CHINA - September 1996

September Article Abstracts

Title: From Suppression to Repression:  Religion in China Today
Author: Donald Macinnis
Beijing has once again begun tolerating religious activity. Donald MacInnis, who has "attended packed services in Protestant and Catholic churches, witnessed overflow crowds in Buddhist temples on religious holidays, and interviewed Buddhist, Muslim, and Daoist clerics in reopened mosques and temples," discusses the extraordinary resurgence of religion and how it could shape the China that is emerging under reform.

Title: Engaging China:  Exploiting the Fissures in the Facade
Author: James Shinn
"China is not a monolith; there are fissures in the facade. . .and the outside world would do well to exploit them where possible. . . [The international community] should not deviate from the long-term goal of peaceful economic engagement but react with a large measure of flexibility and pragmatism to China's response to what it sees as threats to its regime economic security."

Title: The Leader in the Shadows:  A View of Deng Xiaoping
Author: Lucian W. Pye
Who is Deng Xiaoping? The man so often referred to as China's paramount leader holds no official government or party posts and has not appeared in public since February 1994. Lucian Pye explores how Deng came to hold such power without the traditional trappings associated with it.

Title: The Military's Uncertain Politics
Author: June Teufel Dreyer
"[T]he military clearly retains a pivotal decision-making role both in ratifying [China's] next leader and in influencing its foreign policy. What is less clear is in what direction it will choose to move."

Title: The Dangers of Economic Complacency
Author: Barry Naughton
Some leaders believe that they can shape the future development of the Chinese economy through better management and with the help of a carefully chosen 'industrial policy.' In fact, the Chinese economy awaits a further round of reform and restructuring in order to begin the transition to a more effective economic system that can productively participate in international cooperation and competition."

Title: Taiwan's Lee Teng-hui Complex
Author: Shelley Rigger
"March 23, 1996, was a great day in Taiwan's history, and Lee Teng-hui's landslide win was a great victory for the Kuomintang. But despite the popularity of its chief, the ruling party faces difficult challenges. . . If the Kuomintang reforms itself and provides effective leadership, it could extend its tenure as the majority party indefinitely. But if it fails to make these changes, other political forces are eager to take its place."

Title: Hong Kong:  The Year Before Living Dangerously
Author: Frank Ching
"By early 1997. . .the shape of the [new Hong Kong] government will become clear. By then it should also be clear whether the anxieties that so many people harbor today are warranted."

Title: China's Human Avalanche
Author: Ann and James Tyson
"Jin [Xiulin] is one of 70 million to 100 million Chinese peasants who are on the road in search of jobs in towns and cities. The migrants are coaxed from their villages not only by the prospect of a better livelihood; they are compelled to leave." Ann and James Tyson paint a portrait of the hardships of those who move from country to city and of those who are left behind "in one of the largest peacetime migrations in history."