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From 1979 to 1991, Modern China , a landmark journal of Chinese studies, published a large number of articles in the field of peasant studies. These articles are of two types: studies of peasants in premodern China, which focus on the rural economy, politics, and ideology; and studies on the history of "peasant studies" itself, which focus on the problems, paradigms and directions of the field. Taken together, all these articles reveal the influence of three major approaches to history: the longue durée perspective of the French Annales school, the "bottom-up" approach to lived experience of the British new social history movement, and the time, space, and demography frame of reference of G. William Skinner. 摘要: 20世纪中后期西方新兴的农民学学科与区域研究具有内在的关联。在中美学术交流正常化时期，《近代中国》(1979–1991年) 作为中国学研究的标志性刊物，集中刊发了大量农民学领域的学术成果。这些成果可分为两类: 其一是农民问题研究，从乡村经济、政治与思想等方面探讨中国前现代社会时期农民的具体问题；其二是农民学学术史研究，讨论农民学研究本身面临的问题、范式与方向。《近代中国》的农民学研究延续了法国年鉴学派的"长时段"视域和社会史学派"自下而上"的材料意识，以及"施坚雅模式"区域细分的方法，这些学术成果展现了西方农民学发展历程以及美国的中国史研究思路与方法。 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive literature on social movements points to the role of social networks in movement recruitment and development. It is anomalous, therefore, that treatments of Chinese social movements seldom acknowledge the importance of guanxi networks. Theories of social movements are typically constructed on the basis of US and European cases and draw upon the intellectual formations of these regions. Through an examination of social movements in contemporary China it is shown that guanxi is not only relevant to the operation of social movements but to our understanding of how social movements are formed and also how they are suppressed and undermined by the state. It will be shown that by theorising social movements in China in terms of guanxi there is scope to augment social network approaches to social movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the diffusion of activism in post-colonial Hong Kong through the lens of the political regime and eventful analysis. It first reveals the institutional foundations of the hybrid regime that allowed the creation of a nascent movement society. It then explains how the historic 1 July rally in 2003 and a series of critical events since 2006 have led to a shift in scale and the public staging of street politics. A time-series analysis and onsite survey further capture the dynamics that spawned the collective recognition of grievances and reduced participation costs, leading to the Umbrella Movement. While the spontaneous, voluntary and decentralized organizational structure sustained protest momentum, the regime has adopted hybrid strategies to counter-mobilize bottom-up activism. The result is widening contention between the state and civil society and within civil society, or the coexistence of regime instability and regime longevity, a trend that is increasingly common in hybrid regimes encountering mass protests. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article analyzes the relationship between the Umbrella Revolution demand for full democracy in Hong Kong and the construction of a post-colonial social imaginary upon which the identity of the movement has been built. In addition to the discourse of self-determination, autonomy, and sovereignty, the authors contend that these manifestations have been determined by a post-colonial mimicry that acts as a discourse of resistance in the face of the Chinese government's political hegemony. They conclude that this is part of a continuum of Hong Kong social movements that adapts the colonial past and Chinese nationalism to the political and social structures of the global situation of today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban heritage preservation is gaining momentum in China as massive urban renovation has put many historical sites under threat. A group of renowned scholars, experts and artists have played an important role in leading and coordinating the movement. How do these cultural elites promote urban heritage preservation? How do they mediate state–society interactions and navigate the authoritarian regime to achieve their goals? This article explores how cultural elites take advantage of their intermediary position between officialdom and citizenry by not only mobilizing urban residents and the media to counter-balance the state, but also balancing different levels and sectors of the party-state against each other. Such a ‘double balance’ approach maximizes their influence within both the state and society, pushing forward the otherwise non-prioritized goal of heritage preservation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the social movements in Hong Kong and Taiwan as resisting Chinese influences. Topics include the importance of the Wild Strawberry Movement to subsequent campaigns, the negotiations over the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement, that triggered the Sunflower Movement, and the second stage of network building and an exchange of strategies signaled by the student-led Anti-National Education and Anti-Media Monopoly movements.

This article analyses the rise and development of alternative Internet radio in Hong Kong in the past decade in tandem with the changing status of press freedom and contentious politics in the city. The article illustrates that alternative Internet radio first emerged a decade ago as the self-defence of the civil society against political encroachments on the media. Cognisant of the political potential of alternative Internet radio, pro-democracy radical political parties and social activists have subsequently appropriated this new medium to facilitate and engage in contentious politics. In the face of tightening political control of mainstream media in recent years, alternative Internet radio has become a "safe haven" for the exited rebel voices. Despite the considerable political significance of alternative Internet radio (and alternative Internet media in general) at this moment, its prospect remains uncertain due to potential regulatory control and increasing political pressures on Internet media in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses the method of focusing on certain critical keywords and ideas that achieved dominance in Chinese daily life after 1949 in order to track significant changes in conceptions of Chinese marriage and family. I hold that the model for Chinese marriage and family in the last 60 years has been shifting from kinship-dependent relations to a materialist orientation. This era is divided into two periods: the first stage begins from 1949, the year when the new China was born, and concludes in 1976, when the Cultural Revolution came to an end; and the second stage begins from the 1980s, when China embarked on a new open policy towards the outside world, and continues into the present. During the first stage, kinship-dependent relations were destroyed by a series of political movements and came to be replaced by a certain model of revolutionary relationships. Over the course of the second stage, ‘a materialistic orientation’ has come to characterise familial relations, and finds further reinforcement from the wider society and economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study of the early spread of Neo-Confucianism as an intellectual–social movement in southern China in the twelfth century applies geospatial analysis to a prosopographical study of the social networks of leading figures. By analyzing the spatial distribution of intellectual networks, we see that Neo-Confucianism was most successful in areas that had strong traditions of investment in education but that were generally marginal to the commercial economy of the times. The research draws on data from the China Biographical Database, which include data on the social associations, kinship, careers and addresses of over 40,000 Song dynasty figures and the China Historical GIS, a times-series database of administrative units from 221 BCE to 1911 CE. Intellectual history traditionally has focused on the transmission of ideas; network and spatial analysis helps explain why some areas were more receptive to certain ideas than others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

研究中华人民共和国历史经验需要掌握一定的科学方法。既要研究新中国不同时 期的经验, 又要把各个历史时期的经验联系起来研究; 既要研究新中国各个领域的历 史经验, 又要从宏观层面对历史经验作综合研究; 既要研究新中国历史中的成功经 验, 又要注意对失误和挫折进行研究; 既要用今天的眼光研究新中国历史的经验, 又 要把经验放到特定的历史条件下研究。 关键词: 中华人民共和国历史经验 “文化大革命” 计划经济 It is necessary to master certain scientific methods in studying the historical experience of the People’s Republic of China; that is, we should study the experience of different periods of New China and at the same time study the experience of various historical periods as related to one another; we should study the successful experience of New China and at the same time study its errors and setbacks; and we should view the historical experience of New China from today’s perspective and at the same time study it by placing it under given historical conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political opportunity structures (POSs) largely determine the different impacts of environmental and other social movements in political and policy-making processes. It is argued that POSs in capitalist and (post-)socialist countries basically share the same set of core variables. During the last fifteen years China's POS has changed dramatically in terms of access points for social movements. This is illustrated by means of a comparative analysis of two environmental movement campaigns: the campaign against the Three Gorges dam (early 1990s) and that against the Nu River dam project (2002-04). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the impact of a domestic-based social movement's efforts to promote international conflict resolution? To end the conflict in Darfur, the US-based Save Darfur Coalition (SDC) has pursued a strategy of international venue-shopping to seek additional sources of leverage on the government of Sudan. The SDC identified China as Sudan's staunch ally in the international arena. During the period leading up to the Beijing Olympics in August 2008, the SDC and its member organizations explored traditional and innovative channels for pressuring the Chinese government. This article will examine the emergence of China as a target, the development of the China Campaign, and the impact on Chinese foreign policy. The reconstruction of the strategies of the SDC is based on a systematic content analysis of the web sites, organization archival material, and newspaper accounts of activities. The main data source consists of in-depth interviews conducted with SDC leadership, Darfuri activists, Congressional legislative aides, and officials from the Chinese Embassy and the Department of State. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article takes issue with a mode of argumentation advanced by a number of left-leaning, radical scholars, including those associated with China's New Left, about the causes of the Tibetan unrest in China in spring 2008. According to this stance, the Tibetan protests were the result of external manipulation by neoconservative, reactionary forces, ranging from the CIA to the Dalai Lama. The unstated premise of this response is that taking a critical stance against western imperialism and neoliberal globalization necessitates a defense of China's policies in Tibet. Such arguments take the form of unfavorable comparisons between Tibetans and Palestinians especially because the former are often romanticized, suggestions that Tibetans are unfortunate ideological victims of US-funded propaganda, and claims that they should be grateful for Chinese state-funded development. This response renders Tibetans incapable of being authentic political subjects. A radical stance on Western imperialism and capitalism should reject such reductionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social networks and the internet both have a substantial individual effect on environmental activism in China. In this article, we speculate that social linking patterns between environmental actors, which often facilitate activism on the ground, may also exist in cyberspace in the form of an online network. The article addresses the following empirical questions. Does such an online network exist? If so, who are the constituent actors? Are these the same actors observed on the ground? In addressing these questions the article aims to contribute to the growing debate on the implications of the internet for the potential emergence of social movements in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's emerging grand strategy has deep domestic roots, which can be examined in terms of cultural tradition, socioeconomic development, and strategic choices. China's cultural tradition emphasizes he wei gui (priority to peace) and he er bu tong (unity in diversity). China's modernization demands a peaceful environment. In fact, the majority of Chinese elites and common people have realized that China cannot become rich and strong without a peaceful environment. Peaceful development is a strategic choice made by leaders from Deng Xiaoping to Hu Jintao. A rising China is facing cultural, economic, environmental, and political challenges. This study also highlights the difficulty of practicing China's emerging grand strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has gone through major changes during the last two decades. The following research aims to present and analyze the current evolutions taking place in the less visible stratum of the Chinese social structure, that of values. The study is based on in-depth interviews and brings to the fore a number of themes that have undergone radical changes. Among the 220 analytical categories initially considered, 12 main themes have been identified as being strongly subjected to changes. Focusing on significant themes, such as a growing process of 'individuation', a materialistic orientation, a resurgence of ancient creeds, changes within the family, a shift in women's status, a transformation of role models, a social change from equality to differentiation, and a shift in the vision of the world, this article presents key indicators of the major trends in contemporary urban China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article makes a case for bringing the concept of charismatic authority back into the study of social movements. Three decades ago, with the paradigmatic shift from psychological to strategic explanations, Weber's concept virtually disappeared from scholarship about collective action. Based on an investigation of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, I examine the distinctive structure and capacities of charismatic mobilization. During the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong called on students, workers, and peasants to attack the officials of his own party. Because Mao employed both bureaucratic and charismatic methods of mobilization, this movement offers an opportunity to compare the structural characteristics of the two and evaluate their distinctive capacities. Through a case study of the most prominent Cultural Revolution rebel organization, I demonstrate that the informal structure of charismatic mobilization gave the movement a rule-breaking power that made it highly effective in undermining bureaucratic authority. I then suggest how the concepts of charismatic and bureaucratic mobilization might be used to analyze other social movements and to clarify issues in long-standing debates about the tendency of social movement organizations to become conservative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Rewi Alley has been accused of many things. But the main strand in his intriguing life was adult education for social change. Following the 1930s destruction of coastal industry by Japanese armies invading China, Alley decided ‘small is beautiful’ (or more likely to lead to revolution) and, with Edgar and Peg Snow, built industrial cooperatives and schools in rural China. He was influenced by ‘foreign devil’ (mostly American) women in the Shanghai YWCA and, in education, American progressivism. Today Alley's ideas are part of a large-scale initiative intended to transform China into a learning society. The author describes Rewi's 1927 arrival in Shanghai, reaction to ghastly factories, meeting Edgar and Peg Snow, the 1938 launch of the Chinese Industrial Cooperative Movement and work at Shandan school in Gansu. Today, Alley's preoccupation with learning-by-doing (or half work — half study) is informing lifelong and out-of-school learning in China. Some of Alley's achievement arose from loneliness and the pain of otherness. But, in the end, a simple ‘O.E.’ turned into a remarkable 60-year adult education adventure in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article portrays China `s university students of the 1990s and the differences between these youths and earlier generations. Corresponding to the political apathy and commercial ardor of post-1989 China, the once appealing political idealism and activism of the 1980s was quickly replaced by a sort of fast-food consumer culture that dominated Chinese society and campuses in the 1990s. Many students chose to distance themselves from sensitive political issues, though they still followed current affairs closely and held a strong nationalist outlook. They learned how to reconcile with existing social conditions and made their decisions, on career or politics, based on the principle of individual interests. Being compelled to shift their status from the `proud children of heaven' to ordinary members of society, students readily went to great lengths to merge in and be submerged by the secular world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the social condition of relocatees after thirty years of the construction of the Three Gate Gorge (Sanmenxia) hydropower project located in Henan Province, China. These relocatees returned their home to find nothing. A few days before the farms were scaled back, all the trees in the area had been suddenly chopped down and the timber removed. The villagers rushed to the roadsides and stopped the trucks on which the timber had been loaded. The confront at ion lasted for a good two hours. That beautiful picture, now relegated to people's memories, would serve as the eulogy for the Yellow River Valley. The Shaanxi government did not keep silent over the matter of destroying forests. On June 6, 1985, Document No. 79 from the provincial office, entitled "Announcement on Earnestly Protecting Forests and Public Environs in the Three Gate Gorge Reservoir Area," was promulgated. For the majority of relocatees, the government's decision to allow a "return- to-the-reservoir movement" was "good news," but it was too little and too late. By the end of 1989 nearly one hundred thousand relocatees had returned home. But these people quickly discovered that after thirty years their lush lands were not the same as when they had left.

The article focuses on the social condition of relocatees after twenty-four years of the construction of the Three Gate Gorge (Sanmenxia) hydropower project located in Henan Province, China. As the situation worsened further, the prefecture and county government worked out three strategies to deal with the problem, which were, persuasion, that is, talking to the relocatees in a courteous manner; catching the leaders," or going after the so-called king first, thereby disrupting the social and political order of the relocatees by uprooting the wheat sprouts and chopping down the trees; and third, hardline measures, including sending in truckloads of thugs from nearby counties to surround the relocatees. The relocatees also rethought their response. Following his defeat in 1981, political activist Wang Fuyi realized that "the failure was inevitable since there had been no clear-cut goal and attacks had been aimed at everyone while no effort was made to create alliances." The largest and longest effort to return to the reservoir came in 1982, lasting from the autumn of that year to mid-April of the next. The prefecture and county governments were now very nervous and responded with alacrity by mobilizing their forces. The relocatees were well prepared to confront the government.

The article focuses on the social condition of relocatees after thirty years of the construction of the Three Gate Gorge (Sanmenxia) hydropower project located in Henan Province, China. For the Shaanxi provincial government the situation had become quite serious, as the long and complex history of the entire affair made resolving it very difficult. So when the news came that a "unified investigative team" from the central government would examine the situation in Shaanxi, provincial officials had, at best, mixed feelings. This forty-day investigation officially aimed at "examining the condition of the Three Gate Gorge dam in terms of its impact on local production and the life of the relocatees as well as the situation involving the military target range and military and state farms." As Sun Yue, the director of the team, and his group entered their villages, relocatees from the very old to the very young lined up and surrounded the team. Surrounded by the relocatees, Sun maintained a serene appearance, listening carefully to every line uttered by the relocatees and often shedding tears when hearing the relocatees describe their miserable conditions. The Central Committee and State Council decided to allocate more than 300,000 mu of land out of the 500,000 or so mu that had been allocated to the state and military farms so that as many as 150,000 relocatees who had special difficulties could return to the reservoir area.

This paper has two purposes: (1) to show how previous work in complex organizations, social movements and political development converges to predict routinization of successful social movement organizations, and (2) to explore the Chinese experiment in organization as a deviant case for the "law" of routinization. First, theories from three substantive areas are shown to predict routinization of social movement organizations. Next, an alternative model of organization, the Maoist model, is presented. Then, recent social history of China is examined to see if the model has been implemented. Lastly, several generalizations about the routinization process are drawn from the Chinese case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent changes in China have created an unprecedented experiment in social change. In a few short years, women have moved from a position of virtual serfdom within the family system to one of economic independence in relatively egalitarian marriage relationships. This paper reviews the history of women's status before, during and after the Chinese Communists' attainment of power, and analyzes societal forces which have either promoted or inhibited family reform. Evidence suggests that despite gains made under socialism, the revolution has fallen short of its own goal of a classless society in which women have coequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the social movement in Sha-shi-yü village in China. Under the powerful impetus of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, and guided by the political line of unity and triumph promulgated by the Ninth Party Congress, Sha-shih-yü reaped still another great bumper harvest in 1970. Since the advent of the Great Cultural Revolution, the proletarian revolutionary line of Chairman Mao Tse-Tung had penetrated ever deeper into the hearts of the people, and the mass movement to "Learn from Tachai in agriculture" had surged onward in ever-greater waves of enthusiasm and enterprise. During these last few years, not only had a steady stream of Chinese visitors come to view and study the achievements of Sha-shih-yü, but also a total of more than three thousand foreign friends had come from ninety-eight countries and regions to visit and pay homage to the mountain-moving brigade. During the spring of 1971, in accordance with the wishes and requests of the masses, the Party branch proposed the new battle task of facilitating the transport of earth and accelerating the pace of agricultural development by boring through the northern mountain, which would realize the long-cherished goal of creating convenient access from both north and south and thus open up a new and Elysian vista for the village of Sha-shih-yü.

The article focuses on the social movement in Sha-shi-yü village in China during 1960s. In 1966, during the high tide of the movement to "Learn from Tachai in agriculture," the cadres and masses of commune members of Sha-shi-yü greeted the advent of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. The entire mountain village boiled with revolutionary fervor as the people, armed with Chinese Premier Mao Tse-tung Thought and relating the vital issues of the controversy with the history of conflict between the two classes, the two roads, and the two lines in Sha-shih-yü itself, exposed and denounced the evil and criminal plot to restore capitalism hatched by the renegade, traitor, and scab Liu Shao-ch'i. Many old poor peasants, recalling their bitter history and contrasting past and present circumstances, adduced their own vivid personal experiences as they angrily and indignantly condemned the crimes perpetrated by Liu Shao-ch'i in his attempts to undermine and subvert the dictatorship of the proletariat.

The article focuses on the social condition of Sha-shih-yü village in China during 1960s, and how it had overcome several natural disasters during that period. In 1965, the broad masses of commune members, undaunted by furious blizzards and bitter cold, once again proceeded to array their battle forces on the nine mountains and seventeen ravines. Political activist Kuei-shun convened a joint meeting of the branch committee and the leaders of the various production teams, and at a mass meeting of the commune members of the entire village, he reported with great excitement and enthusiasm the experience of Tachai in the agricultural development of mountainous terrain. As the project progressed, Kuei-shun consulted the commune members most experienced in agricultural techniques and asked just how much earth would be required to cover one mou of land. Just about the time when they were preparing to distribute soil over the field, Kuei-shun attended an agricultural production conference in the administrative region of T'ang-shan. When the leading functionaries of the district committee heard report on the plans for creating arable land at Sha-shih-yü by carrying earth up onto the black rock crust, they responded with strong encouragement and expressed the hope that Sha-shih-yü Production Brigade would further manifest the mountain-moving spirit of Yü Kung and score new achlevements in the mass movement.

The article focuses on the social movement in the mountain village of Sha-shih-yü, China and the natural disaster that has taken place in the village. In 1964, the terraced fields had been further improved and redeveloped, and the robust growth of the crops delighted the hearts of the peasants. However, during those happy days a terrible disaster strikes the community in the shape of hailstorm. However, on the next day, just as the people were weeding and adding fertilizer to the crops damaged by the hail, a furious wind suddenly whipped up an ominous blackish-yellow mass of thunder clouds overshadowed the landscape of Sha-shih-yü. Shortly afterward, the mountain floods came bursting forth in all their fury, and the massive flood waters came roaring down the slopes of the 9 hills and surged into the 17 gullies, demolishing 800 embankments and swirling away over 100 mou of terraced fields. Some who had felt that the effects of the calamity were beyond remedy are now thinking of ways and means for repair and reconstruction. Chinese premier Mao-Tse-Tung encouraged the villagers that they should learn from Tachai village which was also hit by a similar natural disaster some time ago and had successfully overcome that period of sorrow and grief because of their self-determination.

The article focuses on the social condition of relocatees after thirty-two years of the construction of the Three Gate Gorge (Sanmenxia) hydropower project located in Henan Province, China. In the spring of 1991 a young relocatee by the name of Tian Zhaocai died. He was thirty-two years old and originally from Qianjin Village in Fuping County. From 1959 to 1991 his thirty-two years of life had encompassed all the hardships and sufferings of the Three Gate Gorge relocatees. He died of despair, believing he would never see the thy when the problems caused by the population resettlement were thoroughly resolved. The inundation of the reservoir area and the relocatees' great sacrifice ensured great benefits in terms of flood control, reducing the threat of ice flows, reduction of sedimentation below the dam, electricity generation for provinces to the east, and a stable and happy life for millions of people in the lower reaches. But the matter is not just one of weighing the benefits and costs.

This article reports that till now, the Chinese reform movement has experienced too many cross-roads. It is opined that a nation's fate is often decided in a moment of choice. Any hesitation or indecision at that moment will cost the chance to change the nation. It is believed that true freedom of thought and speech is the inherent right of human beings and is sacred and inviolate. Pluralism is a necessary nutrient of normal growth. It is the duty of every person concerned about society, about the future of the nation, and about the fate of the country to see to it that truth is disseminated to all mankind, to construct a base for an independent and critical voice, a voice for profound thought, for a just conscience, and for fearlessly challenging established authority, to wave the flag for a new, great enlightenment movement, and to contribute one's courage and wisdom to the democratization of China. Reform needs boundless ardor, but even more it needs intelligent thought. China needs to think carefully about its past, present, and future.

This article reports that China faces a cultural crisis today. Seventy years ago, the May 4 Movement for a new culture, starting out as an enlightenment movement for democracy and science, soon converged with the anti-imperialist and patriotic movement to save the nation and was replaced by that movement. Seventy years is but a flash of time in history. The Chinese nation has had enough pain and suffering. It is opined that China needs an extensive, far-reaching enlightenment movement. Present-day enlightenment must be integrated with political and economic change to modernize the country. It is no longer enlightenment in its elementary form and it is no longer limited to the intelligentsia; it should embrace the masses and all of society. China's destiny should be decided by the Chinese. China's future must be fought for and won by the Chinese.

The great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the banner guiding development and progress in contemporary China and rallying the whole Party and the people of all ethnic groups in the country in our common endeavor. With a historical vision and from a comparative perspective against the background of world socialist movement, we can achieve a deeper understanding of the road choice of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, of its developmental process and of the distinctive characteristics of the times in which this great movement takes place. This understanding will undoubtedly help us raise the awareness of our responsibility to hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and thus we can better adhere to and develop the socialism with Chinese characteristics in the practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]