The Danwei


Book Description

The danwei, or work unit, occupies a central place in Chinese society. To understand Chinese politics demands a better understanding of this system. This volume provides a systematic study of the danwei system and addresses a variety of questions from historical and comparative perspectives.




Social Space and Governance in Urban China


Book Description

The danwei (workunit) has been the fundamental social and spatial unit of urban China under socialism. With particular focus on the link between spatial forms and social organization, this book traces the origins and development of this critical institution up to the present day.




Beijing Danwei


Book Description

Danwei-these were urban sectors in China that were characterized by close links between work, residence, and social facilities. They are the material product of socialist city planning and therefore provide an urban experience that forms a stepping stone between the hutongs of the imperial capital and the superblocks of the present-day metropolis. Contrary to the disused industrial sites in western cities that often disrupt the continuity and scale of the urban fabric, the danweis have a much closer relationship to the historical, as well as the contemporary city. In modern-day Beijing, the danweis represent a unique experimental field of urban design. Beijing Danwei looks at the history and future of former danweis and presents exemplary strategies for dealing with industrial heritage. Case studies show the problems that go hand in hand with transformation and present perspectives and potential with regard to usage and the urban regeneration of Beijing. With a visual essay by Jia Yue and Maria Paola Repellino. This publication is the result of a cooperation between Politecnico di Torino and Tsinghua University in Beijing.




The Chinese Dream


Book Description

"The Chinese Dream is a visual tour de force, both encyclopedic in scope and holistic in approach. Cutting across all levels of scale - from individual to nation - and backed by a truly multi-disciplinary team (encompassing architecture & urban planning, politics, economics, arts & culture, environmental concerns, and sociology) the book synthesizes a vast body of research to tackle the big contemporary questions, and to unpack the paradoxes at the heart of Chinas struggle for change. Bold texts, self-critical design proposals, and thousands of graphics reveal China in all its raucous diversity. This is space as you have never seen it before: brash, outlandish, and very Chinese." .- Prové de leditor.




Political Participation in Beijing


Book Description

In this first scientific survey of political participation in the People's Republic of China, Tianjian Shi identifies twenty-eight participatory acts and groups them into seven areas: voting, campaign activities, appeals, adversarial activities, cronyism, resistance, and boycotts. What he finds will surprise many observers. Political participation in a closed society is not necessarily characterized by passive citizens driven by regime mobilization aimed at carrying out predetermined goals. Beijing citizens acknowledge that they actively engage in various voluntary participatory acts to articulate their interests. In a society where communication channels are controlled by the government, Shi discovers, access to information from unofficial means becomes the single most important determinant for people's engaging in participatory acts. Government-sponsored channels of appeal are easily accessible to ordinary citizens, so socioeconomic resources are unimportant in determining who uses these channels. Instead, voter turnout is found to be associated with the type of work unit a person belongs to, subjective evaluations of one's own economic status, and party affiliation. Those most likely to engage in campaign activities, adversarial activities, cronyism, resistance, and boycotts are the more disadvantaged groups in Beijing. While political participation in the West fosters a sense of identification, the unconventional modes of participation in Beijing undermine the existing political order.




A Century of Change


Book Description

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the evolution of Beijing’s urban structure in the 20th century, analyzing essential social and economic changes in the housing sector. Focusing on the urban changes that took place under the market economy after 1978 and beyond, the book addresses the demolition of courtyard houses in Beijing’s old city, the relocation of low-income families from the old city, the government’s role regarding housing in the city, and residential segregation in Beijing. Expanding on the author’s PhD thesis at the University of Cambridge, it is illustrated with a wealth of historic photos and maps of Beijing. Presenting relevant descriptions, extensive literature and case studies, the book offers a valuable resource for students and scholars of architecture, urban studies and Chinese studies. First published in 2013 by Pace in Hong Kong, it has since been added to the libraries of many distinguished universities, including Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Columbia, Yale, Stanford, Cornell, U Penn, NYU, UC Berkeley, Hong Kong University, UBC in Canada and the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa.




The Making of the Chinese Industrial Workplace


Book Description

State workers in China have until recently enjoyed the 'iron rice bowl' of comprehensive cradle-to-grave benefits and lifetime employment. This central institution in Chinese politics emerged over the course of various crises that swept through China's industrial sector prior to and after revolution in 1949. Frazier explores critical phases in the expansion of the Chinese state during the middle third of the twentieth century to reveal how different labour institutions reflected state power. While the 'iron rice bowl' is usually seen as an outgrowth of Communist labour policy, Frazier's account shows that is has longer historical roots. As a product of the Chinese state, the iron rice bowl's dismantling in the 1990s has raised sensitive issues about the way in which the contemporary Chinese state exerts control over urban industrial society. This book sheds light on state and society relations in China under the Nationalist and Communist regimes.




Dictionary of the Political Thought of the People's Republic of China


Book Description

Far more than a simple glossary, this unique resource provides a detailed lexicography of political and social life in China today, and deepens our understanding of the last twenty years of enormous change in the People's Republic. Each of the 1,600 entries (1) is rendered in Chinese characters; (2) is alphabetized according to pinyin, the Chinese phonetic alphabet; (3) is translated into English; and (4) is explained in terms of the situation in which it first appeared and how its meaning shifted over time. In addition to the main body of definitions and annotations, there are three appendices, abbreviations, a name index, and a bibliography.




China 88


Book Description

China 88 serves as a quick, handy guide for newcomers to China -- with a particular focus on travel and business culture. It helps to unravel the complexity of China by providing a historical context to the many nuances and paradoxes of this fascinating place. Tips, explanations, and clear examples help to demystify China for any reader looking for a practical working understanding in the face of social conventions that can be thousands of years old. Coverage includes: Relationships and values Social and business conventions Modern society and culture Economic issues Internet and media Companies in China Future business and investment opportunities




THE TRANSITION OF DANWEI-COMMUNITY AND URBAN COMMUNITY REBUILDING


Book Description

In this work the author endeavors to treat “Danwei” system as a special and highly organized form of community and sets about his study from the perspectives of “Danwei–community’s” change and urban community reconstruction. When it comes to the construction and development of urban communities in contemporary China, academic circles at home often attempt to unravel its intimate and indissoluble connection with “Danwei” system and seek to lay emphasis upon the great complexity of their interactive relationship with each other. However, academic circles generally incorporate “Danwei” system taken as a national system as well as a universal institution into their fields of research, whereas they rarely enter into a critical examination of the variations in its multiplicity of specific denotations by taking account of such variables as space, region and culture, nor do they show much concern about the existence of different types of “Danwei”. In view of the foregoing difficulties in which the study of “Danwei” system gets entangled, this study attempts to accomplish the following main purposes. Firstly, this study shall introduce such a variable as locality into the research on “Danwei-community” by starting off from the research perspectives of “Danwei-community’s” origin, formation and change. Secondly, several super-large industrial communities in the old industrial bases shall be chosen as classic cases in illustration of long-standing complications and entanglements enmeshed in this study. And thirdly, it seeks to reveal the mode and experience of urban community development against a background of “Danwei” system reform so that by gaining a full understanding of as well as making an in-depth analysis of their rich implications we can enrich the theory of urban community construction in the Chinese context and hence grapple successfully with some theoretical problems confronting urban community reconstruction against a background of “Danwei-community” change, which shall eventually bring about a smooth transition of “Danwei” society. This book will assuredly open an exceptional window to the transition of China from traditional to modern society, the transition of Chinese society from planned economy to market economy, and the change track of the interplay between the Chinese government and modern Chinese society after the founding of New China in 1949, at the present time and even in the foreseeable future.