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The New China: Contemporary Life & Governance
The New China: Contemporary Life & Governance
The New China: Contemporary Life & Governance
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The New China: Contemporary Life & Governance

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chapter 1 provides an orientation that places china in a global comparative context, with special attention given to similarities/differences between china and the united states. chapter 2 explores china’s efforts to launch a “new” china on three different occasions--1911, 1949, and 1978. chapter 3 examines contemporary life in china, with a particular look at china’s “floating” population, also known as the “transit”population, estimated in 2010 at 220 million internal migrant workers that float in and out of urban regions (inland and coastal) that is not the place of their household registration (hukou system). chapter 4 introduces the reader to the changing face of government and governance in china, with a close look at hong kong and tibet. chapter 5 examines china’s vibrant economy, although various aspects of the economy are discussed throughout the book. chapter 6 explores china’s futures (yes, there may be more than one) with an eye toward what may be ahead, for better or worse.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherDon Menzel
Release dateAug 29, 2013
ISBN9781301621767
The New China: Contemporary Life & Governance
Author

Don Menzel

Donald C. Menzel is emeritus professor of Public Administration, Northern Illinois University, past president of the American Society for Public Administration, and currently the President of Ethics Management International. He has published widely in the field of public administration with particular interest in ethics and local government management. Recent books include Ethics Management for Public Administrators: Leading and Building Organizations of Integrity (2012, Ethics Moments in Government: Cases and Controversies was published in 2010 by the Taylor & Francis group, and a co-edited volume, The State of Public Administration: Issues, Challenges, Opportunities, with Harvey White was published in 2011 by M.E. Sharpe. His book, Achieving Ethical Competence for Public Service Leadership (2013) was co-edited with Terry L. Cooper.

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    The New China - Don Menzel

    THE NEW CHINA

    Contemporary Life & Governance

    by

    Donald C. Menzel

    SMASHWORDS EDITION

    COPYRIGHT © 2013 Donald C. Menzel

    This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    DEDICATION

    In memory of Rebecca Catherine Menzel

    (28 March 1991-10 March 2012)

    . . . almost 21

    China Traveler and Granddaughter

    TABLE OF CONTENTS

    PREFACE

    CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

    Population

    China-USA Comparisons

    CHAPTER 2 THE NEW CHINA

    Century of Shame

    Second New China 1949-1978

    The New, New, New China

    To Get Rich

    CHAPTER 3 CONTEMPORARY LIFE

    First Impressions

    Spiritual Vacuum or Awakening?

    The Arts & Entertainment

    Marriage & Divorce

    Homosexuality

    China’s One-Child Policy

    Education & Getting Ahead

    The Floating Population

    The Hukou Household Registration System

    The Great Firewall

    CHAPER 4 GOVERNMENT & GOVERNANCE

    China’s Communist Party (CCP

    Governance: Structure & Process

    China’s Leaders

    Whos’ Who?

    What do they want to accomplish?

    Ascendency of Autocrats and Technocrats

    Rule of Law

    Hong Kong

    Tibet

    In Pursuit of Social Harmony

    Corruption

    Censorship

    Conclusion

    CHAPTER 5 ECONOMIC MIRACLE

    In the Beginning

    Special Economic Zones (SEZ)

    Boom Times Ahead

    Stepping Out

    Domestic Spending

    State Owned Enterprises (SOEs)

    Trade Imbalance

    Environmental Degradation

    Can China Have It Both Ways?

    CHAPTER 6 CHINA FUTURES

    Transportation

    Space Exploration

    Water Resources

    A Bright China Future?

    Growing Up Is Hard To Do

    Is a Culture of Innovation Missing in China?

    What Can Go Wrong?

    Riding a Tiger

    Shifting Demographics

    Chasing the China Dream?

    Whither the Future?

    ABOUT THE AUTHOR

    WORKS CITED

    PREFACE

    China’s civilization is widely regarded as the oldest in the world, dating back 5,000 years. Fast-forward to 2012, as one observer notes China can be described as simultaneously rich and poor, advanced and backward (Lee 2012, 10).

    Contemporary China is a Pandora’s box of surprises, mysteries, contradictions, problems, and opportunities. A Chinese born, U.S. naturalized middle-aged woman once remarked to Don: Life is hard in China. Is it? Perhaps. Devastating earthquakes, chemical spills, diseases (Severe Acute Respiratory syndrome in 2002-2004 /swine flu in 2009), fierce competition for jobs, rampant corruption, unequal educational opportunities, quality of life issues, rural-urban disparities and conflict, ethnic strife, growing wealth inequality, government intervention and control, political movements, a huge floating population that migrates to and from the rural-urban regions, and more typify life in China today. Is life hard in China? You decide.

    My travel and professional work in China began in earnest in 2002, although my first visit was scheduled for June 1989. But an incident called Tiananmen Square kept my airplane from getting off the ground in the United States.

    So a decade ago by invitation from China’s Foreign Experts Bureau and several universities, I began making presentations to city and provincial employees and university faculty and students on public management issues and practices. Among the cities and regions I have visited are Beijing, Shanghai, Hefei, Chengdu, Wuhan, Lanzhou, Nanjing, Hong Kong, Chongqing, Xiamen, Macao, Hangzhou, Lanzhou, Dun Huang, Tianjin, and Xian.

    This E-book introduces you to contemporary life and governance issues and challenges in China. It is especially directed at students and adult learners who want a basic understanding of the new China of the 21st Century. Chapter 1, with an emphasis on facts and figures, places China in a global comparative context. Special attention is given to similarities/differences between China and the United States. Chapter 2 explores China’s efforts to launch a new China on three (yes, count them) different occasions--1911, 1949, and 1978.

    Chapter 3 examines contemporary life in China with a particular look at China’s floating or transit population estimated in 2010 at 220 million migrant workers that float in and out of urban regions (inland and coastal). They are regarded as migrants because their household registration (hukou} system identifies them as residing in a different village, city, or region. Chapter 4 introduces the reader to the changing face of government and governance in China, with a close-up look at Hong Kong and Tibet.

    Chapter 5 examines China’s vibrant economy, although various aspects of the economy are discussed throughout the book. Chapter 6 explores China’s futures (yes, there may be more than one) with an eye toward what may be ahead, for better or worse. Works citied at the end of this book contains a rich, in-depth list of print and online books and materials drawn on to write this book. The material also offers the reader the opportunity to easily and quickly access information and views by experts and China watchers from across the world.

    What does this e-book offer?

    This book takes a wide-lens view of the complex issues and significant challenges facing China today. You will gain insight, information, and knowledge about the past, present, and future direction of this dynamic emerging super power.

    The book draws on four sources of information and interpretation. One source is government documents and reports published by China, the United States, and international bodies such as the United Nations and foundations. A second source is the popular media—newspapers, magazines, the Internet. A third source consists of academic articles and essays drawn from journals around the world. The fourth source is Don’s observations as a traveler and social scientist. It is the blending together of these sources that form the content in the pages that follows.

    Acknowledgements

    This book and author benefited greatly from the insight and criticism kindly offered by a number of China watchers. Foremost among them is my friend and China traveler Dr. Lingufu Wu who read the manuscript cover to cover and pointed out passages in need of elaboration and clarification. Michael P. Hodges, University of South Florida Osher Lifelong Learning colleague, also offered critical and constructive comments that are much appreciated. Patrick Donnelly, history buff and China watcher, contributed supporting comments. Others who offered corrections and encouragement include Stacy Clark, Jack Logsdon, and #1SIL Ed Cannon who graciously gave of his time and energy.

    A special thanks to my partner Kay Fortman Menzel who offered wise editing advice and a great deal of patience as the words and pages came together while writing this book.

    Creative Commons (CC) licensed images include a multicolored China map by Michael Allen Smith. Other images are originals photographed by Don Menzel during many visits to China

    A enhanced multi-touch interactive version of this book is available at https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-new-china/id686948050?mt=11

    CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

    First let’s review a little geography--China borders 14 nations-- Vietnam, Laos, Burma, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia and North Korea. The western part of China is mainly mountainous, with the Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau known as the roof of the world, abutting the Himalayan mountain range. The central region contains the plains of the Yangtze River.

    POPULATION

    China’s 2011 population was estimated by the World Bank to be 1, 344, 130,000 while the U.S. population is 311, 591,117. Even if China's population multiplies many times, proclaimed Mao Zedong in 1949, she is fully capable of finding a solution; the solution is production. One controversial production policy, the one-child policy, was put in place in 1980 and is reported to have prevented 400 million births (Wong 2012a).⁠ The policy requires women to abort second babies regardless of gender. China’s one-child policy applies primarily to ethnic Han couples. It has slowed the population growth but has not stopped it.

    The one-child policy controversy stems from several factors. First, the policy has been unevenly enforced across the country. Some rural areas, for example, allow two children without a penalty. Second, the policy has encourage parents to abandon, or worse, kill female babies as male children remain the child of preference in most areas of China. It is no accident that Chinese children, especially females, are so widely adopted by foreigners. However, it should be noted that the adoption by Americans of Chinese born children has diminished greatly over the past decade, with 8,000 adopted in 2005 and an estimated 2,600 adopted in 2011. This dwindling adoption trend is consistent across other countries as well, such as Russia and Guatemala (Blow 2012).

    Third, China is experiencing an aging population and a dwindling pool of young, cheap labor that will eventually slow the nation’s economic growth. Fourth, there is growing evidence that local officials are coercive toward women, sometimes to the extreme of forcing sterilizations and abortions. The motive? The performance of local officials is often evaluated by higher-level officials according to how well they control population growth in their townships. Even parents who are willing to pay a fine of $7,200 for a third child are still l coerced or forced into having abortions to make sure targets are met (Wong 2012a).

    China’s rural and urban populations are experiencing considerable change. In 2012, China’s urban population surpassed the rural population and, as the graphic portrays, will continue to grow over the next 20 years. China counted 690.79 million urbanites at year’s end in 2011 compared to 656.56 million rural dwellers (Wines 2012).

    Source:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/in_depth/china_modern/html/2.stm

    Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1912861,00.html#ixzz21CCY0jeV

    China’s rural poor have been the source of revolution throughout the nation’s history. Mao Zedong’s Communist Party took power in 1949 after winning the support of hundreds of millions of peasants living in the nation’s countryside. After the Communists’ victory, Mao redistributed the land from the rich landlords to the penniless peasants.

    The income gap between city and rural dwellers is a growing, persistent issue, with city residents incomes more than triple that of rural residents. Read more:

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-17/china-urban-population-exceeds-rural.html

    China-USA Comparisons

    The U.S. has 10 cities with one million population. New York City is the largest with 8.3 million, although the metro area is home to more than 19 million. China has 118 mega-cities with a population of one million plus. Shanghai is the largest with an estimated 23 million that includes 9 million in the floating population. By 2025, some estimates claim that China will have 200 cities with populations over one million.

    Fifty-one percent of China’s population live in cities compared to 82 percent of U.S. residents counted as city-dwellers (Wines 2012).

    China and the United States are approximately the same size geographically.

    In 2012 there were more than 500 million Internet users in China. The U.S. had 245 million Internet users.

    The U.S. leads China in the number

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