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COPYRIGHT 2007 The Institute Inc.
The articles in this special issue are based on original fieldwork in China. The authors made presentations on their work in a session at the Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting in Vancouver BC, on March 29, 2006. Since that time we have shared drafts of our manuscripts and integrated our work to illustrate both the diversity of the development enterprise in China and common themes emerging from indigenous norms and social structures.
Development in Context: Contemporary Chinese Economy and Society
Since its founding in 1949 the People's Republic of China has pursued a modernist vision of rapid economic development, with several policy variants. From the 1950s through the 1970s, China followed the Soviet model of development, with industrial production in the hands of the central government and agricultural production controlled by a network of rural collectives. The plenary session of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in 1978 marked the beginning of a suite of economic reform policies known as Reform and Opening (gaige kaifang). Thirty years of gradual reform have brought sweeping social and economic changes, including the return of smallholder agriculture under the Household Responsibility System, the privatization of industrial production, greater integration into the world economy, and the rise of a consumer class. China's gross domestic product has grown nearly 10% per year over that time period, and its economy is expected to be the largest in the world within the next two decades.
More than any other concept, development is a salient national goal that serves as a rallying point for various administrative levels of the Chinese government. Development in the Chinese context contains both materialist and normative aspects. On the material side, development...
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