Suchergebnisse

With a focus on Tianjin, this article examines the recent widespread establishment of 'charity supermarkets' in China's cities. Inspired by the example of certain 'thrift shops' in the US, charity supermarkets were set up for the purpose of assisting the urban poor. Several contrasting contemporary discourses within China concerning poverty, charity, business, and the proper roles of the market, state, and community in the delivery of social welfare are explored. The differing perspectives revealed throw an interesting light on why China's charity supermarkets have not, so far, developed as anticipated. This interesting urban social experiment is analyzed as a case study in the potential to achieve effective 'mutual empowerment' of state and society in the contemporary Chinese context. (J Contemp China/GIGA)

This is a thoroughly revisionist study, in the best sense of the
word. Starting from the conviction that a close look at
marriage and divorce in China can open "a wide window onto
what might be called the `interface' between state and
society" (p. 14), Diamant sets out to capture a better sense of
the quality of "everyday interactions between citizen and
state" (p. 15). He uses these observations to shed light on
larger questions about the degree to which citizens in differ-
ent social strata may have regarded the state as legitimate or
illegitimate, as well as the extent to which state interventions
designed to alter power relations in both rural and urban
society were effective.

Why a political "transition to democracy" has not and is not likely to come quickly in China; with comment. Internal and external obstacles to democracy.