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This book assesses the implementation of “one country, two systems” in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) from the political, judicial, legal, economic, and societal dimensions. The author contends that there has been a gradual process of mainlandization of the HKSAR, meaning that Hong Kong is increasingly economically dependent on the People's Republic of China (PRC), politically deferent to the central government on the scope and pace of democratic reforms, socially more patriotic toward the motherland and more prone to media self-censorship, and judicially more vulnerable to the interpretation of the Basic Law by the National People's Congress. The book aims to achieve a breakthrough in relating the development of Hong Kong politics to the future of mainland China and Taiwan. By broadening the focus of “one country, two systems” from governance to the process of Sino-British negotiations and their thrust-building efforts, the book argues that the diplomats from mainland China and Taiwan can learn from the ways in which Hong Kong's political future was settled in 1982–1984.

The book confronts the popular conjecture of a Pax Sinica emerging to replace Pax Americana in the wake of global financial crisis. It argues that by virtue of its overwhelming economic, technological and military clout, US hegemony will continue to prevail, though increasingly less coherently, as China's ascendance as a global power accelerates. The argument is underpinned with analysis of different junctures in China's trajectory towards the status of economic giant, from the tacit creation of the “Greater China” growth triangle and ordeal of the Asian Financial Crisis, through the breakthrough with China's membership in the WTO and the subsequent large-scale realignment of productive forces in the Asia Pacific region. A chronological approach is combined with topical analysis, focusing in particular on the interplay between economic imperatives and geopolitical dynamics. Taken together, the book provides a highly refreshing and coherent perspective for looking at China arising as a dominant Asia-Pacific power with significant global implications. As an interdisciplinary study it will appeal to scholars and academics, as well as businessmen and government policy-makers interested in Asian and global affairs; and especially to students of economics, politics, international business and globalization studies.

This book reviews the political development of Hong Kong before and after 1997, in particular the evolution of state–society relations in the last two decades, to analyze the slow development of democracy and governance in Hong Kong after 1997. It analyzes the multi-faceted changes in Hong Kong in the last 20 years including state functions and institutions, political changes such as party development, and development of the Legislative Council, as well as social changes such as social movements and civil liberties. The book helps to explain the crisis of governance of Hong Kong after 1997 and the difficulty of democratic development in Hong Kong over the years.

This book addresses the politics of higher education in Imperial China during the Northern Song period (960-1127). How did different political agents -- namely emperors, scholar-officials, teachers and students -- interact in shaping the Imperial University and compete over different agendas? Earlier studies often conceived the Imperial University as a static institution and framed questions within the context of institutional and social history. Building on recent insights/developments in new political history, this book is distinctive for its emphasis on the fluid political processes shaping institutional changes and the interaction of the people involved. Based on a close reading of the surviving records of court archives, chronological accounts and biographical materials of individual agents, the author shows the agendas behind the structures and regulations of the Imperial University and the ways in which they actually functioned, among them the assertion of autocratic rule, the elimination of political opposition, and the imposition of strict morality. Competitions and negotiations over these agenda, the author proposes, lead to changes in educational policies, which did not occur in a linear or progressive fashion, but rather back-and-forth due to ongoing resistance.

This book describes and analyses the role of the public sector in the often charged political atmosphere of post-1997 Hong Kong. It discusses critical constitutional, organisational, and policy problems and examines their effects on relationships between the government and the people. A concluding chapter suggests some possible means of resolving or minimising the difficulties which have been experienced.

Tsering Woeser and Wang Lixiong are widely regarded as the most eloquent, insightful writers on contemporary Tibet. Their reportage on the economic exploitation, environmental degradation, cultural destruction and political subjugation that plague the increasingly Han Chinese-dominated Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) is as powerful as it is profound, ardent and analytical in equal measure, and not in the least bit ideological. Voices from Tibet assembles and reportage in translation that captures many facets of the upheavals wrought by a rising China upon a sacred land and its pious people. With the TAR in a virtual lockdown after the 2008 unrest, this book sheds important light on the simmering frustrations that touched off the unrest and Beijing’s relentless control tactics in its wake. The authors also interrogate long-standing assumptions about Tibetans’ political future. Woeser’s and Wang’s writings represent a rare Chinese view sympathetic to Tibetan causes. Their powerful testimony should resonate in many places confronting threats of cultural subjugation and economic domination by an external power.

This is one of the few books that argues for a feasible compromise solution to the political conflict across the Taiwan Strait that still troubles greater China. The book elaborates on the factors both enabling and constraining the formation of a hybrid of federation and confederation. He deals with the role of the state and intellectuals (organic, professional, and critical) as well as their interaction in shaping national identities. The important questions raised are: Can China become a true world leader? Will Taiwan be a key player in China's transformation?