Contemporary Urban China Research Articles

Determinants of public trust in government: empirical evidence from urban China

Several studies suggest that public trust in government in China remains high and without any trend of decline despite the fact that public trust in government has declined dramatically in developed countries. This article analyses public trust in government in contemporary urban China with a comprehensive representative survey and tests the factors associated with public trust in government. Trust in government in China is found to be much lower than previous studies have indicated. Furthermore, the variables of citizen satisfaction with the quality of public services, general democracy, participation in government and the transparency of government are positively associated with public trust in government in China at both the city and central level. In addition, this research also finds that citizens who are younger, more highly educated and well-paid have a lower probability of trust in government in China. These findings suggest that maintaining political trust will be a challenge for the Chinese government. Points for practitioners The findings in this study suggest that public managers and policymakers in China should pay full attention to the challenge posed by maintaining public trust in government, and need to consider formulating specific and feasible measures to enhance public trust based on the determinants of public trust in government. Moreover, in terms of the fact that the determinants that make public trust in government decline in developed countries also affect public trust in government in China, such public managers and policymakers need to strengthen communication with developed countries to improve the handling of the common challenge of maintaining public trust in government.

Where do STEM majors lose their advantage? Contextualizing horizontal stratification of higher education in urban China

While the average labor market advantage of college graduates with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) degrees relative to non-STEM students is well established, how this STEM versus non-STEM income gap varies across institutional contexts has been understudied. From the perspective of new institutionalism, we investigate the moderating effects of hierarchically situated higher education institutions and labor market sectors on the economic disparity between STEM and non-STEM majors by pooling data from two nationwide representative surveys collected in contemporary urban China. The results of median regression models suggest that (1) On average, STEM majors are more lucrative than non-STEM majors in Reform-Era China, a pattern resembling that of many other societies. (2) The vertical stratification of higher education institutions, i.e., the postsecondary education sector's segmentation into “junior” and “regular” colleges, is relevant, where a smaller STEM advantage over non-STEM fields is detected among junior college graduates after accounting for potential cohort variation. Moreover, this moderating effect of college tiers declines across birth cohorts. (3) Working in the state sector, such as the Communist Party and government department and institutions, relative to the other sectors, significantly narrows the earnings gap between STEM and non-STEM graduates. However, this labor-market-sector heterogeneity in the STEM versus non-STEM income gap also declines across birth cohorts. Theoretical implications of empirical findings are discussed.

Language, Literacy, and Learning in STEM Education

While the average labor market advantage of college graduates with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) degrees relative to non-STEM students is well established, how this STEM versus non-STEM income gap varies across institutional contexts has been understudied. From the perspective of new institutionalism, we investigate the moderating effects of hierarchically situated higher education institutions and labor market sectors on the economic disparity between STEM and non-STEM majors by pooling data from two nationwide representative surveys collected in contemporary urban China. The results of median regression models suggest that (1) On average, STEM majors are more lucrative than non-STEM majors in Reform-Era China, a pattern resembling that of many other societies. (2) The vertical stratification of higher education institutions, i.e., the postsecondary education sector's segmentation into “junior” and “regular” colleges, is relevant, where a smaller STEM advantage over non-STEM fields is detected among junior college graduates after accounting for potential cohort variation. Moreover, this moderating effect of college tiers declines across birth cohorts. (3) Working in the state sector, such as the Communist Party and government department and institutions, relative to the other sectors, significantly narrows the earnings gap between STEM and non-STEM graduates. However, this labor-market-sector heterogeneity in the STEM versus non-STEM income gap also declines across birth cohorts. Theoretical implications of empirical findings are discussed.

Employment Relations and Social Stratification in Contemporary Urban China: Does Goldthorpe’s Class Theory Still Work?

Goldthorpe’s class theory suggests that social class arises from employment relations in industrialised societies. This article assesses whether class in urban China can be approached from the same perspective by addressing three issues: (1) whether employment relations can capture China’s class structure; (2) how differently class is shaped by occupational structure in China; and (3) how useful class is to help us understand income inequality. Based on a recent Chinese social survey, the analysis finds three clusters of Chinese employees that fit into the ‘service’, ‘intermediate’ and ‘labour contract’ class typologies suggested by Goldthorpe’s class theory. Also, there is evidence that class links to occupational structures in a similar way between Chinese and western societies. Finally class, when directly measured from employment relations, displays a reasonable degree of explanatory power for inter-class income inequality whereas the Goldthorpe class classification fails to differentiate between intermediate and labour class positions.

‘Sex’ – it’s not only women’s work: a case for refocusing on the functional role that sex plays in work for both women and men

Mention of the term sex work often invokes images of marginalized women at risk for HIV infection. Such images, however, are counterintuitive to the functional role intended by the movement that spawned use of the terms ‘sex work’ and ‘sex worker.’ This article looks at the sexual practices of men in urban China to argue for a return to a functional definition of ‘sex work’, which was originally meant to legitimize the role sex plays in work. The progenitors of this movement intended to use ‘sex work’ as a means to legitimize sex as an income-generating activity for women involved in prostitution. I show that sex can also serve a functional role in the work-related duties of men seeking economic and political success in contemporary urban China. Men in China utilize sex as one way for demonstrating the loyalty necessary to access state-owned and controlled resources in a market economy governed under a Leninist system. Overall, the article demonstrates that reclaiming perception of sex work as a functional rather than behavioral category can expand its use for preventing HIV among the broad subset of people who engage in sex as part of their work.

Re-imagining Civil Society in Contemporary Urban China: Actor-Network-Theory and Chinese Independent Film Consumption

Extending recent seminal studies that focus on networks of multiple actors in Chinese civil society instead of state-society dichotomy, this article explores independent film consumption in contemporary urban China. It shows how a collectiveentity composed of independent films, people, and discourses is assembled to become civil society, despite the continuing existence of government restrictions on independently produced films. Relying on data collected through ethnography set in the capital city of Beijing, I use the “three moves” suggested by Bruno Latour’s recent description of Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to follow the actors themselves. I first “localize the global” concept of civil society and its attendant notion of state-society relations by discussing an independently organized film festival in which I participated and observed. Second, by discussing an empirical case of DVD stores, through which independent films circulate, I “redistribute the local” by detailing the processes in which particular local sites of the retail spaces of DVDs are connected to “actants” dispatched throughout the globe. Finally, I “connect sites” by putting to work the conceptual tools provided by Latour including “connectors,” “mediators,” and “plasma.” I conclude by arguing that ANT contributes to a seemingly modest, but essential political task of preventing the hasty closure of what is to be included in the collective, as well as how the collective is to be composed. In the case I examine, ANT clears the path for the future reassembling of civil society in contemporary urban China.

The Characteristics of Chinese Women’s Victimization in Sex Offenses

The purpose of the present study is to conduct a preliminary assessment of the characteristics of Chinese women’s victimization in sex offenses using data collected from two surveys of criminal victimization in the cities of Beijing and Tianjin in 1992 and 2004, respectively. The assessment analyzes the demographic characteristics of female victims in such offenses and the characteristics of their victimization. The data from the Beijing and Tianjin surveys are compared in the analysis. The results show a shift in the demographic pattern between the two surveys, which may be related to the dramatic change in China’s transformation to a state-directed market economy during the time period. However, the data from both surveys indicate some similar characteristics of sex offenses against women in contemporary urban China. Some of these characteristics significantly differ from those discovered in the United States.

Gender Disparities in Self-employment in Urban China's Market Transition: Income Inequality, Occupational Segregation and Mobility Processes

AbstractThis article presents the first quantitative analysis of gender disparities in self-employment in urban China. It documents the extent of gender income inequality in self-employment. By disaggregating self-employment into three occupational classes, it reveals the gender segregation within self-employment – women were concentrated in the financially least rewarding segment – and identifies it as a main source of gender income inequality. I examine a range of determinants of participation in self-employment, including family structure, family background and career history, and how their gender-specific effects contribute to gender segregation. Although using data from a 1996 national survey, this study captures two key processes that shaped the structure of self-employment in contemporary urban China: the restructuring of the state sector and the growth of financial returns and social status in the private sector, both of which contributed to the formation of gender segregation in self-employment.

Social Ties, Collective Efficacy and Perceived Neighborhood Property Crime in Guangzhou, China

This study aims to (1) explore perceptions of property crime at the neighborhood level and their correlates based on a random sample from Guangzhou, China and (2) assess the applicability of collective efficacy theory in contemporary urban China. Since the data used in this study are multilevel and the dependent variable is dichotomous, a generalized hierarchical linear model was used for analysis of the data. This study reveals that both community structural variables (residential stability and poverty) and community process variables (social ties, collective efficacy and semi-formal control) were found to affect individuals’ perceptions of neighborhood property crime in Guangzhou. However, communities in Guangzhou are different from those in big cities in the US. This is evidenced by several findings in this study: (1) poorer communities in Guangzhou were not associated with lower levels of formal and informal control; (2) communities with higher levels of residential mobility were neither linked to higher levels of poverty nor disorganization; and (3) the correlation between residential stability and perceived neighborhood property crime was not mediated by community processes.

The Characteristics of Relapsed Drug Users in Contemporary Urban China

The present study is aimed at exploring the characteristics of Chinese relapsed drug users associated with their treatment experience in police mandatory treatment centers. The exploration is based on a comparison of Chinese drug users who received the police mandatory treatment for multiple times (the “relapse” group) with those who had the treatment for the first time (the “first-time” group). The comparative analysis is conducted using data collected from a 2009 survey of 177 drug users in several police mandatory treatment centers in a large city of China. The data indicate that both the “relapse” and the “first-time” groups have similar demographic characteristics except age. However, respondents in the “relapse” group were more likely to be heroin users, have a high level of drug dependence, have prior treatment, experience a high level of mental disorder, and have drug-use friends than those in the “first-time” group. The findings imply that relapse among Chinese drug users are likely to have multiple factors which is comparable to that discovered in Western research.

Neighborhood Structure and Fear of Crime in Urban China: Disorder As a Neighborhood Process

SummaryFear of crime has always been a major topic in the popular media and for public policy. Consequences of fear of crime are salient for citizens' and the community's quality of life. Since the late 1970s, there has been a much scholarly attention paid to the role of disorder in producing fear of crime and further producing adverse community consequences. Particularly influential works were Wilson and Kelling's paper (1982) and Skogan's work (1990); these works greatly influenced public policy in the late 1980s and early 1990s (Greene and Taylor 1988; Ferraro 1994). The salient feature of this research is its emphasis on the role of community context, analyzing how disorder generates fear of crime and leads to community decline at the street block and neighborhood level. The impact of fear of crime extends beyond the victims of the crimes, and indicates the salience of the social aspect of fear of crime. Therefore, neighborhood effects are highly relevant to the understanding of fear of crime. Scholars have recognized that individuals' fear is better understood within a neighborhood or community context. The purpose of the present study is to build upon prior work to address critical questions of neighborhood effects on fear of crime under context of contemporary urban China. Using multilevel analyses of data from Tianjing, China, this paper found that neighborhood context variables have effect on fear of crime independent of individual characteristics.

‘Coming Out’ to ‘Hit the Road’: Temporal, Spatial and Affective Mobilities of Taxi Drivers and Day Trippers inKunming,China

AbstractThis article examines how people narrate the relationship between physical and socioeconomic mobility in contemporary urbanChina. To do so, it looks at the mobility of two different groups of drivers in the southwesternChinese city ofKunming: taxi drivers and “day trippers.” While a taxi driver and a day tripper engage in the same activity of driving their own vehicles, their experiences of mobility, their status identity and their views of the country and the city diverge due to their differently embodied practices in time as well as in space. The comparison underscores that there is nothing inherent in the relationship between mobility, status and freedom.

‘She is Too Young for These Chores’ — Is Housework Taking a Back Seat in Urban Chinese Childhood?

The child in contemporary urban China is experiencing an increasingly exclusive focus on academic achievement at the expense of non‐academic activities, particularly housework. In‐depth interviews with caregivers (including grandparents and parents) from 9 three‐generational families (n = 34) and parents from 10 nuclear families (n = 20) were conducted. Results show that although children from both family types were low in housework participation, children in three‐generational families were perceived by their caregivers to be less competent in performing self‐care and family‐care tasks. They were also less frequently assigned regular tasks as compared with children from nuclear families. Unlike caregivers from western societies, where children's participation in housework is seen as either a means of socialisation or a source of domestic labour, Chinese caregivers consider housework as a distraction, at best an addendum to academic work.

Trans-local ties, local ties and psychological well-being among rural-to-urban migrants in Shanghai

During the past three decades, an estimated 200 million rural residents have moved to urban centers in China. They are “sojourners” in the cities and maintain close ties with their home communities, which we term trans-local ties. This paper examines the relationship between migrants' social ties and their mental health, and contrasts the trans-local ties with migrants' ties in the receiving communities, which are termed local ties. We expect that for the migrants, trans-local ties foster better mental health not only through providing emotional support but also through generating favorable social comparisons; whereas local ties may furnish important social support, but may also produce negative social comparisons. We use data collected in Shanghai to test our expectations. We compare the migrants to a sample of Shanghai natives to assess patterns of relationship between social ties and mental health that are unique to the migrants. We find that for the migrants, more numerous trans-local ties are associated with better mental health, whereas the number of local ties is not a significant predictor. This pattern is not observed among the Shanghai natives. Moreover, for migrants, trans-local ties foster a favorable evaluation of their status in Shanghai and buffer their perception of discrimination; in contrast, more numerous local ties tend to be associated with a more negative perception of social status. The findings highlight an often-overlooked pathway between social ties and health outcomes, namely, through influencing social comparison and perceived social status. This study also suggests that in addition to reducing institutional and personal discrimination, facilitating close bonds between the migrants and their home communities may be a productive way to foster their well-being, in the context of contemporary urban China.

Wives’ Relative Income and Marital Satisfaction among the Urban Chinese Population: Exploring Some Moderating Effects

In contemporary urban China, the employment of married women has led to wives making an economic contribution to the family in both absolute and relative terms. However, little is known about the effect of wives’ relative income on marital satisfaction in the Chinese context. This study aims to address two key questions: (a) is wives’ relative income associated with marital satisfaction in the Chinese population? (b) Is this association dependent on any condition? Hierarchical multiple regression, using the data of 272 men and 340 women from five large cities in the 2004 Chinese Urban Household Survey, indicates that, after controlling for other variables, wives’ income relative to household income is negatively associated with marital satisfaction. We also find that this association has more negative impact on married women than married men. The implications of this study for further research and practice are discussed.

Restructuring Governance in Contemporary Urban China: perspectives on state and society

Serving as a de facto introduction to the group of articles in this issue, this essay discusses four varied approaches to state and society, followed by an empirical evaluation of urban China in the realm of heritage governance. Through examining the nomination and preservation of the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang as required by UNESCO's World Heritage status, I argue that the operation of the local political system was a dynamic, interactive, and resourceful process that drew its legitimacy from multiple sources without systematic bias against any particular social group.

Homeowners United: the attempt to create lateral networks of homeowners' associations in urban China

Under the slogan of ‘weiquan’ (defending our rights), homeowners in urban China are increasingly prepared to stand up for their rights of ownership, often through non-confrontational actions organized by homeowners' associations (yeweihui). There is also a growing concern for the need to create collective platforms on which homeowners' associations can support one another, muster their collective resources against powerful developers and lobby for status as legitimate organizations. The activists involved in this work are well aware of its political sensitivity in a regime that is antagonistic towards autonomous organizations, which are seen as posing a threat to its hegemony. Based on a case study in Guangzhou, this paper traces the tactics that housing activists have employed to create horizontal cooperation among homeowners' associations to defend their rights and devise ‘boundary-spanning’ strategies that exploit divisions within the state apparatus. The Guangzhou union of homeowners' associations can be regarded as an experiment in organizational infrastructure which has far-reaching implications. This study sheds light on the complexities as well as the institutional fluidity of state–society interactions in contemporary urban China.

Drive-Away Policing and Situational Crime Prevention in China

Using the example of motorcycle ban policy in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, this article examines how situational crime prevention strategies are used in contemporary urban China. The article argues that although a motorcycle ban policy may reduce motorcycle snatch theft (feiche qiangduo) in Guangzhou, it inevitably caused a problem of displacement. However, some types of displacement are desirable for local government. An argument about drive-away policing is proposed in this article to understand policing styles in contemporary China. In addition, the article argues that motorcycle ban, as a strategy to prevent snatch theft and robbery, is also a strategy to deal with the crisis in police legitimacy. Therefore, crime prevention in China has more social and political significance than just reducing crime.

Recovering Childhood: Play, Pedagogy, and the Rise of Psychological Knowledge in Contemporary Urban China

In the past few decades, China has witnessed the emergence of a psychological discourse of childhood.This new discourse portrays children as persons with unique emotional needs and seeks to redefine childhood as a time of play and relaxation rather than study or toil. Drawing on the results of ethnographic fieldwork in Shanghai's schools and homes in 2004-2005, the present article describes the complex ways Shanghai's teachers and parents engage with this normalizing, developmental discourse. It argues that the rise of a psychological discourse of childhood signals a shift in Chinese modes of governing school and family life, and in current conceptualizations of the child-as-citizen and the child-as-subject in postsocialist, urban China.

Caged golden canaries: Childhood, privacy and subjectivity in contemporary urban China

This study explores two aspects of the privatization of childhood in contemporary urban China: the emergent discourse on children’s privacy and children’s growing seclusion within the home. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, the author describes urban caregivers’ engagement with the issue of children’s privacy, and argues that we are now witnessing a transformation in Chinese notions of childhood, privacy and subjectivity. The result of a complex interaction between official discourses, demographic changes and economic forces, this transformation is also a product of the persistent influence of Confucian values, and the unique childhood experiences of a particular generation of urban Chinese parents.