Suchergebnisse

Key to China's plans to promote rural development is the de-marginalisation of the countryside through the incorporation of rural areas into the urban-based market-oriented financial system. For this reason, Chinese development planners have turned to microcredit-i.e. the provision of small-scale loans to 'financially excluded' rural households-as a means of increasing 'financial consciousness' and facilitating rural de-marginalisation. Drawing on years of in-depth fieldwork in rural China, this book examines the formulation, implementation and outcomes of government-run microcredit programmes in China-illuminating the diverse roles that microcredit plays in local processes of socioeconomic development and the livelihoods of local actors. It details how microcredit facilitates de-marginalisation for some, while simultaneously exacerbating the marginalisation of others; and exposes the ways in which microcredit and other top-down development strategies reflect and reinforce the contradictions and paradoxes implicit in rural China's contemporary development landscape.

Key to China's plans to promote rural development is the de-marginalisation of the countryside through the incorporation of rural areas into the urban-based market-oriented financial system. For this reason, Chinese development planners have turned to microcredit - i.e. the provision of small-scale loans to 'financially excluded' rural households - as a means of increasing 'financial consciousness' and facilitating rural de-marginalisation. Drawing on in-depth fieldwork in rural China, this book examines the formulation, implementation and outcomes of government-run microcredit programmes in China-illuminating the diverse roles that microcredit plays in local processes of socioeconomic development and the livelihoods of local actors. It details how microcredit facilitates de-marginalisation for some, while simultaneously exacerbating the marginalisation of others; and exposes the ways in which microcredit and other top-down development strategies reflect and reinforce the contradictions and paradoxes implicit in rural China's contemporary development landscape.

Key to China's plans to promote rural development is the de-marginalisation of the countryside through the incorporation of rural areas into the urban-based market-oriented financial system. For this reason, Chinese development planners have turned to microcredit -- i.e. the provision of small-scale loans to 'financially excluded' rural households -- as a means of increasing 'financial consciousness' and facilitating rural de-marginalisation. Drawing on in-depth fieldwork in rural China, this book examines the formulation, implementation and outcomes of government-run microcredit programmes in China, illuminating the diverse roles that microcredit plays in local processes of socioeconomic development and the livelihoods of local actors. It details how microcredit facilitates de-marginalisation for some, while simultaneously exacerbating the marginalisation of others; and exposes the ways in which microcredit and other top-down development strategies reflect and reinforce the contradictions and paradoxes implicit in rural China's contemporary development landscape.

One of the main drivers of China's e-commerce boom is the dramatic expansion of the country's Internet finance industry, which has grown and diversified at a staggering rate over the past decade. The emergence of Chinese Internet finance has been discussed in largely positive terms as facilitating commercial activity. It has also been linked to the wider developmental goal of promoting financial inclusion through the provision of financial services to previously excluded populations. Emerging from the global microfinance movement, the concept of financial inclusion depicts increased access to financial services (particularly credit) as an inherently beneficial means of empowering the poor and driving bottom-up economic development. This article challenges this dominant narrative of beneficial digital financial inclusion in China. It draws on the growing body of literature critiquing the global financial inclusion movement, and examines examples of exploitation, fraud, instability, and extraction related to expanded digital financial coverage in contemporary China. It then demonstrates that digital financial inclusion is part and parcel of the Chinese government's plans to create a social credit system in an attempt to construct a "trustworthy society." In this way, digital financial inclusion can be seen as a key element in a wider project of expanding surveillance through big data in order to close down spaces for those seeking to contest the hegemonic socioeconomic order. The article argues that these examples illuminate fundamental processes implicit in the expansion of the commercial Internet finance industry. In this way, while the extension of digital financial inclusion in China benefits certain groups, it also necessarily serves to reproduce patterns of inequality and exploitation. (China Perspect/GIGA)

The recording and verbatim transcription of interviews is often considered to be one of the more tedious but necessary aspects of the in-depth qualitative research process. While transcription is undoubtedly a necessary methodological tool for researchers focusing specifically on discourse and language, it has also been widely adopted by researchers across the social sciences, and is sometimes advocated as a means of inherently improving the rigour of qualitative research. Based on recent experience from fieldwork in rural China, where I had initially expected to utilise the verbatim transcription method, in this article I critically assess the role of transcription in the design, implementation, and outcome of cross-cultural multilingual qualitative research. I argue that, in certain cases, verbatim transcription can limit the kind of information that may be considered valuable as data, and delay the processes of data reduction and analysis, thus separating the researcher from the fieldwork event. In response to these critiques, I propose an alternative approach to collecting, categorising, coding, and analysing qualitative data: the systematic and reflexive interviewing and reporting (SRIR) method. The SRIR method utilises semi-structured and unstructured interviews conducted by two or more researchers. After completing an interview, researchers engage in reflexive dialogue, and jointly write interview and analysis reports. In this way, the SRIR method begins the process of coding and analysis in situ, thus facilitating critical engagement with emergent themes during fieldwork rather than afterwards. The method is, therefore, ideally suited to research projects that are designed to be open ended and flexible, in order to follow up on new information and potentially even change focus.

According to the Chinese zodiac, 2018 was the year of the 'earthly dog'. In the middle of the long, hot, and feverish dog days of the summer of 2018, some workers at Shenzhen Jasic Technology took their chances and attempted to form an independent union. While this action was met by the harshest repression, it also led to extraordinary demonstrations of solidarity from small groups of radical students from all over the country, which in turn were immediately and severely suppressed. China's year of the dog was also imbued with the spirit of another canine, Cerberus—the three-headed hound of Hades—with the ravenous advance of the surveillance state and the increasing securitisation of Chinese society, starting from the northwestern region of Xinjiang. This Yearbook traces these latest developments in Chinese society through a collection of 50 original essays on labour, civil society, and human rights in China and beyond, penned by leading scholars and practitioners from around the world.

According to the Chinese zodiac, 2017 was the year of the 'fire rooster', an animal often associated with the mythical fenghuang, a magnificently beautiful bird whose appearance is believed to mark the beginning of a new era of peaceful flourishing. Considering the auspicious symbolism surrounding the fenghuang, it is fitting that on 18 October 2017, President Xi Jinping took to the stage of the Nineteenth Party Congress to proclaim the beginning of a 'new era' for Chinese socialism. However, in spite of such ecumenical proclamations, it became immediately evident that not all in China would be welcome to reap the rewards promised by the authorities. Migrant workers, for one, remain disposable. Lawyers, activists and even ordinary citizens who dare to express critical views also hardly find a place in Xi's brave new world. This Yearbook traces the stark new 'gilded age' inaugurated by the Chinese Communist Party. It does so through a collection of more than 40 original essays on labour, civil society and human rights in China and beyond, penned by leading scholars and practitioners from around the world.

Intro -- Introduction -- 1. Aesthetics -- 2. Blood Lineage -- 3. Class Feeling -- 4. Class Struggle -- 5. Collectivism -- 6. Contradiction -- 7. Culture -- 8. Cultural Revolution -- 9. Datong and Xiaokang -- 10. Dialectical Materialism -- 11. Dignity of Labour -- 12. Formalism -- 13. Friend and Enemy -- 14. Global Maoism -- 15. Immortality -- 16. Justice -- 17. Labour -- 18. Large and Communitarian -- 19. Line Struggle -- 20. Mass Line -- 21. Mass Supervision -- 22. Mobilisation -- 23. Museum -- 24. Nationality -- 25. New Democracy -- 26. Paper Tiger -- 27. Peasant -- 28. People's War -- 29. Permanent Revolution -- 30. Poetry -- 31. Practice -- 32. Primitive Accumulation -- 33. Rectification -- 34. Red and Expert -- 35. Removing Mountains and Draining Seas -- 36. Revolution -- 37. Self-reliance -- 38. Semifeudalism, Semicolonialism -- 39. Sending Films to the Countryside -- 40. Serve the People -- 41. Socialist Law -- 42. Speaking Bitterness -- 43. Sugarcoated Bullets -- 44. Superstition -- 45. Surpass -- 46. Third World -- 47. Thought Reform -- 48. Trade Union -- 49. United Front -- 50. Utopia -- 51. Women's Liberation -- 52. Work Team -- 53. Work Unit -- Afterword -- Acknowledgements -- Contributors -- References.

Afterlives of Chinese Communism comprises essays from over fifty world- renowned scholars in the China field, from various disciplines and continents. It provides an indispensable guide for understanding how the Mao era continues to shape Chinese politics today. Each chapter discusses a concept or practice from the Mao period, what it attempted to do, and what has become of it since. The authors respond to the legacy of Maoism from numerous perspectives to consider what lessons Chinese communism can offer today, and whether there is a future for the egalitarian politics that it once promised.

Labour and civil society are two fundamental components of international discussions concerning China today. Whether it is the arrest of labour activists or rights lawyers, the adoption of new industrial policies, or the passing of draconian rules on non-governmental organisations, the events occurring in these areas in China often make global headlines. At the same time, in spite of the grave challenges for workers and activists, the Chinese labour movement is witnessing significant developments, with the occurrence of some of the largest strikes in decades. All of this calls for more serious analysis from both scholars and practitioners, as well for critical engagement with a broader global audience interested in forging international solidarity. It is with these aims in mind that we have compiled this Made in China Yearbook 2016: Disturbances in Heaven, a collection of original articles by both scholars and activists, analysing the most important trends in Chinese labour and civil society over the past year. With its unique blend of in-depth scholarly work written in a direct, accessible style, this volume will allow readers to situate events and policies related to Chinese labour and civil society in a wider context, and serve as an indispensable reference book for international activists, practitioners, and policy-makers.

SUMMARY
Financial technology, or simply 'fin-tech', is increasingly seen as one of the key tools to facilitate poverty reduction and local economic development. One article in particular by Tavneet Suri and William Jack published in the leading publication Science has played a hugely influential role in promoting the fin-tech model in the global South using the example of Kenya's iconic M-Pesa money transfer platform. The authors' central claim is that M-Pesa has been instrumental in facilitating a major episode of poverty reduction. Our analysis shows that their analysis and claims are extremely problematic.

Afterlives of Chinese Communism comprises essays from over fifty world- renowned scholars in the China field, from various disciplines and continents. It provides an indispensable guide for understanding how the Mao era continues to shape Chinese politics today. Each chapter discusses a concept or practice from the Mao period, what it attempted to do, and what has become of it since. The authors respond to the legacy of Maoism from numerous perspectives to consider what lessons Chinese communism can offer today, and whether there is a future for the egalitarian politics that it once promised.

This is an edited and updated transcript of a November 2016 interview that was part of the Tianxia Podcast Series (http://www.chinoiresie.info/tessa-morris-suzuki-podcast-diamondmountains/). The conversation transcribed here focuses on a discussion of Tessa MorrisSuzuki's To the Diamond Mountains: A Hundred-Year Journey through China and Korea ( 2010), a travelogue based on a trip she took in 2009 to Northeast China, North Korea, and South Korea with the purpose of retracing the 1910 journey of the English adventurer and artist Emily Georgiana Kemp. We discuss the book in relation to the momentous transformations that have occurred over the long twentieth century in the areas visited by Kemp, and to the ways in which grassroots movements and new forms of survival politics are remaking Northeast Asia today.