Jun Gu – Page 14 – Junjun's Home

Nobel For Chinese Scholars: Is It Still Far?

今天早些时候，瑞典皇家科学院宣布了今年（2009年度）的诺贝尔物理学奖得主。其中我们再一次看到了华人的身影。黄锟，作为一名在光纤通讯领域做出了卓越贡献的物理学家，他继早年的杨振宁，李政道，以及近年的朱棣文之后，又一位华裔物理学奖得主。让我大感意外的是，今年物理学奖的两个项目均是对现当代数码生活起到了极大促进作用的成果。光纤通讯技术极大提高了数据传送的效率，使得国际通讯的成本变得低廉；而CCD的发明，则使得我们今天数码相机的使用成为了可能。与杨振宁、李政道和朱棣文他们的研究项目偏重于理论相比，今年的成果无疑具有更大的实际意义。

按照惯例，在每年的这时候，各类媒体都会大张旗鼓的来讨论诺贝尔奖，其中已经讨论了多年的一个话题就是中国何时能够产生诺奖得主。其中有褒有贬。而解释无非有中国的教育体制路后，实验室设备落后，科研能力低下，没有创新精神等。但是很奇怪的是，这类文章往往出自于媒体之手。本人并不反对媒体的讨论，但是事实上，很多的问题往往非业外人士所能了解，正如陶渊明所言“不足为外人道也”。于是本人决定从自身经历出发，继续老调重弹一番。

不可否认的是，我们的教育制度的确是有些问题的。但是也不尽然。以初等教育为例，我国以及东亚地区的学生（包括日本，韩国和我国台湾）往往都具有很好的基础。这源于这些地区的严格的初等教育。笔者数年前曾在Times亚洲版看到过一篇介绍韩国（South Korea）的孩子们如何痛苦的文章，其中所涉及的韩国，日本等教育与中国大同小异。正是如此严格的基础教育，使得他们在高中毕业之时已经有了相当不错的英语，数学，物理，化学，地理，历史等方面的基础。或许有人说美国的学生在大学里可以非常努力，然后赶上我们的水平，使得我们大学生的毕业水平并不高于他们。

其实这个解释就有问题。我们可以做如下假设：假定人的努力程度有限。而大学期间水平的提高就是关于努力程度的一个函数。为了方便分析，我们忽略掉方法所导致的效率差异，即我们认为学生努力无差异。基于此，如果两者学习努力程度接近，那么水平提高程度应该类似。而事实上，两者的提高水平差异巨大。这就不能不利用努力程度来解释了。其实作为80后的大学生，我们可以扪心自问，我们在大学期间，本科也好，研究生也罢，我们都做了什么。我们学到了什么，我们的大学老师都在讲些什么？作为一个市场经济环境下的教学机构，适当的面向市场并没有错。但是，当一所大学或者学院，甚至研究生院，开始套用职业技术学院的价值观的时候，我们不得不为这个制度感到悲哀了。我实在不清楚这类教育中的短视行为是否是转型经济的特点？望相关专业读者赐教。

正如Joseph和TJ所言，很多问题都可以归集到制度层面去解决。而这个问题也不例外。以今年的两位物理学家的项目为例，他们的研究成果距今已经有了几十年，充分经历了社会的考验，确被证明为对人类做出了巨大贡献。这说明，一个好的研究，需要花时间去做，同时也需要花时间去验证。倘若没有一个开放，自由和包容的学术环境，这是万万不可能的。大家或许不会忘记五十年代的“大跃进”，而事实上，现今的中国学术界正在经历着“大跃进”。从高校老师的职称到研究生的奖学金评定，一律都按照论文来说事。我并不反对这种科研评价方法，只是，他们已经承受了他们不能承受之重。对理科生而言，这种压力更大。于是就产生了从定题到投稿SCI期刊只需短短两三个月的奇迹。尽管说研究是站在巨人的肩膀上，但这种只在肩膀上跳舞，却不会更上一层楼的研究本身就让研究的意义打了折扣。

从浙江大学的贺海波，到武汉理工大学的周祖德，我们都发现了上述“大跃进”的影子。而在这样的环境下，学术道德直接被无视。而作为一个学者，正直和良心是他们的核心竞争力。如果做不到这两点，就不配做一个真正的学者。可是很不幸，我们看到，在出现问题时，教授把所有的责任都推给了学生。试问，这样的教授可能培养出诺奖的得主么？答案诸位心中自有分量。

现如今的中国，已经不比从前。科研的条件和实验器材已经好于过去百倍，甚至于有实验室都已经达到了国际水准。在硬件问题可以得到保障的情况下，我们是否该考虑下人性本身的问题呢？只有这些问题都做好了，我们才有可鞥培养出自己的诺奖得主。否则只能是任重而道远。

Cold or Flu: Be Seriously Distinguished

For those who take English as a foreign language and seldom stay in a native language environment, we may find many mistakes when speaking English. Here is quite a common example that we always confuse the word of ‘cold’ and ‘flu’, what’s more, very few English teachers put this in their explanation that where are the differences. Quite occasionally I get a table from the official site of Timaflu when google for it.

Here is a comparison table between the flu and the cold.

Symptom	Cold	Flu
Fever	Fever is rare with a cold.	Fever is usually present with the flu in up to 80% of all flu cases. A temperature of 100°F or higher for 3 to 4 days is associated with the flu.
Coughing	A hacking, productive (mucus- producing) cough is often present with a cold.	A non-productive (non-mucus producing) cough is usually present with the flu (sometimes referred to as dry cough).
Aches	Slight body aches and pains can be part of a cold.	Severe aches and pains are common with the flu.
Stuffy Nose	Stuffy nose is commonly present with a cold and typically resolves spontaneously within a week.	Stuffy nose is not commonly present with the flu.
Chills	Chills are uncommon with a cold.	60% of people who have the flu experience chills.
Tiredness	Tiredness is fairly mild with a cold.	Tiredness is moderate to severe with the flu.
Sneezing	Sneezing is commonly present with a cold.	Sneezing is not common with the flu.
Sudden Symptoms	Cold symptoms tend to develop over a few days.	The flu has a rapid onset within 3-6 hours. The flu hits hard and includes sudden symptoms like high fever, aches and pains.
Headache	A headache is fairly uncommon with a cold.	A headache is very common with the flu, present in 80% of flu cases.
Sore Throat	Sore throat is commonly present with a cold.	Sore throat is not commonly present with the flu.
Chest Discomfort	Chest discomfort is mild to moderate with a cold.	Chest discomfort is often severe with the flu.

For details, you can visit: http://www.tamiflu.com/about/coldflu.aspx

Mid-Autumn Day: Share With My Friends

今天是传统的中国节日——中秋节。古人都有在此日聚友欢庆，把酒赏月，吟诗作赋的传统。但很多诗句都透有思乡的情怀。如李白在《月下独酌》中写道“花间一壶酒，独酌无相亲。举杯邀明月，对影成三人。”而透着点点凄凉；王建则在《十五夜望月》中以“中庭地白树栖鸦，冷露无声湿桂花。今夜月明人尽望，不知秋思落谁家！”中的语句透出了作者的思乡之情。而作为一个离家多年在外的我，淡淡的思乡之情油然而生。在宿舍看着书，听着马思聪的名作《思乡曲》，思绪飘到了千里之外的故乡。而相比较李白和王建，我无疑是幸运的，因为我有了一群很好的朋友。今晚我与他们共度了中秋。

其实今天的出游计划是昨日在吃饭时聪聪向我提起的。本来我还在发愁这个中秋怎么过，而他的提议正中下怀，于是便干脆恭敬不如从命。正好也借这个机会扫一扫最近压在我心头的GRE的阴影。而这两天的计划也就成了连续放松的两天。先是拜我舍友和他女友所赐，去著名餐馆“谭鱼头”大快朵颐了一回，紧接着又跟着一大群死党去过了个很有意义的中秋。

出于价廉物美的考虑，我们在南苑解决了晚饭，这里就不赘述了，说实话，吃饭没什么好说。只是饭菜还是挺丰盛，到底人多力量大嘛（AA制的功效）。

饭后去了下中百买月饼和柚子。呵呵，不知道是中秋还是什么原因，今天超市里的人真是多啊。然后就看到了月饼大减价，那里围了一大堆人。倒不是鄙视一些武汉市民的素质，见到便宜的东西就死命的往前钻，毫无半点谦让的意思，连我站在旁边的局外人都直接无视。哎。。。不就是几个不太便宜的月饼嘛，犯得着么？

后来就去了江滩。看到了好几个人都在放孔明灯。尽管我以前在初中时代的科技活动周上就见过很原始的孔明灯，但是与今天江滩上所放的相比就相去甚远了。还有朋友在江中放了彩灯。以前不记得在哪本书上看到说泰国有专门的水灯节，大家都会放水灯来祈福。而在中秋节放彩灯和孔明灯则不知道是什么缘由了，姑且当作祈福来理解吧。毕竟节日嘛，总是透着那么点喜庆的。

后来他们找了个地方开始玩杀人游戏。但是我对这类游戏实在是没什么兴趣，于是决定好好逛一圈，以感受下节日的气氛，尽管这对我那饱经风霜的鞋子而言可能是个“灭顶之灾”。不过俗话说有得必有失，故暂且也不管赤脚回家的风险了。

不知道曾几何时在户部巷旁边弄了个户部巷风情街。而今天可能是国庆和中秋的原因，我在路边看到了几个所谓的民间艺人，但无论规模和水平都远不及苏州的玄妙观。首先映入我眼帘的是一个玻璃制品艺人。按照我方言的话，他所做的叫做“吹玻璃”，就是用酒精喷灯把玻璃融化，然后做出各种东西来，如小牛，小猪等等，造型还是很可爱的。但是要十块钱一个，似乎贵了点。另一个艺人则是米雕，这个其实比较常见，我也就不多说了。

我最要提的，则是一个卖魔术道具的魔术师。此人的来头不小，好象是组织了一个民间的艺术团，而且参加了2007年的世界魔术师大会，并且和刘谦同台表演过。或许就是机遇的差异，或者别的吧，一边刘谦已经火了，世人皆知，而另一边当年同台演出的伙伴却在户部巷卖道具。他家的道具并不便宜，一个很简单的连环就卖30，而我数年前在苏州“轧神仙”时候看到的是10块钱。据他说，他的魔术扑克牌则卖的更贵，从50到300不等。希望他能有个更好的发展吧。

而在江滩上，一个拿着家用相机和三脚架的老头则引起了我的兴趣。他在给人拍照，然后随身包里带了个佳能的打印机。拍完的照片可以直接打印出来，价格10块钱一张。不过他的参数设置很好，2.8的光圈，0.6秒的曝光，正好可以拍出江滩的夜景。看来有空我也得去买个伟峰的3110A的架子来试下了，用架子拍风景的确是更稳定些，要不效果的确要打折扣。

先写到这里了，不过今天的中秋节的确过得很开心，也很有意义。

Patriotism: Your Home and Your Country

It is hard to tell whether it is the years of political education in China seems to be too boring that the new generation of 80s and 90s are starting to show some antipathy to such terms, including socialism and patriotism, which used to be sacred terms for our parents. And meanwhile, we are caring more on the shadows of our living environment, and we can read more arguments and commentaries on legal unfairness, partially distributed wealth, asymmetric role on medical treatments between those in power and plebeians, etc. Frankly speaking, we are living in complaints.

However, the military review held this morning in Tiananmen Square seems to be a good opportunity to help the civilians to remind of the patriotism. To some person, the patriotism seems to be far from their lives. The military review, though criticized by some reviewers as bravado, does bring people courage and confidence on their livings. A main function for the military is to keep the security of the territories. Though unfortunately, very few people care about the soldiers only when the aggression comes and their lives and wealth are threatened. For those who are prone to pragmatism and regard the military review as insignificance to their daily lives, the floats can be attractive since they exhibit the generality of developments and progress in the past years on both economy and technology.

This reminds me of the home, a simpler organization comparing to the country, but of similar function and formations. More importantly, home owns a coherent relationship to the individual’s life, performing as a harbor for people to avoid the coming tsunami in their life. Like the departments of a country works for the policies on democracy and diplomats, people are making decision with the unit of a home, referring to the investment, daily cost, medical insurance and education for offspring. Under the framework of a traditional Chinese cultural background, as well as the home structure, all parents are making full efforts to promote their offspring, ranging from cloth, diet to education and even marriage.

Thus, even if we are holding the tolerance of ignoring patriotism, seldom of us can forgive the ignorance of families. It is the home, the parents that definitely contributes to our growth and development, and it is the home that brings us the anchor after a challenge to the wave and wind. Loving your home is the initial step to be patriot, and it is a must that can hardly be overlooked.

We are taking the pride of the country, but more broadly, we are taking the pride of our families, our home! They share our passion equally.

H1N1: Is It That Serious?

自从今年春天在墨西哥第一次爆发了H1N1（国内称甲型H1N1，此处简略）以来，世界范围内就开始了第一轮的传播。只是第一轮传播似乎并没有波及到中国大陆。援引大陆媒体的报道，中国大陆出现的似乎多为输入型病例。然后，随着最近各个高校，尤其是北方高校的广泛传播，H1N1这个消失了几个月的关键字再次出现在了互联网和人们的面前。而专家们对即将到来的十一长假忧心忡忡，很多高校甚至于取消了十一长假。

今天武汉的天气很好，大清早就阳光灿烂，但是关于H1N1的消息却不是如阳光般那么惹人喜欢。WHO的总干事陈已经于早些时候承认了第二次甲流的爆发。而北京等地已经开始了甲流疫苗的疫苗接种工作。如2003年的SARS那样，可以料定的是，北京的甲流感染群仍旧是最庞大的。其原因有几个：

北京是首都，每天从全国各地甚至于世界各地来往的旅客非常多，而H1N1本身具有1-7天的潜伏期。在潜伏期内的携带病毒者往往难以发现。待发现时，病毒已经一定程度上散开。在如此高人口流动率，且具有高人口密度的地方，H1N1的瞬间大规模爆发似乎也很能理解。其实这也可以解释为什么日本的疫情如此严重，因为东京等日本城市的人口密度绝不会低于北京。
另一个原因则是新闻管制方面的问题。这个在国内大众媒体是一个“潜规则”，也是往往不敢提的。如SARS在北京的爆发，一开始从卫生部长到各级官员均矢口否认，后来不记得是CNN还是ABC把数据给捅了出去，而且其时北京疫情已经相当严重，无法继续隐瞒，才不得已公开。记得SARS爆发后的第二年，也即2004年，美国Science期刊，一份科学类的顶级学术期刊上曾有一个短讯，报道了中国两位学者曾对中国的SARS疫情进行了流行病学调查，并写成了报告投递给了英国的一份重要期刊。但是三个月后作者却要求撤稿，理由是“Governmental Regulations”。这样的管制后果是严重的。广大不了解真相的市民往往会忽略自我保护的必要，从而大大增加了感染的风险。

相比较城市的爆发，高校的爆发可能会有更严重的问题。自从1990年代末中国高校开始扩招，现在中国的高校已经人满为患。一旦在高校中大规模爆发，其扩张程度将是令人乍舌的。早先香港学校的爆发，以及现在中国北方的爆发都说明了这一点。其实除了人口密集问题，高校还有一个更严重的问题，那就是行政效率低下以及后勤保障落后。这点在武汉等二线城市的高校更加明显。试想，在大规模爆发之时，各项指示和工作无法按时传达和执行，大学医疗机构缺乏足够的专业人士和医疗器材来应对，后果将如何？诸位不言自明。

但是令我们感到惊奇的是，与墨西哥一墙之隔的美国，对于H1N1的反应却出奇的平淡。尽管美国各州感染人数大幅攀升，CNN等大型媒体却永远没有将其作为一个流行话题来报道。而我美国的朋友对此的反应也颇为平淡。H1N1在他们眼里不过是一个平常的感冒。我想这与他们本身的个性和美国高级的医疗保障有关吧？毕竟治疗H1N1的“达菲”正是从美国进口，而中国现在则是以紧急情况为由而直接复制，否则我等国民根本无法抵御在知识产权保护下的药品售价。这就是为什么我们的感冒药效果总是不是那么理想，呵呵，谁让我们用的是20年前的东西呢？

Personal Website in China: How Far Can It Go?

China, quite an unique country that owes dual standards on the information regulations. That is, the restriction on the public discussion on some political affairs and issues tend to be mitigated when there are some large international conference holding, like the passing-by Olympics. But for other days, all these restrictions remain. The access to various websites, including blogspot.com, wordpress.com, and facebook are totally abandoned. However, the restriction can be far more than this if you are holding a website for yourself, and unfortunately, you are using a domain hosted by Chinese companies and they are settled on a server in China (Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau are excluded). The government can offer you strict supervising especially when you are writing political articles.

Bill, a good friend of mine, who is also a fan on programming and internet, stopped his website recently due to the delete of his account by his ISP, 000space. Unlike the previous accidents that he suffer, his confidence and courage on working for his cheerful site eliminates. A notice about this has been put under his domain. I am quite depressed to see this happen, with the reason that, the blogs that we build-up, as the only free space for our minds and thoughts, has gone totally. I really cannot tell why he can suffer this, illegal contents? That cannot be a good answer, since he is a man that never overlook the protection on copyrights. The only explanation can be available is the attitude from the ISPs overseas to the customers in China.

As is discussed above that when constructing a website in China, more broadly, constructed by Chinese citizens, the web site needs to apply for a license from the government as well. For blogs, there can be some additional measures besides the basic one for all the websites in China. The absence of such a license for the website in China can be serious:

The space host for your website can stop the service of your site unless you successfully applied the license for it. It is a sufficient way to enforce the webmasters to apply such license. Still remember the crash in 2005 when plenty of website were closed in quite the same period?
If your domain is hosted by an agent in China, they can stop your service as well due to the similar reasons. What’s more, your domain can even be forbidden and your whois record be deleted when the regulator regard it as necessary. Several examples like this are available through the internet.

Based on these reasons, most webmasters take the following steps to avoid the supervises from the government since it can seldom bring managers benefit but only trouble.

Take the international domains, but not the Chinese ones with ‘.cn’ at the end. With suitable coupons, the annual fee for a .com domain can be as cheap as 3 to 4 dollars, or even cheaper. And you will never have to worry about the stopping of the service unless you are willing to.
Host the websites overseas. For most webmasters who are not willing to apply for a national license, this is quite a substantive way. Some wealthy managers can purchase paid spaces for their sites, but for the others like me, we can only afford the free space. Then the problem on the stability of the website comes. Some websites can be deleted only depending on the mood of the ISP and you can hardly get any compensation from them. There is quite a large opportunity that you must hold, especially for the users of free space.

It is really a hard job for the webmasters in China to maintain their own sites. It is a kind of job that can hardly bring in any commercial benefit especially at the very beginning. The only factor that promoted the development of such sites in China is merely on the persona interest. I really don’t know how far the website for the Chinese web managers can go? More practically, how long can my blog maintain? It is a difficult question to answer.

As a final, wish all the web managers good fortune and enjoy the pleasure during the challenges to the difficulties.

Postgraduate Student: Shall We Take It?

最近总是有很多师弟师妹在问我是不是要考研，事实上，我很难回答这个问题。毕竟，我已经是一个研究生即将毕业的人了。同时正如我的导师所言，所有的决定只能是由自己来做的，而不是由别人可以代劳的。所以呢，我也只能对两者进行比较，却不能代替本文的读者来做出是否读研的决定。我坚信，命运掌握在自己手中，而不是被别人所掌控。同时，鉴于我对会计专业更了解，我在下文中的分析多以此为例展开。

对于读研的动机，其实可以分为两大类：第一类人是对研究和学术有着执着兴趣的人，他们往往希望通过读研而后读博来完成自己心中的梦想。我并不否认这一类人的存在，他们往往能够成为所在学科领域的领军人物。但是，不得不承认的是，这类人太少了。而另一类人，则构成了考研的大多数人，他们的动机往往非常功利，或者客气一点说，是比较实用主义的(Pragmatic)。他们往往希望能偶取得更好的工作而去攻读更高的学位，甚至不惜花大价钱去读博士。这里，我无格评论他们的对与错，但是不可否认的是，这种实用主义的读研观很大程度上削弱了研究生对自己所学内容的忠诚度，而这种忠诚度的缺失很大程度反映在了上课的出勤率，论文的质量，科研的质量，甚至于老师的备课态度等。据统计，我国现在已经成为了世界上生产博士的第一大国，似乎已经超过了美国。但是在博士生的水平上，我们却与人家相去甚远，这与我们的态度不无关系。

对于前文所述的第一类人，那么，在一个不错的导师的指导下，他会有如鱼得水一般的感觉。以会计学为例，本科阶段的教学内容，对大多数学校而言，是基于实务的，而很少涉及理论。如：财务会计，管理会计等，在一些财经类院校，则往往开设一些补充的偏向理论的内容，如会计理论，会计史等。而在一些综合性的大学，这类课程往往会被金融，经济，管理等一些实用性更强的科目所取代。这就是为什么综合性大学的会计学毕业生尽管没有理论深度，却具有很好的基础知识铺垫。但是进入研究生以后，本科阶段所缺的理论知识会通过不同的渠道补上来，如课堂学习，文献阅读，甚至于一些公共培训项目，如香港中文大学每年会在上海国家会计学院举办对大陆商学院的青年学者培训。另外，一些高级别的学术会议也会成为学习的有效渠道。如本人就在某个会议上知道了需要去重视分析性研究（Analytical Research）而不仅仅是经验研究（Empirical Research)。而若你有不错的经济学，数学或者计算机编程方面的背景，那你会感觉相当不错。

但是对于第二类人，也就是研究生中的大多数，学术对他们并没有太强的吸引力。而研究生的学习，其实更多的是充当了一种就业的缓冲剂。大多数人会利用这三年来学习英语，通过一些更高级别的考试，如雅思，托福，托业，甚至于GRE和GMAT，毕竟英语在如今的就业中是一张王牌。对于会计学院的学生而言，注册会计师，俗称CPA，也是一个非常具有人气的考试。每年5月一过，你就会在自习室里看到CPA大军的出现，这种盛况一般会到9月中旬结束。然后第二年重演。如此周而复始，永不停息。其实对他们而言，研究生并没有真正学到什么，而事实上，他们可能也没指望去学那么多。更多的，他们是在为自己的就业做一些更现实的准备。

所以，在读研究生之前，想清楚自己到底想干什么，或许是一个更为明智的决定。当然，此文只是个人的代表观点，仅供参考

Mobile Phone Service: When Monopoly Meets Economy

With the development on both economics and technology that the cell phones are becoming daily communicating tools for both college students and people nowadays in China. But for college students like us, with quite limited financial competence, and can afford not much payment on such service, special packages that can significantly reduce such cost are quite welcome. But due to its monopoly position, the service fee is still quite high in some regions, especially some undeveloped regions like Hubei that can even contradict with the local living cost level. Here what I mentioned in following text are of the service from China Mobile, the largest service provider on wireless connection in China.

Apparently, the pricing of the cell phone in China has been reduced significantly. Still remember the first time that I get my first cell phone from my daddy, when we preferred to send short messages with each other, without any call due to the high cost and dual-paying policy. That is, you are entitled to pay no matter whether you are making a call or just receiving one from others.

Then it comes to 2005 when I went to Nanjing for my continuing study in Ginlin College, NJNU, where the receiving fee were waived for a limitation on time for 500 minutes under a special package for college students. It is the most cost-effective package that I met even till now. We can make a local call with the rate of 0.2 yuan/min and 0.3 yuan/min for a long distance call in China. And as an important content within this 20-yuan package, we were entitled for 400 free messages no matter who the receiver is, and whether he is the customer of China Mobile or not.

Then in 2007, I came to Wuhan for my master’s degree in ZNUFE, where I suffered the expensive cell phone service. According to my previous experience, I firstly selected the “M-Zone”, a special package designed for college students. But soon I found great problem:

High Rate. Comparing to the similar service that I have used in Nanjing, the rate for local call here is 0.25 yuan/min, and there is no discount rate for long distance call. It is quite common to see students using IC cards to make a call at a public telephone, but such sight has been eliminated in Nanjing;
Limitation on Short Message. Comparing to the package in Nanjing, the price here is cheaper, with 15 yuan /month, including 200 short messages, but be careful! A MESSAGE TO THE CUSTOMERS THAT ARE NOT SIGHED WITH CHINA MOBILE IS NOT INCLUDED!
Forbidden on Roaming. This service is only available for 5 months a year, for two important vacations, summer and winter. If you are willing to travel to other places other from vacations, you are suggested to transfer your package. It is quite an incomprehensive decision.

Taking a sight on the economy development data such as CPI and GDP, you will find Hubei is owning quite limited economic conditions, which, reasonably interpreted, means a lower consuming level comparing to the regions of Shanghai and Jiangsu, where there are offering cheaper packages and the average cost on mobile communications. I don’t know why such thing can happen, but I suppose the only explanation as monopoly.

Accounting Research in China: Graduate Students

It has been approximately two years since the very first touch on the contemporary research of accounting through a talk to my present tutor, Prof. Wang, a young scholar. Until then I found the existence of a new methodology called “Empirical Research”, a kind of methodology that adapts the data from the capital market for some test on the conclusions from other kind of papers, usually analytical ones in US and narrative ones in China. But the popularity of such methodology apparent brings the students of accounting, like us, great challenge with following reasons:

Most graduate students of accounting here in China, is mostly owning the background of arts, that is, they seldom getting full and sufficient training on science, such as computer programming skills and mathematical models. But unfortunately, the very fundamentals of empirical research requires skills on programming and mathematics, otherwise, you may have to confront great trouble when dealing with data and models.
Without sufficient knowledge on mathematics, they seldom have good opportunity to take some course on branches of mathematics, such as real analysis, game theory, differential equations, etc. These courses provide fundamentals for research tools in the subject of economics, which is widely used in analytical accounting research. That can partially explain why there is little analytical researches in China.
Unlike the students in US that are entitled of excellent computer competence, we feel great trouble on programming due to insufficient trainings in high school and college. Undoubtedly, most modules that we use are available through the internet, but we fail to get a chance for some modifications that promote our efficiency. And, improper program sometimes can even abandon a good works that should have been published sometimes. The only cause for this is the poor computer competence.

Though so many problems occur, they can hardly be obstacles for researchers in accounting, except for the students like us. The limitation on skills of data management and statistical model selection can be easily solved through the cooperation among scholars, which is getting popular in China. But such cooperation among students is still quite seldom to see. I personally interpret it as the following reasons:

Very few students can fully master the knowledge needed for a qualified research under a present style of higher education that enforce much on books but seldom focus on usage.
Cooperation can cause some conflicts, such as the name rank for publications, which are to be crucial criteria for researchers and students.

Besides the problems on technology and background knowledge, funding should also not be overlooked. As a graduate student, getting the chance for some top-level academic conference seems to be beneficial. But such opportunity is quite rare in China especially for the students who are qualified and willing to join some international conferences. For this, I often admire my friends in Hong Kong and Taiwan since their abundant funding from their department. An apparent example for this is the refusal of funding for my participation of APJAE symposium from a leader of my department last year, with the only reason that I am a student, but not a faculty!

For followers who are willing to pursue their masters’ and PhD degree on accounting, you are suggested to get a good professor, and prepare yourself sufficiently for fundamental knowledge. They are both easy to solve. But once you are willing to learn more from others from conferences, it can be difficult under most occasions unless you are following a good professor who are about to pay the travelling cost for you.

Writing a Thesis: Format or Content?

自从一周前从苏州飞回武汉，我就一直过着三点一线的生活：宿舍——食堂——教室。似乎已经有很久没有过过这样的日子了，最近的日子还是在3年前我在南师大准备考研的时候了，不过区别在于，现在在我面前的书籍全都是英文，相同的在于，两者都是研究生入学考试。只是突然要面对一场本该面对英语为母语的学生的考试，心里的不适和胆怯总是难免的。更何况，我已经有过了一次不是那么成功的尝试。

这两天终于受不了了整天面对英文，而正好老板也催着我们要开始毕业论文的写作，于是决定利用中午和晚上的休息时间来做点论文，也算是一种调节和休息吧。俗话说，好事多磨，没想到我一开始就遇到了一件令我非常不痛快的事情——论文格式。首先声明的是，我并无意去诋毁或者否定某些老师和教授的工作，只是对其实用性进行一些有益的探讨。

按照我的习惯，我首先在网上寻找检索毕业论文的模板。但是很可惜，或许是由于我能力所限，我并没有找到一个像样的模板，而只有一个长达20页的格式说明。这份说明极大程度上体现了写作人的严谨工作作风，严谨而稳健。该说明从文章用语，标注，以及文中引用等各个方面进行了详细而严格的规定。乍一看，这不是一份毕业论文的模板，倒是像一份排版工的工作内容。有兴趣的同学可以从这里下载：点此下载

由于我没有在文章写完以后集中调格式的习惯，相反，我更喜欢在开始写作前确定所有要素的样式，然后在写作中直接套用，而避免打断自己的写作思路。但是随着我定义格式的深入，我发现，这份格式的实用性大有问题。尽管我自以为Word水平还过得去，也比较了解论文写作的一些工具，如MathType和Endnote等，但是要做到基本符合此文档的格式，还是花了我好几天时间。主要问题如下：

作者显然没有理科背景。如果该说明的对象是一篇纯文字的论文，那么，这个说明的实用性没有任何问题。但是现在会计学的主流方法更多的是使用经验研究和分析性研究（大陆少），在有数学公式（以Mathtype对象为例，Aurora也类似）的情况下，直接对文章行距进行倍数规定是不合时宜的。因为此类对象的插入会由于Word的自动功能而导致行距出现不一致。此时只有精确定义行距方能解决此类问题（如18磅）
对于公式对象，文章要求使用公式编辑器进行编辑。事实上，作者没有考虑到Word 2007的情况。Word 2007的公式编辑器采用了全新的定义方法，从而导致很多早期版本的编辑器无法识别，故而大量的国际顶级期刊都明文禁止使用（如AER，QJE等)。而且Mathtype才是推荐使用的工具（尽管公式编辑器就是此工具的免费版本，但是功能差得很远，如快捷键等）。另外，也需要区分公式是文内（Inline）还是单列（Display Equation），这是因为援引惯例，后者需要编号，而前者则不需要。而将公式编号写为（式 2-1）实在也是一种不伦不类的方法。尽管我在Mathtype中成功定义了此格式。
参考文献处理。我不知道作者是否习惯于手工输入参考文献。只是在参考文献中不注明年份和页码实在是一个不专业的行为。至于格式输出，用Endnote倒是不难解决，只需要改一个style文件即可。我使用的是JAPP的修改后版本。
最后一个总问题，则是表格字体。正文4.5号的字体与表格6号的字体差距过大，个人认为5.5号或者5号更好，同时反差不至于如此强烈。

对于这样一个复杂的格式，我不禁要问，我们到底是在写论文呢，还是学习排版？或许有人会说，两者皆重要。事实上，当你花费了过多的时间去修改论文的格式，而不是内容；当答辩老师在抓住你文章中多敲的某一个空格不放手，却无视了你文中重要的模型和结论，你会做何感想？不客气地说，这是一种本末倒置的行为。当然，作者制作这份说明也是出于好意，希望学院的毕业论文可以更好看。对此，我的建议是，何不制作一个公开的模板供大家下载？熟悉Endnote的同学都知道，该软件本身就携带了大量的模板可供使用。而这样可以使作者更关注文章内容。

国外的大学一般会要求学生使用Scientific Word来写毕业论文，因为这是一个基于Latex的专业学术写作工具，而基于此的模板制作和使用也相对简单。尤其是对于一些新手而言，这种模板可以直接按部就班填入内容，编译即可得到很不错的格式。国外的大多数期刊也都要求使用此类工具写作。然而可以预见的是，学院的老师绝对不会采用此类方法，原因有二：一是软件售价过高；二是他们没有学习新东西的动力和必要的好奇心

写作本身是痛苦的，但是也是欣慰的，因为我们可以通过此方式将我们所作所想展现给大众，但是当过度要求的格式影响了我们的写作激情和思路的时候？我们该何去何从呢？