China Information recent issues

Gendering China Studies: Peripheral Perspectives, Central Questions

De Kloet, J. — 2008-06-26

This article explores the connections between the field of China studies and the field of gender and sexuality studies. It engages with three questions. First, why is it that theoretical, conceptual and methodological cross-fertilization between China studies and cultural studies remains quite scarce? Second, why are popular culture and art important domains of academic inquiry? Third, why is it crucial to theorize and problematize "Chineseness"? Drawing on the debates surrounding the translation of alleged "Western" theories related to the sex—gender distinction, feminism, and queer studies to a "Chinese" context, it is argued that the call for local knowledges runs the danger of becoming an essentializing, hegemonic discourse on its own. The article concludes with a plea for an interdisciplinary approach that combines theoretical and empirical insights from area studies and cultural studies, and an intersectional take in which gender is analyzed in conjunction with other parameters of difference, such as ethnicity, class or age, and, finally, a multisited, comparative research agenda as to avoid a sino-centric or Han-centric analysis. This may help to identify, understand, and hopefully resist the seduction of both cultural essentialism and cultural relativism.

Sexuality, Domesticity, and Citizenship in the Chinese Media: Man's Needs, Maid's Rights

Wanning Sun, — 2008-06-26

The widespread phenomenon of outsourcing domestic work has profoundly altered the household life styles of urban families and reworked the division of labor at home. However, the extent to which urban consumers depend on the labor and service provided by the rural migrant women is by no means indicative of the degree of "harmony" and civility between the two groups. While the Chinese news media, with its urban and middle-class clientele base, see little chance of selling pictures or headlines featuring the everyday struggles of disenfranchised social groups such as rural migrant women who are employed as domestic workers, they have exercised unprecedented freedom in publishing stories about criminality and sexuality. With the figure of the maid becoming increasingly ubiquitous in urban households, urban consumers of paid domestic work also get a regular dose of "maid stories" in their everyday media consumption. Combining ethnography with detailed media analyses, this article examines the range of gendered positions and modes of sexual subjectivity which have been articulated in these stories. It shows that in a number ways the emergence of a new sexual sensibility for urban, middle-class men is contingent on the exclusion of subject positions for, and the derogation of, the "other" woman—the "intimate stranger" at home.

Hong Kong and the Production of Art in the Post/colonial City

Cartier, C. — 2008-06-26

Contemporary and alternative art in Hong Kong has strong local roots and translocal connections, and while it reflects cultural politics in the city it lacks substantial international recognition. This interdisciplinary analysis focuses on the contexts of production of contemporary art by women in Hong Kong and their centrality in the city's arts community. The narrative contrasts the presence of contemporary and alternative arts and its absence from art criticism discourses through the disjuncture between the geopolitics of contemporary Asian art and the making of Hong Kong into an unprecedented territorial formation. Reading local art through alternative space–time concepts and intersubjective arts practice is proposed through the exhibit-event, "If Hong Kong, A Woman/Traveller."

The Genrification of "Korean Drama" in Taiwan

Yang, F.-c. I. — 2008-06-26

This article demonstrates that the process of defining Korean drama as idol drama or Qiongyao drama with realist or melodramatic orientations by different agents for "self-aggrandizement" is embedded in gender and ethnic/class tensions as a result of postcolonial nation formation and globalization. The profit motive underscores the definition of Korean drama as idol drama, which is articulated through discourses of modernization, gender, nation building/Chinese hegemony, and globalization. The culture industry's invocation of "cultural proximity" enables a definition of Korean drama as Qiongyao drama with realist or melodramatic orientations. Gender politics is central to this process as it depends on and, hence, reinforces the gender hierarchy which privileges realism over melodrama. The genrification of Korean drama relies on the construction of indigenous drama (and rural obason) as the Other. The different meanings that are attached to this Other by the "nationalistic" scholars/critics, audience/critics, and fans/critics are predicated upon an evaluation hierarchy which privileges Chinese hegemony, neoliberal globalization, and masculinity. This hierarchy, however, is the legacy of Taiwan's nation formation which works to subordinate the Minnanspeaking rural women culturally.

Gay Sexuality in Singaporean Chinese Popular Culture: Where Have All the Boys Gone?

Chan, K. — 2008-06-26

In offering a selective survey of gay sexuality in Singaporean Chinese popular culture, particularly television, film, and theater, this article examines how the notion of the liminal functions as an effective critical trope to engage with a shifting presence/absence materiality of gayness in these representations. It also argues that this presence/absence is a consequence of the concentrically circular hierarchy of cultural production and consumption created by the Singapore media censorship model. The contradictions embedded in censorship practices and gay cultural representations ultimately emerge out of Singapore's desire to present itself as a culturally open and vibrant society in its bid to be part of the global capitalist network, while the country continues to hold onto its archaic antisodomy laws inherited from the British Indian Penal Code.

Martial Arts Films and Dutch-Chinese Masculinities: Smaller Is Better

Yiu Fai Chow, — 2008-06-26

Starting with Bruce Lee in the 1960s, Chinese martial arts films have been gaining increasing importance in Hollywood. Amidst global fascination and the prevalence of male heroes in martial arts films, it is surprising to note that only a few studies engage the genre with issues of Chinese masculinity, and none by investigating how the audience makes sense or use of what they are seeing. Taking martial arts films as the research site, this study is about how Chinese men negotiate their masculinity in a context where their masculinity is marginal, that is, in a diasporic context. The findings of this research attest to the marginalization and subordination of diasporic Chinese men by two dominant and interlocking discourses in the West, namely that only certain White male characteristics would be considered masculine, and that certain Chinese male characteristics would be considered neutered or even effeminate. The male informants of this study, however, are never entirely marginalized, victimized, and oppressed; they are able to construct alternative, different versions of masculinities, by privileging what they can do with their "small bodies," by downplaying the sexual and romantic dimensions of masculinity, and by emphasizing the importance of control and discipline. These Chinese men are garnering creative resources not necessarily by going into "indigenous" sources of historical or literary Chinese culture, as suggested by theorists on Chinese masculinity. Instead, contemporary transnational popular culture—in this case, Chinese martial arts films—opens up possibilities for them to articulate and construct different masculine ideals.

Sexed Bodies, Sexualized Identities, and the Limits of Gender

Evans, H. — 2008-06-26

Sex is one of the dominant metaphors of China's postmillennial consumerist modernity. Public media and private discussions map endless pleasures and possibilities onto sexed bodies, foregrounding sexuality as an increasingly significant component of individual identity. Yet, as argued in this article, the diversity of sexual representations masks the discursive operation of the sexed body in consolidating individual accommodation with the consumer market and in "neutralizing" the exploratory and pluralist meanings of contemporary sexual culture. Inheriting a recent ideological history in which sexuality was not a significant component of public discussions about gender relationships, and in an ideological context bridging local and global interests that limit the interrogation of gender as a critical category of enquiry and organization, sex and the sexed body emerge in mainstream discourse as a collection of acts, responsibilities, and choices dissociated from the broad social issues of gender hierarchy and injustice.

Shuanggui and Extralegal Detention in China

Sapio, F. — 2008-02-19

This study on detention fills a gap in scholarship on China's criminal justice system. This article describes shuanggui, a form of detention used on Party members. It traces the historical legacies linking shuanggui to forms of detention practiced in imperial China and in Chinese Communist Soviets. The article then moves on to describe the birth of shuanggui and the evolution of norms regulating it. Finally, it points out how shuanggui is being regularized and institutionalized. This process is leading towards its gradual abolition or amelioration. On the other hand, it reflects the continuing evolution and sophistication of the power of the Chinese party-state.

Dominant Migrants in Taiwan: Migrant Discourse, Settlement, and Identity

Storm, C. — 2008-02-19

Taiwan has a remarkable history of immigration. Most of the people in Taiwan today can be regarded as descendants of migrants who arrived in a number of major migration waves. In the course of the cultural studies project, migration of newcomers is often dealt with in terms of marginalization and vulnerability of migrants. The case of Taiwan, however, differs from that matrix since it had always been the migrant groups who after an exceptionally short time obtained a dominant position on the island. It is a truism that the heritage of migration continues to influence the society's self-awareness. Additionally, Taiwan as a de facto independent entity is a "new nation"—like Singapore or Israel—and it faces severe problems in determining its national identity at the borderline of external and internal challenges. The article analyzes the Taiwanese identity debate under the framework of migration issues and its strategic use of the postmodern discourse of marginalization. Both contribute to some features in the Taiwanese quest for identity. These features consist of the very specific mixture of political, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural aspects, the borders of inclusion and exclusion in the construction of a Taiwanese "we," and the intransigence of the debate. The specific migrant heritage of Taiwan and an evolving perception of "suffering" ( ) will be employed to explain these traits.

Consultative Elections of Chinese Township Leaders: The Case of an Experiment in Ya'an, Sichuan

Thogersen, S., Elklit, J., Lisheng, D. — 2008-02-19

The article presents observations from a 2006 township election experiment in Ya'an Municipality, Sichuan Province. Gradual institutionalization of elections to Chinese village committees has for two decades fascinated those interested in social and political development in rural China. Elections at the next level—the townships—were seen by many, in China and outside, as a natural next step. For this reason, the election of a township mayor in Buyun in 1998 attracted considerable attention, but the official reaction was negative. The elections in Ya'an juxtaposed against this background are of considerable interest as they can be seen as a way of testing the direction and limits of future reforms. The Ya'an elections were not only for the mayor, but also for the entire township leadership, including the township Party secretary. However, the final selection was—as previously—made at higher politico-administrative levels with the voting results serving as just one input to the decision-making process. For this reason, these elections should be termed "consultative," and we suggest that such consultative elections can become an important tool in the party-state's cadre management.

The Entry of Mainland Chinese Investment into Taiwan: Considerations and Measures Adopted by the Taiwan Government

Cheng, J. Y.S., Shixiang, M. — 2008-02-19

This article examines the issues related to the admission of mainland Chinese capital and enterprises into Taiwan triggered off by Taiwan's membership in the World Trade Organization, including the coordination of political views, the adjustments in policies, the revisions of statutes, and the setting up of administrative monitoring mechanisms in Taiwan. The issue of entry represents the interaction of economic and security interests on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and it reflects the Chinese leadership's united front offensive, the competition among the political parties in Taiwan, and the business community's articulation of its interests in the island. The analysis aims to illustrate legislative and other processes involved in the economic exchanges across the Taiwan Strait. These processes allow various parties concerned to set up obstacles that obstruct the desired economic exchanges. At the same time, the mutual economic interests, or at least the substantial economic interests on one side of the Taiwan Strait, constantly provide the momentum to overcome the obstacles. More importantly, the sophisticated business community can always find ways to overcome the obstacles in pursuit of their interests, for example, use of subsidiaries in tax havens.

The Death of Heroes in China

Xiaoling Zhang, — 2008-02-19

This article examines Hero and House of Flying Daggers, Zhang Yimou's first forays into the martial arts/action genre, against the shifting cultural landscape in contemporary China. It first offers a sketch of the development of the Fifth Generation filmmakers and Zhang Yimou's career trajectory in relation to the latest development in the cultural politics of contemporary Chinese cinema as a guide to the contextual structures which frame the examination of the two films. The article then goes on to a detailed reading of Hero and House of Flying Daggers. The author believes that drawing upon issues both internal and external to the "text" of the films yields new insights into the relationship between Chinese artists and the Party in terms of rebellion, co-option, and resubmission. The reading of the films leads to the conclusion that the films embody acts of change as well as continuity with the Fifth Generation and Zhang's career development, thus extending existing views on the relationship between filmmakers and the Party.

Book Review: Stephen C. AVERILL, Revolution in the Highlands: China's Jinggangshan Base Area. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006. xxxi + 451 pp. ISBN: 978-0-7425-2878-9 (hc). Price: {pound}45.00

Dirlik, A. — 2008-02-19

Book Review: Ajit S. BHALLA and QIU Shufang, Poverty and Inequality among Chinese Minorities. London: Routledge, 2006. xx + 204 pp., with abbreviations, tables, and figures. ISBN: 0-415-30840-2 (hc). Price: {pound}65.00

Sautman, B. — 2008-02-19

Book Review: Ole BRUUN and Li NARANGOA, eds, Mongols from Country to City: Floating Boundaries, Pastoralism and City Life in the Mongol Lands. Copenhagen: NIAS Press, 2006. xi + 316 pp., with maps, tables, and pictures. ISBN: 87-91114-41-1 (hc). Price: {pound}40.00/US$60.00

Bin Wong, — 2008-02-19

Book Review: Jae Ho CHUNG, Between Ally and Partner: Korea--China Relations and the United States. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. xii + 185 pp., with tables. ISBN: 0-231-13906-3 (hc). Price: US$40.00/{pound}26.00

Qiang Zhai, — 2008-02-19

Book Review: Elisabeth CROLL, China's New Consumers: Social Development and Domestic Demand. London and New York: Routledge, 2006. xv + 366 pp. ISBN: 0-415-41123-3 (hc). Price: {pound}75.00

Davis, D. — 2008-02-19

Book Review: Claudia DERICHS and Thomas HEBERER, eds, Einfuhrung in die politischen Systeme Ostasiens: VR China, Hongkong, Japan, Nordkorea, Sudkorea, Taiwan (Introduction to the political systems of East Asia: People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag fur Sozialwissenschaften, 2006. xv + 370 pp. ISBN: 3-8100-3534-3. Price: 19.80. Kay MOLLER, Die Aussenpolitik der Volksrepublik China 1949--2004 (The foreign policy of the PRC 1949--2004). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag fur Sozialwissenschaften, 2005. 280 pp., with glossary and appendices. ISBN: 3-531-141206. Price: 22.90

Holzer, C. — 2008-02-19

Book Review: John HASSARD, Jackie SHEEHAN, Meixiang ZHOU, Jane TERPOSTRA-TONG, and Jonathan MORRIS, Chinese State Enterprise Reform: From Marx to the Market. London and New York: Routledge, 2007. xvi + 265 pp. ISBN: 0-415-37172-8 (hc). Price: {pound}75.00

Pei Sun, — 2008-02-19

Book Review: Sandra Teresa HYDE, Eating Spring Rice: The Cultural Politics of AIDS in Southwest China. Berkeley, Los Angeles, CA, and London: University of California Press, 2007. xix + 271 pp., with figures, maps, and tables. ISBN: 0-520-24715-9 (pbk). Price: {pound}13.95

Tiantian Zheng, — 2008-02-19

Book Review: Elaine JEFFREYS, ed., Sex and Sexuality in China. Abingdon: Routledge, 2006. viii + 184pp., with tables. ISBN: 0-415-40143-7 (hc). Price: {pound}65.00

Gronewold, S. — 2008-02-19

Book Review: Ronald C. KEITH and Zhiqiu LIN, New Crime in China: Public Order and Human Rights. Abingdon: Routledge, 2006. x + 221 pp., with glossary. ISBN: 0-415-31482-8 (hc). Price: {pound}65.00

Svensson, M. — 2008-02-19

Book Review: Jeffrey C. KINKLEY, Corruption and Realism in Late Socialist China: The Return of the Political Novel. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2007. 304 pp. ISBN: 0804754853. Price: US$55.00

Ting Gong, — 2008-02-19

Book Review: LAM Wai-man, Percy Luen-tim LUI, Wilson WONG, and Ian HOLLIDAY, eds, Contemporary Hong Kong Politics: Governance in the Post-1997 Era. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2007. xxiv + 309 pp. ISBN: 978-962-209-829-9 (pbk). Price: {pound}21.50

Liana Wu, — 2008-02-19

Book Review: Ching Kwan LEE, Against the Law: Labor Protests in China's Rustbelt and Sunbelt. Berkeley, Los Angeles, CA, and London: University of California Press, 2007. xiv + 325 pp., with tables and figure. ISBN: 978-0-520-25097-0 (pbk). Price: {pound}13.95

Davin, D. — 2008-02-19

Book Review: Hua-yu LI, Mao and the Economic Stalinization of China, 1948--1953. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006. xiii + 215 pp. ISBN: 0-7425-4053-7 (hc). Price: {pound} 49.00

Rohlf, G. — 2008-02-19

Book Review: Ngok MA, Political Development in Hong Kong: State, Political Society, and Civil Society. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2007. xii + 305 pp., with appendices. ISBN: 978-962-209-810-7 (pbk). Price: HK$195.00

Hui, G. — 2008-02-19

Book Review: Yasuhiro MATSUDA , The birth of a one-party dictatorial system in Taiwan. Tokyo: Keio University Press, 2006. x + 509 pp. ISBN: 4-7664-1326-1. Price: {yen}7,350

Ishikawa, M. — 2008-02-19

Book Review: Gerald A. MCBEATH and Tse-Kang LENG, Governance of Biodiversity Conservation in China and Taiwan. Cheltenham and Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, 2006. x + 242 pp., with maps, figures, and tables. ISBN: 1-84376-810-0 (hc). Price: {pound}65.00

Edmonds, R. L. — 2008-02-19

Book Review: Russell ONG, China's Security Interests in the 21st Century. London and New York: Routledge, 2007. xii + 158 pp. ISBN: 0-415-39215-2 (hc). Price: {pound}75.00

Van Der Putten, F.-P. — 2008-02-19

Book Review: Randall PEERENBOOM, China Modernizes: Threat to the West or Model for the Rest? Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. xv + 406 pp., with tables and figures. ISBN: 0-19-920834-4 (hc). Price: {pound}18.99

Potter, P. B. — 2008-02-19

Book Review: Benjamin VAN ROOIJ, Regulating Land and Pollution in China. Lawmaking, Compliance, and Enforcement; Theory and Cases. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2006. xii + 451 pp., with tables and Dutch summary. ISBN: 978-90-8728-013-0 (pbk). Price: 65.00

Lo, C. W.-H. — 2008-02-19

Book Review: Vivienne SHUE and Christine WONG, eds, Paying for Progress in China: Public Finance, Human Welfare and Changing Patterns of Inequality. London and New York: Routledge, 2007. 208 pp. ISBN: 041542254X (hc). Price: {pound}70.00

Klotzbucher, S. — 2008-02-19

Book Review: Wenfang TANG and Burkart HOLZNER, eds, Social Change in Contemporary China: C. K. Yang and the Concept of Institutional Diffusion. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2007. viii + 324 pp., with tables and figures. ISBN: 0-8229-5933-X (pbk). Price: US$26.95

Sigurdsson, G. — 2008-02-19

The 228 Incident and the Taiwan Independence Movement's Construction of a Taiwanese Identity

Fleischauer, S. — 2007-11-08

After the Second World War, Taiwan was returned to Chinese authority after 50 years of Japanese colonial rule. Only 18 months later, the local inhabitants of the island revolted against the new Chinese rulers of the KMT regime, demanding a greater degree of autonomy. After a brief period of feigned negotiations, this uprising was brutally suppressed by military reinforcements from the mainland. This 228 Incident of 1947 came to play a pivotal role in the struggle of the Taiwan independence movement. One of the major tasks of the movement was to create and propagate a distinct Taiwanese identity, which would legitimate the strife for an independent Taiwanese nation. In the course of the last 60 years, however, these attempts to create a Taiwanese "We" group distinct from China have not been static, but have had to be redefined and renegotiated according to a changing international and domestic environment. These alterations of group demarcation have necessitated reinterpretations of the 228 Incident, as a means of maintaining its legitimizing power for the Taiwan independence movement. As could be observed in the spectacular 228 hand-in-hand rally in 2004, redefinition and renegotiation are still unfolding to this day.

SARS in Chinese Politics and Law

Keith, R., Lin, Z. — 2007-11-08

This article surveys the Chinese response to SARS in law and politics. Over the course of the spread of SARS the party-state qualified legal reform strategy that was designed to provide new human rights protection and to curtail the state's arbitrary resort to policy and regulation without the benefit of law. This immediate response revealed the underlying problems of rule-of-law making, but the experience of SARS later informed the creation of new and improved law on infectious disease that reiterated the original assumptions of legal reform within a newly developing approach to the public management of health crises.

Reproduction and State-Building along China's Frontiers

Rohlf, G. — 2007-11-08

This article analyzes population resettlement to western China during contemporary times within a historical framework that emphasizes gender. During the 1950s most relocatees to Qinghai were men, following the historical pattern set by Qing policies. Empirical data also show that the PRC government explicitly recruited women for relocation to border and remote areas. Women were moved to western regions as somewhat gender-neutral workers and also to serve in their traditional roles as wives and mothers. In both roles, women were a crucial component in state-building policies in border and remote areas. In fact, because sovereignty could not be permanently established without a naturally reproducing population, one can argue that reproduction was, and is, a basic component of state-building—an assertion that gets little attention in analyses of social and political change in border regions. This article describes the consolidation phase of territorial expansion as a feminine or yin process that relied upon incremental, organic growth, or "soft" assertions of power. Government documents, published materials, census records, and journalistic reporting are used to demonstrate these patterns and processes.

Miaohui, the Temples Meeting Festival in North China

Zhao, X., Bell, D. — 2007-11-08

We examine the multiple purposes and modalities that converge during a circuit of festivals, miaohui, which temples organize in recognition of local gods and which are attended reciprocally by temple representatives from the surrounding area in North China. The festivals involve intense expressions of devotion to one or more deities, while offering an opportunity for representatives of other villages to seek recognition through rather boisterous drumming and prolonged choreographed dancing. We note also the emergence of Mao as a great god whose legacy as Chairman of the CCP is projected in order to legitimate current Party leadership and their policy of reform while concurrently acting as a powerful denial of those same policies from the perspective of villagers.

Screening Disability in the PRC: The Politics of Looking Good

Dauncey, S. — 2007-11-08

This article outlines the political, social, economic, and cultural factors affecting disability representation in Chinese cinema from the founding of the PRC onwards, particularly after 1976. With reference to a wide variety of films that include main characters with visual, hearing, speech, physical, and learning impairments, it demonstrates how socialist realism, the equation of a "healthy" body with a healthy nation, and the great economic endeavor of the Mao era all contributed to the limitation of disabled people on the big screen, whilst the opening-up reforms, spiritual civilization campaigns, and commercial and critical demands of the post-Mao era effectively promoted their inclusion. At different times, the marginality of disabled people has resulted in them being overlooked as irrelevant, rejected as impaired, employed as a political tool, or identified as a marketable commodity. The representation or nonrepresentation of disability in Chinese film is closely linked to the politics of looking good.

Book Review: Wolfgang Georg ARLT, China's Outbound Tourism. London and New York: Routledge, 2006. xv + 300 pp., with tables and figures. ISBN: 0-415-36536-8 (hc). Price: {pound}85.00

Van Galen, K. — 2007-11-08

Book Review: Jian CHEN and Shujie YAO, eds, Globalization, Competition and Growth in China. London and New York: Routledge, 2006. xxv + 365 pp., with list of abbreviations, figures, and tables. ISBN: 0-415-35197-9 (hc). Price: {pound}85.00

Seliger, B. — 2007-11-08

Book Review: Amy D. DOOLING, Women's Literary Feminism in Twentieth-Century China. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. x + 273 pp. ISBN: 1-4039-6733-4 (hc). Price: US$69.95. YAN Haiping, Chinese Women Writers and the Feminist Imagination, 1905 1948. Abingdon: Routledge, 2006. xii + 300 pp., with figures. ISBN: 0-415-23288-0 (hc). Price: {pound}65.00

Mcdougall, B. S. — 2007-11-08

Book Review: Jacob EYFERTH, ed., How China Works: Perspective on the Twentieth-Century Industrial Workplace. London: Routledge, 2006. 162 pp., with plates, figures, and tables. ISBN: 0-415-39238-1 (hc). Price: US$120.00

Fladrich, A. — 2007-11-08

Book Review: Chun-chieh HUANG, Taiwan in Transformation (1895 2005): The Challenge of a New Democracy to an Old Civilization. New Brunswick (USA) and London: Transaction Publishers, 2006. xx + 252 pp., with bibliography and index. ISBN: 0-7658-0311-9 (hc). Price: 52.00

Lin, S. L.-C. — 2007-11-08

Book Review: LAM Peng Er, ed., Japan's Relations with China: Facing a Rising Power. London and New York: Routledge, 2006. xii + 242pp., with tables and figures. ISBN: 0-415-37217-8 (hc). Price: US$120.00

Cheng Guan, B. T. — 2007-11-08

Book Review: Charles LAUGHLIN, ed., Contested Modernities in Chinese Literature. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. x + 246 pp. ISBN: 1-4039-6782-2 (hc). Price: US$69.95

Larson, W. — 2007-11-08

Book Review: LI Shi and Hiroshi SATO, Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty in Urban China. Abingdon: Routledge, 2006. xvi + 327 pp., with tables, figures, and appendix. ISBN: 0-415-33872-7 (hc). Price: {pound}80.00

He, S. — 2007-11-08

Book Review: Duanfang LU, Remaking Chinese Urban Form: Modernity, Scarcity and Space, 1949 2005. London and New York: Routledge, 2006. xii + 204, with plates, glossary, bibliography, and index. ISBN: 0-415-35450-1 (hc). Price: {pound}65.00

Wu, F. — 2007-11-08

Book Review: Kevin J. O'BRIEN and LI Lianjiang, Rightful Resistance in Rural China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 179 pp., with plates. ISBN: 0-521-67852-8 (pbk). Price: {pound}14.99

Heimer, M. — 2007-11-08

Book Review: Minxin PEI, China's Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006. 294 pp., with tables. ISBN: 0-67402195-9 (hc). Price: US$45.00

Wang, D. — 2007-11-08

Book Review: Dudley L. POSTON, Jr., Che-Fu LEE, Chiung-Fang CHANG, Sherry L. McKIBBEN, and Carol S. WALTHER, eds, Fertility, Family Planning, and Population Policy in China. London and New York: Routledge, 2006. xvi+ 192 pp., with figures and tables. ISBN: 0-415-32330-4 (hc). Price: {pound}65.00

Huang, Y.-L. — 2007-11-08

Book Review: SONG Geng, ed., (see pdf for characters): (Globalization and Chineseness: postcolonial readings of contemporary culture). Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong Press, 2006. 308 pp. ISBN: 9-6220-9818-5. Price: US$16.95

Yeung, C. — 2007-11-08

Book Review: Chee-Beng TAN, ed., Chinese Transnational Networks. London and New York: Routledge, 2007. xi + 214 pp., with tables. ISBN: 0-415-39583-6 (hc). Price: {pound}65.00

Douw, L. — 2007-11-08

Book Review: Ian TAYLOR, China and Africa: Engagement and Compromise. London and New York: Routledge, 2006. 233 pp. ISBN: 0-415-39740-5 (hc). Price: {pound}65.00

Zhai, Q. — 2007-11-08

Book Review: Terence TSAI and Bor-Shiuan CHENG, The Silicon Dragon: High-Tech Industry in Taiwan. Cheltenham (UK) and Northampton (USA): Edward Elgar, 2006. xvi + 236 pp., with tables and figures. ISBN: 1-84064-240-8 (hc). Price: {pound}65.00

Poon, T. S.-C. — 2007-11-08

Book Review: Fulong WU, Jiang XU, and Anthony Gar-On YEH, Urban Development in Post-Reform China: State, Market, and Space. London and New York: Routledge, 2007. x + 345 pp., with figures, tables, photos, and plates. ISBN: 0-415-39359-0 (hc). Price: 80.00

Dowall, D. E. — 2007-11-08

Book Review: Margherita ZANASI, Saving the Nation: Economic Modernity in Republican China. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2006. xi + 336 pp. ISBN: 0-226-97873-7 (hc). Price: US$55.00

Karl, R. E. — 2007-11-08

Embedded Activism and Political Change in a Semiauthoritarian Context

Ho, P. — 2007-07-19

This article provides a theoretical introduction to the other contributions in this special issue. The emergence of social movements is generally seen as an indicator of democratization. The article argues that such a view overlooks the nature of political change in China, which entails a more gradual transition. In this light, the collection of articles is organized around several questions. What does the limited political space imply for the development of a social movement in China? Is the possibility for a social movement a precondition for the development of civil society? What are the prospects for the emergence of a social movement in China, and how would it relate to international forces? These questions are explored by focusing on one of the most active areas of civil society in contemporary China: the environmental realm. The argument linking the articles in this special issue is that China's semiauthoritarian political setup in association with increased social spaces for civic action has created a milieu for embeddedness in social movement. Contrary to totalitarian control, the semiauthoritarian environment is restrictive, but paradoxically, it is also conducive to nationwide, voluntary collective action.

Media, Civil Society, and the Rise of a Green Public Sphere in China

Yang, G., Calhoun, C. — 2007-07-19

Direct citizen voices are relatively absent from China's public arena and seldom influence government policymaking. In early 2004, however, public controversies surrounding dam building on the Nu River prompted the Chinese government to halt the proposed hydropower project. The occurrence of such public debates indicates the rise of a green public sphere of critical environmental discourse. Environmental nongovernmental organizations play a central role in producing this critical discourse. Mass media, the internet, and "alternative media" are the main channels of communication. The emergence of a green public sphere demonstrates the new dynamism of grass-roots political change.

Benefits and Costs of Shanghai's Environmental Citizen Complaints System

Warwick, M., Ortolano, L. — 2007-07-19

The Shanghai Municipal Government's environmental complaints system allows citizens to report environmental problems to local authorities and provides timely feedback regarding how the complaint was resolved. Using both statistical data and case studies, we conduct a qualitative analysis of the system's costs and benefits as of early 2002. The analysis shows that the complaints system is an important, yet somewhat unreliable source of information about the many environmental problems not otherwise detected by regulators. Moreover, the opportunity cost of the system is significant; the system is dominated by nuisance complaints that are either trivial or without significance to environmental quality except at a very limited geographical scale. Analysis of patterns in the case studies provides the basis for constructing hypotheses concerning whether a particular pollution problem is likely to be the subject of a complaint. This offers insights into how the system could be improved so that the benefits of citizen involvement could be enhanced.

Environmental Movements and Social Organizations in Shanghai

Lee, S. — 2007-07-19

This research aims to analyze environmental movements and social organizations in Shanghai since the late 1990s. The study reveals that civil society in Shanghai has increasingly had an impact on environmentally unfriendly policies given the priority of economic well-being in every aspect of society. The development of social organizations in environmental protection in Shanghai was identified through fieldwork carried out in 2002. Alongside existing social organizations already engaged in environmental protection, there was also an emergence of new social organizations. Most of the environmental NGOs in Shanghai—spearheaded by university students—lack capacity to exert much influence on environmental policies. In addition to student-based environmental NGOs, other types of social organizations include government-organized NGOs (GONGOs), local communities (shequ), the media, and international NGOs. The study evaluates how the local environmental NGOs in Shanghai evolved and survived in the transitional period interacting with other social organizations. It is concluded that a collaboration of GONGOs, NGOs, and various environmental groups together with international NGOs has led to the formation of a civil force that influences Shanghai's environmental policymaking.

Changes and Continuities in the Political Ecology of Popular Protest: Mid-Qing China and Contemporary Resistance

Hung, H.-f. — 2007-07-19

This article will delve into the historical roots of Chinese environmentalism. A wave of recent research has unearthed numerous instances of Chinese state—society conflicts, as well as the ecological crisis precipitated by drastic population and commercial growth in 18th-century China. Based on a survey of protest events derived from archival sources, this contribution analyzes how the mounting ecological crisis and falling capacity of the Qing state in the 18th and 19th centuries generated changing forms of popular protests as responses to the "externalities of development." It is found that when the Qing's regime capacity peaked in the early 18th century, most popular protests were peaceful and were resolved through compromises between officials and protesters. Amid the administrative breakdown in the 19th century, however, many protests escalated into violent confrontations, while others developed into "appeals to the capital" (jingkong ), a litigation process that enabled local communities to seek the support of the central government in their struggle with predatory local officials. Remarkably, some repertoires and patterns of environmental protests in contemporary China can be traced back to the Qing times, which raises questions about whether today's environmental protests are completely novel, or whether certain continuities are inherent in the deep-seated tradition of state—society conflict and negotiation in China's late imperial history.

Perspectives of Time and Change: Rethinking Embedded Environmental Activism in China

Ho, P., Edmonds, R. L. — 2007-07-19

China's burgeoning civil society has often been characterized as state-led or corporatist. However, these concepts fail to capture the current dynamics of Chinese social activism, as they cannot account for two of its critical features. First, the fact that the nature of Chinese state—society relations is not a matter of the former dictating the latter, but rather a kind of "negotiated symbiosis." Second, the semiauthoritarian context necessitates that China's social activists develop a diffuse, and informal rather than formal, network of relations. This informal web of relations has yielded undeniable political as well as societal legitimacy. It is against this background that we put forward the concept of "embedded social activism." Since its initial emergence, environmental activism has resourcefully adapted to, rather than opposed, the political conditions of its era. The hallmark, and in fact, the success of China's reforms lie in their strategy of incremental change. Therefore, we might view embedded environmentalism as a transient phase which is itself changing through time, a transitional feature of a burgeoning civil society in a semiauthoritarian context.

Book Review: David BRAY, Social Space and Governance in Urban China: The Danwei System from Origins to Reform. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005. xiii + 277 pp. ISBN: 0-8047-5038-6 (hc). Price: US$62.95

Buck, D. D. — 2007-07-19

Book Review: Stephen G. CRAFT, V. K. Wellington Koo and the Emergence of Modern China. Lexington, KT: The University Press of Kentucky, 2004. xii + 330 pp. ISBN: 0-8131-2314-3 (hc). Price: {pound}26.95

Phillips, R. — 2007-07-19

Book Review: Hung-Gay FUNG, Changhong PEI, and Kevin H. ZHANG, eds, China and the Challenge of Economic Globalisation: The Impact of WTO Membership. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2006. xvii + 317 pp. ISBN: 0-7656-1468-5 (hc). Price: US$89.95

Ploberger, C. — 2007-07-19

Book Review: Susan GREENHALGH and Edwin A. WINCKLER, Governing China's Population: From Leninist to Neoliberal Biopolitics. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005. xiv + 394 pp., with tables and index. ISBN: 0-8047-4879-9 (pbk). Price: US$26.00

Hoy, C. — 2007-07-19

Book Review: Tamara JACKA, Rural Women in Urban China: Gender, Migration and Social Change. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2006. 329 pp. ISBN: 0765608219 (pbk). Price: US$29.95

Rohlf, G. — 2007-07-19

Book Review: Kevin LATHAM, Stuart THOMPSON, and Jakob KLEIN, eds, Consuming China:. Approaches to Cultural Change in Contemporary China. London and New York: Routledge, 2006. ix + 246 pp., with plates. ISBN: 0-7007-1402-5 (hc). Price: {pound}75.00

Sigurdsson, G. — 2007-07-19

Book Review: Ching Kwan LEE, ed., Working in China: Ethnographies of Labor and Workplace Transformation. London and New York: Routledge, 2007. 251 pp., with notes and index. ISBN: 0-415-37171-1 (hc). Price: {pound}19.99

Solinger, D. J. — 2007-07-19

Book Review: LU Hanchao, Street Criers: A Cultural History of Chinese Beggars. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005. xiv + 269 pp., with maps, tables, figures, character list, and appendix. ISBN: 0-8047-5148-X (hc). Price: US$45.00

Baumler, A. — 2007-07-19

Book Review: Hiroshi MASUDA, Nikuson Hochu to Reisen Kozo no Henyo: Beichu Sekkin no Shogeki to Shuhen Shokoku (Nixon's trip to China and the change in the Cold War structure: the impact of Sino US rapprochement on the neighboring countries). Tokyo: Keio Gijuku Daigaku Shuppankai, 2006. 273 pp. ISBN: 4-7664-1282-6. Price: {yen}3,800

Fukuda, M. — 2007-07-19

Book Review: WANG Yi, Xianzheng zhuyi: guannian yu zhidu de zhuanli (Constitutionalism: changes in ideas and institutions). Jinan: Shandong People's Publishing House, 2006. 478 pp. ISBN: 7-209-03977-5 (pbk). Price: RMB 31.00

Chen, Y. — 2007-07-19