ABSTRACTS

inclusionandabalancedstrategyoflong-andshort-termdevelopment.Anauthoritativeintegratedgovernmentagencyshouldbeestablishedtocoordinatevariousgovernmentandsocietaleffortsonagingissues.AseriesofpolicymeasuresshouldbeimplementedbasedonChinaøsspecialsocio-economicandculturalconditions,includingredefiningthesocialroleofseniorcitizens,solvingpracticalproblemsrelatedtosupportfortheagedandthesustainabledevelopmentofanagingsociety.

(9)Resources,IncentivesandSectoralInterests:ALongitudinalStudyoftheSystemofCollecting

SocialInsuranceContributionsinChina(1999-2008)LiuJunqiang#139#Financingisthefoundationofasocialinsurancesystem,andtheselectionofcollectionagenciesforsocialinsurancecontributionsiscrucialforsystemdesignandconstruction.Twotypesofcollectionagencyco-existinChina:localtaxationagenciesandsocialinsuranceagencies.ThenewlyapprovedSocialInsuranceLawhasfailedtoresolvethecompetitionbetweenthetwo.Whyhasthisduopolylastedformorethanadecade?Andwhichagencywouldbetterservethedevelopmentofsocialinsuranceprograms?Infact,eachhasitsmerits.Thispaperarguesthatthemaindriverofcompetitionbetweenthetwoisthepursuitofcollection-relatedpower,funds,andstaffpositions.Weexaminetheevolutionofcollectionagenciesattheprovinciallevelandconstructapaneldatabasecoveringthetenyearsfrom1999to2008.Ourstatisticalanalysisindicatesthatlocaltaxagenciesperformbetterinexpandingsocialinsurancecoverageandincreasingsocialinsurancerevenues.Asanindependentempiricalstudy,thisanalysiswillcontributetoendingthedecade-longdebateoverdifferenttypesofcollectionagency.Atthesametime,theanalyticalframeworkofsectoralinterestscanbeappliedtotheanalysisofothergovernmentbodies.

(10)ASemioticApproachtoLinguisticandCulturalStudiesWangMingyu#157#

Fromthesemioticperspective,allculturalphenomenaandspiritualactivitiesexpresshumanachievementsandthemeaningofhumanexistencethroughsymbols.Sincesemioticsiscloselyrelatedtolinguisticandculturalstudies,therehasbeenatrendforthetwotodrawtogetherandinteractwitheachother.Integratingsemioticfactorsintolinguisticandculturalstudies,weadoptasemioticperspectiveinlinguisticandculturalstudieswithtextualstudiesasthebasis,theinformationcommunicationprocessasthefocus,theisomorphismofthefirstandsecondpatterningsystemsasareference,extensivedialogueastheprincipleandthedynamicbalanceofthesemioticdomainasthefoundation.Weanticipatethatthisapproachwillintroducenewtheoreticalframeworksandexpandthehorizonoflinguisticandculturalresearch.

(11)AsymmetryintheMutualImitationofLanguageandImage:ANewLookattheLiterature-

ImageRelationshipZhaoXianzhang#170#ThemutualimitationofthelinguisticandpictorialartsisatraditionaltopicinthehistoryofartbothinChinaandelsewhere.However,anasymmetryresideswithinthisimitation:itisnaturalforimagestoimitatelanguage,butforlanguagetoimitateimagesreversesthisorder.