Harvard Contemporary China Series

Along with the political and economic reforms that have characterized the post-Mao era in China there has been a potentially revolutionary change in Chinese science and technology. Here sixteen scholars examine various facets of the current science and technology scene, comparing it with the past and speculating about future trends.

What do Chinese literature and film inspired by the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) have in common with media of the May Fourth movement (1918–1930)? This book demonstrates several shared aims: to liberate narrative arts from aesthetic orthodoxies, to draw on foreign sources for inspiration, and to free individuals from social conformity.

This first significant collection of essays on women in China in more than two decades captures a pivotal moment in a cross-cultural—and interdisciplinary—dialogue. For the first time, the voices of China-based scholars are heard alongside scholars positioned in the United States.

Zouping offers important general lessons for the study of China’s rural transformation. The authors in this volume, all participants in a unique field research project undertaken from 1988 to 1992, address questions concerning the role of local governments as economic actors, market reform, and inequality.

China’s move to an open market economy ended the political chaos and economic stagnation of the Cultural Revolution and sparked an unprecedented economic boom. Yet this success came at the cost of a weakening central government, increasing inequalities, and fragmenting society. The essays here explore this contradiction.

This collection of essays addresses the meaning and practice of political citizenship in China over the past century, raising the question of whether reform initiatives in citizenship imply movement toward increased democratization.

Observers often note the glaring contrast between China’s economic progress and its stalled political reforms. This volume, written by experienced scholars, explores a range of grassroots efforts—initiated by the state and society alike—to restrain corrupt behavior and enhance the accountability of local authorities.

Unrest in China, from the dramatic events of 1989 to more recent stirrings, offers a rare opportunity to consider how popular contention unfolds in places where speech and assembly are tightly controlled. The contributors to this volume argue that ideas inspired by social movements elsewhere can help explain popular protest in China.

This timely and important collection of original essays analyzes China’s foremost social cleavage: the rural–urban gap.

Observers have been predicting the demise of China’s Communist state since Mao’s death. Yet policymakers have managed the fastest sustained economic expansion in world history. This book shows that many contemporary techniques of governance have their roots in experimental policy generation and implementation dating to the revolution and early PRC.

In Red Legacies in China, Mao-era legacies serve as a framework to examine the cultural productions and afterlives of the communist revolution in order to understand China’s continuities and transformations from socialism to postsocialism. Essays discuss arts, literature and film, language and thought, architecture, museums, and memorials.

China and India have been powerfully shaped by both transnational and subnational forces. Beyond Regimes explores local and global influences as they play out in the contemporary era with a focus on four intersecting topics: labor relations; legal reform and rights protest; public goods provision; and transnational migration and investment.

An evolutionary framework is used to examine how the Chinese state relates with non-state actors across several fields of governance. This approach provides insight into the circumstances wherein the party-state exerts its coercive power versus engaging in more flexible responses or policy adaptations.