Real Estate and Taxation in Singapore provides a multi-disciplinary approach to the subject for Singapore real estate and tax aficionados. The book helps the reader to navigate the complex world of real estate taxation by taking them through the various changes in the Singapore real estate market over the years, as well as the property development and investment life cycle from acquisition and development, to investment and ownership, to disposal.The book primarily focuses on tax issues — income tax, stamp duty, property tax and goods and services tax — faced by property developers and investors in Singapore. It further explains the tax and non-tax aspects of topics relating to the Master Plan, development charge and differential premium, the real estate market cooling measures, as well as real estate investment trusts and funds.It is an all-in-one, 'must-have' reference book for professionals, policy-makers, academia, students and the general public who are interested in the field of real estate and taxation.
During the Republican period (1912–1949) and after, many Chinese Buddhists sought inspiration from non-Chinese Buddhist traditions, showing a particular interest in esoteric teachings. What made these Buddhists dissatisfied with Chinese Buddhism, and what did they think other Buddhist traditions could offer? Which elements did they choose to follow, and which ones did they disregard? And how do their experiences recast the wider story of twentieth-century pan-Asian Buddhist reform movements? Based on a wide range of previously unexplored Chinese sources, this book explores how esoteric Buddhist traditions have shaped the Chinese religious landscape. Wei Wu examines cross-cultural religious transmission of ideas from Japanese and Tibetan traditions, considering the various esoteric currents within Chinese Buddhist communities and how Chinese individuals and groups engaged with newly translated ideas and practices. She argues that Chinese Buddhists’ assimilation of doctrinal, ritual, and institutional elements of Tibetan and Japanese esoteric Buddhism was not a simple replication but an active process of creating new meanings. Their visions of Buddhism in the modern world, as well as early twentieth-century discourses of nation building and religious reform, shaped the reception of esoteric traditions. By analyzing the Chinese interpretation and strategic adaptations of esoteric Buddhism, this book sheds new light on the intellectual development, ritual performances, and institutional formations of Chinese Buddhism in the twentieth century.
Run for cover, because Mutant Sudoku is on the loose! Thomas Snyder and Wei-Hwa Huang are both U.S. Sudoku Champions, and they’ll have you filling in grids of all shapes and sizes, testing parts of your logical mind that have never been tested before. You will marvel at the ingenuity within these pages, and after experiencing the power of these Mutant Sudoku, normal 9 x 9 puzzles will never seem the same again.
In the early winter, the ancient town, which looked a little depressed, was bleak with the cold wind, and a cool breeze blew, and several bright red maple leaves fell from the air, swirling along the dry and pale slate with the breeze, which was particularly bleak. The sunshine in early winter is a little shabby, shooting down from the air, bringing a little warmth to this cold winter.
Banking Regulation in China provides an in-depth analysis of the country's contemporary banking regulatory system, focusing on regulation in practice. By drawing on public and private interest theories relating to bank regulation, He argues that controlled development of the banking sector transformed China's banks into more market-oriented institutions and increased public sector growth. This work proves that bank regulation is the primary means through which the Chinese government achieves its political and economic objectives rather than using it as a vehicle for maintaining efficient financial markets.
This book seeks to survey the role of tycoons in Hong Kong's socio-political and socioeconomic developments. Summoned to Beijing just before the onset of the territory's longest social movement, it highlights the tycoons' symbolic intermediary role between Beijing's elite and the people of Hong Kong. Also investigated is the unwritten social contract between Beijing's elite and Hong Kong society — that the tycoons will be rewarded economically or left alone to conduct their business activities if they remain compatible with Beijing's policy directions (or at least remain neutral in contentious issues) and facilitate policy implementation if necessary.Tycoons in Hong Kong has three research objectives: first, in understanding the roles that tycoons play in Hong Kong, it is necessary to understand Beijing's crafted political and social spaces for Hong Kong's economic elites to exert their influence. Second, it examines the integrated roles that the tycoons play as consultative members of the Chinese one-party socio-political structures. Third, it presents the humanized side of the tycoons, highlights the positive contributions that tycoons make to Hong Kong and mainland China and deconstructs the idea of a hegemonic tycoon class by emphasizing their heterogeneity in the biographical entries section of the publication.
In this book, David Der-wei Wang uses the lyrical to rethink the dynamics of Chinese modernity. Although the form may seem unusual for representing China's social and political crises in the mid-twentieth century, Wang contends that national cataclysm and mass movements intensified Chinese lyricism in extraordinary ways. Wang calls attention to the form's vigor and variety at an unlikely juncture in Chinese history and the precarious consequences it brought about: betrayal, self-abjuration, suicide, and silence. Despite their divergent backgrounds and commitments, the writers, artists, and intellectuals discussed in this book all took lyricism as a way to explore selfhood in relation to solidarity, the role of the artist in history, and the potential for poetry to illuminate crisis. They experimented with poetry, fiction, film, intellectual treatise, political manifesto, painting, calligraphy, and music. Western critics, Wang shows, also used lyricism to critique their perilous, epic time. He reads Martin Heidegger, Theodor Adorno, Cleanth Brooks, and Paul de Man, among others, to complete his portrait. The Chinese case only further intensifies the permeable nature of lyrical discourse, forcing us to reengage with the dominant role of revolution and enlightenment in shaping Chinese—and global—modernity. Wang's remarkable survey reestablishes Chinese lyricism's deep roots in its own native traditions, along with Western influences, and realizes the relevance of such a lyrical calling of the past century to our time.
Comprehensive volume traces historical development of techniques and styles evolved by Chinese masters since the 14th century, analyzes aesthetic concepts, and provides information on materials, technical principles, and brush strokes.
This book investigates the case of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of People’s Republic of China, mapping the changing patterns of political-administrative relations affected by the sovereignty change and structural reforms. It identifies the conditions that account for the varied political-administrative relations resulting from these changes, and develops an analytical framework that integrates and adapts theories and models from Western contexts to explain varied political-administrative relations in Hong Kong policymaking. The book tests its hypotheses through a qualitative comparative analysis of 18 cases occurring during the period of 1997–2012. It also conducts a comparative case analysis, which identified alternative causal conditions that were missing in the original framework. The book concludes that civil servants no longer dominate policymaking in Hong Kong after the regime change and structural reforms. While senior civil servants have sustained influence over policymaking processes through codified rules and political appointment, some of them have adapted to the changes in political environment that require more proactive policy styles and more hierarchical loyalty to the Central People’s Government of China than before. The first-hand interview materials presented in the book provide insights about internal political-administrative dynamics rarely accessible from the public domain. These insights provide inside knowledge of the actors, structure and processes of local policymaking in a context of post-colonial transition, and will be of interest to public administration scholars.
This issue of Clinics in Plastic Surgery, edited by Drs. Fu-Chan Wei and Nidal Farhan Al Deek, is devoted to Free Tissue Transfer to Head and Neck: Lessons Learned from Unfavorable Results. Articles in this issue include: The Triangle of Failure: Failure in Planning, Selection, and Execution; Lessons Learned from Unfavorable Microsurgical Head and Neck Reconstruction: Chang Gung Experience; Lessons Learned from Unfavorable Microsurgical Head and Neck Reconstruction: M.D Anderson Cancer Center Perspective; Lessons Learned from Unfavorable Microsurgical Head and Neck Reconstruction: Japan National Cancer Center Point of View; Insights from Mexico on the Unfavorable Results after Free Tissue Transfer to Head and Neck; “A Word from University of Toronto on the Unfavorable Results after Free Tissue Transfer to Head and Neck; Mount Sinai Medical Center and their Experience with Unfavorable Microsurgical Head and Neck Reconstruction; Mayo Clinic Experience with Unfavorable Results after Free Tissue Transfer to Head and Neck; University of Washington at Seattle and the Unfavorable Results after Free Tissue Transfer to Head and Neck; Henri Mondor Experience with Unfavorable Microsurgical Head and Neck Reconstruction; Liverpool Opinion on Unfavorable Microsurgical Head and Neck Reconstruction: Lessons Learned; The Osteoradionecrosis as Untoward Outcomes Following Successful Free Tissue Transfer to Head and Neck; Trismus as Untoward Outcomes after Successful Free Tissue Transfer to Head and Neck; and Oro- and –Naso- Cutaneous Fistulae as Untoward Outcomes after Successful Free Tissue Transfer to Head Neck.
Despite the modern high-rise buildings, international brand names and many Caucasian faces, Hong Kong still retains much of its Asian character. Learn how fung shui influences the way of life and the importance of the concept of ‘face’, which affects interpersonal relationships and business transactions. Packed with practical tips and a comprehensive resource section, CultureShock! Hong Kong is all you will need to survive and succeed in this highly competitive society.
This book presents the essential ideas of coherent states and provides researchers and graduate students with the necessary tools for various applications of generalized coherent state theory. These applications include areas such as quantum information, quantum phase transitions, quantum many-body systems, quantum chaos, and quantum open systems. The aim of the book is to show how coherent states can be applied to an extensive range of physical systems. The authors provide many exercises at the end of each chapter to enhance the mastery of the subject. Throughout the first seven chapters, only an understanding of elementary quantum mechanics is assumed, and for the last six chapters, some basic knowledge of group theory is requested to follow the arguments.
Leng Feng's father, Leng Tianhao, is the chairman of a multinational company. He is busy with official business all the year round and stationed overseas. Leng Feng's mother had to leave Leng Feng in China to take better care of him. Leng Feng didn't have any complaints about these. The old couple flew together, and they were also free. Whenever you miss your parents, just make a phone call. Now that technology is so developed, they all bring videos. Being away from Wan Li is just as close at hand, which is good.
This open access book is designed and written to bridge the gap on the critical issues identified in environmental education programs in Asian countries. The world and its environments are changing rapidly, and the public may have difficulty keeping up and understanding how these changes will affect our way of life. The authors discuss various topics and case studies from an Asian perspective, but the content, messaging, and lessons learned need not be limited to Asian cultures. Each chapter provides a summary of the intensive research that has been performed on pro-environmental behaviors, the experience of people working in industry and at home, and their philosophies that guide them in their daily lives. We highlight humanity’s potential to contribute to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by understanding better the environmental psychology, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability and stewardship protection elements that contribute to responsible environmental citizenship. The content of the chapters in this book includes a discussion of the crucial issues, plans, and evaluations for sustainability theories, practices, and actions with a proposed management structure for maximizing the cultural, social, and ecological diversity of Asian experiences compared to other theories and cultures internationally. We intend that the data in this book will provide a comprehensive guide for students, professors, practitioners, and entrepreneurs of environmental education and its related disciplines using case studies that demonstrate the relationship between the social and behavioral sciences and environmental leadership and sustainability.
Current census reports indicate that over half of the United States will be of ethnic minority background by 2050. Yet few published studies have examined or demonstrated the efficacy of currently established psychological treatments for ethnic minorities. Culturally Adapting Psychotherapy for Asian Heritage Populations: An Evidence-Based Approach identifies the need for culturally adapted psychotherapy and helps support the cultural competency movement by helping providers develop specific skillsets, rather than merely focusing on cultural self-awareness and knowledge of other groups. The book provides a top-down and bottom-up community-participatory framework for developing culturally adapted interventions that can be readily applied to many other groups. Areas targeted for adaptation are broken down into domains, principles, and the justifying rationales. This is one of the first books that provides concrete, practical, and specific advice for researchers and practitioners alike. It is also the first book that provides an actual culturally adapted treatment manual so that the reader can see cultural adaptations in action. Summarizes psychotherapy research indicating underrepresentation of ethnic minorities Describes the first evidence-based culturally adapted treatment for Asian heritage populations Provides concrete examples of adapted psychotherapy in practice Clarifies how this framework can be further used to adapt interventions for other ethnic groups Highlights how principles used to develop this depression-specific treatment can be applied to other disorders Includes the full treatment manual Improving Your Mood: A Culturally Responsive and Holistic Approach to Treating Depression in Chinese Americans
Political leadership styles in East Asian states are shaped and influenced by a number of domestic factors. These factors include the type of political system that an East Asian state adopted from their days of independence and decolonization. There is a diverse array of political systems in the region, ranging from Western-style liberal democracies like Japan and South Korea to autocratic one-party states like North Korea. Most other East Asian countries adopt systems somewhere in between these two polar ends. This volume begins with a macro-political perspective of leadership. It then looks at case studies of political leadership and the factors that influence the shape and outcome of leadership styles in the region.The book also examines the concept of community leadership and its impact on community well-being. Several specific case studies are examined in depth. While examining political leadership from a macro theoretical and empirical perspective, the book also adopts historical-anthropological perspectives to analyse case studies. The case studies also examine policy formulation and implementation to look at the role of government in handling community-level issues.Finally, the book focuses on economic leadership in international political economy and global business.
Taking a comparative approach, this fieldwork-based study explores the lives and thoughts of Buddhist nuns in present-day Taiwan and Sri Lanka. The author examines the postcolonial background and its influence on the modern situation, as well as surveying the main historical, economic, and social factors which influence the position of nuns in society. Based on original research, including interviews with nuns in both countries, the book examines their perspectives on controversial issues and in particular those concerning the status of women in Buddhism. Concerns discussed include allegedly misogynist teachings relating to women’s inferior karma, that they cannot become Buddhas, and that nuns have to follow additional rules that monks do not. Bridging the gap between feminist theory and the reality of women in religion, the book makes a distinct contribution to the study of women in Buddhism by focusing on nuns from both of the main wings of Buddhism (Theravada and Mahayana) as well as furthering feminist studies of Buddhism and religion in general.
In the past 18 years, after the handover of the former British colony Hong Kong to China, Beijing and the Special Administration Region (SAR) have been trying to work out a mutually beneficial relationship based on pragmatism and a focus on economic prosperity. The Occupy Central with Love and Peace in Hong Kong (September to December 2014) movement represents a significant event in Hong Kong's history of public advocacy for change by pro-democracy residents. It is viewed differently by various groups within Hong Kong, including eliciting counter-reactions from an opposing movement.To contextualize the current discussions, the authors have identified three phases of the movement; and included a historical anatomy of Hong Kong's quest to reach an equilibrium between status quo and changes advocated through its social movements. Though the account does not pretend to be comprehensive, it distils the most significant events in each of the three stages of the movement. Centrist, moderate, and conservative views on Occupy Central, as well as the liberal and progressive positions on the movement are discussed and analyzed in the book.
This book provides an excellent reference for all professionals working in the area of array signal processing and its applications in wireless communications. Wideband beamforming has advanced with the increasing bandwidth in wireless communications and the development of ultra wideband (UWB) technology. In this book, the authors address the fundamentals and most recent developments in the field of wideband beamforming. The book provides a thorough coverage of the subject including major sub-areas such as sub-band adaptive beamforming, frequency invariant beamforming, blind wideband beamforming, beamforming without temporal processing, and beamforming for multi-path signals. Key Features: Unique book focusing on wideband beamforming Discusses a hot topic coinciding with the increasing bandwidth in wireless communications and the development of UWB technology Addresses the general concept of beamforming including fixed beamformers and adaptive beamformers Covers advanced topics including sub-band adaptive beamforming, frequency invariant beamforming, blind wideband beamforming, beamforming without temporal processing, and beamforming for multi-path signals Includes various design examples and corresponding complexity analyses This book provides a reference for engineers and researchers in wireless communications and signal processing fields. Postgraduate students studying signal processing will also find this book of interest.
Scholars have analyzed Chinese society in the light of contemporary Western social and natural sciences for centuries. This compact volume turns the tables and opens tantalizing new perspectives on the American civilization by examining it through the lens of ancient Confucianism. The current work invites Americans to step through the looking glass -- backwards, this time -- and view ourselves from a Confucian perspective. In his analysis, Zhang draws together references to the I Ching, Leibniz, Tocqueville, Lipset and Aristotle, a judicious few statistics such as crime rate and economic growth, and the lions of Chinese philosophy. Chapter 1: The American Civilization and Ancient Confucianism in Open Society Chapter 2: "All Men Are Created Equal" Versus All Men Are Born Equal Chapter 3: Democracy and Law Chapter 4: Education and Knowledge Chapter 5: Economic Freedom and Development Chapter 6: The American Universalism and Rational Civilizations in the Future
Various cross-textual readings have been attempted between the Christian Bible and Chinese literature. Using cross-textual hermeneutics, this study centers on the political wisdom of Ecclesiastes and the Analects, and its goal is to demonstrate that both texts offer wisdom pointers for human survival amid uncertain sociopolitical realities. Chapter 1 introduces the vibrant interaction of biblical wisdom literature within the ancient Near East and highlights some of its political connections. The openness of wisdom literature is then proposed to support this present effort of cross-textual research. Chapter 2 offers readings of eight passages that communicate Qoheleth's political wisdom in Ecclesiastes. Chapter 3 centers on the Analects and on some notable passages that relate to Confucius' political ideas. Chapter 4 seeks to demonstrate the dialogical dynamics between the two works by exploring specific hermeneutical connections. In conclusion, readers will come to understand the distinctive and collective political insights of both wisdom texts. That is, this study suggests contextualized ideas for living wisely from within both a faith tradition and a native tradition.
By the tenth century CE, Mount Wutai had become a major pilgrimage site within the emerging culture of a distinctively Chinese Buddhism. Famous as the abode of the bodhisattva Ma�ju r (known for his habit of riding around the mountain on a lion), the site in northeastern China�s Shanxi Province was transformed from a wild area, long believed by Daoists to be sacred, into an elaborate complex of Buddhist monasteries. In Building a Sacred Mountain, Wei-Cheng Lin traces the confluence of factors that produced this transformation and argues that monastic architecture, more than texts, icons, relics, or pilgrimages, was the key to Mount Wutai�s emergence as a sacred site. Departing from traditional architectural scholarship, Lin�s interdisciplinary approach goes beyond the analysis of forms and structures to show how the built environment can work in tandem with practices and discourses to provide a space for encountering the divine. For more information: http://arthistorypi.org/books/building-a-sacred-mountain
This IBM® Redbooks® publication documents and addresses topics to provide step-by-step programming concepts to tune the applications to use IBM POWER8® hardware architecture with the technical computing software stack. This publication explores, tests, and documents how to implement an IBM high-performance computing (HPC) solution on POWER8 by using IBM technical innovations to help solve challenging scientific, technical, and business problems. This book demonstrates and documents that the combination of IBM HPC hardware and software solutions delivers significant value to technical computing clients in need of cost-effective, highly scalable, and robust solutions. This book targets technical professionals (consultants, technical support staff, IT Architects, and IT Specialists) who are responsible for delivering cost-effective HPC solutions that help uncover insights among clients' data so that they can act to optimize business results, product development, and scientific discoveries.
This book assesses new developments in and reform of China's banking law system following its accession of the WTO. It focuses on the relationship between GATS/WTO national treatment obligations and China's banking law. Tracing the history of national treatment in China, the book compares the treatment of foreign-funded banks with the treatment of Chinese-funded banks and examines the structure and shortcomings of the existing banking law framework in China. Offering suggestions as to how the framework could be restructured and analysing the economic and political bases of an integrated banking law framework, the book argues that reorganization would bring about greater consistency with GATS/WTO national treatment requirements. The book also explores the ambiguous definition of prudential carve-out, the subtle relationship between GATS national treatment and market access based on WTO cases, national treatment clauses in China’s bilateral investment treaties, and special treatment on banking in China’s free trade agreements. This volume is a valuable resource for academics and students as well as professionals and policy-makers working in the field of banking, WTO, Chinese law and foreign trade.
This book is an academic publication about the global development of massive open online courses (MOOCs) and major MOOC platforms worldwide in the past decade, as well as the outlook of MOOCs in the future, with an emphasis on Greater China. The book also discusses the upsurge of the demand for online learning and MOOCs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The book is divided into three main parts - Part I: Overview of MOOCs introduces the origin and history of MOOCs and the development of MOOC platforms in Greater China and the global context; Part II: Key Issues discuss the MOOC policies, innovative pedagogy, technology, and ecosystems worldwide; and Part III: Beyond MOOCs probes into the roles and benefits of MOOCs in times of crises, as well as the outlook of MOOCs in the future. In terms of topic diversity, the book contains a comprehensive investigation of the past and latest MOOC developments, extracting and elaborating on relevant information regarding platforms, policies, pedagogy, technology, and ecosystems. Subsequently, in-depth analyses of MOOC data are utilized to deduce the current trends related to the MOOC movement and to extrapolate the likeliest direction of development for MOOCs in the years to come. The book can inform policymakers, education institutions, course instructors, platform developers, investors, researchers, and individual learners of MOOCs about critical information on the present and future of MOOC development, assisting them in making crucial decisions on what initiatives can optimize their advantages in the sector.
This scholarly study of the formation of the Irish literary canon in the first half of the twentieth century provides fascinating and often surprising insights into the ways in which different educational institutions responded to the political and historical changes taking place as Ireland moved from colonial to postcolonial status. Dr Wei H. Kao discusses not only what was included on school and university curriculum but also writers who were excluded, in particular women writers who appeared to interrogate a male nationalist agenda for the representation of Ireland.– Emeritus Professor C.L. Innes The writers discussed include Daniel Corkery, J.G. Farrell, Denis Johnston, Mary Lavin, Iris Murdoch, Kate O’Brien, Frank O’Connor, Liam O’Flaherty, and James Plunkett.
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