Food adulteration has a long history in human society, and it still occurs in modern times. Because children are relatively vulnerable to food adulterants, studying the health impacts of food adulteration on children is important. This article provides an overview of the child health impacts of food adulterants in two recent food adulteration incidents in the Greater China Region: (1) a plasticizer incident in Taiwan and (2) a 2,4,6-triamino-1,3,5-triazine (melamine)-tainted milk incident in China. The involved food adulterants, di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), diisononyl phthalate (DiNP) and melamine, are harmful to the hippocampus, kidneys, reproductive organs and immune system of children, and they also increase the risk of cancer. To detect food adulteration and to avoid further harm caused by food adulteration, simple screening methods have been developed, and they have recently emerged as a new focus area for research. This article also summarizes the simple screening methods used to analyse the aforementioned food adulterants and reports how governments reacted to the recent food incidents. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the differences between Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and Mainland in terms of education and also the influence of it on doing comparative educational research. Hong Kong SAR is ruled by the Chinese Government under the framework of “One country, two systems.” It makes Hong Kong SAR different from other Mainland cities based on different aspects including, education. The finding of this paper provides a systematic review about the differences between these two Chinese societies in terms of education and also implication for conducting comparative educational research in these two societies and also generating some implications for cross-national and cross-cultural study in education. Design/methodology/approach This paper made references from the framework proposed by Bray and Thomas (1995) in relation to comparative educational research to make comparison between Hong Kong SAR and Mainland China. Multi-level comparison is conducted between two societies in terms of education, especially aspects relating to conducting educational research sat social, school and individual levels. Findings This paper identified the influence of “One county, two systems” on education at different levels such as ideology, school management system and use of languages in teaching. Such differences affect the choice of topics, sampling strategy, research design, data analysis and interpretation and also ethical considerations when conducting comparative research between Hong Kong SAR and Mainland China. Originality/value This paper is an integrated analysis of conducting educational research in two Chinese societies and provides insights for further discussions and possible research about this topic.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of Special Administrative Region (SAR) performance on the “trust” of Hong Kong and Macau people, who “live” under similar context of “one country, two systems,” toward Beijing Central Government. The different perceptions, relating to the abovementioned issue, of the young peoples’ are also investigated. Implication for civic education in these two societies will be brought to light. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts secondary data analysis on the captioned topic. To further illustrate the said issue, this study reviews and analyzes data from protest campaigns in both societies. Findings This paper finds that the performance of Hong Kong and Macau SAR Governments has different impacts on the peoples’ “trust” toward Central Government. It may attribute to the different perceptions about the role of Central Government and levels of democratization in these societies. Civic education emphasizing the “core spirit” of “One country, two systems,” roles of SAR and Central Governments could enable young people better comprehend their relationship with Mainland China and their role as SAR–Chinese citizens. Originality/value This paper is an exploratory study for providing implications for further research on this topic.

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The purpose of this article is to explore mainland Chinese students’ attitudes towards democracy and equality and the influence of Chinese national identity on their attitudes towards democracy. The development of Chinese students’ political values is an important topic to the academic community and world because of the rise of China. Although democracy is a universal value and widely promoted, it is a sensitive topic in an authoritarian regime such as China. As more is learnt about the internal workings of the country, especially in relation to citizenship education, the clearer it is that Western constructs alone do not always help in understanding the attitudes of Chinese citizens. Recent work has shown that traditional values characteristic of Asian societies can help to shed light on attitudes to democracy. Research has also has shown that young people in mainland China are very aware of the constraints of their civic environment and they shape their attitudes accordingly. Despite a constrained environment, there is little doubt that young people in Mainland China have very strong views about their country and their citizenship. By adopting mixed methods research, this article explores Chinese secondary school students’ attitudes towards democracy and equality and how their national attitudes affect their attitudes towards democracy. The results indicated that Chinese students were supportive of aspects of democracy and they had a healthy attitude to equality even though they live in contexts quite different from Western-type democratic societies. These findings not only help to develop a better understanding of China itself but also provide insights into the attitudes of students living in an authoritarian regime. It also provide for further comparisons between Eastern and Western societies and democratic and authoritarian regimes.