Using a variety of methods learnt from her sociological and social anthropological training both in China and the West, and based on long-term, in-depth fieldwork in a Chinese village on the topics of "reciprocity, social support and creativity," the author has reached her concept of "lishang-wanglai" by combining related Chinese notions of guanxi, mianzi (face), renqing, especially li shang wanglai, and Fei Xiaotong's chaxugeju (social egoism). This concept consists of generous, expressive, instrumental and negative forms of reciprocity (wanglai), governed by criteria of moral judgment,...

In China's future social development, there is likely to be an interest in society building with a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches, along with a deepened level of social reform and the construction of a harmonious or co-symbiosis society. This represents one of China's social development models, and is reflected in the Communist Party of China (CPC) and state policy. The term society building was proposed by Chinese thinkers nearly one century ago, and has been used by Chinese sociologists to study Chinese society since the 1930s. In the 21st century, society building has...

This volume marks the 105th anniversary of the birth of Fei Xiaotong, the renowned Chinese sociologist and anthropologist. It is one of the outcomes of a four-day event, organized jointly by CCPN and other organizations at LSE, held in 2010, and includes not only pieces presented at that event but also a number of excellent articles that we have since received from scholars worldwide. Other will be published in collected volumes to promote China's social sciences worldwide, to consider problems of globalization and to participate in the building of a global society. This first volume focuses...

This volume marks the 105th anniversary of the birth of Fei Xiaotong, the renowned Chinese sociologist and anthropologist. It is one of the outcomes of a four-day event, organized jointly by CCPN and other organizations at LSE, held in 2010, and includes not only pieces presented at that event but also a number of excellent articles that we have since received from scholars worldwide. Other will be published in collected volumes to promote Chinas social sciences worldwide, to consider problems of globalization and to participate in the building of a global society.
This first volume focuses...

The Global China Dialogues (GCD) are a series of events with the key concepts of 'transculturality' and social creativity, aimed at enhancing public understanding of current global affairs and common interests via public dialogue and discussion between Chinese and non-Chinese academics, experts, professionals and practitioners and interested laypeople, from interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives. Apart from universities, research institutions and professional think tanks, we also engage with governments of different countries and international organizations, media and publishers....