Table of Content

20 May 2021, Volume 41 Issue 3

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Peasant Life in China: The Chinese Agrarian Question and Agrarian Transition

YE Jingzhong

2021, 41(3):  1-38. 

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The central theme of Fei Xiaotong’s Peasant Life in China is the agrarian question， not the land question. The agrarian question is an academic concept， derived from Karl Kautsky’s book published in 1899. The concept refers to the transition and changes of agriculture, land， peasantry， and rural areas during the processes of modernization and development of nations， particularly the changes of agricultural production, land ownership， peasant differentiation， and rural governance. Kautsky’s book represents an orthodox Marxist theoretical analysis of agrarian question as well as a solution to the rural transformation that is based on capitalist mode of production， and can only be successfully achieved through agrarian capitalist development. A careful examination of Peasant Life in China revealed that Fei’s treatment of the Chinese rural issues and rural transition followed the concept and framework of orthodox Marxism. However， Fei attempted to explore a Chinese non-capitalist，livelihood-oriented and diversified development path of agrarian transition as an alternative response to the orthodox Marxist solution. Fei Xiaotong supported small-land ownership and cautioned against ownership concentration of means of production such as landed property. He believed that the Chinese rural labor division was largely based gender and generation， and there were no clearly defined classes in rural China and no employment institution playing a role in village economy. He was convinced that diversified family agriculture and village industry were the key measures to sustain family life. He considered that traditional forces were very important in social relation and social development. In contrast to Karl Kautsky， Fei Xiaotong’s analysis of agrarian question and his standpoint of agrarian transition constituted a quite different theoretical perspective and value orientation. Adding to the praise for Peasant Life in China widely shared by the academic community， this study once again demonstrated the important intellectual contribution that made Fei’s work a classical masterpiece.

Urban and Rural Relationship and Its Modernization：A Comparison Between Fei Xiaotong’s Peasant Life in China and Cocoon

YANG Qingmei

2021, 41(3):  39-62. 

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In the 1930s，Fei Xiaotong wrote Peasant Life in China，an academic publication based on his fieldwork of Jiang village，upon the same work he later penned a story in English called Cocoon. The novel was an extrapolation of the modernization process in rural China. Fei always believed that in order to break away from the economic control of urban “rentners”，rural China must break with the original state of small -scale peasant economy in all the aspects of economy，social structure and mentality. Through a comparison of Peasant Life in China and Cocoon，this paper attempted to argue that Fei Xiaotong advocated an intermediate state of development. He argued that both traditional Chinese towns and trading ports were dominated by “rentners”，from whom modernity could not emerge. However，he acknowledged that universities were the birthplace of modernity （Chinese universities and cities were not of the same origin），and that rural China could modernize through a way of intellectuals going back to their hometowns to start industry. In Cocoon，educated urban young people returned to their hometown and engaged in business ventures with locals. The interaction eventually brought changes to those involved and ultimately reshaped their life. Baozhu，the heroine in the story，presented an intermediate state of this transition. She broke away from the confinement of traditional husband-wife relationship and family duty but remained loyal to family and had no desire to move to the city to pursue the freedom of individuality. This intermediate state was exactly what Fei Xiaotong hoped for as the way to the modernization of Chinese society. He regarded the countryside as a vehicle for modernity，nevertheless，emphasized that the totality of rural society should be preserved to protect it from falling apart. Small towns could act a key hub that brought the countryside into full contact with modernity but kept an organic connection to the rural life for those who had left. From this perspective，Fei Xiaotong’s theory of modern transformation can be seen as spacial modernization based on a ruraltown-urban relationship.

The Encounter Between Traditional Scholars and Modern Art Field: Huang Binhong’s Three Times of“Being” Discovered

SONG Shumin

2021, 41(3):  63-102. 

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By combing through the process of scholar Huang Binhong’s three times of “being” discovered in the field of modern art， this study finds that the development of Chinese and Western art presents different orientations in their transition from tradition to modernity. The West regards“aesthetic self-discipline” as the symbol of modern art， while Chinese art always emphasizes its sociality. For social acceptance， art arena is always subjected to politics， academic opinions， and economic interests. The three times of Huang Binhong“being” discovered， political， academic， and economic factors all play an important role that can not be ignored. The generalist and independent quality of Chinese scholar-artists marks the difference between the Chinese and the Western art field. First, Bourdieu’s“loser wins” phenomenon would be seen by scholar-artists such Huang Binhong as rooted in cultural logic rather than in economic logic in the West. Second, with the development of occupational specialization in modern China， the generalist quality of scholar-artists tends to give in to more specific professional identities such as“painter”. Nevertheless, scholar-artists， with the help of unique intermediaries，continue to exert their influence on the Chinese modern art in a two-way interaction with the art field.

The Triple Worlds of the Bird’s Nest Trade： Value， Materiality and Production of the Chinese of the South China Sea Region

YU Xin

2021, 41(3):  103-142. 

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The bird’s nest trade on the South China Sea was the product and embodiment of three interacting and integrating processes， representing three different but related world-systems of the late Chinese empire and its influence sphere， the European-centered industrial capitalist world-system, and the Chinese dominated trading network of the South China Sea. The demand for bird’s nests originated from the ontology and world logic of Chinese civilization, whereas the historical formation of the bird’s nest trading network rose from the expansion of the European-centric world system along the southern borders of the late Chinese empire. Its practical operation relied on the social organization of the Nanyang（the South China Sea） Chinese businessmen， immigration patterns and historical development. Currently， the bird’s nest trade and consumption are operated in accordance with the logic of industrialization and the materiality as understood and embodied by Hong Kong bird’s nest trade merchants. In this sense， bird’s nest trade is not only a product of the empires， but also a commodity of the world system， and at the same time， a representation of the historical experience and ongoing activities of the Nanyang Chinese. This study treats the bird’s nest trade as a merging process of multiple worlds from different centers and an integration between material and non-material elements of different production processes. Human production activities are both the result and cause of history.

Occupational Characteristics and Its Effect on Gender Earnings Gap

YANG Yichun, XIE Yu

2021, 41(3):  143-176. 

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Previous research has shown that occupational characteristics holds important explanatory power on the earning gap between men and women in China’s labor force. However， it remains unclear as to through what mechanisms occupational characteristics actually contribute to the earning gender gap. Some studies lack a detailed occupational classification system， whereas others only consider sex composition of each occupation but overlook the role of occupational skills and working conditions. Further more，existing studies also neglect the regional differences in the effects of occupational characteristics. This study addresses these shortcomings. We construct a series of occupational characteristics indicators using the data from the Chinese census in 2010 and O*Net occupational database from the United States. We then combine the occupation -based data with individual workers’ data from China Family Panel Studies（CFPS） in 2010 and conduct a systematic analysis of the mechanisms of occupational characteristics on the earning gender gap. Our study finds that the gender effect on income after controlling a series of occupational characteristics is basically the same as the gender effect obtained by controlling 193 specific occupation types.The Oaxaca decomposition shows that sex composition within occupations as well as gendered occupational skills are the two important mechanisms for occupational characteristics to influence the earning gender gap, while the sex difference in working environment cannot be used to explain the gender income gap. In addition, our analysis confirms the heterogeneity in income returns for occupational characteristics in regions with different levels of economic development.

Tiao-Kuai Mobility of Top University Administrators in Beijing （1978-2018）：An Application of the Vacancy Chain Model

LI Lan, YAN Fengqiao

2021, 41(3):  177-212. 

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This study traces the career trajectories of 2 546 top administrators at 77 public universities in Beijing between 1978 and 2018. The data is analyzed by applying the vacancy chain model as well as the log-linear model to explore the personnel mobility of top administrative positions at universities which are affiliated to different ministries and local government （referred to as Tiao-Kuai， with Tiao indicating vertical lines of authority from top down and Kuai indicating horizontal levels of authority of the territorial government）， and the personnel mobility between the universities and other governmental organizations. Chinese public universities are structured under a stratified system of ministerial and provincial level universities. The structural characteristics and trends of personnel mobility of these different positions are compared. The study finds that the vacancy chain of top administrative positions at Beijing public universities is relatively short， indicating that exchanges of personnels between universities and government offices are quite frequent. However， top university administrators normally only move around within the universities belonging to the same ministry（Tiao）， or universities affiliated to the local government （Kuai）. Exceptions are rare. It is also noticed that the personnel mobility among the universities under the Ministry of Education is lower than that of the universities under the Beijing municipal government or other government ministries. Nearly half of the presidents and Party secretaries at Beijing public universities are appointed from people within the same university （insiders）. The rest are from superior administration， or other universities belonging to the same government offices. For the universities affiliated to the Ministry of Education， 40% of top administrators are insiders，and the rest 60% are recruited from different backgrounds. For the other ministerial universities， nearly half of top administrators are insiders，and about one quarter are from within the same ministry. For the Beijing municipal universities，30% of top leaders are insiders and one quarter come from other municipal universities. Due to the changes in the government cadre management rules and in the higher education administrative system， the patterns of Tiao-Kuai mobility and the mobility between universities and other government organizations do vary from time to time.

Cash Subsidy or Childcare Service？An Analysis of the Fertility Effect of European Family Policy

ZHU Hui, LU Jiehua

2021, 41(3):  213-240. 

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From the 2009-2014 OECD Household Expenditure Database and the 2014 European Social Survey Database，this study generates a new set of integrated macro and micro data（non-longitudinal）. A multi-level binomial regression model is applied to explore the impact of macro-family policies on micro-fertility decision-making in fifteen European countries. Our research emphasizes the importance of theoretical perspective and focuses on the specific policy measures that are related to the two distinctively different policy values of “family-oriented” and “de-family-oriented”. The empirical results find that the“de-family-oriented” childcare services have a significant positive impact on the birth decisions of European families，while the“family-oriented” cash subsidies have not produced the expected significant effect. This study further examines the differential impact of family policies on different groups of people，focusing on the effects of gender，age，education，and income. The results reveal that couples of younger age or higher incomes are most affected on birth decisions by childcare services. This study also verifies the robustness of the data and introduces into the model additional variables such as the allocation ratio of childcare services and cash subsidies，their proportion in GDP，and paid leave. It reveals that childcare services and paid maternity leave form a policy synergy in promoting family reproductive decision-making to a certain extent. This suggests that the effectiveness of European family policy for promoting fertility lies on the changes in service delivery of childcare，rather than on direct cash subsidy. There is a policy implication for China’s future family policy. Our future emphasis should be placed on the institutional design and resource investment in infant and child care services.