From an administered labor system under central planning, the Chinese economy has moved towards a labor market. This book reviews the progress that has been made over two decades of urban economic reform. It analyzes the underlying political economy that has both induced and impeded reform, and examines the economic changes that have unleashed market forces. Based on frontier research using specially designed and collected survey data, the book documents the rising wage inequality, the greater rewards for skills, the growing wage segmentation based on labor immobility and profit-sharing, the...

This book broadens our understanding of the culture and society of Canton, the largest metroplois in South China, in the period between the two World Wars. It redresses serious misconceptions of the extent of damage inflicted by gambling, prostitution and opium consumption on the Cantonese society and its people. There is abundant evidence that common Cantonese were more receptive to a pro-Western mentality, despite their reputation for being jingoistic and anti-foreign. Tracing the rise of Cantonese opera as a major form of mass entertainment, and the emergence among the citizens a strong...

This book examines the important theme of reform and reconstruction in twentieth century China, focusing particularly on the Deng era. Chapters are organized around three crucial issues: (i) the extent and limits of state control over economic, social, and cultural life; (ii) prospects for the development of a civil society separate from state control;and (iii) the struggle to define a Chinese national identity which takes China's ethnic diversity into consideration.

This book is a comprehensive study on Japan's postwar relations with China up until the end of the 1970s. The study is particularly strong on the detailed account of Japan's deep economic involvement with China initiated by a complex group of pro-China Japanese. It stands out in analytically placing the unique aspect of the postwar history of Sino-Japanese relations in an overall political context of Japanese diplomacy.

In 1979 China launched a new international economic policy with the establishment of four Special Economic Zones (SEZs): Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Shantou in Guangdong Province and Xiamen in Fujian Province. Modelled loosely on export processing zones and free trade zones found in other less developed countries, the SEZs offer a variety of financial inducements to foreign investors in order to harness international business for national economic advantage. Designed to be a cornerstone of China's economic reforms, by 1985 the SEZs (in the mid-80s zone-like policies were extended to fourteen...