This thesis explores a Qing dynasty collection of stories about ghosts and other strange events written by Yuan Mei (1716–1798). The thesis focuses on a number of stories about possession of living persons by spirits, which are studied with the help of Sara Ahmed’s queer phenomenology. By studying stories in which the living and the dead and men and women’s identities overlap while they are possessed, we gain greater understanding about hierarchical relations during Qing dynasty, and how these stories both support and question these. / Uppsatsen studerar en samling av berättelser om spöken och andra ovanliga händelser skriven av Yuan Mei (1716–1798) under Qingdynastin i Kina. Uppsatsen fokuserar på ett antal berättelser där andar tagit en människa i besittning, som studeras med hjälp av Sara Ahmeds queer fenomenologi. Genom att studera berättelser om de levande och döda samt män och kvinnor vars identiteter överlappar vid besittningar, får vi bättre förståelse över hierarkiska relationer under Qingdynastin och hur berättelserna både stödjer och ifrågasätter dessa.

China is seen as one of the world’s leading countries, especially when it comes to economic and political power. Even though China is a powerful country, the image of China and the country’s population is one of negativity and distrust. This has become especially apparent during the Covid-19 pandemic, where derogatory terms such as the “China virus” have been used and there has been an increase in violence against people from China and other Asian countries.  Therefore, this essay aims to analyse how China and its population have been portrayed, and also how European interests have been depicted and valued, in Swedish course books for history in upper secondary school during the period 1903-2010. A critical discourse was applied as the theoretical approach, in order to examine what type of vocabulary was used in these course books and how different discourses were used to describe China and its population. The post-colonial terms orientalism and othering were also used to examine how, or if, the course books upheld a Eurocentric discourse in their depiction of China. The results of this study show that a majority of the course books that were analysed do uphold a Eurocentric point of view in their portrayal of China and other Non-European countries, and that this is most prominent in the course books that were published in the early 20th century, even though this did occur in the more modern course books as well. The results also show that the Chinese history is only made relevant when European countries are involved in some capacity and is therefore seldom depicted free from European influence.

Chinese language textbooks play an important role in the chinese classroom, but how much do they influence the reader? This study examines how chinese society is portrayed and percived by swedish students who studied chinese during upper secondary school. How is the image of China and its culture reproduced in Swedish upper secondary schools, partly through the Confucius Institute, and without the influence of the chinese government, and what role does textbooks play in students perception of China? This study was conducted through anthropological interviews through the video call program zoom. Four interviews where conducted with three students and one former chinese teacher, wich resulted in six hours of material. Two textbooks where used, New Practical Chinese Reader by Hanban and Kinesiska språket I Mittens rike by Björksten to compare a government issued textbook, and one independently produced one. The theoretical concepts used in this study are: Intercultural competence, sociocultural authority and sociopragmatic relations. The study found that multifaceted representation of culture is important, especially in cases where the students have a narrow understanding of the culture represented. Both textbooks used in this study lacked representation in this regard, however, the govermentaly issued book New Practical Chinese Reader had a much clearer absence of culture and authentic communication wich was perceived in different manners by different interview subjects.

Kulturella skillnader världen över leder till att företag väljer mellan standardisering och anpassning av marknadsföringsstrategier i internationaliseringsprocessen. Denna fallstudie undersöker hur modeföretaget Gucci anpassar eller standardiserar sin marknadsföring beroende på den nationella kulturen, mer specifikt den italienska och den kinesiska kulturen. Teori från Hofstede et al. (2010) presenteras för att illustrera kulturella skillnader såväl som teori om ursprungslandseffekten presenteras för att se hur ursprungslandet speglas i marknadsföring. Genom en kvalitativ studie undersöks marknadsföringskampanjer samt inlägg från Twitter och Weibo för att besvara studiens forskningsfråga. Studiens resultat och slutsats visar på att anpassning sker i större utsträckning till den kinesiska marknaden och att den anpassning som sker är beroende på den nationella kulturen. Dessutom resulterade marknadsföringen att vara både standardiserad och anpassad, däremot kan inga starka slutsatser dras gällande Guccis standardisering. Hur globala modeföretag förhåller sig till nationella kulturer i reklamsyfte fortsätter vara av intresse för framtida studier.

In 2018, there was clear evidence that Sweden was targeted of China’s attempts to influence their media. The Chinese embassy started criticising Swedish news reporting through insults or even threats. Since 2017 the Chinese ambassador has been summoned more than 40 times to the Swedish foreign department for his spiteful attacks on the media. This thesis examines how the Swedish media has responded and is affected by threats and harassment from Chinese authorities from 2018 to 2020. The thesis is based on interviews with 10 participants from the Swedish media, and documents. The thesis shows, that threats and harassment from Chinese authorities is a unique behaviour from a state towards the Swedish media. The response to the threats and harassment is seen through strategies of adding security, showing solidarity and support and showing resistance. The affect on the Swedish media can increase a self-censorship culture, regarding reporting about China. It has made the Swedish media worried in the working and daily life. In the long run, the threats and harassment can have a negative impact on the independent journalism and the Swedish democratic society.

In Xinjiang, China’s largest autonomous region situated in the country’s north-western corner, severe violations against the human rights of its inhabitants, primarily the native muslim minority Uyghur people, has been committed by the Chinese state. According to investigations from the European Parliament in 2020, over a million people are currently, or have previously been, incarcerated in so-called internment camps in 2020. These internment camps have received worldwide attention since their reveal; something that the Chinese state have worked to succumb by restricting access by foreign journalists through barring their entrance to the Xinjiang province, an action taken to limit the reports about the camps, according to Amnesty International.In view of this background, this study aims to draw conclusions on the ability of Swedish journalists to accurately report on the issue of the Uyghurs given the Chinese authoritarian rule. It also focuses on investigating how the media reporting frames the Uyghur issue and creates a discours for reporting on this very issue. Continuing, the study consists of interviews with six Swedish correspondents based in China and one foreign editor, as well as a critical discourse analysis of 16 articles from the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. Given the research questions and the interviews, this study draws the conclusion that the interviewed Swedish foreign correspondents lack proper access to the issue at hand to accurately report on it. This, because of actions taken by the Chinese state to limit access to the Xinjiang region through surveillance and pressure. This, furthermore, creates a situation in which the reporting could be considered static given this very lack of access and new information on the issue. Additionally the analysis of the 16 articles show that there is an apparent lack of cohesion in what words are used primarily describing the camps in Xinjiang; which in turn creates different connotations for the readers.

The elderly population ratio in China had a continuous increasing trend in the past decade, which means that Chinese society has gradually entered an “aging society”. Lack of corresponding pension policies, huge population base and change in family structures all let the government bear huge pension pressure. The implementation of reverse mortgages in China can effectively solve this problem and alleviate the government's financial pressure. Reverse mortgage is an emerging industry in China, which is a loan available to homeowners, 62 years or older, that allows them to convert part of the equity in their homes into cash. In order to analyze the feasibility of reverse mortgage in China, we use both quantitative and qualitative model to study the impact factors of reverse mortgage. Firstly, we build a three-party game matrix model among the government, customers (old people) and financial institutions to study how changes in different influencing factors affect the decision-making of each participant. Then, we introduce asymmetric information factors and build a two-party incomplete information game theory model between customers and financial institutions. Then, we refine the impact factors mentioned above to study the relationship among different factors and make a pricing function for financial institutions. Based on the above models, we can provide some relevant suggestions for financial institutions about how to price the annual pension amount and determine the penalty amount if the customer provide a fake health certificate. / Äldrebefolkningen i Kina har ökat stadigt under det senaste årtiondet, vilket innebär att det kinesiska samhället gradvis omvandlas till "ett åldrande samhälle". Brist på lämplig och tydlig pensionspolitik, stor befolkning och förändring i familjestrukturer leder till att regeringen bär ett stort tryck att dela ut pensionen. Genomförandet av omvändinteckning i Kina kan effektivt minska regeringens ekonomiska börda och lösa detta problem. Omvändinteckning är en växande industri i Kina som är ett lån till hemägare som är 62 år eller äldre, vilket innebär att de kan omvandla en del av deras eget kapital i sina hem till kontanter. För att analysera genomförbarheten av omvändinteckning i Kina har vi använt både kvantitativa och kvalitativa modeller för att studera de faktorer som påverkar omvändinteckning. För det första bygger vi en trepartsspel-matris modell mellan regeringen, kunderna (äldre) och de finansinstituten för att studera hur förändringar i olika faktorer påverkar beslutsfattandet för varje deltagare. Därefter introducerar vi flera asymmetriska informationsfaktorer och bygger en ofullständig tvåparti-informationsspelteori modell mellan kunderna och finansinstitutionerna. Därefter förfina vi de ovanstående konsekvensfaktorerna för att studera förhållandet mellan olika faktorer och skapa en prissättning för finansinstituten. Baserat på ovanstående modeller kan vi ge några relevanta förslag till finansinstitut om hur man prissätter det årliga pensionsbeloppet och bestämmer bötesbeloppet om kunden lämnar in ett falskt hälsointyg.

This Bachelor of Science thesis focuses on the real estate development and overbuilding in China’s second- and third-tier cities. A number of interviews have been made in order to, combined with information from respected media sources, get a as neutral picture of the situation in the cities as possible. The steps toward development of new buildings are, not just in China, many and includes a number of different participants. Therefore one will find a number of different opinions as well as problems that originate with the development. The interviews that were executed for this thesis were with different people that some way or another are active or has been active in the real estate development in the country. The participants were either active in architecture, engineering, development or expertise regarding the country. All the contributors acknowledged the problem of overbuilding in China, however to what extent the problem existed according to the participants varied. Thus several articles and publications have been referred to in the thesis to exclude possible personal opinions. The thesis includes problems regarding corruption, inconclusive demand analysis’s, "Hukou", governmental visions, urbanization and finally governmental regulations. Conclusively there is not a single factor alone that led to today’s excess real estate development but many different factors that together contributed to the situation. / Detta examensarbete fokuserar på Kinas bostadsutveckling i dess mindre storstäder; andra- och tredjeskiktsstäder. Ett flertal intervjuer har genomförts för att, förutom information genom internationell media, få en så neutral och heltäckande bild av bostadsutvecklingen. Stegen till byggande av nya fastigheter, inte bara i Kina utan i hela världen, innehåller många steg och därmed många olika aktörer vilket medför att en rad olika åsikter om vilka problem som uppstår i och med byggandet. Intervjuerna som genomfördes var med en arkitekt, byggnadsingenjör, fastighetsutvecklare samt en Kina-expert. Alla deltagande sade att förbyggande av städerna existerade men hur utbrett de olika aktörerna tyckte att problemet var varierade. I och med denna variation av åsikter gällande förbyggande refererar detta arbete till en rad artiklar och rapporter som publicerats via olika respektabla tidskrifter. Arbetet tar upp problem inom byggande i Kina såsom korruption, bristande marknadsanalyser, "Hukou", höga mål från regeringen gällande urbanisering samt regleringar på statlig nivå. Det är alltså inte bara en faktor som lett till situationen i vissa av Kinas städer idag utan en rad bidragande omständigheter.

This study analyzes objects of Chinese porcelain found at Kina slott located on Drottningholm just outside Stockholm from a material culture (Material Culture Studies MCS) perspective. The aim is to examine how the materiality of porcelain can generate knowledge within MCS and to shed light on how it influenced the image of the Far East in Sweden during the mid-1700s. The study also wants to open up ways for further analyses of Chinese porcelain at the royal palaces in Sweden. Theory is drawn from various interdisciplinary fields of research and activates the concepts of transculturalism and agency to problematize how the porcelain objects was displayed at the castle and how they interact with the environment. The analyses also raise questions about the objects' age and stylistic development. The gaze of the Art historian and the knowledge of connoisseurship are discussed in a reflective section. The result of the study places the material culture and agency of porcelain as an actor with an important impact on the imagination of the utopian Far East in the 1700s but also as a transformer for cultural exchange between East and West. The objects are believed to have been of great importance as authentic props from a distant world and the discussion also takes into consideration the porcelain objects political influence as a status object and commodity.

Studiens primära syfte är att utveckla ett teoretiskt ramverk som kan bidra till en ytterligare teoretiskförståelse för staters agerande i FN:s säkerhetsråd. Ramverket vilar på en rationalistisk grund ochbygger på tre förklaringsmodeller; en första med fokus på internationell makt och säkerhet, en andrainomstatlig förklaring och en tredje institutionalistisk förklaring. Ramverket appliceras sedan på enfallstudie där Kinas och USA:s agerande i säkerhetsrådet analyseras. Bland studiens slutsatser börframhållas att säkerhetsrådet av stater anses vara en viktig institution och att det råder en påtagligrespekt för rådets prejudicerande makt. Studien visar även att säkerhetsrådsmedlemmars beslut till stordel är resultatet av långsiktiga kalkyler utifrån reciprocitet och ryktespåverkan, samt att den historiskakontexten påverkar hur staters agerande tas emot av övriga medlemmar. Vidare indikerar studien attstaters veton främst kan härledas till inomstatliga faktorer. Uppsatsens ramverk får anses vara välanpassat för att förklara staters agerande i säkerhetsrådet och kan utgöra grunden för vidare forskninginom ämnet. / The primary purpose of this study is to develop a theoretical framework which can contribute to abroader theoretical understanding of the actions of the U.N. Security Council members. Theframework rests upon a rationalistic foundation and it is constituted of three different models ofexplanation; a first one focuses on international power and security, the second is a domesticexplanation of foreign policy behaviour and the third is an institutional explanation. The framework isthen applied on a case study in which the actions of China and the United States in the SecurityCouncil are explained. Among the findings worth mentioning is that the members find the SecurityCouncil to be an important institution and that there is an apprehension of the precedential power ofthe institution. The study also shows that the action of the members largely is the result of long termcalculation influenced by reciprocity and reputational effects. It is further indicated that the historicalcontext influence the way state actions are perceived, hence it also affect the reciprocity andreputational effect. The study as well points out that a permanent member is more likely to use its vetowhen there are strong domestic reasons of so doing. In general the developed theoretical frameworkseems to be well suited to explain states behaviour in the Security Council and may provide afoundation for further theoretical studies on the subject.