ABSTRACT

Critical Issues in Contemporary China: Unity, Stability and Development comprehensively examines key problems crucial to understanding modern-day China.

Organized around three interrelated themes of unity, stability and development, each chapter explores distinct issues and debate their significance for China domestically and for Beijing’s engagement with the wider world. While presenting contending explanatory approaches, contributors advance arguments to further critical discussion on selected topics.

Main issues analysed include:

  • political change
  • military transformation
  • legal reforms
  • economic development
  • energy security
  • environmental degradation
  • food security and safety
  • demographic trends
  • migration and urbanization
  • labour unrest
  • health and education
  • social inequalities
  • ethnic conflicts
  • Hong Kong’s integration
  • cross-Strait relations.

Given its thorough and up-to-date assessment of major political, social and economic challenges facing China, this fully revised and substantially expanded new edition is an essential read for any student of Chinese Studies.

chapter 1|18 pages

Muddling authoritarianism

chapter 3|13 pages

Military transformation

chapter 4|18 pages

Legal reforms

chapter 5|15 pages

Economic development strategy

chapter 6|24 pages

Energy security

chapter 8|21 pages

Food security and safety

chapter 9|21 pages

Demographic trends

chapter 10|19 pages

Migration and urbanization

chapter 11|18 pages

Inequality of opportunities

chapter 12|14 pages

The new labour movement

chapter 13|24 pages

Social change

chapter 14|19 pages

Ethnic minorities

chapter 15|12 pages

Hong Kong’s integration