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Letters and reports to the Institute of Current World Affairs on the political economy of the coast of China

Rediscovering China : dynamics and dilemmas of reform

This evocative exploration of the profound changes overtaking China examines the major dilemmas the country confronts: official corruption, growing disparities between rich and poor, the halting reform of state-owned enterprises, transportation and infrastructure bottlenecks, and environmental degradation. Shanghai-born and Western-educated, Cheng Li provides the unique dual perspective of a local resident and a political scientist who returned to his homeland to observe its remarkable social transformations. His sympathetic yet clear-eyed account provides the reader with the sounds and smells, tastes and textures of a country enduring the pangs of rapid reform.Cheng Li returned to China for this book, to observe the dilemmas which the country confronts at the turn of the millennium. To achieve the dual perspective of local resident and political scientist, he interviewed various people, from entrepreneurs to migrant labourers. The book shows the current problems with corruption, the growing disparaties between rich and poor, environmental degradation, the halting reform of state-owned enterprises, and transportation and infrastructure bottlenecks.

China's leaders : the new generation

This clear and timely book presents the first sustained and structured analysis of globalization in the East Asian context, exploring the strategies used by East Asian countries to cope with the forces of globalization. Eschewing both neoliberal "hyperglobalization" chants and neorealist "globaloney" castigation, the authors integrate a broad conceptual framework with region- and country-specific case studies. Specifically, the book poses and addresses three major questions about East Asia's globalization. First, it identifies the range of contending conceptualizations of globalization that have underpinned the region's changing and contradictory views in the 1990s. Second, the book critically probes the discrepancy between promise and performance - the myths and realities - of East Asian globalization and the complex interaction of challenges and responses. Third, the authors evaluate the impacts and consequences of globalization for East Asia's political, economic, social, cultural, ecological and security development. These questions clarify the often-murky nature, challenges, responses and consequences of globalization, especially in light of the Asian financial crisis and moves toward recovery.Who will govern China after Jiang Zemin? What path will its new leaders chart in the early years of the twenty-first century? Drawing upon a wealth of both quantitative and qualitative data on the so-called fourth generation of leaders-those who were young during the Cultural Revolution-Cheng Li shows that this group is more diversified than previous generations in formative experiences, political solidarity, ideological conviction, and occupational background. The author explores the contradictions between these emerging leaders and their non-elite peers who were barred from education during the Mao era and now often are unemployed and disenchanted. The book concludes with the intriguing notion that this generation of leaders may have a better understanding of its peersAI concerns and therefore may make the regime more accountable to its people, thus contributing to, rather than opposing, democratic development. Visit our website for sample chapters!.