Despite the significant progress it had achieved in the past 60 years, especially in the past 30 years since Deng Xiaoping's reform initiatives in the late 1970s, China faces daunting challenges today. These challenges include, among others, a rigid political system that does not match economic vibrancy, uneven economic growth and widening income gap, a graying population, environmental degradation, potential social instability, ethnic tensions and separatist movement, poor international image, and military modernization. Based on papers originally presented at an international conference held at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania to mark the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China (PRC), this book provides an up-to-date, comprehensive, and authoritative assessment of the PRC's political, economic, social, ethnic, energy, security, military, diplomatic and other developments and challenges today. Contributed by scholars and experts in political science, international relations, economics, public administration, history, mass communication, psychology, and diplomacy, the book focuses on the efforts needed by China to grow in a sustainable manner and to become a respected global power. With each chapter addressing a different and yet an inter-related issue of the PRC's development, this book aims to make a significant contribution to the understanding of key challenges the country faces today as it strives to become a global power.

It is a pleasant task to welcome the appearance of the American edition of Professor Willy Kraus' valuable work on the economic and social development of the People's Republic of China, first published in German in 1979. The book has been updated in the light of the events that have occurred since the original publication and incorporates the latest statistical information made available by the Chinese authorities with unaccus tomed liberality. The American edition, like its German predecessor, is a monumental achievement of scholarship, attractively presented. In its comprehensiveness, insight, professionalism and wisdom it ranks among the best studies of the subject. It will add to the knowledge of the specialist, and help the interested layman find his way through the complexities of contemporary China's socioeconomic system. Professor Kraus' work is a most timely and welcome addition to a better and more thorough understanding of an absorbing and important subject. June 1982 Jan S. Prybyla Professor of Economics The Pennsylvania State University University Park, Pennsylvania Preface This book deals with China's development policies. It is based on the original German edition (1979), "Wirtschaftliche Entwicklung und sozialer Wandel in der Volksrepublik China," but is not merely a translation of the German original. The rapid changes in Chinese policy within the last two years, together with a sudden deluge of official data on economic and social developments in the People's Republic of China, have called for a basic and comprehensive revision of text and statistics.

Exploring the crucial link between state and society in the People's Republic of China (PRC), this book analyzes the interaction between the Chinese Communist Party and the country's major social groups. It explores how public opinion contributes to a mass political culture in China.

This volume presents papers by international scholars on the economic, social and political environments out of which the PRC emerged and the socio-political impact of communist power since then. The contributions present interpretations of key aspects of reform such as economic structures, foreign policy and political change, and the socio-political impact of communist power. The book challenges the accepted orthodoxy about the Cultural Revolution. Throughout, the emphasis is on change in the context of 20th century China, and as part of the Chinese Communist Party's search for paths to development: hence the title that speaks in the plural about revolutions. This review of social and political change is highly topical in view of the PRC's recent 50th anniversary.

Leading scholars in various fields give their views of development in the People's Republic of China since 1949, with emphasis on recent decades. After a broad overview of progress and setbacks, specific topics covered include national political reform, the Chinese Communist Party in power, the economy, rural reform, urban systems, the environment, foreign relations, the People's Liberation Army, the legal system, social welfare reform, intellectuals, art, and literature. Overall the volume presents a picture of the PRC that is not as healthy as optimists maintain nor in such a disastrous state as many pessimists have put forward. Increasingly, external developments will be shaping the pace of change in the People's Republic. The ability of the government to continue to respond in a measured fashion to change will be necessary if the PRC is to thrive in the twenty-first century.

China's enormous size, vast population, abundant natural resources, robust economy, and modern military demonstrate that the nation has emerged as a great world power. Inside China's Grand Strategy: The Perspective from the People's Republic analyzes China's economic, social, political, and military development, assessing the extent of China's dominance. Highly regarded Chinese scholar Ye Zicheng offers a rare insider's perspective on the country's geopolitical ambitions and strategic thinking. Inside China's Grand Strategy argues that China's primary obstacle to achieving enduring status as a world power is its domestic state of affairs. Ye examines the impact of unemployment, corruption, massive economic gaps between classes, population size, strains on natural and labor resources, environmental degradation, and other issues that impede China's continuing development. Some analysts claim that repressive domestic policies threaten the country's goal of modernization, but Ye points to China's recent inclusion in the G-20 as an indicator of future success. Ye contends that China's progress hinges on many factors: peaceful development, extensive governmental reform with a system of checks and balances, social and economic development on the mainland, and strategies for reunification, especially with Taiwan. Ye asserts that military pressure may be required to integrate Taiwanese separatist forces but advises that development should remain China's primary goal, because it will eventually lead to unification. Although Ye argues that democracy is the only way to repair the corrupt systems that perpetuate economic inequality, he specifies that a Western-style democracy is not what China needs. As the United States' destiny is increasingly bound to China's growth and American policies are being evaluated in the realm of geopolitics, it is important to gauge and understand China's ambitions. An authoritative and up-to-date analysis from within Chinese society, Inside China's Grand Strategy is an indispensible resources for Western scholars, offering a new window on Chinese development.

Provides an innovative reinterpretation of the cultural revolution through the medium of the poster -- a major component of popular print culture in China.

Fifteen authors analyze the differing political systems, economies, and social characteristics that have developed in the two Chinas over the past 40 years. They examine the role of political centers in social development, showing how the Communist party in The People's Republic and the Kuomintang in Taiwan shaped their respective societies by exercising varying degrees of control. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR