Weekly News Collection

MANAGEMENT
Traditional philosophy offers insight to management
More than 100 experts and scholars discussed the application of traditional Chinese philosophy in modern management at a forum from Aug. 12 to 13 in Kunming, Yunnan Province. Li Honglei, a professor of philosophy at Sun Yat-sen University, said that for years, Chinese entrepreneurs have accumulated unique experience in organizing, educating, operating, brand-building, strategizing and fulfilling responsibilities, which has contributed to the development of global management. Pan Yaotian, a research fellow from the Institute of Psychology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out different roles the classical schools of Chinese thought—Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Legalism and Military Arts—have played in guiding modern management. For instance, Confucianism values interpersonal harmony, which helps maintain a healthy relationship between the leader and employees, while the Military Arts emphasize competitiveness and gumption, which helps make management effective.

COMMUNICATION
Communication drives social transformation
At a recent forum on communication and modern China in Xi’an, scholars analyzed the role of the evolution of communication and media in social transformation. Huang Dan, a professor from the Center for Information and Communication Studies at Fudan University, said that the development of mass media—from newspapers and broadcasting to film and the internet—has greatly changed social structure and perceptions towards life. When mass media first appeared in modern China in the form of newspapers and journals, it brought new modes of discourse into daily life, said Shao Zhize, an associate professor of journalism and communication at Zhejiang University, adding that this influenced ways of thinking and changed people’s lives, which spurred social development.

HISTORY
Archive on Jewish refugees in China published
On Aug. 13, the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press and the Center of Jewish Studies Shanghai under the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences published a collection of archives on Jewish refugees in China. The book disclosed some materials for the first time, including the Annals of Shanghai International Settlement collected by the Second Historical Archives of China, which has provided a new perspective for studies on the topic. To cope with the challenges of managing a large number of dispersed documents on the subject, the press and the center planned a database. Wang Jian, executive deputy director of the center, said construction of the database will be divided into three phases—first, media report during WWII as well as memoirs; second, documents collected in the rest of the world; and third, oral documents.

LAW
Scholars explore civil legislation on property
At a recent seminar, experts and scholars of law discussed policy suggestions for property law, which will be integrated into a unified civil code that is slated to come into force in 2020. The seminar was sponsored by the Research Institute of Civil Law under the China Law Society and organized by the Civil Commercial and Economic Law School at the Gansu Institute of Political Science and Law. Chen Xiaojun, deputy head of the Research Institute of Civil Law, said that the compilation work should be grounded in reality and easy to implement. Experts in attendance explored in depth a range of issues, including the protection of virtual property, strictness of principles and registration of real estate as well as land acquisition and use rights. In addition, they put forward suggestions about the entire arrangement and design of specific provisions.