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Begin New Search Political Geography Beijing Content Type Journal Article Publishing Institution German Institute of Global and Area Studies

1. Invisible Body and the Predicaments of Existence in an Urbanizing China

Author:
Meiqin Wang
Publication Date:
05-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This article contextualises the art practice of Beijing-based artist Liu Bolin and examines ways in which his artworks illuminate the sociopolitical conditions that regulate the everyday reality of underprivileged social groups amid China's spectacular urban transformation in the 2000s. The tension between individual existence and the force of urbanization underlays Liu's most important work, entitled Hiding in the City. This performance photographic series, in which Liu covered his body thoroughly with paint so that he “disappeared” into the background, was initiated as a response towards the demolition of an artist village in Beijing where the artist resided and worked. The series has since been developed into an ambitious and years-long project in which the artist surveys the disparate urban living environment of the city, bringing to the surface dominant forces that render the existence of the individuals “invisible”.
Political Geography:
China and Beijing

2. Driving the City: Taxi Drivers and the Tactics of Everyday Life in Beijing

Author:
Gladys Pak Lei Chong
Publication Date:
02-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This article examines the ways in which taxi driving and China's quest for global ascendency are interlinked and enmeshed. Inspired by de Certeau's The Practice of Everyday Life and his conceptual formulation of “strategy” and “tactic”, this article explores how taxi drivers, through their everyday practice of driving, found ways and moments to tactically challenge and appropriate so-called “civility campaigns” and a rising China. By demonstrating the numerous instances of tactics taxi drivers used, I argue that their socio-economic marginality did not, in fact, reduce them to a “powerless” position. I bring in Foucault's analytics of power and governmentality to add to de Certeau's work by helping to explain the intertwined relationship between government and governed to shed light on the complexity implicated in the dynamics of power relations and resistance. I examine the period around the 2008 Beijing Olympics as it involved large-scale attempts to showcase China through (urban) transformation.
Political Geography:
China and Beijing

3. Central Control and Local Welfare Autonomy in Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macau

Author:
Sonny Lo
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
The complexities of central–local relations in the People's Republic of China (PRC) include at least two main policy dimensions: control over personnel and the appointment of local authorities by the central government in Beijing and the fiscal relations between the centre and the localities.
Political Geography:
China, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou

4. Local Autonomy in Action: Beijing's Hong Kong and Macau Policies

Author:
Bill Chou
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This paper investigates how Beijing governs its two special administrative regions (SARs) of Hong Kong and Macau through leverages on their local autonomy. First, a conceptual analysis of local autonomy will be provided. Local autonomy is more than a zero-sum game between the central and local authorities over how much power should be granted or taken from the local authorities; it also concerns the space for cultural expression and the use of local customs in public administration. Second, the degree of local autonomy in Hong Kong and Macau will be critically examined. On paper, both SAR governments are able to freely make decisions on a wide range of policies. In practice, however, Beijing has the absolute authority to override the decisions of Hong Kong and Macau. It is argued that the autonomy in cultural expression can compensate for the institutional constraints on the two SARs' decision- making power and is thus able to alleviate public discontent – as long as the constraints do not conflict with the people's core values and ways of life.
Political Geography:
China, Beijing, and Hong Kong

5. From Minimum Wage to Standard Work Hour: HKSAR Labour Politics in Regime Change

Author:
Lawrence K. K. Ho and Ming K. Chan
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This paper aims to highlight the significance of labour issues – namely, the minimum wage (MW) and standard working hours (SWH) – in shaping candidates' electoral platforms in the 2012 chief executive (CE) election of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) under the sovereignty of the People's Republic of China (PRC). We first offer a brief review of labour politics regarding the MW case as a precursor to the SWH drafting and enactment process. We then provide an analytical delineation of some of the labour and socio-economic dimensions of the CE electoral contest by comparing the candidates' campaign planks in relation to SWH. We then attempt to predict the likely course of the SWH debate under the leadership of Leung Chun-ying, who eventually won the CE election and assumed power on 1 July 2012. We conclude by examining Leung's social engineering attempts to increase popular support amongst low- and middle-income (LMI) households as part of his long-term strategy for the 2017 CE elections and his broader Beijing-entrusted political agenda.
Topic:
Regime Change
Political Geography:
China, Beijing, and Hong Kong

6. Altering the Rules: Chinese Homeowners' Participation in Policymaking

Author:
Yihong Jiang
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This study looks at Chinese homeowners' participation in policymaking. Drawing on evidence from Guangzhou and Beijing, it shows that various organised homeowner activists have moved upstream in the policy process and have begun to push beyond policy implementation into the domain of agenda setting and “rule-making”. These advocates display rights-conscious patterns of behaviour that are closer to that of interest or lobby groups than to the typical repertoire of Chinese contentious citizens. The study suggests that this kind of political participation is on the rise amongst Chinese homeowner activists. This result complements and extends other recent findings that suggest the Chinese policy process is gradually opening up. Such a trend could have significant implications and calls for more research in different domains of state-society relations.
Political Geography:
China and Beijing

7. Religion and the State in China: The Limits of Institutionalization

Author:
André Laliberté
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
For people reading the mainstream media, the recent travails of the Shouwang Church in Beijing – a Protestant congregation whose followers have been forbidden to worship in public since being evicted from the premises they rented – seem emblematic of a confrontational relationship between religion and state in China today (Jacobs 2011a). This impression appears to be confirmed when we also look at the persecution that adherents to Falungong continue to suffer (Richardson and Edelman 2011) and the difficult relations that Muslims in Xinjiang and Buddhists in Tibet experience. However, this is only one side of the story. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), at least since the administration of Jiang Zemin, has looked with approval at the growth of religion. Party documents have extolled the compatibility between religion and social stability, and the CCP has encouraged the construction or rebuilding of temples all over the country (Ren 2007: 195ff). Intellectuals and local governments are now looking back at China's traditional religions, not long ago dismissed as “superstitions”, as part of a national heritage worthy of preservation. The dramatic expansion of Confucius Institutes all over the world confirms that the party has completely changed its appreciation of traditional culture and religion, now seen as assets (Paradise 2009).
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
China and Beijing

8. Mega-events, Local Economies, and Global Status: What Happened before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai

Author:
Jian Sun and Lin Ye
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Mega-events such as the World Cup and the Olympics have been used for economic development, urban transformation and global status enhancement. Beijing and Shanghai embraced these purposes when they won the bids for the 2008 Olympics and the 2010 World Expo respectively. This article examines the pre-event economic changes in Beijing and Shanghai that are associated with their pursuit of mega-events. Changes in a group of economic indicators are tracked from 1997 to 2006. It was found that after winning the bids for the Olympics and the World Expo, Beijing and Shanghai experienced greater growth in construction and tourism, a speeding-up in economic development and restructuring, and an improvement in physical infrastructure. However, the enhancement of global exposure was not accompanied by growth in foreign trade and in the finance, insurance and real estate (FIRE) industries. The empirical analyses place the mega-events in large economic contexts and provide a base for future post-event studies.
Political Geography:
Shanghai and Beijing

9. Between Dependency and Autonomy – Taiwanese Entrepreneurs and Local Chinese Governments

Author:
Lee Chun-yi
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This paper focuses on the changing interaction between Taiwanese entrepreneurs and local Chinese governments. Through the analysis of this changing process, it can be seen that Taiwanese businesses are a special “asset” of Chinese governments. The main argument of this paper is that both central and local governments in China have strategic considerations in respect of Taiwanese businesses. The Chinese central government values Taiwanese businesses because more Taiwanese investment in China strengthens the Beijing government in negotiations with the Taibei government. Nevertheless, since the Kuomintang (KMT) (Guomindang) regained power in 2008, the strategic value of Taiwanese businesses in the cross-Strait relationship seems to have decreased. The central government has created a profitable macro-environment enabling local officials to give a warm welcome to Taiwanese businesses. Chinese local governments value Taiwanese businessmen not only because of the central government's deliberate policy but also because they are pursuing their own self-interest. This paper firstly focuses on the changing interaction between Taiwanese businesses and Chinese local governments. It then further analyses the different but complementary interests of both central and local governments in China in relation to Taiwanese investors.
Political Geography:
China, Taiwan, and Beijing

10. Commentary on "A Modest Proposal for a Basic Agreement on Peaceful Cross-Strait Development"

Author:
Christopher R. Hughes
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This critique assesses Prof. Chang Ya-chung's draft basic agreement for cross-Strait relations by arguing that it overstates changes in Beijing's Taiwan policy, which is based on a strategy that has not seen substantial change since it was devised in the early 1990s to prevent the island's democratization leading to the exercise of self-determination. By over-estimating Taiwan's political, diplomatic, military, and economic vulnerability the proposal unnecessarily narrows down Taibei's options to the point where it has to accept Beijing's one-China principle. This merely closes off other options that Taiwan can just as readily pursue, such as continuing to develop cross-Strait relations through ad hoc solutions to practical problems or seeking more imaginative ways to create a durable modus vivendi with international support. Even more problematic is that a political framework for stability based on the principles of Chinese nationalism is unlikely to be acceptable for Taiwan's liberal- democratic politics and could thus amount to an unnecessary risk that would lead to a less durable cross-Strait status quo than that which has been maintained over the last two decades.
Political Geography:
China, Taiwan, and Beijing

11. Commentary on "A Modest Proposal for a Basic Agreement on Peaceful Cross-Strait Development"

Author:
Jean-Pierre Cabestan
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
The main question that Chang Ya-chung's Modest Proposal triggers is whether a political and security agreement can realistically be reached today. The twelve agreements signed by Beijing and Taibei since 2008 should be saluted as conducive to constructing détente, non- military confidence-building measures and de facto government-to- government relations across the Strait. However, in the foreseeable future, is it realistic to ask for more? Actually, a temporary or long-term political agreement between Taibei and Beijing will not be reached if the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) refuse to formally recognize each other's separate existence and sovereignty in one way or another, at least tacitly, and if they do not agree to address security issues squarely with the assistance of the USA. Finally, no meaningful agreement can be re ached either if the PRC Chinese and certain segments of the Kuomin tang (KMT) (Guomindang) fail to recognize Taiwan's specific history or realize that the Taiwanese have been developing a distinct identity since 1949 and even more so since the island's democratization took place in the late 1980s.
Political Geography:
United States, China, Taiwan, and Beijing

12. Realpolitik Dynamics and Image Construction in the Russia-China Relationship: Forging a Strategic Partnership?

Author:
Maria Raquel Freire and Carmen Amado Mendes
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Russia and China are two big players in the international system, both of which share interests and concerns and compete for preponderance and affirmation at the regional level. As a framework for political-military cooperation, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) frames this relationship in an institutional setting that might be understood as a tool for rapprochement between Moscow and Beijing or as a strategic manoeuvre for balancing an unbalanced international order. Thus the following question arises: is Russian-Chinese cooperation discourse mere political rhetoric or does it imply the intentional forging of a goal-orientated partnership? The relationship between Russia and China in political and security terms reveals identifiable common concerns, such as counter-terrorism or the fight against organised crime, while simultaneously masking the underpinning drivers, based on realpolitik dynamics and image construction on both sides (power projection, regional affirmation). This means that the strategic partnership dialogue between Moscow and Beijing is still far from being real. Realpolitik considerations rise above institutional goals, showing the lines of (dis)continuity in discourse and practice in this bilateral relationship.
Topic:
Security
Political Geography:
Russia, China, Beijing, and Moscow

13. „Das olympische Feuer brennt. Und mit ihm lodert das Misstrauen" – Die Chinaberichterstattung während der Olympischen Sommerspiele in Beijing 2008 ("The Olympic Torch Burns, and Great Suspicion Blazes" – China Narratives in the German Media during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing 2008)

Author:
Michael Poerner
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This paper focuses on the description of China in leading German daily and weekly newspapers during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. On the basis of a brief outline of the main China narratives in German media since the 1950s, this paper analyses China-related articles which were published during the period August 8-15, 2008. It argues that reports on China are mostly based on well established German notions of China and centre around the image of a despotic and/or dangerous China. Therefore, they primarily refer back to the source culture and contain little information of value regarding the target culture.
Topic:
Mass Media
Political Geography:
China and Beijing