility. 



Merging Dream into Flowers —The Theme of Flowers in Odilon Redon’s Symbolist Paintings

LI Mengdie FANG Yingmin

2021, 38(6):  130-138. 

Asbtract ( 1727 )  

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Odilon Redon was a leader of French Symbolist painting in the late 19th century. Merging dream into flowers is an important artistic device to create images in Redon’s works. With his unique life experience and painting language, Redon established a “secret kinship” between the subject and the object, which is of special and universal significance to Symbolist Aesthetics. Viewed from the history of flower painting, Redon created a new type of abstract flowers different from realistic or ideographic flowers by reactivating realism and advancing impressionism, thus enriching the aesthetic types of flower painting.