He (political science, U. of Tasmania-Hobart) proposes the term semi-civil society to describe the development of associational life in China and the complexity of the relationship between democratization and civil society. He considers the implications for democracy of the evolving Chinese discourse on civil society, the role of autonomous organizations in the 1989 movement, the legitimation provided by civil society, exile oppositional organizations and their impact on domestic policies, and the role of civil society in defining the boundaries of the Chinese political community. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.