I intend to trace the original meaning of "unifying two into one" as it is treated in the Tung-hsi chün. The phrase "unifying two into one" appears in the chapter entitled "The Three Verifications" [San cheng] of Fang I-chih's most representative work, the Tung-hsi chün. I am not very familiar with this book, and feel that there are still many places which I do not understand even though I have read it several times. Nonetheless, the philosophical system of the (...) Tung-hsi chün is relatively clear, and if we try to place the notion "unifying two into one" in the whole context of this book, we then can decipher its original meaning and some of its real ideas. I now present my personal opinion about this book to our comrades for their reference. (shrink)

Specific extracellular interaction between glycophosphatidylinositol (GPI)‐anchored proteins and adhesion G protein‐coupled receptors (aGPCRs) plays an important role in unique biological functions. GPI‐anchored proteins are derived from a novel post‐translational modification of single‐span membrane molecules, while aGPCRs are bona fide seven‐span transmembrane proteins with a long extracellular domain. Although various members of the two structurally‐distinct protein families are known to be involved in a wide range of biological processes, many remain as orphans. Interestingly, accumulating evidence has pointed to a complex interaction (...) and functional synergy between these two protein families. I discuss herein current understanding of specific functional partnerships between GPI‐anchored proteins and aGPCRs. (shrink)

Hsun K'uang was an outstanding thinker of the newly-emerging landlord class in Chinese history. Through the analytical critique, he established a simple materialist ideological system as the theoretical foundation of the later feudal centralism. In the historical development of materialism, his ideological system encompassed the essence of thought advanced before and after him. His combative proposition on the "decrees of Heaven" is an especially epoch-making achievement in ancient materialist theory. However, his world outlook, a metaphysical theory of cycles, recognized change (...) and cycles but not evolution and development. (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to extend prior research on this topic by investigating whether the impact of ownership concentration moderates the link between corporate social performance and financial performance. This study uses a set of unique, hand-collected pollution control data to measure CSP, based on a sample of Taiwanese listed companies during the period from 1996 to 2006. The results of the empirical analysis provide firm support for the idea that the divergence between control rights and the cash (...) flow rights of controlling owners negatively moderates the link between social and short- and long-run FP. (shrink)

This paper conducts a comparative analysis of data governance mechanisms concerning the secondary use of health data in Taiwan and the European Union (EU). Both regions have adopted distinctive approaches and regulations for utilizing health data beyond primary care, encompassing areas such as medical research and healthcare system enhancement. Through an examination of these models, this study seeks to elucidate the strategies, frameworks, and legal structures employed by Taiwan and the EU to strike a delicate balance between the imperative of (...) data-driven healthcare innovation and the safeguarding of individual privacy rights. This paper examines and compares several key aspects of the secondary use of health data in Taiwan and the EU. These aspects include data governance frameworks, legal and regulatory frameworks, data access and sharing mechanisms, and privacy and security considerations. This comparative exploration offers invaluable insights into the evolving global landscape of health data governance. It provides a deeper understanding of the strategies implemented by these regions to harness the potential of health data while upholding the ethical and legal considerations surrounding its secondary use. The findings aim to inform best practices for responsible and effective health data utilization, particularly in the context of medical AI applications. (shrink)

This study conceptualizes rape trauma as embedded in the cultural construction of rape and consequently manifested in the psychological process of individual rape survivors. The author conducted indepth interviews with 35 female rape survivors in Taiwan to examine their self-reported traumatic experiences in relation to the cultural meaning of rape in Chinese society. In analyzing the interview accounts, this study identified several kinds of trauma predominantly experienced among the interviewed rape survivors. This study found that the psychological trauma among individual (...) rape survivors in Taiwan, although similar to rape trauma symptoms documented in Western literature, seems to manifest a relatively distinct cultural construction of rape in Chinese society. Study implications for rape-related educational and treatment programs in Taiwan are suggested in the context of Chinese cultural construction of rape. (shrink)

While political scientists generally see Taiwan as a success state because of its economic modernization and political democratization, this book reinterprets Taiwan's success from the Confucian and postcolonial perspectives. Democracy uncovers the hegemonic construction of the myth of the "success state" and challenges political scientists to abandon both the liberal-centrism and state-centrism prevailing in the literature of democratization.

IntroductionThis paper employs Confucianism to illustrate a kind of differential or benevolent love, which people give in accordance with their relations and roles. In this sense, Confucian benevolent love is more of a duty to create mutual belonging than an emotion of solidarity.1 This benevolent love contrasts with the universal love of liberalism and the resultant solidarity that those who express this form of love feel for one another—these people often being the distant and unacquainted—whose presence would puzzle Confucian leaders (...) in terms of their roles and duties. Confucian roles are, in comparison, contextual, evolving, and reciprocal in order to cope with encountered strangeness. The liberal belief in everyone being ontologically equal and free de-emphasizes the relevance of experiencing the other’s strangeness. As a result of this, a Confucian’s and liberal’s love for one another may ironically cause, in both, a moral outrage qua deprived belonging.2. (shrink)

"Whenever one intends to overturn a political power, one must first create a general view and begin working from an ideological basis. The revolutionaries are like this. The counterrevolutionaries are also like this." [1] During the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, the Legalists, who represented the newly rising landlord class, and the Confucianists, who represented the slave-owning class, engaged in an intense ideological struggle around the central issue of seizing or opposing the seizure of power, restoring (...) or opposing the restoration of the ancient ways. The field of the study of history, which is an organic part of ideology, became an important line of struggle for the Confucianists and the Legalists. (shrink)

We find that agency problems are embedded in firm's excess and abnormal equity investments that are mainly dictated by controlling shareholder's motives and ethical choices manifested in ownership and board structure. The excess equity investment is gauged with respect to industry average. The abnormal equity investment is specifically referred to the number of nominal investment companies that are fully controlled by the controlling owners while subject to little governance. Our empirical evidences of 345 Taiwanese non-financial listed firms show that firm's (...) excess and abnormal equity investments are negatively correlated with controlling shareholder's cash flow rights while are positively correlated with the control-cash flow deviation, and board affiliation. The results are supportive of the positive incentive hypothesis and the negative entrenchment hypothesis put forth by La Porta et al. and Claessen et al.. The negative relation between equity investment and firm's value further supports the agency postulation that corporate excess and abnormal equity investments represent a leeway for controlling shareholder to exploit wealth of minority shareholders. This study potentially contributes to the literature of business ethics by portraying an empirically testable linkage from controlling owner's ethical choices to his actions and therefore firm's value. (shrink)

In 2016, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen officially apologised to the island’s indigenous peoples. This national apology not only plays a persuasive role in informing the general public about the historical wrongdoings inflicted on the Taiwanese aborigines, but also constitutes a therapeutic and restorative role in the process of reconciliation with the indigenous victims. This article provides a critical discourse analysis of President Tsai’s apology. In particular, it examines the power and ideology embedded in both the speech and the related ceremony, (...) and is supplemented with extracts from interviews with a cross-section of key stakeholders, such as a former Constitutional/supreme Court Justice, indigenous/tribal leaders and members/staff/advisers from the Presidential Office Indigenous Historical Justice and Transitional Justice Committee. The analysis reveals that, despite President Tsai’s apology and reconciliation policies, instead of facilitating reconciliation, the apology appears to exacerbate the long-standing latent tension between indigenous and non-indigenous groups. While the apology opens a window for reconciliation, a higher level of commitment is required to promote structural and systemic changes, such as land restitution, before the apology can be deemed adequate. (shrink)