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Chinese cultural conservatism used to participate in shaping the course of modernization to a large extent. In this paper, I aim to describe a hidden lineage of Chinese cultural conservatism of the twentieth century that is still alive and appears to be more and more influential in mainland China. Relying on several ideas developed by Neo-Confucians of the early twentieth century, Gan Yang's paper in 2007 represented a contemporary revival of Chinese cultural conservatism. More importantly, in recent years, this kind of revival of conservative discourse went through another big change, which not only matters to the self-underpinning of the legitimate basis of the current regime, but also combined with the political conservations related to the Hong Kong protest of 2019–2020 explains why this country is so ideologically different from the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the ideology of pro-work conservatism prevails in East Asia, scholars have largely overlooked its discursive construction in media communication from a linguistic perspective. This paper examines the discursive construction of pro-work conservatism in 3,000 Weibo posts with the most "likes" in response to China's implementation of the three-child policy. Using the sociosemantic approach as an analytic framework, the paper finds that three dominant themes underpin the discourse of pro-work conservatism: women's sacrifice in the labour market, the high cost of raising children, and gender-essentialist norms. This discourse is articulated in the posts via a number of discursive strategies, including authorization, morality, and rationalisation. This paper sheds light on the influence of the one-child policy and the awakening of feminist consciousness in the new era and highlights the implications of language use in shaping gender-role ideologies to influence public perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study focuses on exploring the factors influencing why companies engage in greenhushing decisions in the cultural backgrounds of China and Republic of Korea. Structural equation modeling analysis indicates that in these two countries, reputational risk not only directly leads to corporate greenhushing behavior, but also exerts its influence through conservatism as a mediating factor. Reputational risk causes companies to exhibit conservatism, which in turn leads to the adoption of greenhushing behavior. Furthermore, tests for moderation effects revealed that, in the Chinese sample data, a transparent information disclosure mechanism has the ability to mitigate the impact of reputational risk on corporate greenhushing behavior, as well as to alleviate the influence of conservatism on corporate greenhushing behavior. In the South Korean sample data, a transparent information disclosure mechanism can moderate the impact of reputational risk on conservatism and corporate greenhushing behavior. Finally, the fsQCA method is tested to derive the different configurations and pathways that lead to the strong emergence of greenhushing behavior in companies in China and Republic of Korea, as well as to identify the most influential pathways. This study provides substantial theoretical support for further exploration of the causal mechanisms of corporate greenhushing behavior and promotion of cross‐cultural comparisons and learning in the international environmental management field. In addition, provides rich empirical support and theoretical guidance for corporate environmental management decision‐making and policy formulation. The findings highlight the further standardization and strengthening of transparent information disclosure mechanisms will be an important direction for future environmental policy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examined the relationship between ideology and conspiratorial thinking and the related mediating effect of ingroup favoritism in a non-Western society. We investigated patriotism and nationalism as two favorable orientations toward national ingroups. We also examined their relationship with the general conspiracy mentality and the specific conspiracy beliefs that have emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results revealed that conservative ideology was associated with conspiratorial beliefs in China regardless of the specific conspiracy theories related to ingroups or outgroups, which indicates such tendencies may exist universally across cultures. Patriotism was not associated with conspiracy theories about the origin of COVID-19, whereas nationalism was negatively associated with the conspiracy theories about China (an ingroup) and positively associated with conspiracy theories about the US (an outgroup). Moreover, nationalism mediated the relationship between ideology and specific conspiracy beliefs during the pandemic. The general conspiracy mentality did not predict conspiracy theories about the origin of COVID-19. The results indicate that believing conspiracy theories is not only the result of a stable conspiracy mentality but is also influenced by ideology and intergroup relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The introduction of alien species may be influenced by the phylogenetic structure of the native assemblage, while at the same time altering that structure. Understanding these effects sheds light on both the factors influencing naturalization of introduced species and their impacts. Considering regional angiosperm assemblages across China, we ask the following questions: (a) Do geographic patterns and climate relationships of alien species richness and phylogenetic structure mirror those of natives? (b) Has the addition of alien species resulted in stronger phylogenetic clustering as predicted by Darwin's preadaptation hypothesis? (c) To what degree does the answer to these questions depend on phylogenetic scale? Location: China. Time period: Current. Taxon: Angiosperms (flowering plants). Methods: We divided China into 28 province‐level regions and collated native and naturalized alien species lists of angiosperms for each region. For each region, we computed two types of phylogenetic structure metrics [mean phylogenetic distance (MPD) and mean nearest neighbour distance (MNND), and their standardized effect sizes] for the native, alien and combined assemblages, and for angiosperms as a whole, 5 major clades and 10 well‐represented families. We then related these to climatic factors using correlation analyses. Results: Richness of alien angiosperms is highest in regions with species rich and phylogenetically dispersed native assemblages. The standardized effect size of mean phylogenetic distance (MPDses) for aliens was positively correlated with that for natives. The introduction of alien species generally increased phylogenetic clustering of the combined assemblage compared to the natives for large phylogenetic extents, but effects within plant families were mixed. The MPDses was positively correlated with temperature and precipitation for both natives and aliens. Main conclusions The phylogenetic relationships at a lower level of phylogenetic scale may differ substantially from those at a higher level of phylogenetic scale. At the broadest phylogenetic extents, alien species tend to recapitulate the biogeographic patterns of natives, showing similar spatial patterns of species richness and phylogenetic structure, and tending to represent the same major angiosperm clades. This is highly consistent with Darwin's preadaptation hypothesis. Across narrower swaths of the phylogeny, these patterns are less clear, with a substantial number of plant families showing support for the biogeographic barrier hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a common perception that Chinese students are proficient test takers, but less adept at critical thinking. There is conflicting evidence to support this claim. In this article, the author first briefly traces the development of critical and independent thinking in Chinese history and outlines the situation in Chinese education today. Secondly, he presents his personal experience of encouraging the development of Futures-oriented and critical thinking in a Chinese tertiary education setting, via the creation and teaching of China's first extended Critical Futures Studies courses. The criticality component of the program was modified specifically for the Chinese context. An ethnographic approach is taken in the latter part of this article as the author shares details of that curriculum, as well as successes and shortcomings gleaned from the experience. The purpose of this sharing is to assist other Critical Futures Studies educators in setting up Critical Futures Studies courses in China, or in similar environments where Futures thinking and critical thinking have not been emphasized within the culture and/or educational curricula. The article also posits suggestions on how to develop such programs and related critical thinking processes in broader school curricula. Finally, the author reflects upon his/her role as a critical futurist in China, using Inayatullah's (2018) Causal Layered Analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]