Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Southern California, 1999. / Adviser: Dominic Cheung. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--The University of Chicago, 1927. / Includes bibliographical references.

In order to maintain itself into the future, the People’s Republic of China undertook in the 1970s a legendary demographic endeavor dealing with the artificial constraint of population growth. The “later, longer, fewer” policy and the more rigid one-child policy were efforts to expedite the demographic transition in the country. The ultimate goal was the stabilization and eventual decline of the population, via fertility at below-replacement levels for an extended period of time. According to the 2000 census, the total fertility rate (TFR) for China was 1.22—well below 2.1, the replacement level of fertility. However, the country’s TFR fluctuated spatially with rates of .86, 1.08, and 1.43, for cities, towns, and rural areas, respectively. Undoubtedly, China’s family planning policy is largely responsible for the nation’s current low fertility, as well as the geographical variation in fertility just mentioned. Research has shown, however, that other factors have played a part in this fertility transition and the subsequent variation at the regional, provincial, and county levels. In keeping with the expectations of demographic transition theory (DTT), quantitative studies conducted over the last twenty years have linked an assortment of socioeconomic factors with China’s fertility decline and nationwide inconsistencies (Birdsall and Jamison 1983; Tien 1984; Poston and Gu 1987; Freedman et al. 1988; Peng 1989; Poston and Jia 1990; Poston 2000). My thesis built on and extended the above work, using the newly available demographic data provided by Census 2000. I tested the efficiency of demographic transition variables in explaining the variation in the TFR among the counties of China by estimating twelve Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression equations. Specifically, I examined the ways in which variables such as ethnicity, agricultural detachment, urbanization, economic conditions, cultural norms and gender differences were related to Chinese fertility in a nationwide analysis and in two region-specific analyses. My results showed rather definitively that demographic transition theory is applicable for predicting and understanding fertility among the counties of China. Irrespective of the nation’s extensive family planning policy, it is apparent that other factors contribute to the varying fertility rates across the country.

In China, the energy technology is the fundamental technology which plays a significant role in China’s boost. Currently, China’s energy technology is in a high-speed development and transformation period when great opportunities and challenges are existing in optimization of energy structure and new energy technology development. In this paper, the achievement the China has obtained in recent years in this area as well as the forthcoming challenges are expounded in four aspects—the basic environment of China’s energy development, development of China’s energy technology, challenges encountered by China’s energy technology development and the system innovation in the energy technology development.

The increase of foreign direct investment in China has resulted in the presence of a number of Western expatriates working in Sino–foreign joint ventures. These expatriate managers have to make things work in absolutely new settings. Therefore, without cross-cultural trainings, they may have very stressful experience in China. Understanding of the Chinese culture and Chinese society may ultimately save much frustration and money. With our thesis therefore we would like to explore how companies manage training processes before sending expatriates to China, and prepare them for further knowledge transfer to the employees in China. This has lead us to the following research question: “How do the Western companies manage process of sending expatriates to China?” The research is based on the experiences of three companies: IKEA, Texol Technical Solutions and NCR and demonstrates possible means that can be engaged by the companies to facilitate adjustment processes of their expatriates in China. The empirical data were gathered from interviews with managers from the mentioned companies. In order to analyze our empirical findings we present literature that was structured as follows: Training in the international context, training in the Chinese context and communication between expatriate and local employees. Both the literature review as well as our empirical data with analysis aspire to provide the reader with an in depth study of the importance of the selection of the right candidates and the provision of trainings, as it can help both to understand the unique Chinese cultural and business characteristics environment as well as effectively and efficiently to operate in China. In our conclusions we present our findings regarding the following issues: support for the expatriates; training of the Chinese employees and importance of communication. Based on our analysis we introduce our recommendations for the three companies, including: Selection of the right candidates, presence of action plans, motivation and incentives, trainings, contact with the company and other expatriates during the assignment and importance of repatriation.

Since the reform and opening up in 1978, China’s economy began to grow at a high speed for thirty years. In 2007, the GDP of China was 24952.99 billion RMB, which was the fourth one in the world. However, under these achievement, China’s economy was still face with some problems, such as the different consumption between rural and urban areas.

In order to maintain itself into the future, the People’s Republic of China undertook in the 1970s a legendary demographic endeavor dealing with the artificial constraint of population growth. The “later, longer, fewer” policy and the more rigid one-child policy were efforts to expedite the demographic transition in the country. The ultimate goal was the stabilization and eventual decline of the population, via fertility at below-replacement levels for an extended period of time. According to the 2000 census, the total fertility rate (TFR) for China was 1.22—well below 2.1, the replacement level of fertility. However, the country’s TFR fluctuated spatially with rates of .86, 1.08, and 1.43, for cities, towns, and rural areas, respectively. Undoubtedly, China’s family planning policy is largely responsible for the nation’s current low fertility, as well as the geographical variation in fertility just mentioned. Research has shown, however, that other factors have played a part in this fertility transition and the subsequent variation at the regional, provincial, and county levels. In keeping with the expectations of demographic transition theory (DTT), quantitative studies conducted over the last twenty years have linked an assortment of socioeconomic factors with China’s fertility decline and nationwide inconsistencies (Birdsall and Jamison 1983; Tien 1984; Poston and Gu 1987; Freedman et al. 1988; Peng 1989; Poston and Jia 1990; Poston 2000). My thesis built on and extended the above work, using the newly available demographic data provided by Census 2000. I tested the efficiency of demographic transition variables in explaining the variation in the TFR among the counties of China by estimating twelve Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression equations. Specifically, I examined the ways in which variables such as ethnicity, agricultural detachment, urbanization, economic conditions, cultural norms and gender differences were related to Chinese fertility in a nationwide analysis and in two region-specific analyses. My results showed rather definitively that demographic transition theory is applicable for predicting and understanding fertility among the counties of China. Irrespective of the nation’s extensive family planning policy, it is apparent that other factors contribute to the varying fertility rates across the country.

<p>Since the reform and opening up in 1978, China’s economy began to grow at a high speed for thirty years. In 2007, the GDP of China was 24952.99 billion RMB, which was the fourth one in the world. However, under these achievement, China’s economy was still face with some problems, such as the different consumption between rural and urban areas.</p>

Univ., Diss.--Freiburg i. Breisgau, 2006. / Literaturverz. S. 441 - 456.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-91).