China's provinces are all considerable social, economic and political systems in their own right, and most are the size and scale of a European country in population, land area and social complexity which under other circumstances might be regarded as separate states, rather than component parts of a single, unitary system. Despite their distinct identities and importance to the country's social, political and economic development, China's provinces only recently became a major focus of inquiry with the introduction of reform and decentralization. This volume is the first of a series examining each of China's provinces in reform and deals with Guangxi, Hainan, Liaoning, Shandong, Shanghai, Sichuan and Zhejiang. It is concerned with the impact of economic reform on social and political change within each of the provinces. The issues revealed by this study are not only the determinants of provincial politics or central-provincial relations in China, but also wider concerns about the impact of economic modernization on social and political change.
The seven cases presented here highlight the effects of economic growth on class formations, regional development within each province and emergent political cultures, particularly those related to questions of local identity. China's Provinces in Reform is the first of three volumes that will provide the most authoritative and comprehensive survey of China's regional politics. As such it will be essential reading for all those concerned with the impact of the reform era. Jae Ho Chung, Seoul National University, Feng Chongyi, University of Technology, Sydney, Keith Forster, Southern Cross University, Australia, David S G Goodman, University