Economic Reform And Social Change In China

Economic growth in China has transformed both politics and society. Old orthodoxies are painfully being eroded in the drive for reform while new social and cultural tensions are coming to light. It has been argued that the cycles of reform and retreat since 1978 which culminated in the Tiananmen Square tragedy were induced by the tensions of the reform process. It is clear that the way in which China handles these issues in the future will have major implications for the next phase of the country's development. The authors of this book analyse how reform has affected major groups in society such as urban workers, rural and urban cadres, the army, intellectuals and private entrepreneurs. They examine the interaction between old attitudes and new needs in such areas as education, policing and social control, rural administration and the status of women. What emerges is a broad insight into China's reform process which looks both at the enormous changes that have come about and at the problems to follow.

Abstract: The author applies a systems-oriented "holistic" approach to China's radical economic reforms during the past quarter of a century. He characterizes China's economic reforms in terms of a multidimensional classification of economic systems. When looking at the economic consequences of China's change of economic system, he deals with both the impressive growth performance and its economic costs. The author also studies the consequences of the economic reforms for the previous social arrangements in the country, which were tied to individual work units-agriculture communes, collective firms, and state-owned enterprises. He continues with the social development during the reform period, reflecting a complex mix of social advances, mainly in terms of poverty reduction, and regresses for large population groups in terms of income security and human services, such as education and, in particular, health care. Next, the author discusses China's future policy options in the social field, whereby he draws heavily on relevant experiences in industrial countries over the years. The future options are classified into three broad categories: policies influencing the level and distribution of factor income, income transfers including social insurance, and the provision of human services.

China is expected to become the world's largest economy in less than two decades. Whether it does so will depend on continued growth of the non-state sector and how well China adapts to global market forces. The essays in this volume consider the state of China's economic reforms, the institutional changes necessary for China to become a global economic power, and the interplay between market reforms and social development in China.

Under Deng Xiaoping's dynamic leadership, the People's Republic of China has embarked on a highly significant and ambitious modernization drive resulting in various political, economic, and social changes. It is to the nature and extent of the reform program that the book addresses itself. There is general consensus among the authors that important changes are taking place in Deng's China that affect various segments of the society. Most authors seem to believe that although beset with problems and difficulties, current reforms and changes are likely to be continued and expanded in the years ahead. Contents: include: The Modernization of China: 19th and 20th Century Comparisons and Contrasts; Does the CCP have a "Line"?; Reform, Succession, and the Resurgence of China's Old Guard; China's Future Leaders: The Third-Echelon Cadres; Students, Intellectuals, and Political Reform in Mainland China; Habits of the Heart: Intellectual Assumptions Reflected by Chinese Reformers fr Tuo to Fang Lizhi; China's Economic Reform at the Crossroads; The Limits of Economic Change: Lessons from Mainland China; Changing Status of Women in the PRC; New Trends in Marriage and Family in Mainland China: Impacts from the Four Modernizations Campaign; Military Modernization and Defense Policy in the People's Republic of China; Deng Xiaoping and Modernization of the Chinese Military; Change and Continuity in Contemporary PRC Foreign Policy: Implications for the United States; and Recent Legal Issues Between the United States and the People's Republic of China. Co-published with the Miller Center for Public Affairs.

Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2009! In its quarter-century-long shift from communism to capitalism, China has transformed itself from a desperately poor nation into a country with one of the fastest-growing and largest economies in the world. Doug Guthrie examines the reforms driving the economic genesis in this compact and highly readable introduction to contemporary China. He highlights the social, cultural and political factors fostering this revolutionary change and interweaves a broad structural analysis with a consideration of social changes at the micro and macro levels. In this new, revised edition author Guthrie updates his story on modern China and provides the latest authoritative data and examples from current events to chart where this dynamically changing society is headed and what the likely consequences for the rest of the world will be.

This book provides a fascinating perspective of the experiences of China's reform in the past three decades by focusing on China's interaction with and learning from the external world in her unprecedented efforts to reform and open up. After three introductory chapters on broad scope of reform in the political, economic, and social realms, this book deals with lessons from the Eastern Bloc, China's reform in East Asian context, and China and the developed world. The book concludes with two chapters looking to the future of China's political and economic development. In the existing literature of China's reform experience, this book is unique in perspective, topic selection, and in-depth analyses. With contributions from a group of prominent scholars in the field of China studies such as John Wong, Zheng Yongnian, Thomas P Bernstein, Dorothy J Solinger, and Bo Zhiyue, it will be of immense value to anyone who is interested in China.

Thirty Years of Reform and Social Changes in China is translated from the original Chinese to provide a look into how scholars in China have been assessing their country's recent societal and political history. This volume and the others in the SSRC series, provide western scholars with an accessible English language look at the state of current scholarship in China on the interplay of the country's political and economic reforms with the society and daily life of its people.

During the past 30 years, China has undergone extensive economic reform, replacing the government’s administration of enterprises with increasing levels of market-oriented enterprise autonomy. At the heart of the reform are changes in the employment relationship, where state control has been superceded by market relationships. These reforms have had far-reaching implications for many aspects of everyday life in Chinese society. This book appraises the impact of the economic reforms on the employment relationship and, in turn, examines the effects on individual workers and their families, including salaries, working conditions and satisfaction, job security and disparities based on location, gender, age, skill, position and migrant status. In particular, it focuses on how changes in the employment relationship have affected the livelihood strategies of households. It explores the changing human resource management practices and employment relations in different types of enterprises: including State-Owned Enterprises, Foreign-Owned Enterprises and Domestic Private Enterprises; throughout different industries, focusing especially on textiles, clothing and footwear and the electronics industry; and in different regions and cities within China (Beijing, Haerbin, Lanzhou, Hangzhou, Wuhan and Kunming). Overall, this book provides a detailed account of the everyday implications of economic reform for individuals and families in China.