post-Mao Reform Research Articles

The rise of the red dragon: the non-binary political economy of decentralised public banks

ABSTRACT This article scrutinises China’s unexpected economic ascent as an industrial dynamo despite an underdeveloped institutional framework, driven by a fusion of the Currency and Banking School arguments. Our discourse focuses on the reorganisation of endogenous money in post-Communist China, which significantly fortified the domestic economy. We employ a two-tiered framework, firstly linking the Currency vs. Banking School debate to the crucial role of domestic bank credit creation in economic development. Subsequently, we anchor this within the context of the post-Mao reforms, illustrating how ‘inside money’ is deployed in a top-down manner to real industry via a bottom-up and decentralised organisational design. The emergent Chinese political economy is in our view defined by the amalgamation of neo-statist and neo-liberal credit market policies. We detail the transformative effect of evolving domestic commercial banking trends, thereby shaping a distinctive post-Communist society.

Repenetrating the Rural Periphery: Party Building Under China’s Anti-Poverty Campaign

ABSTRACT Post-Mao reforms ranging from de-collectivization to the abolition of agricultural taxes have eroded the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) control over the rural periphery. However, with an agenda to strengthen the CCP’s all-around control over the economy and society, the Xi Jinping era saw a reversal of the long-term trend. We argue that Xi’s high-profile anti-poverty campaign from 2015 to 2020 consisted of massive Party building attempts and served as an important strategy for the Party to repenetrate the rural periphery. Based on in-depth fieldwork, archival research, and secondary information sources, we show that by injecting human and financial resources into poverty regions, the CCP reinvigorated its previously underfunded and demoralized grassroots organs, expanded rural Party member recruitment, and enhanced the Party’s intervention in village affairs. Therefore, despite its seemingly economic nature, Xi’s anti-poverty campaign may lead to the long-lasting effect of Party power consolidation in the countryside. This finding suggests that authoritarian regimes can use campaigns with appealing policy goals to advance broader political agendas and enhance authoritarian resilience.

Deciphering the Chinese Economic Miracle: The Resolution of an Age-Old Economists’ Debate — and its Central Role in Rapid Economic Development

ABSTRACT We offer an account of China’s unparalleled economic rise by considering evidence on public banks and their role in decentralizing the resource allocation task of a growing economy. Chinese economic and banking history since the post-Mao reforms reveals an ingenious integration by the local policymakers of Currency (public money supply) and Banking School (decentralized money creation) policy recommendations previously thought incompatible, resulting in a social democracy with Chinese characteristics. Our theoretical and historical discussions offer policy insights into the constructive role of quantitative public bank easing in economic development.

Cat and the Plumber: An American Radio Drama in China

Abstract The translation and adaptation of Arthur Miller's 1941 radio drama “The Pussy Cat and the Expert Plumber who was a Man” in 1980s China not only conveys the witty humor and intriguing critique of the original, but also carries unique marks of its receiving culture. A comparative close reading of the original and the translation shows how the original survives in a translation. Instead of antagonizing the east and the west as mutually unintelligible, my analysis of the translated Chinese radio drama “Cat and the Plumber” explores ways in which interlingual, intermedia, and intertextual references and variations help build the “image” of the west in post-Mao China through sound media. The literary event of a 1940s American radio drama traveling to 1980s China not only provides us with a new perspective in looking at the social soundscape as well as popular culture of 1980s China but also contributes to the repertoire of Sino-American cultural exchanges during the last decade of the Cold War. At the dawn of a new era in the history of China, the introduction of this American radio drama shows both achievements as well as limitations of the early post-Mao cultural reforms.

What Is “Chinese” Food? Historicizing the Concept of Culinary Regionalism

ABSTRACT When discussing Chinese food in the People’s Republic of China, the concept of culinary regionalism appears everywhere. Scholarly and popular accounts alike systematically list the same four (eight, ten, or twelve) “great” regional cuisines (sidacaixi, badacaixi, etc.), asserting that the designation of the original four great regional cuisines (Lu from Shandong Province, Yue from Guangdong Province, Chuan from Sichuan Province, and Huaiyang from Jiangsu Province) arose during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). This article argues that the standardized concept of a four- (or more) part culinary system is likely a much later historical development, possibly even of the post-Mao reform era. It draws upon different historical definitions of “Chinese” food, using the food writings of Yuan Mei (1716–98), Xu Ke (1869–1928), Lin Yutang (1895–1976), and Qi Rushan (1875–1962). How can a better understanding of the historical dynamics of culinary regionalism affect our understanding of “Chinese” food?

The pitfalls of a centralized bureaucracy

The incentive problem is a vital issue in all transition economies and China is not an exception. This paper summarises how China partially solved this problem at early stages of post-Mao reforms and why the Chinese solution is only transitory, which explains severe problems that China is facing now. The paper also discusses the incentive mechanisms in the judicial system and the effect of the soft budget constraint (SBC) syndrome on incentives, including the relationship between institutions and innovation.

At the Mercy of the State: Health Philanthropy in China

Public health and healthcare issues in China have historically attracted individuals and organizations to engage the health sector. The growth of health philanthropy in post-Mao China raises questions regarding the role of the state in the development of China’s health philanthropy. Through a historical overview of health philanthropy in China as well as an examination of the functions and effectiveness of health-related philanthropic actors in the contemporary era, this study has identified the state as a major factor in the development of China’s health philanthropy. Indeed, even though the post-Mao reform dynamics have expanded space for health-related charity organizations, the state continues to have commanding height in health philanthropy in terms of status, funding, services, and influence. The state dominance in turn negatively affects the registration, financing, and capacity building of private foundations and NGOs in this area. Whether the state will dominate health philanthropy in the future to a large extent hinges upon how much extra space it is willing to concede in order to accommodate the dynamics in China’s philanthropic sector.

The Role of Local Government in China’s Transitional Economy: Focusing on the Post-Mao Reform Period

Since the economic reform was launched in China in 1978, the country’s remarkable growth and success have received much attention around the world. Along with this remarkable economic growth, the role of the state, especially that of local governments, in the reform process has been the subject of heated debate. There are two salient perspectives in explaining the role of local governments in the Post-Mao reform period. One is the market transition theory, which have expected local governments to be resistant to changes that threaten their bureaucratic routines or roles and to obstruct the economic reform. The other is local state corporatism, which expects state’s willing to adapt to marketization and expects it to play a pivotal role in local economy. In this paper, I will support the assertion that local corporatism is a better fit for China by analyzing China’s economic dynamics and intuitional consequences. First, I will give a description of market transition theory, and examine its strengths and weakness. Then, I analysis a discussion of local state corporatism and prove that it was a more sensible fit for China.

Chinese Soft Power and Immigration Reform: Can Beijing’s Approach to Pursuing Global Talent and Maintaining Domestic Stability Succeed?

During the past few years, the Chinese government has enacted laws and issued regulations to attract foreign talent, facilitate the return of skilled Chinese nationals and better regulate the entry, residence and employment of foreigners. China is quickly becoming a “new immigration country,” with all the political, economic, and social challenges that entails. This article examines the strategic and policy approaches of China’s recent immigration reform within the context of Chinese soft power. It reviews China’s new immigration laws, policies and practices, and analyzes how immigration reform fits into the new generation of Chinese leaders’ agenda of deepening and broadening China’s post-Mao reform. The article also explicates how key changes in China’s new immigration laws and regulations demonstrate that China is entering the global competition for talent while at the same time that its authoritarian government is attempting to maintain domestic stability by improving immigration-related social management.

Paradoxes of Post-Mao Rural Reform: Initial Steps Toward A New Chinese Countryside, 1976–1981 by Frederick C. Teiwes and Warren Sun

Paradoxes of Post-Mao Rural Reform: Initial Steps Toward A New Chinese Countryside, 1976–1981 by Frederick C. Teiwes and Warren Sun

On “old-young love”: age, class and male homosexuality in post-Maoist China

The same-sex version of « old-young love » (laoshaolian) in post-Maoist China, characterized by an age difference between male same-sex partners, which infringes both age conventions and gendered prescriptions pertaining to eroticism, differs greatly from the forms of gay culture prevalent in the city centres frequented by the new Chinese middle and upper classes. Such liaisons, formed as a result of the sexual and affective ties established in the wider context between old « locals » and young migrant workers, and having their origins in the ordinary forms and spaces of a predominantly masculine, popular and intergenerational sociability, appear above all to be rooted in the context of post-Mao reform and the opening up of China, in which reconfigurings of discursive space, economic organization and social structure play a major part.

Does Governance Cause Growth? Evidence from China

This study tests the causal relationships between quality of governance and economic growth at the provincial level in China during the post-Mao reform era. Exploiting the wide cross-provincial variation and rapid change over time in governance institutions and economic performance in China during this period (covering 1985–2005), the study provides a new perspective on the relationship between governance and growth. Whereas a large body of prior literature has demonstrated a strong positive association between high-quality governance institutions and good economic performance at the cross-country level, few quantitative studies have explicitly tested the direction of causality between changes in governance quality and changes in economic outcomes. This study aims to address this gap in the literature by testing two causal hypotheses on the interplay between provincial-level governance and economic performance in China: (i) improvements in provincial quality of governance predict subsequent economic growth rates, and (ii) increases in provincial economic growth rates predict subsequent changes in quality of governance. Using new heterogeneous Granger causality tests that allow for potential differences in the causal relations across provinces, I show a significant and positive effect of economic growth on subsequent quality of governance, largely driven by growth in the secondary sector, but no significant effect of quality of governance on economic growth. These findings suggest that improvements in formal governance have not been a key factor driving China’s rapid growth; instead, the observed positive association between governance and growth reflects the ability of provincial governments to harness the potential created by economic growth to implement subsequent governance improvements. For researchers studying the effect of governance on growth, the results suggest that greater attention should be paid to possible reverse causality from economic outcomes to governance changes.

The Chinese Economic System Under Mao

Abstract This paper attempts a character study of China’s economic system under Mao to uncover changes and continuities between Mao’s economy and post-Mao Chinese economic reforms. While some historical roots of China’s market transformation can be readily traced back to Mao’s era, it remains open to debate how Mao’s legacies were actually translated into institutional forces facilitating China’s transition to a market economy. In addition, the presence of such linkage leads us to ponder why Mao’s economy failed so miserably, particularly in comparison with the rapid rise of the Chinese economy in the post-Mao era.

Assessing the Fourth Plenum of the Chinese Communist Party: Personnel Management and Corruption

The annual plenary sessions of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) usually follow a fixed pattern. The first plenary session of a newly elected Central Committee appoints the new party leadership, including the new general secretary of the CCP. The second plenary session, held in the spring before the annual meeting of the National People's Congress (NPC), reviews and approves the composition of the new government. The third plenary session addresses basic issues and the party's policy directions on economic development and reform. The fourth plenary session usually includes party building at the top of the agenda, while the fifth plenary session deliberates on a draft of the upcoming five-year plan that is formally adopted at the annual meeting of the NPC. The sixth plenary session often focuses on cultural themes and broad societal goals such as creating a harmonious society or adhering to the concept of scientific development. The seventh plenary session, held a few weeks before the opening of the next National Party Congress, approves the agenda of the event as well as the various reports to be presented to the party congress.Although the fourth plenary session usually discusses party building, law and legal work were the main topics at this meeting in 2014. The result was a major document entitled of the CCP Central Committee Concerning Some Major Questions in Comprehensively Moving Governing the Country Forward According to the Law (henceforth referred to as the Decision).1 This document should be regarded as an extension into the legal area of the ambitious reform proposals adopted at the third plenary session in November 2013.2 According to some scholars and observers, these proposals are perhaps indicative of the most far-reaching reform initiative since the landmark Third Plenum in December 1978 that inaugurated the post-Mao reform process.3This essay will first discuss the nature and importance of party documents in China. Second, it analyzes the impact of the Fourth Plenum Decision on personnel management in the legal system, arguing that a recentralization of power and authority is taking place. Third, the essay briefly examines the ongoing anticorruption campaign. Finally, it concludes by arguing that recent legal reforms do not intend to reduce the party's power and instruments of control. On the contrary, the leading role of the CCP is regarded by the Chinese leadership as a necessary precondition for legal reform.Drafting the DecisionDrafting major Chinese policy documents is a protracted and complicated process that involves numerous individuals and institutions. According to Xi Jinping's own lengthy explanation of the process, work on the Decision began in January 2014.4 At a Politburo meeting it was decided that the upcoming fourth plenary session of the Central Committee should focus on legal affairs. Following the Politburo meeting, a drafting group was formed with Xi as head and NPC chairman Zhang Dejiang and Central Discipline Inspection Commission (CDIC) chairman Wang Qishan as deputy heads. In addition, approximately 70 leading officials from relevant central and provincial departments participated. The drafting group held its first meeting in February 2014, and over the next eight months the full Politburo held two meetings and the Politburo Standing Committee met three times to discuss the work of the drafting group. In his explanation of the process, Xi underlined that the drafting group had consulted retired party leaders as well.5 Xi was also the head of the group that developed the reform document for the Third Plenum in November 2013. This indicates his crucial role not only in setting out overall policy guidelines but also in actual policymaking and drafting key documents.There is a hierarchy among Chinese documents. The most important are signed and circulated by party organizations. Recent regulations for selecting and appointing leading cadres, for example, are circulated by the Central Organization Department of the CCP. …

The Return of Public Life. The Teahouse, Urban Citizens, and Socialist State in Post-Mao China

Political transformation since the late 1970s significantly modified economic and public life as the state relaxed control over the private sector in industry and commerce. The resulting development of private business also allowed for the revival of teahouses, which emerged across the landscape like mushrooms after rain, greatly changing the breadth and depth of public life.Teahouses served all kinds of customers across the social spectrum. Post-Mao reforms weakened state control, enriched opportunities for social life, developed cultural diversity, and expanded the public sphere. Teahouses provided gathering places for the sharing of hobbies and general socializing, providing a welcoming environment regardless of social status, class, gender, and age. As both a business and a culture, the teahouse reached an unprecedented level of success and influence.

Restaging the Revolution in Contemporary China: Memory of Politics and Politics of Memory

AbstractThis article focuses on the adaptation of the Red Classics – a collection of literary and cinematic works depicting the Communist armed struggle produced in the PRC between 1949 and 1966 – for contemporary Chinese television. Using the controversy over the remake ofTracks in the Snowy Forest(Linhai xueyuan林海雪原) as a case study, it explores the complexity of restaging the Communist revolution in the post-Mao reform era. Competition in the media industry compels TV producers to re-package Communist history for fragmented contemporary audiences – those who are familiar with the original Red Classics as well as those who grew up in the reform era and who are far removed from the revolutionary legacy. Adaptation of the Red Classics is a sensitive issue. By focusing on the sexual desires and individual interests muted in the original Red Classics in order to cater for the tastes of younger viewers, the remakes offer alternative readings of history and have incurred government censorship. Opposition to the adaptations has also come from a distinct mnemonic community, the Red memory group, whose members came of age in either the 1960s or during the Cultural Revolution and who absorbed the Red Classics in their formative years. The interplay of state politics, collective memory and commercial imperatives ultimately makes the repackaging of the revolution for contemporary mass entertainment a multifaceted and highly contentious issue.

Psychological Traces of China's Socio-Economic Reforms in the Ultimatum and Dictator Games

Can traces of rapid socio-economic changes within a society be reflected in experimental games? The post-Mao reforms in China provide a unique natural quasi-experiment to study people from the same society who were raised with radically different values about distribution of wealth and altruistic behavior. We tested whether the size of offers in the ultimatum and dictator games are an increasing function of the number of years Chinese citizens experienced of the Mao era (“planned economy”). For the cohort that lived throughout the entire Mao era, we found that mean offers in the two games were substantially higher than what is typically offered in laboratory studies. These offers were also higher than those of two younger Chinese cohorts. In general, the amount offered decreased with less time spent under Mao, while in the oldest group in which every member spent the same amount of time under Mao, the younger members tended to offer more, suggesting an additional effect of early education under Mao and contradicting the alternative hypothesis that generosity increases with age. These results suggest that some of the observed individual differences in the offers made in experimental games can be traced back to the values of the socio-economic era in which individuals grew up.

Grieving at Chongqing’s Red Guard Graveyard: In the Name of Life Itself

This article presents a historical and ethnographic account of the event of mourning at the Graveyard for the Red Guards in Chongqing. Built in the Cultural Revolution to glorify about 450 Red Guards as “revolutionary martyrs”, this graveyard testifies to the tragic nature of their deaths, which resulted from fighting between two factions for their shared goal of “defending Chairman Mao”. The post-Mao reform negated the Cultural Revolution. In a way, their deaths and mourning their deaths were stigmatized, resulting in their “second death”, but recent important changes in Chinese society have allowed the resurgence of grieving for them, culminating in the granting of the official title of “cultural relic” to the graveyard. Opening up a space to contest their stigmatization and to invalidate the official judgement about the Cultural Revolution, this title signifies the rising imperative to account for every death in the name of life itself.

Uncertain allies or uncomfortable neighbors? Making sense of China–North Korea Relations, 1949–2010

This study is based upon two premises: (1) the available literature, though voluminous, fails to provide systematic understandings of the complex and evolving relations between China and North Korea; and (2) China and North Korea had been short of being trusted allies bound in blood and belief even before the launch of post-Mao reforms and the normalization of Beijing–Seoul relations. This article dissects this curious relationship into four questions: (1) What does history inform us about China's relations with (North) Korea? (2) Has China communicated effectively with North Korea? (3) Have China and North Korea been ‘trusted allies’? (4) How effective has China been in inducing North Korea to comply with its demands over the years? The authors argue that, geo-strategically, China can hardly afford to put North Korea in an adversarial position. Furthermore, residues of the Factional Incident of 1956 and North Korea's deep-rooted suspicion of China still linger on. These have been the sources of Beijing's dilemma in consistently opting for ‘soft’ measures despite that North Korea's provocative acts and nuclear weapons programs have negatively affected China's interests. From the outset, China and North Korea had been more uncertain allies who had to cooperate with each other under the ideological and geopolitical imperatives of the difficult times. The authors also suggest that it would be misleading to put Sino–North Korean dynamics in a usual category of big power–small nation relations where power asymmetry generally works against the latter. North Korea has undoubtedly been an atypical ‘small nation’. It is due to these limitations that China's pressurizing has not been always effective and that Beijing's reactions have been continuously cyclical. This cyclical trend is not likely to be broken since the upcoming drama of Sino–American rivalry is bound to close the window of such opportunities for China, which will nevertheless regard North Korea increasingly as a liability, if not uncomfortable neighbor.

Global social issues: an encyclopedia

The essays in this volume aim to reconceptualize he political economy of the People's Republic of China by highlighting the changing character of urban-rural and state-society conflicts in the era of Mao Zedong's leadership and in the post-Mao reforms. While noting China's economic achievements, the analysis underscores major ironies of the mobilizational collectivism of the late Mao period as well as the conflicts being played out in the reforms centered on the countryside and China's international economic relations in the 1980s.