Holding China Together: Diversity and National Integration in the Post-Deng Era

by Barry J. Naughton (Editor)

Despite repeated predictions of collapse and disintegration, China has managed to sustain national unity and gain international stature since the 1989 Tiananmen crisis. Examining the sources and dynamics of the resilience, this volume's contributors reveal how China's leaders have adapted and reinforced key economic and political institutions. They also disclose that implementation of complex policies to regulate economic and social life (employment and migration, population planning, industrial adjustment, and regional disparities) has become more effective over time within a context of growing social and economic diversity.

Genres: China

318 pages, Hardcover

First published July 26, 2004

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barry Naughton's chapter on the Western Development Program is great, including both a lot of background information on the west and excellent critical analysis of the program - for example, the program simply repackages a lot of projects and investments that would have been made anyway, often serves national or even more than western interests, focuses on direct transfers instead of addressing systemic issues in fiscal redistribution.
I found some of the other chapters somewhat off-topic and using a lot of words to show just a few simple points.