Chinese Reform Research Articles

Promoting the development of backbone teachers through University-School Collaborative Research: the case of New Basic Education (NBE) reform in China

ABSTRACTThe image of backbone teachers has long informed the modern-era Chinese educational system. Backbone teachers play leadership and modeling roles in school-based groups of teachers focusing on research, lesson planning, and grade development. China’s New Basic Education (NBE) reform, which differs from previous Chinese reforms, aims to systematically transform schools in order to respond to contemporary social and economic changes. NBE views the development of individual subjectivity as education’s ultimate goal. Teachers’ roles need to shift from transferring knowledge to students to constructing knowledge with students and from teacher-as-curriculum-implementer to teacher-as-curriculum-maker and knowledge constructor. Backbone teachers are foundational to the NBE reform. In this article, we introduce the NBE initiative, and elaborate how NBE nurtures backbone teachers so they can ‘model as leaders; [and lead] other teachers as backbones’ in the reform. To end, the national and international implications associated with our case are discussed, along with future research suggestions.

Study on the approach of promoting service trade of traditional Chinese medicine into Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka and China enjoy profound traditional friendship and active bilateral friendly cooperation. With the deepening of bilateral FTA negotiations, service trade of traditional Chinese enters into Sri Lanka is also promising. Though the current policy and law exists insufficiency, leveraging the FTA negotiations, TCM-Center binding Confucius Institute, providing TCM features and developing tour routes of medical tourism can help to push service trade of traditional Chinese medicine into Sri Lanka. The development of overseas Chinese medicine health services is not only benefit to the local, but also contribute to the new pattern of Chinese economic reformation. Key words: International cooperation; Sri Lanka; Modernization of traditional Chinese medicine and pharmacy; Trade in services; History of medical exchange between China and foreign countries; Medical tourism

Post-Project Appraisals to improve capital investment performance of Chinese State-Owned Enterprises

Under current Chinese Government reforms, Chinese State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) will be under closer scrutiny on asset management, capital investment efficiency and competitiveness. The use of post-project appraisals to understand project performance and root causes of outcomes is not new to Chinese SOEs; however, effectively harnessing the benefits of post-project appraisals has been challenging for these enterprises. The objective of this paper is to discuss the obstacles Chinese SOEs face, which stem mainly from organisational and cultural factors. Most of the challenges identified can be addressed if there is a strong commitment from the senior executive team to use project appraisals as a basis for continued improvement.

Китайские реформы: открытость в обе стороны. К 40-летию китайских реформ

Китайские реформы: открытость в обе стороны. К 40-летию китайских реформ

Towards a fair and accountable health policy making: assessment on the decision-making process of the Chinese healthcare reform

Towards a fair and accountable health policy making: assessment on the decision-making process of the Chinese healthcare reform

Chinese Tax Reform and Risk Reduction of SME M&A

Although China has developed into one of the world’s leading economies, its inbound M&A market appears to be losing attractiveness. The number and volume of transactions have decreased for about a decade and multi-national corporations still note the difficult institutional framework leading to an uncertainty whether their investment will lead to economic success. A weak enforcement of law, widespread corruption as well as informal agreements between enterprises and authorities, often lead to business conditions that cannot be maintained by foreign investors post-acquisition. With the new tax-reform effective January 1, 2019, China, however, enables the taxation system to play a more supportive role in state governance. Thus, taxation & social insurance compliance is expected to improve which might influence the uncertainty and attractiveness of M&A investments in China as well. The paper at hand aims at summarizing the origin of tax-related risks in Chinese M&A-transactions as well as reflecting whether the recent tax reform will have an impact on the uncertainty of the investor.

Towards a fair and accountable health policy making: assessment on the decision-making process of the Chinese healthcare reform

In recent years, the Chinese healthcare system has generally performed its tasks well, but has been facing considerable challenges, such as rapidly ageing population and the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases which indicate that the Chinese healthcare system is at a crossroads that demands a reconsideration of its policies and decision-making process. This study focuses on how to build a fair decision-making process based on the conviction that procedural justice is of vital importance in achieving the legitimacy of any substantive outcome. We employ the four conditions of the 'accountability of reasonableness' framework as benchmarks to evaluate China's decision-making process from the year of 2006 to 2009 and explore the flaws and deficiencies of the current path-dependent healthcare system reform. Our study shows that China's healthcare system suffers from poor information disclosure, inadequate public participation, insufficient appeal processes, and multi-leadership. Given those imperfections, the paper provides several recommendations for improving China's healthcare decision-making process.

Overall Thinking of China’s Eighth Institutional Reform under the Perspective of System Theory

The reform of Chinese government institutions is a comprehensive system reform. System theory provides a theoretical perspective for the overall reform of the system engineering of Chinese government institutional reform, and provides an analytical framework for scientific understanding of the new era of socialism reform. In 2018, compared with the first seven institutional reforms, the reform of Chinese government institutions has shifted from unilateral one-way reform to comprehensive and systematic reform. The systematic nature of the eighth institutional reform is embodied in the purpose of institutional reform, the integrity of the reform of the party and government, the hierarchical nature of the main body and functions, and the environmental adaptability of emergency management and normal management. On this basis, System Theory provides ideas for thinking about how to continue to promote the future of institutional reform in China, namely, the direction of differential synergy, overall optimization, and self-organization. Therefore, the use of system theory to promote and analyze the reform of Chinese government institutions not only helps to understand the scientific nature of the new round of institutional reforms in 2018, but also helps to understand the development of government reforms in the future.

"Did Phonocentrism Drive Modern Chinese Script Reform and Chinese Cultural Modernity?"

"Did Phonocentrism Drive Modern Chinese Script Reform and Chinese Cultural Modernity?"

2016년 대북제재 이후 북한경제 변화와 신남북협력 방향 (Changes in the North Korean Economy and Guidelines to New Strategies of Inter-Korean Cooperation after UNSCR since 2016)

2016년 대북제재 이후 북한경제 변화와 신남북협력 방향 (Changes in the North Korean Economy and Guidelines to New Strategies of Inter-Korean Cooperation after UNSCR since 2016)

Can We Talk about the Formation of a New Social System in China?

In connection with the 40th anniversary of the Chinese reforms, the authors analyzed the milestones reached by China. Particular attention was paid to recent events—the 19th CPC Congress and the 1st session of the NPC of the 13th convocation. According to the authors, reforms and modernization in China are close to completion. It was stated at the CPC congress that the country has entered a fundamentally new phase of development, it is forming an original social structure, and Chinese specificity is acquiring the features of integrity as an independent, social development project alternative to the West.

A Brief Discussion on the Changes of Tax System Since China’s Reform and Opening up (1978-2018)

According to Chinese reform and opening up process, as well as fiscal and taxation’s differences at different stages, since 1978, China’s taxation reform could be divided into three stages. Every reform stage was carried out in the specific economic and political environment at that time, and a phased tax system was constructed. China’s Statistical Yearbook and the financial and taxation departments’ reports show that China’s total tax revenue and tax structure have changed greatly in the past 40 years. The successful experience of China’s tax reform is to adhere to the direction of socialist market economy, create a fair competitive environment for enterprise development, steadily implement it, and widely solicit public opinions. However, under the background of global economic integration and international tax reform, China’s tax reform should further increase the proportion of direct tax, focusing on the improvement of VAT, personal income tax, real estate tax and consumption tax, and realizing the internationalization of China’s tax system.

70 ЛЕТ КНР: ОТ "БОЛЬШОГО СКАЧКА" К ТЕХНОЛОГИЧЕСКОМУ "ПРОРЫВУ"

Article is devoted to the 70 anniversary of formation of People’s Republic ofChina. It analyses the economic results of Chinese reforms since the mid-1950s. Attempts by the Chinese authorities to accelerate the transition to socialism through “jump” development failed. The “Cultural Revolution” cementedChina‘s peripheral position in the world. The new socio-economic reforms have been initiated inChinasince the late 1970s. Being carried out gradually, on the basis of in-depth theoretical research and experience gained, in the course of numerous experiments, they contributed toChina‘s transition to the vanguard of the world economy. The results of those reforms were assessed by the international community as a Chinese “economic miracle.” After the global financial and economic crisis, which China overcame quite successfully, the Chinese leadership aimed to lay the foundations for a new “economic miracle” – economic reform 2.0, based on a technological breakthrough, China ‘s transformation from a “world factory” of goods into a “world market” of technologies and high-tech goods with high domestic demand. The article describes the conceptual framework and practical steps to achieve those goals, and reveals risks and difficulties that could impede the achievement of the objectives.

International Politics and the Chinese Reforms

International Politics and the Chinese Reforms

Medium-to-long-term coupled strategies for energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions reduction in Beijing (China)

China's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are projected to peak by 2030 and China makes great efforts to reach the peak as soon as possible. As the ‘frontier’ of Chinese Reform and Opening-up, Beijing has set a goal in 13th Five-Year Plan that local GHG emissions will peak by 2020. This research analyzes the situations of socio-economic development and energy consumption in Beijing and establishes LEAP-Beijing model for the medium-to-long-term prediction of GHG emissions. The energy demand module in LEAP model has six branches, including civilian sector, agriculture, industry, construction industry, transportation and service sector. The analysis and evaluation of their potentials to cut emissions and the difficulties to implement can help Beijing determine the development priority and take right measures to develop a low-carbon society. Four scenarios are set in LEAP-Beijing model, including Business-As-Usual scenario (BAU), Low-Carbon scenario (LC), Enhanced Low-Carbon scenario (ELC) and Peak-Reaching scenario (PR). These scenarios are applied to analyze the total amount of GHG emissions in Beijing and how the peak-reaching time varies due to the impacts of different policies.

A dualistic view of employment in China

Purpose This paper aims to bring to the fore some neglected implications of the dual employment systems in China, especially for the public sector. Design/methodology/approach This paper reinterprets some recent developments in understanding Chinese employments and incorporates the relevant research in arguing for a dualistic view of employment in China[1]. Findings In highlighting the unique dualistic employment contexts in China and an indigenous phenomenon of “unequal pay for equal work”, this paper finds public management studies in China to deserve a separate platform for future research. Research limitations/implications Future Chinese management studies on public sector should contextualise their findings and conclusions, taking into account the employment structure at their research settings. More studies on the public sector are needed to better understand the dualistic Chinese employment relationships, especially for better public management policies and practices in China. Social implications It calls for more scholarly attention on the social injustice embedded in the dualistic employment in China. Originality/value It extends the ongoing discussions of Chinese employment reform and its implications on organising work and employment in China, while unveils important implications of the dualistic employment for future Chinese management research, especially in the public sector.

Commercial activities as stimulators for entrepreneurial social spaces in residential neighbourhoods

Since the Chinese economic reform, especially after the Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation rolled out in 2014, there has been an increase in entrepreneurial activities in planned innovative parks and urban residential neighbourhoods. This paper studies the entrepreneurial social spaces produced by adaptive commercial activities (ACAs), and its impact on spatial publicness. It is argued that ACAs can promote spatial publicness in urban residential neighbourhoods. ACAs foreground contradictions between housing policies and private interests. While physical and social spaces of the neighbourhood are modified, the contradictions are negotiated among entrepreneurs and residents in public. Case studies of three residential neighbourhoods in Beijing showed that ACAs in designated residential neighbourhoods are more effective than in designated mixed-use urban areas. Housing policies should provide the flexibility to tolerate ACAs. The construction of neighbourhoods with statistical mixed functions but fixed usage for each space should be avoided. Urban designers should be able to realise the potential of publicness in spaces both inside and around a neighbourhood.

Chinese Social History: Forty Years of Research under the Chinese Economic Reform

Chinese Social History: Forty Years of Research under the Chinese Economic Reform

The domestic hotspots research of formative assessment based on the knowledge map analysis

Objective To summarize and analyze the present situation, hotspot and development trend of the research and practice about the formative assessment in Chinese medical teaching reform by bibliometrics, and provide a quantitative method for the study of formative assessment. Methods We took 567 journals about formative assessment from CNKI database as the research object, making co-word clustering and multidimensional scaling analysis as the main research method, and using Bicomb co-word analysis software and SPSS to complete content data statistics and analysis. Result The knowledge map of formative assessment research can be divided into 7 fields: field 1 shows that most studies are mainly focused on practical research, the effectiveness evaluation on application are mainly focused on the improvement of students' independent learning ability. The proportion of research in traditional Chinese medicine colleges or universities is increasing, researches of clinical teaching take an important position, and nursing educations are paying more attention as well. Field 2 and field 4 show the synchronization between assessment reform and teaching content/strategy reform. Field 3 presents the general situation of teaching evaluation research in higher vocational colleges. Field 5 shows the theme of exploring the establishment of a formative assessment system. Field 6 shows the differences and similarities between examination and assessment. Field 7 shows the overview of medical English courses. Conclusion In the future, we should actively carry out the construction and exploration of the formative assessment system that conforms to China's national conditions, and attach importance to the construction of the sharing platform. We should avoid duplication of research, attach importance to the study and understanding of theoretical connotation and strengthen training, supervision and management. Key words: Medicine education; Formative assessment; Mapping knowledge domains; Cluster analysis; Alscal analysis

Daoism as the Philosophic Foundation of Chinese Economic Reform: a Conjecture

The reforms of Deng Xiaoping and the opening of China in the 1970s were predicated on something called “socialism with Chinese Characteristics”. Deng never explained its meaning in detail. This paper offers a conjecture suggesting that Daoism is the philosophical foundation of Chinese economic reform. Daoism is eminently Chinese and through the concepts of wu wei, yin/yang, qi and others from The Tao Te Ching, the Zhuangzi, and Pheasant Cap Master it offers the flexibility to organize markets within the Chinese context. The paper suggests how a Daoist philosophic foundation supports China’s rise both economically and politically. It concludes with the observation that China’s long term objective may be something like Zhuangzi’s and Pheasant Cap Master’s unity and that the West’s “end of history” may have past while the Chinese may have just begun.(B)y Marxism we mean Marxism that is integrated with Chinese conditions, and by socialism we mean a socialism that is tailored to Chinese conditions and has a specifically Chinese character….Socialism means eliminating poverty. Pauperism is not socialism, still less communism (Deng Xiaoping, Socialism with Chinese Characteristics [1]).…China’s rise is not the rise of an ordinary state, but the rise of a country, sui generis, a civilizational state, a new model of development and a new political discourse which questions many of the Western assumptions about democracy, good governance and human rights, and all this may usher in a wave of change unprecedented in human history. Zhang Weiwei, The China Wave [2]).