ABSTRACT
The thirtieth anniversary of the official launch of market reform in China coincided with a severe global financial crisis at the end of 2008. Bracing for a dramatic slowdown in economic growth after decades of reform-driven high speed growth and social change, which drew the country deep into the belly of global capitalism, “social stability” has become the most emphasized buzzword in political, policy, and academic circles. Chinese political legitimacy, observers caution, is so reliant on sustained economic growth that any interruption of the boom will call forth massive social unrest. Informing such a view is the assumption that political authoritarianism is the price that the Chinese populace has paid in exchange for economic development. Income growth buys consent and compliance, but once this bargain falters, rebellion is the likely consequence. This volume rejects this static view of Chinese society. The extensive research presented in these pages uncovers a broad array of modes of activism that is a product not of the current downturn but has been steadily developing over the past 30 years. In this process important elements of Chinese society have repeatedly asserted demands for rights, justice, accountability, and legality. Income growth is not a priori the sole, or even the central, concern of many of movements that have erupted throughout the reform era.
