White Ash and Black Coal: The Perception of Race in Modern China 1793-1949.

Race relations have often been considered a major problem of modern societies. In history, however, research on race relations and racial theories has been almost exclusively centred upon the Western-related facets of the problem: it is assumed that racism can only be a white phenomenon under which other people, lumped together under the heading "coloured", had to suffer. The narrow focus of such historical research, which can be explained by the vivid sense of guilt of modern Western society and by a still dominant feeling of eurocentrism, has distorted our comprehension of racial matters in non- Western countries. In China, the notion of "race" appeared at the end of the nineteenth century and was considered a vital problem by most intellectuals. Though the importance of such concern has been recognized by several historians, it has been hastily ascribed to either Chinese "xenophobia", a concept rarely defined, or to the effects of "social Darwinism", an equally vague term. The first chapter of this thesis presents the historical background of Chinese racial theories. It introduces a broad spectrum of material pertaining to the traditional attitudes toward skin colour, the social perception of physical differences, the concept of the "barbarians", environmental determinism, and geographical notions. It also reviews the main ethnocentric theories, including anti-Buddhism of the fourth and fifth centuries, Song loyalism and anti-Manchu thought. The second chapter covers the period ranging from 1793 to the Sino-Japanese War of 1895. It briefly analyzes the formation and composition of racial stereotypes, which arose as a result of ethnic contacts in the ports open to foreigners. The next chapter discusses the reformers' perception of race (1895-1902). It focuses mainly on the works of Liang Qichao, Tang Caichang and Kang Youwei, but also considers other writers who were preoccupied with the idea of race. Chapter four is constructed around the idea of race as nation, which appeared in China around 1902. It studies the conceptual link between racial theories and the emergence of the nation-state concept. Chapter five is centred on the perception of race as species: how did the Chinese explain the origin of their own "race"; how was the idea of racial evolution handled; how were foreign races treated in anthropological works; how were racial differences explained? The last chapter covers the same period as chapter five (1915-1949), but is devoted exclusively to eugenics, the pseudo-science of race improvement. The popularity of eugenics in the 1930s reflected anxiety about the nation's racial health: intellectuals were tormented by the idea of racial degeneration in the face of foreign aggression. An epilogue briefly discusses the perception of race after 1949

Disentangling the stigma of HIV/AIDS from the stigmas of drugs use, commercial sex and commercial blood donation – a factorial survey of medical students in China

BackgroundHIV/AIDS related stigma interferes with the provision of appropriate care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS. Currently, programs to address the stigma approach it as if it occurs in isolation, separate from the co-stigmas related to the various modes of disease transmission including injection drug use (IDU) and commercial sex (CS). In order to develop better programs to address HIV/AIDS related stigma, the inter-relationship (or \u27layering\u27) between HIV/AIDS stigma and the co-stigmas needs to be better understood. This paper describes an experimental study for disentangling the layering of HIV/AIDS related stigmas.MethodsThe study used a factorial survey design. 352 medical students from Guangzhou were presented with four random vignettes each describing a hypothetical male. The vignettes were identical except for the presence of a disease diagnosis (AIDS, leukaemia, or no disease) and a co-characteristic (IDU, CS, commercial blood donation (CBD), blood transfusion or no co-characteristic). After reading each vignette, participants completed a measure of social distance that assessed the level of stigmatising attitudes.ResultsBivariate and multivariable analyses revealed statistically significant levels of stigma associated with AIDS, IDU, CS and CBD. The layering of stigma was explored using a recently developed technique. Strong interactions between the stigmas of AIDS and the co-characteristics were also found. AIDS was significantly less stigmatising than IDU or CS. Critically, the stigma of AIDS in combination with either the stigmas of IDU or CS was significantly less than the stigma of IDU alone or CS alone.ConclusionThe findings pose several surprising challenges to conventional beliefs about HIV/AIDS related stigma and stigma interventions that have focused exclusively on the disease stigma. Contrary to the belief that having a co-stigma would add to the intensity of stigma attached to people with HIV/AIDS, the findings indicate the presence of an illness might have a moderating effect on the stigma of certain co-characteristics like IDU. The strong interdependence between the stigmas of HIV/AIDS and the co-stigmas of IDU and CS suggest that reducing the co-stigmas should be an integral part of HIV/AIDS stigma intervention within this context.<br /

A cultural history of the syringe in modern China.

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