Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'China Economic policy 1949-1976'

This thesis analyzes the People's Republic of China's modernization strategy in order to test the hypothesis according to which the "open-door" policy might represent a shift from Marxism to a Neoclassical economy model. To do so, the author compares the performance realized by the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and by the newly established Shanghai-Pudong New Area (1990). Although it benefits from the fourteen year old SEZs experience, it is argued, Pudong duplicates the flaws inherent to the SEZs and fails to offer advancement over their development. The author then suggests that China's initial objective to build a strong modern socialist country has apparently been gradually displaced by an evolutionary process of change similar to that in the Asian New Industrialized Countries (NICs), namely South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

The need to improve the quality of government decision-making and tailor China's management to its more complex economy after Mao's death forced China's Party authorities to implement a number of administrative reforms, and to select administrative leaders from among professionals and specialists based on their competence, education, and age. The crucial outcome of these post-Mao reforms, 1979 to the present, is the major focus of this research. This study examines the role of China's top administrative elites during and after the post-Mao administrative reforms, and determines to what extent the changes and their impact on the policy-making may have brought about better economic policies and development. China's social and political conditions and leadership changes before, during, and after the reform are provided as background information for the analysis of policy making in China. This is followed by an analysis of various contemporary theories of bureaucracy and technocracy in general, and the Weberian Legal-Rational model of modern bureaucracy in particular. Qualitative and quantitative methods coupled with surveys, interviews, biographical and documentary-historical methods, and other primary and secondary data are combined in this empirical study. The primary data on biographical information of administrative elites were drawn from the collected results of questionnaires and interviews with elite members of State Council ministries and commissions, provincial and municipal governments. The secondary data were used to conduct a biographical study of the Maoist and post-Mao top administrative elites--all premiers, vice-premiers, State Council ministers, and all provincial governors and municipal mayors from the founding of the PRC in 1949 up until 1993. Through these analyses, the study found that post-Mao administrative reform has indeed brought about changes in the composition of administrative elites. These post-Mao administrative elites are more professionally competent, better educated, more efficient, and younger. Their economic policies have stimulated more extensive and sustained economic development.

This thesis examines China's state-owned enterprise reform and financial reform in the last two decades. I characterize the progress of China's state-owned enterprises reform in two areas: privatization of small SOEs and mass layoffs. I argue that privatization rests on the political economy of China. I also discuss the evolution of the financial system and come up with some strategies of financial liberalization in China. Result from this study suggests that if the necessary reforms of the financial sector and state enterprises are effectively carried out, inevitably this will lead to a significantly slower rate of growth for a period of time. However, these reforms will provide the basis for a period of sustained growth in the long run.

China's BOT program is important because China suffers a dearth of infrastructure particularly in the areas of water and waste water treatment, roads and airports, which pure government funding will not be able to meet in the medium to long term. Thus, if China is to continue to develop, and its people to prosper, it must adopt a successful model for attracting private and, in particular, foreign private capital. China's experimental BOT program is an attempt to do just that.

Since 1979, China embarked on an economic reform to modernize the country. The reform was so successful that China was able to grow by an impressive rate of 9 percent per anum between 1979 and 1997. The rapid development of the economy leads to a drastic increase in demand for energy. Since China has the largest population in the world, its energy demand is nothing but huge. Each year, for example, China needs to install as much as 10,000 MW of new electricity generation capacity, which equals the curent capacity of Netherlands. This increase in demand for energy, which is likely to continue, wil have implications for global energy markets, the world price of energy and for the global environment as emissions of greenhouse gases grow rapidly. Against this background, there is an urgent need for the country to better manage the energy sector so that the market can function in an orderly manner. To tackle this issue, I single out three important energy problems to study. First, I wil examine the current situation of the energy imbalance in China. Second, I wil forecast how rapid the energy demand wil grow in future so that the deficit between the demand and domestic supply can be identified. Lastly, I wil discuss some methods that can be used to manage the demand. My finding shows that energy-capital and energy-material inputs are complementary, whereas the relationship of energy and labour is insignificant. In addition, the simulation exercises also reveals that a high energy pricing policy might not be effective in mitigating the demand and in encouraging firms to employ labour intensive techniques. Also, rising energy prices may bring spiral inflation and deterioration in the balance of payments and foreign resources. Therefore, government should act cautiously when increasing energy prices.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2001.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The research assignment examines pertinent factors affecting the political, economic and social landscape of the development of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Domestic conditions within the PRC are influencing its foreign policy behaviour in the international arena. The PRC's internal environment will thus determine the extent of its external presence.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die werkstuk bestudeer die relevante faktore wat die politieke, ekonomiese en sosiale landskap ten opsigte van die Republiek van China (PRC) se holistiese ontwikkeling beïnvloed. Omstandighede binne die Republiek beïnvloed die land se buitelandse beleidsgedrag in die internasionale arena. Dit sal dus regverdig wees om te sê dat binnelandse faktore 'n beslissende rol speel ten opsigte van hoe die land homself binne die globale arena hanteer.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study explores the impact China's accession to the WTO and growing economic ascendancy in the multilateral trading system is going to have on the developing world. The central problem addressed is whether China's accession and growing stature is going to be a competitive threat to the developing world or will China emerge as a collaborator to the developing world and assist in redressing the inequalities of the system. Three themes emerge and are dealt with in this study. The first addresses China as a developing nation itself and its overall position in relation to the rest of the developing world. Then China's growing economic progress and its internal developments are looked at. Finally China is evaluated as collaborator or competitor to the developing world. A descriptive and analytical approach is employed in this study. The complexity and the interplay between the multiple levels of analysis emerge in this study. In order to best address the role China is to play, China has to be set in the greater multilateral context, the regional context and then evaluated in conjunction with the internal dynamics which are unfolding. These perspectives together are of the utmost importance in determining the future role China is to play in relation to the developing world. Whether it will emerge as a collaborator or a competitor to the already marginalised developing sector of the trading system. The regional level of analysis is playing an increasingly important role in the current system as the regional units are proving more effective trading units than sole national units. Thus this study pays particular attention to the region in a case study focusing on South East Asia in relation to China. The multilateral level of analysis addressing China's role in relation to the developing world and the answer to the question of whether China is going to be collaborator or competitor to the developing world is of particular importance in the current global context. The developing world is increasingly calling for the inequalities prevalent in the system to be addressed and China's position in the current context and in relation to this current issue will play an important role. Despite the optimism surrounding China and its possible future the internal dynamics and context cannot be underestimated or neglected. The unfolding domestic developments that take place at the hands of the current leadership will playa deciding role in China's future. As China is in a transition and attempting a mix between a market-based economic system encapsulated in a socialist system it is a precarious situation that needs the careful attention of the leadership to best manage China's internal and external developments. The inclusion thus of China's internal dynamics, therefore cannot be neglected and have been included in this study. Current trends regarding China emerge and it is possible to make assumptions on the basis of these trends as to what China's future role entails. This then is looked at as to the impact these trends are going to have on the various contexts that China finds itself in and most importantly the impact that it is likely to have on the developing world. The possibilities of different impacts being played out in different time frames emerge as the most likely to manifest themselves.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die impak wat China se aansluiting by die WHO, en sy groeiende ekonomiese mag in die multilaterale handelsisteem, op die ontwikkelende wêreld het. Die sentrale vraag wat hier aangespreek word, is of China se aansluiting by die WHO 'n bedreiging inhou vir ontwikkelende ekonomieë en of dié land, alternatiewelik, sy posisie kan gebruik om laasgenoemde ekonomieë by te staan in hul stryd teen die ongelykhede van die huidige sisteem. Drie hooftemas is hier ter sprake. Die eerste handeloor China se status as ontwikkelende land, en sy algemene posisie vis a vis ander ontwikkelende lande. Die tweede, fokus op China se ekonomiese en interne ontwikkelings, terwyl die derde tema meer lig werp op die vraag of China beskou moet word as bondgenoot of mededinger van die ontwikkelende wêreld. 'n Deskriptiewe en analitiese benadering is VIr die doeleindes van die studie aangewend. Die kompleksiteit en interaksie tussen verskillende vlakke van analise kom in die studie na vore. Om China se rol in konteks te plaas, is dit nodig om daarna te kyk vanuit 'n streeksperspektief en dit in verband te bring met interne ontwikkelinge binne dié land. Hierdie perspektiewe, tesame, is kardinaal vir 'n beter begrip van China se toekomstige rol met betrekking to ander ontwikkelende lande. 'n Streeksanalise raak toenemend belangrik in die lig van die feit dat regionale eenhede algaande meer effektief funksioneer as individuele nasionale state. In hierdie studie word daar verallig gewerp op Suid-oos Asië, waarvan China deel uitmaak. Op die multi-laterale vlak van analise is dit ook van belang om vas te stel hoe China saloptree teenoor ontwikkelende lande na sy toetredede tot die WHO. Die ontwikkelende wêreld pleit vir die regstel van strukturele ongelykhede, en China kan moontlik hier 'n deurslaggewende rol speel. Ten spyte van hoë verwagtinge aangaande China se toekomstige rol, kan die land se interne konteks en dinamika nie buite rekening gelaat word nie. Ontwikkelinge wat tans binne China plaasvind sal 'n defnitiewe impak op die land se toekoms hê. China se unieke mengsel van 'n markgerigte ekonomie, wat funksioneer binne 'n breër sosialistiese opset, sal deeglike beplanning rakende die landse binne en buitelandse sake van sy leiers verg. Om hierdie rede het die studie ook klem gelê op die interne politiek dinamiek van China. Spesifieke tendense rakende China is besig om te ontwikkel, en dit raak algaande makliker om sekere afleidings aangaande die land se toekomstige rol binne die internasionale konteks te maak. Hierdie tendense is veral van belang wanneer daar gekyk word na China se toekomstige verhoudinge met die ontwikkelende wêreld. Dit wil dus voorkom asof uiteenlopende resultate hulself gedurende verskillende tydsgrepe sal manifesteer.

The main concern of this thesis is the development of political and economic relations between the PRC and the KSA. The relations that officially developed after the establishment of diplomatic relations are the focus of analysis of the thesis. By examining the historical and statistical data, the thesis assesses the factors that have cultivated and maintained the Sino-Saudi political and economic relations, as well as the implications of these bilateral links. In analysing the relations, a theoretical conception of complex interdependence has been used. The thesis first provides background on China’s policy towards the superpowers and the Middle Eastern countries between 1949 and 1989, and looks at how China and Saudi Arabia related to each other over this period. The thesis then argues that over the first decade (1990-2000) of Sino-Saudi diplomatic relations, the two countries began to lay the basis for complex interdependence between them. It highlights a number of characteristics of complex interdependence which came to exist. The thesis then goes on to examine whether, in the second decade (2001-2010) of bilateral relations, an intensification of complex interdependence ensued. The complex interdependence approach links closely with constructivist theory in terms of how this thesis is conceived. The thesis argues that China and Saudi Arabia between 1949 and 1977 shared an understanding that their ideological positions made official links between them impossible. Over the course of the following twelve years, this understanding gradually changed. The change laid the basis for the development of diplomatic relations in 1990. In the years between 1990 and 2010, the policy responses of China and Saudi Arabia to major regional events exhibited a commonality of perception. This underpinned the development of the relationship. To identify clearly the growth of Sino-Saudi relations, the thesis is divided into three time periods: 1949-89; 1990-2000; and 2001-10. The time period 1949-89 has three distinct phases: 1949-65; 1966-77; and 1978-89. The 1949-65 and 1966-97 periods are characterised by the absence of state-to-state relations between the PRC and the KSA. However, unofficial contact between Muslims on mainland China and Saudi officials and leaders was established and largely maintained. State-to-state contact only existed between the KSA and ROC governments, which shared broadly anti-Communist sentiments. During the 1978-89 phase, hope for the establishment of diplomatic relations between the PRC and the KSA was high. Some intergovernmental contact was initiated, direct communications between the leaders of the two countries were enhanced, and a joint endeavour towards the development of diplomatic ties was pursued. The 1988 missile deal smoothly accelerated the process of developing these ties. In the 1990-2000 phase, four decades after the establishment of the PRC, Sino-Saudi diplomatic relations were established. The establishment of these diplomatic relations was daunting for the ROC, which wanted to preserve the diplomatic recognition that the KSA had granted it for the preceding 45 years. The strenuous efforts of the ROC to prevent a dramatic shift of diplomatic recognition to mainland China were in vain. The 1990-2000 phase was marked by significant growth in the newly established Riyadh-Beijing diplomatic relationship. Economic interests were at the heart of the agendas of the leaders and officials of the two countries. They began to enhance co-operation and to sign agreements related to various aspects of their bilateral relations. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Oil Co-operation was concluded in 1999. The value of Sino-Saudi total trade rose by 643 percent between 1990 and 2000 and the volume of Saudi oil exports to China increased by 6,721 percent between 1991 and 2000. After nearly ten years official diplomatic relations were established, President Jiang Zemin viewed the development of bilateral relations as impressive, while Crown Prince Abdullah seemed to suggest that there was now “an intimate relationship” between the two countries, saying that he considered the PRC to be the KSA’s closest friend. The period 2001-10 is also sub-divided into two phases: 2001-05 and 2006-10. This period exhibits the three characteristics of complex interdependence that Keohane and Nye (2000) put forward in their scholarly work: multiple channels, the minimal role of military force, and the absence of a hierarchy of issues. Security issues were largely excluded from Sino-Saudi bilateral relations, while economic interests dominated the agendas of the two countries. In the first phase (2001-05), high-level officials continued to play a leading role in bilateral economic relations. They consistently called for the participation of the private sector in expanding Riyadh-Beijing economic ties. The value of Sino-Saudi total trade continued to climb, reaching USD16.1bn in 2005, and the PRC’s oil imports from the KSA reached 22.2 million tonnes in the same year. Some joint investment projects that involved the participation of Chinese and Saudi companies in the hydrocarbons sector were successful. With regard to the construction industry, Chinese companies won four construction projects from the Saudi Arabian cement industry. The second phase (2006-10) was marked by substantial advancement in Sino-Saudi relations. Following the exchange visits of the state leaders in 2006, bilateral contacts expanded rapidly. The visits led to the formulation of more strategies, with the intention of cementing the relationship, increasing contact and concluding more agreements. The Chinese leaders called for “strategic co-operation”, “a friendly and co-operative strategic partnership”, and “strategic friendly relations”, specifically referring to economic co-operation. This second phase saw Sino-Saudi total trade increase to USD 33bn in 2009, and the volume of PRC oil imports from the KSA reached a peak of 41.8million barrels in the same year. With regard to the hydrocarbons joint ventures, in which investments were jointly made by Saudi ARAMCO and Sinopec, the projects in Quanzhou and Rub’ Al-Khali were good examples of the strong co-operation between PRC and KSA companies. The Quanzhou plant launched operation in 2009, and the gas-exploration project in Rub’Al-Khali engaged in drilling for another three years (its operation began in 2004). The achievement of SINOPEC SABIC Tianjin Petrochemical Co., Ltd, as part of the Tianjin petrochemical project, is another example of such co-operation. In non-hydrocarbons joint ventures, mutual investment increased exponentially, particularly in the mining sector.

This thesis studies China’s policy towards ASEAN in Deng Xiaoping’s era by examining its general trends, and examining China’s policies and actions in the issues of Soviet/Vietnam “hegemonism” (1978- 82), the expanding ASEAN-Taiwan de facto official relations, the Western human rights campaign in Asia, the Spratly dispute, and China’s relations with the ASEAN-based communist insurgencies. By examining those general trends, as well as specific policies and actions in those issues, the thesis demonstrates that because of developments in the domestic, regional and international situations, Deng’s China has five main objectives in its ASEAN policy. These objectives are: to create and secure a tranquil regional environment in which China can concentrate on its modernisation; to maintain the legitimacy of the Chinese government and political system, both at home and in the changing world order; to protect China’s sovereignty; to shore up China’s international and regional influence; and to increase economic benefit from trading with, and attracting investment from, the ASEAN countries, and from making some ASEAN countries give up their attempts to slow down Western economic and technological assistance to China.

“The Political and Cultural Economy of Sightseeing” examines how personnel within the state tourism bureaucracy struggled to balance the use of foreign tourism as a form of political, historical, and cultural representation with the demands of developing a revenue-generating service industry in a socialist economy. I argue that tourism, particularly the practice of sightseeing, played an important role in the creation of the “New China”: a re-imagination of the Chinese nation-state as a political, economic, social, and cultural entity under socialism. By focusing on particular elements of the state’s production of the tourist experience, including the formulation of itineraries, the regulation of tourist photography, and changing notions of customer service, this dissertation reexamines the ways the political and economic goals of the state converged during the Mao era (1949-1976) and through the early period of market reforms under Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s. This dissertation traces the development of tourism infrastructure in the first three decades after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, locating this history at the intersection of public diplomacy and economic development. It will help further our understanding of modern Chinese political and economic history, as well as the broader history of socialism in the twentieth century. “The Political and Cultural Economy of Sightseeing” focuses on the production of tourism rather than the consumption of it. It follows three main groups of actors in the tourism industry of the New China: tourism industry officials; the rank-and-file workers who fed, transported, and guided the tourists; and, to a lesser extent, the tourists themselves. Tourism officials, tourism workers, and tourists all had their own conceptions of the New China and the place of tourism in it. Tourism officials needed to know what the tourism industry meant for the politics and economy of the New China before they could show that new nation to others. Tourism workers needed to understand where their labor fit into the narrative of the New China in order to serve the tourists and serve “the people.” Finally, foreign tourists gazed upon the landscape of the New China in ways that tourism planners, guides, and service workers often struggled to anticipate and manage. Together, these three groups built a tourism industry and contributed to the establishment of a new national narrative.

According to Mann, the state infrastructure power is "the institutional capacity of a central state, despotic or not, to penetrate its territories and logistically implement decisions." From the perspective of state-building, this paper investigates the change of the state infrastructure power from the Maoist time to the Post-Mao period with the case study of the Industrial and Commercial Administrative Office (ICAO) in Guang Zhou city. The paper illustrates the following three arguments.
First, different from the perspectives which focus on the change of the authoritarian or communist factors in China, the state-building studies give us fresh perspective to outline the change of the state infrastructure power from the Maoist time to the Post-Mao period. In the case study of the ICAO in Guang Zhou city, the state fell short of fiscal revenue to finance the ICAO. The self-supply funding system of the ICAO hindered the formalization of the ICAO and rendered the ICAO to pursue revenue increase, which led to the arbitrary charges of the market management fee and distorted the function of the ICAO. Since 1990s, the state tried to check the ICAO's orientation of pursuing revenue increase by launching reforms to change the funding system of the ICAO and promoting the institution-building of it. Despite the limitation of the reform measures, the state enhanced its agent-monitoring capacity under the circumstance of disappearance of political movement and ideological bindings.
Second, the state-building effort of the rulers, the shortage of the fiscal revenue and the path-dependence are three outstanding factors which influence the change of the state infrastructure power from the Maoist time to the Post-Mao era. In the case of ICAO, the rulers takes efforts to extend their power to penetrate the society and monitor their agents. In order to achieve the objective of market control, the rulers established the ICAO and tried to enhance the agent-monitoring capacity. The shortage of the fiscal revenue baffled the rulers efforts to widely set up ICAO and restricted the formalization of it. Furthermore, the path dependence impacts on the development of the state infrastructure power. When the self-supply funding system of the ICAO was established, new problems and resistance arose from the funding system prevent the rulers to reform it.
Third, the state infrastructure power influences the relationship between the state and society. The state infrastructure power not only shapes how the ICAO deals with different market subjects, it also works on the coping strategies different market subjects take to protect themselves from the investigation and penalty of the ICAO. By taking the social control capacity and agent-monitoring capacity of the state into consideration, we could better understand the interaction between the ICAO and different market subjects.
黃冬婭.
Adviser: Shaoguang Wang.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-08, Section: A, page: 3299.
Submitted: October 2007.
Thesis (doctoral)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 217-229).
Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.
Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.
Abstracts in Chinese and English.
School code: 1307.
Huang Dongya.