Books in the Routledge Contemporary China Series series

The urbanisation of China over the last three decades has been a hugely significant development, both for ChinaΓÇÖs reform process and for the world more generally. This book presents recent research findings on ChinaΓÇÖs continuing urban transformation. Subjects covered include the decline of the rural-urban divide, the spatial restructuring of Chinese urban centres and urban infrastructure, migrant workers, new housing and new communities, and "green" responses to urban environmental problems. The book is particularly valuable in that it includes much new work by scholars based inside China.

This book analyses public sector reform comprehensively in all parts of ChinaΓÇÖs public sector ΓÇô government bureaucracy, public service units and state-owned enterprises. It argues that reform of the public sector has become an issue of great concern to the Chinese leaders, who realize that efficient public administration is key to securing the regimeΓÇÖs governing capacity and its future survival. The book shows how thinking about public sector reform has shifted in recent decades from a quantitative emphasis on ''small government'', which involved the reduction in size of what was perceived as a bloated bureaucracy, to an emphasis on the quality of governance, which may result in an increase in public sector personnel. The book shows how, although Western ideas about public sector reform have had an impact, Chinese government continues to be best characterized as ''state capitalism'', with the large state-owned enterprises continuing to play an important ΓÇô and increasing ΓÇô role in the economy and in business. However, state-owned enterprises no longer provide care for large numbers of people from the cradle to the grave ΓÇô finding an alternative, efficient way of delivering basic welfare and health care is the big challenge facing ChinaΓÇÖs public sector.

How do we understand the evolution of central-local relations in China during the reform period? This book addresses this question by focusing on eight separate issues in which the central-local relationship has been especially salient - government finance, investment control, regional development, administrative zoning, implementation, culture, social welfare and international relations.

This volume explores irony and cynicism as part of the social life of local communities in China, and specifically in relation to the contemporary Chinese state. It collects ethnographies of irony and cynicism in social action, written by a group of anthropologists.

This is the first book in English to explain the social transformation of the Chinese family from the perspective of Chinese researchers. Presenting a comprehensive view of the Chinese family and how it has adapted during the process of modernization, it provides analysis of changes in family structures, functions and relationships.

This book investigates Sinophone films and art projects that express the desire for archiving and reconfiguring the past. Comprising ten chapters, it brings together contributors from an array of disciplines - artists, filmmakers, curators, and literary scholars - to grapple with the creative ambiguities of Sinophone cinemas and image culture.

This book examines stability maintenance as an alternative governance strategy adopted by the CPC in different social circumstances, including hospital disputes, food safety issues and disaster settlements. Using a variety of case studies, it will be of interests to students and scholars of Chinese studies, politics and sociology.

This book examines the economic, social and ecological costs associated with China's energy policy. Analysing the increase in carbon emissions, it assesses how these costs are domestically and internationally allocated. It presents studies on specific policies in China and on its resource exporting countries, such as Indonesia and Australia.