Overview
Chinese citizens are far from docile, and regularly and vociferously rise up in collective protest. In some cases they have successfully applied pressure, forcing political and economic elites to satisfy their demands. In others, they have been brutally suppressed. More often than not, however, the results have been mixed. This Handbook explores individual and collective acts of protest and resistance in China since 1989, examining their key unifying underlying themes and their effect on relations between the government and society. Featuring twenty-nine chapters of original research from top scholars, this Handbook spans the broad range of protest and resistance in contemporary China. Its coverage of popular contention related to labour, land, the environment, nationalism, home ownership, information and communication technologies, the law, religion, Hong Kong and ethnic minority groups illuminates the complexity and diversity of citizen actions. The Handbook of Protest and Resistance in China suggests that while these protests and acts of resistance might threaten the ruling Chinese Communist Party, in order to strengthen and legitimise the Party's rule governing authorities best course of action may be to allow space for citizens to air their grievances, and to prioritise the resolution of complaints. This Handbook will be an invaluable resource for scholars and graduate students of Chinese and comparative politics, as well as for policy makers and interested readers seeking up to date data on protest and resistance in China, and to better understand the problems and perspectives of Chinese citizens.
Full Product Details
Author: Teresa Wright
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd
Imprint: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 9781786433770
ISBN 10: 178643377
Pages: 480
Publication Date: 28 June 2019
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
'Made up of chapters by an appealing mix of well established and more junior scholars, this volume brings together in one place illuminating work on the widely varied forms that protest and resistance have been taking across the People's Republic of China - and continue to take even in a time of ratcheted up controls. As different as the sources of discontent and styles of agitation are in disparate parts of the country and among disparate groups, something is lost when varied struggles are considered only in isolation. Wright's carefully put together and very effectively introduced Handbook show how much we can learn from placing side-by-side actions as varied as petition drives and marches occurring in settings as dissimilar as Hong Kong and Hunan.' -- Jeffrey Wasserstrom, University of California, Irvine, US 'No book on popular contention in China covers this much territory. All the important social groups are here as well as every conceivable type of resistance. This Handbook will provide a one-stop shopping for students of Chinese protest and repression for years to come.' -- Kevin J. O'Brien, University of California, Berkeley, US
'This collection is the most comprehensive study on various forms of popular contention by different groups in contemporary China. By analysing group-specific action, varied government response and the effect of contention, this book coherently and convincingly explains the political rationale for the coexistence of popular contention and regime stability in an authoritarian state that has been undergoing significant political and socio-economic changes. This collection makes important contributions to the understanding of contentious politics, political participation, and state-society relations in contemporary China.' -- Yongshun Cai , Hong Kong University of Science and Technology 'Made up of chapters by an appealing mix of well established and more junior scholars, this volume brings together in one place illuminating work on the widely varied forms that protest and resistance have been taking across the People's Republic of China - and continue to take even in a time of ratcheted up controls. As different as the sources of discontent and styles of agitation are in disparate parts of the country and among disparate groups, something is lost when varied struggles are considered only in isolation. Wright's carefully put together and very effectively introduced Handbook show how much we can learn from placing side-by-side actions as varied as petition drives and marches occurring in settings as dissimilar as Hong Kong and Hunan.' -- Jeffrey Wasserstrom, University of California, Irvine, US 'No book on popular contention in China covers this much territory. All the important social groups are here as well as every conceivable type of resistance. This Handbook will provide a one-stop shopping for students of Chinese protest and repression for years to come.' -- Kevin J. O'Brien, University of California, Berkeley, US
'No book on popular contention in China covers this much territory. All the important social groups are here as well as every conceivable type of resistance. This Handbook will provide a one-stop shopping for students of Chinese protest and repression for years to come.' -- Kevin J. O'Brien, University of California, Berkeley, US
Author Information
Edited by Teresa Wright, Chair & Professor, Department of Political Science, California State University, Long Beach, US
