Blat and guanxi are terms describing personal networks in Russia and China respectively. They have existed and been practiced for centuries and remain highly relevant today. By employing a social network perspective, we analyze the architecture of blat and guanxi and some of the similarities between them. We also argue that personal networks in Russia and China are products of specific cultural...

During the past decade, much have been said about, and implemented in the name of, good governance, democracy and human rights in Pacific Islands Nations (PINs). External financial agencies are keen to provide assistance to PINs, and higher educational institutions and consulting agencies are keen to assist donors and island governments implement projects aimed at 'reforms' and 're-structuring'...

Abstract. With the rapid urbanization and sharp increasing of amount official identification cultural heritages, Chinese government public are paying more attention to regional comprehensive preservation, exhibition utilization heritages in recent years. “General Plan for Regional Cultural Heritage Preservation” offers a new systematic conservating solution cluster an administrative region. For...

Malay intangible heritage went through numerous stages in its evolution and shaped by an amalgamation of various influences; one of which was the Malay-Polynesian belief system with a strong animistic base. The later emergence of Islam introduced new customs and practices where old manteras or incantations are sprinkled with Islamic names and supplications to Islamize, so as to legitimize the r...

Italy has plenty of cultural heritages. The masterpieces are often placed in locations which are difficult to reach, moreover many artifacts, coming from man’s creativity, have very complex functioning. The authors of this paper describe their experience in using the computer graphics capabilities in order to reproduce four ancient clocks functioning coming from different Italian regions. The s...

The rapidity of environmental degradation and the recent popularity of the concept of sustainability have made clear how successful traditional societies have been in coexisting with nature. Architects, in responding to this rising awareness, are searching for models of the reinterpreta­ tion of tradition, seeking examples and guidelines. Three practitioners who anticipated the need for a reexa...

Based on the previous work by the Design Technology Research Centre in the School of Design of the Hong Kong polytechnic University, we have developed a new generative design framework for the development of creative cultural industries for western China as a collaborative initiative among the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Xian Jiaotong University, Xian Tongli International college, Cultura...

Abstract The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, with the capital Beijing as core, carries a profound geo-culture and gathers numerous intangible cultural heritages. Studying spatial distribution characteristics influencing factors of heritage can help to propose positive suggestions for protection development from perspective sustainable development. Taking 329 national heritages in Beijing-Tianjin—...

This paper presents a mobile phone application developed for sightseeing in Nikko, one of the cultural world heritages in Japan, using the BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) beacon. Based on our pre-research, we decided to design our application for young people who walk around the area actively, but know little about the tradition and culture of Nikko. One solution is to construct many information boa...