Influence of cultural factors on price clustering and price resistance in China's stock markets

This paper builds on prior research by analysing the impact of cultural factors on both price clustering and price resistance in China's stock markets. The results support the presence of cultural factors impacting on price clustering with the digit 8 showing a higher propensity for clustering and the digits 4 and 7 showing a lower propensity in the A‐share market, where stock is denominated in renminbi and traded by mainland Chinese. These results are further supported by an analysis of the B‐share market, where cultural factors have no (or less) impact on the price of Chinese stocks traded by foreign investors in US dollars (or in Hong Kong dollars). A range of measures for price resistance show the digits 0 and 5 to be significant resistance points in the A‐share market. Although digit 8 cannot be considered as a resistance point, its resistance level is highest among the remaining numbers. In conclusion, cultural factors help to explain not only price clustering in the Chinese stock markets but price resistance levels as well, albeit at a weak level.     

关于“智能型城市”文化基础的随想

城市是一种人类社会组织。城市智能化的过程，主要是发展人类智能的过程，其最重要者无疑是要发展教育，提高市民的科学知识水平。但是，在广义文化概念中，不仅包括科学知识，而且包括作为历史沉积物和历史联系纽带的存在于人们日常生活之中的文化。这种文化是在过去形成、现在仍存在并发生作用的一些传统。从地域上说，大连人基本继承了齐鲁文化。     

Relationship between the development of ethnic tourism and the protection for regional culture：a case study of Tuwa people

The innocent Tuwa people live in Kanas Lake, a world famous national reserve in northern Xinjiang. With therapid development of tourism today, Tuwa people are finally involved in tourism industry. The development of tourismis a two-edged sword. On the one hand, it boosts the revival of Tuwa culture, provides a large number of employmentopportunities and cross-cultural exchanges, and improves material welfare for Tuwa people. On the other hand, somedisadvantages have also resulted from tourism development, such as the unauthentic exhibition of Tuwa culture, limitedtourists, Tuwa group interaction, and limited material improvement for the Tuwa, etc. This paper takes Tuwa people asa case, illustrates the types, characteristics and the conditions for the development of Tuwa culture, explores the advan-tages and disadvantages resulting from the development of folk-custom tourism industry and then puts forwardsrecommendations on the protection for local cultures as follows： （1） attach great importance to Tuwa culture in thetourism development of Kanas Lake Visitor Attraction; （2） construct the aboriginal village with the consciousness ofprotection; （3） remove the Tuwa village; （4） consummate the management mode and let Tuwa people really benefit fromtourism; （5） restrict the grazing in the scenic spots and protect natural grassland; （6） promote Tuwa people’s ability ofself-supervision and self-management; （7） exhibit Tuwa culture authentically.     

Planning considerations for cultural tourism: a case study of four European cities

Utilising the information gathered in four European cities, this paper discusses and tests a framework of reference for visitor-friendliness, a complex concept that encapsulates the main dimensions of the urban tourism product such as its quality, accessibility and image projection. This concept is particularly relevant to assess whether investments in culture and hospitality genuinely respond to the impulses coming from the market. The case studies highlight how specific soft elements of the urban tourism product are the ones that matter most in determining the attractiveness of a city for international visitors, and yet they are often overlooked by city planners. The paper also identifies a number of “best practice” in tourism management.     

中国女性购买行为的价值观动因实证研究

本文从研究中国女性消费者购买行为的角度,利用结构方程方法,比较中西文化价值观对中国女性购买行为的影响和诠释能力,探索影响中国女性消费者购买行为的价值观动因.实证研究结果显示,较之于西方文化价值观,以儒道佛为代表的传统文化价值观能够更有效地诠释中国消费者购买行为.     

Twentieth century female ad images: Cultural interconnections,social learning,and the dialectical logic of advertising

The study conducts a historical investigation of the linkages among the focused social learning of a few (such as ideas of feminists groups), the amplification of those ideas throughout the masses, and observable female images in ads. The Hegelian sublation or Aufgehoben dialectical framework is applied to deepen understanding of how ad strategies have reconciled multiple cultural conversations about the proper image and role of women through the years. The findings of the research reveal distinctive dialectical processes and strategies in the ever-evolving patterns of female images in ads. The results of the study indicate that the focused social learning of the few is amplified to the masses through more emergent ad female roles and images during prosperous and peaceful times and is thwarted during times of national distress.     

Toward Deepening Cultural and Language Understanding: The Design and Practice of a Hybrid Business Chinese Course

This article introduces an ongoing effort to use Internet resources in an Advanced Business Chinese for Professionals (ABCP) course in order to deepen learners’ language and cultural understanding. This course blends face-to-face (F2F) classroom instruction and online communications using Brix, an online course management system developed by the University of Hawai‘i. This article starts with the rationale and necessity of a hybrid course for ABCP and presents an overview of a traditional F2F business Chinese class with its strengths and weaknesses. Following the overview, this article outlines the design of a hybrid environment for this course, detailing its structure, content, and instructional processes. Illustrations of the F2F and online alternations in classroom teaching, online tasks with instructor’s guidance and feedback, and online forum discussion for each unit are offered. Experiences gained in this process regarding instructional intervention, projected learners’ learning outcomes, and interactive peer learning through the Internet will also be shared. Reflections and suggestions on aspects that may impact the success of this approach are proposed for future improvement in an ideal hybrid business language course.     

Where do international board members come from? Country-level antecedents of international board member selection in European boards

In this paper, it is argued that boards internationalize by recruiting international directors in order to increase companies’ performance. However, increasing nationality diversity on a board can be costly considering that it potentially creates cooperative problems on a board due to fault-lines and separation processes. As a result, boards will prefer international candidates who are more similar to themselves on a variety of ‘distances’. Based on data collected regarding 5683 board members of 361 companies from 15 countries in 2005–2007, we discover that the greater the distance (cultural, institutional and geographical) between the candidates’ and the companies’ country-of-origin, the lower the fraction of board members of that nationality on boards. Subsequently, it is argued that historical ties between countries play a ‘distance compressing’ role and partially compensate for the effects of distance. A colonial tie between countries will make recruitment of these particular nationalities more likely than others.     

文化创意产业价值链及其组织网络构成研究

文化创意产业的兴起是知识化、信息化和全球化的结果,被赋予了许多新的使命,它具有高固定成本投入与低再生产与复制成本、需求的不确定性等经济与政治属性。围绕"创意→投入→生产→销售→最终消费者购买"这一基本产业链过程,逐渐形成了一个融合市场、科层和网络治理机制的组织网络。这一网络围绕文化产业链、生态和政治与地理空间的展开会有更为具体的网络形态,并形成多级网络构成。     

Does hospitality diversity education make a difference in undergraduate students’ emotional intelligence

Soft skills are typically referred to as the attributes exhibited or contained by an individual that display his/her ability to interact with others. Two types of soft skills that are often discussed within the hospitality industry are diversity awareness and emotional intelligence. Diversity may be explained or defined as a state of unlikeness, the conditions of being different, and all things that make us different. Areas where differences may exist include race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political affiliation and emotional reaction. Emotional intelligence (EI) has been defined as the ability to perceive, understand, regulate, and harness emotions in the self and others. How one deals with emotion is one characteristic that varies from culture to culture. Research has shown that EI may be a contributing factor in a moment of truth being considered a failure or success. The purpose of this study was to examine if undergraduate student EI scores change after completing a diversity issues course. Students completed the Assessing Emotions Scale on the first class day. At the conclusion of the 15-week course covering approximately 20 diversity issues concepts students completed the same EI assessment. Paired sampled t-testing was conducted to determine whether mean differences existed when comparing post and pre-course scores. Results of this study suggest that certain components of EI are significantly changed after taking the diversity issues course.