MCLC: Made in China v. 2, no. 1

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MCLC LIST
Made in China v. 2, no. 1
Made in China vol. 2 n. 1: Fare Thee Well, Chinese Civil Society?
Dear Colleagues
I am glad to announce the publication of the latest issue of Made in China, the open access quarterly on Chinese labour and civil society supported by the Australian Centre on China in the World, the Australian National University. You can download the pdf for free and subscribe at this link: http://www.chinoiresie.info/madeinchina. Below you can find the editorial of the new issue:
Fare Thee Well, Chinese Civil Society?
For many years now, Chinese civil society has been the focus of considerable expectations for scholars, journalists, and politicians all over the world. There has been great eagerness to salute every small victory by Chinese NGOs and activists over the powerful party-state as evidence that the authoritarian tide was finally receding in China, and that grassroots forces were stepping up to take a new role in Chinese politics and society. In light of these high hopes, it is not surprising that the recent troubling news coming from China has been acutely disappointing and has dampened people’s enthusiasm. With the arrest of yet another activist, the airing of yet another public confession, the closure of yet another NGO working for the weak and disenfranchised, and the passing of yet another repressive law, the world has come to view Chinese civil society as if it were on its deathbed. For sure, an idea of Chinese civil society is ailing. But, if we consider the swiftness with which the party-state has tamed these forces (at least for the time being), was this civil society ever there in first place? Or were we simply projecting our hopes onto a handful of Chinese grassroots organisations and activists?
While we mourn the death of an ideal, it is imperative that we overcome our sorrow to look at the momentous changes that are currently taking place in the realm of Chinese civil society. In this issue of Made in China, we offer a series of perspectives on these developments. In Conceptual Confusion in the Research on Chinese Civil Society, Taru Salmenkari highlights the biases and lack of clarity that undermines much of the discussion of Chinese civil society. In Chinese Grassroots Organisations after the Charity Law, Karla Simon and Holly Snape consider how the new legislation is likely to break down the old order and establish a new system of governance. In The Rise of Foundations, Jessica Teets examines the role of Chinese foundations in providing financial assistance to local NGOs now that foreign sources of funding are drying up. In Meet the State Security, Ivan Franceschini looks at the ambivalent relationship between labour activists and their controllers from the security apparatus. Finally, in Snapshots of China’s ‘Uncivil Society’, Børge Bakken describes how the attempt by the party-state to prevent a civil society from organising itself has led to the emergence of a rather uncivil type of society.
In this issue you will also find other provocative essays. In Collective Bargaining Is Dead: The Situation Is Excellent, Eli Friedman argues that the recent decline in discussions about collective bargaining in China is not necessarily bad news, as it paves the way for public debate about other meaningful policies, such as universal basic income. In Making Class and Place in Contemporary China, Roberta Zavoretti contends that in today’s China, the state-sponsored discursive production of migrant labourers as a homogeneous social group sustains the promotion of the hegemonic social model of an ideally emerging ‘middle class’. In our Window on Asia section, Jennifer Hsu shifts the focus from China to Myanmar, analysing how Burmese civil society has reacted to the challenges posed by Chinese aid and investment in the country. In Losing the World, Christian Sorace reviews Gu Tao’s documentary ‘The last Moose of Aoluguya’, about the forced relocation of the Evenki people in Northern China. The issue concludes with an interview with Andrew Kipnis about his latest monograph, From Village to City.
This journal is hosted by Chinoiresie.info. In the final pages of this issue, you can find highlights from the website. If you would like to contribute a piece of writing, please contact us; to receive this journal regularly by email, please subscribe to our mailing list.
The Editors
Ivan Franceschini <ivan.franceschini at anu.edu.au> and Nicholas Loubere
by denton.2 at osu.edu on April 7, 2017
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