Democracy was one of the many Western ideas that began to be discussed among the Chinese intellectual elite in the last decades of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Liang Qichao (1873-1929), a leader of the 1895-98 Reform Movement, and Hu Shi (1891-1962), a central figure of the 1915-27 New Culture Movement, were two of the most influential proponents of democracy in modern Chinese history. Liang and Hu linked their meanings of democracy with the highest goals for China, national strength and modernity. Liang Qichao was a revolutionary in advocating the opening of participation in politics to people outside the official government structure through his leadership role in the 1895 Protest Petition. His abundant writings on political events and prescriptions for reform aroused the attention of a wider population than had previously considered national issues. Liang promoted political reforms during the years up to the 1911 Revolution, and then took a direct role in politics in the early Republic. Hu Shi expanded on the meaning of democracy to include social and political change. He, too, wrote prolifically and was a key figure in the literary renaissance which aimed to promote education of a broader spectrum of the populace by the use of the vernacular in writing. While Hu did not participate directly in political life, he was a constant advocate of democratic institutions and social and cultural progress. Both Liang and Hu placed a high value on education and tirelessly promoted the exploration of new ideas as the path to modernity. They both harshly criticized the governments under which they worked but preferred gradual reform rather than radical revolution. While their understanding of democracy differed in their generational contexts and personal experiences, they believed that thoughtful participation in politics and society was the core essence of democracy and modernity.

This thesis is for a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Originally presented as the author's thesis (Ph. D.--University of Hong Kong) under the title: Tang dai shou du Chang'an de ju min sheng ji yu cheng shi zheng ce yan jiu. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 330-390).

Reconstruction of continuous signals from a number of their discrete samples is central to digital signal processing. Digital devices can only process discrete data and thus processing the continuous signals requires discretization. After discretization, possibility of unique reconstruction of the source signals from their samples is crucial. The classical sampling theory provides bounds on the sampling rate for unique source reconstruction, known as the Nyquist sampling rate. Recently a new sampling scheme, Compressive Sensing (CS), has been formulated for sparse signals. CS is an active area of research in signal processing. It has revolutionized the classical sampling theorems and has provided a new scheme to sample and reconstruct sparse signals uniquely, below Nyquist sampling rates. A signal is called (approximately) sparse when a relatively large number of its elements are (approximately) equal to zero. For the class of sparse signals, sparsity can be viewed as prior information about the source signal. CS has found numerous applications and has improved some image acquisition devices. Interesting instances of CS can happen, when apart from sparsity, side information is available about the source signals. The side information can be about the source structure, distribution, etc. Such cases can be viewed as extensions of the classical CS. In such cases we are interested in incorporating the side information to either improve the quality of the source reconstruction or decrease the number of the required samples for accurate reconstruction. A general CS problem can be transformed to an equivalent optimization problem. In this thesis, a special case of CS with side information about the feasible region of the equivalent optimization problem is studied. It is shown that in such cases uniqueness and stability of the equivalent optimization problem still holds. Then, an efficient reconstruction method is proposed. To demonstrate the practical value of the proposed scheme, the algorithm is applied on two real world applications: image deblurring in optical imaging and surface reconstruction in the gradient field. Experimental results are provided to further investigate and confirm the effectiveness and usefulness of the proposed scheme.

¡@¡@Compiled by the Division translation " Lao Qi Da " and " Piao Tong Shi " series of books, are the most authoritative, and important Chinese spoken language conversation textbook in Korean, but also the use of literacy learning Chinese textbooks. These two series use a long time, spread wide, in history has a huge impact, reflecting the three or four hundred years of modern Chinese phonology, vocabulary and grammar of a number of changes in the study of modern Chinese language has a unique value. As the Chinese affixes involve the two levels of vocabulary, and grammar, is the important phenomenon in the history of Chinese vocabulary. It is tremendous and research value. Since the pre-Qin, ¡§derived word¡¨ has been generated more and more with the times. The increasing number of terms is generated by the derived word formation, and derived word is one important way for polyphony of Chinese language. Therefore, this paper intends to represent the Yuan and Ming northern Chinese spoken " Lao Qi Da Yan Jie " and " Piao Tong Shi Yan Jie " two books for the corpus, the word derived from two books discuss the types of use cases, and change. ¡@There are five chapters in this thesis, except <Introduction> and <Conclusion>, the derived words are discussed for the current situation. It also discusses the prefix and suffix for the two books of " Lao Qi Da Yan Jie " and " Piao Tong Shi Yan Jie". Simply, except for a few examples of non-Chinese idiom, the " Lao Qi Da Yan Jie " and " Piao Tong Shi Yan Jie " which are not the local material, but useful textbook, are in line with the common Chinese language phenomenon. Keywords :Lao Qi Da Yan Jie, Piao Tong Shi Yan Jie, Chinese textbook, derived word, affix

Since Hong Kong's reunification with China, there has been more cooperation between Hong Kong and the Mainland in tertiary education, with Hong Kong-Shenzhen partnership being particularly active. This dissertation examines cooperation in tertiary education between Hong Kong and Shenzhen from the perspective of collaborative governance. It is found that the initiation of the collaboration is driven by leadership of the HKSAR Government, the Shenzhen Municipal Government and the Central People’s Government, interdependence between the cities in educational resources, productivity and information as well as consequential incentives for the Hong Kong institutions. To look into how the cooperation may advance to the next level, the plan for the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) to establish campuses in Shenzhen are analyzed in details, taking into account their early stage of development. Recommendations on how similar setups can be done in the future have been come up, and they include putting formal memorandum of understanding and agreements in place, having long-term commitment to the project, identifying shared objectives with the counterparts, retaining a large share of discretion, adopting suitable approaches to managing the policy networks and managing risks. It is considered that such recommendations may be taken as reference for other means of cooperation in tertiary education between the two cities as well as that between Hong Kong and other mainland cities. / published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

This research mainly aims to design a Wiki-based Collaborative Process Writing Pedagogy (WCPWP) to help Mainland Chinese upper primary school students with their writing. A wiki-based learning environment (www.joyouswriting.com) named Joyous Writing Club (JWC) was designed and developed by the researcher using MediaWiki software. This study was conducted in a primary school in Shenzhen, Mainland China. This research applied Design-based Research (DBR) methodology, and included three iterative research phases which lasted for over one and a half years (three semesters). Through the cyclical process of design-based research, the design for WCPWP was modified and refined during the three phases. Quantitative and qualitative methods as well as methodological triangulation were used for data collection (Hussein, 2009). Instrumentations included online wiki documents (group writing); course feedback questionnaire; writing ability (composition) pre- and posttest; writing attitude pre- and posttest; observations; interviews; open-ended questions for teacher’s questionnaire. At the beginning of the study, a rudimentary conceptual framework of WCPWP was put forward to guide the initial teaching and learning of writing in the first research phase. The WCPWP framework is proposed based on Constructivist Learning Theory (Piaget, 1967; Vygotsky, 1978; Hewett, 2009), and Social View of Writing Process Theory (Faigley, 1986; Tompkins, 2008). The initial design of WCPWP was guided by principles for exploring virtual collaborative writing (Hewett, Robidoux, & Remley, 2010) which provides a broad framework for the research design and links the general learning theory to the specific domain of learning in this study. Besides, the Systems Approach Model of Dick and Carey (1996) is used to support the instructional design in this study. Furthermore, the Alessi and Trollip's (2001) model for software design and development was used to design a wiki-based virtual learning environment. The first and second research phases involved the same Chinese language teacher participant and student participants in the same class. Both of the two phases mainly aimed to improve the design of WCPWP by investigating students’ collaborative writing processes, students’ and teacher’s perceptions and attitudes towards WCPWP, the change on students’ writing attitudes. The results in each phase showed both effective and ineffective aspects of WCPWP, which became the starting points of pedagogical (WCPWP) improvement in the next research phase. The third research phase mainly aimed to investigate the effects of improved WCPWP on students’ personal writing ability and attitudes towards writing compared that of Traditional Individual Product-oriented Writing Pedagogy (TIPWP). Besides, students’ writing process on wiki, students’ and teacher’s perception and attitudes towards WCPWP were also explored. Based on the results in this research phase, an elaborate conceptual framework of WCPWP was put forward. The results showed that the Chinese language teachers and most students had positive attitudes and perceptions towards WCPWP. They perceived that WCPWP had positive influence on improving students’ writing ability, writing attitudes, collaboration, reading and oral expression. They were also interested in using WCPWP in their future Chinese writing activities. The results further revealed that WCPWP had significant positive effects on students’ writing attitudes compared with TIPWP. Furthermore, interview results and students’ writing performance on wiki suggested that WCPWP had positive effects on students’ writing ability. However, the statistic results did not show that WCPWP had significant positive effects on students’ personal writing ability compared with TIPWP. This study also discussed the possible reasons causing the results based on theories and related literatures. This study provides an example of capitalizing on computer and wiki technology to support the collaborative writing among Mainland Chinese upper primary school students. The results of this study have theoretical implications for applying the design principles for implementing wiki-based collaborative process writing in Chinese Context. It also has great theoretical value to the field of collaborative writing in Chinese by adopting more precise characteristics of wiki-based collaborative process writing. This study may also deepen primary educators’ understanding of the links among technology, pedagogy and content. Finally, it guides educators in the integration of social media (wikis, Google Docs) as well as the design of effective matching pedagogic strategies in their teaching of writing. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Organotin compounds (OTs), in particular tributyltin (TBT) and triphenyltin (TPT), have caused widespread adverse effects on marine organisms ever since their wide application as biocides in 1960s. For instance, TBT can induce the abnormal development of imposex in marine gastropods, and inhibit development and growth in oysters. A mandatory global ban on the use of OT-based antifouling systems, therefore, has been enacted by the International Maritime Organization to minimize their environmental impacts since September 2008. As a result, it is anticipated to see a reduction of OT contamination in the marine environment around the world. This study, therefore, primarily aims to test the hypothesis that there is a reduction of both OT contamination and its associated adverse impact to a common biomonitor, the rock shell Reishia clavigera along the coast in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China through a series of field-based investigations. Before the field study, a method was successfully developed to simultaneously quantify the concentrations of six common OTs (i.e., mono-BT, di-BT and TBT; mono-PT, di-PT and TPT) in molluscan tissues using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. These six compounds coexist in marine environments. They are highly toxic to marine organisms and are able to induce imposex in gastropods like R. clavigera. First, a territory-wide survey on tissue concentrations of the OTs and imposex status in R. clavigera collected from 28 coastal sites of Hong Kong was conducted in 2010. The results indicated that all female R. clavigera suffered from imposex, and all rock shells contained high TPT concentrations. A probabilistic ecological risk assessment revealed that 17.6% of R. clavigera across all sites were at risk due to exposure to TPT, whereas the risk associated with TBT was relatively low. The same species collected from Dapeng Bay and Daya Bay, Shenzhen also exhibited high tissue concentrations of TPT. Second, R. clavigera transplanted from relatively clean sites to polluted sites for six months showed increases in both imposex status and tissue concentration of OTs, confirming the association between OT contamination and imposex development. Third, a 25-month population dynamics study of R. clavigera showed a limited recruitment of the species in the polluted sites. To verify if the observed OT contamination was widespread to other marine species in Hong Kong waters, a survey on the tissue concentrations of OTs in 11 local seafood species was conducted. Among them, the tongue sole Paraplagusia blochii had the highest tissue concentration of total OTs, with TPT as the most abundant residue. Potential health risk for consuming this benthic fish species was identified as both hazard quotient of TPT and hazard index exceeded unity. The overall results demonstrate that the coastal marine environments in this region are still heavily contaminated with OTs especially TPT, and there is no obvious sign of recovery of R. clavigera populations. Hopefully, with further scientific investigations, both Hong Kong and China governments will take appropriate management actions to control the use and release of these priority pollutants with a view to safeguarding the marine ecosystem and human health in this region. / HKU 3 Minute Thesis Award, 2nd Runner-up (2013) / published_or_final_version / Biological Sciences / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This dissertation explores the news making process at CCTV-9, the Beijing-based global English language service of China Central Television (CCTV). My interest in this topic was triggered by the strange manner in which so much debate about media reform in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) elides any real discussion of the contribution of journalists themselves to reform, which is almost invariably treated as something that happens to media from outside of, or regardless of, what journalists do. My aim in this research was to address this lapsus and foreground the work of journalists to show how it contributes to the changing institutional framework in which their work is embedded and therefore contributes to media reform. Drawing on ground-breaking work on bounded innovation and resistance by Pan Zhongdang and Lu Ye in this emerging field, I utilize concepts derived from their use of Michel de Certeau and discuss these concepts in light of the works of Antonio Gramsci, Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault to show how journalists at CCTV-9 exercised control over their work, despite their function as mouthpieces of the news and publicity system operated by the Communist Party of China and PRC government. I am not suggesting that PRC journalists are dissidents. However, my research did suggest that the mundane practice of journalism, even in so constrained a media environment as that of the PRC news system, can alter the manner in which news is made and thereby contribute to media reform. Utilizing participant observation of the CCTV-9 newsroom in 2004-2005, interviews with a range of news makers, in-house documents and a survey of content, I construct a picture of news making at CCTV-9 that foregrounds what to more macro-oriented analyses of media reform in the PRC has remained inaccessible, the minutiae of everyday life in the newsroom, and the tiny, but not inconsequential changes brought about by the ordinary work of journalists. / text