Browsing by Subject "China"

China’s high-speed economic growth has accelerated consumers’ disposable income evidently. With the improvement of living standards, people have increasingly been concerned about their life quality, especially when buying consumables like food, toys and clothing as well as durable commodities like furniture for their children. In the past ten years, the Chinese children's furniture market has developed rapidly, making up 9% of total furniture market. However, no studies concerning the analysis of consumer behavior in this market segment exist so far. The objective of this study is to fill this gap by examining Chinese consumers’ perceptions of children’s furniture based on their socio-demographics, their attitudes towards product, supplier and environmental attributes. The empirical part of the study focused on analyzing quantitative data, which were collected by using a structured questionnaire in Shanghai and Shenzhen of China.The data were analyzed by a wide array of statistical analysis methods using SPSS software package. The final sample size was made up of 299 respondents. The data reveal that females accounted for 67% of the total respondents, with 63% of all respondents being in the range of 31-40 years old and 23% in the range of 20-30 years old. The results indicate that safety and environmental friendliness were the primary consideration for parents to purchase children’s furniture. And supplier quality was detected as the central dimension when respondents perceived different attributes of children’s furniture. In addition, 83% of the respondents chose solid wood as the primary raw material for children’s furniture, and 35% of them stated that they were willing to pay 6-10% more for environmentally friendly children's furniture. The choice of environmentally friendly products was closely connected with consumers’ lifestyle and majority of respondents expressed positive attitudes towards healthy and sustainable lifestyle. However, Chinese consumers showed low brand awareness in the children’s furniture market and their price expectations on solid wood furniture were below current market levels. Nevertheless, the Chinese children’s furniture presents a tremendous market potential not only for wooden furniture producers but also for both domestic and international wood raw material suppliers.

Corruption, which affects the development of human society nowadays, has been called the “cancer” of international politics. Currently, countries worldwide are faced with corruption to varying degrees, which diverts funds for development to private individuals or power groups, makes the poor poorer, affects the rule of law in the entire country and traps the country in an “inequality trap”. This dissertation attempts to interpret, through a comparative study, why corruption rates remain high in China. The starting point is examined in this dissertation is why the corruption rate in Finland is much lower than in China. This study compares and analyses the anti-corruption ecology and mechanisms of the two countries, including the definition of corruption, the current state of corruption, the causes of corruption, the legal framework, the institutional set-up of anti-corruption, and the set-up of prevention mechanisms and the differences in social supervision. The comparative approach allows for quick identification of institutional and legal differences between the two countries. The results show that there is rarely a motive for Finnish officials to be involved in corruption, that the Ministry of Justice has collaborated to build an anti-corruption network that allows all departments to participate, and that the existence of an Ombudsman and Chancellor of Justice system allows for oversight of government operations. The transparent and open government allows the public to participate in social supervision. China is more diverse in terms of the causes of corruption, with incomplete legal constructs and over-powered anti-corruption agencies, leading to the involvement of anti-corruption officials in corruption. Mechanisms to prevent corruption lack national-level guidance, and the government is not transparent enough, resulting in the public’s right to know not being guaranteed and making it difficult for social oversight to function. This is why the corruption rate in China is higher than that in Finland.

This research paper conducts a comparative analysis of the carbon emissions trading schemes (ETS) in the European Union (EU) and China. The study reviews the literature on the EU ETS and China's regional pilot ETS programs, highlighting key indicators and stages of development. By examining similarities and differences in design, monitoring, and development processes, the paper provides insights into the two mechanisms. The findings contribute to a comprehensive understanding of ETS and offer recommendations for the development of China's carbon trading mechanism.This study addresses a research gap by providing a comprehensive comparative analysis of the EU and China's carbon emissions trading schemes, offering valuable insights and recommendations for the development and operation of China's carbon trading mechanism.

Forest carbon offset projects have been growing vigorously in China in the last ten years. It is necessary to form an overall picture of the projects, to analyze the quality of their development processes, and to shed light on the development of upcoming projects. In order to evaluate their development process, a framework of assessment was built up and applied in practical project assessment. In this thesis, firstly, the situation of the global carbon markets and Chinese forest carbon offset projects was introduced. Especially, different international and domestic carbon accounting and other carbon related standards were presented and compared. Secondly, the previous studies about the assessment of sustainable development impacts of the forestry carbon projects were reviewed; the approaches and indicators were compared and summarized. Then, in combination with checklists and multi-criteria approaches, a new assessment framework was established, consisting of a set of indicators and a four-level scoring system. Finally, 16 Chinese forestry projects which have applied different carbon standards were evaluated with this assessment framework. Their performances were compared and analyzed, the characteristics of standards were also compared. According to the results of the assessment, the successfully registered Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects gained higher scores, suggesting their development processes were of higher quality. The projects applying Climate, Community, and Biodiversity Standards (CCBS) in pair with another carbon accounting standard also tended to get higher scores, indicating the positive effect of CCBS on the consideration of sustainable co-benefits. The international standards are stricter than domestic standards, which can be seen from the comprehensiveness and meticulousness of the Project Design Documents (PDDs). The result of the assessment corresponds to the previous understanding about the projects and standards, which supports the validity of the assessment framework.

Tiivistelmä – Referat – Abstract The Master’s thesis is about Finland China trade and what factors have been driving it. The research question of the thesis is to see what the leading factors have been to drive the trade and its growth between China and Finland. This is done both as a literature study of the subject as well as an econometric study based on the economic gravitational model for trade. The investigation is done on factor like macroeconomic factors of like GDP of the countries, as well as politics, history, trade agreements, bilateral relations and structure in the trade between the two countries. The main findings in the thesis is that GDP growth of Finland and China effects strongly positively the trade floe between the countries. Additionally, concerning the access of China into the WTO it had statistically a positive effect on the Chinese exports to Finland, while Finnish exports to China did not have the same positive effect, thanks to Chinese access into WTO. Concerning the progresses of trade between the countries it can be seen from first being part just of bilateral trade relations between the two countries of different goods, to more develop into investment of booth countries in each other’s. Regarding the trade of goods, that of exports form Finnish has been more shift from before being exports of higher technology goods of electronic machines and other manufactured goods and machines to more a mix of raw material exports as well as high technology goods. In case of Chinese exports, they have been evolving from low level of goods like textiles and simple manufactured good in 1990s to current day of exports of higher level of especially electrical machinery and machinery and mechanical appliances being of importance, while textiles and simple manufactured goods lost shares in exports. Finland and China have had kind of good political relations with each other’s, by Finland begging its political relations with recognizing China in 1950 and having opening embassy in Beijing in the year of 1952. Furthermore, Finland has had more a policy of most non-interference by its higher political officials and companies into Chinas internal more sensitive affairs, and more promoting good trade and political relations between the two countries.

Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan ympäristödiskursseja maatalouspoliittisessa massakampanjassa, joka toteutettiin Mao Zedongin aikaisessa Kiinassa 1960- ja 1970-luvuilla. Kyseisen kampanjan tarkoituksena oli saada koko Kiina ottamaan mallia Dazhai-nimisestä kylästä, jonka Kiinan kommunistinen puolue katsoi edustavan esimerkillistä maanviljelyskulttuuria kaikilla mittareilla mitattuna. Ympäristödiskurssien lisäksi tässä tutkielmassa haetaan vastausta siihen, miten ihmisen ja luonnon välinen suhde esitettiin Dazhai-kampanjan yhteydessä. Näin tarkoituksena on tuottaa lisäymmärrystä Kiinan ympäristötuhoihin Maon hallinnon aikana. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkastelun kohteena olevat asiat sijoittuvat Kiinan kulttuurivallankumouksen aikakauteen. Tutkielman teoreettinen ja metodinen puoli nojautuu kriittiseen diskurssianalyysiin. Analyysin teossa on lisäksi käytetty apukeinona Norman Fairclough’n kolmijakoista analyysimallia. Aineisto koostuu yhteensä 21:sta lehtiartikkelista, jotka on julkaistu vuosien 1965 ja 1976 välillä lehdessä nimeltä China Pictorial. Tutkimusaineisto on kokonaisuudessaan kiinankielinen. Aineiston perusteella on havaittavissa neljä erilaista ympäristöön liittyvää diskurssia, joiden kautta Dazhai-kampanjasta kirjoitetaan. Diskurssit on nimetty ”luonto vallankumouksen jatkumona”–, ”luonnon muuttaminen kamppailun kautta”–, ”luonto välinearvona”– ja ”luonto sotilaallisena kohteena”–diskursseiksi. Näistä diskursseista ensimmäisessä näkyy ajatus siitä, että muiden yhteiskunnan osa-alueiden lisäksi myös luonto tulee mullistaa ja saattaa Kiinan kommunistisen puolueen hallintaan. Toisessa diskurssissa luonto nähdään asiana, jota on mahdollista muuttaa äärimmäisyyteen asti tahdonvoiman ja fyysisen kamppailun tuloksena. Kolmas diskurssi näkee luonnon sen tuoman hyödyn näkökulmasta, sekä heikentää perinteisiä kiinalaisia luontokäsityksiä. Neljännessä diskurssissa luonto on kohde, joka on voitettava, jota kohden pitää hyökätä ja jota vastaan pitää aloittaa sota. Näiden neljän diskurssin kautta havaittava ihmisen ja luonnon välinen suhde on vahvasti antroposentrinen sekä tiukasti poliittiseen ideologiaan kietoutuva.

The one-child policy of the People’s Republic of China created an entire generation of Chinese only-children, who have migrated abroad more often than any previous generation. However, despite the increased emigration, alongside the aging population, the Chinese elderly care system relies on the inputs of children. Therefore, there is a fundamental conflict between the filial intergenerational caregiving responsibilities and international migration processes, although some caregiving forms may be exchanged from a distance. This master’s thesis investigates how the Chinese first-generation only-child migrants who live in Finland experience caring for their parents in China. The research questions are: How do Chinese one-child transnational families practice transnational caregiving? What are the expectations and possibilities concerning caregiving? What are the elderly care arrangements like for the parents? The theoretical framework of this study consists of three dimensions of transnational caregiving: care circulation approach, transnational caregiving types, and the capacity, obligation, and negotiated commitment as factors that explain the practices of transnational caregiving. The research data consists of nine semi-structured interviews of Chinese migrants of the only-child generation. The analysis method is qualitative theory-guided content analysis. The results suggest that Chinese migrants and their parents practice transnational caregiving by exchanging emotional support. The migrants experience that their possibilities to provide care to their parents are limited. However, providing care is a cultural obligation. The future elderly care arrangements of the parents are unclear, which makes the situation stressful for the migrants. The situation is also frustrating as ideal options for arranging elderly care are lacking. If the migrants return to China to provide elderly care to their parents, they are forced to make sacrifices with their work and family. However, if they do not return to China, the alternative options of relying on institutional elderly care or hiring a maid or a nurse are not ideal either. Although the migrants value filial traditions, they desperately demand societal and policy changes that would allow them to plan the future elderly care of their parents. Based on the results, there is a demand for establishing more quality institutional elderly care services in China. There is also a need for the Finnish migration policy to allow family-based old-age migration, as some other countries do. Overall, in the current situation, the national policymaking in Finland and in China does not recognize the needs of transnational families and transnational caregivers.

The thesis is intended to be like a snapshot on a particular aspect of China, India and Iran that has not yet received much scholarly attention: the perceptions of their Generation Y, or “Millennials”, populations. It aims to describe what Generation Y is like in China, India, and Iran, what they think and how they describe their own countries, why they developed in this way, and how that is connected to their home country’s historical, religious, and political context. The work aims to avoid the common research mistake of being Western-centric, and instead, points out Millennials’ reciprocal similarities and differences in each country. You will find three sections. The first section is a general introduction about Millennials in the three countries, a review of the existing literature on the topic. The second section is about how the government has been using religion in order to strengthen nationalism a unite these countries. I will be analysing the development of Asian values in China, Hindu nationalism in India and political Islam in Iran, and I will review these countries’ history to explain how the three movements developed like they did. Finally, I will show the output of my interviews in the last section. I have been interviewing around sixty young people divided by country and social attributes and I let them speak about their home countries. The section will point out the main themes that came up during the interviews and we will see how they are connected to the concepts we discussed before.

The main purpose of this Master’s thesis was to examine the impacts of distance factors on the equity-based entry mode choice of forest multinational companies (MNCs) by testing the distances (both in cultural and geographical terms) combined with corporate and local factors. China was chosen as the case host country in this study, and the collected data followed the top global forest MNCs that made investments in China at the subsidiary level. Based on a series of internationalization theories and previous studies, 8 hypotheses were proposed. These hypotheses were suppositions of selected factors having positive or negative impacts on the preference of MNCs for wholly owned subsidiaries (WOS) rather than the joint venture (JV) mode. Logistic regression was utilized as the methodology to test these hypotheses.The dependent variables were defined as WOS vs. JV, and the selected independent variables were cultural and geographical distance, experience of the host country, investment size, resource commitment and geographic concentration. The development and status quo of forest foreign investment in China were given by a descriptive statistical analysis. The results demonstrated that the most popular home countries of the forest corporations in this case were the US, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, and the most common investment locations in China were the east coastal regions. Furthermore, foreign investment in the forest industry showed differences between historical stages and economic regions. The statistical results indicate that a greater geographical distance, experience of the host country, and geographical concentration have positive impacts on the preference for WOS, while the CDI has a negative impact on it. However, investment size and resource commitment showed no impact on the equity-based entry mode choice in this study. The conclusions at the end of this thesis describe the future trend in and potential for forest foreign investment in China.

The research question of this thesis focuses on what the main constraints in the agricultural technological innovation in China are. The primary aim is to identity the most serious constraints/predicaments in Chinese agricultural technological innovation, and the most possible/main reasons behind those constraints. Based on the research findings, recommendations for some viable countermeasures and a way out of this bind could be provided for relevant policymakers in the Chinese agricultural sector. This thesis adopted a qualitative analysis based on grounded theory. The objects of analysis/data were 20 articles in Chinese academia selected according to these criteria: high relevance of titles and keywords to the thesis’ purposes; high representativeness of contents that relate to the thesis’ research questions; highly informative articles; high citation rates and influences of the articles. According to the study's findings, there are four major constraints to the advancement of agricultural science and technology innovation: 1) severe lack of financial investment in agricultural research; 2) low rate of conversion of agricultural science and technology achievements; 3) sluggish agricultural technology promotion and diffusion system; and 4) insufficient innovation capacity of scientific research actors, as well as a lack of collaborative innovation among them. This study fills a gap in the literature by conducting a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the barriers to agricultural science and technology innovation in China. The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture should implement deliberate policies and initiatives to promote agricultural innovation in China. Quantitative analysis could be used in future studies to obtain more accurate analysis results.