Transforming China: Economic Reform and its Political Implications

234 Pages·2000·0.947 MB·English

by  Wei-Wei Zhang (auth.)

Transforming China
Economic Reform and
its Political Implications
Wei-Wei Zhang
Studies on the Chinese Economy
General Editors: Peter Nolan, Sinyi Professor of Chinese Management, Judge
Institute of Management Studies, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Jesus
College, Cambridge, England; and Dong Fureng, Professor, Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences, Beijing, China
This series analyses issues in China’s current economic development, and sheds
light upon that process by examining China’s economic history. It contains a
wide range of books on the Chinese economy past and present, and includes not
only studies written by leading Western authorities, but also translations of the
most important works on the Chinese economy produced within China. It
intends to make a major contribution towards understanding this immensely
important part of the world economy.
Titles include:
Thomas Chan, Noel Tracy and Zhu Wenhui
CHINA’S EXPORT MIRACLE
Sarah Cook, Shujie Yao and Juzhong Zhuang (editors)
THE CHINESE ECONOMY UNDER TRANSITION
Xu Dixin and Wu Chengming (editors)
CHINESE CAPITALISM, 1522–1840
Christopher Findlay and Andrew Watson (editors)
FOOD SECURITY AND ECONOMIC REFORM
Samuel P. S. Ho and Y. Y. Kueh
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH CHINA
Kali P. Kalirajan and Yanrui Wu (editors)
PRODUCTIVITY AND GROWTH IN CHINESE AGRICULTURE
Bozhong Li
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN JIANGNAN, 1620–1850
Alfred H. Y. Lin
THE RURAL ECONOMY OF GUANGDONG, 1870–1937
Dic Lo
MARKET AND INSTITUTIONAL REGULATION IN CHINESE INDUSTRIALIZA-
TION
Jun Ma
THE CHINESE ECONOMY IN THE 1990S
Guo Rongxing
HOW THE CHINESE ECONOMY WORKS
Sally Sargeson
REWORKING CHINA’S PROLETARIAT
Ng Sek Hong and Malcolm Warner
CHINA’S TRADE UNIONS AND MANAGEMENT
Michael Twohey
AUTHORITY AND WELFARE IN CHINA
Wang Xiao-qiang
CHINA’S PRICE AND ENTERPRISE REFORM
Xiaoping Xu
CHINA’S FINANCIAL SYSTEM UNDER TRANSITION
Yanni Yan
INTERNATIONAL JOINT VENTURES IN CHINA
Wei-Wei Zhang
TRANSFORMING CHINA
Economic Reform and its Political Implications
Xiao-guang Zhang
CHINA’S TRADE PATTERNS AND INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE ADVAN-
TAGE
Studies on the Chinese Economy
Series Standing Order ISBN 978-0-333-71502-4
(outside North America only)
You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order.
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Transforming China
Economic Reform and
its Political Implications
Wei-Wei Zhang
Senior Research Fellow
Modern Asia Research Centre
Geneva University, Switzerland
and
Professor
College of the Humanities
Fudan University, China
First published in Great Britain 2000 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-40847-4 ISBN 978-0-230-50635-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230506350
First published in the United States of America 2000 by
ST. MARTIN’S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-22912-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zhang, Wei-wei, 1957–
Transforming China : economic reform and its political
implications / Wei-Wei Zhang.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-22912-2 (cloth)
1. China—Economic conditions—1976– 2. China—Economic
policy—1976– 3. China—Politics and government—1976– I. Title.
HC427.92.Z437 1999
338.951—dc21 99–39486
CIP
©Wei-Wei Zhang 2000
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2000 978-0-333-73591-6
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made
without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written
permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright
Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P0LP.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained
forest sources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00
For Hui-Hui and Marco Yi-Zhou
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Contents
Acknowledgements viii
List of Tables x
List of Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
Part I Economic Reform: an Overview 5
11 Rural Reform 9
12 Urban Reform 12
13 Macroeconomic Reform 16
14 Opening to the Outside World 20
Part II Economic Reform: Distinctive Features 27
15 Dual Goal: Development and Transition 29
16 Soft and Hard Reforms 39
17 Dynamic Gradualism 46
18 Ideological Reorientation 54
19 Reform Leadership 63
10 The Role of the Overseas Chinese 75
Part III Political Implications of Economic Reform 83
11 Changing Social Structure 85
12 Informal Liberalization 98
13 Shifting Values 118
14 Corruption 132
15 Regionalism 141
16 Political Reform 148
17 The Chinese Economic Area 163
18 International Implications 173
Conclusion 182
Notes 189
Bibliography 202
Index 212
vii
Acknowledgements
It is impossible for me to acknowledge fully the intellectual debt owed
to many individuals or to mention all who assisted. But I should thank
in particular those individuals, some of whom are also personal
friends, who shared their perspectives with me on various issues dis-
cussed in the book. These individuals include Wang Huning and Jiang
Yihua of Fudan University, Wu Jinglian, Lu Baipu, Zhang Xiaoji and
the late Sun Shangqing of the Development Research Centre under the
State Council, Dong Furen, Fan Gang and Zhang Yunling of the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Wang Daohan, ex-Mayor of
Shanghai, Ding Xinghao of the Shanghai Institute for International
Studies, Xiao Gongqin and Xu Jilin of the Shanghai Normal University,
Li Zhaoxing and Sha Zukang of the Foreign Ministry, Yang Chengxu
of the China Institute of International Studies, Zhang Huali of the
Ministry of Culture, Jiang Huiling of the Supremie People’s Court,
Meng Xianzhong of Jilin University, and Wu Zhao and Lu Jiebiao of
the Wuxi People’s Congress, Liu Yonghao of the Hope Group, David
C.W. Tsui of Hong Kong’s Asian Reviewand, in Taiwan, Chiao Jen-Ho of
the Straits Exchange Foundation, Su Chi and Lin Chong-Bin of the
Mainland Affairs Council and Shaw Yumin of the Institute of Inter-
national Relations. My thanks also go to quite a few individuals who
have asked not to be named.
I would like to express my particular gratitude to Macmillan and
Peter Nolan of Cambridge University, as co-general editor, for agreeing
to publish this book in the Macmillan Studies in the Chinese Economy
series. I am also grateful to the Programme for Strategic and Inter-
national Security Studies (PSIS), Geneva, and its Director Curt Gasteyger
and his assistant Frédéric Grare for inviting me to present my research
on the topic at a symposium held in 1996, ‘From Cold War to Cold
Peace: World Politics and Economics’, and for publishing my lecture
notes in the form of an occasional paper. My appreciation also goes to
the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR) in Abu
Dhabi for translating this paper into Arabic in 1997. Indeed, all this
provided a source of encouragement to me to sustain and complete
this enterprise.
My special thanks go to my colleagues in Geneva and Shanghai for
their encouragement and logistic support, especially Philippe Régnier,
viii
Acknowledgements ix
Director of the Modern Asia Research Centre (MARC), Geneva Univer-
sity, and Jiang Yihua, Dean of the College of the Humanities, Fudan
University. I also wish to thank some personal friends, in particular,
Otto Hieronymi, David T. Huang, Simon T. Liu, Huijun Li and Sijian
Xiao for providing help of one kind or another with this book.
I am indebted to the helpful staffs of a number of libraries, notably,
the National Library of China, Beijing, the Shanghai Library, and the
Humanities Library and the Library of the International Politics Depart-
ment of Fudan University, and the Library of the Graduate Institute of
International Studies and United Nations Library in Geneva.
For publishing this book, I wish to thank sincerely Eleanor Birne
and Sunder Katwala of Macmillan and my copy-editor Sally Crawford.
They all rendered invaluable professional assistance in every stage of
publication.
The author alone, however, is responsible for any errors of fact or
interpretation that may appear in the book.
Finally, I have a particular debt to my wife, Hui-Hui. Every step of
the way, I have relied on her understanding and support and this book
is dedicated to her and to our new-born son Marco Yi-Zhou, who may
well witness a transformed China in the new millennium.
W.-W.Z.
Geneva