Social Transformation And Chinese Experience

China's success on economic growth and its exploration on political reform in the past few decades have attracted the attention from worldwide economic and political experts. This book studies China's transformation and experience from a sociological perspective, which broadens the research horizons and explores more complexity in contemporary China. This book examines China's social structural transformation, especially its implications on resource allocation and expounds on China's sociology academic history. In addition, it covers a broad range of issues including China's experience of reform and development, urbanization, social hierarchy change, social conflicts, social management, mass consumption, etc. Lastly, it investigates China's "urban village" as a byproduct of economic development and urbanization, which is rarely seen in other countries. These themes are key to understanding contemporary Chinese society, which makes this book a valuable reference for specialists on Chinese studies and those who are interested in contemporary China.

Since the late 1970s, China has transformed itself from an inefficient centrally-planned backwater to a fast-growing market-orientated economy. Whilst economic reform has enabled average living standards to improve immensely, the benefits have been shared disproportionately depending on demographic factors such as location, age, gender and social class. The aim of this new four-volume collection is to address some of the pertinent questions raised by the difference in ordinary people s experience of China s economic modernisation. In particular: What are the socio-cultural transformations accompanying China s economic transition? What are the experiences and responses of people who have gone through these social changes? What are the theoretical implications for social scientists who study social and economic development? " Social Transformation in China" answers these questions by collecting essential and cutting-edge scholarship to reflect and capture experiences of socio-cultural transformations in China. Topics covered include the issues around work, the restructuring of state enterprises, unemployment, changes in welfare provisions, migration and women workers experiences; the family, such as love and marriage, one-child policy, and ageing; the cultural domain including topics on media and consumption; the emergence of civil society, including topics on religion and non-government organizations. Given China s ever growing economic influence, and sheer population size, there is an increasing demand from the rest of the world to understand Chinese society and its rapid economic modernisation. By collecting the work of leading figures on China from disciplines such as Sociology, Anthropology, Social Policy, Cultural Studies and Political Sciences, this set will not only appeal to researchers and students in Chinese Studies but also more widely to academics and policymakers who are concerned with the social impact of economic development.

This book comprehensively explores the changes in the Chinese spiritual world from the perspective of transition and transformation. Chinese feeling, a brand-new concept corresponding to Chinese experience, refers to the vicissitudes that 1.3 billion Chinese people have been through in their spiritual worlds. The book discusses this concept together with Chinese experience, two aspects of the transformation of the Chinese mentality that resulted from the unprecedented social changes since 1978, and which have given this unique era historical meaning and cultural values. At the same time they offer a dual perspective for understanding this great social transition. Further, the book considers what will happen if we only focus on the “Chinese Experience” while neglecting the “Chinese Feeling”; the changes the Chinese people undergo when their desires, wishes and personalities have changed China; and how their emotionally charged social mentality follow ebbs and flows of the changing society. Lastly it asks what embarrassment and frustration the population will be faced with next after the tribulations their spiritual world has already been through.

Since the late 1970s, China has transformed from an inefficient centrally planned backwater to a fast-growing market-orientated economy. While economic reform has enabled average living standards to improve immensely, the benefits have been shared disproportionately depending on demographic factors such as location, age, gender, and social class. This new four-volume collection from Routledge addresses some of the pertinent questions raised by the difference in ordinary people's experience of China's economic modernization. In particular: what are the socio-cultural transformations accompanying China's economic transition? What are the experiences and responses of people who have gone through these social changes? What are the theoretical implications for social scientists who study social and economic development? Social Transformation in China answers these questions by collecting essential and cutting-edge scholarship to reflect and capture experiences of socio-cultural transformations in China. Topics covered include: issues around work, the restructuring of state enterprises, unemployment, changes in welfare provisions, migration and women workers' experiences; the family, love and marriage, the one-child policy, and ageing; the cultural domain, including works on media and consumption; the emergence of civil society. Given China's ever-growing economic influence, and sheer population size, there is an increasing demand from the rest of the world to understand Chinese society and its rapid economic modernization. By collecting the work of leading figures on China from disciplines such as Sociology, Anthropology, Social Policy, Cultural Studies, and Political Sciences, this set will not only appeal to researchers and students in Chinese Studies but also more widely to academics and policymakers who are concerned with the social impact of economic development.

Chapter Introduction: How I conducted this China Study -- chapter 1 Why has China's economy grown so fast? -- chapter 2 Comprehensive national power (1980-2000): A comparative study of the US, Russia, Japan, India and China -- chapter 3 Why has China's TFP dropped in 1995-2001? -- chapter 4 From unevenness to coordination for China's regional development (1978-2004) -- chapter 5 China's economic growth and poverty reduction (1978-2002) -- chapter 6 China's macro-economy and health -- chapter 7 Health insecurity: The biggest challenge to human security in China -- chapter 8 Developing human resources to cope with an aging society -- chapter 9 China's urban unemployment and social security (1993-2000) -- chapter 10 Genuine national savings and natural capital cost in China (1970-2001) -- chapter 11 Corruption: an enormous black hole: Public exposure of the economic costs of corruption -- chapter 12 Second transition of the Communist Party of China: From economic development to institution building -- chapter 13 Making policy decision-making more scientific, democratic, systematic and specialized.

Social policy reforms driven by profound social changes have been a popular and pressing topic worldwide in recent years in both policy and academic circles. In this book, prominent social policy scholars from Europe, North America, and Asia discuss the history of social policies, compare different social development models, and analyze the challenges facing these economies' social policy reforms. The book provides comprehensive and comparative perspectives and updated data on social development and social policy reforms in the world's major economies, and particularly, in mainland China.

Since 1997, China has devoted considerable resources to information and communications technology (ICT) development. China has the world's largest telecommunications market, and its information technology industry has been an engine of economic growth growing two to three times faster than GDP over the past 10 years. E-government initiatives have achieved significant results, and the private sector has increasingly used ICT for production and service processes, internal management, and online transactions. The approaching 10-year mark provides an excellent opportunity to update the policy to reflect the evolving needs of China's economy. These needs include the challenges posed by industrialization, urbanization, upgraded consumption, and social mobility. Developing a more effective ICT strategy will help China to achieve its economic and social goals. Addressing all the critical factors is complex and requires long-term commitment. This book highlights several key issues that need to be addressed decisively in the second half of this decade, through policies entailing institutional reform, to trigger broader changes. This books is the result of 10 months of strategic research by a World Bank team at the request of China's State Council Informatization Office and the Advisory Committee for State Informatization. Drawing on background papers by Chinese researchers, the study provides a variety of domestic perspectives and local case studies and combines these perspectives with international experiences on how similar issues may have been addressed in other countries.

An accessible, introductory text on contemporary China, this book covers the social, economic, and political factors responsible for China's revolutionary changes, and interweaves this structural analysis with a consideration of social changes at the micro and macro levels.