China in the Era of Social Media discusses how social media is changing the world in an unprecedented way through speed, scope, and depth. In the last decade or so, social media in China has witnessed the most explosive growth in the world. Being the most populous nation in the world, it has the most social media users in the world as well. This book examines the current situation and unique characteristics of Chinese social media, the significance of social media in the country’s...

Biotechnology of Major Cereals focuses on the recent advances and future prospects in cereal biotechnology. The first part of the book covers the world's major cereals and focus on new developments and trends. The second part is technology rather than species-led, detailing fundamental developments in technologies and significant target traits.

Reported speech is a universal form across human languages. However, previous studies have tended to be limited because they mostly emphasize on the form and authenticity of reported speech, while its discourse and pragmatic functions have largely been ignored. Meanwhile, the studies mainly focus on English, with a comparative perspective with other languages largely missing.Acknowledging these limitations, this book analyzes the textual and pragmatic functions of reported speech i...