CIAO DATE: 10/2010
Volume: 39, Issue: 2
January 2010
Lamb Buddha's Migrant Workers: Self-Assertion on China's Urban Fringe (PDF)
Michael Brian Griffiths
This paper presents an analysis of the everyday practices of individuality among the migrant workers with whom I worked at “Lamb Buddha”, a hotpot restaurant in Anshan City, Liaoning Province, during the summer of 2007. The majority of the data comes from four young men, meaning that the analysis complements extant studies of Chinese female migrant workers by allowing male-gendered inflections of discourse prominence. The paper examines the internal structure of “symbolic boundaries” drawn and managed in judgements, positioning statements, and so forth, attempting to regress the modalities by which these migrants assert themselves, thus showing how individuality arises from a discursive environment structured by relation to similar peers and distinctly different others
Chinese Foreign Policy in Transition: Trends and Implications (PDF)
Baohui Zhang
Chinese foreign policy has been transformed in recent years. This article seeks to provide a systematic analysis of the most salient features of the new Chinese foreign policy. It identifies five such features. Based on these features, the article suggests that China is poised to become a true global power. This view differs significantly from Gerald Segal’s famous claim in 1999 that China was no more than a middle power. The article utilizes many current Chinese sources to help readers understand China’s new motives and goals in international and regional affairs.
The Financial Crisis and China's "Harmonious Society" (PDF)
Arjan de Haan
The global financial crisis has had a large negative impact on China’s economy, particularly on employment, but the government responses appear to have been effective. This article focuses on the social policy responses after the crisis, and how these are situated in the austere social policies that have come about since the economic reforms started in 1978, and the recent aims to create a “harmonious society” and the challenges and contradictions these contain.
Why Half of China's Overseas Acquisitions Could Not Be Completed (PDF)
Jianhong Zhang, Haico Ebbers
About half of China’s overseas acquisition attempts have not been completed; the chance of success is much lower than worldwide. This study provides an overview of China’s overseas acquisition, and investigates the reasons behind the low likelihood that an acquisition deal is completed. By using a sample that consists of 1,324 overseas acquisition attempts by Chinese firms, the study found that multi-level determinants influence the outcome of China’s overseas acquisitions. Based on the findings, we conclude that the distinctive social and economic environment of acquirers; ownership and low competitiveness of these acquirers; lack of global experience; and sensitiveness of the industry all hamper Chinese acquisition deals.
Jian Sun, Lin Ye
Mega-events such as the World Cup and the Olympics have been used for economic development, urban transformation and global status enhancement. Beijing and Shanghai embraced these purposes when they won the bids for the 2008 Olympics and the 2010 World Expo respectively. This article examines the pre-event economic changes in Beijing and Shanghai that are associated with their pursuit of mega-events. Changes in a group of economic indicators are tracked from 1997 to 2006. It was found that after winning the bids for the Olympics and the World Expo, Beijing and Shanghai experienced greater growth in construction and tourism, a speeding-up in economic development and restructuring, and an improvement in physical infrastructure. However, the enhancement of global exposure was not accompanied by growth in foreign trade and in the finance, insurance and real estate (FIRE) industries. The empirical analyses place the mega-events in large economic contexts and provide a base for future post-event studies.
The Global Crisis' Impact upon China's Rural Migrants (PDF)
Sara Hsu, Shiyin Jiang, Halcott Heyward
Towards the end of 2008, as the world economy slowed and export-demand declined due to the global financial crisis, news reports began to appear detailing the return of rural migrants in China to their provincial homes. It was reported that 20 million rural migrant workers were laid off, and social instability rose due to both economic hardship and to the withholding of the payment of wages. Over time, these circumstances have changed, due to both the Chinese government’s fiscal stimulus package and to those programmes that have been targeted specifically at assisting the country’s rural migrants. As a result, the situation for rural migrants is no longer dire; circumstances have been greatly ameliorated by proactive government policies. To confirm these results, in this paper we look both at the situation across China and briefly at a study carried out in Sichuan province.
Taiwan's Democracy: Towards a Liberal Democracy or Authoritarianism? (PDF)
Dafydd J. Fell
This paper examines how Taiwan moved from being viewed as a model Asian democracy to one allegedly suffering from democratic reversal. The reasons for the declining domestic and international reputation of Taiwan’s democracy are discussed. Lastly, some key political challenges facing Taiwan’s democracy are outlined.