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Citizens and Groups in Contemporary China began with two symposia held in 1977 and 1978. The first, a workshop on "The Pursuit of Interest in China," was held in August 1977 at the University of Michigan, and was organized by Michel Oksenberg and Richard Baum. It was supported by a grant from the Joint Committee on Contemporary China of the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies, using funds provided by the Andrew Mellon Foundation. Its principal goal was to use detailed case studies to explore the relevance of interest group approaches to the study of Chinese politics. The second, a panel organized by the editor for the 1978 Chicago meeting of the Association of Asian Studies, sought to apply participatory approaches to the role of social groups in the Chinese political process. The striking degree of overlap in the focus, methodology, and participants in both meetings suggested to a number of the paper writers that there was a need for a more eclectic approach which would focus simultaneously on individual and group actors. The recognition that a volume based on such an approach might serve the needs of students and scholars seeking to examine the dynamics of informal influence and power in China was the stimulus for publishing the studies presented here in book form. [ix]

Citizens and Groups in Contemporary China began with two symposia held in 1977 and 1978. The first, a workshop on "The Pursuit of Interest in China," was held in August 1977 at the University of Michigan, and was organized by Michel Oksenberg and Richard Baum. It was supported by a grant from the Joint Committee on Contemporary China of the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies, using funds provided by the Andrew Mellon Foundation. Its principal goal was to use detailed case studies to explore the relevance of interest group approaches to the study of Chinese politics. The second, a panel organized by the editor for the 1978 Chicago meeting of the Association of Asian Studies, sought to apply participatory approaches to the role of social groups in the Chinese political process. The striking degree of overlap in the focus, methodology, and participants in both meetings suggested to a number of the paper writers that there was a need for a more eclectic approach which would focus simultaneously on individual and group actors. The recognition that a volume based on such an approach might serve the needs of students and scholars seeking to examine the dynamics of informal influence and power in China was the stimulus for publishing the studies presented here in book form

Sees "the slow rooting of more civil and humane norms of political contention" and "the growth of a limited degree of institutional pluralism" as potential signs of continued liberalization.

In China's dramatic post-Mao opening to the west, no single initiative appeared more radical or problematic than the 1979 decision to establish four foreign investment enclaves in China's southern provinces of Guangdong and Fujian. Avowedly capitalist, uncomfortably reminiscent of their treaty port precursors, the "Special Economic Zones" symbolized the boldness of China's break with the autarchic politics of the past. Equally, however, the controversial nature of the programme made its success an acid test both of leadership's political resolve and of its ability to surmount substantial economic and bureaucratic obstacles to create an investment setting conducive to significant foreign participation. The recent reservations expressed by Chinese leaders about the future of the zones may well presage a period of slower but perhaps, ultimately, healthier zone development. (International Political Science Association)

Review article on the books 'The dynamics of Chinese politics' by Lucien Pye and 'Organizing China: the problem of bureaucracy, 1949-1976' by Harry Harding as well as on some papers published in different journals. Bewilderingly complex political trends in China since Mao's death. Two of the most visible stumbling blocks on this country's road to modernization: bureaucracy and factionalism. Intra-elite policy differences over the optimal remedies for China's administrative ills