Reform In China Research Articles

The Specter of Failed Transition: Tocqueville and the Reception of Liberalism in Reform China

What connects the political thinker and historian Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) to China? Hitherto, scholars have answered this question by looking into references to China in his Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution or by applying insights from his works to issues of democratization. This article seeks to move beyond these “Tocquevillian perspectives on China” and instead foregrounds “Chinese perspectives on Tocqueville”: How did Chinese thinkers understand Tocqueville in reform China (post-1978)? Building on existing research that has analyzed Tocqueville as a thinker concerned with transition rather than with democratization per se, this article posits that Chinese intellectuals interpreted Tocqueville to warn against the dangers of “failed transition” after the suppression of the Tiananmen demonstrations and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Swayed by the Tocquevillian paradox of reform, they identified the French and Anglo-American “models” as “cases” from which general lessons could be drawn. The article further posits that the renewed interest in Tocqueville in the 2010s was also marked by the specter of failed transition. Later, readers and officials pinpointed the rise of social inequality as a potentially destabilizing factor . Finally, the article sheds light on these contemporary readings of Tocqueville against the broader background of the history of liberalism in China.

The Contribution of the “School of New Marxist Economics” to China's Socialist Market Economy

Since China's reform and opening up four decades ago, the establishment and healthy development of the socialist market economy has been closely linked to the forward-looking theoretical analysis and policy suggestions given by representatives from the School of New Marxist Economics. By comparative analysis of a variety of cited literature, the author argues that the School of New Marxist Economics scholars Guoguang Liu, Enfu Cheng, and Zuyao Yu, have made an outstanding contribution not only to the construction of the socialist market economy theory and socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics academically, but also to the comprehensive deepening of reform and the strengthening of technology power building in practice.

On the Development of Higher Vocational Education from the International Perspective

With the support of appropriate political and economic system, China's higher vocational education continues to push forward the education reform, optimize the education structure, and gradually clarify the development path in many directions. Based on the international perspective, combined with the practice of vocational education in Germany and Singapore, this paper makes some contributions to the development of world-class higher vocational education with Chinese characteristics: building a complete vocational education system with lifelong education thought and vocational ability training as the center; improving laws and regulations to promote the convergence of vocational education and industry; activating the main body of vocational colleges We should strengthen the practical operation ability of teachers, build a team of double qualified vocational education, guide the "work project" to activate the curriculum and internalize the theoretical knowledge in practice. In the magnificent development of China's reform and opening up, the development focus of vocational education has gradually changed from the denotative development to the connotative construction, and a development path with Chinese characteristics has emerged.

Is resilience capacity index of Chinese region performing well? Evidence from 26 provinces

Abstract With the aggravation of global climate change, the frequency of global natural disasters is increasing year by year. How to actively respond to natural disasters has become the key to ensure the sustainable development of the region. Since urbanization in developing countries is much lower than that in developed countries, most scholars in the past focused on the regional resilience of developed countries rather than developing countries. China is the largest developing country in the world, choosing China as the research area has practical guiding significance. To assess the current state of China's regional resilience capacity, this paper establishes an evaluation system of resilience capacity index of 28 indicators based on China's actual situation. The comprehensive emergy and factor analysis method are used to evaluate the resilience capacity index of 26 regions (provinces) in China from four aspects: ecology, economy, engineering, and society. The results show that economy and ecology are the critical factors affecting regional resilience capacity index. China's regional resilience index has apparent characteristics of agglomeration, distribution, and imbalance in space. China's coastal resilience index is generally higher than China's inland region, showing gradient differentiation in spatial change. These characteristics are influenced by China's policy, which is consistent with the expected early effect of China's reform and opening-up policy.

The Influence Mechanism and Effect of Foreign Capital Entering to the Changes of China's Industrial Sectors Price

In recent years, many scholars attributed the phenomenon of manipulation and mutually negotiated frequently reported in the media to the control of foreign companies in the industry. However, there are also some scholars who held the opposite view that none of the foreign-invested enterprises has raised prices of their products. To this end, this study analyzed the influence mechanism and effect of foreign capital entering to the changes of china's industrial sectors price using panel data of China's industrial sectors. The study found that: the entry of foreign capital influenced the change of China's industrial sectors price through raising labor productivity and weakening monopoly power. Research results indicate that, since China's reform and opening up, the entry of foreign capital promoted the raising of the Chinese industry sectors labor productivity, weakening monopoly power of some industry in China, reducing China's industrial sectors prices and curbing inflation on the whole, thereby it improved the level of the Chinese social welfare.

SAM-based analysis of China’s economic system and measurement of the effects of a VAT rate cut after the tax reform

In this paper,based on a 2015 social accounting matrix (SAM) for China elaborated by us,we conducted a comprehensive analysis of the structure of China's economic system using the impact multiplier model. Having this analysis as a background,we focused on the tax reform China completed in 2016, moving from a bifurcated system based on a business tax (BT) and Value Added Tax (VAT) to an entirely VAT-based system. The effects of this reform remain under observation and discussion,regarding not only the reduction in the tax burden on the industrial and service sectors but also economic improvements. Nonetheless,currently,an analysis of the existing literature on the topic indicated consensus that the reform had positive effects in both respects. Given this context,it would be interesting to analyse what effects a selective reduction in the VAT rate would have on China's economy under this new VAT-based system. To the best of our knowledge,no such analysis has been performed. We attempted to fill this gap and,based on the above purpose-built SAM,we conducted an impact multiplier analysis of the aforementioned effects. Several results have been achieved. From the estimation of the industry-level endogenous coefficients there is evidence of a considerable average degree of integration among the industries and of the key role of Manufacturing in China's production structure. Moreover,the significant orientation of the industries to the production of value added is highlighted. The analysis of the impact of the indirect tax reform have demostrated that making the central government the sole operator of indirect taxes is a general advantage. Overall,there is evidence that the economic system strongly reacts—by a nearly 4% increasing—to an average VAT cut of 1.2% for 6 industries,thus highlighting its elasticity to this kind of exogenous shocks.

Modern modes of sediment distribution and the anthropogenic heavy metal pollution record in northeastern Beibu Gulf, south China sea.

During the expedition 908 survey in 2007, 539 seafloor surface sediment samples and two cores were collected over a narrow sector of the northeastern Beibu Gulf, South China Sea. Currently, three dynamic sedimentological processes prevail in the study area: circulation-controlled sand deposition, mud deposition under weak sediment dynamics, and fluvial input. Core A233 from the circulation-controlled sand area, with a 60 cm mixed layer, provides evidence of dynamics disturbance since the mid-Holocene. To reconstruct the anthropogenic heavy metal pollution history, we selected core A146 from the stable mud sector influenced by fluvial input. The dating of core A146 was based on 210Pb activity analysis, showing an ~90-year historical record in the upper 40 cm. The heavy metal contamination results showed a generally low pollution level. Nonetheless, increased pollution has happened since the 1950s, especially after 1978 A.D., corresponding to the beginning of China's reform and opening up.

In Search of a Long-Term Development Path for China: Starting from Differences between Assigning Responsibility and Contracting

The “third sphere” born of the interacting of a market economy with a centralized state, and of a system of market contracting 合同 with administrative “assigning responsibility” 发包/承包, has become a key characteristic of the new political-economic system of Reform China. It has imported the private enterprise market economy of the modern West, but has also retained the (revolutionary) tradition of a socialist party-state and its ownership of the principal means of production. Its administrative system resembles more and more the modern West’s (Weberian) bureaucratic system, but it has also retained the traditional imperial Chinese “centralized minimalism” and “parcelized despotism” characteristics. It cannot be grasped by the either/or dualistic opposites mode of thinking, but can only be understood in terms of the combining and interacting of dualistic opposites. The combination may be understood as one concrete and substantive meaning of the officialized term of a “socialist market economy.”

Spatio-temporal evolution of port opening in China's 40 years of reform and opening-up period.

In the past 40 years of reform and opening-up, China has developed from an economically closed country to a country that is highly dependent on foreign trade. From the perspective of spatiotemporal evolution, we analyze how port opening promoted China's reform and opening-up process. First, the port development process is divided into four periods. In the start-up period, the pilot open port policy created a platform for foreign cooperation and exchange. During the expansion period, port openings promoted the continuous optimization of the trade structure. In the cooperation period, port openings corresponded with the adjustment of China's overall industrial structure. During the optimization period, port openings provided guarantees for the implementation of a national development strategy. Second, we analyze the distribution of ports and their relationship with cross-border logistics and passenger flow. Based on data of foreign trade and passenger flow, a port openness degree measurement model includes port logistics intensity, passenger flow intensity and port city foreign-trade volume is constructed. There are significant types, geographical differences and grade differences of ports' openness.

Forty Years of Chinese Reforms: An Overview

Abstract This introductory essay explores some of the key issues in China's economic reforms during the past 40 years. Reforms and liberalization have progressed unevenly, but generally the trend has been towards more market-oriented economic system. However, the primacy of Chinese Communist Party has never been seriously challenged. China's membership in the World Trade Organization has fostered much deeper integration with the rest of the global economy, and therefore effects of China's reforms have spread to other countries as well. In the recent years China's reform drive seems have faltered. Also, demographic trends have turned, and working-age population is declining. These developments together may mean clearly lower growth going forward.

Calibrating the Direction of China's Reform and Opening-Up in the New Era

ABSTRACTXi Jinping's report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) announced that the socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. This involves a new era for reform and opening-up as well. As with the constant reference to the originally charted course for recalibrating direction when piloting a huge ship, China's reform and opening-up also requires constant comparison with its original target destination to recalibrate its direction moving forward. This article combines Xi Jinping thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era with the new practice of comprehensively deepening the reform since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, and presents a systematic analysis and elaboration for the direction calibration of the reform and opening-up with their conditions in the new era from six aspects, i.e., the reform and opening-up and its direction and methodology, its starting and ending points, its core issues, its foothold, its independence, Party conduct and social atmosphere. This article not only points out that this calibration amounts to the rectification and remedy of past deficiencies, but also notes further measures to be taken in response to changes of the actual situation and new developments.

Quality by Design (QbD) Concept: A Potential Solution to Chinese Current Biomanufacturing Challenges

The China Biopharmaceutical Boom Since China's Reform and Opening Up policy in 1978, the country has propelled unprecedented business and industry growth. In the light of its rising economy, biotech has started to grow at an explosive rate in China within the past few years. The industry is

Supply-Side Reform of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Freight Transport Based on the Perspective of Structural Dimension

Supply-side reform has become the compass of China's reform and development. The transportation structure in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has the structure attribute of road transportation in the aspect of freight transport, so the supply-side reform of freight transport is one of the focuses and directions of the supply-side reform of transportation. Taking Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region as the regional representative, this paper first analyzes the current situation of cargo transportation structure in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, which shows that road transportation plays a dominant role in freight transport. Then, based on the perspective of structural dimension, combining the theory of industry economics SCP paradigm, this paper discusses the key point of supply-side reform of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei freight and conclude that medium and long-distance freight transport should be transferred by road to railway and water transport in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. And it is necessary to establish a comprehensive multi-modal transport system, which mainly based on railway transport, to optimize the transportation structure and improve the performance of the transportation.

An Empirical Study on the Relationship between Technological Innovation and Energy Price of Chinese New Energy Enterprises

China's economy has grown at an average annual rate of 10% since China's reform and opening up. The extensive economic growth model has made China the second largest economic entity in the world; however, it also brings problems such as high consumption, high emissions, and high pollution so on and so forth, which limits China’s strategy of sustainable and continuous development. By combing the existing literature, this paper explores the impact mechanism of technological innovation in energy enterprises based on the current situation in China and analyzes its econometric model regarding energy price as a variable. Finally, it draws conclusions and made corresponding suggestions.

The impact of Chinese Hukou reforms on migrant students' cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes

The Chinese Hukou system, a major tool for social control employed by the government, has undergone various fundamental reforms and has received increasing attention in recent years. This study investigates the relationship between Hukou policy innovations and migrant children's cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes, which are vital to the lifetime development of individuals. On the basis of 2654 children holding non-local Hukou from the 2013–2014 wave of the China Education Panel Survey, the results show that migrant students who expect to have fair access to local senior high schools have significantly higher test scores and higher educational aspirations than their counterparts. The expectation of attending a local senior high school improves migrant students' relationship with teachers and the social acclimation with classmates. These findings carry policy implications for addressing migrant children's educational challenges and shed light on China's reform of its Hukou system to achieve social justice and equality.

Determination of influencing factors on historical concentration variations of PAHs in West Taihu Lake, China

The adsorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by components such as elemental carbon (EC), total organic carbon (TOC), and particles is different, and EC and PAHs are good materials for reconstructing historical human activity patterns and pollution conditions. In this study, the effects of EC (soot and char), TOC and particles of different grain size on PAHs in surface sediments were quantitatively analysed, and their historical concentrations in a sediment core from western Taihu Lake were reconstructed. The contents of soot, TOC, clay, EC and char explained 57.2%, 27.6%, 26.0%, 24.0% and 16.4%, respectively, of the PAH concentrations in surface sediments. The correlation between the soot and PAH levels was significantly higher than that between the char, TOC, and clay contents and PAH levels, and PAHs were mainly affected by the local economic development and human activity, as indicated by metrics of population, highway mileage, coal burning, and industrial output. With the development of the economy of the Taihu Lake Basin, the composition of PAHs in the sediments has changed: the proportion of low-molecular-weight PAHs decreased from 42.4% to 17.5%, and that of high-molecular-weight PAHs increased from 58.7% to 82.5%. The concentration of PAHs in pore water from Taihu Lake over the past 100 years was reconstructed and ranged from 43.1 to 961.2 μg L−1, with an average of 180.7 μg L−1. After China's reform and opening up, the concentrations of various PAHs in Taihu Lake changed from safe to chronic pollution levels. The ratios of lead (Pb) isotopes and the diagnostic ratios of PAHs showed that the main sources of PAHs in western Taihu Lake sediments were human activities such as coal and petroleum combustion.

Qi Dongtao and Yang Lijun (eds) (2017) Social Development and Social Policy: International Experiences and China's Reform, Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co, £123.00, pp. 424, hbk.

Qi Dongtao and Yang Lijun (eds) (2017) Social Development and Social Policy: International Experiences and China's Reform, Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co, £123.00, pp. 424, hbk. - Volume 48 Issue 2

Gospel or disaster? An empirical study on the environmental influences of domestic investment in China

Since the beginning of China's reform and opening up in late 1970s, the contradiction between environmental quality and economic development has become increasingly acute. As the main driving force of development, China's fixed asset investment (FAI) has grown rapidly. In the meanwhile, China's energy consumption surged and the environmental pressures mounted. The surge in FAI may have great influences on the environmental quality. On the one hand, the rapid increase in FAI facilitated the development of the secondary industry especially energy- and pollution-intensive industries, which brought about significant amount of energy-related pollution. On the other hand, growing investment on environmental investment is expected to slow environmental deterioration. Moreover, the environmental quality and domestic investment may have potential spatial correlations. In this paper, after fully accounting for the spatial dependence, the relationship between domestic investment and environmental quality in China is quantitatively investigated. Using CO2 and SO2 as two representative pollutants, the estimation results indicate that the spatial dependence indeed exists, and total effects of FAI on pollutant emissions are positive. However, there is no evidence that environmental protection investment had expected effects to effectively curb pollutant emissions in China.

China's hepatitis B burden and expectation on 40 years of trials and tribulations

Since the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up, earth-shattering development has taken place in all walks of life across the country. Research field on the prevention and treatment of chronic hepatitis B has been rewarding after 40 years of trials and tribulations. Additionally, hepatitis B vaccination program and effective antiviral therapy has amazingly reduced the prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection. Coupled with the literary evidence, a consensus has gradually emerged in the field of anti-HBV treatment that "high potency, low incidence of drug resistance and immunomodulation coexists". We believe that in the near future, according to the principle of "prevention first, prevention with treatment", universal vaccination program for infants, vaccination of high-risk groups, active treatment of HBV carriers and chronic hepatitis B patients, and the realization of "early screening, diagnosis and treatment" of hepatocellular carcinoma will eradicate HBV infection.

How Large is the Border Effect between the United States and China?

This study examines the border effect on price variation between the United States and China. A unique data set consisting of exchange rate, four different annual consumer price index series, and geographical position data was obtained for 14 metropolitan areas in the United States and 31 regions in China over the period 2004–2015. Three different regression models were employed to examine the border effect between the United States and China, which was shown to be statistically significant by all three. The distance needed to level the cross-border price dispersion was also estimated and revealed a substantial border effect. Further, to exclude the effect of the nominal exchange rate on cross-border price variation, the border effect was tested using the relative–relative price, but a large border effect remained. Finally, China's reform of its exchange rate regime in 2005, its entrance into the World Trade Organization in 2001, and both it and the United States' direct and indirect government interventions during the 2008 financial crisis proved to be possible influences on the border effect between the two countries during the sample period.