Category Archives: Books

New book: Urbanisation-China and Europe

113958636Published by Gold Wall Press, Urbanisation: China and Europe includes the perspectives of both Chinese and European experts and scholars on the problems and challenges of China’s urbanisation. Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, wrote the preface, indicating that urbanisation in China can learn some useful lessons from European cities, which have years of experience blazing a trail for sustainable development. This book discusses urbanisation problems from different angles, from regional resources and new models of local governance, to methods of addressing financial obstacles. It also elaborates an integrated approach for the widespread implementation of policies to address the various challenges in the development of a city.

 

 

 

Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

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New book: Chinese City and Regional Planning Systems

Li, Yu (2014). Chinese city and regional planning systems. Farnham : Ashgate, 2014. 306 p. ISBN : 978-0-7546-7499-3

While the Chinese planning system is vitally important to the rapid development which has been 9780754674993.PBK_Templatetaking place over the past three decades, this is the first text to provide a comprehensive examination and critical evaluation of this system. It sets the current system in historical context and explains the hierarchy of government departments responsible for planning and construction, the different types of plans produced and recent urban planning innovations which have been put into practice. Illustrated with boxed empirical case studies, it shows the problems faced by the planning system in facing the uncertainty in the market economy.
In all, it provides readers with a full understanding of a complex and powerful system which is very distinct from other planning systems around the world. As such, it is essential reading for all students interested in the current development taking place in China and, in addition, to planning students with a general interest in planning systems and theory.

 

Monique Abud

Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine, EHESS, Paris, France

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Book proposals: Regions and Cities Book Series

The Regions and Cities Book Series is published by Routledge in association with the Regional Studies Association and welcomes book proposals for new books in the series. Please see below for further information and guidelines.

Submitting a proposal (guidelines for authors)

http://www.routledge.com/info/authors/

Contacts

If you would like to submit a proposal, or have any queries, or concerns, please contact:

Rob Langham, Global Editorial Director – Regional Studies
ROUTLEDGE, 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN, United Kingdom
Email: rob.langham@tandf.co.uk

Monique Abud

Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine, EHESS, Paris, France

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How China’s resource quest is changing the world

Economy, Elizabeth and Michael Levi (2014). By all means necessary : how China’s resource quest is changing the world. Oxford : Oxford University Press. 288 p. ISBN : 9780199921782.

By all means necessaryChina’s spectacular rise over the past three decades is nothing short of monumental, and is one of the most important events in modern history. Its economic growth affects nations around the world, environmentally, politically and militarily. In By All Means Necessary, Elizabeth Economy and Michael Levi explore the unrivaled expansion of the Chinese economy and what has been required to sustain this meteoric growth.

In the past twenty five years China has transformed from an impoverished country where peasants comprised the largest portion of the populace, by far, to a country of innovation, entrepreneurs and more millionaires than anywhere else in the world. In the beginning, that growth was fueled by internal resources, but like every other major power in modern history China was forced to look outward to find the massive quantities of resources needed to maintain their economic expansion. It is now engaged in a far flung quest around the world for fuel, water, and land for farming, while their military secures sea lanes and focuses on advanced military technologies to protect their interests abroad.

By All Means Necessary is a comprehensive account of where China’s pursuit of raw materials may take them in the coming years-a crucial issue, not just for China, but for the whole world.

More on the publisher’s website (Table of contents, authors information)

 

Monique Abud

Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine, EHESS, Paris, France

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Studies on New Year Pictures in China

James Flath’s research focuses on Chinese print and popular culture, and on Chinese architectural heritage.

The Cult of Happiness: Nianhua, Art, and History in Rural North China

封面James A. Flath, 2004, The Cult of Happiness: Nianhua, Art, and History in Rural North China, UBC Press. 288 p. Sample chapter.

History and art come together in this definitive discussion of the Chinese woodblock print form of nianhua, literally “New Year pictures.” By analyzing the role of nianhua first in the home and later in commercial and political theatres, James Flath relates these artworks to the social, cultural, and political milieu of North China as it was between the late Qing dynasty and the early 1950s. Among the first studies in any field to treat folk art and folk print as historical text, The Cult of Happiness offers original insight into popular conceptions of domesticity, morality, gender, society, modernity, and the transformation of the genre as a propaganda tool under communism. An extraordinary account of the cultural life of rural North China over the period. Read on line

  • Reviewed by Craig Clunas,  China Review International, Volume 12, Number 1, Spring 2005, pp.97-99 (Article) DOI: 10.1353/cri.2005.0123. Avalaible on Project MUSE
  • Reviewed by Ralph C. Croizier, University of Toronto Quarterly, Volume 75, Number 1, Winter 2006, pp. 345-347 (Article) DOI: 10.1353/utq.2006.0042 . Avalaible on Project MUSE

The Nianhua Gallery

http://history.uwo.ca/nianhua/

This site is dedicated to the visual culture of pre-modern rural China, and through that visual culture it is hoped that readers will gain a stronger appreciation for how people lived and celebrated in the domestic Chinese setting. Most of the prints found on this site are reprints – meaning that they were printed in modern times from wooden printing blocks that were in use during the early part of the 20th century. The prints, therefore, date from the 1980s and 90s, but they do accurately reflect much older designs and themes. The prints originate with the traditional nianhua printing centres of Yangjiabu in Shandong province, Zhuxianzhen in Henan, Fengxiang in Shaanxi and Mianzhu in Sichuan. Although these centres had wide influence, one should not assume that the visual culture of one region applies to another region as well. In fact, one of the goals of this site is to explore how visual culture was, or was not shared between one part of the country and another. In general, however, the reader may also find that once regional differences have been accounted for, China did enjoy a remarkably unity in visual culture despite the extremes of geography and regionalism.

See also

  • James Flath, ‘Social Themes in Yangliuqing Nianhua of the 1930s’ Arts Asiatique 66, 2012
  • New Year Prints (and chubby babies) on Chinese.posters.net

Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

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Urban competitiveness and innovation

Pengfei Ni , Qiong Jie Zheng (Eds.), 2014, Urban competitiveness and innovation, Cheltenham (UK), 296 p.  Look inside

Description

Against the backdrop of today’s climate of economic globalization and the rapid development of information, this timely book explores the complex concept of competitiveness between cities. The expert contributors illustrate that innovation is a prerequisite for increasing urban competitiveness, and highlight the various ways that urban innovation-based competitiveness can be approached.

Contributors include: G. Ferrari, F. Gipouloux, L. Kamal-Chaoui, P.K. Kresl, S. Mollica, P. Ni, J. Shen, J. Sobrino, P. Taylor, L. van den Berg, H. Wolman

Article by François Gipouloux: The Strategic Shift Toward Domestic Market, Service Enhancement, and Urban Competitiveness in China

 

 

Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

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Villa Basset: French Consul’s residence in Shanghai

Couverture ShanghaiMarie-Claire Bergère , Françoise Ged, Danielle Elisseeff and Jérémy Cheval (2013). La Villa Basset : Résidence du consul général de France à Shanghai. Paris: Editions Internationales du Patrimoine.Collection / Série : Résidences de France ; 11. . Translators: Ju Wang et Xiaoli Wei. Photography: Jonathan Leijonhufvud.

From the mid-19th century to just after the Second World War, the responsibilities of the French Consul in Shanghai were twofold. On one hand, he must protect French interests in the face of senior officials of the local Chinese authorities and the agents of major foreign powers represented in Shanghai. On the other hand, he must oversee the management of the French Concession and ensure compliance, security, public order, urban planning regulation, education and health in this semi-colonial enclave. The consular residence with its vast administrative annexes was the principal power centre of this flourishing cosmopolitan metropolis for a century1.

The villa Basset is returning to the limelight. Listed as a historical building of Shanghai since 1994, it has also been registered since 2003 in the largest of the 12 protected areas of the city, an innovative municipal measure in China at the time. With this classification, as with the rest of Shanghai, the stories of the people who lived in this residence are coming out of the shadows too2.

Built in 1921 by French architects from the Crédit Foncier d’Extrême-Orient (Far East mortgage bank) by order of Lucien Basset, the consular villa combines Asian and European influences. Its hybrid architecture elegantly combines neoclassical columns, Flemish roofing, Italian balconies, capitals and mosaics and Chinese landscaped and rock gardens. This “Mediterranean” or “Italian style” house, whose story keeps the print of its successive occupants, remains a historical witness of the distinctive architecture of the old French Concession3.

The visitor enters this beautiful residence through the north side, as ordinary citizens and suppliers from the Forbidden City did during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911); but here, the vegetation surrounding the porch allows us to imagine what lies beyond, south of the house. We can easily guess that this visit, as with all beautiful villas built in Shanghai by Europeans during the Republic, will end in the garden, living jewel of the property4.

For more information.

  1. p. 17, text by Marie-Claire Bergère. []
  2. p. 59, text by Françoise Ged. []
  3. p.105, text by Jérémy Cheval. []
  4. p. 127, text by Danielle Elisseeff. []

Aurélia Martin

Chargée de communications et des médias pour l'UMR Chine Corée Japon (CNRS)

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Old industrial cities seeking new road of industrialization

Old industrial cities seeking new road of industrialization : models of revitalizing Northeast China. Edited by Mark Wang et al. Singapore : World Scientific, 2014. 250 p. ISBN: 978-981-4390-53-8 (hardcover)

About the book

The old industrial cities in northeast China (Manchuria) were the cradle of China’s industrialization and had significantly contributed to the industrialization of the nation during the Mao era. Deng’s open door policy and economic reform disadvantaged the region and left it behind others. In the context of market economy and competition from rapidly growing coastal areas, northeast China became the burden to China’s overall economic development. With a high concentration of state-owned heavy industries, cities in this region suffered from heavy losses in revenue and massive layoffs of millions of former state-owned enterprise workers, known as the “Northeast Phenomenon” or “Neo-Northeast Phenomenon”.

However, since the implementation of the Chinese Government’s “Revitalisation Strategy of Northeast China” in 2003, cities in northeast China have gone through various transformations. Their recent economic performance has made many Chinese economists predict that northeast China will become China’s new growth engine and catch up with the economic performance of other prosperous regional economies such as the Pearl River Delta, Lower Yangtze River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin region.

This book investigates how cities in northeast China are shaking off their economic disadvantages and implementing various forms of restructuring in their industries. The authors identify six different reindustrialization models, namely Shenyang Tiexi Model — repacking old industries; Dalian Model — beyond the China’s coast development model; Daqing Model — extension of industrial chain; Fuxin Model — modern agro-processing saved the coal mining city from “ghost town”; Jilin city — low carbon-oriented model; and Central Liaoning Urban Cluster Model — negotiated/agreed industrial division. All these models will be explained through analysis of their approaches, key actors, and mechanisms.

Contents

  • Introduction: Urban “Catch Up” Strategies for China’s “Rust Belt” Region
  • From Mao’s Pet to Deng’s Burden
  • Revitalization Strategies of Old Industrial Cities Under Hu
  • Shenyang Tiexi Model — Repacking Old Industries
  • Dalian Model — Beyond the China’s Coast Development Model
  • Daqing Model — Extension of Industrial Chain
  • Fuxin Model — Modern Agro-Processing Saved the Coal Mining City From “Ghost Town”
  • Jilin City — Low Carbon-Oriented Model
  • Central Liaoning Urban Cluster Model — Negotiated Industrial Division

 More information and a sample chapter on the publisher’s site

 

 

Monique Abud

Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine, EHESS, Paris, France

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Migrants and health in urban China

Bettina Gransow, Zhou Daming, Eds, (2013), Migrants and health in urban China, Berlin, Berliner China Hefte.Bd. 38, 2010, 192 S., br., ISBN 978-3-643-10912-5

The double-edged policy pursued by the Chinese government has created serious challenges for public health strategies implemented at national and local levels. As a result, the challenges created new research opportunities for Chinese and Western scholars, and this volume is a compilation of their work. The papers are organized within three main topics: health risks, health services, and health insurance for rural migrants in Chinese cities. The volume also includes two documentary contributions on migration regulations and civil society services for migrants suffering from occupational diseases and work-related injuries.

Léa Daures

Léa Daures, historian and student at the Ecole des Bibliothécaires Documentalistes (School for Librarians and Information Professions, http://www.ebd.fr), works part-time at the UMR China Korea Japan. She is currently monitoring information online on the subject of migrants in China for UrbaChina.

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Blue book on “analyses and projections for Chinese society”

Aurélien Boucher, « Lu Xueyi, Li Peilin, Chen Guangjin (eds.), 2013 nian Zhongguo shehui xingshi fenxi yu yuce (Analyses and projections for Chinese society in 2013) », China Perspectives [Online], 2013/3 | 2013, Online since 01 September 2013, connection on 19 November 2013. URL : http://chinaperspectives.revues.org/6295

This volume is part of a “blue book” (lanpishu) collection. With 19 others published in 2013 – on subjects as diverse as education, the economy, and special economic zones – it must be seen as an official “report” (baogao), meant to make a first assessment of national and/or local public policies. Published since 1993, the blue book on “analyses and projections for Chinese society” is mostly the work of scholars from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). It is one of the missions of the academy, whose role consists of standing alongside the government in the “reform” process. Since early in the last decade, studies compiled by CASS have focused on issues such as the development of a welfare state (health care system, retirement pension, and unemployment insurance), jobs, social mobility, labour relations, and the evolution of rural societies.

2In terms of the themes dealt with, the 2013 edition makes no break with previous ones. It is part of a movement that began in 2009 calling greater attention to university graduates’ professional integration, Internet usage, and food and environmental safety. Five of the 26 articles in the 2013 edition deal with these subjects while the others take up traditional themes. The only notable change is that for the first time, the book has no article specifically devoted to the issue of corruption (fubai).

3On the whole, the writing follows the highly restrained style of previous editions. The authors avoid going into generalities and linking the construction of categories of analyses. They also take little notice of criticisms made by social agents toward Party leaders. Even the article by Zhu Huaxin, Liu Peifeng, and Shan Xuegang on the expression of public opinion on the Internet – discussing among other things the way citizens see national and local officials – is restrained (pp. 193-212). Apart from a passage of ten lines or so addressing comments on corruption and officials’ lifestyles, the authors prefer to tackle this sensitive topic through occasional references to “incidents” (such as torrential rains in Beijing that led to the mayor’s exit, and the “Wang Lijun/Bo Xilai affair”). Authors’ criticisms come through implicitly in the overly politically correct idea that “the Internet represents (for the government) a means of adjusting its relationship with society and pacifying social challenges” (p. 211).

Read the full text of the article pubished in China Perspectives on Revues.org

Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

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Ecologie & politique 47 – Today’s political ecology in China

Écologie & politique 47, Les écologies politiques aujourd’hui (5) Chine (2013). Coordination: Jean-Paul Maréchal. Paris: Presse de Sciences Po

Presentation

After thirty years of the economy growing at almost 10% per year, China is now faced with the challenge of environmental limits. Lakes, streams, the air, the soil are all affected. This degradation has sparked sometimes violent demonstrations from the people concerned, already in the tens of thousands every year. This report discusses how the environmental issue is making its way in the civil society and spheres of government of the Middle Kingdom.

Political Ecology in China [p.17]

Jean-Paul Maréchal

Summary – The purpose of this article is to highlight how three decades of sustained growth have resulted in a massive deterioration of the environment in China. The severity of pollution has lead to social discontent, which threatens the government’s legitimacy. Thus, a number of measures have been taken by the government to address the issue, but, given the scale of the challenge, these cannot yield results in the short term.

The Green Awakening of Chinese Society? [p.27]

Marie-Hélène Schwoob

Abstract – China’s current political transition raises questions about which path should the new leadership take in the process of reshaping relationships between the State and society. This evolution is made necessary by the moving frontiers of roles played by stakeholders, particularly in the field of environmental protection: from limited circles of environmental activism, encouraged as well as controlled by the government since the 1990s, the civil society is today moving towards more independent ways of demonstrating its environmental awareness, as recent events have shown. However, even after the fall of Bo Xilai—which led people to believe in a “victory” of the Guangdong’s liberalist model—vigorous debates opposing claims for reform and resilient conservatism are still taking place in China.

Nature Bursts into Canton. NGOs, State and Global Norms [p.39]

Monique Selim

Abstract – This article seeks to analyze the representations of nature and the practices related to these representations in contemporary China. It is based on an anthropological research conducted in Guangzhou, capital of the Guangdong province, a city rather opened to outside influences due to its proximity with Hong Kong and therefore rather less affected by the control of the party-state than the rest of the country. The author shows how small groups of environmentalists appear, and study the political relations that develop from this new tropism. Between the control of the party-state and the subversive logic that underlie the very idea of nature conservation, a very diverse rank of attitudes and conceptions showing the entrance of China into a global world can be grasped.

Ecology, Confucius and Democracy. A Critical Analysis of Chinese Rhetoric of « Ecological Civilization » [p.51]

Gwennaël Gaffric and Jean-Yves Heurtebise

Abstract – In the last past years, the catch-phrase “ecological civilization” flourished in China and became widely used by both academic and politicians. This article aims at addressing the underlying (philosophical and political) reasons of its growing use. We contend that this notion, based on a culturalist and nationalist interpretation of “traditional Chinese thought” (presented as the very antidote to “Western thought”), plays an instrumental role in China’s discursive strategy of power consisting in using Chinese philosophical textual tradition to support national and international interests. This paper’s goal is to critically analyze this discourse in order to rethink the fundamental relationship between ecopolitics and democracy.

Environmental Justice as Fairness. The Politicization of Environmental Conflicts in the Popular Republic of China [p.63]

Richard Balme

Abstract – This paper explores developments in environmental policy-making in China under the angle of environmental justice. While the extent of environmental damages and their social impacts are relatively well known, the political implications of environmental conflicts are less documented. The paper shows that the developments of legislation, collective action, public participation and litigation, served as converging factors to allow for some significant improvements in environmental policy-making procedures over the last decade. Although these innovation remained local, and far from reversing the general state of the environment in China, they introduced significant changes in the patterns of interaction among relevant policy stakeholders.

China’s Policy Responses to Climate Change [p.77]

Giulia C. Romano

Abstract – In the global warming issue, China now covers the record of the first world polluter. Moreover, by far the country has shown a reticent attitude towards the possibility of engaging in an international accord stipulating concrete targets for emissions reduction. But how could we explain the partial change occurred in Durban, where China finally accepted the EU-proposed “platform?” We try to answer this question by observing the internal context and asking another preliminary question: has China adopted a climate change policy? The answer seems to be positive.

The Challenge for China of Building a New Global Climate Regime [p.89]

Jean-Paul Maréchal

Abstract – This article evaluates China’s contribution to the global warming phenomenon and the role she can be expected to play in the future. It also analyzes Beijing’s attitude in the international negotiations concerning global climate change, in order to understand the difficulties to conceive and implement a “post-Kyoto” climate regime.

China and Green Technologies: A New Kind of Security Dilemma? [p.103]

Emmanuel Meneut

Abstract – The pollution and the high Chinese level of emitted greenhouse gas are a challenge for the Communist Party and the Chinese political regime. The internal challenge is coming from the consequences of pollution on the population and the large discontent it fuels. The external challenge is due to the international stage position of the first greenhouse gas producer and the second GDP of the world economy. This major challenge requires a structural change of the energy production and consumption of the country. As a consequence, China became one of the main actors of the energy transition through its two last five-year plans. The huge investment level in clean tech energy conversion chains is the translation of the Chinese political will. This situation creates tensions with Western countries.

For more information,see the official Écologie & Politique website (French).

Aurélia Martin

Chargée de communications et des médias pour l'UMR Chine Corée Japon (CNRS)

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China and its migrants by Chloé Froissart

Chloé Froissart (2013) China and its migrants. Presses universitaires de Rennes. coll. Res Publica.

China’s economic reforms have triggered the greatest rural exodus in world history, which now presents one of the major challenges the Chinese regime must face. While binding the Party to exercise the rule of law, the opening up of the market has also created a new social class, migrant workers, seemingly second-class citizens in the cities of their own country.

This book shows how the role of migrants in society has evolved and how this evolution has redefined Chinese citizenship, without calling into question the principals which support the Party’s dominance. By combining an analysis of public politics to a social and political approach focused on society’s resistance, Froissart brings to light the dynamics and tensions which underlie the Chinese regime’s transformation.

Based on five years of field studies, this book offers an unprecedented insight into the manner in which the Party has been able to adapt itself to the changes arising since the launch of the reforms and find its own way to modernity.

This book was developed from Chloé Froissart’s prize winning doctoral thesis.

Chloé Froissart will be presenting her book at several venues in November. She will make an appearance:

She has also given an interview, in French, to the radio station RCF in two parts, aired November 12 and 13, which will be available on podcast on their website.

Aurélia Martin

Chargée de communications et des médias pour l'UMR Chine Corée Japon (CNRS)

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Chinese social policy in a time of transition

Besharov, Douglas and Baehler, Karen, eds. (2013). Chinese social policy in a time of transition. Oxford University Press. 368 p. ISBN 978-0-19-999031-3

The story of China’s spectacular economic growth is well known. Less well known is the country’s equally dramatic, though not always equally successful, social policy transition. Between the mid- 1990s and mid-2000s—-the focal period for this book—-China’s central government went a long way toward consolidating the social policy framework that had gradually emerged in piecemeal fashion during the initial phases of economic liberalization. Major policy decisions during the focal period included adopting a single national pension plan for urban areas, standardizing unemployment insurance, (re)establishing nationwide rural health care coverage, opening urban education systems to children of rural migrants, introducing trilingual education policies in ethnic minority regions, expanding college enrolment, addressing the challenge of HIV/AIDS more comprehensively, and equalizing social welfare spending across provinces, among others. Unresolved is the direction of policy in the face of longer-term industrial and demographic trends—-and the possibility of a chronically weak global economy. Chinese Social Policy in a Time of Transition offers a foundation from which to explore those issues based on a composite snapshot of Chinese social policy at its point of greatest maturation prior to the 2007 global crisis.

Monique Abud

Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine, EHESS, Paris, France

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China and the environment. The Green Revolution

Source: ChinaFile http://www.chinafile.com/china-and-environment

Sixteen of the world’s twenty most polluted cities are in China. A serious water pollution incident occurs once every two-to-three days. China’s breakneck growth causes great concern about its global environmental impacts, as others look to China as a source for possible future solutions to climate change. But how are Chinese people really coming to grips with environmental problems? This book provides access to otherwise unknown stories of environmental activism and forms the first real-life account of China and its environmental tensions.

Zed Books http://zedbooks.co.uk/paperback/china-and-the-environment

Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

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China’s future and scarcity

Ma, Damien and Adams, William (2013). In line behind a billion people : how scarcity will define China’s ascent in the next decade. Pearson Education, FT Press, 352 p. ISBN: 978-0-13-313389-9.

Within a decade, China will have the world’s largest economy. In this book, two China experts turn the conventional wisdom on its head, showing why China’s economic growth will constrain rather than empower it. Political analyst Damien Ma and global economist William Adams reveal why, having 35 years of ferocious economic growth, China’s future will be shaped by the same fundamental reality that has shaped it for millennia: scarcity. Ma and Adams drill deep into Chinese society, showing all the scarcities that will limit its power and progress. Beyond scarcities of natural resources and public goods, they illuminate China’s persistent poverties of individual freedoms, cultural appeal, and ideological legitimacy — and the corrosive loss of values and beliefs amongst a growing middle class shackled by a parochial and inflexible political system.

Download sample pages (Table of contents, Introduction and Index)

Monique Abud

Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine, EHESS, Paris, France

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