Invisible China

Invisible China PDF Author: Scott Rozelle
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022674051X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Get Book Here

Book Description
A study of how China’s changing economy may leave its rural communities in the dust and launch a political and economic disaster. As the glittering skyline in Shanghai seemingly attests, China has quickly transformed itself from a place of stark poverty into a modern, urban, technologically savvy economic powerhouse. But as Scott Rozelle and Natalie Hell show in Invisible China, the truth is much more complicated and might be a serious cause for concern. China’s growth has relied heavily on unskilled labor. Most of the workers who have fueled the country’s rise come from rural villages and have never been to high school. While this national growth strategy has been effective for three decades, the unskilled wage rate is finally rising, inducing companies inside China to automate at an unprecedented rate and triggering an exodus of companies seeking cheaper labor in other countries. Ten years ago, almost every product for sale in an American Walmart was made in China. Today, that is no longer the case. With the changing demand for labor, China seems to have no good back-up plan. For all of its investment in physical infrastructure, for decades China failed to invest enough in its people. Recent progress may come too late. Drawing on extensive surveys on the ground in China, Rozelle and Hell reveal that while China may be the second-largest economy in the world, its labor force has one of the lowest levels of education of any comparable country. Over half of China’s population—as well as a vast majority of its children—are from rural areas. Their low levels of basic education may leave many unable to find work in the formal workplace as China’s economy changes and manufacturing jobs move elsewhere. In Invisible China, Rozelle and Hell speak not only to an urgent humanitarian concern but also a potential economic crisis that could upend economies and foreign relations around the globe. If too many are left structurally unemployable, the implications both inside and outside of China could be serious. Understanding the situation in China today is essential if we are to avoid a potential crisis of international proportions. This book is an urgent and timely call to action that should be read by economists, policymakers, the business community, and general readers alike. Praise for Invisible China “Stunningly researched.” —TheEconomist, Best Books of the Year (UK) “Invisible China sounds a wake-up call.” —The Strategist “Not to be missed.” —Times Literary Supplement (UK) “[Invisible China] provides an extensive coverage of problems for China in the sphere of human capital development . . . the book is rich in content and is not constrained only to China, but provides important parallels with past and present developments in other countries.” —Journal of Chinese Political Science

Invisible China

Invisible China PDF Author: Scott Rozelle
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022674051X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Get Book Here

Book Description
A study of how China’s changing economy may leave its rural communities in the dust and launch a political and economic disaster. As the glittering skyline in Shanghai seemingly attests, China has quickly transformed itself from a place of stark poverty into a modern, urban, technologically savvy economic powerhouse. But as Scott Rozelle and Natalie Hell show in Invisible China, the truth is much more complicated and might be a serious cause for concern. China’s growth has relied heavily on unskilled labor. Most of the workers who have fueled the country’s rise come from rural villages and have never been to high school. While this national growth strategy has been effective for three decades, the unskilled wage rate is finally rising, inducing companies inside China to automate at an unprecedented rate and triggering an exodus of companies seeking cheaper labor in other countries. Ten years ago, almost every product for sale in an American Walmart was made in China. Today, that is no longer the case. With the changing demand for labor, China seems to have no good back-up plan. For all of its investment in physical infrastructure, for decades China failed to invest enough in its people. Recent progress may come too late. Drawing on extensive surveys on the ground in China, Rozelle and Hell reveal that while China may be the second-largest economy in the world, its labor force has one of the lowest levels of education of any comparable country. Over half of China’s population—as well as a vast majority of its children—are from rural areas. Their low levels of basic education may leave many unable to find work in the formal workplace as China’s economy changes and manufacturing jobs move elsewhere. In Invisible China, Rozelle and Hell speak not only to an urgent humanitarian concern but also a potential economic crisis that could upend economies and foreign relations around the globe. If too many are left structurally unemployable, the implications both inside and outside of China could be serious. Understanding the situation in China today is essential if we are to avoid a potential crisis of international proportions. This book is an urgent and timely call to action that should be read by economists, policymakers, the business community, and general readers alike. Praise for Invisible China “Stunningly researched.” —TheEconomist, Best Books of the Year (UK) “Invisible China sounds a wake-up call.” —The Strategist “Not to be missed.” —Times Literary Supplement (UK) “[Invisible China] provides an extensive coverage of problems for China in the sphere of human capital development . . . the book is rich in content and is not constrained only to China, but provides important parallels with past and present developments in other countries.” —Journal of Chinese Political Science

China's Rural Areas

China's Rural Areas PDF Author: China Development Research Foundation
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1351784846
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 383

Get Book Here

Book Description
The prosperity of China’s people has advanced very much in recent decades. However, in many respects China is still a developing country, and this is especially true of rural areas where economic progress has not been as marked as in urban areas and where many people still live in relative poverty. The Chinese government recognizes that more hard work is needed in order to improve prosperity in the countryside. This book provides a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the situation in China’s rural areas, assesses the effectiveness or otherwise of current policies, and puts forward proposals for further development. Subjects covered include the changing population profile of rural areas, land ownership, agricultural improvements, and local self-government.

Rural Industrialization in China

Rural Industrialization in China PDF Author: Jon Sigurdson
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 1684172047
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 303

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Small-scale industries in rural areas in China are today an essential element of regional development programs. This monograph analyzes two main development strategies. One involves technology choices in a number of industrial sectors, most of which were initiated during the Great Leap Forward in the late fifties. The scaling down of modern large-scale technology through a product or quality choice, combined with changes in the manufacturing processes, is discussed at some length for nitrogen chemical fertilizer and cement. The other approach is the integrated rural development strategy where a number of activities are integrated within or closely related to the commune system. This strategy includes industry as only one component of many instruments where improved public health, education, and improved agricultural technology contribute to achieving such policy objectives as increased employment and productivity."

Northern and Southern China

Northern and Southern China PDF Author: He Xuefeng
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000402622
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 333

Get Book Here

Book Description
This edited volume examines regional differences in social structure in rural China and elaborates the characteristics, reasons and practical implications to policymaking. In contrast to many existing studies, the book spotlights regional disparities that stem from the varied social compositions of villages and their social relations in rural areas of Northern, Central and Southern China. Three types of rural community structures, ranging from the north to the south of China, are identified, including the segmented village comprised of kinship groups with a high degree of atomization, and the united village resting on a patrilineage-based organization. The editor draws on middle-range theory, organically combining a theoretical framework of the regional variations with empirical studies based on years of fieldwork in rural China. This approach is used throughout the book to analyze topics in four aspects: family relations, social interactions, other notable social issues and rural governance. The volume will appeal to scholars and students of sociology and Chinese studies, as well as general readers interested in rural Chinese society.

China's Rural Areas

China's Rural Areas PDF Author: China Development Research Foundation
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351784838
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 406

Get Book Here

Book Description
The prosperity of China’s people has advanced very much in recent decades. However, in many respects China is still a developing country, and this is especially true of rural areas where economic progress has not been as marked as in urban areas and where many people still live in relative poverty. The Chinese government recognizes that more hard work is needed in order to improve prosperity in the countryside. This book provides a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the situation in China’s rural areas, assesses the effectiveness or otherwise of current policies, and puts forward proposals for further development. Subjects covered include the changing population profile of rural areas, land ownership, agricultural improvements, and local self-government.

Organizing Rural China, Rural China Organizing

Organizing Rural China, Rural China Organizing PDF Author: Ane Bislev
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739170090
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 250

Get Book Here

Book Description
During the early 1980s China embarked on what can be seen as one of the world's largest social experiments ever. Decollectivization meant much more than the reorganization of agricultural production into family based farming. It signaled significant changes to rural social relations, when privatization, marketization and increased geographical mobility started tearing apart the economic and social institutions that had structured collective village life under Mao. The focus of this book is on how rural society has been reorganized in the 21st century. The first chapters outline the basic organizational structure of rural China and can be used as an introduction to the topic in a classroom setting. They show how the state and its social scientists draw up plans to overcome the perceived lack of rural social organization, and discuss the often problem-ridden implementation of their ideas. The second section presents case studies of institutions that organize key aspects of rural life: Boarding schools where rural children learn to accept organizational hierarchies; lineage organizations carving out new roles for themselves; "dragonhead enterprises" expected to organize agricultural production and support rural development, and several others. The book is of theoretical interest because of its focus on the re-embedding, or reintegration, of individuals into new types of collectivities, which are less predetermined by tradition and habit and more a matter of, at least perceived, individual choice. Most chapters are based on extensive fieldwork and contain vivid examples from daily life, which will make the book attractive to anyone who wants to understand how Chinese villagers experience the extraordinary social changes they are going through.

One Country, Two Societies

One Country, Two Societies PDF Author: Martin K. Whyte
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674036307
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 462

Get Book Here

Book Description
"A collection of essays that analyzes China's foremost social cleavage: the rural-urban gap. It examines the historical background of rural-urban relations; the size and trend in the income gap between rural and urban residents; aspects of inequality apart from income; and, experiences of discrimination, particularly among urban migrants." -- BOOK PUBLISHER WEBSITE.

Chinese Village Life Today

Chinese Village Life Today PDF Author: Gonçalo Santos
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295747390
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 316

Get Book Here

Book Description
China has undergone a remarkable process of urbanization, but a significant portion of its citizens still live in rural villages. To gain better access to jobs, health care, and consumer goods, villagers often travel or migrate to cities, and that cyclical transit and engagement with new technoscientific and medical practices is transforming village life. In this thoughtful ethnography, Gonçalo Santos paints a richly detailed portrait of one rural township in Guangdong Province, north of the industrialized Pearl River Delta region. Unlike previous studies of rural-urban relations and migration in China, Chinese Village Life Today—based on Santos’s more than twenty years of field research—starts from a rural community’s point of view rather than the perspective of major urban centers. Santos considers the intimate choices of village families in the face of larger forces of modernization, showing how these negotiations shape the configuration of daily village life, from marriage, childbirth, and childcare to personal hygiene and public sanitation. Santos also outlines the advantages of a rural existence, including a degree of autonomy over family planning and community life that is rare in urban China. Filled with vivid anecdotes and keen observations, this book presents a fresh perspective on China’s urban-rural divide and a grounded theoretical approach to rural transformation.

Rural Urban Framework

Rural Urban Framework PDF Author: Joshua Bolchover
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3038210609
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Get Book Here

Book Description
While most attention is given to the booming mega-cities in China and the associated problems of over-population, the rural areas in China are being largely ignored. Yet, a sustainable development of the rural areas is precisely that, which will be decisive for China’s future. Through its rapid development into an industrial country, China now needs to tackle far-reaching problems such as increasing population, growing income gap between the poor and the rich, rural exodus, decreased agricultural production, and environmental pollution. Rural Urban Framework is a work group at the University of Hong Kong that not only researches the far-reaching changes of the last thirty years in China’s rural areas, but has also realized concrete projects aimed at improving supply and infrastructure on site. In this publication, the authors present for the first time the results of their research as well as their built projects in the Chinese backlands, and question whether China’s only future model lies in cities.

Change Of China's Rural Community: A Case Study Of Zhejiang's Jianshanxia Village

Change Of China's Rural Community: A Case Study Of Zhejiang's Jianshanxia Village PDF Author: Dan Mao
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 981120652X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 313

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book analyzes the industrialization process of Jianshanxia, a mountain village in Zhejiang Province, and its organizational changes since China's reform and opening-up. As a small mountain village far from the city, Jianshanxia Village used its contingent funds to open up a factory collectively owned by the village. At that time, it was common for city dwellers to run a factory in cities but this was still rare in rural areas. The book analyzes how the village could quickly claim a large market share of the domestic electric mosquito incense market. The successful industrialization of the village increased the income of the villagers, improved its appearance and enhanced its collective economic strength. In retrospect, the transformation of this village was a miracle and a typical example of industrialization of township enterprises in China.