In recent decades, China has become a quasi-capitalist economicpowerhouse. Yet it continues to be ruled by the same CommunistParty-dominated government that has been in power since 1949. Buthow has China’s political system achieved such longevity? Andwhat does its stability tell us about the future of authoritarianversus liberal democratic governance? In this detailed analysis of the deeply intertwined relationshipbetween the ruling Communist Party and governing state, noted Chinaexpert Teresa Wright provides insightful answers to these importantquestions. Though many believe that the Chinese party-statehas maintained its power despite its communist and authoritarianfeatures, Wright argues that the key to its sustained success liesin its careful safeguarding of some key communist and authoritariancharacteristics, while simultaneously becoming more open andresponsive to public participation. She contends thatChina’s post-Mao party-state compares well to different formsof political rule, including liberal democratic government. It has fulfilled the necessary functions of a stable governingregime: satisfying key demographic groups and responding to publicgrievances; maintaining economic stability and growth; anddelivering public services - without any real reduction in CCPpower and influence. Questioning current understandings of the nature, strengths, andweaknesses of democracy and authoritarianism, thisthought-provoking book will be essential reading for all studentsand scholars of Chinese politics and international relations.

Over the past two decades, China’s political reforms, open-door policy, dramatic economic growth, and increasingly assertive foreign policy have had an unprecedented regional and global impact. This introductory textbook provides students with a fundamental understanding of government and politics in China as well as the conceptual ability to explore the general patterns, impacts, and nature of continuities and changes in Chinese politics. Further, it equips students with analytical frameworks by which they can understand, analyse and evaluate the major issues in Chinese politics, including: The basic methodologies and theoretical controversies in the study of Chinese politics. The major dimensions, structures, processes, functions and characteristics of the Chinese political system, such as ideology, politics, law, society, economy, and foreign policy. The impact of power, ideology, and organization on different spheres of Chinese society. The structure, process, and factors in Chinese foreign policy making. Whether China is a "strategic partner" or "potential threat" to the United States. By examining contending theoretical models in the study of Chinese politics, this book combines an essentialist approach that keeps focus on the fundamental, unique and defining features of Chinese politics and government with other theoretical approaches or analytical models which reveal and explore the complexities inherent in the Chinese political system. Extensively illustrated, the textbook includes maps, photographs and diagrams, as well as providing questions for class discussions and suggestions for further reading. Written by an experienced academic with working knowledge of the Chinese Government, this textbook will provide students with a comprehensive introduction to all aspects of Chinese Politics.

The Soviet dissolution had significant repercussions on Chinese politics, foreign policy, and other aspects. The book examines what Chinese scholars learned from the lessons of the Soviet demise and how they used that knowledge to legitimize communist one-party rule in China after the end of the Cold War.

The Political Economy of China’s Great Transformation consists of three parts: first, covering the current political transformation, providing a general political background for the socio-economic, fiscal and urban and rural transformation. The book analyses the economic transformation and addresses the shortcomings of existing interpretations of the "Chinese Miracle" and develops a new multi-dimensional framework. In addition, it shows how the private sector has been developing and what a major role it is playing in pushing forward the overall economic development. The book also focuses on the analysis of China’s fiscal transformation. With the set of refined principles of fiscal federalism that the author has developed, it examines the problems of Chinese fiscal federalism in contrast to them. It further elaborates on topics such as the local government debt and explains why further reforms are necessary, making this book a very comprehensive read to understand China’s progress.

Political discourse in contemporary China is intimately linked to the patriotic reverie of restoring China as a great civilisation, a dream of reformers since the beginning of the twentieth century. The concept and use of suzhi – a term that denotes the idea of cultivating a ‘quality’ citizenship – is central to this programme of rejuvenation, and is enjoying a revival. This book therefore offers an accessible and comprehensive analysis of suzhi, investigating the underlying cultural, philosophical and psychological foundations that propel the suzhi discourse. Using a new method to analyse Chinese governance – one that is both historical and discursive in approach – the book demonstrates how suzhi has been made into a political resource by the Chinese Communist Party-State, journeying from Confucianism to socialism. Ultimately, it asks the question: if we cannot rely on Western models of governance to explain how China is governed, what method of analysis can we use? Making use of over 200 Chinese-language primary sources, the book highlights the link between suzhi and similar discourses in post-Mao China, including those centring on notions of ‘civilisation’, ‘harmonious society’ and the 'China dream'. As the first book to provide an in-depth study of suzhi and its relevance in Chinese society, Civilising Citizens in Post-Mao China will be useful for students and scholars of Chinese studies, Chinese politics and sociology.

Tracing the role of ideas in Chinese economic reform from 1978 to the present, this book explores the conversion of China's policymakers to capitalist economic thinking. Chen argues that the reform process has created a gap between the legitimacy of the leadership, which remains rooted in Marxist-Leninist ideology, and the practice of reform, which has abandoned such ideological constraints. Through a systematic survey of party documents and resolutions, official publications, leaders' speeches, academic journals, and newspapers, Chen shows how Chinese policymakers reconceptualized the ownership system and adjusted related policies. Focusing on a number of economic policy issue areas such as state economy, rural reform, privatization, and income distribution, he analyzes in depth the implications of this gap for the current Chinese leadership and the future of China's political development.

The post-Mao period has witnessed rapid social and economic transformation in all walks of Chinese life – much of it fuelled by, or reflected in, changes to the country’s education system. This book analyses the development of that system since the abandonment of radical Maoism and the inauguration of ‘Reform and Opening’ in the late 1970s. The principal focus is on formal education in schools and conventional institutions of tertiary education, but there is also some discussion of preschools, vocational training, and learning in non-formal contexts. The book begins with a discussion of the historical and comparative context for evaluating China’s educational ‘achievements’, followed by an extensive discussion of the key transitions in education policymaking during the ‘Reform and Opening’ period. This informs the subsequent examination of changes affecting the different phases of education from preschool to tertiary level. There are also chapters dealing specifically with the financing and administration of schooling, curriculum development, the public examinations system, the teaching profession, the phenomenon of marketisation, and the ‘international dimension’ of Chinese education. The book concludes with an assessment of the social consequences of educational change in the post-Mao era and a critical discussion of the recent fashion in certain Western countries for hailing China as an educational model. The analysis is supported by a wealth of sources – primary and secondary, textual and statistical – and is informed by both authors’ wide-ranging experience of Chinese education. As the first monograph on China's educational development during the forty years of the post-Mao era, this book will be essential reading for all those seeking to understand the world’s largest education system. It will also be crucial reference for educational comparativists, and for scholars from various disciplinary backgrounds researching contemporary Chinese society.

The ongoing suppression of journals, and obstacles faced by non-governmental research organizations, attest to the enduring challenges for creating alternative sources for discussing China's reform and transition. This book looks at research institutes and journals in China and the dilemmas of transition by chronicling the tensions between the need to create an "autonomous space" for policy making and the problems created by such activities. The "non-governmental fever" of the 1980s and the development of research organizations and journals claiming to be non-governmental - to avoid political oversight and claim an arena independent of party-state influence - raise a fundamental question about how a political system characterized by bureaucratic rigidity, poor information flows, and a politicized policy-making environment generates ideas for reform, while at the same time controlling the direction of debate and discussion. This book is built on extensive personal interviews with former members of Zhao Ziyang's "brain trust," the Chinese Economic System Reform Research Institute (SRI), and on the wealth of material on reform to emerge in the last five years. It addresses a void in our knowledge of this dynamic decade of reform by recounting the story of the SRI in the voice of its members and placing it in the context of elite politics as well as in the context of the institute as a catalyst for opening issues of reform and post-communist transitions. Those associated with the institute are known as the "young reformers" and represent a generational cohort whose activities greatly impacted China's reform process. The publications, research organizations, and policy making environment of the 1980s and post-Tiananmen era are essential for examining the larger question of China's transition from socialism.

To understand political change in contemporary China it is crucial to understand the position of intellectuals in that society and their often troubled relation to the state. This book explores the ideas of prominent Chinese intellectuals, their relationship to the pro-democracy movements and the changing relationship between intellectuals and the Chinese state. It is a sociological study of the ideological formation of Chinese intellectuals, and their place in the social structure and their role in influencing and effecting social and political change. It will make an important contribution in our understanding of political development in China.

This is a collection of essays exploring the deep-rooted problems presented by the Three Gorges dam project that the Chinese government are trying to disguise or supress, brought together by Dai Qing, an investigative journalist, at the risk of her own freedom.