China's long march to freedom
Subtitle: grassroots modernization movements
By: Kate Zhou.
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
Published: 2009
Place of publication: New Brunswick, N.J
Language: eng
Number of pages: 349
ISBN-13: 9781412810296
Subjects: Social change -- China; Social movements -- China; China -- Social conditions -- 1976-2000; China -- Social conditions -- 2000-; China -- Economic conditions -- 1976-2000; China -- Economic conditions -- 2000-
Description: "China is more than a socialist market economy led by ever more reform-minded leaders. It is a country whose people seek liberty on a daily basis. Their success has been phenomenal, despite the fact that China continues to be governed by a single party. Clear distinctions between the people and the government are emerging, underlining the fact that true liberalization cannot be imposed from above. Although a large percentage of the Chinese people have been part of China's long march to freedom, farmers, entrepreneurs, migrants, Chinese gays, sex pleasure seekers, and black-marketers played a particularly important role in the beginning. Lawyers, scholars, journalists, and rights activists have jumped in more recently to ensure that liberalization continues. Social dissatisfaction with the government is now published in the media, addressed in public forums, and deliberated in courtrooms. Intellectuals devoted to improvement in human rights and continued liberalization are part of the process. This grassroots social revolution has also resulted from the explosion of information available to ordinary people (especially via the Internet) and far-reaching international influences. All have fundamentally altered key elements of the moral and material content of China's party-state regime and society at large. This social revolution is moving China towards a more liberal society despite its government. The Chinese government reacts, rather than leads, in this transformative process"--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The right to be left alone : the grassroots decollectivization movement and Baochan daohu; title: Struggling to move freely; title: The Chinese entrepreneur : challenging the status quo; title: Capitalism with Chinese characteristics and the basis of civil society; title: Information wants to be free; title: Sexual revolution in China; title: Global trade, foreign influence, and the effects of globalization; title: Chinese glossary.