This text assesses the dynamics and consequences of the decentralization of power and resources in post-Mao China. The author argues that increasing decentralization has unleashed much competition and emulation among local governments. He also discusses the impact on regional disparities and cleavages, and government efforts to address the regional disparities which are the cause for increased tension between ethnic groups and serious divisions between China's provinces.

China's basic work units, collectively known as the danwei system, have undergone significant reform, particularly since 1984. The author examines how this system operates and how reform is generating change in the party at grassroots level.
The author demonstrates how China's post-Mao reforms have produced a quiet revolution from below as the process of political and economic liberalization has accelerated. This book presents new research findings that will be invaluable to those wishing to understand the nature of change in China.

This book analyses the industrial reform measures taken by the Chinese government during the decade 1985-95 and identifies the economic and political tensions and contradictions that state enterprise reform has presented to a leadership intent on maintaining its authoritative political position.
Using government sources and interviews with economists and workers at one of China's largest state-owned enterprises (The Second Automobile/Dongfeng corporation ), Hannan concludes that the relationship between state policy and enterprise is a complex two-way process characterised by tensions...

China's economic reforms are now the subject of intense interest. One of the least expected developments, however, has so far passed with little comment. From the late 1990s, the Chinese state went into business. Jane Duckett describes in detail the new state business activities and explains why they have appeared. Using research on the northern city of Tianjin during the 1990s she argues that individual departments, within the Chinese state, are involved in the market economy through the establishment of their own businesses. The book demonstrates that many of these businesses are genuinely...

A feature of China's rapid modernization has been the rise of a consumer society in the cities. Retail, entertainment and leisure industries have developed to help service the expanding consumer demands of China's new cosmopolitans. However, major changes are also taking place in rural areas as the tourist industry continues to grow. This volume examines how the experience of modernization is revealed in its newly constructed tourist landscapes. It argues that in China's burgeoning ethnic tourist villages and theme parks can be seen all the contradictions, debasement, and liberating...

This study systematically examines uneven regional development in China, focusing on three central agents: the foreign investor; the state; and the region. Wei's findings have significant implications for theories of, and policy towards, Chinese regional development. The book should be of value to those with an interest in transition economies.

This work relates the stories of four leaders under the very different political regimes of colonial, Nationalist and Communist. The authors compare Chinese notions of respect and inspiration with their equivalents in other religious and political histories of colonial and post-colonial modernity, thereby producing a thorough re-working of the idea of charisma. The result is a study of the relationship between religious and political authority in a changing world.

"Locating China" explores the political economy of place, space and popular culture in contemporary China. This multidisciplinary volume examines the mutual articulations between cultural imaginary and China's continuing drive toward urbanization. The consequences of this relationship are shown to be the development of new space and places, and new forms of spatial practices, thus weakening old concepts of the "local" and "locality."
The international group of scholars incorporate theoretical inquiries of space with grounded empirical work on multiple locals throughout China. From village...