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This methodological note is to introduce new social network analysis (SNA) data sets that can be used to visualize and analyze the global linkages of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC). The results show that first of all, the WUC and Rebiya Kadeer play central roles in mobilizing political activity around the globe. Second, human rights NGOs and other organizations from the Uyghur diaspora pervade the networks of the WUC, and are spearheading the coordination of events and the exchange of information. Third, the WUC is keen on connecting with government representatives and journalists. Fourth, a growing number of links exist between the WUC and news organizations. Such links are most obvious among news organizations situated within the same country, when a Uyghur-related event occurs. A quintessential example is observed in the SNA map, where Japanese press and media showed interest in reporting Uyghur news when WUC Secretary General Dolkun Isa visited Japan to promote the Uyghur issue in 2006. A case study of Uyghur linkages in Australia further demonstrates WUC influence over Uyghur activism in various corners of the world. The purpose of this paper is not only to provide the first visualization and empirical test in regard to WUC networks that China's government and various China observers have believed to exist. With this document, I also demonstrate how a network approach can provide alternate ways for researchers to conduct their respective studies on diasporic networks of Tibetans, Taiwanese, or Chinese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many, the future of China's political development hinges upon the role of the newly rising middle class. However, little has been done to empirically examine the characteristics of the Chinese middle class. This paper is an effort to fill in this gap. It shows that, the Chinese middle class pays greater attention to politics and engages more in informal/personal activities in dealing with conflicts with government policies or officials. However, the behavior of the middle class as an aggregate is not significantly different from that of other classes when it comes to political activities that require greater civic engagement or greater courage to confront the political system. The members of the Chinese middle class are not ready to be agents of political development in action although they hold higher democratic attitudes in mind as shown in previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Erikson (Identity: Youth and crisis, W.W. Norton & Company, 1968) theorized identity and generativity as predominant personality developmental tasks in adolescence and midlife (respectively). However, existing literature reveals that not only can both constructs be equally prominent for midlife women (Newton and Stewart, Psychology of Women Quarterly 34:75–84, 2010), they are also dynamically inter-related (Kroger, Whitbourne (ed), Encyclopedia of adulthood and aging, Wiley-Blackwell, 2016), although how, specifically, these two constructs are related, and what role culture and activism might play in their expression are both less well-known. The present study examined middle-aged female activists' expressions of identity in relation to generativity across two cultural contexts. Ten interview transcripts from the Global Feminisms Project (Institute for Research on Women and Gender (2002) Global Feminisms Project. Retrieved from https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/globalfeminisms/) provided by five Chinese and five American middle-aged female activists were examined. Transcript narratives were coded for themes of identity and generativity using a coding scheme based on Erikson's writings. Findings showed that female activists in both cultural contexts integrated identity and generativity by expressing themes that consisted of both constructs. However, Chinese women activists expressed their identity by integrating generativity more so than their American counterparts. These results underscore identity and generativity as inter-related constructs that overlap among middle-aged women, as well as cultural variations both within and between groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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