Not available to order

Publication date:

15 August 2008

Length of book:

258 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9780739126233

The problems of corruption, social injustice, public unrest, disparity in income and regional development, shortage of energy and resources, unemployment, aging population, inadequate social and economic safety network, pollution, etc., are poised to jeopardize political stability and cast a shadow on the moral foundation of economic reform. How to cope with these new problems is a daunting task facing the Chinese leadership and people in the twenty-first century. The new generation of leadership under Hu Jintao has begun to search for solutions and directions. "Building a harmonious society" based on a "scientific view of development" has become a new catch phrase in political and academic discourse in China and a newly adopted program by the Chinese government.

It is in this context that this edited volume brings together a group of China scholars to discuss the concept and goal of building a harmonious society. This book will be of interest to professors and students of China studies, as well as policy makers and researchers.
Is there a 'Beijing Consensus' corresponding to the 'Washington Consensus'—a model of successful development for the rest of the world? That is the question posed by this book. The writers concur that today's China has bid farewell to continuous revolution and class struggle and is now integrated by the Confucian ideal of disciplined social harmony. Yet as they make clear in their stimulating, multifaceted analysis, that vision is now challenged by environmental pollution, socio-economic and ethnic inequity, and official corruption.