Showing papers in "China Report in 1985"

Science and Technology in China

Abstract: enormous population and one which is, moreover, being ruled by a tightly organized and determined regime. The assumption is that science and technology is what generates economic, military and political power. In the case of China, the size of the country and hence its natural resources, and its population, i.e. the human resources, enable it to mount a large, ambitious science and technology and research and development programme. This, it is reasoned, has a tremendous impact on its economic, military and political role in international relations. Hence the need to know as much as possible about the science and technology effort of that potential-and, for some, the real adversary. The governments which sponsor such research want

Vietnam-Kampuchea Confrontation : A Background Study

Abstract: a long one of mutual rivalry and foreign domination. With the end of direct US military involvement in 1973 and the military victories of the Vietnamese communists and the Khmer Rouge in 1975, it was hoped that the winds of peace would at last blow over the peninsula. But that expectation was soon belied and the centuries-old historical enmity was revived between the Sociallist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) and Democratic Kampuchea (DK).~ Inspite of common loyalty to Marxism, the old border conflict was revived, and the Phnom Penh rulers feared that Veitnam was bent on incorporating Kampuchea into a new Indo-China Federation.’ In the eyes of Vietnamese rulers the Indo-China Federation would be a voluntary association of the people of the peninsula united common struggle and common aspirations, but in the eyes of Kampuchea it would virtually be an empire dominated by Vietnam. The re-emergence of hostility between these two

China's Foreign Policy in the 1980s From Anti-Hegemony to Modernization Diplomacy

Abstract: MAJOR CHANGES have taken place in China’s domestic politics and foreign policy since the fall of the Gang of Four in 1976. Under the present pragmatic leadership, China appears to have been relying more and more on the West for capital and advanced technology to speed up its economic growth. On 12 August 1978, the Chinese government -concluded a peace and friendship treaty with the Fukuda government of Japan which included an anti-hegemony clause. On 16 December of the same year China and the United States established formal diplomatic relations, and in their joint communique, both sides rearmed the principle of anti-hegemony. In view of such developments many observers then believed that in soliciting the support of the West in checking Soviet global expansion, China had entered into some kind of an alliance, with the United States and Japan. In the early 1980s, however, problems emerged in Sino-American relations and progress stagnated. The Taiwan question as well as limitations

Income Differentials in the Soviet Union and China

Abstract: Inter-country comparisons of income inequality run into serious metho dological problems.’ The definition of income itself varies from country to country, as does that of the income receiving unit. Data collection procedures are not uniform and the quality of data varies. The relevant time period associated with the definition of income may also differ.2 As far as methodology is concerned, a caveat should therefore be attached to all inter-country comparisons of income inequality. A comparison of income differentials in the Soviet Union and China has been attempted by Mehta.1 Using additional data, this paper seeks to supplement Mehta’s findings. The inequality in the distribution of total household incomes is meaningless for inter-country comparisons. The sizes and the age and sex composition of households tend to vary across countries. A reasonable proceduie is to compare inequalities in the distribution of per capita incomes, so that

China's Two Economies: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract: IN 1949, having lost the mainland, the Nationalist (Kuomintang) Government retreated to Taiwan, thus moving its seat from Nanking to Taipei. Not contrary to his expectations, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek found much of Taiwan’s economy damaged and destroyed. Seventy-five percent of the industry, mostly constructed during the 50 years of Japanese colonial occupation, was destroyed. Only 35 percent of Taiwan’s electric generating capacity was still operational. Nevertheless, with American aid, whatever remained of the island’s prewar agro-industrial base did serve as an adequate springboard for economic development and growth in the postwar years. ~ In several respects conditions on the mainland were worse, for some 14 years of civil war plus eight years of war against the Japanese had severely damaged the economic base of the mainland-its agricultural sector, industry, infrastructure, and mines. As an example, industry had suffered damages of

Some questions concerning recent agrarian reforms in China

Abstract: Recent developments in the institutional set-up and organisation of production in China’s rural sector have attracted a great deal of attention. This is not surprising in view of the fact that the new changes being introduced appear to be far-reaching in their character to the point of altering in a fundamental way the agrarian system which had evolved in postrevolutionary China under Mao. Rather than being mere cosmetic changes, these new developments beginning in 1978 are nothing short of dismantling of the commune system with its commune, brigade, and production team components, and its replacement by a system closely resembling peasant agriculture with the household as its main decision making and income generating unit. This, indeed, appears to be the consensus emerging from the observations of foreign visitors to China as well as from the criticisms levelled by the Chinese themselves against the commune system, in justification of the current reforms.’ Moreover, available evidence suggests that these reforms are proving popular with the rural masses, and that the output performance of Chinese agriculture has shown a marked

Post-Taiping Change in Land Tenure : A Preliminary Investigation of Northern Jiangxi and Southern Anhui

Abstract: IT is true that the Taiping rebels and their ideology failed to fundamentally alter the rural social, political and economic structure in China. Setting out with a belief in the millenarian concept of rural egalitarianism the rebels were unsuccessful in implementing any of their revolutionary ideas and moulding the rural reality according to their own anachronistic vision. However, the rebellion per se had a significant impact on the Chinese rural society. In most of Central and South China, it brought about radical changes in land tenure which not only created the necessary conditions for the transformation of rural social and economic patterns but also modified the nature of both the state and the landlord’s authority and control in the countryside. Moreover, the origin of the early twentieth century agrarian crisis and the consequent growth of both independent and communist-led peasant movements can be traced back to these crucial post-Taiping changes in China.~ It is in this context that this paper attempts to examine the nature and significance of post-Taiping changes in land tenure with particular reference to the areas of Northern Kiangsi and Southern Anhwei. Ho Pingdi aptly remarks that ’by far the most important change in the land tenure during the past century took place in the most densely populated lower Yangtze provinces, where the concentrated landownership

Indian Images in Chinese Literature: A Historical Survey

Abstract: INDIA is the closest ancient civilization to China which is another ancient civilization. The two civilizations can be described as ’Trans-Himalayan Twins’ not only because they rank the Himalayan ranges, but also because both were given birth to by the rivers flowing from the Himalayan region. It is but natural that India figures prominently in the Chinese imagination, folklore, and literary records. The image of India in Chinese literature changes according to two factors: (i) mutual knowledge and intimacy between Indian and Chinese peoples, and (ii) India’s impact on China. We can divide the cultural contacts between India and China into four historical periods. First, from the time of Christ to the early centuries of the present millennium was the period when China was under active influence of Indian culture through the vehicle of Buddhism. Second, from the 13th

Socialization of the Chinese Individual into New Morals

Abstract: are concerned with here relate to work and sex, the two vital existential dimensions of an individual’s life. The focus on the individual is not due to any commitment to methodological individualism. The method of analysis is humanistic. Some of the data on change are collected from recollections and conversations of ordinary individuals. Since in most cases these did not purposively reveal what the present enquiry is about, the paper relies in part on a kind of serendipitous survey.

A Note on Mao's Method

Abstract: THE DIALECTICAL mdhod explains everything in nature and society in terms of a struggle of opposites, resolving temporarily into a higher form, dividing further and re-uniting again into a still higher form, and so oil in an unending series. Mao was in essential agreement with this method, but he did not trace its origin to modern times. ’The doctrine that everything has only one aspect has existed ever since ancient times, and so has the doctrine that everything has two aspects. They are known as metaphysics and dialectics respectively.,1 ’The dialectical world outlook’, said Mao emerged in ancient times both in China and in Eiirope’.1 He recalled an ancient Chinese saying: ’The Yin and the Yang make up the 1 uo’.3 Yin signifying feinale, vice, darkness, while Yang standing for male, virtue, light, are two aspects, conflicting as well as complementing each other to constitute the ideal way (Tao). ’It is impossible’, he added, ’to have only the ’Yin’ without the ’Yang’, or vice vPrsa’.4 In. his famous treatise On Contradiction, he

Review Article : Washington's China Card

Abstract: THE UNITED STATES of America, as the champion of fiberal democracy, has jealously taken up the cause of the free world. Ever since it discarded its isolationist policy in the post-war phase, the major objective of its foreign policy has been to prevent at any cost the proliferation of communist regimes in the world. In the operationalization of its containment policy, it was but natural that the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China were treated as its major adversaries in the cold war phase.’ A number of investigative studies have been undertaken in that country

China and South Asia

Abstract: With its mounting population, low per capita income and need for rapid industrialization and modernization, China very much belongs to the third world. Its policy towards the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America has changed from time to time. The ideological basis for it was provided by Mao himself. In his article ’On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship’, he said: ’The world is divided into two hostile camps viz. the socialist camp headed by the Soviet Union and the imperialist camp headed by the US... China must lean to the side of socialism and it was impossible to pursue neutrality or a third force... Sitting on the fence will not do nor is there a Third World’. This perception of the world was also emphasized by Liu Shaoqi, once considered to be the likeliest successor of Mao Zedong. However, China was soon disillusioned with the Soviet-led socialist camp. During the Korean war its perception of the neutral states changed somewhat when India played a constructive role in bringing the armed conflict to an end. In the Maoist view, some of these neutrals could be led to join hands with China in its anti-imperialist struggle.

India in Japanese Literature : A Case Study of Hirata Atsutane:

Abstract: JAPAN adopted Buddhism in the sixth century of the Christian era, and right from the next centruy we come across recorded evidences of the significant role India played in the intellectual life of the Japanese people. The oldest Japanese intellectual work that has come down to us is a set of commentaries of three Buddhist sutras popularly known as Sankyo Gisho written in the seventh century by one of the most learned Japanese of his time, Prince Shotoku. From these commentaries we learn that he was familiar with the places, persons and events associated with the Shakyamuni. All the kingdoms, cities, rivers and hills appearing in the Buddhist scripture were by and large familiar to him In the eigth century we come across further evidences of the high esteem the Japanese had for India. Attempts were made

The Question of Democracy and China

Abstract: IN NOVEMBER 1966, a rally of over 2,000 writers, actors, painters, musicians, university professors, students and intellectuals was held in the great Hall of the People to felicitate Chiang Ching who was nominated by Lin Biao to direct the cultural revolution in the Red Army. All the speakers, including Zao Enlai, Chen Boda, Gieng Sheng and Guo Morou praised the ideological and political virtues of Chiang Ching in glowing terms. At the end of the meeting Guo Morou the writer, poet, historian, literary critic and an intellectual of international repute read the following eulogy to the

Education in China Maoist and Dengist Models

Abstract: SIGNIFICANT changes have taken place in China since the death of Chairman Mao Zedong in September 1976. The ’revolutionary orientation’ in various spheres of social, economic and political life seems to have been abandoned by the succeeding leadership, in particular by Deng Xiaoping, the present strong man of China. The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature and scope of the changes brought about in the sphere of education. While Chairman Mao is said to have attempted to evolve an indigenous model of education for China, Deng Xiaoping is believed to have abandoned both its form and essence. An attempt is made here to analyse, with the help of official data and party documents, the truth of this controversial thesis. The method employed here is simple: first, to present the Maoist and the Dengist models of education, and then to compare and contrast them.