State-owned “enterprises” from the planned era, converted into profit-making state firms in the 2000s, have been playing a major role in the continued spectacular growth of China’s GDP. This fact, however, has been obscured by hegemonic neoliberal economic discourse with its assumption that only private firms can drive economic development, thereby turning what is a major dynamic into a major failing. At the same time, by a variety of abstract constructs founded on theoretical speculations rather than empirical reality, neoliberal economic and sociological discourse has also obscured the mounting social inequalities that have accompanied Chinese development. The evidence shows that central and local Chinese government actions lie at the root of the growing social inequalities. This article ends with a discussion of the new Chongqing experiment and its implications for the big issue of the direction of China’s future development: whether “state capitalism” or “socialist market economy,” not in rhetoric but in actual substance.
BaiChong-enHsiehChang-TaiQianYingyi (2006) “The return to capital in China.” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, vol. 2006, no. 2: 61–88. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
2.
Cai Fang蔡昉 (2007) “中国经济面临的转折及其对发展和改革的挑战” (The turning point faced by China’s economy and its challenge for Chinese development and reform). 中国社会科学 3: 4–12.
3.
ChanAnitaUngerJonathan (2009) “A Chinese state enterprise under the reforms: what model of capitalism?” China J.62 (July): 1–26.
4.
China Development Research Foundation (2005) China Human Development Report. United Nations Development Programme, China Country Office.
Cui Zhiyuan崔之元 (2012) 独家专访崔之元: 肯定重庆经验而非重庆模式 (An exclusive interview with Cui Zhiyuan: affirming the Chongqing experience and not the Chongqing model). Jan.18. http://business.sohu.com/20120118/n332512019_2.shtml.
11.
EbensteinAlan (2001) Friedrich Hayek, a Biography. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
12.
EconomyElizabeth C. (2004) The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China’s Future. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univ. Press.
“Friedrich Hayek.” www.wikipedia.com, citing Alan Ebenstein (2001) Friedrich Hayek, a Biography. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
15.
Gao Bai高柏 (2006) “新发展主义与古典发展主义—中国模式与日本模式的比较分析” (The new developmentalism and the old developmentalism: a comparative analysis of the Chinese and Japanese models). 社会学研究 1: 114–38.
16.
“Guojia tongjiju . . .” 国家统计局称中国有8千万中产专家不同意 [The State Bureau of Statistics says China has 80 million middle class, but a specialist disagrees] (2007) 星岛环球网, Dec.27. www.stnn.cc:82/china/200712/t20071227_702070.html.
17.
“Guoqi tuodi Chongqing fazhan guozi cheng zhengfu di san caizheng” 国企托底重庆发展国资成政府第三财政 [State enterprises hold up the bottom for Chongqing’s development: state assets become the government’s third finance] (2010) 重庆日报, Dec.10. www.cs.com.cn/cqzk/05/201012/t20101210_2703802.html.
HuangPhilip C. C. (2009) “China’s neglected informal economy: reality and theory.” Modern China35, 4 (July): 405–38.
26.
HuangPhilip C. C. (2010) “Beyond the right-left divide: searching for reform from the history of practice.” Modern China36, 1 (Jan.): 115–33.
27.
HuangPhilip C. C. (2011a) “The theoretical and practical implications of China’s development experience: the role of informal economic practices.” Modern China37, 1 (Jan.): 3–43.
28.
HuangPhilip C. C. (2011b) “The modern Chinese family: in light of economic and legal history.” Modern China37, 5 (Sept.): 459–97.
29.
HuangPhilip C. C. (2011c) “Chongqing: equitable development driven by a ‘third hand’?” Modern China37, 6 (Nov.): 569–622.
30.
HuangPhilip C. C. (2011d) “A brief comment on Szelenyi’s comment.” Modern China37, 6 (Nov.): 684–88.
31.
HuangPhilip C. C.GaoYuanPengYusheng (2012) “Capitalization without proletarianization in China’s agricultural development.” Modern China38, 2 (Mar.): 139–73.
32.
Huang Qifan黄奇帆 (2010) “黄奇帆新闻发布会: 重庆市户籍制度改革的政策体系, 政策措施以及三个月的实践情况” (Huang Qifan’s press conference: the policy system, policy implementation, and three months of actual practice of Chongqing city’s reform of the system of household registration), pts. 1 and 2. Nov.14. http://mcrp.macrochina.com.cn/u/60/archives/2010/2083.html.
33.
Huang Zongzhi黄宗智 [Philip C. C. Huang] (2008) “中国的小资产阶级和中间阶层: 悖论的社会形态” (China’s petty bourgeoisie and intermediate classes: a paradoxical social formation). Vol. 6, pp. 1–14 in 中国乡村研究. 福州: 福建教育出版社.
34.
Huang Zongzhi黄宗智 [Philip C. C. Huang] (2010) 中国的隐性农业革命 (China’s hidden agricultural revolution). 北京: 法律出版社.
35.
Huang Zongzhi黄宗智 [Philip C. C. Huang] (2012a) “小农户与大商业资本的不平等交易: 中国现代农业的特色” (Un- equal transactions between small peasants and big commercial capital: the special characteristic of China’s modern agriculture). 开放时代 3: 89–99.
36.
Huang Zongzhi黄宗智 [Philip C. C. Huang] (2012b) “中国过去和现在的基本经济单位——家庭还是个人?” (The basic unit of China’s economy, past and present—the family or the individual?). 学术前沿 (人民论坛) 1 (创刊号) (Mar.): 76–93.
37.
KornaiJanos (1992) The Socialist System: The Political Economy of Communism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
38.
Lin Yifu林毅夫 [Justin Lin]Li Zhibin李志赟 (2005) “中国的国有企业与金融体制改革” (China’s state-owned enterprises and the reform of the financial system). 中国经济学 (季刊) 4, 4. www.usc.cuhk.edu.hk.
MontinolaGaBriellaQianYingyiWeingastBarry R. (1995) “Federalism Chinese style: the political basis for economic success in China.” World Politics48, 1 (Oct.): 50–81.
45.
NorthDouglass C. (1981) Structure and Change in Economic History. New York: W. W. Norton.
46.
NorthDouglass C. (1993) “Douglass North Nobel lecture.” www.nobelprize.org.
47.
OiJean C. (1992) “Fiscal reform and the economic foundations of local state corporatism in China.” World Politics45, 1 (Oct.): 99–126.
48.
OiJean C. (1999) Rural China Takes Off: Institutional Foundations of Economic Reform. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
49.
QianYingyi [钱颖一]RolandGérard (1998) “Federalism and the soft budget constraint.” American Economic Rev. 88, 5 (Dec.): 1143–62.
50.
QianYingyiWeingastBarry R. (1997) “Federalism as a commitment to preserving market incentives.” J. of Economic Perspectives11, 4 (Fall): 83–92.
SzelenyiIvan (2011) “Third ways.” Modern China37, 6 (Nov.): 672–83.
57.
Tianze jingji yanjiusuo 天则经济研究所 [Tianze Economic Research Institute] (2011) “国有企业的性质, 表现与改革—最新修订稿” (The nature of state-owned enterprises, their performance and reform, newest final draft). www.unirule.org.cn/secondweb/Article.asp?ArticleID=3102.
58.
WalderAndrew (1995) “Local governments as industrial firms: an organizational analysis of China’s transitional economy.” Amer. J. of Sociology101, 2 (Sept.): 263–301.
59.
Wang Hansheng王汉生Wang Yige王一鸽 (2009) “目标管理责任制: 农村基层政权的实践逻辑” (Administration by the targeted responsibility system: the logic of the practice of power at the basic rural level). 社会学研究 2: 61–92.
60.
Wang Shaoguang王绍光 (2011) “探索中国式社会主义3.0: 重庆经验” (On Chinese style socialism, version 3.0: the Chongqing experience). 马克思主义研究 2. www.aisixiang.com.
Xiao Gang肖钢 (2011) 百年中行新变革: 市场化与人本化的人力资源管理 (New changes in the hundred years of the Bank of China: marketization and people first-ization in human resources management). 北京: 中信出版社.
“Yu-Xin-Ou tielu . . .” 渝新欧铁路: 重庆向西, 穿越世界心脏 [The Chongqing New Europe rail line: Chongqing faces west, goes through the heart of the world] (2012) Mar.29. www.guancha.cn/html/49646/2012/03/29/67985.shtml.
Zhang Yulin张玉林 (2007) 中国农村环境恶化与冲突加剧的动力机制——从三起“群体性事件”看政经一体化 (The driving mechanisms behind the degradation of China’s rural environment and the intensification of conflicts—the merging of the administrative and the economic seen through three cases of “group disturbances”). 宏范评论, 9. 北京: 法律出版社.
68.
Zhang Yulin张玉林 (2009) “China’s war on its environment and farmers’ rights: a study of Shanxi province.” Pp. 149–84 in MendesErrol P.SrighonthanSakunthala (eds.), Confronting Discrimination and Inequality in China: Chinese and Canadian Perspectives. Ottawa: Univ. of Ottawa Press.
Zhonghua renmin gongheguo guojia tongjiju 中华人民共和国国家统计局 [National Bureau of Statistics of China] (2010) 2009年农民工监测调查报告 (Investigative report on the monitoring of the nongmingong in 2009). www.stats.gov.cn/tjfx/fxbg/t20100319_402628281.htm.
