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JournalISSN: 1868-1026

Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 

SAGE Publishing
About: Journal of Current Chinese Affairs is an academic journal published by SAGE Publishing. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): China & Politics. It has an ISSN identifier of 1868-1026. It is also open access. Over the lifetime, 359 publications have been published receiving 4749 citations. The journal is also known as: China aktuell.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated how the central government's intention to build a new socialist countryside is being substantiated and implemented at the local level by conducting fieldwork in two Chinese counties in 2008 and 2009.
Abstract: In March 2006, China’s National People’s Congress officially promulgated the central government’s intention to “build a new socialist countryside”, a new policy initiative and approach to rural development. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in two Chinese counties in 2008 and 2009, this article investigates how the new policy is being substantiated and implemented at the local level. It argues that by combining China’s new fiscal system of transfer payments to poor local governments with administrative reforms, intensified internal project evaluation, and efforts to increase the rural income through a mixture of infrastructural investment, agricultural specialization, the expansion of social welfare, and accelerated urbanization, “building a new socialist countryside” constitutes more than a political slogan and has the potential to successfully overcome rural poverty and the rural-urban divide.

123 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors look at the livelihoods and lives of African traders coming to Hong Kong and Guangzhou, and argue that one essential economic role China plays today is in manufacturing the cheap, sometimes counterfeit goods that enable Africa and other developing-world regions to experience globalization; African traders who come to China help make this possible.
Abstract: This article looks at the livelihoods and lives of African traders coming to Hong Kong and Guangzhou. These traders are practising “low-end globalization”, involving small amounts of capital, and semi-legal or illegal transactions under the radar of the law. The article first considers who these traders are, portraying them as, typically, members of the upper crust of their home societies. It then considers these traders in Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong, a building that is an entrepot between China and the developing world. Finally, it looks at traders’ livelihoods and lives in Guangzhou, South China, and traders’ efforts to succeed in mainland China. The article argues that one essential economic role China plays today is in manufacturing the cheap, sometimes counterfeit goods that enable Africa and other developing-world regions to experience globalization; the African traders who come to China help make this possible.

107 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the state's attempts to manipulate online expression without resorting to censorship and coercion by examining the role of internet commentators, known as the "fifty-cent army" in Chinese cyberspace are examined.
Abstract: Studies on public expression in China tend to focus on how the state and internet users (netizens) struggle over the limits of online expression. Few have systematically traced discourse competition within state-imposed boundaries, particularly how the authoritarian state has adapted to manage, rather than censor, online expression. This paper explores and evaluates the state’s attempts to manipulate online expression without resorting to censorship and coercion by examining the role of internet commentators, known as the “fifty-cent army”, in Chinese cyberspace. To cope with the challenge of online expression, the authoritarian state has mobilized its agents to engage anonymously in online discussions and produce apparently spontaneous pro-regime commentary. However, due to a lack of proper motivation and the persistence of old propaganda logic, this seemingly smart adaptation has proven ineffective or even counter-productive: It not only decreases netizens’ trust in the state but also, ironically, suppresses the voices of regime supporters.

93 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Lucy Corkin1
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the prioritisation of commercial outreach over purely political objectives in Africa has led to a shift in influence from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to the MOFCOM (Ministry of Commerce).
Abstract: It has long been recognised that the actors involved in crafting and implementing China’s foreign policy are not always in agreement. This paper argues that the prioritisation of commercial outreach over purely political objectives in Africa has led to a shift in influence from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). To that end, the paper examines the rising prominence of China Exim Bank’s concessional loans as a foreign policy instrument in Africa along with the process through which they are negotiated and implemented. Using the case of Angola, this paper shows how despite formal institutional equality, the MOFCOM is playing a far more influential role than the MFA is in defining the direction of China’s foreign policy toward Africa.

76 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a comparative study of China's economic statecraft in Angola and Brazil, focusing on the deployment of infrastructure-for-oil deals, is presented, and the authors argue that the variation in China's energy-security outcomes (long-term supply and access to oil equity) in both countries can be attributed mostly to fundamental differences between the institutional structures of each country's oil industry.
Abstract: Africa’s and South America’s rich endowments of resources and great need for infrastructure development make them perfect candidates for China’s “infrastructure-for-resources” loans. Over the past decade, such an arrangement for pursuing China’s resource-security goals overseas – namely, securing long-term supply contracts and accessing exploration rights – has proved more effective in Africa than in South America. This article discusses the reasons for this regional variation by providing a comparative study of China’s economic statecraft in Angola and Brazil, focusing on the deployment of infrastructure-for-oil deals. It argues that the variation in China’s energy-security outcomes (long-term supply and access to oil equity) in Angola and Brazil can be attributed mostly to fundamental differences between the institutional structures of each country’s oil industry. Although this foreign policy instrument has worked well for the centralised structure encountered in Angola, it has been less suitable for the far more liberalised and regulated environment that characterises Brazil’s oil sector.

65 citations

Performance
Metrics
No. of papers from the Journal in previous years
YearPapers
202311
202224
202120
202017
201918
201820