Chinese Capitalism Research Articles

The Image of Jews in Contemporary China - James Ross and Song Lihong

Reviewed by: The Image of Jews in Contemporary China ed. by James Ross and Song Lihong Noam Urbach The Image of Jews in Contemporary China. Edited by James Ross and Song Lihong. Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2016. 256 pages. $32.00 (paper). This is an exciting collection of articles centered around a unique theme: the image of Jews in China. It is exciting because in most parts of the Jewish Diaspora the predominant religious culture is either Christian or Islamic. For both traditions, Jews and Judaism play a significant role in religious texts and culture. For Christians, there is the shared Bible and Jesus' origin as a Jew; for Muslims the heated polemic with Bani Yisraeel and el Yahud starts as early as the second sura of the Quran. For Christian and Muslim civilization, then, Jews have been omnipresent in either abstract or physical form. There is India, one could say, where Hinduism is void of theological links to Judaism; however, there too, Islam has been present for centuries. It is in the Sinitic sphere—consisting of China, Mongolia, Tibet, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan—where Jews and Judaism are a new import. It is this novelty that makes this collection so intriguing. The uniqueness of the Chinese case, in terms of the evolving image of Jews and Judaism, places many expectations on a book that sets out to study this subject. Of these, some are met, while others are not. The assumption that due to China being neither Christian nor Islamic in culture or religion, the image of Jews must be different from other parts of the world runs through the book, yet it is never explicitly discussed. Only Song Lihong points this out clearly, presenting the opposing views of two important writers, the late Irene Eber and Bernard Lewis. This reference deserves to have been placed at the heart of the introduction, offering a clear premise for the book. It is somewhat disappointing that most of the chapters drift outside the range set by the title; however, this is not to say they are not worthy on their own merit. I therefore divide the articles into two categories: those that cover the topic of the book and those that do not, starting with the latter. Zhou Xun, who authors the first chapter, has written a book that became the standard work in its field (Chinese Perceptions of the [End Page 424] "Jews" and Judaism: A History of the Youtai [Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 2001]). Surprisingly, her chapter "Perceiving Jews in Modern China" starts off with a long summary of this past book, and only at the end turns to the actual theme of the chapter—the Jewish presence in contemporary Beijing (17). This is a short but interesting description of the life of expatriate Jews living in or visiting the Chinese capital, as well as the community institutions they established. Her focus is placed on the experience of the founding members of this community rather than the image Chinese have of them. Future work on this subject is certainly necessary. Fu Youde is founder and head of the Center for Judaic and Inter-Religious Studies at Shandong University, a one-of-a-kind Chinese center focusing on Judaism as a religion, rather than on Jewish history, culture, or sociology. In his comparative discussion, Fu contrasts the Jewish drive for distinctiveness with the Chinese stress on uniformity. Fu is critical of the Chinese stress on "upholding uniformity" as it "killed the innovative spirit" and "imprisoned the thoughts of the people" (52), and concludes that "it is inspiring and significant for the Chinese nation . . . to review the Jewish characteristic of distinctiveness" (53). This is an intriguing glimpse into the way a Chinese scholar tackles the study of Judaism from the position of his own identity. Two of the book's chapters deal with the unique story of Kaifeng Jews, or "Jewish descendants" as they are generally characterized. Xu Xin's "Chinese Policy Toward Kaifeng Jews" is a reprint of a reprint, something that should have been stated clearly by the editors. Moshe Y. Berenstein, on the other hand, shares his in-depth interpretation of the unique way Kaifeng Jewish descendants negotiate...

Buildings on Paper

Abstract The transmission of European engravings to China had significant artistic consequences during the eighteenth century, at a key moment in the development of relations between the Chinese emperor and the pope. In Buildings on Paper: A 1713 Inventory of European Engravings for the Chinese Emperor, Pedro Luengo analyzes a previously unknown collection of architectural and artistic books inventoried in 1713 in connection with the papal legation of Cardinal Charles-Thomas Maillard de Tournon (1668–1710). The sources in the inventory contrast with those preserved by the Jesuits in Beijing, until now regarded as the only references for European artistic and architectural influence in the Chinese capital. Luengo evaluates the engravings and books listed in the 1713 inventory in terms of their impact on art and architecture in China, especially in the construction of palaces in the capital.

Drifting in China’s porcelain capital: self-realization and alternative-seeking of the self-employed craft workers in Jingdezhen

Following the decline and closure of government factories in Jingdezhen, the Chinese capital of porcelain, a recent wave of migrant self-employed craft workers known as “Jing drifters” (jingpiao 景漂) has faced a dilemma: whether to follow independent craft practices and remain vulnerable, or hire workers, automate some steps, and cut corners to make more money. Recent government-led redevelopment plans in Jingdezhen are introducing spatial reconfigurations and a new regulation of the manufacturing process. Residents have diverse opinions on these government-led plans and show that these changes have exacerbated the instability in the work of the self-employed craft workers. Drawing on participant observation, in-depth interviews, and diaries, I also report a changing social dynamic in response to these transformations, which takes place where the individual craft workers, the local craft community, the state-endorsed enterprise capitalists, and the state meet. By contextualizing the individual craft workers in such a changing context as well as in their craft communities where a self-reliant and carefree lifestyle narrative is prevalent, I find that the self-employed craft workers can be self-reliant, self-organized, and mutually supportive despite the vulnerability and instability in their work and in the industry and city. This suggests the possibility of a self-sufficient alternative lifestyle that parallels that of the Chinese neo-liberal consumerist society and of the state-led renaissance narrative about Jingdezhen.

Taiping Ideology and the Rewriting of the Chinese Bible

When the Taiping insurgents overran the ancient Chinese capital of Nanjing in 1853, the barely two-year-old Christianity-inspired armed uprising appeared to be unstoppable, controlling a large area of Southern China south of the Yangtze River. One of the urgent tasks for the leader of this new “Heavenly Kingdom of Peace” ( Taiping Tianguo), the self-proclaimed second son of God, Hong Xiu Quan, was to match his Taiping ideology with the teachings of the Bible—an important source of his inspiration and authority. Two official translations of the Bible were subsequently published by the Taipings, in which much alteration was done in order to promote Hong's brand of theology and beliefs and to remove stories of potential embarrassment for the regime. This article examines some of the major cases of rewriting found in the two Taiping editions, and provides possible reasons for the heavy-handed tampering with the biblical texts.

Leading sector and dual economy: how Indonesia and Malaysia mobilised Chinese capital in mineral processing

How do states pursue industrial policies in the context of China’s rise? Examining Indonesia and Malaysia’s mineral processing sectors, we argue that these countries illustrate two different pathways that states take to bolster their industrial policies. Indonesia has followed the leading sector strategy to increase domestic nickel processing capacity and decrease reliance on resource exports. Chinese firms and the Indonesian government built the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park to house nickel smelters, fostering a new leading sector. Chinese capital in smelting follows what Albert Hirschman has called ‘intermediate investments’, maximising forward and backward linkages across the Indonesian economy. In contrast, Malaysia has followed the dual economy strategy, where semi-finished goods are imported and assembled into finished ones to be exported abroad. Chinese firms and the Malaysian government established the Malaysia–China Kuantan Industrial Park to import, process and export steel products. However, due to the dual economy strategy, the industrial park impairs the activities of domestic steelmaking companies and inhibits the potential build-up of smelting capacity. In sum, through an examination of an industrial park in each country, our paper connects the literatures on industrial policy and Chinese capital.

New Archaeological Discoveries Based on Spatial Information Technology and Cultural Analysis: Taking the Study of the Spatial Relationship between Ancient Chinese Capitals and the Natural Environment as an Example

How to combine science and technology with the humanities in the research on ancient cities to reveal ancient peoples’ urban planning thoughts is worthy of in-depth study. The capitals of the Western Han dynasty as well as the Sui and Tang dynasties were some of the greatest cities in the world at the time. This paper takes them as its subjects and puts forward a method to study the spatial relationship between ancient cities and the natural environment by combining spatial information technology and cultural analysis. Firstly, satellite images, elevation maps, urban ichnographies, and literature materials were collected and sorted to deeply understand the cultural thoughts involved in ancient urban planning; based on this, key element points were marked and rechecked on the spot, and the above drawings were accurately superimposed by GIS technology to form a geographic information base that integrated multisource information. Then, Python was used to construct a “decision model of spatial relationship between urban elements and natural elements”, and rules as well as parameters were set through man–machine collaboration. The decision model was used to test the geographic information base, and the information of strong correlations between urban objects and natural objects was outputted. The drawings were exported after screening, and a visual expression was realized with Illustrator software. The research results indicated that this analysis method was feasible, effective, and easy to promote. The new archaeological discoveries included eight important line segments with a 9:6 proportional relationship (which represents the balance of Yin and Yang) and two important line segments with a 9:5 proportional relationship (which represents the supreme imperial power) in the capitals of the Western Han dynasty as well as the Sui and Tang dynasties, and 16 contraposition lines in a positive direction or oblique 45° direction (which reflects the close relationship between urban elements and natural elements). We consider that the two capitals were intentionally closely related to natural environments such as mountain peaks and valley entrances in the planning stage, and that proportions and scales with profound humanistic meaning were selected. The capital of the Sui and Tang dynasties was specially aligned with the capital of the Western Han dynasty in space. These characteristics embody ancient Chinese Confucian cultural thoughts such as the “integration of yang and yin”, “harmony between nature and humans”, the “supremacy of emperors”, and the “use of numbers and shapes to convey meaning”.

18세기 후반 역사지리 인식과 유득공의 『사군지』

Examined in this article is how the Joseon people perceived the concept of Historical Geography -and its nature as an academic area- during the reign of King Jeongjo, through Yu Deuk-gong’s Sagun-ji(四郡志) as an example. Sagun-ji(1801, or later), alongside Balhae-go(渤海考, 1784), is an extremely important achievement in the Historical Geography studies of the Joseon dynasty’s latter half. However, the reason for his authoring both Balhae-go and Sagun-ji in the first place has never been explained satisfactorily. The fact that he served as a Geomseo-gwan(檢書官) official at the Gyujanggak(奎章閣) Academy, and once traveled to the Chinese Capital at Beijing(Yeon’gyeong, 燕京), is simply not enough. He was apparently very engaged in studying Joseon’s geography and its history, yet previous studies never paid enough attention to how he distinguished ‘Examination(考, Go)’ from ‘Treatise(志, Ji)’, and those two from ‘History(史, Sa).’<BR> As he was not able to complete Balhae-go as a ‘History book,’ Yu Deukgong had to label it as an “Examination(考).” Then roughly 15 years later, he called his own writing of the Four Commanderies(四郡, Sagun) as a ‘Treatise (志).’ Compared to the level of ‘History(史),’ which intellectuals of the time were all aspiring to achieve in their works, ‘Examination(考)’ and ‘Treatise(志)’ were rather Sub-categories of ‘History,’ lacking certain qualities which would –if present- elevate them(考･志) to the level of a true History book. A publication project, however, which intended to compile a dynasty-wise Geography Manual (Jiri-ji, 地理志) launched during King Jeongjo’s reign (1788) completely changed the atmosphere, as well as certain previous notions. Jeongjo believed that Geography Manuals were also another form of ‘History(史).’ Yu Deuk-gong as well, while writing Sagun-ji, did not consider the result of his studies as some kind of inferior form of writing compared to History, as he did at the time of authoring Balhae-go. To him in this time around, unlike when he was writing Balhae-go, ‘Ji(志, Treatise)’ was just another form of ‘Sa(史, History).’ And that is why he labelled it Sagun-ji.<BR> In that sense, Jeongjo’s efforts to compile a dynasty-wise Geography Manual in the late 18th century was not an unfinished task. The direction it took indeed affected and inspired the Joseon society’s cultural atmosphere in a variety of ways, and one of the results was apparently Yu Deuk-gong’s Sagun-ji.

Chinese Capital in the Regional Economic Integration of Southeast Asian Countries at the Beginning of the XXI Century

Since the beginning of the 21st century, a new trend in the development of Chinese capital has emerged — the consolidation of regional Huaqiao firms and, or groups of enterprises into syndicates, banking and industrial sectors that invest capital in the economy of resident states. Consolidated for economic benefit in various fields of activity, the Chinese community of Southeast Asian countries (Southeast Asia) helped to improve the banking system, modern production, development of raw materials, infrastructure development, tourism business, modern services, etc. The liberalization of trade and investment conditions contributed to the expansion of the participation of Chinese joint capital in the economic development of Southeast Asian countries. The consolidated activity of the Chinese community was positive, it contributed to the convergence of the economies of the Southeast Asian countries, their economic complementarity, and accelerated development. Chinese capital has had and continues to have a significant impact on the unification of the region’s market, contributes to the growth of total GDP increases the efficiency and competitiveness of the economies of individual countries. From these positions, the Chinese community is a significant factor influencing the foreign economic policy of both individual Southeast Asian countries and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In addition, during the period under review, the Chinese community forms the business elite of the Southeast Asian countries, in whose hands most of the national capital is concentrated. Chinese business expanded the network of Chinese holdings, which introduced new technologies into production, strengthened business contacts, and contributed to the acquisition of managerial experience. The largest holdings began to control the main sectors of the economies of the Southeast Asian countries. Network banking structures involved in the movement of investments contributed to this process. There is a feature inherent in Chinese entrepreneurship that can prevent business risks: the activities of the holdings are diverse, and the management belongs to one clan (family). The most important feature of business development in Southeast Asia in national capital. Chinese business expanded the network of Chinese holdings, which introduced new technologies into production, strengthened business contacts, and contributed to the acquisition of managerial experience. The largest holdings began to control the main sectors of the economies of the Southeast Asian countries. Network banking structures involved in the movement of investments contributed to this process. There is a feature inherent in Chinese entrepreneurship that can prevent business risks: the activities of the holdings are diverse, and the management belongs to one clan (family). The most important feature of business development in Southeast Asia at the beginning of the XXI century was regional integration, built on the principles of pragmatism. This process has contributed to the preservation of social stability as the most important condition for the existence of States. The Chinese capital of the Southeast Asian countries in the context of globalization and regionalization of economies was focused mainly on cooperation within Chinese communities.

Jiaohua, an Educational Practice in the “Confucian” Company

Based on fieldwork carried out between 2016 and 2020 in three Chinese private companies, this article analyses the implementation of jiaohua, a key idea in Confucianism, within a “Confucian” company. In the first two sections, I analyse the main measures put in place by this type of company in their attempt to model and transform the behaviour and state of mind of their employees. I then study the way in which the educational vocation of these entrepreneurs fits into an educational project supported by the authorities at the national level, the aim of which is to create a morally sound citizen. Taking account of the current sociopolitical context in China, it might be considered that the commitment of certain private entrepreneurs to the promotion of a “Confucian education” reflects their contribution to the making of the modern citizen that the state desires, as well as their conviction that Confucianism offers resources that will enable the construction of a Chinese capitalist ethic.

Harden the Hardline, Soften the Softline: Unravelling China's Qiaoling-centred Diaspora Governance in Laos

AbstractSince the 1990s, the Chinese government has intensified efforts to control the political life of the diaspora by recruiting proxies, or qiaoling 侨领, from the extraterritorial population for community-based governance. This paper examines the efficacy of this co-optive strategy by investigating its ramifications in Lao Chinese business communities. Following a group of qiaoling in Vientiane through qualitative fieldwork, I reveal how these individuals are self-motivated to perform patriotism by the desire to earn symbolic recognition. Their fame and prestige as qiaoling are critical for their material accumulation in the often-fraudulent business of intermediation for Chinese bureaucrats and investors. As such, while contributing to realigning the political allegiance of the diaspora, qiaoling simultaneously reshape the ongoing expansion of Chinese capitalism in ways that diverge from Beijing's developmental agenda. This finding complicates the long-held imaginary of an autonomous state–diaspora synergy in post-socialist China.

The promise of Chinese: African international students and linguistic capital in Chinese higher education

The proportion of international students in Chinese higher education is increasing, however, there remains little research that explores their motivations and how their learning of Chinese influences their identities and imagined futures. In this paper, we address the need for research on South-South migration—specifically Sino-African relations—and draw on the concept of linguistic capital to explore what it means for 15 self-funded international students from six different African countries. The findings highlight African youths’ negotiation of power matrices in different fields and their desire for Chinese linguistic capital. The acquisition of such capital would position themselves advantageously in terms of employability and social prestige within the geopolitical and geo-economic context of China-Africa relations. In documenting their investment in Chinese language learning, the study compels us to reflect on the intersection of identity, ideology and capital within the language acquisition process and what Chinese language learning has come to mean for those from the peripheral nation-states.

Application of Quantitative Methods in Asset Allocation Based on the Chinese Capital Market

Investors’ demand for asset management products is rising; however, traditional asset allocation models are facing difficulties in playing a full role due to the restrictions on the investment scope and the limitation of the accuracy of fund manager’s subjective judgments. The application of traditional asset allocation model necessitates knowledge about the expected returns, future trends, or risk scopes of assets. This study holds that the quantitative method based on macroeconomic logic is one of the solutions. Beginning from the macro-cycle, this study analyzes the logical chain behind the application of the momentum effect and contrarian effect to stock index allocation and stock bond allocation, verifies their effectiveness, as well as explores relevant strategies using data from 2010 to 2021. Therefore, when the accuracy of subjective views cannot be guaranteed, it is a good idea to form a benchmark scheme with generalized quantitative methods based on financial market logic, and then make subjective adjustments.

South East Asian countries’ policies toward a rising China: lessons from Vietnam’s hedging response to the Belt and Road Initiative

ABSTRACT The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) not only marks a significant change in Chinese foreign policy but also brings benefits and challenges to countries in its region, especially those South East Asian states that have long existed under Beijing’s influence. This article argues that South East Asian countries have followed different policies in response to the BRI because of their different levels of economic development and each state’s political and strategic calculations regarding their relations with China. The article also points out that having bordered China for more than 2000 years, and having experienced ups and downs in their bi-lateral relations, Vietnam has hedged against the BRI by showing support to the initiative but limiting its participation in it. Vietnam has pushed back against BRI investments due to the fear of falling into China’s debt trap and the consequent adverse impacts on security and sovereignty, and it has enhanced cooperation with other states in infrastructure investments to avoid depending on Chinese capital. Vietnam’s hedging policy towards the BRI also offers lessons for regional countries about diversifying relations with other powerful states and avoiding dependence on or opposition to an emergent power.

Opium and Logistical Nightmares

Abstract This essay argues that opium’s pivotal role in nineteenth-century political economy and aesthetics constructed addiction as a relationship between labor and capital that has persisted throughout the twentieth and into the twenty-first century. Nineteenth-century discourses on opium addiction frame it as a crisis of sovereignty for individuals and masses in ways that veil its relationships to labor, collectivity, and community. Yet addiction arises within broad systems as much as it does within individuals: in this exemplary case, of labor, empire, opium, and logistics. This essay rereads nineteenth-century discourses of opium addiction through “the logistical sublime,” in which all manufacturing and distribution processes go smoothly, and “the logistical nightmare,” in which they descend into chaos. It reframes opium addiction as a logistical technique that secured and maintained the preeminence of British, and later, Chinese and US imperial capital.

Présence nord-coréenne à Pékin: étude de cas

The purpose of this article is to present and count the North Korean population living in Beijing. The North Korean people in Beijing do not constitute a united community but rather citizens from the same country who are in transit in the Chinese capital. The spatial dimensions of residence of North Koreans in Beijing and the issue of North Korean refugees based in the Chinese capital are emphasized in this paper.

Strong government responses? Reflections on the management of COVID-19 in Hong Kong and Taiwan

PurposeA debate emerged among members of public administration academia soon after COVID-19 appeared on the roles and measures that governments ought to deploy to prevent infection. One prevalent discourse is the strength of “strong government” in the fight against the virus—the administrative capacity to launch prompt, appropriate and effective actions that entail collaboration with citizens. A notable development in governance is that new public management (NPM) principles, such as the value of money and the pluralisation of service delivery, are gradually put aside when governments urgently need to curb the spread of infection. The roles of bureaucracy and centralised action are re-emphasised in the policymaking and implementation of anti-epidemic measures. Such a trend allows us to examine if the COVID-19 public health crisis has fundamentally reversed the trend of government retreat in public service within neoliberal regimes since the 1980s.Design/methodology/approachFor this research, the authors selected two “strong governments” in Asia—Hong Kong and Taiwan—by showing how administrators outline their anti-pandemic strategies, examining the role of government in coordinating responses and how bureaucracy interacts with the other two key domains of the governance mechanism: civil society and the market. These two offshore Chinese capitalist economies and pluralistic societies are perceived to have “strong government capacity” in the fight against COVID-19, presumably as a key attribute to their success confining the spread of infection during the early stages of the first outbreak. Both societies reported low infection rates and low mortality rates until September 2020. The authors browsed databases developed by scholars (Cheng et al., 2020; Hale et al., 2020) and referred to two “rubrics” to assess and compare government actions in both places in response to COVID-19. The authors itemised, categorised and counted the policy actions in both places according to the rubrics, noticed that the policy footprint appeared in over two-thirds of indicators of proactive government interventions and identified double-digit counts in nearly half of the categories.FindingsThe authors found that both governments attempted to establish strong stewardship and quick measures to contain the infection. The pattern of “strong government” is, however, not the same as that superficially exhibited. Taiwan took limited steps to regulate business activities but proactively intervened and coordinated the supply of hygienic utilities. Hong Kong launched aggressive attempts to reduce human mobility but remained non-active despite the “face mask run” in society. The “strong government” aspect also received divergent reactions from society. There was extensive cross-sectoral collaboration under the centralised “National Team” advocacy in Taiwan, and there has been no record of local infection for over 10 months. The Hong Kong government was repeatedly doubted for its undesirable stewardship in anti-epidemic measures, the effectiveness of policy interventions and the impartiality of law enforcement. Spontaneous actions during the health crisis from civil societies and private markets were noted, but they seemed uncoordinated with official attempts.Originality/valueThe initial findings enable us to rethink correlations between state capacity and legitimacy in the fight against the virus and its development post-COVID-19. Apparently, Taiwan and Hong Kong demonstrated a “re-expansion” of their public sector during the public health crisis, but not in the same format. This can be understood based on their varying regime values and administrative systems. The pandemic has been a catalyst, pushing both regimes back to their original track of public administration establishments. The concept of “path dependence” might explain the initial development and project the longer-term transformation of the public sector in both places.

From natural environment to artificial system: Chang'an and its water system in the Western Han Dynasty

People around the world have shaped societies and urban spaces around water for millennia. They have transformed natural water structures and patterns to serve their diverse needs. The ways in which historical decisions affect contemporary water systems and influence future planning of urban systems still need to be fully recognized. This paper explores the multiple roles of water systems in Chang'an during the Western Han Dynasty. Chang’an, one of the ancient names for the city of Xi’an, was a typical capital city of China and East Asia in early ancient times. This study explores everyday practices pertaining to water as well as its role in defense, gardening, politics and culture.Drawing upon three historical theories, this study presents findings that water was embedded in the design of traditional Chinese capitals. The siting and construction of capital cities was first based on the Theory of Choosing the Center (3rd century BCE) and the Theory of Conforming to Nature (5th–3rd century BCE). However, the final maturation of this urban morphology, including the water system, was closely related to the Theory of Symbolizing and Modeling Heaven and Earth (4th–3rd century BCE), in a way that manifested the imperial power's organization and control of space and time.Through close analysis of historical documents, archaeological reports and modern investigations, the paper aims to clarify, analyze and summarize the historical context and evolution, functional and structural characteristics, as well as the economic, political, cultural and military connotations of water systems in Chang'an. It argues that the coordination of urban construction and the water environment was a key foundation for capital city development. It proposes that people shaped urban water supply in many ways, including daily life, waterway transportation, agricultural irrigation, aquaculture promotion, military defense and fire prevention.The water system in Chang'an also provided an important place for royalty and nobility to go fishing, to hunt and to engage in leisure and naval training. The landscape with this water system as the core, including Taiye Lake and Kunming Lake, had also inspired Chinese gardening history, and had a profound impact on future generations. More importantly, the capital's urban morphology design was a miniature of the world recognized by the monarch, as well as the symbolic image of the supreme rulers' political and cultural desire to control and possess Tianxia, which essentially means the whole world. In conclusion, the paper calls for a closer study of water-based design as a foundation for urban planning.

Innovations of Enterprises with Chinese Capital in Poland. LiuGong Dressta Machinery – case study

Modern-day innovations have become a base requirement of civilization progress, a determinant of the socio-economic development of each country or region, as well as the basis for the competitiveness and development of economic entities or organizations.Research on enterprise innovation in Poland shows inadequate engagement in this type of activity, which results in a poor assessment in innovation rankings, both in the EU and in the whole world alike. At the same time, statistics indicate that enterprises with foreign capital that operate in Poland are characterized by a greater propensity to pursue innovative activities.Amongst the many economies of the world, which have achieved tremendous progress in the recent years, both in terms of economic development and an increase in the level of innovation, China is commonly indicated as allocating more and more funds to R&D, while raising the quality and innovation of its production.Account taken of the above, the research problem undertaken by the authors consists in seeking an answer to the question whether the high level of innovative activity recorded in the Chinese economy translates in any way to the innovation of Chinese capital invested in Poland. In view of this, the aim of the research comprises taking an attempt to answer the following research questions: do enterprises that operate in Poland on the basis of Chinese capital conduct innovative activities and how is it directed? This paper discusses the preliminary results of research on the indicated issues, which were carried out by means of a diverse methodology, including, in addition to a critical analysis of the literature, in-depth interviews with experts in the field of China's economic policy and Polish-Chinese cooperation, as well as an analysis of a case study in a selected economic entity with Chinese capital operating in Poland.The results prove that the examined Chinese capital invested in Poland undertakes innovative activity and treats it as a strategic element of development, as evidenced not only by the implementation of specific types of innovations, but also by the pursue of R&D activities in Poland.For the sake of completeness of the situation regarding the activity of Chinese capital in the field of innovative activities carried out in Poland, it is required to expand and deepen the scope of research by extending the subjective scope of companies from other sectors of the economy, identifying determinants that shape innovation of this type of investment, or analysis of Chinese business models capital invested in Poland.

Российская политика в отношении китайских прямых инвестиций на Дальнем Востоке

In recent years, Chinese capital has become a key object of Russia’s foreign investment policy in the Far East. Тhe author of the article conducts a comparative historical analysis of the effectiveness of state regulation of Chinese direct investments, their volume, geographical and sectoral structure in the Russian Far East (RFE). The first part of the article addresses to the process of the formation of Russian policy towards Chinese investments in the RFE, the evolution of its goals and means since the late 1980s until now. The author identifies four main periods in the genesis of Russian policy in this area: 1987–1998; 1999–2005; 2006–2011; 2012–present. The second part of the article examines the actual dynamics of Chinese direct investments in the RFE, the most important changes in their inflow and accumulation, the geographical and sectoral distribution. Comparison of the development trends of Russia’s investment policy and its results shows that the period in the regulation of Chinese investments in the RFE, which began in 2012, can be assessed as the most successful over the past three decades. Nevertheless, the volume of accumulated Chinese capital is not sufficient to replace the reduced budgetary investments in the macroregion and ensure its outstripping growth. The structure of Chinese investment supports the preservation of an economy based on the extraction and export of natural resources. The real dynamics of FDI from China does not correspond to the declared goals of the state policy for the development of the Far East.

Factory management in Chinese capitalist enterprises in the 1950s. The case of the Shanghai silk weaving industry labor-capital consultative conference

L’économie chinoise n’est pas passée sous contrôle de l’État avec la victoire des communistes en 1949. Le processus de transformation des entreprises industrielles privées et capitalistes en entreprises opérant dans le cadre d’une économie socialiste planifiée a pris plusieurs années. Au cours de cette période de transition, les employeurs, les cadres et les ouvriers des entreprises privées ont réagi aux changements radicaux survenus dans le gouvernement, la société et l’économie en résistant, en s’adaptant ou en créant des formes entièrement nouvelles de relations sociales. Les Conférences consultatives travail-capital (劳资协商会议), instaurées par la loi dans toutes les usines privées, en sont un exemple. Ni largement répandue ni très concluante, cette nouvelle forme de relations de travail dans l’industrie privée n’a pas survécu à la mise en place de la collectivisation en 1956. Néanmoins, dans certains cas, comme dans l’industrie du tissage de la soie à Shanghai, ces nouvelles formes de gestion consultative ont permis d’atteindre les objectifs de coopération entre travailleurs et employeurs et de redressement économique fixés au début des années 1950. Malgré leur importance potentielle pour résoudre les contradictions du capitalisme industriel, la majorité des spécialistes de la Chine ont négligé ces exemples de coopération entre travail et capital dans le contexte chinois. Cet article comble cette lacune en offrant une nouvelle perspective sur cette expérience avortée de la révolution chinoise.