Showing papers in "China Journal in 2005"

Governance in China

Abstract: Governance in China, edited by Jude Howell. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. xiv + 279 pp. US$75.00 (hardcover), US$27.95 (paperback). The term governance is "contested", says Jude Howell in the introduction to this new edited book, "and the juxtaposition of 'good' augments the evaluative nature of the concept" (p. 1). Rather than employ the usual normative, institutional and managerial definition of the term (good governance is transparent, predictable, accountable and participatory) that has been suggested by international agencies such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, Howell suggests a more comprehensive meaning: "the totality of processes and arrangements, both formal and informal, by which power and public authority are distributed and regulated". From this premise the book sets out to analyze some of these processes. The book can be divided roughly into three parts. The first three chapters-by Joseph Fewsmith on the elite politics of China's reforms, John P. Burns on civil service reform and Zhu Sanzhu on the privatization of lawyers' services-deal with governance in the "usual" way, looking at the impact of major reforms on the ability of the Chinese government and its institutions to improve performance and become more predictable, accountable and so on. The next six chapters elaborate on Howell's extended version of governance, and investigate the marketization of culture (Michale Kaene), new self-government institutions in rural villages (Linda Jakobson) and in the urban residential neighborhoods (Zhang Jing), and civilsociety organizations representing marginal interests (Howell) and women (Du Jie). The final two chapters are on the challenges that the working class (Marc Blecher) and such religious organizations as the Falun Gong (Clemens Stubbe Ostergaard) present to the Party's ability to govern effectively in the face of societal discontent. The book is a welcome contribution to the existing literature on contemporary China. It will be a useful textbook for teachers examining Chinese society and politics, and the readable style and informative content of most of the essays will also attract a readership among public administrators, NGOs and policy makers. However, while the book offers insights into many specific aspects of power arrangements in China, the use of "governance" in such a broad social and political perspective raises some questions. Conceptually, the above-mentioned four generally accepted parameters of governance define a limited-and almost objective-field of investigation where "goodness" can be measured on the basis of rigid criteria borrowed from management textbooks and from the idea of "corporate governance". …

Global Production, Company Codes of Conduct, and Labor Conditions in China: A Case Study of Two Factories*

Abstract: An attempt is made to understand the corporate ethical codes movement in China by drawing on case studies of two factories that had to respond to the corporate social responsibility programs. The process of implementation of corporate codes is examined at the company level along with the implication of code practices for labour rights.

Continuity and Change in Urban Chinese Family Life

Abstract: An attempt is made to summarize key results from a recently concluded project examining continuity and change in one particular dimension of family life in one particular city in the mid-1990s, along with selected comparisons with the same aspect of family life in urban Taiwan. The similarities and differences in urban family patterns in the 1990s are analysed in two ethnically Chinese societies that originally followed quite different development paths, the closed-door revolutionary socialism of the PRC and the market capitalism of Taiwan.

China's New Nationalism: Pride, Politics, and Diplomacy

Abstract: China's New Nationalism: Pride, Politics, and Diplomacy, by Peter Hayes Gries. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. x + 215 pp. US$24.95/£15.95 (hardcover). The aim of this book, as stated in the Introduction, is to present a balanced view of "China's new nationalism", "one that acknowledges its legitimate grievances and recognizes its potential dangers" (p. 12). It argues from a social psychological point of view that Chinese identity "evolves in dynamic relationship with other nations and the past" and "involves both the Chinese people and other passions" (p. 19). These interrelated arguments are intended not only to challenge what the author calls "the dominant Western interpretation of Chinese nationalism" and the "West's state-centric view of Chinese nationalism" but also to draw attention to the dangers of China-bashing in the US and America-bashing in China. "Nationalism" in this book refers to "any behavior designed to restore, maintain, or advance public images" of a national community (p. 9). What seems to make "China's new nationalism" new is its "genuine popularity" and "independent existence". This conclusion is based on the evidence that Chinese nationalism increasingly challenges the Party-state; that the Chinese, like all peoples, have deep-seated emotional attachments to their national identity; and that Chinese public opinion now plays a role in national politics. Another new feature of today's Chinese nationalism is the way in which it constructs narratives of a "century of humiliation". The national narrative of heroism and victory that served the requirements of Communist revolutionaries and nation-building goals under Mao are now superseded by a new and popular victimization narrative that blames the West, including Japan, for China's suffering. It is not immediately clear in the book why long-suppressed memories of past suffering resurfaced in the 1990s, but this seems to have much to do with a psychological need to return continually to unresolved traumas in the hope of mastering them. These themes are developed through an examination of nationalist writings-mostly by Chinese intellectuals-and the official and popular responses to a number of well-known events in the 1990s and more recently. Chapter 1 looks at the protests in 1999 in the wake of the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. Chapter 2 discusses the ways that Chinese national identity is shaped in a dialogic process of comparison with and distinction from the US and Japan. Chapter 3 turns to the effect of Chinese visions of the "century of humiliation" on their self-image, as well as the impact of changes to their national identity on Chinese views of the century. Chapters 4 and 5 revisit Chinese views of the US and Japan, although this time the focus shifts to writings about past and future Sino-American and Sino-Japanese relations. In Chapter 6-probably the most substantive and interesting chapter-Gries explores the motivation of Chinese nationalists, focusing on China's apology diplomacy. Chapters 7 and 8 can be thought of as a conclusion in two parts, in that they pull together and highlight once again some of the book's main themes. The book does an admirable job in demonstrating that the way US policymakers and commentators talk about China dangerously distorts US interpretations of, and responses to, Chinese policies and actions, and influences Chinese understandings of the US. It also shows convincingly that anti-American and anti-Chinese polemics easily spiral into mutual dehumanization and demonization and thus lay the foundations for violent conflict. A no less significant contribution the book makes is its perspective on Chinese nationalism. Central to Gries' perception is the concept of face-so much so that he has consistently italicized the word in the book. What he means by face is not simply the figurative self shown to others but also a prerequisite for maintaining authority and the ability to pursue instrumental goals. …

On the Move: Women in Rural-to-urban Migration in Contemporary China [Book Review]

Abstract: Publishers details for: On the Move: Women in Rural-to-urban Migration in Contemporary China, edited by Arianne M. Gaetano and Tamara Jacka, New York: Columbia University Press, 2004. x + 355 pp. US$69.50/ 46.50 (hardback), US$29.50/ 20.00 (paperback).

Filial Piety: Practice and Discourse in Contemporary East Asia [Book Review]

Abstract: Publishers details for: Filial Piety: Practice and Discourse in Contemporary East Asia, edited by Charlotte Ikels, Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2004. xiv + 304 pp. US$60.00 (hardback), US$21.95 (paperback).

Corruption and Market in Contemporary China

Abstract: Corruption and Market in Contemporary China, by Yan Sun. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2004. xviii + 248 pp. US$49.95/£28.95 (hardcover), US$21.00/£11.95 (paperback). It is often assumed that studying corruption is difficult due to the clandestine nature of corrupt activities. This is particularly true with regard to China, where corruption is growing in sophistication and complexity as a result of rapid social and economic changes. Yan Sun's book, Corruption and Reform in Contemporary China, is a solid effort to deal with the complex web of market and corruption. The book begins with a survey of the literature on China's corruption and its linkages with as well as effects on reform. This literature review allows the author to "clarify some key questions raised in the literature but not adequately answered by it" (p. 20). Chapters 1-3 unfold around the types, opportunities and incentives of corruption in the two distinct stages of China's economic transition: the period of a hybrid economy from 1978 to 1992, and the period of a marketdriven economy after 1992. The changing characteristics of corruption in these different reform contexts are well documented in the book. The author also presents evidence that both what she terms as "transaction" and "non-transaction" types of corruption have served to undermine China's ongoing reform efforts. The negative effects of corruption have evolved, as Sun correctly points out, from "nibbling away at the state assets from within the state economy to snatching chunks of the state economy" (p. 207). Sun analyzes the weakened disincentives and checks against corruption over the course of reform, as seen in the disarray of the cadre recruitment system, the tyrannical power of local chief executives, the dependent status of disciplinary and supervisory agencies, and the deficiency of the Party's ideological and moral values (Chapter 5). Sun also traces the variations of post-Mao corruption across China's localities (Chapter 4). She notes that different dynamics are at work in areas with different economic resources and reform experiences. This cross-regional analysis reinforces the book's argument for a strong linkage between reform and corruption. The book makes two major arguments. The first pertains to the causes of corruption. Sun avers that post-Mao corruption is largely an unintended consequence of economic reform, and she questions the conventional wisdom that continued liberalization of the economy is a remedy for it. …

Peasants without the Party: Grass-roots Movements in Twentieth-century China [Book Review]

Abstract: Publishers details for: Peasants Without the Party: Grass-roots Movements in Twentieth-century China, by Lucien Bianco, Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 2001. xxvii + 309 pp. US$64.95 (hardcover), US$26.95 (paperback).

Patterns of Corporate Restructuring in China: Political Constraints on Privatization

Abstract: The logic of China's corporate restructuring is examined. It is argued that the pattern of corporate restructuring that has occurred in China since the 1990s underscores Shleifer's and Vishny's point that 'Political pressures are as important in the evolution of corporate governance as the economic ones'.

On the Move: Women in Rural-to-Urban Migration in Contemporary China

Abstract: On the Move: Women in Rural-to-Urban Migration in Contemporary China, edited by Arianne M. Gaetano and Tamara Jacka. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004. x + 355 pp. US$69.50/£46.50 (hardback), US$29.50/ £20.00 (paperback). Since the beginning of economic reforms, the "floating population" of temporary rural migrants in China's cities has been a conspicuous feature of the changes sweeping the nation. The migrants have provided service workers and unskilled labor and later have comprised the semi-skilled, docile work force demanded by multinational enterprises. There has been a need for additional studies on the experiences of women migrants in the urban places of destination and in their rural places of origin. On the Move, edited by Arianne Gaetano and Tamara Jacka, helps to fill this need. The Introduction discusses the major issues addressed by the book and includes a concise background history of Chinese policies relating to rural-to-urban migration. The three chapters in the first section examine dagongmei, the young women who migrate to cities for work, in terms of both their self-image and how they are perceived by others. The two chapters in the second section look at the ways in which the migrant women see their migration in relation to their life course, and especially the role of marriage in women's plans. The third section comprises three chapters about rural places of origin, in which both returnees and non-migrant women are given a voice. The book concludes with a particularly interesting collection of short pieces written by migrant women. As with any collection of academic essays, some are better than others, but all add insights into the situation of migrant women in China. A recurring theme is the contrasting ways in which the women are perceived. Tiantian Zheng describes the urban stereotypes of rural women and suggests the ways in which they try to overcome these negative images. Lin Tan and Susan Short speak of the "double outsiders"-rural women who are not accepted as equals in the city and who are also no longer considered to fit into the village. The resulting ambivalence about the migration experience is clearly articulated in a number of essays, especially as this relates to the pressures to get married. C. Cindy Fan, for example, finds that many of her female interviewees were under great pressure from parents to marry, but that they were reluctant to return to the countryside and marry a village man. At the same time, they were not considered desirable brides for urban men. As a result, as Tan and Short find, such rural migrant women are more likely to marry urban men who are poor, disabled or uneducated. Despite the constraints and discrimination that characterize the migration experience for so many of the women, many see a value in working in the city. …

Bracing for an Uncertain Future: A Case Study of New Coping Strategies of Rural Parents under China's Birth Control Policy

Abstract: There is no doubt that in the past two decades China's birth control policy has led to new demographic realities that are redefining Chinese family life, family composition, intergenerational relationships and the traditional means of securing old age support. However, so far most studies on the effects of China's one-child policy have focused on its policy evolution and implementation process, and on the long term demographic impact on China's future workforce and dependent elderly. Little attention has been paid to how Chinese parents are coping with the consequences of China's birth control policy and whether a sharp fertility decline has led to new strategies by parents to obtain support in their old age. While there are many predictions of a crushing burden in supporting the future elderly in the context of low fertility, we know very little about whether or not Chinese families are changing their attitudes and practices regarding the traditional intergenerational pattern that emphasizes sons and excludes daughters. In addition to the birth control policy, in the past two decades China has been carrying out economic reforms which have also led to rapid changes in Chinese family life. More and more elderly parents are living alone or apart from their adult children-not simply because their children are not around, but also because a new norm of family life has emerged that emphasizes conjugal relationships and intergenerational independence.1 In rural China, decollectivization since the 1980s has led to the collapse of the collective economy in many villages, making rural elderly support more precarious. Undoubtedly, such changes have posed serious challenges to the traditional multi-generational family support system in China, and have raised concerns among parents about how they will meet their needs as they age. For rural parents these concerns are compelling, as there is neither a pension plan nor an eldercare system for them.2 They have to depend on themselves or their family members for their security in old age. Drawing from fieldwork in a Hubei village in central China, this paper analyzes some of the newly emerging strategies that middle-aged rural parents are developing in order to ease their needs for old-age support. In particular, the paper asks: how has the parent-child relationship been reconfigured in light of smaller family size? Do lower fertility rates lead to parental reassessments about the differential value of sons and daughters? Can parents in daughter-only households (nu'er hu) claim filial duties from their daughter(s), and how? How are parents coping with the reality that their child(ren) may be living far away from home as the trend of rural-urban migration has intensified since the late 1990s? Confronted with new family dynamics and the increasing residential and economic separation of the generations, do rural parents still think child-rearing their best and surest guarantee of future old age support? The Village Site Data collected for this study derive from fieldwork in Zhongshan Village in 1993-94 and follow-up research in 2002 and 2004. Zhongshan is a multisurname rural community about 280 kilometers northwest of Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province, and about 60 kilometers north of Zhongxiang, the county seat. In 1993, the village contained 1,493 people in 359 registered households, with a family size of 4.15 per household. But by 2001, the village's population had declined by 14 percent to 1,257 people in 320 registered households, with a reduced family size of 3.93. The declines in both village population and family size are in accordance with the national trend and reflect the combined impact of the postMao economic environment which allows rural residents to leave their home village to work and live elsewhere and the effects of reduced fertility due to China's population control policy.3 During the 1970s and much of the 1980s, Zhongshan had a relatively strong collective economy, with several village (brigade-level) enterprises, but these ran into problems since the late 1980s, and none of the collective enterprises have survived. …

Taiwan's Domestic Politics and Cross-Strait Relations

Abstract: Relations across the Taiwan Strait have entered a new stage with the re-election of President Chen Shui-bian in March 2004. During the lead-up to the election, the major political parties in Taiwan were busy repositioning themselves to maximise their votes, thus setting in motion new trends that have a lasting impact on cross-Strait relations.

State and Society in 21st Century China: Crisis, Contention, and Legitimation

Abstract: State and Society in 21st Century China: Crisis, Contention, and Legitimation, edited by Peter Hays Gries and Stanley Rosen. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004. xvi + 263 pp. £19.99 (paperback). The ambitious scope of this book is evident from the terms in its title-state, society, crisis, contention, legitimation. It is clearly a challenge to encompass all of these large themes in a work of some 250 pages, and to integrate the approaches of 12 authors in order to address those themes in a systematic fashion. By and large the challenge is met successfully. What might have been a rather mundane collection of reports concerning social conflicts in China is enriched by the skill of the contributors in synthesizing the findings of large bodies of recent research while adopting a self-conscious intention to "rethink" frameworks of scholarly analysis. The areas of contention covered include two chapters on unemployed workers-Dorothy Solinger on "the shift of the urban proletariat from master to mendicant" and Timothy Weston on the state's reneging on its "social contract" with industrial workers, focusing on unemployment in "the Chinese rust belt". Patricia Thornton examines local-level tax protests; Kevin O'Brien, local cadre misconduct; and Colin Mackerras, Han-minority relations. Teresa Wright writes on the China Democracy Party and the China Labor Bulletin, Stanley Rosen on attitudes and behavior of Chinese youth, and Brace Dickson on Communist Party adaptation, especially its strategy of inclusion. Two chapters concern nationalism-Peter Gries on the changing relationship between official nationalism and expressions of popular nationalism, and Richard Kraus on the significance of regaining plundered Chinese art works. Vivienne Shue addresses the notion of legitimacy crisis most explicitly, and Harley Balzer offers a comparative perspective on transition from state-socialism, focusing on Russia. This is a very good book. To a large extent the editors have adopted a formula of guaranteed success, in presenting chapters by authors of the highest standing in their areas of expertise, such as Solinger or Mackerras. The collection not only has state-of-the-field authority but also conveys the complexity of issues by unpacking the terms "state" and "society", providing an effective and encompassing view of the sources of contention in Chinese society and politics and the relationships between the two. Also impressive is the sense of the dynamics of emerging contention. Most notable here is the chapter by O'Brien, typical of the subtlety and insight of his analyses of Chinese politics. While contention is richly portrayed, the other two terms of the sub-title are not served so well. It is not clear that we are in any way presented with a "crisis", in either of the senses commonly used-a great danger, or a major turning-point. Indeed, several of the contributors suggest otherwise, as in Shue's sceptical views on the existence of any "crisis of legitimacy" (p. 43) and Balzer's more general cautionary comments. In dealing with legitimation, the book tends to suggest questions without always getting very far in suggesting answers. To some extent this is a result of the commitment indicated by the editors-"an inductive, bottom-up interrogation of political contestation in China", in order to avoid the problems of "liberal bias" and "procrustean [approaches], foisting Western categories and concepts on Chinese realities" (pp. 4-5). The benefit of that commitment can be seen in the solid empirical groundings of most of the chapters. Nevertheless, several chapters see the utility of extra-Chinese categories and concepts. …

War and Nationalism in China 1925-1945

Abstract: War and Nationalism in China 1925-1945, by Hans J. van de Ven. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. xii + 377 pp. US$129.95/£70.00 (hardcover). In his introduction to War and Nationalism in China, Hans J. van de Ven notes that he had initially intended to write a book in the style of recent European military history, highlighting the role of warfare in the making of the modern state and nation. That book will have to wait. In researching China's wartime history, he came to the view that many basic assumptions about the Nationalist Government's record need to be reviewed before comparative questions can be asked about state-making and nation-building. The book focuses instead on military institutions, strategies, operations and leadership under Chiang Kaishek's administration. The result is a deeply revisionist account of war and nationalism in modern China which lays a firm foundation for further research. The author sets the stage by recasting both Chiang Kai-shek and US Lt. Gen. Joseph Stilwell in distinctive new roles in the war against Japan. In successive chapters, van de Ven covers the creation of the National Revolutionary Army, the "culture of violence" associated with the Northern Expedition of the late 1920s, important Nationalist Government military reforms of the 1930s, competing military strategies in North China, and the conduct of the war with Japan to 1942. State-building and institution-building are confined to the final chapter on wartime mobilization in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The book agues that modern Chinese military history as we know it is bunk. Readers will be familiar with the comic account of Chiang Kai-shek-kidnapped by a warlord in the notorious Xi'an Incident of 1936-clambering out of a window in his pyjamas, stumbling over rocks, dropping his spectacles, and eventually losing his way in a futile attempt to escape his captors. This legendary version of an event that precipitated the Second United Front between the Nationalists and Communists is derived from early Communist accounts. Today, it is rarely recounted even in China. Since the late 1980s Communist historians have radically re-evaluated Chiang Kai-shek's role in the War of Resistance Against Japan, partly out of respect for the historical record, but no less in anticipation of another United Front for the recovery of Taiwan. Chiang is now given credit alongside Mao Zedong for leading the patriotic war of resistance. Van de Ven builds on some of these recent revisionist accounts of Nationalist achievements emanating from China, and subjects Western accounts to similar scrutiny. One prevalent theme in US scholarship portrays the candor and prudence of Joseph Stilwell, paints the Nationalist government as inept and the Nationalist military leadership as incompetent, and characteristically laments the opportunities lost through Chiang Kai-shek's manipulative approach to the provision of US aid and advice in the early phases of World War II. Van de Ven concludes from his reading of broader Allied strategy and his understanding of the limited options available to the Nationalists after 1942 that this "Stilwell paradigm" is no longer sustainable. In its place he develops an alternative model that reduces Stilwell to a relatively insignificant figure quite out of his depth in the larger war effort. …

China's New Voices: Popular Music, Ethnicity, Gender, and Politics, 1978-1997

Abstract: China's New Voices: Popular Music, Ethnicity, Gender, and Politics, 1978-1997, by Nimrod Baranovitch. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. xiv + 332 pp. US$65.00/£42.95 (hardcover), US$24.95/£16.95 (paperback). Several times in his book Nimrod Baranovitch announces that his study is designed to "fill gaps" left by other scholars. Though presumably a marketing device inadvertently transferred from grant applications and book proposals, this phrase creates an apt framework for the subject matter and argument of the book. Popular music certainly "fills gaps" in people's lives as a leisure pursuit that can involve powerful emotions, a sense of identification and community, and a sense of self. This may be particularly so in a society where there are relatively strict limits on what may be spoken publicly and by whom, and where musicians may be quick to perceive "gaps" or windows of opportunity to pursue their own self-expression and marketing interests. The state also sees an interest in stepping into a perceived gap (as in the case of the government-sponsored Chinese MTV, examined in the final chapter). The two central chapters discuss the different subjectivities of various subgroups that may be considered "alternative", such as ethnic-minority musicians or women who do not package themselves in standard "feminine" ways. As they seek to assert themselves in music, such groups fill gaps by appealing to listeners in search of artists with whom they feel an easier identification than with more "mainstream" performers. The book will also fill a gap for those of us who teach courses on modern Chinese culture. Dealing with various genres of popular music through the 1980s and 1990s, and combining a number of topics that many young students are interested in (contemporary music, gender, ethnicity, the power of the state and a historical period that is within their own lifetimes), the book is likely to be welcomed as course material. It is difficult to discuss popular culture and the Chinese state without resorting to categories such as "mainstream" and "alternative", hence my use of quotation marks to create a sense of distance from these blanket concepts. Baranovitch handles such terms carefully, striving to avoid the kind of dichotomies that produce crude simplification. He takes as his starting point the idea that hegemony ("the state") and resistance or dissent do not occupy positions of absolute polarity but rather are in a situation of ongoing negotiation and reciprocity. The state and the musicians respond to one another, and in doing so each elicits the other's further response and shapes the parameters for their own next move. Baranovitch notes the accommodations-even symbioses-that can take place in the interstices between state and individual, providing examples to demonstrate that "capitalism and authoritarian political systems are not necessarily mutually exclusive" (p. 192). The final chapter brings the same argument to bear on the supposed tension between Chinese nationalism and the concept of Greater China. The book combines solid summary with discussion of individual song lyrics to provide a useful overview of popular music and its subcultures, and draws measured conclusions about individual expressions of ethnicity, femininity, masculinity and the ideologies of rock music. Value judgements are largely avoided in the discussion of different musical genres and the personas of pop stars. (Examples include the musicians Cui Jian, Teng Ge'er, Lolo, Cheng Lin and Wayhwa. …

Biology and Revolution in Twentieth-Century China

Abstract: Biology and Revolution in Twentieth-Century China, by Laurence Schneider. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. xii + 307 pp. US$75.00 (hardcover). To make a history of the biological sciences in China accessible to the general reader is no simple task, but Laurence Schneider does an excellent job of it in this account of the struggle to control nature through science, and science through politics. Schneider's approach is to highlight specific individuals and institutions crucial to the development of biological science in China and to examine their role in the unfolding drama. A conventional chronological approach divides the work into three parts: Republican China, Mao's China and Deng's China. Central to the work is Lysenkoism, an approach to the biological sciences promoted by Soviet agriculturalist T. D. Lysenko as a reaction against Western science, and neatly summarized by the motto, "we cannot wait for kindnesses from Nature; we must wrest them from Her". The strongest feature of the book is a detailed examination of Lysenkoism and its philosophical antecedents in China and the consequences of its forced adoption in the biological sciences. Schneider previously edited Lysenkoism in China, and brings a wealth of deftly translated source material and interviews to bear on this section of the book-including conversations with many now-deceased scientists and officials. He shows considerable sympathy for most of the researchers whose careers he chooses to highlight. The only individual who is excoriated is Lu Xun's younger brother, Zhou Jianren, and then only in passing. Even when examining the career of the leading proponent of Lysenkoism in China, Luo Tianyu, Schneider is at pains to point out that he initially had many sensible ideas on erosion, reforestation and climate change. The author even tries to find an upside to Lysenkoism, citing its advocates' efforts in popularizing science among children. Fascinating details are brought to light, such as the president of National Central University in Nanjing, Guo Bingwen, shaking down the local warlord for funds to enable his university to compete with the foreign-funded Nanjing University. There are details of a feature film about the Soviet horticulturalist Michurin, featuring a Shostakovich soundtrack and a scene where "an American businessman tries to get Michurin to go to the United States. The American offers to transport him there and set him up in business with all his plant stock. Michurin is shown indignantly refusing". There are also exquisite self-criticisms, most notably a piece by geneticist Tan Jiazhen that appeared in the People's Daily. He confessed "that because 'reactionary American and British geneticists slandered Lysenko as a renegade against science' and a 'crackpot', Tan had concluded that Lysenko was a 'half-baked scientist who used science to make political capital'. …

The engines of a viable agriculture: advances in biotechnology, market accessibility and land rentals in rural china*

Abstract: Three vital ingredients that underpin the continued progress of China's agriculture are the emergence of a well-financed, effective system of agricultural research and development, major improvements in agricultural commodity markets and increasingly effective land rental markets. The way in which these vital elements are having a positive impact on farmers' livelihoods is highlighted.

From Mao to Market: Rent Seeking, Local Protectionism, and Marketization in China

Abstract: From Mao to Market: Rent Seeking, Local Protectionism, and Marketization in China, by Andrew H. Wedeman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. xiv + 277 pp. US$60.00/£45.00 (hardcover). China can be distinguished from other post-Communist countries not only by its adoption of the so-called gradual approach to economic transformation but also by its success in achieving rapid growth and a sustained, phased marketization drive. The dual-track price system of the 1980s which epitomized the incrementalist spirit of China's reform program was seen by many market theorists as a recipe for disaster. They argued that the coexistence of a deregulated sector and the price rigidities of a Soviet-type economy in selected sectors was creating a complex system of rents, inducing corruption and, worst of all, raising the stakes for bureaucrats to preserve the hybrid system, all of which hindered progress toward full marketization. According to this argument, shock therapy, with its defining features of swift extensive reform, was a preferred alternative. The China success story defies this logic. Wedeman's book provides a nuanced explanation for why Chinese bureaucrats failed to stall the reform process. In particular, he critically evaluates the dynamics of local protectionism. He shares the market theorists' concern that partial reform can nurture a system of rents, and he argues that, even though by the mid-1980s the number of commodities under the state's purchase scheme had been significantly reduced, there remained a large number of resources subject to mandatory state purchase. The cautious spirit of the early post-Mao years resulted in a dual-track system for selected materials: an administrative price for a state-set purchase quota, and a market price for an above-quota portion. An ability to divert the in-plan portion onto the market held the key to capturing rents. The most revealing part of the account arises from Wedeman's first-rate analysis of the different possible options available to local governments in capturing these rents. In a highly accessible style, he elucidates the intricacies of the mechanisms of rent-seeking and identifies two different forms: export protectionism and import protectionism. Export protectionism involved the use of barriers to obstruct the outflow of commodities. It was a strategy used by localities which produced raw materials that were under partial price deregulation. A partial price control implies cheaper raw materials and higher profitability for commodities produced from these materials. Local governments in the raw-materials-producing regions could thus enrich themselves either by diverting supplies onto the black market or by processing the underpriced materials locally under their own sponsorship. The dominant strategy was to ensure that these raw materials were not simply shipped through the formal channels to places outside their jurisdiction. However, export protectionism was only part of the story. For these local governments, commodities produced using the diverted in-plan materials must have a market in order to maximize gains. Administrative barriers were therefore imposed in order to restrict the inflow of competing goods so as to preserve the local market for indigenous goods. Thus a two-front resource war inevitably arose between raw-material-producing regions and manufacturing regions. Wedeman's account also provides a sophisticated analysis of the impact of the economic reforms on the role of the central state. While there may be little theoretical novelty in arguing that the regulatory capacity of the central state has been weakened by the advent of decentralization and the market reforms, the book illuminates the complexities inherent in the central-local interfaces in the market transition process. …

China in the World Economy: The Domestic Policy Challenges: Synthesis Report ; China's Economic Globalization through the WTO [Book Review]

Abstract: Publishers details for: China in the World Economy: The Domestic Policy Challenges: Synthesis Report, Paris: OECD Publications, 2002.72 pp. US$19.00/ 20.00/ 12.00 (paperback). Publishers details for: China's Economic Globalization through the WTO, edited by Ding Lu, Guanzhong James Wen and Huizhong Zhou, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003. xiv + 225 pp. 49.95 (hardcover).

Monastic Politics and the Local State in China: Authority and Autonomy in an Ethnically Tibetan Prefecture

Abstract: On a November morning in 2003, several officials from the county bureau of ethnic and religious affairs paid a visit to the local Tibetan Buddhist monastery. They were there to enforce a government ruling demanding the reinstatement of an expelled lama. Angered by this interference in their affairs, some monks attacked the county officials with sticks and clubs. Other monks came to the aid of the officials and fights broke out across the monastery, forcing the monastery's abbot to flee. The conflict among the monks spilled out into the town and locals joined the brawls. But instead of responding harshly to the melee, local Party and government leaders adopted a conciliatory approach. This article investigates the origins of the conflict and the changing nature of relations between the monastery and the local government since the revival of religious institutions in the 1980s. The analysis touches upon a number of themes in contemporary Chinese politics and society, including the state's relations with non-state institutions and the increasing significance of religion and ethnic identities in local society, in an effort to illuminate the complexity of forces driving political change in China today. Religion and Religious Institutions in China One of the most salient features of change in post-Communist China has been the revival of pre-Communist forms of social organization. With the state's moral authority in decline, many traditional forms of association have reemerged to provide communities with alternative institutions of social and economic cooperation and interpretive frameworks for culturally shared symbols and collective values.1 The search for new forms of cooperation and social meaning underlies the robust revival of religious activity across China in recent years. Evidence of the renewed significance of religion can be seen in the revival of local festivals, the building of temples, the renovation of sacred sites and the increasing numbers of worshipers at churches, mosques and temples.2 In rural China in particular, temple and religious associations have come to play an increasingly prominent role in community life. One study showed how a temple association in Fujian took over from the village administration in funding and organizing road-building and other rural infrastructure.3 In another village a religious revival enabled village leaders to attract funds from the overseas Chinese community, leading to a shift in power structures within the village.4 Similarly, in a formerly nominally Muslim Hui village in southwest China, the rehabilitated mosque became a mechanism for allocating material resources, a focal point for collective identities, and an alternative locus of political power within the village.5 In a wealthy urban part of Fujian Province, the local chapter of the China Buddhist Association, a semi-government agency, was increasingly penetrated by influential members of the Buddhist community who were able to use the association to organize members, negotiate with the local government and advance their collective interests.6 But despite the growing number of case studies about the salience of religious organizations in China, we still know very little about how religious authorities interact with state institutions at the local level. Do religious organizations present a challenge to local Party authority, as has been argued by a central Party circular?7 Are religious organizations recapturing the moral authority that the Communist Party has lost? In what ways are religious organizations and the state able to co-opt one another? This study addresses these questions by exploring the changing relationship since the 1990s between leaders of a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery and local government officials in a remote western region. It draws on two years of fieldwork in southwest China and is based on participant observation, more than 40 in-depth interviews with government and religious officials, and many informal discussions with local Tibetan Buddhist monks. …

God and Caesar in China: Policy Implications of Church-State Tensions. Jason Kindopp , Carol Lee Hamrin

Abstract: God and Caesar in China: Policy Implications of Church-State Tensions, edited by Jason Kindopp and Carol Lee Hamrin. Washington: Brookings Institution Press, 2004. viii + 200 pp. US$49.95/£36.50 (hardcover), US$19.95/£14.50 (paperback). Since the economic and social reforms began in the 1980s there has been a dramatic revival of religion in China. A number of published studies have addressed this trend. However, God and Caesar in China is the first that systematically explores the policy implications of the church-state tensions that have emerged alongside the revival. The book's editors and contributing scholars are from various disciplines including history, religion, political science, sociology and anthropology. This fosters interdisciplinary inquiry into the vicissitudes of the Christian experience in Chinese society. The book investigates the complex relationship between church and state in an historical context, and the political economy of China through the lens of the Christian experience. It is the product of a conference sponsored by the Brookings Institution to initiate a dialogue on how to advance religious freedom in China. Jason Kindopp's introduction delineates the nature and challenge of church-state tensions and sets a strong political tone for the book by calling for political change to protect religion's expression and civic institutions in China. The following nine chapters are divided into three sections covering the state's policies towards religion, church-state interactions, and the place of religion in US-China relations. Daniel Bays' chapter is among the best in the book. He describes the historical pattern of Chinese state-religion relations and reveals that the registering and monitoring of grassroots religion can be traced back to the Tang dynasty more than a thousand years ago. Thus state dominance is not a modern Chinese Communist invention but an ancient requirement of the Chinese political system. The presence of a strong central state power and its unchanging demand for loyalty portends a rather pessimistic future for religious freedom in China. In an overview of the institutional framework of religious control and containment in the reform era, Mickey Spiegel discusses relevant state policies, methods and control apparatus. Kim-Kwong Chan's chapter envisions official policy changes on the governance of religion and a shift in church-state relations as China increasingly integrates into the global economy and international community. Jean-Paul Wiest begins the second section by exploring the ups and downs of the relationship between the Catholic Church and China before the Communist accession to power in 1949. Richard Madsen follows with the post-1949 developments. Madsen notes both the church-state conflict and the recent common ground for cooperation and finds that in response to repression most Catholics have become concerned more with personal faith issues than with state politics and tend to direct their anger towards fellow church members whom they perceive not to be devout. Yihua Xu provides a detailed view of the origin and institutionalization of the Protestant Three-Self Patriotic Movement, the official church, and the Three-Self movement's transformation of the landscape of Chinese Protestantism. …

"Gambling for Qi": Suicide and Family Politics in a Rural North China County

Abstract: The author conducted 17 months of research fieldwork concerning the reasons for and level of suicide in rural North China, which revealed family conflict as a major reason for suicide. 'Gambling for qi' was one of the most popular explanations for suicide and attempted suicide, especially when talking about the suicides of young people. The Chinese conception of 'gambling for qi' provides a powerful explanation for the psychodynamics and the cultural and social meanings of suicide among Chinese people.

The Politics of Buddhist Organizations in Taiwan, 1989-2003: Safeguarding the Faith, Building a Pure Land, Helping the Poor

Abstract: The Politics of Buddhist Organizations in Taiwan, 1989-2003: Safeguarding the Faith, Building a Pure Land, Helping the Poor, by Andre Laliberte London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004 xii + 178 pp £6000 (hardcover) Academic interest in Taiwanese Buddhism has grown steadily in recent years, with an increasing number of Western-language doctoral dissertations, journal articles and monographs appearing on the subject Andre Laliberte's book is an important contribution to this burgeoning field It explores the political behavior of three important Taiwanese Buddhist organizations between 1989 and 2003: the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Association (Ciji), Buddha Light Mountain (Foguangshan) and the Buddhist Association of the Republic of China (BAROC) Laliberte asks why these three Buddhist organizations have adopted such divergent political behavior With the passage of the Law on Civic Organizations in 1989, BAROC, the smallest of the three, became the official representative body for Buddhists in Taiwan One of its roles was to act as a conduit for communication between the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and the island's Buddhists It was also the only body that could officially ordain members of the Buddhist clergy However, its political influence has steadily waned with the rise of other groups such as Ciji and Foguangshan Laliberte divides contemporary Taiwanese Buddhist thought into two categories He describes the first, represented by BAROC, as theologically conservative Unlike Ciji and Foguangshan, BAROC is opposed to the involvement of lay Buddhists, and supports government legislation regulating religion Laliberte describes how it has lobbied the government to enact legislative change that would allow it to regain the degree of power and prestige it formerly held, through a grant of greater authority over the island's Buddhists On the other side, Zhengyan (the founder of Ciji) and Xingyun (the founder of Foguangshan) draw philosophical inspiration from the thought of Taixu (1890-1947) and Yinshun (1906- ), who may be considered the architects of the "humanistic Buddhism" (renjian fojiao) that now forms the mainstream of Taiwanese Buddhist thought Both of these reformers advocated greater roles for both the clergy and the laity in the social sphere Despite sharing these common philosophical roots, Ciji and Foguangshan engage in quite different forms of political behavior Members of Ciji are discouraged from engaging in politics, and Zhengyan herself steers away from direct political participation Even so, Ciji has contributed greatly to improving the health care system of the island, running four hospitals …

Will China Become Democratic? Elite, Class and Regime Transition

Abstract: Will China Become Democratic? Elite, Class and Regime Transition, by Zheng Yongnian. Singapore: Eastern Universities Press, 2004. x + 371 pp. SGD$39.00/US$26.00 (paperback). This book is composed of eleven previously published essays by Zheng Yongnian, largely written over the course of the 1990s. The introduction sets forth the book's intent: "to outline possible linkages between elite, class and regime transition" (p. 13). Zheng states that if democracy comes to China it will be the result of elite politics and "class" power, more than civil society or social forces (though a broader variety of scenarios are presented in the Conclusion). It is "class" that will have the best chance of overcoming the "structural barriers" to China's political modernization. While this view is not altogether incorrect, the concept of "class" has become more and more murky, and many social problems cannot be understood in class terms. Take, for example, blood-borne HIV, which has resulted in a catastrophe for which the elite bears considerable responsibility. To the extent that the elite have finally had their feet held to the fire, one can thank a heterogeneous mix of social forces, not class-based forces. A similar point could be made about environmental pollution. Then there are the vast divides between coast and hinterland, and between ethnic groups, none of which have much to do with class. While it is true that the Party has invited the business class into its ranks, it may be too early to know whether this is democratization or simply co-optation. For his part, Zheng has no doubts; he believes that "class power is playing an increasing role in China's elite politics" (p. 13) and that "future historians will probably find that nothing was more important than admitting capitalists into the Party" (p. 311). Parts of the book read like recitations of the views of Chinese officialdom, with little effort on Zheng's part to distance himself from them. Although there is some mention of the fear that China might disintegrate in the way that Yugoslavia did, there seems to be no realization that in both cases it is precisely the artificiality of the multi-national state that is destabilizing. Instead, the view is that the threat of chaos stems from the prospect of democracy: "Yes, democratization occurred to Taiwan and South Korea recently. But social chaos also followed" (p. 107). (If development's prerequisite is stability, one would think that these two lands must have a lot of it.) Parts of this book might well fit into a course on Chinese politics. Chapter 4, "Will China Become More Democratic", best pulls together in one place the various ideas in the book; it would be good to expose students to this Sino-Singaporean point of view, according to which external factors are blamed for democracy's slow progress. …

State and Business in the Era of Globalization: The Case of Cross-Strait Linkages in the Computer Industry

Abstract: The general framework of state-business relations in cross-Strait economic interactions is examined along with the collective efforts of Taiwanese and global firms to develop the Chinese market. The process of 'localisation' of globalised Taiwanese firms in China is analysed and efforts on both sides of the Strait by two central states, the municipal governments and quasi-state agencies are observed to accommodate the forces of globalisation.