Market reforms,globalization and social justice in China

The pursuit of social justice is an important goal of public policy in China under socialism. The embrace of market reforms and increasing globalization has radically transformed China's redistribution regime as well as distorted old commitments to social justice. This paper reviews China's attempt to realize the goal of social justice, including its changing rhetoric, strategies and actions. I shall first set out the historical context by adducing the salience of development and justice in the period before and after the market reforms. This will be followed by an analysis of the state reform discourse in justifying market reforms and their function in development and human welfare. An evaluation of social and redistribution policies and their implications, including the intellectual and public debates on efficiency and equity, will be presented. In the final section, recent critiques on the market and worries associated with China's entry into the WTO will be considered.     

The political economy of banking reforms in China, 1993–1997

The weakness of China's banking system poses a serious threat to the sustainability of the country's economic development. This article measures the extent of this weakness and analyzes its causes. It focuses especially on the structural changes in the banking sector, the economic crisis of 1992–1993, and the subsequent financial reforms implemented. The evidence gathered by the author shows that the banking reforms initiated since 1994 have produced mixed results. Although central bank autonomy and bank supervision have improved, political, economic, and institutional constraints have prevented the government from taking more decisive measures to re‐capitalize banks, restructure the debt of state‐owned enterprises, and increase competition in the banking sector quickly. Despite the apparent effectiveness of the short‐term measures taken to bolster public confidence in the banking system, China's banking reform will be a difficult and prolonged process.     

Economic change and political development in China: findings from a public opinion survey

More than 20 years of economic reforms and opening up to the outside world have produced meaningful social, economic and political transformations in China. Have there been corresponding changes in the political–cultural orientations1 ‘Orientations’ here and thereafter refer to a broad range of beliefs, values, and assumptions that people hold about social and political life. Such orientations may be cognitive, affective, or evaluative. They are general in the sense that they may structure more specific attitudes or opinions. *?Yanlai Wang is a research associate at the Euro–Asia Centre; Nicholas Rees is Jean Monnet Professor of European Institutions and External Relations; and Bernadette Andreosso‐O'Callaghan is Jean Monnet Professor of Economics and Director, Euro–Asia Centre, all at the University of Limerick, Ireland. We would like to thank the University of Limerick for funding the 2000 survey. We would also like to thank Professor Andrew J. Nathan and Professor Tianjian Shi for the use of their survey questionnaire, Gary O'Brien and the two anonymous referees for their comments on the paper. View all notes of the Chinese public? This article examines some changes in orientations, based on the preliminary findings of an opinion survey conducted in China in 2000. The 2000 survey used an adapted form of a questionnaire used in a survey conducted in 1990 by Nathan and Shi. The evidence of the 2000 survey data suggests that the political–cultural orientations of the Chinese public are becoming more liberal and pro‐democratic as China's economy continues to grow, possibly providing the basis for a transition to some form of popular democracy.     

中国政党与国家政治力

国家政治力在综合国力中具有能动性和主导性。政党是国家政治力中的重要力量。我国政党作为国家政治力的核心性要素,具有独特的条件和优势。我国政党功能作用的发挥有利于现阶段我国社会的发展,是国家政治力增强的重要内容和根本保证。     

Accession into the WTO: External pressure for internal reforms in China

WTO accession is a blessing to China in that it serves as an effective external pressure to overcome political resistance and to accelerate economic reforms. However, structural, behavioral and cultural constraints will work as an obstacle to China's systemic transmorphosis into a more transparent, fair, efficient, and rule-based economy. In order to overcome such constraints and to reach best possible evolutionary trajectories to a WTO-compatible system, post-accession China is required to focus on social, legal and political system reforms, departing from the previous emphasis on economic reform. Peer pressure from other member countries would also be of additional help. Without fully successful non-economic system reforms, it may go through a period of policy errors and socio-economic instability, contrary to the rosy expectations by casual observers, and the Chinese leadership would find itself trapped and betrayed by its idealized notions of joining WTO to push internal reforms.     

从不平衡到平衡:区域经济发展的国际经验

从世界各地发展的历史经验来看，区域经济的不平衡发展是一个普遍存在的问题，但通过各国政府的努力，这一问题最终都得到了解决或至少在某种程度上大大缓解。由于各国的情况不尽相同，各国解决区域经济不平衡发展问题时所采取的办法也不一样。这种千差万别的情况和多种多样的解决办法，又为后来解决区域经济发展问题提供了丰富的经验。当前，中国正在推行西部开发战略，如何借鉴各国解决区域经济发展问题的相关经验，更有效地运用各种政策手段和有限的资源，使西部开发达到预期的效果，是一个迫切需要研究的问题。本文拟从各国的发展历史出…     

经济增长视角中我国制度分析方法的运用——马克思与新制度经济学的制度分析方法评析

本文对马克思和新制度经济学的制度分析方法进行了比较分析,制度分析实质上是马克思历史唯物主义的主要分析方法之一。马克思从生产力与生产关系矛盾运动的结果中去寻找制度演变的原因,并从哲学的高度说明了经济增长中制度与人力资本的辩证关系。新制度经济学虽然拓展了经济增长理论的分析方法,但存在过于绝对和片面地理解制度在经济增长中的决定作用的缺陷。在我国运用制度分析方法,必须立足于马克思制度分析方法,同时借鉴西方新制度经济学的制度分析方法中的合理方面,结合当今社会的时代特征与中国的具体实践来进行。     

努力实现行政区经济向经济区经济转变——长江三角洲区域经济整合分析

区域经济一体化,实际上就是行政区经济向经济区经济的整合过程.当前,这种区际经济整合已成为我国区域经济发展的基本态势.本文分析了行政区经济转向经济区经济的演进机理和长三角区域经济的整合现状及存在问题,提出进一步整合长三角区域经济的构想.     

China to Boost Economic,Social Development in Tibetan Regions

China＇s State Council held an executive meeting on Oct. 15, 2008, discussing how to support development in the Tibetan regions of Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan and Gansu provinces. Tibetan regions in these areas are autonomous where Tibetans and people of other nationalities live together. The regions are the important plateau ecological bar- rier that cover the head-stream area of major rivers, such as the Yellow, Yangtze and Lancang.     

从社政式治理到社团式治理——乡村公民社会成长的60年

新中国成立60年来，我国乡村先后实行了社政式治理和社团式治理两种模式，形成了独具东方特色的中国式的乡村公民社会。社政式治理和社团式治理虽然存在于建国后的前后两个30年，但民间取向的这一脉络连续无间。社团式治理模式适合中国的乡村实际，而公民社会则是中国乡村社会发展形态的可能选择。     

加强粤桂琼经济合作，建设华南经济强区

文章阐述了加强粤桂琼经济合作 ,建设华南经济强区的客观必然性 :指出制约粤桂琼三地经济合作的障碍与原因 ,提出发展粤桂琼三地经济合作的若干建议 ,即确立合作的原则 ;建立三地合作的机构作为三地政府、经济部门及企业的交流合作的对话与提供服务平台 ;三地既竞争又合作 ,以合作促进竞争 ,以竞争促进全方位的合作 ;建立区域合作的规则及区间合作的优惠政策 ,促进区间经济科技文化的全面合作与发展。     

经济增长、模型再造与中国经济增长方式的转变

经济增长理论是社会经济发展的一种理论反映,源于斯密和李嘉图为代表的古典经济学派,是二战后在发达国家广泛流行的经济理论,它大体经历了三个发展阶段。现代经济增长理论及模型的建立强调科学技术进步、人力资本积累对经济增长的促进作用。但是,发达国家经济学家自身存在的认识论缺陷使其不可能科学完整地建立经济增长理论及模型,因此,我们必须遵循马克思的方法论,从理论为实际的反映入手建立科学模型,并指导中国社会经济建设实践,特别是经济增长方式的转变实践。     

From Economic Elites to Political Elites: private entrepreneurs in the People's Political Consultative Conference

The number of entrepreneurs in the system of People's Political Consultative Conferences (PPCC) has increased dramatically in the last two decades. Although the political importance of these local assemblies is usually dismissed, entrepreneur participation suggests a need for further investigation. Based on research on a city-level PPCC, this article seeks to interpret this phenomenon further. In the process of investigating private entrepreneurs' involvement in the PPCC, this article aims to re-examine the role of the local PPCC and to highlight private entrepreneur PPCC members' attitude to and expectations from the Party-state.     

法治中国之路:从国家到社会

"法治中国"的正式提出使得我国法治改革不再停留在国家和政府层面,而拓展到社会之中,提倡建设"法治社会"。"法治社会"建设将法治改革落位到社会层面,使得社会个体获得应有的尊重,这是一种法治的回归。单靠自上而下的模式已经难以实现法治中国,因此需要借助一种批判竞争式民主的理念改革——协商性民主,从而建立一种基于平等、公开的博弈平台,实现公民真正的当家作主,推行属于广大民众的法治社会,并在"法治中国"的建设中得以贯彻。     

Food in China： From Getting Enough to Eating Right

WHEN the People＇s Republic of China was founded in 1949, the US Secretary of State Dean Acheson commented that Chinese dynasties had all come to grief over their failure to solve the food problem, and the Communist regime would be no different. According to John Leighton Stuart,before 1949, 3-7 million Chinese people died of hunger each year. Providing enough food for 550 million people was the key question faced by new China.     

Society Must Be Defended: reform,openness, and social policy in China

This paper examines China's transformation from different perspectives, including economic, social and political, and discusses how these transformations are linked to the country's open-door policy. The paper argues that the most powerful driving force behind China's rapid transformation is its openness. At the domestic level, openness creates an institutional environment in which different existing factors reorganize themselves, thus providing new dynamics for change. At the international level, openness links China and the world together, and the interplay between China and the world produces an external dynamism for China's internal changes. Openness, however, has led to social injustice. Society often becomes the weakest link in the process of globalization and opening up; therefore, it must be defended by all means and in all major policy areas.     

Comparative history: Technology,community and social transformation in China and Zimbabwe

James Zheng Gao, Meeting Technology's Advance: Social Change in China and Zimbabwe in the Railway Age (Westport, CT and London: Greenwood Press, 1997), 218 pp, US$65.00, ISBN 0–313–30095‐X.     

From the imperial examination to the national college entrance examination: The dynamics of political centralism in China's educational enterprise

This paper examines the relationships between political centralism and the Imperial Examination in imperial China and the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) in the People's Republic of China. A brief history of the two systems is given. The purposes, characteristics, strengths and limits of the two systems are discussed. The relationships between the two systems and Chinese education, the relationships between the two systems and Chinese political systems, and the relationships between the two systems and the common people in different historical periods are also discussed. These discussions lead to the understanding that the two systems have served the political needs of both the ruling classes and the commoners (although it has been limited for the latter), and contributed to the continuity of political centralism. The NCEE is still indispensable but it needs reform.     

Weak Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in China: integrating political,cultural and structural explanations

The discrepancy between de jure and de facto protection of intellectual property rights in China remains a heatedly debated topic. Unfortunately, political motivations have distorted the debate from its very beginning, which has not only resulted in a tendency for the different explanations to be played off against each other, but has also reinforced their specific flaws and biases. This study addresses these problems by advancing and integrating the three main explanatory frameworks for explaining the situation. The resulting integrated framework finds that structural factors such as bureaucratic fragmentation and political decentralization matter most in practical terms, but their durability cannot be understood without putting them into context. The findings also suggest that, contrary to most predictions, the future development of intellectual property protection in China might not follow the path laid down by other countries that have modernized in the past.     

Economic interdependence and political divergence: The emerging pattern of relations across the Taiwan Strait

Economic interactions between Taiwan and mainland China have grown at an astounding speed since the Taipei government began to relax restrictions on indirect trade with the mainland in the late 1980s. A growing flood of cross‐border investment and trade has created an economic interdependence. However, intensified economic exchanges have not spilled over into political recognition of the legitimacy to each other or even ameliorated hostility across the Taiwan Strait. Growing economic interdependence has been a function of political power and political choice. This paper examines the emerging pattern of the relations across the Taiwan Strait and attributes the discrepancy between economic and political relations to significant disparities across the Taiwan Strait, which has worked as both integrative and disintegrative forces.