Narratives Of Chinese Economic Reforms

A collection of stories, telling how seven Chinese individuals navigated their personal transitions during the Chinese state's shift from a state-managed and state-owned, planned socialist economy to one primarily driven by market forces.

Ch. 1. Introduction : policy reforms as a process of learning / Xiaobo Zhang, Arjan de Haan and Shenggen Fan -- ch. 2. The course of China's rural reform / Du Runsheng -- ch. 3. Collective learning capacity and choice of reform path - theoretical reflections on the dual-track system of price reform process / Luo Xiaopeng -- ch. 4. The formation and evolution of China's migrant labor policy / Cai Fang -- ch. 5. Narratives of Wenzhou's industrial privatization / Zhu Kangdui -- ch. 6. The process of establishing and extending direct elections in rural China / Wang Zhenyao -- ch. 7. The historical opportunity of the fiscal reform / Liu Zhongli -- ch. 8. Fiscal reform : the Zhejiang experience / Weng Lihua -- ch. 9. China's reforms : are there lessons for other countries? / Arjan de Haan, Xiaobo Zhang and Shenggen Fan

This successor volume to China beyond the Headlines takes the reader even farther beyond the "front stage" to explore a China few Westerners have seen. Seeking to bridge the gap between what specialists understand and the general public believes, the contributors challenge readers to move past the usual images of China presented by the media and to think about shared problems. In an entirely new set of essays, they explore such critical issues as environmental degradation, nationalism, unemployment, film and literature, news reporting, the Internet, sex tourism, and the costs of the economic boom to vividly portray the complexity of life in contemporary China and how surprisingly often it speaks to the American experience.

Changes to corporate structure, including the role of the corporate headquarters, have been key factors in bringing about economic reform in China. In this penetrating and insightful book, Xiao questions the conventional theory of the firm, arguing that the ultimate goal of the headquarters of modern large corporations is to function as a substitute for the market, and introducing a new explanation for the nature of the firm - the 'substitution function model'. He provides an insider's account of the reforms in CITIC, a rare narrative that should be essential reading for scholars and practitioners who care about the theory and practice of the firm, in particular in the context of Chinese enterprise reform.

Why has China’s ‘transition’ to a market economy not catalysed corresponding political transformation? In an era of deepening synergy between authoritarian politics and capitalist economics, this book offers a novel perspective on this central dilemma of contemporary Chinese development, shedding light on how the Chinese Communist Party achieved rapid economic growth while preserving political stability. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and over sixty interviews with policymakers, bankers and former party and state officials, the book delves into the role of China’s state-owned banking system since 1989, showing how political control over capital has been central to the country’s experience of capitalist development. It challenges existing state-market paradigms of political economy and reveals the Eurocentric assumptions underpinning liberal perspectives towards Chinese authoritarian resilience.

This textbook seeks to construct a descriptive–analytical account of contemporary Chinese economic transformation. It examines a range of topical issues that are of central importance in highlighting the systemic dynamics, multiple determinants and complex implications of the transformation. The descriptive elements provide a structured narrative of the main trends of economic reform and development. The analytical elements help to deepen the understanding of the transformation.The book provides good insights for grasping the world-significance of contemporary Chinese economic transformation and its future prospects. The knowledge will be of intellectual importance for students of Chinese political economy, and of practical importance for business and social activities related to China.

This book sets out to answer how China's rise can best be understood from both East Asian and Western perspectives. It also assesses the prospect of realignment away from the US hegemony in East Asia in light of persistent regional rivalries. Throughout the book, the authors show that for China's neighbours, as well as for its own intellectuals, historicizing the country's rise provides one way of understanding its current ascendant trajectory, on the one hand, and acute social problems, on the other. To which historical precedent should one turn? Did Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo get it right when he recently likened the contemporary Sino-Japanese relationship to that of Germany and Britain on the eve of World War I? Is Harvard Law School's Noah Feldman correct in his assertion that China and the United States are on the verge not of a Cold War but of a “Cool War,” in which a “classic struggle for power is unfolding at the same time as economic cooperation is becoming deeper? The authors examine these questions and also focus on other observations that becloud China's rise. Contents:IntroductionWas There a Pre-Modern or Early-Modern "China Model"?How Unique Is Today's "China Model"Beyond Lu Xun: A Critique of Chinese Exceptionality, Meritocracy, and Historicity as Conceived in Wang Hui's ThoughtBeyond Tianxia: Chinese Historicity, Meritocracy, and Exceptionality in Yan Xuetong's, Hu Angang's, and Pan Wei's Thought"Seoul Searching": The History, Politics, and Prejudice behind the Re-naming of the Korea's Capital in ChineseIs My Rival's Rival a Friend? Popular Third-Party Perceptions of Territorial Disputes in East AsiaConclusions Readership: Graduates and researchers specializing in China Studies; international relations specialists. Key Features:One of few books to study how Japanese and Koreans of various political persuasions — and how historians more broadly — envision China's nascent claim to global leadershipSets out to answer how China's rise can best be understood from both East Asian and Western perspectivesAssesses the prospect of realignment away from the US hegemony in East Asia in light of persistent regional rivalriesKeywords:China;Japan;Korea;Territorial and Maritime Disputes;National Identity;Nationalism;Blogs;China Model;Beijing Consensus;Great Divergence;Tianxia;Wangdao;New Left