a School of Economics, Central University of Finance and Economics

　　b National School of Development, Peking University

　　Abstract: Analyzing the reasons for the lag in urbanization and the persistent widening of the urban- rural income gap in China from the viewpoint of government development strategy, we find that the government’s strategy of encouraging the development of capital-intensive sectors has resulted in a relative fall in labor demand in urban areas and thus delayed the progress of urbanization, hampered the effective transfer of the rural population into urban areas and widened the urban-rural income gap. Using the technology choice index (TCI) to measure the degree to which government policy is biased towards capital-intensive sectors, this paper conducts empirical tests of a series of theoretical hypotheses on the basis of Chinese provincial panel data for 1978-2008. We further find that changes in China’s urban-rural income gap conform to a U-curve pattern, i.e. in the course of economic development, the income gap first decreases then increases.

　　Keywords: development strategy, heavy industry, urbanization, urban-rural income gap

　　2.Accurate Understanding of China’s Income, Consumption and Investment 

　　Xu Xianchun

　　National Bureau of Statistics of China

　　Abstract: This study elaborates on the differences between resident disposable income in the flow of funds table and in the household survey; between household consumption in expenditure-based GDP and in the household survey; and between gross fixed capital formation in expenditure-based GDP and total fixed asset investment in the whole country as shown in investment statistics, from the point of view of their basic concepts and purposes, scope of specifications, data sources, calculation methods and data presentation. We show that the household survey somewhat underestimates household income and consumption, while investment statistics somewhat overestimate total investment in fixed assets. This does not, however, directly affect the accurate understanding of such major economic structures as the structure of the distribution of Chinese nationals’ disposable income among households, enterprises and government, the structure of final demand, etc.

　　Keywords: household disposable income, household consumption, gross fixed capital formation, fixed asset investment

　　3.Corporate Governance and Firm Performance: A Sociological Analysis Based on Chinese Experience* 

　　Yang Dian

　　Institute of Sociology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

　　Abstract: Based on the 1997-2007 panel data of 676 listed companies and in-depth interviews with the senior executives, independent directors, fund managers and securities analysts of these companies, this paper tries to analyze the relationship between corporate governance and firm performance from a sociological perspective. The results show that the relationship between corporate governance and firm performance in the Chinese institutional environment is sharply different from the predictions of the agency theory. The empirical findings from China lend strong support to the new institutional argument that “best” corporate governance practices are socially “constructed” by various social forces and interests groups in specific social,political and cultural contexts, and how “good” a corporate governance practice is depends to a large extent on whether it fits in with the institutional environment in which it is embedded. There exists no universally “best” model of corporate governance across the world. Our empirical sociological study based on Chinese experience offers new perspectives and evidence for deconstructing the global myth of corporate governance.

　　Keywords: corporate governance, firm performance, neo-institutionalism, agency theory, property rights theory

　　4.The Hidden Logic of Japan’s Foreign Wars: 1592-1945 

　　Han Dongyu

　　School of History and Culture, Northeast Normal University

　　Abstract:From 1592 to 1945, Japan conducted a series of military incursions in East Asia, including the invasion of Korea of 1592-1598, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and the Japanese War of Aggression against China of the 1930s-1940s. The tone of this series of aggressive actions was set by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was continued in the Meiji Restoration and magnified in the

　　Showa era, crystallizing into a pervading pattern of thought and action hiding behind the facts. Those post-World War II views that propose to cut the connections among these wars launched by Japan do not conform to the way Japanese said and behaved in the past but merely endorse some contemporary Japanese academic opinions. Therefore, exploring the facts and hidden logic linking these wars and restoring the original attributes of each regional war may be of benefit to fundamental studies and realistic concerns about Eastern Asian issues.

　　Keywords: Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Japanese Aggression against China in the 1930s-1940s, Korea, Japan

　　5.Neural Mechanisms of Trace in Chinese Topicalized Constructions* 

　　Yang Yiminga and Liu Taob

　　a and b School of Language Science, Jiangsu Normal University

　　Abstract:Trace theory is a very important linguistic hypothesis within the framework of Generative Grammar. But whether the theory is correct, namely whether the assumed empty trace exists in syntactic representation, must be verified by experiments concerning the neural mechanisms of language. On the basis of Generative Grammar, the current study uses event- related potentials (ERP) to examine the neural mechanism of trace in Chinese topicalized constructions. The results show that three types of waves (a sustained negativity, a negativity elicited by the verb and a P600 elicited at the sentence-final position) are observed in the processing of Chinese topicalized constructions. These neural electrophysiological indexes indicate that the sentence-initial topic does leave a trace in the position out of which it moves, i.e. the sentence-final position, suggesting that there is a syntactic dependency between the topic and its trace. Consequently, we draw the conclusion that trace is neurologically supported in Chinese topicalized constructions and trace theory isneurophysiologically viable. Meanwhile, the study also adds neural evidence to the view that Chinese topicalized constructions are structures derived from syntactic movement.

　　Keywords: trace, topicalized construction, neural mechanism, event-related potentials

　　Special Issue: Reconstructing the Genealogy of Confucianism: Xun Zi’s Thought and His Historical Image 

　　Editorial Advisor: Kang XianggeChinese Editor: Chao Tianyi

　　Introduction* 

　　Kang Xiangge

　　Handan College

　　6.Xun Zi Holds That Human Nature Is Simple and Uncarved, Not Evil 

　　Zhou Chicheng

　　School of Politics and Administration, South China Normal University

　　Abstract:For more than two thousand years, the chapter of the Xunzi titled “Man’s Nature Is Evil” has labeled Xun Zi as a representative of the doctrine that human nature is originally evil. In fact, Xun Zi holds to a belief in human nature as originally simple and “uncarved.” The ideas of human nature in that chapter conflict with those in the other chapters including“Discourse on Ritual Principles,” “An Exhortation to Learning,” “Discourse on Nature,” “On the Correct Use of Names” and “Of Honor and Disgrace.” According to these chapters,human nature is not evil, but simple and uncarved; its good or evil is undetermined, it may become either good or evil, etc. Furthermore, we can find other evidence, such as the sayings of Xun Zi’s disciples, the Records of the Grand Historian, the doctrines of human nature in the Western Han dynasty, and so on, for the statement that Xun Zi holds that human nature is simple and uncarved.

　　Keywords: man’s original nature as simple and uncarved, man’s original nature as evil, Xun Zi

　　7.Li as a Way to Order: The Intellectual Characteristics and Historical Role of Xun Zi’s Theory of Li 

　　Masayuki Sato

　　Department of Philosophy, National Taiwan University

　　Abstract:To illustrate the overall content and historical significance of Xun Zi’s political philosophy, this paper proceeds as follows. First, it reviews previous research on ideas of li　(ritual and social norms) and discusses why Xun Zi’s theory of li has been undervalued. Second, it briefly introduces my earlier study of this issue, The Confucian Quest for Order: The Origin and Formation of the Political Thought of Xun Zi. Third, it proposes an analytical framework that highlights the intellectual characteristics and historical role of li in the Xunzi.This framework analyzes li in the broad sense, differentiating between the theory of li, li as an institution and li as a way to the restoration of order. Fourth, it describes some intellectual characteristics of the Xunzi’s theory of li as a way to order. Based on these discussions, this paper argues that Xun Zi’s theory of li as a way to order is a political philosophy with a broad vision which goes beyond the framework of a single dynasty or state to cover the history and modes of existence of human society as a whole.

　　Keywords: Xun Zi, li, theory of li, li as a way to order

　　8.Can Xun Zi’s Proposition on “Establishing Ritual Practices in Accord with Qing” Be Validated?* 

　　Li Chenyang

　　Central Washington University

　　Abstract:Wang Guowei expressed doubts about Xun Zi’s proposition on “establishing ritual practices in accord with qing,” arguing that it was in direct conflict with the philosopher’s famous thesis that “human natural tendency is evil.” The word qing (情) has several connotations in the Xunzi: it may refer to factual truth (实情), sincerity (诚实) or emotions(情感). Readers of the Xunzi tend to view the emotional connotation of qing in a negative light, but in actuality qing as human emotions can also be understood in a commendatory or neutral sense in the Xunzi. I argue that Xun Zi’s proposition on “establishing ritual practices in accord with qing” can only be consistent with his view that “human natural tendency is evil” when qing is used in the neutral sense. In other words, “establishing ritual practices in accord with qing” means to establish, on the basis of actual circumstances, ritual practices and rules that adequately satisfy people’s normal feelings. Xun Zi’s propositionon “establishing ritual practices in accord with qing” can be validated within his own philosophical framework.

　　Keywords: qing (emotions/factual truth), xing (human natural tendency ), li (ritual propriety), establishing ritual practices in accord with qing

　　9.Xun Zi’s Image across the Qin-Han Period: Three Types of Discourse on a “Great Confucian” and Their Significance in Intellectual History 

　　Wu Zhenxun

　　Department of Chinese Literature, National Taiwan University

　　Abstract:This article scrutinizes three texts about Xun Zi written during the Qin-Han period: the final part of “The Questions of Yao” in the Xunzi, a rebuttal by one of Xun Zi’s disciples of the idea that Xun Zi was inferior to Confucius; “Mencius and Xun Zi” by Sima Qian in his Records of the Grand Historian; and the Annotated Book of the Xunzi by Liu Xiang. We explore the images of Xun Zi as a great Confucian (大儒) that emerge from these texts, as well as their authors’ motives for writing. These texts are understood within three contexts: first, the self-identification of a Confucian; second, the dispute between Confucianism and Daoism; and lastly, the distinction between the classics and the annals and biographies. Due to their different discourse environments, Xun Zi’s great Confucian image project a different significance in each: in one, he is a model of action who can act in accordance with perfected morality; in another, he is a model of “private words,” who can counter the philosophers of his day and become the teacher of kings; and finally, he is a model of “official learning,”able to use his knowledge of the classics in practical statecraft and elucidate the kingly Way. Overall, these three texts represent three types of discourse on a great Confucian. At thesame time, they also exhibit their writers’ consciousness of their times and their views of the genealogy of daotong, or transmission of the Way; hence their significance for intellectual history.

　　Keywords: image of Xun Zi, discourse on a great Confucian, Xun Zi, Sima Qian, Liu Xiang

　　10.The Baoxun Bamboo Manuscript of Tsinghua University and Confucian Daotong Revisited: With a Discussion of Xun Zi’s Status in Daotong 

　　Liang Tao

　　Tsinghua Academy of Chinese Learning, Tsinghua University

　　Abstract:Through the stories of Shun and Shangjia Wei, the Baoxun bamboo manuscript expresses the Confucian political idea of zhongdao (中道 the middle way). Early Confucians had a strong sense of propagating the dao (道 the Way), but they kept an open mind as to how it was to be understood, which was very different from the later doctrine of daotong (道统 the tradition of the Way). Although ancient China possessed a long and continuous intellectual tradition of zhong (中 center, middle, etc.), a tradition that gave rise to a series of concepts such as zhongzheng (中正 being fair and upright), zhongyong (中庸 the principle of the Mean) and zhonghe (中和 being central and harmonious), zhong actually originated from ancient religious rituals and was an important category of the ancient study of li (礼 rites or ritual). After Confucius, it was Xun Zi who was the true heir to the tradition of zhong in all its fullness. The Confucian daotong is the combination of the tradition of ren (仁 benevolence) and that of li, and the Confucian dao or Way refers to the Way of becoming a sage within and a king without.

　　Keywords: Baoxun, zhong, daotong, renyi-zhong, liyi-zhong, Confucius, Mencius, Xun Zi