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    One-Sided Demands or Mutual Needs? Combination of Needs and Parent-Child Choices in Inter-Generational Cohabitation
    TAO Tao, ZHONG Yuqi, HUANG Jingyi
    Chinese Journal of Sociology    2022, 42 (6): 214-240.  
    Abstract2604)   HTML89)    PDF(pc) (2222KB)(763)       Save
    Changes in family living arrangements have accompanied China’s transition to modernization. The aim of this study is to explore the choice mechanism driven by the needs of both parents and children behind the seemingly homogeneous inter-generational cohabitation of different families. Based on the data from the 2018 China Elderly Longitudinal Social Survey, this study delves into the need and choice mechanisms of elderly parents and adult children living together, explores the heterogeneity in inter-generational cohabitation and the inter- generational interactions under ever changing inter-generational relationships. It further analyses the two dimensions of gender and birth order of adult children in different types of inter-generational cohabitation. The results show that, in terms of intergenerational co-living needs, cooperative cohabitation occupies the primary position in China, followed by nurturing cohabitation based on pure offspring needs, and then supportive cohabitation based on pure parental needs. The proportion of alienated cohabitation in which both generations are not in need is the least. The main theme of inter-generational cohabitation in China today is a shift in the centre of gravity and a strong emphasis on reciprocity. There are differences in the logic of inter-generational reciprocity between urban and rural areas. Rural parents place more emphasis on economic needs while urban parents place more emphasis on living needs. The demand of children in both rural and urban is led by housing needs. In terms of inter-generational cohabitation mechanisms, sons are still the preferred choice for inter-generational cohabitation. However, daughters are more likely to take on the responsibility of supporting parents, especially in rural area. Younger siblings in rural areas are more likely to enjoy help from their parents in inter-generational cohabitation and are also more likely to take on the responsibility of supporting parents. In short, change and continuity have always presented in Chinese society, and tradition and modernity are both rooted in Chinese family life.
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    Window of Time and Trauma of Time: The Temporal Effect of Left-Behind Experience on Subjective Well-Being
    LIU Zhijun, YANG Shuai, WANG Yan
    Chinese Journal of Sociology    2022, 42 (6): 188-213.  
    Abstract2535)   HTML82)    PDF(pc) (2532KB)(731)       Save
    Existing studies have mainly focused on the current and short-or medium-term effects of left-behind experience, but lacked sufficient attention to the long-term and time-window effects, as well as the repair of negative effects of the experience. From the perspective of life course, based on the 2018 China Labor Force Dynamics Survey(CLDS), this study analyzes the time effect of the childhood left- behind experience on the subjective well-being of adulthood in four aspects: cumulative length of left-behind, length after left-behind experience terminated, stages of being left-behind and different guardianship of left-behind. The results show that first, the experience of left-behind has a long-term negative impact on the subjective well-being of individuals, and shows a “double time effect”, that is, on the one hand, the longer the cumulative time of left-behind, the greater the negative impact in adulthood; on the other hand, the increase of the length of the post-left-behind period does not correspond to the increase of subjective well-being in adulthood. Second, the negative impact shows a reversed increasing characteristic of left-behind at age of junior middle school < at age of primary school < at age of preschool, indicating that the preschool stage is the“key window” affecting adulthood most critically. Third, regardless of the stage, single-parent and grandparent custody present negative impact on individuals with the former worse than the later. Finally, the propensity score matching method applied in the paper verifies the robustness of the impact of childhood left-behind experiences at all stages on individual subjective well-being in adulthood. This study confirms the enduring effects of childhood experiences on subjective well-being in adulthood, and reveals the duration effect, time window effect, and guardianship effect of childhood experiences.
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    Rebuilding Smiles: The Production of Knowledge-in-Practice in the Cleft Lip and Palate Treatment
    LIU Dan, HUANG Yingying
    Chinese Journal of Sociology    2022, 42 (6): 132-159.  
    Abstract2314)   HTML58)    PDF(pc) (2802KB)(506)       Save
    This study of practical medical sociology analyzes the process as well as specific aspects of practical knowledge production in the treatment of cleft lip and palate (CLP). Based on our fieldwork and in-depth interviews, this paper finds that as the meta-theme of cleft lip and palate treatment normalization is the goal to“create a normal face and reconstruct a normal life” for CLP patients. The sequential treatment method for cleft lip and palate in China, influenced by the western concepts, is a gradually localised “standard” treatment paradigm that stipulates the necessity of intervention in the socialization process of child development in addition to the treatment in order to rebuild normal life in the future. This normative therapeutic paradigm generates different aspects in the specific practice process. On the one hand, centering on facial reconstructive surgeries, Knowledge-in-Practice of CLP treatment aims to build normal faces for the patients. It facilitates two body techniques in situated medical treatment - nursing massage and language therapy. These two techniques jointly shape the patients’ visible body and functional body and thereby “normalise” patients. On the other hand, as the treatment progresses and CLP children grow, the goal of“reconstructing a normal life” becomes prominent in the intervention. It embodies the other aspect of knowledge- in-Practice of CLP treatment: “normal life” means to follow the development trajectories of ordinary children but also explore the bodily values of individuals with CLP. It encourages CLP children to cultivate individual specialties and win peer competitions in order to copy with the strong uncertainty of the future of CLP individuals. During the processes of routinizing treatment into everyday life and medicalizing parenting practice, the application of normative medical knowledge extends from medical settings to social life, and medical knowledge transforms into socialized knowledge as well. This paper attempts to bridge the gap between medical knowledge and practice, and between biology and society. It reevaluates the multi-dimensional, dynamic and value-related therapeutic practice so as to reflect on the action logic of each subject behind the treatment and the process of knowledge production. Finally, it enriches the empirical research on“marginalized bodies” from the perspective of medical sociology.
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    Funeral Xiangsheng and the Operation of Social Relationship Among the Civilians in Beijing and Tianjin in the Period of the Republic of China
    LI Xiaodong
    Chinese Journal of Sociology    2022, 42 (6): 160-187.  
    Abstract2140)   HTML48)    PDF(pc) (3018KB)(409)       Save
    With the increase of urban population mobility in modern China, it is necessary to discuss in depth the changes in the operational mode of social relations that are based on the different patterns of association. During the period of the Republic of China, Beijing and Tianjin were the biggest cities in northern China, and the scale of population movement was large, resulting in fewer blood related relatives than strangers and outsiders in social relations among the people. At the same time, under the influence of Manchus’ lifestyle, the urban culture of Beijing and Tianjin still attached great importance to the ritual gradation based on blood relation, manifested in stipulating everyone’s status and behavior standards in accordance with blood relation ethics. By analyzing funeral crosswalks (Xiangsheng) that reflected the urban culture of Beijing and Tianjin of the period, this paper argues that due to the dominant presence of migrant population, the pressure of family opinions gave way to the more tolerant community public opinions. Facing the shortage of blood relatives to carry out the normative procedure of ritual gradation, people began to embrace outsiders and strangers into the core circle of differentiated association of their mourning system. In this process, the operational logic of social relationship relied on “the distinction between righteousness and gains”, reflected as “friendship” and “taking advantage”. In the absence of blood relatives, the“friendship” based on“righteousness” enabled outsiders and strangers to enter the core circle of the differential mode of association, while “taking advantage” meant not only the pursuit of self-interest, but also the process where in the outsiders and strangers could adjust their positions appropriate to the differential mode of association.
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    Dialect Distance and Peer Effect of Crime among Urban Migrants:An Empirical Analysis Based on Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Dongguan
    ZHANG Ping, XU Zhewei
    Chinese Journal of Sociology    2022, 42 (5): 181-206.  
    Abstract1970)   HTML109)    PDF(pc) (3133KB)(638)       Save
    In the process of rapid urbanization, the unprecedented population movement brings about regional cultural collision, driving economic growth while profoundly affecting social harmony. Based on the public data of the China Judgments Online, the Dictionary of Chinese Dialects, and the 2017 China Migrants Dynamics Survey, this paper takes Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Dongguan, three cities with a net inflow of over 10 million people, as examples for empirical analysis. By choosing dialect distance as a proxy variable of cultural differences, we investigate how it affects the hometown gang criminal behavior of the urban migrant population. The empirical results show that there is a significant positive correlation between dialect distance and hometown gang crime among the migrant population. For each additional unit of dialect distance, the likelihood of migrants choosing hometown fellows as accomplices in crime increases by 8.3%. Mechanism analysis shows that the peer effect formed by dialect distance is a main factor for the increase of gang crime among migrants. Under the same conditions, the greater the migration distance, the greater the cultural gap between the migrants and the local population. Specific to social networks, it is reflected that migrants tend to trust members of the hometown group rather than the locals, which leads relatively closed clusters of community, enforcing the peer effect and increasing the possibility of participating in gang crimes. From the perspective of dialect distance, this study quantifies the impact of cultural conflicts on the harmony and stability of urban society in the process of urbanization, enriches the theoretical exploration of culture influences on migrant crime and its governance, and has certain implications for promoting a new type of people-oriented urbanization.
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    Ethical Life without Virtue: Hegel on the Ideal of Modern Society
    CHEN Tao
    Chinese Journal of Sociology    2022, 42 (5): 95-123.  
    Abstract1799)   HTML53)    PDF(pc) (3057KB)(541)       Save
    Hegel’s concept of “Sittlichkeit” can help us to clarify the ideal of modern society and the challenge it poses to traditional ethical practices. By comparing it with the ancient concept of “” (ethos), we are able to see the dynamics and ideas of modern society. In Aristotle, “” constitutes a way of life that is constructed by means of customs, laws, and polity to shape human desires and appetites. Laws, institutions and customs are never self-sufficient and complete for the ethical space between natural virtues and intellectual virtues. They are fundamentally depended on human virtues. In contrast, in Hegel’s “Sittlichkeit”, modern ethical life is able to incorporate our various desires into system as “activities” by means of complete and rational laws and institutions. In principle, modern men do not need to be highly virtuous to pacify and transform their desires and win the recognition of others and freedom. By simply obeying laws and institutions, this could be achieved. However, while modern society can offer us economic, social and political independence and freedom, it cannot provide us with a place to live that is a truly comparable to a home. What we need to think is that whether we have other possibilities besides the rationalization and perfection of laws and institutions. For us, a nation with a strong ethical tradition, the future still depends on whether we can find and revive those ethical traits from our own tradition to steer rationalised laws and institutions to create a communal life worthy of desire.
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    Long-Term Employment Trajectories of Chinese Women after Their First Childbirth: A Sequence Analysis
    YANG Yichun, YU Jia, XIE Yu
    Chinese Journal of Sociology    2023, 43 (5): 167-203.  
    Abstract540)   HTML94)    PDF(pc) (3418KB)(574)       Save
    Women's post-maternal employment status is an important factor contributing to gender inequality in labor market. Previous research mainly considered employment as a static and single event, lacking a dynamic life course perspective. Using the 2014 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) data, this study applies sequence analysis for the first time to depict a period of twenty-one years of non-agricultural working women's employment trajectories before and after their first childbirth. We divide the sample born between 1940s to 1970s into different birth cohorts to cover three stages of labor market transformations in China:the early days of the PRC, the early stage of market reform and the mature stage of market reform. Results show six typical trajectories of women's post-maternal employment in China. They are:long-term regular employment (55.06%), early return to employment (8.69%), late return to employment (3.98%), self-employment or from employment to self-employment (19.78%), long-term unemployed (8.07%), and long-term informal employment (4.42%). Different employment trajectories reflect clearly the heterogeneity of female group characteristics. Our results also show that with the social changes, the complexity and diversity of Chinese women's employment trajectories have increased significantly, showing that more women frequently switch between multiple employment status. It can be seen from the trajectories of different cohorts that the proportion of women who are able to maintain full-time employment has significantly decreased, while the proportion of self-employed, part-time and non-employment trajectories have increased noticeably. In addition, human capital, institutional patronage, and shared childcare responsibility have significant positive effect on women's full-time employment. Nevertheless, with China's marketization, the protection provided by these factors have substantially weakened over cohorts.
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    Wufu and Sandai: Gender and Family Name in the Light of Changes of Marriage Prohibition in China's Marriage Laws
    ZHAO Xiaoli
    Chinese Journal of Sociology    2023, 43 (5): 87-111.  
    Abstract408)   HTML45)    PDF(pc) (2257KB)(265)       Save
    Since the late Qing Dynasty, the scope of prohibited marriage in China's marriage law has undergone a change from wufu (five grades of mourning) to sandai(three generations). Since the Zhou Dynasty, traditional Chinese society had adhered to the Zhou etiquette of "no marriage between members of the same clan". Marriage between cousins(except paternal parallel cousins) had been left to the discretion of the family and not prohibited by law. In 1930, in accordance with the principle of equality between men and women, the kinship section of the Republic of China Civil Code changed the classification of traditional Chinese kinships of internal relatives and extermal relatives to Western-style blood relatives and in-laws, thus introduced a problem of whether or not clan members outside of the wufu circle and cousins within three generations could marry each other. This paper points out these contradictions and conflicts by examining the contradiction between the principle of freedom of marriage under the 1950 Marriage Law and the common practice of "no marriage between members of the same clan", and the conflict between eugenic policy and freedom of marriage in the 1980 Marriage Law. The root of these contradictions is the fact that Chinese kinship and Western kingship classifications are incompatible. Chinese kinship categorization is based on the social "clan surnames" system rather than the biological "sex" system, and the traditional social practice of no marriage within the same clan and marriage between cousins (except paternal parallel cousins) is due to the kinship system's emphasis on internal relations over external ones rather than on male over female preference. Nowadays, with the abolition of change of surnames for women after marriage, the traditionally external (e.g. maternal) relatives can now be regarded as internal relatives, the "no marriage within the same clan" can be applied to both clans. The eugenic reason for prohibiting marriage of collateral relatives within three generations and the etiquette reason for the no-marriage within the same clans can go hand in hand now because eugenics serves the continuation of the clan.
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    Post-Materialistic Values and Political Participation of Chinese Residents: Based on the Analysis of Generational Differences
    CHI Shangxin, SHI Yaodong, HUANG Jizhao
    Chinese Journal of Sociology    2023, 43 (5): 204-234.  
    Abstract403)   HTML54)    PDF(pc) (2921KB)(326)       Save
    Previous studies have shown that post-materialistic values have an important impact on public political participation of the public in Western countries, but there is a lack of research on its role on public political participation in China. Based on Chinese data from the World Values Survey(WVS2018), this paper investigates the impact of post-materialistic values on Chinese residents' political participation from the perspective of generational differences. The selected measurement options of post-materialistic values are assigned different weights and aggregated according to the priority order of goals. Political participation is operationalized into three main types:intra-system, extra-institutional, and online political participation. The generational differences are divided into four generational cohorts:initial construction, reform and opening-up, marketization, and the new century. The study found that:firstly, the score of the current post-materialistic values of Chinese residents is generally not high, but there is a clear generational difference-significantly higher for those who grew up after the reform and opening up, as well as an increasing trend as the generations move forward. Secondly, the generational effect of political participation varies in different aspects. The generations growing up after the reform and opening-up show a generational increasing trend in the political participation outside the system and online, but it is opposite in grassroots elections. Thirdly, post-materialistic values have no significant impact on grassroots election participation but have a significant contributing effect on online political participation and extra-institutional participation which shows an increasing trend with each generation. These findings hold true after robustness testing. Therefore, the study confirms that the changes in public values brought about by social development can be used as cultural variables to explain the extra-institutional and online political participation of contemporary Chinese residents. It also suggests that more attention should be paid to the younger generation in the guidance of values and orderly political participation of citizens.
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    A New Interpretation of Lenin's What Is To Be Done?: From the Perspective of Comparative Historical Sociology
    YING Xing
    Chinese Journal of Sociology    2023, 43 (5): 56-86.  
    Abstract384)   HTML45)    PDF(pc) (3303KB)(465)       Save
    Based on the perspective of comparative historical sociology and organizational sociology, this paper provides a new interpretation of Lenin's classic work on party building theory What Is To Be Done? by comparing the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party with the Russian revolutionary populists, and the Second International social democrats with the Chinese Communist Party. The paper first outlines the intellectual and political background of What Is To Be Done?, and then analyzes the similarities and differences of the "indoctrination" mechanism in Europe, Russia, and China, especially emphasizing the difference between "propaganda", "agitation", and "appeal". The discussion continues with a focus on three core organizational issues discussed in chapter four of What Is To Be Done? Through comparison with Weber's analysis of professional politicians, the paper explains Lenin's understanding of the importance of the organisation of professional revolutionaries, especially distinguishing the two meanings of "making revolution a profession". Through comparison with the CCP's work in the white areas, the author highlights the significance of Lenin's proposal to combine a solid organizational core with differentiated organizational circles, illustrated in a diagram outlining the differentiated organizational chart of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party. Through comparison with the Russian revolutionary populists and the Second International, the paper shows the origin and evolution of Lenin's thoughts on the conspiratorial and centralized nature of party organizations, with a focus on the connection between Lenin and Peter Tkachev on this idea. The author also analyzes the relationship between local and central authorities discussed by Lenin in his book. The author finally proposes some directions for further comparative extension, and points out the significance of moving from technical analysis to root cause political analysis in organization research in Chinese sociology.
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    The Constitution of Nomos-Harmonia Civilization: A Preliminary Exploration of a Social Theory of Nature-Culture
    WU Fei
    Chinese Journal of Sociology    2023, 43 (5): 1-21.  
    Abstract363)   HTML61)    PDF(pc) (1898KB)(393)       Save
    In this paper, the author argues that, in contrast to the city-state civilization of ancient Greece and the social civilization of the modern West, traditional China has formed a kind of nomos-harmonia civilization, and it is constituted through the theory of nature-culture(wenzhi lun). Zhi is nature and Wen is civilization. It sees culture as internal to nature, an expression of intrinsic essence of nature. Hence civilization origins from nature and cannot transcend, change or destroy nature. Whether it is nature-oriented or culture-oriented, it is fundamentally a kind of culture. How could such a theory constitute nomos-harmonia civilization? The author first discusses about ritual and ceremony, which are used to formulate human feelings. Then comes the nomos system referring to a variety of systems at the social and political level, and nevertheless its constituent principle is the same as ritual and ceremony. On this level of nomos, affection is nature, and order is culture. The collective life of human society is not artificial constitution, but has its foundation in nature. Some basic human relationships are natural, especially that of parents and offspring. Order is found in such a relationship, upon which human civilizations are established. Hence the state is not a necessary evil, or a social contract, or a violent machine, but a cultural transformation of a natural community. Like Western social theories, wenzhi lun (nature-culture theory) does not regard the state as the highest human institute, and hence it should be treated as a social theory. Also similar to the Greek political philosophy, wenzhi lun origins from and returns back to nature.
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    The Psychological Construction of “Stability”: A Historical Narrative of the Collective Identity and Mobility Trend of Middle-aged and Elderly Teachers in Rural Areas
    LI Caihong, ZHU Zhiyong
    Chinese Journal of Sociology    2023, 43 (5): 139-166.  
    Abstract292)   HTML26)    PDF(pc) (3346KB)(301)       Save
    This paper takes Wu Primary School, a former state-owned farm school in eastern Inner Mon golia, as a case study to explore the mobility trend of rural middle-aged and elderly teachers, its characteristics and causes during the time of rapid urbanization. The study attempts to gain a deep understanding of the life choices of this generation of teachers under multiple situations from the perspective of historical changes and regional development. The study found that after many years of hardship, middle-aged and elderly teachers on state-owned farms had derived a collective identity that included three elements:survival security identity, emotional identity and attachment, and professional efficacy and self-identity. This triadic identity was based on the cross-construction of institutional identity, legal identity, and professional identity, emerged in the historical process of market reform of farming, farming units, and education system of state-owned farms. Such a collective identity reflected the value tendency and emotional belonging of members in a close social community, with collective status as the carrier, integrating collective interest, consciousness and emotional connection. In the end, in a paradoxical way the triadic collective identity promoted the construction of a psychological mechanism with "stability" as the core for this group of middle-aged and elderly teachers, forming a collective preference of remaining in the countryside and characteristics of attachment, and therefore revealing another side of abnormality that has received little attention in the field of rural teacher mobility. With the ongoing urbanisation in China, this"stable" psychological mechanism has great significance in promoting and improving the professional development of rural teachers and the quality of rural education.
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    Chinese Journal of Sociology    2023, 43 (5): 235-240.  
    Abstract266)   HTML51)    PDF(pc) (619KB)(327)       Save
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    “Pricing” Injuries: Practice of Commensuration in Medical Injury Disputes
    ZHANG Long
    Chinese Journal of Sociology    2023, 43 (5): 112-138.  
    Abstract258)   HTML46)    PDF(pc) (2793KB)(299)       Save
    Existing studies on medical injury compensation often focus on institutional arrangement or financial outcomes. They are lack of sufficient attention to the micro-social processes that determine compensations, especially the tension between the different kinds of losses and the quantitative outcomes of resolution. Based on the fieldwork in a dispute resolution department of a public city hospital in northern China, this study presents the comprehensive medical injury compensation "pricing" processes under different channels. The paper argues that the crucial parts in medical injury disputes inevitably involve commensuration, a social process by which different factors are being quantified onto the same scale. By introducing the concept of commensurative practice, this study depicts the formation of compensation amounts as an accumulative process of multiple micro-based commensurative practices. The study finds that the commensurative practices in medical injury disputes are usually unfolded in three dimensions:value (integration of values), cognitive (simplification of information) and technical (accuracy of measurement). There are two factors affecting specific ways of commensuration that can cause dimensional shifts. On one hand, the less institutionalized the interaction context, the more prominent the value dimension in the commensurative practice, while the more institutionalized interaction context most likely results in more cognitive and technical commensuraition. On the other hand, the more directly commensurative practices target the "incommensurable" or "not easily commensurable" attributes, the more prominent the dimension of value commensuration, while the attributes of what is considered "commensurable" or "easily commensurable" are more often accompanied by cognitive and technical commensuration. The main focus of this study is to present as well as compare commensurative practices of "incommensurables" under the channels of different institutionalisation.
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    Centralized State yet Decentralized Governance: On Gu Yanwu's Mixed System Theory
    CAO Zhenghan
    Chinese Journal of Sociology    2023, 43 (5): 22-55.  
    Abstract210)   HTML29)    PDF(pc) (3127KB)(262)       Save
    In his book Discourse on Junxian, Gu Yanwu proposed a famous reform theory that introduced the principle of feudal autonomy within the framework of a centralized state, forming a hybrid system of "embedding the spirit of feudalism (fengjian) in the structure of prefectures and counties (junxian)". Contemporary scholars generally view this mixed system theory as a theory of the relationship between central and local governments or as a theory of local decentralization or "local autonomy", with the aim of achieving a balance between centralization and decentralization. However, there has been insufficient discussion on the meaning of centralization and decentralization in this mixed system theory, as well as the ways and conditions to achieve a balance between the two.
    This article argues that Gu Yanwu's mixed system theory is not only a theory of the relationship between central and local governments, nor is it just a theory of local decentralization, it is also a theory that deals with the relationship between "centralized state" and "governance", especially the contradiction between the two. The core idea of this theory can be summarized as "centralized state yet decentralized governance". The purpose of this article is to demonstrate this viewpoint and further explore the underlying meaning and source of the principle of "centralized state yet decentralized governance", as well as its implementation mechanisms and institutional conditions.
    This article points out that the principle of "centralized state yet decentralized governance" is reflected to some extent in the traditional governance system and practices in Chinese history, and is also implicitly presented in the reform thoughts in the 1980s in China. This means that the development of historical China and the modernization transformation of contemporary China are, to some extent, unfolding in the process of exploring and dealing with the contradiction between "centralized state" and "governance". Therefore, Gu Yanwu's mixed system theory and its underlying principle still have theoretical significance for China's exploration of the path to modernization.
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