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This paper aims to develop a better understanding of the economic situations of South Asian minorities in Hong Kong. A theoretical perspective emphasizing the embedding of economic behavior within social relationships and socio-political processes will be employed. This study will examine how three macro-historical processes, namely, colonization, industrialization and globalization, induce the different configurations of three structural factors, namely, government policy, societal reception and co-ethnic community, affecting the economic wellbeing of South Asian minorities in Hong Kong. The authors argue that Hong Kong Chinese and South Asians coexisted peacefully without major conflict or discrimination during the early colonial age. However, when the colonial government started to develop unique Hong Kong Chinese identity and as the HK Chinese became wealthier, well-educated and successful, ethnic tensions began to occur. In this era of globalization, Hong Kong encounters the serious problem of economic restructuring, and the continuous inflows of migrants from developing countries engender keen competition with lower-class Hong Kong citizens for low-end service jobs. South Asians are no longer enjoying positive societal reception from the Hong Kong Chinese. The co-ethnic community factor for Hong Kong South Asians has not significantly changed since the pre-war years. Their sub-communities' internal resources may secure their economic wellbeing through mutual assistance. However, under a very harsh external environment, whether sufficient resources can still be continuously drawn remains questionable. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates macro-level sources of variations across countries regrading China's national image, as measured by the proportion of the public in each of 35 countries that expressed a favorable view of China in the 2007 Pew Global Attitudes Survey. It turns out that several expected factors have no significant measurable impact on China's image: not the extent of strategic ties between China and a given country; not the political system of that country; not the extent of Chinese investment in the country; and not the number of Confucius institutes and classrooms in that country. The only macro-level factor we find to affect China's image in a country is that country's level of economic and social development, as measured by the UN Human Development Index. Controlling for the other factors, publics in poor or developing countries are much more likely to have a favorable image of China than publics in economically advanced countries. Some implications of our findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Governance is a hot topic in China, as well as among political scientists. Ways of thinking about it can be improved. This essay offers a ‘neo-functionalist’ method to test for successful or unsuccessful governance of reform stability in China. It takes account of the need for participation in effective governance. Steering a state (or any part of a state) requires attention to multiple sizes of polity—especially several medial sizes in a country as large as China. Governance has varied over time during the ‘reform’ era, when anti-reform conservatives have remained important in many nested political networks. The paper shows variation of governance over time, over sizes of polity and over four sample governance functions: managing the economy, maintaining orderly stability, linking ‘social’ parts of the polity to the government, and choosing cadres. It shows how these categories exhaust a logical field that is at least implicit in any analysis of governance roles, and it suggests the value of a ‘circulation of elites’ paradigm when thinking about governance success or failure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A recent trend in policy scholarship is to explain policy changes and paradigm shifts by focusing on the features and interactions of policy networks. This paper aims to contribute to the current literature by exploring how policy networks affect policy paradigmatic change in China with reference to urban housing policy development. It is argued that both exogenous and indigenous factors can be attributed to the difficulties of paradigm replacement. The closed policy network in the housing field delimits the choices of policy instruments and hinders paradigmatic shifts. Contrary to mainstream studies, exogenous shocks are identified as serious handicaps to significant policy changes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

China's central–local relations have been marked by perpetual changes amidst economic restructuring. Fiscal decentralization on the expenditure side has been paralleled by centralization on the revenue side, accompanied by political centralization. Hence, our understanding of China's fiscal relations is not without controversy. This paper aims to make a theoretical contribution to the ongoing debate on ‘fiscal federalism’ by addressing crucial questions regarding China's central–local fiscal relations: first, to what extent do Chinese central–local fiscal relations conform to fiscal federalism in the Western literature? Second, are there any problems with existing principles of fiscal federalism and, if so, how to refine them? Third, how are refined principles relevant to the Chinese case and what policies should the Chinese government pursue in the future? Based on an in-depth and critical review of the theories on fiscal federalism, we develop a refined prototype of fiscal federalism. The model shows that quasi-traditional fiscal federalism is a much closer reality in China, while we argue that the refined fiscal federalism should be the direction of future reform in China. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper revisits the debate about foreign policy implications of Chinese nationalism in the context of China's increasingly confrontational and assertive behavior in recent years. It argues that while the Chinese government made effective efforts to control popular nationalism and Chinese foreign policy was therefore not dictated by emotional nationalistic rhetoric before 2008, it has become more willing to follow the popular nationalist calls to take a confrontational position against the Western powers and to adopt tougher measures in maritime territorial disputes with its neighbors. This strident turn is partially because the government is increasingly responsive to public opinion, but more importantly because of the convergence of Chinese state nationalism and popular nationalism calling for a more muscular Chinese foreign policy. Enjoying an inflated sense of empowerment supported by its new quotient of wealth and military capacities, and terrified of an uncertain future due to increasing social, economic and political tensions at home, the communist state has become more willing to play to the popular nationalist gallery in pursuing the so-called core national interests. These developments have complicated China's diplomacy, creating a heated political environment to harden China's foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper I address the question of how Chinese scholars participate in scientific knowledge production by appropriating Western IR theories, primarily by examining interactions between North American theories that claim universality and China-specific IR efforts. Drawing on post-Mao era publications and books, I discuss how increasingly independent Chinese IR scholars are portraying their country's rising status in international politics and identifying China's national interests, while still emphasizing socialist concepts such as anti-hegemonism. The result is a form of Chinese IR scholarship that combines Western IR language with a worldview that emphasizes a modern China within the context of traditional socialist foreign policy norms. I will argue that Chinese scholarly discussions about IR theory building reflect efforts to present ‘their rising China’ (as individually perceived) in the study, research, and development of IR theory in response to the appearance of modern IR methods that require new definitions and new roles for old socialist forms. In this context, identity concerns are more important than the actual theories being established or appropriated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Whether government has the political will and capacity to control pollution is crucial for environmental outcomes. A vast country such as China, with centralized policymaking but idiosyncratic local implementation of environmental regulations and drastic regional disparities in wealth, raises the question of how does the central government stimulate local environmental commitment to accommodate such diversity? In exploring this issue, this paper compares three national environmental management programs that are used as influencing and bargaining tools between the central and local governments of China: Quantitative Examination of Comprehensive Control of Urban Environment (1989), Model City for Protecting the Environment (1997) and pilot Green Gross Domestic Product (2005). Although the introduction of these schemes represents an important step forward in addressing demanding environmental issues their impact is found to be mixed. However, each scheme also has something important to offer to this particular realm of environmental management and by recognizing and compiling their comparative advantages a number of policy implications for future local commitment towards and capacity for environmental protection can be provided. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It is argued in our paper that current studies of civil society in China, which place too much emphasis on its ‘independence’, are neither practical nor conducive to the sound development of China's civil society, because an adversarial intensification is likely to arise between the state and society. As is shown in our empirical study, despite the fundamental control imposed by the government, Wenzhou Business Association is actively involved in industry governance, constantly empowered by the government, and thus gradually achieves growth and development. This leads to a conclusion that it appears to be a rather more realistic developmental path for China's civil society for associations to make full use of the government's expanding space and to actively participate in public governance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyzes the determinants of Chinese government support for methanol automobile fuel development. At the national level, a preference for low carbon alternatives, ongoing bureaucratic restructuring, and profitability concerns of the national oil companies (NOCs) help to explain a lack of support for methanol fuel. At the local level, a short-term and localized view of industry development explains why some governments actively promote methanol fuel through local standardization, subsidies, and management of NOC opposition. The case of methanol fuel illustrates how local governments with strong, embedded interests have filled in the national-level policy vacuum on this issue. These findings contribute to the ongoing debate on the evolving central–local relations in China and hold lessons for alternative fuel adoption efforts underway in many parts of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this paper is to look into the transformation of local innovation systems in the high-tech parks of Shanghai and Beijing and their technological learning and upgrading. The areas that we have chosen to investigate are Beijing's Zhongguancun and Shanghai's Yangpu District. The main reason that we selected these two areas for study is because they are home to most of the top universities and R&D institutes in these two cities. Our main focus will be on how institutions—the local state, inter-firm relations and the relationship between R&D institutions and firms—are co-evolving to shape and constrain a local system of innovation. Our research finds that the capacities and autonomy of the Zhongguancun of Beijing's Haidian District and Yangpu District of Shanghai differ in various aspects, but both regions are struggling to upgrade innovation and enhance economic development. The ‘high-tech cluster’ provides a useful instrument or label to achieve goals other than innovation and R&D. Elite universities are regarded as engines for network formation, but visible and invisible walls of Chinese universities discount efforts to foster a university-centered innovation hub which especially shows in the Yangpu case. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Employing the theoretical framework of constitutive rhetoric, this paper explores Chinese conceptions of democracy by examining Mao Zedong's speeches and writings. This rhetorical examination seeks to show how democracy is understood, defined, and conceptualized in China. Several themes from Mao's most famous speeches and writings are discussed in the light of his concept of democratic centralism. The rhetorical analysis supports the notion that Chinese communism includes democracy, as purported by Mao; however, this culturally unique form of democracy (i.e. democratic centralism) does not match the representative form of democracy employed in the West. Understanding that democracy is conceptualized distinctly by Chinese communist followers of Mao may provide insight for future international studies and relations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Why is there no large-scale labor movement out of intense labor conflicts in current China? Based on a comparative case study of two groups of workers—state workers vs. temporary workers—this paper is an attempt to explore the concrete processes and mechanisms of workers' struggles—how they navigated among street protests, office petitions and court prosecutions through their interaction with state agencies. The argument is that different workers obtained different symbolic rewards instead of material concessions, based on their different social positions and historical trajectories. Unlike the classical ‘fragmentation’ argument which attributes the working class's inaction to its internal divisions, this argument focuses on the interaction between the differentiated workers and the local state agents, during which the workers lost their radical momentum and became subjected to the state's peaceful taming based on the workers' differences. This is a process called ‘dispersive containment’, i.e. dissipating the labor conflicts through divergent symbolic treatment of working-class protest without granting material rewards to them. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Taiwan's transition from authoritarian to democratic rule has not necessarily resulted in lower levels of perceived corruption on the island. Indeed, many Taiwan citizens have come to view the problem of corruption as worsening in recent years. To understand what these perceptions are and why they have emerged, this study examines Taiwanese attitudes toward corruption and its control from a bottom-up approach. By utilizing data from an original, nationwide public opinion survey, the authors identify the most prevalent corrupt behaviors and the institutions in Taiwanese society that are most susceptible to corruption. The paper then investigates three ‘bottom-up’ factors that help explain variations in the perception of corruption by citizens: encounter with government bureaucracy, party identification, and the effect of media. Analysis of survey data indicates that all three factors influence how Taiwanese people feel about corruption and corruption-related issues. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

‘Dagong’ means ‘working for the boss’, and bespeaks the commodification of labour. Over the past two and a half decades, a minor literary genre has emerged from this dagong community, documenting the crushing effect of the industrial machine on the body and soul of rural migrant workers. This paper considers the paradoxical process of class formation and class dissipation through the prism of the debates and commentaries surrounding workers' poetry from elite cultural institutions and worker-poets themselves. This discussion suggests that these commentaries and debates constitute both class articulations and disarticulations, and together they point to the precariousness of the formation of working-class consciousness in contemporary China. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates whether the 22 million or so urban recipients of the Minimum Livelihood Guarantee (the zuidi shenghuo baozhang), whose per capita family income falls below a locally set poverty line, can be called a ‘class’. It also explores if they experience ‘class consciousness’. It draws on theoretical writings on class and class consciousness, and on some seven dozen unstructured interviews in households of urban dibao recipients in Lanzhou, Guangzhou, Wuhan, and three smaller Hubei cities in 2007–2010, mainly using material from 2010. It finds that, unlike the former working class, while these people do not comprise a ‘class’ as such, their consciousness of their plight, stripped bare of all the illusions that clouded it in Maoist times—again as distinguished from the bygone working class—is more faithful to their actual circumstances than it is specious. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although the essence of China's Taiwan policy has not changed from the era of Jiang Zemin to the present, the era of Hu Jintao, Jiang's and Hu's attitudes are different. Jiang was impatient with the delay in the unification of China and Taiwan, talking about timetables for unification; however, Hu has so far been patient, saying that he is not afraid of delaying unification. The purpose of this paper is to explain why their attitudes are different. I argue that two factors combine to result in Jiang's impatience and Hu's patience: conflicting ‘perceptions of Taiwan's domestic politics and Taiwan's China policy’ and differing ‘perceptions of the US behavior and attitude regarding Taiwan’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Over the last two decades, international actors have sought to diffuse repertoires of contentious practices, including rights-based litigation, to China. Multilateral organizations, foundations, and international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) have used funding and training programs conducted in China and at law schools abroad in order to raise the capacity of Chinese attorneys, NGOs, judges, and legal officials to improve rule of law and protection of human rights. In particular, international actors have worked with Chinese NGOs and state officials to found legal aid centers that provide information and advocacy to protect the rights of pollution victims and AIDS carriers. Legal aid centers, attorneys, and their financial backers seek to bring forward ‘impact litigation’ cases in the courts to establish model decisions for other plaintiffs, attorneys, and judges to follow. To date, environmental groups have enjoyed more success gaining access to the courts and in receiving favorable court judgments than have AIDS groups. In many cases involving AIDS victims, attorneys and legal aid centers seek compensation through alternative dispute resolution methods rather than litigation, which do not establish a legal precedent. This paper explores the reasons for the divergent outcomes of efforts to protect the rights of pollution victims and AIDS carriers in the courts. Primarily, the institutional particularities and contexts of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Public Health have allowed international legal norms related to the environment to take deeper root than those related to AIDS. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using the 2008 China Survey, this paper examines Chinese respondents' feelings toward their country and how such feelings are related to their democratic values. First, it compares Chinese nationalism with that of 35 countries and regions in the 2003 National Identity Survey. Second, it looks at the origins of Chinese nationalism as embedded in the social and political characteristics of individuals. Third, it further examines the impact of nationalism on people's political attitudes. The findings show that nationalism in contemporary China is better predicted by the political and economic characteristics of an individual rather than cultural attributes, and that nationalism serves as a powerful instrument in impeding public demand for democratic change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The People's Republic of China's turbulent experience during the Cold War (1949–1991) has been followed by a remarkably tranquil period. Although conflict and crisis have certainly not been completely absent in the post-Cold War era, the PRC has managed to undertake three decades of ‘peaceful rise’ or ‘peaceful development’. What explains this remarkably peaceful great power ascent? Prominent scholars, such as Thomas Christensen and Iain Johnston, stress the utility of the security dilemma in understanding the PRC's security behavior since the end of the Cold War. Can the PRC's peaceful rise in recent decades be attributed to a realization of the centrality of the security dilemma in great power politics acquired during the Cold War? This paper concludes that the security dilemma does not seem central to China's thinking about its relations with other powers, including the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Starting with an almost single-minded emphasis on shared interests to engage China, the Obama administration made a policy adjustment about one year later to shore up US leadership in the Asia–Pacific even if it meant challenging China's core interests. This paper argues that this adjustment was to bring hedge back to shape the regional context of China's rise. While the precipitating cause for the shift was China's newly founded assertiveness during the global financial downturn, the deep cause was the US anxiety about China's great power aspiration in the twenty-first century. The policy adjustment, however, was not to contain China's rise because a full-out confrontation against China would be self-defeating. It was a return to a centralist approach to engage China from a position of strength rather than weakness. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyzes the ‘Minor Property Housing’ (XCQF) phenomenon. XCQF is an illegal residential building, constructed on rural collective land in suburban areas by a joint land development of township and village governments, land developers, and peasants for selling and renting to non-local urbanites. We argue that XCQF became a fait accompli not to be demolished nor legalized by higher authorities because the interests of lower-level governments and those non-elites converge. As a result, they jointly defy the central government and higher-level governments' land policies. It brings a rare opportunity for grassroots officials, entrepreneurs, and ordinary citizens to find a manner of co-existence, shaping this positive-sum coalition game unlike the near zero-sum game of other exploitative land developments. The XCQF phenomenon suggests that other patterns of coalition building, beyond what is in the current literature of ‘rightful resistance’, exist. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

China has rapidly re-emerged as a major regional power in East Asia. Although this represents a return to a long-established historical pattern, the ability of China's political elites to reassure nervous neighbours about the implications of its rise will be a major test of its evolving and increasingly sophisticated foreign policies. In this paper we focus primarily on China's regional engagement strategies, detailing the way such initiatives are understood in China, and the way they are received elsewhere. We focus primarily on the political and economic impacts of China's policies, and briefly consider their reception in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia. We highlight the different dynamics and issues that China's policymakers must consider in each area, and suggest that despite some difficulties and tensions, on balance, China's policies are proving surprisingly effective. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Under the slogan of 'weiquan' (defending our rights), homeowners in urban China are increasingly prepared to stand up for their rights of ownership, often through non-confrontational actions organized by homeowners' associations (yeweihui). There is also a growing concern for the need to create collective platforms on which homeowners' associations can support one another, muster their collective resources against powerful developers and lobby for status as legitimate organizations. The activists involved in this work are well aware of its political sensitivity in a regime that is antagonistic towards autonomous organizations, which are seen as posing a threat to its hegemony. Based on a case study in Guangzhou, this paper traces the tactics that housing activists have employed to create horizontal cooperation among homeowners' associations to defend their rights and devise 'boundary-spanning' strategies that exploit divisions within the state apparatus. The Guangzhou union of homeowners' associations can be regarded as an experiment in organizational infrastructure which has far-reaching implications. This study sheds light on the complexities as well as the institutional fluidity of state-society interactions in contemporary urban China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we argue that China's grain procurement system as a major instrument in rural taxation survived the communes and lost its importance only gradually in recent years. However, as agricultural liberalization progressed, the traditional tax instruments of 'tax deduction prior to grain procurement payment' and implicit taxation through 'price scissors' gradually eroded. Under such a circumstance, local governments in agriculture-based regions resorted to informal fees collected directly from individual rural households while the more industrialized regions shifted to non-agricultural taxes that are less costly in terms of tax collection. Empirical evidence based on a large panel data set supports our hypotheses of rural taxation in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how growing insecurity in Pakistan-affecting the security of Chinese expatriates and neighboring Xinjiang-impacts China's policy towards its 'all-weather' friend. It argues that managing the terrorist risk in a changing regional environment has led to a double adjustment in China's policy towards Pakistan. First, counterterrorist cooperation has moved up the policy agenda, albeit with a peculiar modus operandi, focused on sustaining a pro-Chinese 'United Front' in Pakistan. Second, Beijing has positively reassessed Pakistan's strategic value and moved towards strategic reassurance, although the construction of a trade-and-energy corridor between Gwadar and Xinjiang has been negatively affected by the risk of violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research on returning Chinese students has focused on their role as an alternative solution to their home country's mandate to build technological capacity. This study shows the depth of the 'brain circulation' that is underway and the fact that overseas students are not only serving China from abroad or by returning, but after they return they play a leading role in many aspects of China's 'going out' strategy. These returnee entrepreneurs present many advantages to the Chinese economy. They have studied at the best universities in the world, were deeply involved in the New Economy, and have gained valuable experience in listed companies overseas. They often possess venture capital, many have experience working with some of the best MNCs in the world, and they serve to contribute enormously to China's current economic engagement with the world. The paper describes the returnees' impact on China's globalization drive and analyzes the factors leading to their success in comparison to MNCs and indigenous Chinese firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has established two of the world's newer large sovereign wealth funds (SWFs): the official China Investment Corporation (CIC), and the non-official and less transparent State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) Investment Company (SIC). Both provide alternative investment opportunities for China's exploding foreign exchange reserves, at US$2.4 trillion at the end of 2009, the largest in world history. This paper will address how China has accumulated its huge and growing foreign exchange reserves, and what roles these reserves, until 2007 managed only by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), have played in the establishment and development of China's two new SWFs. We will look specifically at why China's foreign exchange reserves have developed, and how the new SWFs are a part of broader efforts to provide investment alternatives for China's ballooning foreign exchange surpluses, particularly in light of the inflow of 'hot' foreign speculative funds. We will then point out some of the difficulties for China's financial officials of SWFs as they try to pursue multiple and sometimes competing goals, set by boards of directors representing different bureaucratic and economic interests, all within the context of a general lack of transparency and a rapidly growing economy. Finally, we will present our conclusions about the future roles of the two SWFs as well as of the policies being developed to decentralize foreign exchange reserve holdings while at the same time not slowing the growth of China's foreign trade surpluses, nor its foreign direct investments, nor its overall economic growth. We will also examine the effects of US-promoted Chinese currency appreciation on the future of China's foreign exchange reserves and its sovereign wealth funds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the uses of YouTube by Uyghur nationalist movement activists and studies various ideological codes used by different communities to promote their messages. It argues that several ideological codes are produced in order to challenge the dominant ideologies promoted by the Chinese government, which create a ground for Uyghur 'imagined solidarity' across physical borders. Analysis of the production of audio-visual messages by the dispersed ethnic group provides an important window into how ethnic identity is forged by means of Web 2.0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The television play has been recognized by scholars as the most influential genre in the flourishing television industry in China's new media landscape; yet little critical attention has been given to inquiry of why and how it functions as a dynamic cultural agent in the Chinese people's reconfiguration of their past and imagining of their everyday life. This paper investigates the intriguing socio-historical environment from which the genre emerged and its unique modes of operation by focusing on the television play of sentiment. It demonstrates that the television play embodies the many complex aspects of social forces and relationships contested in China's reform, suggesting, all at once, commercialization in Chinese society, the popular imaginary of morality and the state's conceptualization of a 'harmonious society', a strategic policy aiming at maintaining social balance while bypassing some of the thorny political questions in the post-revolution era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses an institutional perspective to examine the changing monetary policy operations in China since the 1978 reform. It shows that the establishment of money markets has enabled the central bank to shift its policy approach of direct control over credits to a set of indirect monetary tools. Under the constraint of exchange rate stability and other institutional factors, the effectiveness of these indirect tools is limited. Establishing an interbank money market policy rate through SHIBOR will provide a means of signaling the cost of funds to banks and the public. Its success in China is conditional on improved corporate governance and the competitive structure of banks, increased flexibility in its exchange rate determination, and a more cost-conscious state sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In March 2008, Tibet erupted in the biggest challenge to Chinese rule since 1959. While Beijing and Dharamsala engaged in their familiar battle of representations, pundits speculated on the causes of the uprising, ranging from conspiracy theories to informed policy analysis. Applying the framework of the insecurity dilemma, this article argues that Tibetan identity insecurity on account of the post-1989 hard-line Chinese policies was the chief cause of the uprising. Largely peaceful protests and occasionally violent riots in Tibet have been integral to Tibetan efforts to mitigate their societal insecurities provoked by Chinese migration, 'assimilationist' policies and 'cultural imperialism'. However, Tibetan protests and riots heighten Chinese insecurities and harden Beijing's policies both inside Tibet and towards the Dalai Lama. This paper reveals the dynamic cycle of hard-line Chinese policies provoking Tibetan uprisings; the resulting hardening in Chinese policies feeds back into Tibetan insecurities and protests. The 2008 uprising was the most recent cycle in the long-running saga of the Sino-Tibetan insecurity dilemma. The article warns that unless the Tibetans and the Chinese find a way to break out of the insecurity dilemma, Tibet could explode into another frenzy of violence and counter-violence in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's HIV/AIDS epidemic today is seen by policy-makers primarily as a biomedical problem. Yet according to many researchers this conceptualization of what causes HIV/AIDS epidemics is restricted, focussing on individual behaviour to the exclusion of the broader economic and social determinants. This paper, therefore, illustrates how considering such determinants, including income and gender inequalities, may complement our understanding of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in China. It does so by using two different examples: the development of commercial sex work and long-distance migration patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that negotiation and accommodation between the state and the media, with the latter having gained more bargaining power, should be considered in assessing the transformation of the Chinese media. It examines the discourses of media professionals on the coverage of the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake to reveal how they seized the opportunity presented by the well-received breakthrough in the coverage of the earthquake to bargain with the state for more autonomy. The purpose of the examination is three-fold. First, what drove the Chinese state media such as CCTV to risk breaking regulations? Secondly, how did the Central Government respond to the media-led breakthrough? Answers to these questions prepare the ground for the final one, and that is, how do media professionals bargain with the state for more autonomy? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how China's strategic motivations and calculations have both motivated and constrained its participation in East Asian regional cooperation. It argues that China's participation in regional economic and security cooperation is motivated first of all by the calculation of China's domestic interests to create a peaceful peripheral environment for its economic growth and political stability, particularly its frontier security and prosperity. The realist interests to enhance China's position in power competition with other major players in the region, particularly Japan and US, also play an important part in China's strategic calculation. These interest calculations, however, also set limits on China's participation in regional cooperation. These interest calculations have also shaped China's preference for an informal approach, emphasizing voluntarism and consensus building rather than legally binding resolutions, toward regional cooperation. This soft approach is a major barrier for many regional institutions to move beyond the stage of talking shops to effectively resolve conflicts in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid rise of competitive space activities within Asia, this study examines the prospects for increasing international cooperation. After discussing relevant conceptual issues, it surveys the space policies particularly of China, India, Japan, and South Korea and examines the skewed patterns of cooperation seen at the international, regional, and bilateral levels. It then analyzes the historical, technology, and political factors that have impeded, especially regional, space cooperation in Asia to date. The study concludes that expanded regional space cooperation is an unlikely near-term outcome, but the paper also argues that the risks entailed in the current situation are growing and that US policy initiatives could make a difference in helping to lead countries out of this dead-end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has significantly changed its engagement mode with Africa, shifting from trade of natural resources to investment in industrial sectors. This article uses Ghana as a case study to examine why and how Chinese investors come to set up factories in Africa’s challenging business environment. Through first-hand scoping study on the ground, the author reveals that the pressure of China’s industrial upgrading and the vast potential of Africa’s growing market are the main drives for Chinese manufacturers. Clustering and industrial zones proved to be effective instruments to help Chinese manufacturers grow in Ghana. The clustering of numerous small and medium-sized enterprises also facilitates linkage building between Chinese projects and the local economy. The ‘flying geese’ phenomenon is emerging in Ghana’s manufacturing sector, but the weak macro-economy and the lack of industrial supports largely slow down the progress of Chinese investments and reduce the spillover effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In charting the water of the post-Cold War world, one of the most prominent questions touches upon the likely effects of China's rise. Echoing more or less explicitly power transition theory's assumptions, the rapid and multifaceted ascent of China has popularized the idea of a likely overtaking of the American dominant power by the rising challenger. Sceptics have, however, pointed out that by most standards China remains far from being on a par with the United States. This paper argues that though a global power transition lies far beyond the horizon, the relevant level at which the transition should be considered is the East Asian region, or the Asian 'super-region'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade Chinese consultative authoritarianism has been renewed through many political and administrative innovations and tools. Authoritarian rule in China is now permeated by a wide variety of consultative and deliberative practices. These practices stabilize and strengthen authoritarian rule, leading to deliberative authoritarianism, an advanced form of consultative authoritarianism. This paper discusses two experiments—deliberative polling at Zeguo, Zhejiang, and a township election in Ya'an, Sichuan. Through these two cases we examine the direction which the development of consultative authoritarianism is presently taking, and the potentials and limitations of such input mechanisms in an authoritarian setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid ascendency of China has attracted considerable attention from American scholars, policymakers, and media. Yet what does the American public think about the rise of China as a world power? In this paper we use survey data collected by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and other organizations to explore the nature and causes of Americans' views. It turns out that most Americans are well aware of the rise of China. Some are apprehensive about that rise, chiefly for national security (rather than economic) reasons, and many favor a degree of off-shore 'balancing' of the sort that realists recommend. But few Americans want to actively work to limit the rise of China. Very few favor the use of troops to defend Taiwan. Very few favor a nuclear-armed Japan. Large majorities of Americans take stands more akin to those of neo-liberals than realist theorists, favoring cooperation and peaceful engagement with China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since economic reforms began in 1979, China has sought to overcome the technology gap by absorbing foreign advanced technology through FDI. This paper investigates the impact of FDI via exports on the innovation performance of domestic firms in China's high-tech product industries for the period 1995-2006. By using the panel data analysis, we confirm the hypotheses that: (1) exports of domestic firms have positive spillover effects on innovation performance of local firms either through learning or through competition; (2) R&D activities of foreign-invested enterprises in the host country in an industry are positively associated with innovation performance of domestic firms in that industry; and (3) import of technology, which is important to the establishment of assimilative capability, has positive effects on domestic innovation performance. This provides evidence suggesting that China's domestic firms benefit from spillovers associated with FDI and from export activity of both domestic firms and foreign-invested enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facing the ever-growing interdependence across the Taiwan Strait, Mainland China's strategy towards Taiwan is undergoing a profound change, that is, transcending the staunch realpolitik mentality and turning to an institutional arrangement in policy making. Especially since President Hu Jintao took up his position, the Mainland has endeavored to improve cross-Strait relations through the institutionalization of a series of sensitive issues, such as the proposals and signatures of some long-term accords aiming to advocate economic cooperation, promote social exchanges, weaken political opposition and foster mutual trust. By taking the Mainland's national development strategy shift, Taiwan's domestic reality and 'institution deficit' in cross-Strait relations into consideration, this paper analyzes the reasons, efforts and features of the Mainland's recent institutional-orientated policy transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The screening of the film Lust, Caution in China in late 2007 and the subsequent banning of its actress in early 2008 created a great stir, arousing heated debates across many ranks of society. The debates lasted for more than half a year, making it one of the most sensational cultural (and political) events in China of the year. As a result, the intricate texture of its cinematic text and the complex reactions of the social context constitute an intriguing case of sophisticated cultural politics with rich and significant import. Through an analysis of the film's narrative strategy, this paper reveals the film's nature as a political film noir aimed to allegorize the history of modern China. A discussion of its diversified reception in the Chinese world, rather than echoing the mainstream opinion that sees the harsh critique from the Chinese populace as merely a blind reaction of rampant nationalist sentiment, discloses the heterogeneous voices among differing social forces competing for cultural hegemony in contemporary China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's economic success under an authoritarian political system in the past 30 years has raised a question about whether the China model will replace the Western model of modernization. This paper seeks answers to this question by exploring to what extent China offers a distinctive model of economic and political development and whether the China model represents a successful co-existence of a free market and an authoritarian state in order to maintain economic growth and political stability, as well as discussing what the appeals and limitations of the China model are. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies of China's local people's congress (LPC) elections have been preoccupied with the description of the new election law, the operation of that law, the control mechanism of local Chinese Communist Party (CCP) committees in the electoral process, electorates and selectorates, and the voting behavior in China's limited-choice election. Less scholarly attention has been paid to the emergence and implications of independent candidates in this electoral setting. Based on interviews, document analysis and observation, this paper defines the independent candidate, classifies them into four types, and describes the campaign process and specific outcomes in China's LPC elections. It is demonstrated that the development of independent candidates forms a realistic power locus in China's LPC elections, and to a large extent provides a functional substitution of opposition parties for exploring the change of authoritarian regime without opposition parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the last four centuries, under the policy of the Portuguese Padroado1454, the Macau Catholic Church has been closely associated with the Portuguese rulers of Macau in governing this 'Chinese territory under the Portuguese rule'. This church-state relationship in Macau before the Chinese takeover (1999) and after has become a client-patron relationship under the shadow of the Portuguese appeasement policy. In the context of the appeasement policy, this paper aims at discussing: (1) the close alliance between the Portuguese government and the Catholic Church in Macau, offering special privileges and convenience to the Church but weakening church capacity in evangelization and spiritual leadership; and (2) the interactions of the three actors in the triangular relationship among the Vatican, China and Macau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impact that increased exposure to China during the two and a half weeks of the Beijing Olympics had on American attitudes towards China. A large N longitudinal survey revealed a significant increase in negative attitudes towards China from the beginning to the end of August 2008. Statistical analysis revealed no dominant explanation for this change, however. Instead, personality (openness), ideology (social dominance orientation and right wing authoritarianism), and media exposure each had a small impact on changing attitudes. Further research (including a follow-up experiment manipulating the valence of media coverage of China) suggested both the possibility of an 'efficiency effect', whereby China's very success in both hosting and competing in the Olympics generated increased American anxiety about China, and a 'cheating effect', whereby stories about underage Chinese gymnasts and deception (e.g. lip synching while another child actually sang during the Opening Ceremonies) diffused broadly through social networks, uniformly and negatively impacting American attitudes towards China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how villagers in rural Sichuan understand the development of cancer, how they attempt to make sense of why it seems widespread and of why it affects particular individuals. Lay aetiologies of cancer such as negative emotions, smoking, consuming alcohol and preserved vegetables are addressed in order to contextualise environmentally related factors, and explain why they may or not be resorted to. With reference to ethnographic examples, I argue that awareness of pollution's effects on health can only gain strength when it is consonant with locals' experience and moral parameters and when it is perceived to be productive in attracting media attention and obtaining redress from various levels of state bureaucracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]