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Table of Content

    15 May 2012, Volume 29 Issue 3
    Articles
    On China' s Urban Employees'  Basic Endowment Insurance Fund
    ——The Nature, Causes and Solutions for the imbalance of revenue and expenditure of the fund in half of Chinese provinces
    ZHENG Bing-Wen, SUN Yong-Yong
    2012, 29(3):  1-16. 
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    An anomaly in China' s Urban Employees'  Basic Endowment Insurance System lies in the fact that in half of China' s provinces, enterprises would be experiencing revenue expenditure imbalance when financial subsidy is deducted from the basic endowment insurance fund despite ever greater payment power due to rapid fund increase. The great difference among provinces in financial situation can be explained in terms of historical liabilities, system maintenance rate, economic development level, and spatial distribution of labor mobility. Overall planning of the fund at the national level would be the ultimate solution for this asymmetry in half of China' s provinces. It would help to cover current payment shortfall in 14 provinces because the shortfall can be "internalized" by the rapid increase and unprecedentedly strong payment power of the fund itself. However, overall planning at the national level might entail moral hazard and adverse choice, thus incurring major financial risks for the endowment insurance system. That is why planning at the county or city level remains the standard practice while provinciallevel planning is implemented only in four to five provinces. Based on this understanding, the imbalance in half of China's provinces can only be redressed with financial transfer payment, which would result in steady increase of the insurance fund on the one hand, and low investment return for the financial capital on the other, due to the outmoded investment system and low rate of return. Therefore, it is urgent to reform the investment system of the endowment insurance fund.

    Redefining Cinema: The Embodied Experience and Phenomenology of Film
    SUN Chao-Yi
    2012, 29(3):  17-30. 
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    Based on a critical reading and evaluation of the development of contemporary phenomenological film theory that to a large extent redefines the nature of cinema, film narrative, cinematic experience, and the relationship between moving images and the audience, this article aims to highlight the intimate and immediate relationship between the concepts of embodiment, tactility, bodily sensorium and digital moving images. The author contends that, after the waning of Grand Theory in film studies at the turn of the new century, phenomenology of film not only provides us a fresh and worthexploring approach to a redefinition of cinema, thus affords us the opportunity to have a more nuanced and sophisticated understanding of cinema as a 19th century "old medium," but also breaks the theoretical impasse after Grand Theory in film studies has been challenged from many directions. This line of thinking about cinema could be further extended to our critical analysis and understanding of digital "new media" environment, even of contemporary social and cultural transformation, where humanimage interfacing is ubiquitous, and our everyday life is increasingly defined by our interactions with a variety of digital screens.

    A Literature Review on Cantonese Film Studies in Hong Kong
    CHEN Xi-He, TAN Jie
    2012, 29(3):  31-46. 
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    As an important component of HongKong films, Cantonese films, which thrived in the 1950s and 1960s, have received much criticalattention from scholars interested in films produced in this region. The paper is to reviewCantonese film studies in Hong Kong to shed light on its course of development, reserarchmethodologies, results and major critical trends.

    History of Chinese Cinema: Its Conception and Related Issues
    ——A Historical Perspective of Film Studies
    JI Wei
    2012, 29(3):  47-55. 
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    Published in 1963, coedited and coauthored by Cheng Jihua, Li Shaobai and Xin Zuwen, with Cheng Jihua as the editor in chief, History of Chinese Cinema offers a valuable paradigm for the study of the history of Chinese cinema. The article locates the work in the context of Chinese film studies, and by adopting a historical perspective, seeks to examine how it is conceived, takes shape and is finally brought into publication. It also aims to clarify certain related issues. Narratives and recollections from the parties concerned are included for additional information and insights.

    The Formation of Embedding and Its Function in Narration
    ——A Case study of the Narratives of Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties
    XU Jian-Ping
    2012, 29(3):  56-64. 
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     sequence is formed when the actant' s intention is actualized. Based on the roles the actors play in the narration, the sequences can be divided into major intention sequence and secondary intention sequence. Embedding refers to the insertion of the intention sequence of secondary roles into the intention sequence of major roles. Embedding occurs when either the major intention sequence or the narrator' s intention is absent or when both are both absent. As the actant of the embedded sequence might be the helper or the opponent of the actant of major sequence, the intention of the former either accords with or differs from that of the latter. Hence, the direction of the narrative is unpredictable. Embedding employed in ancient Chinese narratives has its own national features, which are conditioned by the imagistic mode of thinking in ancient China.

    Implication of Ma Yifu' s Poetics for Contemporary Chinese Poetics Studies
    GAO Ying-Gang
    2012, 29(3):  65-72. 
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    A representative of the early NeoConfucianism, Ma Yifu' s poetics has, on the one hand, inherited from the Chinese tradition and, on the other hand, drawn on the realistic influence of modern Western scholarship. His poetics, which depends on but surpasses tradition, has absorbed the essence of both eastern and western poetics. As a result, it has profound implications for contemporary Chinese poetics studies on such realistic problems as the discipline conception, research methodology, and its research morphology.

    Research on the Zha Family's Poetesses of Haining in Qing Dynasty
    ——Data from the Rare Manuscript Collected Poems of the Zha Family in Haichang
    JIN Wen-Kai
    2012, 29(3):  73-83. 
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    The Zha Family of Haining city, Zhejiang province in Qing Dynasty is a wellknown literary family, whose female members are also active and successful in poetry writing. Their poetic themes are not restricted to traditional women matters but cover the wider areas of nature and society, achieve new advancement in the depth and broadness of emotional expression, as well as show the awakening of feminine self consciousness and their concern about masses' sufferings. Their writing styles are delicate and graceful, frequently attached with vigorous tonevariations. Like the male poets in the family who are represented by Zha Shenxing, their poems are characteristic with succinct description and expressive depiction of dynamic scenes. The poems of the Zha Family's Poetesses are rich of cultural significance and academic value in the sense that they supply abundant materials and important manuscripts for studies on the creative features, social functions and cultural roles of female poetry writing in Qing Dynasty.

    On Poe’s Racial Views
    CHENG Qing-Hua
    2012, 29(3):  84-95. 
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    Sympathetic to the plight of black slaves, Edgar Allan Poe voices his strong criticism of slavery and racism through the skillful use of metaphors and symbols in his narratives. However, as a Southern writer deeply influenced by the southern conservatism, Poe shuns a radical stance on racial issues that might offend the white readers and also get him embroiled in the political turmoil of the age; he embraces instead a racial equalitarianism that would be acceptable to both the black and white communities. Hence, the author envisions in his works an ideal world of racial equality and perfect harmony.

    Consumerist Values in Shanghai in the 1930s
    ——Based on the Reviews published in Shen Bao Newspaper
    XIN Ping, FENG Xiao
    2012, 29(3):  96-103. 
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    The 1930s is a decade of both economic boom and social unrest for Shanghai. Responsive to the disturbing changes, Shen Bao, known in English as Shanghai News, published many commentaries and reviews on an emergent consumerist style that emphasized extravagant spending. As the consuming pattern was more typical with the middle and upper classes, such discussions had little impact on this trend. However, they manifested a new sensitivity to the changing manners and mores. Many of these discussions suggested practicing thrift while promoting production as a way to cope with the crises. But as the enterprises were eager to seek immediate profits, thus contributing to the "abnormal prosperity", the government, despite its strong efforts to advocate thrift, was unable to change the prevailing values and to discourage an irrational economic boom in Shanghai.

    On the Dynamic Relations among the Sticky price Monetary Policy, the Stock Price and the Macro Economy
    WANG Guo-Song
    2012, 29(3):  104-115. 
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    Under the condition of price stickiness, both the money quantity model including financial asset exchange and the interest rate transmission channel in the monetary policy demonstrate the mechanism that the stock price moves prior to the economic growth and inflation. The cointegration test based on the national monthly statistics shows that during 1999 and 2010, there existed a longterm Cointegrated Relation between China's inflation and economic growth, the stock price and the monetary policy. The SVARmodel variance decomposition shows that China' s inflation fluctuation is mainly caused by the impact of stock price and the impact of broad money (m2). The inflation shock explains about 20% of the actual economic growth, but the contribution rate of money supply shock on the stock price fluctuation is higher. In order to improve the proactivity and effectiveness of the monetary policy and to maintain the prices and economic growth at a stable level, close attention should be paid to the stock price fluctuation and quick responses should be made in accordance when making the monetary policy.

    Theorizing on Urban Safety and Risk Control System: with Insights from Shanghai Expo
    RONG Zhi
    2012, 29(3):  116-128. 
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    To manage urban risks which are often complex and likely to go out of control, it is highly necessary to establish integrated and highlyeffective risk control system and public security management system so that emergency response and postaccident management would give way to the proactive public risk management system. The concentration of materials in modern superlarge city and its vulnerability add to the difficulty of public safety management. The public safety management system of "integrating seven parties into one" practiced during the course of Shanghai Expo focused on risk prevention, and has been proved very effective. The successful experience of Shanghai Expo helps to better understand the features and developmental tendency of public safety management in superlarge cities and also provides research insights for optimizing urban risk control system and upgrading public safety management system.

    On Puns
    ZHAO Yi, HUA Yong
    2012, 29(3):  129-140. 
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    As one of the most frequently used rhetorical devices, puns have long been studied extensively. However, earlier discussions have disproportionally focused on the definition and categorization of puns, leaving much room for further exploration, particularly in terms of rhetorical functions and mechanisms of pun generation. Studies in this direction may benefit from traditional Chinese literary theories, philosophy and aesthetics, as well as modern linguistics. The "Humor" and "Euphemism" in the ancient literary theory and the "Economy Principle" in modern linguistics have both shed light on the function of puns. Regarding pun generation, the concepts of "gentleness and sincerity" and "sublime words with deep meaning" derived from the Confucian thought of "the golden mean" provide philosophical and aesthetic foundation whereas numerous homophonic and multisemic expressions serve as the linguistic foundation.