Rural older adults often feel disconnected from the ever-expanding digital world. To bridge the digital divide, researchers have investigated the effectiveness of formal education and training offered by various social institutions. However, existing research highlights a critical shortcoming in these approaches: a lack of attention paid to rural older adults’ individual needs and interests. Based on the theories of post-metaphorical culture, endogenous development, home-school cooperation, and technology adoption and acceptance, this study implements a family intergenerational learning (FIL) project. FIL characterizes learning between grandparents and grandchildren within the household, suggesting a more practical and individualized strategy to help rural older adults gain digital literacy. By conducting a three-month FIL Project in a rural primary school class in China, the study employs a qualitative method to analyze learning records and interviews from 10 sets of participating grandparents and grandchildren. The analysis renders two critical findings on the effectiveness of the FIL Project for rural older adults. First, FIL can help rural older adults adapt into the digital world by (1) gaining knowledge about digital society, (2) improving their digital skills, (3) changing their lifestyles, and (4) understanding the integration between technology and society. Second, among grandchildren, FIL can cultivate an awareness of lifelong learning and their moral obligations to their grandparents. By illustrating this specific case, this study puts forward a new approach to help the older adults overcome the digital divide in rural areas.

From the strategic perspective, the Indian Ocean has been increasingly important to China’s foreign trade and energy security. China has been faced with a deepening dilemma in the Malacca Strait for years, in large part due to the strategic pressure from the United States and India. Under its new initiative to construct the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road,” China needs to develop a long-term, security-oriented Indian Ocean strategy based on a comprehensive analysis of all the favorable and adverse conditions. Its strategic goals should include building an Indian Ocean fleet, expanding its base networks, and sharing power peacefully with the United States and India, so as to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests in the region.

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Poverty is the biggest problem standing in the way of economic development and political stability in the Mekong River sub-region. Multilateral poverty reduction cooperation in this sub-region has long been focused on stimulating economic growth through increased investment and foreign aid in such areas as environmental protection, health care, education, and vocational training. As a relatively new cooperative platform, the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) mechanism has played an increasingly prominent role in sub-regional economic development and integration; and a joint task force has been set up to draw up multilateral initiatives and plans better tailored to local conditions and needs. Nonetheless, the LMC must increase its relevance and effectiveness in poverty reduction by complementing and coordinating with other existing sub-regional programs amid intensifying power competition in the broad Indo-Pacific region, while taking into account different national development philosophies as well as rising environmental and resource concerns.

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