Beyond the ownership question: who will till the land? The new debate on China’s agricultural production

A high-profile debate is taking place in China concerning the organization of agricultural land and production, with profound implications for China’s countryside. This debate is between those advocating for agricultural production to be taken over by large-scale agribusinesses, and those against this. Proponents regard agribusinesses as embodying modernity and progress, while those against forewarn of the channeling of profits out of peasant hands, the loss of peasants’ autonomy over labor and land, and the destruction of rural life. Recent English language publications on China’s agrarian change highlight the growing power of agribusiness and related processes of depeasantization, implying the Chinese debate on “who will till the land?” is futile. But this view obscures efforts by Chinese scholars and policymakers to promote forms of agricultural organization conducive to maintaining peasant livelihoods. By examining the Chinese debates on agribusinesses, family farms, and cooperatives, this article highlights points of contestation among policymakers and alternative possibilities, which may yet shape the course of China’s agrarian change. This article contributes to scholarship on China’s agrarian change, broader questions concerning depeasantization, and developmental possibilities under collective ownership.     

近代中国的政治发展——以中央和地方关系的演变为维度

由外族入侵带来的民族压力促使近代中国开始了自救。在独立民族国家地位丧失的背景之下,近代中国政治发展艰难起步。为了谋求改变,政界和学界引入了大量迥异于传统中国的思想观念和制度模式。中央和地方关系的演变就是这一政治环境下的产物。通过中央和地方关系的演变历程,我们不难发现近代中国政治发展的基本特点：其开启来自外部挑战;其应对过程充满纠结;其发展主题随着社会环境的变化而变化;其总趋势是为了国家统一;其本身对政治现代化起到了推动作用。     

毛泽东对中国社会主义现代化建设道路的开拓性探索——纪念毛泽东同志诞辰115周年

毛泽东在探索适合中国国情社会主义现代化道路的过程中,既提出了许多有价值的思想,积累了成功的经验,也发生过较大失误,付出了沉重的代价。总结这些经验和教训,对于弄清楚邓小平建设有中国特色社会主义理论的历史地位,指导我国的社会主义现代化建设有重要意义。     

中国人文思想史上的六次启蒙（下）——兼论周代是中国思想史上“‘人’的觉醒”时期

“启蒙”的本义是开发蒙昧、清除荒谬、发现真理。“启蒙”并不是“五四”运动和邓小平倡导的思想解放运动的专利。在此前的中国古代人文思想领域,曾经发生过四次启蒙,它们依次出现于周代、六朝、明清、近代,启蒙的对象分别是夏商神本蒙昧主义、汉代的“性善情恶”论和“性三品”说、隋唐宋元以儒家道学-理学为代表的唯理性主义,以及整个中国古代君主专制下的荒谬悖理的纲常伦理体系。而“五四”运动和邓小平倡导的思想解放运动则是第五次、第六次启蒙,它们的启蒙对象分别是古代“奴隶道德”和现代“极左”思潮。原古以溯今,中国人文思想史上的种种规律性的重合昭然若揭：蒙昧至极,必生启蒙;真理逾过半步,即成谬误;人文的真理相通,谬误也相通;在重复的谬误处可找寻教训,在重复的启蒙处可总结真理——它是我们今天进行价值伦理重构、推动中华民族伟大腾飞的宝贵资源。非常感谢祁志祥教授接受我们约稿,由于文章教长,特分两期刊出,以飨读者。     

陆权与清代“海禁”政策

清代前期实行的海禁政策包括移民限制、物品出口限制、外商来华贸易规定以及民船建造规格等多项内容。这种海禁政策的性质并非惯常认定的"闭关锁国",而是中国传统陆权战略的一部分,其制定具有深刻的历史背景。清代海禁政策在当时的条件下,取得了重大成效,但鸦片战争之后,随着世界形势的剧变,这种战略尽显弊端。     

中国国家形象的塑造:南方谈话的当代启示

1992年的南方谈话是邓小平认真分析国际国内局势特点后发表的重要谈话,对改革开放和现代化建设具有重要启示,并且对当代中国国家形象进行了目标定位——爱好和平、开放包容、科技强国和法治国家的形象。南方谈话成为当代国家形象塑造的指南针。     

软硬实力与中国对国际法的影响

晚近以来,中国作为一个大国迅猛崛起,然而,中国对国际法的影响仍然有限,与中国实力的快速增强很不相称。造成这种反常现象的主要原因,是中国软硬实力大小的失衡及发挥的受限。要扭转这种不利局面,绝非一日之功而能成就。虽然如此,在国际法律过程中,中国仍然可以根据软硬实力作用的机理,通过利益和观念两大维度尽量做出对自己有利的选择。     

欧盟生物技术产业发展的法律保障——以转基因生物安全管制为例的考察

生物技术是国家未来竞争实力的技术动力及产业动力,对其合理引导、规范发展、预防风险,是各国面临的重要问题。欧盟在以法律为手段和工具来保障生物技术产业发展、特别是防范生物技术及其产业化发展中出现风险甚至危害方面,走在了各国的前列。总体上,欧盟采用了水平立法与垂直立法并存的纵横交错式立法模式,构建了世界上最为严格和严密的生物安全监管体系。我国正在大力发展生物技术产业,欧盟的经验值得我们学习。     

Is China’s rise now stalling?

The variations on power transition theory so widely used to frame analysis of U.S.–China relation tend to assume the inevitability or at least strong probability of China surpassing the United States in economic power if not necessarily military power. In the terminology of social psychology’s attribution theory, China is imputed with the identity of a state that is inevitably rising. The Chinese Communist Party encourages this attribution among Chinese people and foreigners. But China’s economic rise – the foundation of its comprehensive rise – appears to have entered an inflection point in the mid-2010s and may now be stalling. In critical respects, China increasingly resembles the last two countries that ‘attempted’ a globe-level rise: the unsuccessful cases of postwar Japan and the Soviet Union. China’s labor force is shrinking; the country relies excessively on unsustainable debt increases to fuel economic growth; and pollution is seriously harming public health. But even if China’s rise conclusively stalls, it may take quite some time before the Chinese public and outside observers recognize the new reality because of intrinsic biases in the cognitive logic of attributing identities to actors.