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\"In Father of Chinese History, Esther Klein explores the life and work of the great Han dynasty historian Sima Qian as seen by readers from the Han to the Song dynasties. Today Sima Qian is viewed as both a tragic hero and a literary genius. Premodern responses to him were more equivocal: the complex personal emotions he expressed prompted readers to worry about whether his work as a historian was morally or politically acceptable. Klein demonstrates how controversies over the value and meaning of Sima Qian's work are intimately bound up with larger questions: How should history be written? What role does individual experience and self-expression play within that process? By what standards can the historian's choices be judged?\"-- Provided by publisher.

Speaking to the Twentieth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, in October 2022, President Xi Jinping reiterated his commitment to the 'opening up' policy of his predecessors — a policy that has burnished the party’s political legitimacy among its citizens by enabling four decades of economic development. Yet, for all the talk of openness, 2022 was a year of both literal and symbolic locks and chains — including, of course, the long, coercive, and often brutally enforced lockdowns of neighbourhoods and cities across China, most prominently Shanghai. Then there was a vlogger’s accidental discovery of the ‘woman in chains’, sparking an anguished, nationwide conversation about human trafficking. That was part of a broader (if frequently censored) conversation about gendered violence and women’s rights, in a year when women’s representation at the highest levels of power, which was already minimal, decreased even further. There was trouble with supply chains and, with the Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis, in August, island chains as well. Despite the tensions in the Asia-Pacific, the People’s Republic of China expanded its diplomatic initiatives among Pacific island nations and celebrated fifty years of diplomatic links with both Japan and Australia. As the year drew to a close, a tragic fire in a locked-down apartment building in Ürümqi triggered a series of popular protests that brought an end to three years of ‘zero COVID’. The China Story Yearbook: Chains provides informed perspectives on these and other important stories from 2022.

This article explores the connection between the Heng Xian and the Changes of Zhou tradition, especially the “Tuan” and “Attached Verbalizations” commentaries. Two important Heng Xian terms— heng 恆 and fu 復—are also Changes of Zhou hexagrams and possible connections are explored. Second, the Heng Xian account of the creation of names is compared with the “Attached Verbalizations” account of the creation of the Changes of Zhou system. Third, the roles played by knowing and desire in both Heng Xian and the Changes of Zhou tradition are explored, with particular focus on potential points of similarity. Finally, insights gained through these comparisons are used to interpret the Heng Xian advice on initiating action.

Global DNA hypomethylation is a major event for the development and progression of cancer, although the significance in thyroid cancer remains unclear. Therefore, we aimed to investigate its role in thyroid cancer progression and its potential as a prognostic marker. Global hypomethylation of Alu repeats was used as a surrogate marker for DNA global hypomethylation, and was assessed using the Quantification of Unmethylated Alu technique. Mutations in BRAF and RAS were determined by Sanger sequencing. Ninety primary thyroid tumors were included [28 low-risk differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC), 13 pediatric DTC, 33 distant metastatic DTC, 7 poorly differentiated thyroid cancer (PDTC), and 9 anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC)], as well as 24 distant metastases and 20 normal thyroid tissues. An increasing hypomethylation was found for distant metastatic DTC [median, 4.0; interquartile range (IQR), 3.1 to 6.2] and PDTC/ATC (median, 9.3; IQR, 7.0 to 12.1) as compared with normal thyroid tissue (median, 2.75; IQR, 2.30 to 3.15), whereas low-risk and pediatric DTC were not affected by hypomethylation. Alu hypomethylation was similar between distant metastases and matched primary tumors. Within distant metastatic DTC, Alu hypomethylation was increased in BRAF vs RAS mutated tumors. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses showed that thyroid cancer-related and all-cause mortality were associated with tumor hypomethylation, but this association was lost after adjustment for thyroid cancer risk category. Distant metastatic DTC, PDTC, and ATC were increasingly affected by global Alu hypomethylation, suggesting that this epigenetic entity may be involved in thyroid cancer progression and dedifferentiation.

This article questions the traditional beliefs that the seven \"inner chapters\" constitute the earliest stratum of the Zhuangzi, that they already formed a coherent unit in the Warring States, and that they came from a single hand. After reviewing what is known about the early history of the Zhuangzi text, various arguments that have been made in support of early, coherent inner chapters, are examined. Taking the Shiji portrait of the Zhuangzi as the starting point, it is shown that Sima Qian's description and use of the Zhuangzi already gives us reason to question the importance, or even existence, of the inner chapters in the Western Han. It is then shown that pre-Han and Han references to Zhuang Zhou, and parallels with the Zhuangzi text, do not necessarily even require (or support) the existence of most inner chapters, and certainly give no evidence that they were coherent and had any kind of canonical status. Though this does not constitute proof, it does give us reason to rethink the traditional beliefs about the authorship and structure of the early Zhuangzi text. In closing, the possibility of a Huainan Zhuangzi, and the role Liu An and his court might have played in the compilation of the inner chapters, is considered. Cet article met en question les conceptions traditionnelles suivant lesquelles les sept \"chapitres intérieurs\" constituent la strate la plus ancienne du Zhuangzi, formaient déjà un ensemble cohérent à l'époque des Royaumes Combattants, et étaient de la même main. Ce qu'on connaît de l'histoire ancienne du texte du Zhuangzi est passé en revue, puis sont examinés les divers arguments qui ont été avancés en faveur de l'ancienneté et de la cohérence des chapitres intérieurs. Partant du portrait du Zhuangzi dans le Shiji, il est démontré que déjà la description et l'usage du texte par Sima Qian nous invitent à nous poser des questions sur l'importance, voire l'existence, des chapitres intérieurs à l'époque des Han occidentaux. Puis il est constaté que les références à Zhuang Zhou sous les Han et avant, ainsi que les parallèles avec le texte du Zhuangzi, ne supposent pas nécessairement (ni ne confortent) l'existence de la plupart des chapitres intérieurs, et ne suggèrent certainement pas que ceux-ci formaient un ensemble cohérent et avaient un quelconque statut canonique. Si ces faits n'ont pas valeur de preuve, ils invitent à s'interroger sur les conceptions traditionnelles concernant l'auteur et la structure du texte primitif du Zhuangzi. En conclusion sont considérés la possibilité d'un Zhuangzi originaire de Huainan ainsi que le rôle qu'auraient pu jouer Liu An et sa cour dans la compilation des chapitres intérieurs.

Purpose Increased school autonomy and accountability have been a common denominator of national reforms in otherwise heterogeneous governance systems in Europe and the USA. The paper argues that because schools serving disadvantaged communities (SSDCs) often have lower average performance, they are more often sanctioned or under closer scrutiny, but might also receive more additional resources. The purpose of this paper is to therefore analyze whether SSDCs have more or less autonomy than schools with a more advantageous context in four countries with heterogeneous autonomy and accountability policies. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on the data from the Programme for International Student Assessment 2012 school and student questionnaires from Finland, Germany, the UK, and the USA. The choice of countries is based on different governance models described by Glatter et al. (2003). The data are used to identify SSDCs and analyze the reported autonomy in resource allocation and curriculum and assessment. Using regression analyses, patterns are analyzed for each country individually. They are then juxtaposed and compared. Differences are related back to the governance models of the respective countries. Findings The results indicate an association between the communities the schools are serving and the autonomy either in the allocation of resources, or the curriculum and assessment. SSDCs appeared to have a little more autonomy than schools with a more advantageous context in Finland, Germany, and the UK, but less autonomy in the USA. The comparison suggests that in the USA, autonomy is rather a reward for schools that have the least amount of need, whereas in the other three countries it could be a result of strategies to improve schools in need. The paper discusses possible explanations in the policies and support structures for SSDCs. Originality/value The effects of increased school autonomy and accountability on student achievement have been discussed at length. How different accountability policies affect the autonomy of schools with the highest needs has so far not been studied. The study can be understood as a first step to unravel this association. Following steps should include in-depth investigations of the mechanisms underlying increased or diminished autonomy for SSDCs, and the consequences for school improvement in these schools.

The following translation represents a single, synthetic interpretation that considered the proposals, suggestions, and discussions not only of the three translators mentioned, but of everyone present at the Heng Xian workshop held at the Pennsylvania State University in late 2010. Committed to the goal of presenting a single, coherent perspective, one that made philosophical sense of the various cosmological concepts presented, the three translators made their final selections according to a majority rules approach.

Schulen in sozial deprivierter Lage (SsdL) sind häufig im Vergleich mit anderen Schulen durch eine geringere Innovationsbereitschaft und Externalisierungsstrategien gekennzeichnet. Der Beitrag fragt, inwiefern eine transformationale Führung mit Daten helfen kann, diese Routinen aufzubrechen. Befunde aus zwei Fallstudien zur Führungspraxis erfolgreicher Schulleiter in SsdL zeigen auf, dass Führung dazu beitragen kann, den Lehrkräft en neue Perspektiven auf ihre Schülerinnen und Schüler zu eröffnen und so die Nutzung der Daten zu erhöhen.

Herausforderungen durch den demografischen Wandel müssen im Schulsystem systematisch adressiert werden. Der Beitrag setzt sich mit den Anforderungen auseinander, die sich hierbei für die Schulaufsicht stellen. Dazu wird zunächst beschrieben, welche Verwaltungs- und Entwicklungsaufgaben die Schulaufsicht im Schulsystem erfüllt. Am Beispiel zweier spezifischer Herausforderungen des demografischen Wandels werden die verschiedenen Facetten dieser Aufgaben veranschaulicht und systematisiert.