CEFC

From Revolution To Reforms Characterizing made-in-China transition paradigms

 02/14/2011

Centre for Global and Strategic Studies (CGSS), University of Saint Joseph Macao SAR, China  

An international conference on

1911-2011: From Revolution To Reforms Characterizing made-in-China transition paradigms  

Date: 16th – 17th June 2011

Venue: University of Saint Joseph, Macao SAR, China (www.usj.edu.mo)

Click here to download the program

Contact: Dr. Emilie Tran, Assistant professor, Coordinator of master programs in Government Studies and Contemporary China Studies, Executive coordinator of the CGSS ([email protected]).

The 1911 revolution was motivated by anger at corruption in the Qing government, frustration with that government’s inability to restrain the interventions of foreign powers, and resentment of the majority Han Chinese toward a government dominated by an ethnic minority. One hundred years later, after decades of wars and violent political thrusts, China has achieved significant progress toward becoming a major global power. How close (or how far) is China from eventually becoming what the nineteenth century Qing dynasty reformers envisioned for her, i.e. a rich and powerful state (fuguo qiangbing)?

Mao took up that vision when he proclaimed “The Chinese people have stood up!”, though that vision may well still be a work in progress that Deng Xiaoping’s policy of reform and opening-up “with Chinese characteristics” is striving for. Ever since 1978, the Chinese Communist Party has established a social contract that can be encapsulated by getting rich but obeying one-Party rule. However, given the many troubles that have been challenging the country’s development and social order, one wonders what it will take for China to keep on going or whether it can keep on going.

The rise of China has challenged social scientists to revisit and rethink existing theories. Indeed, some observers believe China is the source of new paradigms and alternative models on the linkage between political, economic and social development, which has sometimes resulted in neologizing concepts such as sino-globalisation, sino-capitalism, pax sinica, or Beijing consensus.

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