Tokioka Room (Moore 319)
November 30th, 1999
3:00 pm
China is more than a socialist market economy led by ever more reform-minded leaders. It is a country whose people seek liberty on a daily basis. Their success has been phenomenal, despite the fact that China continues to be governed by a single party. Clear distinctions between the people and the government are emerging, underlining the fact that true liberalization cannot be imposed from above. Although a large percentage of the Chinese people have been part of China's long march to freedom, in the beginning farmers, entrepreneurs, migrants, Chinese gays, sex pleasure seekers, and black-marketers played a particularly important role. Lawyers, scholars, journalists, and rights activists have jumped in more recently to ensure that liberalization continues. Social dissatisfaction with the government is now published in the media, addressed in public forums, and deliberated in courtrooms. Intellectuals devoted to improvement in human rights and continued liberalization are part of the process. This grassroots social revolution has also resulted from the explosion of information available to ordinary people (especially via the Internet) and far-reaching international influences. All have fundamentally altered key elements of the moral and material content of China's party-state regime and society at large. This social revolution is moving China towards a more liberal society despite its government. The Chinese government reacts, rather than leads, in this transformative process.
Kate Xiao Zhou was born in Wuhan, China. She received her B.A. in English from Wuhan University, an M.S. in Sociology from Texas A&M University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University. She is now an associate professor of comparative politics and political economy of East Asia in the Department of Political Science at the UHM. Her main research interests include the dynamics of transition from central planning to markets, Chinese economic development, Chinese business, globalization in East Asia, comparative studies of businesses and Asian entrepreneurship. She is the author of two important books about China: How the Farmers Changed China: Power of the People and China's Long March to Freedom: Grassroots Modernization. Prof. Zhou founded a non-profit organization, Education Advancement Fund International (EAFI) (www.yifei.org), in 2002, which has as its goal helping to improve rural and minority education in China. EAFI won first place in the 'Social Entrepreneurship' category of the 'Templeton Freedom Prize for Excellence in Promoting Liberty' in 2006.
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