China's post‐1979 uneven regional policy: Shanghai and Guangdong

This article examines the effects of China's uneven regional development policy, especially in relation to Shanghai. It analyses the evolving role of Shanghai and the constraints that it has operated under during the reform period. Discussion will be particularly devoted to the areas such as the fiscal transfer, central investment in the municipality, the tax and other incentive program allowed to increase the inflows of foreign direct investment by adopting a series of comparisons with Guangdong province. The article argues that it is not economically efficient for China to ‘open its door’ by creating new cities in its southern area while neglecting to improve existing facilities in Shanghai and other advanced cities. This article also suggests that social‐economic institutional change is the same important source of Shanghai's difficulty in keeping pace with Guangdong as the preferential treatment given to Guangdong by the central government in the 1980s.     

发展和规范社会组织——以广东省为例

2000年以来,广东省社会组织发展迅速,社会作用不断增强,逐步成为促进经济社会发展的一支重要力量,但仍处于初级发展阶段,在思想观念、体制机制、配套政策、法制建设以及人员素质等方面还存在许多亟待解决的问题。本文通过深入调研,全面回顾了近年来广东省社会组织发展情况,客观分析了其存在问题,在此基础上对发展和规范广东省社会组织的目标模式进行了探索。     

Xiao‐kang: Deng Xiaoping's socio‐economic development target for China

Ever since xiao‐kang or XK, literally meaning a ‘relatively comfortable life’, was first slated by Deng Xiaoping in 1979 to be China's main development target, the concept has become a codeword for China's socio‐economic development. It was incorporated in several major Party documents and formally adopted as the key development target by three consecutive Five‐Year Plans. What is the real meaning of XK? This paper analyses China's first XK Index which was published in 1992, based on a cluster of economic and social indicators relating to income, food consumption, housing, and human resource development. It will be seen that XK is actually a normative concept, fuzzy and grossly imprecise, especially when applied to a transitional economy like China. What constitutes XK to Deng may well be perceived differently by the new generation of Chinese. Such is the continuing social challenge of China's economic development.     

社会政策与性别平等--以对中国养老金制度的分析为例

中国实行的许多社会政策对于整体经济的增长和社会发展发挥了非常积极的作用,但一些政策对妇女地位的负面影响常常被忽视,或没有得到应有的关注.本文以养老金制度为例,分析了目前的制度安排对女性人口的影响及主要原因.本文认为,社会政策的形成和实施应当充分考虑社会性别因素,采用更加整合的方法,平衡当前与未来、个人与社会的关系.     

社会性别主流化:香港推动社会性别平等的经验及启示

社会性别主流化于1995年第四次世界妇女大会被联合国确定为促进社会性别平等的全球战略,要求各国将社会性别平等作为一项重要的政策指引,将社会性别观点纳入社会发展各领域的主流.成立于2001年的香港社会性别专责机构--妇女事务委员会一直致力于社会性别主流化的实施,特别是在政策范畴(制定、推行、实施)的参与和监督方面,有效地推动了香港地区的社会性别平等事业和社会的可持续发展.香港社会性别主流化的实践经验可为中国大陆社会性别主流化的建设和发展提供借鉴和参考.     

A Study of Job Preference and Work Ethics in Guangzhou

'Guangdong is the province one step ahead in China and Guangzhou is the city one step ahead in Guangdong.' Being one of the most economically active cities in China, Guangzhou citizens have generally experienced improved living standards and a better quality of life since the economic reform started in the late 1970s. What is also true is that economic modernization has changed the social structure, allowing far more social mobility in the post-Mao society. Nowadays, people living in Guangzhou have more job choices in a relatively free labour market. This paper is set in such a socio-economic context to examine the job preferences and work ethics of Guangzhou citizens, with particular reference to what changes have taken place in people's work values after the adoption of a market economy in the mainland. The paper is based on our current research projects conducted in the Guangzhou area to examine how socio-economic changes have affected people's value orientations and is confined to discussion of whether people living in Guangzhou have changed their attitudes towards work in the 1990s.     

蓝色经济区文化产业建设发展研究

经济建设与文化建设高度融合是现代社会发展的重要特征。这种相互依赖与相互促进的共生关系也构成二者各自发展的关键制约条件。现代社会的发展,经济与文化密不可分,“经济文化化、文化经济化”已经成为潮流和趋势,蓝色经济区包含着浓厚的文化色彩。这种文化作为一种生产力,对经济发展有着巨大的驱动力。山东经济发展之所以取得令人瞩目的成就,一个重要原因就在于其独特的传统文化模式即文化在山东的改革与发展过程中产生了全面而深刻的影响,构成了山东经济发展强劲的内在动力。在蓝色经济区建设中,以文化产业的建设和发展推动蓝色经济区建设,藉以推动文化产业的发展,形成经济、文化协调发展的良性互动关系尤为重要。     

‘Rich brothers’ and ‘poor cousins’: the political economy of post‐reform rural disparity in a Chinese township

Rural reforms have resulted in great uneven development in rural China. The gap between the rich and the poor has been widened due to the diversity in the conditions for production and social life in the countryside. This paper probes into an interesting yet complex question: what causes the great economic divergences among villages that are geographically so close sharing similar physical settings and natural endowment? Answering this question is beyond the scope of a sole economic analysis. Using the case of Dayingjie Township, Yunnan Province, the paper develops an answer based on the political economy approach. It argues that human capital and social networking play important roles in the economic take off of a rich village in the Dayingjie context. As the gap between rich and poor communities widens, localism and weak distribution power at the township level become apparent, indicating a combination of both economic and political dimensions in deepening the gap. Finally, extreme concentration of resources leads to the rise of a group of a new rural elite who holds both political and economic leverage. They influence local politics toward profit hunting in favour of the wealthy clan in a rich village. This further leads to an ever‐widening gap between the rich and poor. The Dayingjie case presents important insights in understanding inter‐village disparity in rural China. Whether this story is generalizable in China is still too early to tell, but, by investigating one particular geographic area, this article attempts to direct attention to the political economy of inter‐village disparity in China and to stimulate more discussion in the future.     

China's Shifting Policies towards Sustainability: a low-carbon economy and environmental protection

China is currently not only the most populous country on earth, but also the world's largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter. As China's population growth continues contributing to the overall global population increase, the country remains a significant player in the global problems related to climate change. The Chinese government, however, has recognized that a low-carbon economy is in the country's long-term economic and social interests and this is now a key part of its national development strategy. This paper examines the evolution of policies for sustainability in China and explores their compositions, functions and operational mechanisms. Some emerging features and trends in China's development model are examined, arguing that they represent a clear shift towards sustainability. Further problems and challenges associated with this change and how they impact on China's policies and strategies are also discussed.     

Explaining the patterns of Japanese foreign direct investment in China

Using Chinese and Japanese data, this paper shows that Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI) has been under‐represented in China since 1980, but especially before 1992, compared with Japanese FDI in some other East and Southeast Asian countries, and with FDI in China from other major international investors. The under‐representation of Japanese FDI in China, and its important patterns cannot be simply dismissed as being a result of China's poor investment environment. This paper proposes an alternative explanation by repositioning Japanese FDI in China into a larger historical, political and strategic framework. It argues that the growth of Japanese FDI in China has been shadowed by the lingering historical experiences of the two nations since 1895, and has been disrupted by a series of political incidents between the two countries during the previous 17 years.     

新经济增长周期形势下中部崛起特点分析

中部地区在改革开放后的很长一段时间里经济建设滞后于东部沿海地区,在中央实行西部大开发和振兴东北老工业等政策后,中部地区的发展问题被提上日程。在新一轮经济增长周期到来的时刻,中部地区必须抓住这一难得的历史机遇,加快经济发展力度,努力实现中部地区的崛起。     

China's consumer revolution: The 1990s and beyond

Since 1980 China's economic revolution has enabled more households to allocate labor to market‐related activities to earn more income. In 1992 an even greater surge in market economy growth took place when urban households began abandoning state‐related occupations and took their chances in the marketplace. The increase in consumer spending that followed reflects a new pattern of household spending for the first time in China since 1949: the share of spending for food relative to spending for other categories of goods and services is fast declining. This new trend, already strongly evident among high income‐earning households, is rapidly being replicated by other households as their incomes rise. During the 1990s new consumer patterns have emerged in the cities of the coastal provinces that strongly indicate that a consumer revolution is under way. This revolution has revived traditional gift‐giving between the Chinese people, thus facilitating the strengthening of their social, economic, and political ties and encouraging people to emphasize social and political stability.     

中国城市社区建设研究回顾与前瞻

城市社区的内涵是随经济社会环境发展而发展的，它是一个动态的、开放的、网络性的系统，它是基于地域空间系统的一种生活共同体。随着中国城市化、工业化、信息化、市场化和全球化的发展，中国城市社区对和谐城市和和谐社会的发展起着越来越重要的基础性作用。中国城市社区正呈现出新的网络性、差异性和复杂性，其治理模式也不断得到深化和发展，这不仅缘于经济社会大系统的推动，也缘于民主政治制度建设的推动，还缘于城市社区直接的多样化需求的推动。值得注意的是，随着现代城市网络的发展，城市社区的文化建设，尤其是宗教、休闲、娱乐等方面的建设，已经成为现代和谐城市社区建设的重要问题。     

清代滇黔地区的内地商人与市场网络体系的形成

随着交通条件的改善,滇黔内部各地之间、滇黔地区与内地及周边国家的经济联系日益加强,打破了滇黔地区的封闭状态,使滇黔地区与缅甸、老挝、泰国等周边国家及湖南、湖北、四川、广东、广西等省区连为一体,内地商人纷纷进入滇黔地区从事商业贸易活动。滇黔地区形成的城乡市场网络可分为区域中心市场、中等商业城镇和农村市场三大层次,构成了一个比较完整、复杂多变的滇黔地区的市场网络体系。     

经济社会协同发展方式是新中国历史检验的选择

该文以国家实施的五年计划中经济建设与民生改进是否协同发展所产生的绩效为考量，回顾了新中国前五个五年计划社会积累过高，民生类社会建设投入频变的过程；分析了党的工作着重点转移后，民生建设在纠偏中校正方向，国家发展战略增加社会发展指标，强调速度、质量、效益相协调，消费、投资、出口相协调，人口、资源、环境相协调，追求经济社会的协同发展的过程；实践证明，坚持经济发展与社会建设协调发展，才能保证国民经济和社会发展的总体规划顺利实施。     

扶贫车间对农村妇女空间的再造——基于河南省的一个案例

改革开放四十多年来,伴随着经济的快速发展,中国的农村社会结构发生了剧烈变迁,其中较为显著的是大量农村家庭成员外出务工,从而带来了家庭社会关系的断裂和社会空间的分离。较男性而言,女性受到的影响更为突出。通过对河南一个扶贫车间的案例进行研究,本文发现:近几年由政府、企业和村庄社区所共建的扶贫车间,为农村妇女社会空间的再造提供了一种可能路径,但从社会保障和社会福利等角度看,扶贫车间仍然存在一些缺陷和提升空间。     

Is China's Western Region Development Strategy on Track? An assessment

China's government launched the Western Region Development Strategy in 2000 with the aim of boosting economic development in 12 provinces, municipalities and autonomous administrative regions in the western part of the country. This paper presents the results of an assessment of the progress made so far and makes suggestions for better performance in the future. We conclude that although the western region has experienced impressive rates of economic growth, regional disparities in China have continued to widen in spite of the western regional strategy. We also develop a regional growth model to determine the major drivers of regional economic growth in the western region of China. Furthermore, the sources of regional disparities are examined using Morduch and Sicular's regression-based decomposition approach. These models are used for suggesting a more targeted package of regional development policies for the period beyond 2010.     

China's banking sector: From administrative control to a regulatory framework

The development of the banking sector has been one of the primary vehicles for stimulating the economic growth of China since the late 1970s. This paper presents, first, an overview of the institutional structure of the Chinese banking system, and second, an analysis of the development process of commercial bank regulations. With reference to international experience, the paper argues that several institutional problems have posed major challenges to the effective implementation of the promulgated bank regulations. These problems include: the impossibility for state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) to go bankrupt, the strong influence of local governments on banks’ operation, and the lack of an effective enforcement mechanism.     

Uneven Opening of China's Society,Economy, and Politics: pro-growth authoritarian governance and protests in China

This article evaluates China's model of development, especially its main component, i.e. its model of governance. It suggests that China's model of development is marked by an imbalance between fast opening of the economy and the society and sluggish opening of the political system. The Chinese society has become much more open, reflected in the Chinese growing awareness of their legal rights. The Chinese economy has become highly internationalized and open, but much of Chinese politics is closed. China's governance is marked by pro-growth authoritarianism. The Chinese state is effective in opening up the economy, promoting reform, and generating economic growth, but offers weak protection of people's rights and ineffectual mitigation of social grievances. These imbalances help produce social protests. Viable solutions are discussed.