The Falun Gong in China: A sociological perspective

This article offers a sociological perspective on the rise of and crackdown on the falun gong in relation to the social, cultural and political context of China. I specify from a sociological perspective that the falun gong is categorically not a sect but a cult-like new religious movement. Its popularity, I suggest, is related to the unresolved secular problems, normative breakdown and ideological vacuum in China in the 1980s and 1990s. Before the crackdown, the falun gong represented a successful new religious movement, from a Euro-American perspective. However, most of its strengths as a movement have become adversarial to its survival in the specific historical and political condition of China. © The China Quarterly, 2004.published_or_final_versio

Invigorating the content in social embeddedness: An ethnography of life insurance transactions in China

Based on more than 14 months' ethnographic research in China, this article brings in culture and symbolic interactionism to understand the social embeddedness of economic transactions. First, an analytic frame linking tie strengths to defining principles, relational properties, and interactions is constructed and applied to changes in life insurance transactions in China. The data suggest that strong tie transactions were common until the economic gains of the sellers were made public. The author argues that the ethical-affective principle that defines strong ties and the high intensity of trust, affection, and asymmetric obligation that constitute these ties make them a double-edged sword for economic transactions. Instead, ties with midrange or weak strength are more effective because of their relational complementarity (although direct economic exchanges may take place among strong ties under extreme institutional or contingency conditions). The author also reveals that dramaturgical interactions, through which economic actors exercise their agency, are an integral part of embedded transactions. © 2009 by the University of Chicago. AU Rights Reserved.published_or_final_versio

Mysticism in the Middle: The Mandorla as Interpretive Tool for Reading Meister Eckhart

The spirituality of Meister Eckhart (1260–1328) is fundamentally chiaroscuro in form and expression. This word, coming from the world of art, represents in itself the collision of clarity and brightness (chiaro) with obscurity and darkness (oscuro). In one single word we have two opposites existing side-by-side creating a tension out of which arises the transformative interplay between darkness and light. The word, chiaroscuro, therefore is also an example of a language mandorla. This is another word arising from the world of art, but in this case specifically from the world of religious art and architecture. The mandorla is the almond-shaped space that results in the overlap of two complete circles.1 It represents a middle, or in-between, space where opposites collide and “conflict-without-resolution” and arises as the “direct experience of God.”2 Meister Eckhart is both a master of the chiaroscuro and the mandorla. His spiritual art, founded on incarnatio continua, issues forth in both structure and expression through the on-going interplay between human and divine often represented in his works by the relationship between darkness and light. In this essay then I will seek to demonstrate how the mandorla can serve as an interpretive tool for reading the chiaroscuro language art of Meister Eckhart. In doing so I hope to provide readers today with a means to grapple with, and more deeply appreciate, the German Dominican’s mysticism in and of the middle. First, though, a word from the middle space

Standard of care: how can we safeguard it?

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Pb contamination and isotopic composition of urban soils in Hong Kong

2003-2004 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAccepted ManuscriptPublishe

Analysis of heavy metal contaminated soils

Author name used in this publication: Coby S. C. Wong2002-2003 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAuthor’s OriginalPublishe

Incorporating theories into a course in international business communication

Conference Theme: Research into Practice in the Four-year curriculumIn developing a business communication course for a group of business majors on an elite international business degree programme at the University of Hong Kong, cross-cultural communication theories and relevant research findings were incorporated into the syllabus and these underpin all the in-class activities and assessments. Central to the aims of the 2012 four-year curriculum is to broaden the experience of university students in Hong Kong and enhance their communication skills in the global market through various experiential learning opportunities, broadening courses and exchange programmes. Our presentation will describe how we incorporated experiential learning into the teaching of business communication skills and explore how different elements of the course are informed by theories in the area of cross-cultural communication. We also discuss how we view our roles as co-developers and co-teachers in the process of updating and improving the course and the implications of our approach for course design and teacher development.published_or_final_versio