Force for change in China
New York Times reporter Howard French probably went to Shenzhen to report on the attempts by local police to use public shaming as a tool to fight prostitution. The attempt was not a resounding success. (See Anomaly or real change in political culture?) While there, he wrote this story which may be a harbinger for China's political culture. Maybe Marx was right about the bourgeoisie.What characteristics of Shenzhen's new political culture would your students point to as significant? Would they guess that Shenzhen is so different from the rest of China that it's not a model for the rest of the country? Why? Can the Party maintain control in a place like Shenzhen? Why not?
In Chinese Boomtown, Middle Class Pushes Back
"Increasingly... Shenzhen looks like a preview, even a warning, of the limitations of the kind of growth-above-all approach that has gripped much of China.
Nothing in Shenzhen in more than 25 years old."Possibly the greatest force taking shape here is the quiet expansion of the middle class... This middle class is beginning to chafe under authoritarian rule, and over time, the quiet, well-organized challenges of the newly affluent may have the deepest impact on this country’s future.
"In newly rich Shenzhen, as in much of China, social change is being driven by economic transformation and, more than anything else, property ownership... property owners have poured their energy into everything from establishing co-op boards to spar with landlords, to organizing real estate market boycotts to force down prices.
"Others, meanwhile, have begun running for office in district-level elections, where they hope to make the city government more responsive to their needs...
"Shenzhen has also spawned a local research group known as Interhoo, an independent association of civic-minded professionals who discuss municipal policy issues, publish position papers and quietly lobby the government over development strategy and other issues...
"Even with all of this political activity, China is a long way from participatory democracy..."
posted by Ken Wedding @ 6:11 AM
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A second article about Shenzhen by Howard French appeared in the New York Times on 19 December. It deals with the costs of the city's rapid growth. Videos to accompany this article and the first one are available on the Times' web site.
Chinese Success Story Chokes on Its Own Growth
"Few cities anywhere have created wealth faster than Shenzhen, but the costs of its phenomenal success stare out from every corner: environmental destruction, soaring crime rates and the disillusionment and degradation of its vast force of migrant workers...
"Shenzhen was a sleepy fishing village in the Pearl River delta, next to Hong Kong, when it was decreed a special economic zone in 1980 by the paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. Since then, the city has grown at an annual rate of 28 percent, though it slowed to 15 percent in 2005.
"Shenzhen owed its success to a simple formula of cheap land, eager, compliant labor and lax environmental rules that attracted legions of foreign investors who built export-based manufacturing industries..."
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