The Chinese State in Transition

Book excerpt: One of the more commonly and widely held beliefs outside the People’s Republic of China about the changes wrought by the reform era is that there has been no political change The attention of the outside world focuses inevitably on Beijing and national level politics. Nonetheless, it may actually be at the more local levels that changes in politics and the state are most obviously made manifest The contributions to this volume clearly and convincingly demonstrate that the state and politics in China have changed considerably since the beginning of the 1980s. An international line up of experts explore the meanings of local initiatives through case studies, assessing their contribution to improving governance, questioning how they can be sustained, and revealing the political nature of normative standards. Each contribution focuses on a different policy area including cultural strategies, housing, land politics, corruption, peasants’ burden and cadre reforms, women and gender, and international relations. The Chinese State in Transition is an important read for students and scholars of Chinese politics, social and public policy, and governance.