Market Reforms, Global Linkages, and (Dis) continuity in Post-Socialist China
Market Reforms, Global Linkages, and (Dis) continuity in Post-Socialist China
This chapter outlines the specific socio-cultural context of contemporary China at the beginning of the 21st century. To set the stage for the rest of the text, the chapter discusses the reforms of the post-Mao period, the history of the urban–rural divide perpetuated by the hukou (household registration system), and the phenomenon of rural-to-urban migration. Though in the mid-1980s rural peasants had engaged in non-farm work, particularly in township and village enterprises (TVEs) as the urban-and eastern-centered economic reforms progressed and as the old apparatuses of state control were broken down, more and more rural residents were compelled to “leave the land.” The chapter emphasizes how shifting ideologies related to gender, class, and place play a pivotal role in shaping rural women's experience, during both the Mao-era planned economy and China's reform-era embrace of markets and global capitalism.
Keywords: contemporary China, post-Mao period, urban–rural divide, hukou, household registration system, rural-to-urban migration, gender, class, rural women's experience
NYU Press Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
