"Economic Development and Loser's Political Participation in China: .x000d.An Analysis of Petition Frequencies 1994â€"2004".

Rapid capitalist economic development and its negative externalities has added a new class of entrepreneur-professional to the established peasant-worker-cadre class structure. In many senses, at least relatively, the former became the losers and the latter became the winners. .x000d..x000d.Both groups especially the losers have made increasing demands for political participation due to the negative externalities and the modernization effect from overall economic development in the early reform. Ambivalently, these losers are more educated, more informed, and more politically recognized than before, different from their counterparts. They attempt to use any possible institutionalized and un-institutionalized participatory methods to make their interests counted in the regime. The CCP regime has channeled such popular pressure for political liberalization by setting up separate ways for two groups without large-scale elections. .x000d..x000d.This article understand increasing non-elites' political awareness and participation under this institutional structure with a modified modernization theory with a statistical analysis of 16 provinces' petition frequencies from 1994 to 2004 and through qualitative analyses of archival data. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]