Cheng Li

The United States may be headed toward a disastrous conflict with China unless Washington updates its understanding of contemporary Chinese society After four decades of engagement, the United States and China now appear to be locked on a collision course that has already fomented a trade war, seems likely to produce a new cold war, and could even result in dangerous military conflict. The current deterioration of the bilateral relationship is the culmination of years of disputes, disillusionment, disappointment, and distrust between the two countries. Washington has legitimate concerns about Beijing’s excessive domestic political control and aggressive foreign policy stances, just as Chinese leaders believe the United States still has futile designs on blocking their country’s inevitable rise to great-power status. Cheng Li’s Middle Class Shanghai argues that American policymakers must not lose sight of the expansive dynamism and diversity in present-day China. The caricature of the PRC as a monolithic Communist apparatus set on exporting its ideology and development model is simplistic and misguided. Drawing on empirical research in the realms of higher education, avant-garde art, architecture, and law, this unique study highlights the strong, constructive impact of bilateral exchanges. Combining eclectic human stories with striking new data analysis, this book addresses the possibility that the development of China’s class structure and cosmopolitan culture—exemplified and led by Shanghai—could provide a force for reshaping U.S.-China engagement. Both countries should build upon the deep cultural and educational exchanges that have bound them together for decades. The author concludes that U.S. policymakers should neither underestimate the role and strength of the Chinese middle class, nor ostracize or alienate this force with policies that push it toward jingoistic nationalism to the detriment of both countries and the global community. With its unique focus, this book will enlighten policymakers, scholars, business leaders, and anyone interested in China and its increasingly fraught relations with the United States.

Reshaping U.S.-China Engagement

Middle Class Shanghai

Tain-Jy Chen

Taiwan, once one of the world's leading manufacturing economies, is now transforming into a service economy, with an emphasis on knowledge-based services. This has meant major changes in the industrial sector, and this book explores the human resource implications that this change has identified.

The New Knowledge Economy of Taiwan

While China's economic rise is being watched closely around the world, the country's changing political landscape is intriguing, as well. Forces unleashed by market reforms are profoundly recasting state-society relations. Will the Middle Kingdom transition rapidly, slowly, or not at all to political democracy? In China's Changing Political Landscape, leading experts examine the prospects for democracy in the world's most populous nation. China's political transformation is unlikely to follow a linear path. Possible scenarios include development of democracy as we understand it; democracy with more clearly Chinese characteristics; mounting regime instability due to political and socioeconomic crises; and a modified authoritarianism, perhaps modeled on other Asian examples such as Singapore. Which road China ultimately takes will depend on the interplay of socioeconomic forces, institutional developments, leadership succession, and demographic trends. Cheng Li and his colleagues break down a number of issues in Chinese domestic politics, including changing leadership dynamics; the rise of business elites; increased demand for the rule of law; and shifting civil-military relations. Although the contributors clash on many issues, they do agree on one thing: the political trajectory of this economic powerhouse will have profound implications, not only for 1.3 billion Chinese people, but also for the world as a whole.

Prospects for Democracy

China's Changing Political Landscape

"In this fascinating study, leading American China scholar Cheng Li has written and compiled an unprecedented volume on China's rapidly growing community of think tanks. The study includes a thorough inventory of China's research institutions (government and private), and it offers compelling case studies of four leading public intellectuals. But the best part is Cheng Li's own deep insights into this community of thinkers and institutions, their relative strengths and weaknesses, and impact on China's domestic and foreign policies. This volume should be mandatory reading for all China specialists." David Shambaugh George Washington University and author of China's Future China's momentous socioeconomic transformation is not taking place in an intellectual vacuum: Chinese scholars and public intellectuals are actively engaged in fervent discussions about the country's domestic and foreign policies, demographic constraints, and ever-growing integration into the world community. This book focuses on China's major think tanks where policies are initiated, and on a few prominent thinkers who influence the way in which elites and the general public understand and deal with the various issues confronting the country. The book examines a number of factors contributing to the rapid rise of Chinese think tanks in the reform era. These include the leadership's call for "scientific decision-making," the need for specialized expertise in economics and finance as China becomes an economic powerhouse, the demand for opinion leaders in the wake of a telecommunication revolution driven by social media, the accumulation of human and financial capital, and the increasing utility of the "revolving door" nature of think tanks. It has been widely noted that think tanks and policy advisors have played an important role in influencing the strategic thinking of the top leadership, including the formation of ideas such as the "Three Represents," "China's peaceful rise," "One Belt, One Road," and the founding of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). In 2014, President Xi Jinping made think tank development a national strategy, and he claimed that "building a new type of think tank with Chinese characteristics is an important and pressing mission." Though the media outside China has often reported on this important development, it has all but escaped rigorous scholarly scrutiny. This book will categorize Chinese think tanks by their various forms, such as government agencies, university-based think tanks, private think tanks, business research centers or consultancies, and civil society groups. It will not only analyze the problems and challenges in China's think tank development, but also reveal the power of ideas.

The Rising Influence of Thinkers and Think Tanks in China

The Power of Ideas

Chinese politics are at a crossroads as President Xi Jinping amasses personal power and tests the constraints of collective leadership. In the years since he became general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, Xi Jinping has surprised many people in China and around the world with his bold anti-corruption campaign and his aggressive consolidation of power. Given these new developments, we must rethink how we analyze Chinese politics—an urgent task as China now has more influence on the global economy and regional security than at any other time in modern history. Chinese Politics in the Xi Jinping Era examines how the structure and dynamics of party leadership have evolved since the late 1990s and argues that "inner-party democracy"—the concept of collective leadership that emphasizes deal making based on accepted rules and norms—may pave the way for greater transformation within China's political system. Xi's legacy will largely depend on whether he encourages or obstructs this trend of political institutionalization in the governance of the world's most populous and increasingly pluralistic country. Cheng Li also addresses the recruitment and composition of the political elite, a central concern in Chinese politics. China analysts will benefit from the meticulously detailed biographical information of the 376 members of the 18th Central Committee, including tables and charts detailing their family background, education, occupation, career patterns, and mentor-patron ties.

Reassessing Collective Leadership

Chinese Politics in the Xi Jinping Era

Li shows readers-- from the grassroots-- a country full of energy, irony, and paradox.

Dynamics and Dilemmas of Reform

Rediscovering China

Weixiao Meng

Jun Zheng

Feng Yan

Peter Han Joo Chong

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Ad Hoc Networks, ADHOCNETS 2019, held in Queenstown, New Zealand, in November 2019. The 28 full papers were selected from 64 submissions and cover a variety of network paradigms including mobile ad hoc networks, sensor networks, vehicular networks, underwater networks, airborne networks, underground networks, personal area networks, device-to-device (D2D) communications in 5G cellular networks, and home networks. The papers present a wide range of applications in civilian, commercial, and military areas.

11th EAI International Conference, ADHOCNETS 2019, Queenstown, New Zealand, November 18–21, 2019, Proceedings

Ad Hoc Networks

Kwok Chiu Fung

Lawrence J. Lau

Joseph S. Lee

This book sheds light on the trends, characteristics, motives, and policy implications of U.S. direct investment in China.

U.S. Direct Investment in China

Mostafa Belkasmi

Jalel Ben-Othman

Mohamed Essaaidi

This book constitutes selected papers of the Second International Conference on Advanced Communication Systems and Information Security, ACOSIS 2019, held in Marrakesh, Morocco, in November 2019. The 10 full papers and 10 short papers were thoroughly reviewed and selected from 94 submissions. The papers are organized accroding to the following topical sections: wireless communications and services; vehicular communications; channel coding; construction of error correcting codes; intrusion detection techniques; wireless and mobile network security; applied cryptography.

Second International Conference, ACOSIS 2019, Marrakesh, Morocco, November 20–22, 2019, Revised Selected Papers

Advanced Communication Systems and Information Security

Decades ago, there was no distinct middle class in the People's Republic of China. Any meaningful discussion of China's economy, politics, or society must take into account the rapid emergence and explosive growth of the Chinese middle class. This book details the origins and characteristics of this dramatic change.

Beyond Economic Transformation

China's Emerging Middle Class

Shiwen Mao

This book constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Wireless Internet , WiCON 2017, held in Tianjin, China, in December 2017. The 42 full papers were selected from 70 submissions and cover the following topics: wireless networking, massive MIMO and mmWave, WSNs and VANETs, security and IoT, wireless communications, cloud and big data networking.

10th International Conference, WiCON 2017, Tianjin, China, December 16-17, 2017, Proceedings

Wireless Internet

Kenneth G. Lieberthal

Yu Keping

China's path to political reform over the last three decades has been slow, but discourse among Chinese political scientists continues to be vigorous and forward thinking. China's Political Development offers a unique look into the country's evolving political process by combining chapters authored by twelve prominent Chinese political scientists with an extensive commentary on each chapter by an American scholar of the Chinese political system. Each chapter focuses on a major aspect of the development of the Chinese Party-state, encompassing the changing relations among its constituent parts as well as its evolving approaches toward economic gorwth, civil society, grassroots elections, and the intertwined problems of supervision and corruption. Together, these analyses highlight the history, strategy, policies, and implementation of governance reforms since 1978 and the authors' recommendations for future changes. This extensive work provides the deep background necessary to understand the sociopolitical context and intellectual currents. behind the reform agenda announced at the landmark Third Plenum in 2013. Shedding light through contrasting perspectives, the book provides an overview of the efforts China has directed toward developing good governance, the challenges it faces, and its future direction.

Cheng Li

About

Books

Join the club