Ran Wei Boeken

This book explores how personalized content and the inherent networked nature of the mobile media could and do lead to positive externalities in social progress in Asian societies. Empirical studies that examine uses of the mobile phone and apps (voice mailing, SMS, mobile social media, mobile Weibo, mobile WeChat, etc.) are featured as a response to calls for theorization of the mobile media's efficacy as a tool for citizen engagement and participation in civic and political affairs, especially in the search for collective solutions to widespread social problems of food safety, pollution, government corruption, and public health risks. Considering the vast cultural diversity of Asian societies that are shaped by different levels of political, social, economic, and religious development, the book offers nuanced studies that provide in-depth analysis of the mobile media and political communication in a variety of communities of leading Asian countries. From the country-specific studies, broad themes and enduring concepts emerge.

With the spread and integration of Buddhism with Confucianism, devotional buildings underwent an evolution, of which numerous pagodas, temples and grottos with statues of Buddha and other gods have survived. The Chinese Buddhist temples were organized around courtyards and verandas with a central pagoda surrounded by smaller houses for the monks. There are also two main categories of grotto temples cut into hillsides: Phil, based on a square plan, and the horseshoe-shaped Shiite temples.