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This paper aims to broaden the scope of analysis of the contemporary global land rush by examining crop booms not only outside, but inside China; and investment flows not only from China, but also within and into China. It does so by examining the eucalyptus and sugarcane sectors in southern China, which have witnessed investment booms during the past decade, with capital being infused by both domestic capital and foreign capital, including Finnish, Indonesian, and Thai companies. Our argument addresses three key issues: (a) explaining why foreign and domestic companies enter into a multitude of lease and grower contracts involving holders of micro-plots, (b) revisiting the notion of extra-economic coercion, and (c) a critique of thinking about flows of large-scale investments centred primarily on nationality. These issues are central in current debates in the land grabs literature, and our study offers a different perspective from dominant narratives.

Abstract-Pragmatic competence refers to both knowledge of the linguistic forms which realize particular illocution, and knowledge of the appropriate use of the linguistic forms in certain social contexts. It is an important part of the language proficiency construct. However, studies in China show that College English students' pragmatic competence is poor. Unlike second language learners, students learning English as a foreign language in China do not have many opportunities to be exposed to authentic language use. If they are not provided with sufficient pragmatic knowledge, they will have more difficulty in understanding and producing appropriate use in the target language. This paper focuses on the development of pragmatic competence and awareness on the part of college English learners in China. Overseas experience and language proficiency are treated as two main variables which may influence students' PC development. With some data collection from students in Shanghai Second Polytechnic University, findings shows that there are significant differences in the acquisition of pragmatic competence between students with overseas experience and students without overseas experience, yet no significant differences in the acquisition of pragmatic competence between students with high and low language proficiency. Index Terms-pragmatic competence, developing, Chinese college students I. RESEARCH BACKGROUNDThere is no doubt that English is becoming an international language for trade and education in the global context (Pakier, 1999). The role of English, especially communicative competence in English, which refers to both the knowledge of language and the ability to use that knowledge in social interactions (Barron, 2003;Hymes, 1972; Widdowson, 1992) has become more and more important in the daily life of people in China. Therefore, it is important to investigate how EFL learners in China acquire their language knowledge in common learning contexts, which will help them improve their language competence much. Chinese College students, as a major group of EFL learner in China, should be particularly examined around both their communicative competence and the sub-theme of pragmatic competence in the current research. Pragmatic competence is the ability of a second language learner or a foreign language learner to use the target language appropriately in corresponding social contexts (Taguchi, 2009). A. Chinese College English Syllabus and CurriculumCollege English is an integrative university course. It is a two-year compulsory subject for non-English major students at university level. College English teaching in China is guided by the curriculum document. The first version of College English Curriculum Requirements was implemented in 1985, which indicated that the objective of college English teaching was to develop learners' language skills, such as reading, listening, speaking and writing, and laid great emphasis on linguistic competence. It also required students in key universities to pass the College English ...

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