Book Introduction : Willy Wo-Lap Lam , Editor
Whilst the Chinese Communist Party is one of the most powerful political institutions in the world, it is also one of the least understood, due to the party’s secrecy and tight control over the archives, the press and the Internet. Having governed the People’s Republic of China for nearly 70 years though, much interest remains into how this quintessentially Leninist party governs one-fifth of the world and runs the world’s second-largest economy.
The Routledge Handbook of the Chinese Communist Party gives a comprehensive and multi-faceted picture of the party’s traditions and values – as well as its efforts to stay relevant in the twenty-first century. It uses a wealth of contemporary data and qualitative analysis to explore the intriguing relationship between the party on the one hand, and the government, the legal and judicial establishment and the armed forces, on the other. Tracing the influence of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, as well as Mao Zedong, on contemporary leaders ranging from Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin to Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping, the sections cover:
• the party’s history and traditions;
• how the party works and seeks to remain relevant;
• major policy arenas;
• the CCP in the twenty-first century.
The Routledge Handbook of the Chinese Communist Party will be of interest to students and scholars of Chinese Politics, Asian Politics, Political Parties and International Relations.
Overview and Introduction
1. The Agenda of Xi Jinping: Is the Chinese Communist Party Capable of Thorough Reforms? Willy Wo-Lap Lam
History and Traditions
2.The Legacy of Mao Zedong Yiu-Chung Wong and Willy Wo-Lap Lam
3. The CCP’s Exploitation of Confucianism and Legalism Delia Lin
4. The CCP’s Use and Abuse of Nationalism Edward Friedman
How the Party Works and Stays Relevant
5. The Party Runs the Show: How the CCP Controls the State and Towers over the Government, Legislature and Judiciary Jean-Pierre Cabestan
6. The Role of Party Congresses Guoguang Wu
7. The PLA as the Lifeline of the Party Ka Po Ng
8. Factional Politics in the Party-State Apparatus Bo Zhiyue
9. Evolution of the Party since 1976: Ideological and Functional Adoptions Joseph Yu-shek Cheng
10. The CCP’s Meritocratic Cadre System Akio Takahara
11. "The New (Old) Normal": the CCP Propaganda System under Jiang, Hu, and Xi Anne-Marie Brady
Major Policy Arenas
12. How the Party-State Runs the Economy: A Model of Elite Decision-Making in the Financial Market Victor Shih
13. Implementing Tax Reform and Rural Reconstruction in China: A Case Study of the CCP’s Agrarian Policy Chiew-Siang Bryan Ho
14. The Party’s Policy Toward Labor Bill Taylor
15. Reform, Repression, Co-Optation: The CCP’s Policy Toward Intellectuals Jean-Philippe Béja
16. The Party and the Law Eva Pils
17. Two Steps Forward, One Backward: the CCP’s Policy toward Women Marina Thorborg
18. Public Policy and LGBT People and Activism in Mainland China Elaine Jeffreys
19. The CCP’s Tibet Policy: Stability through Coercion and Development Tsering Topgyal
20. The Party-State’s Nationalist Strategy to Control the Uyghur: Silenced Voices Dru C. Gladney
The CCP in the Twenty-First Century
21. The Future of the Chinese Communist Party Kerry Brown and Konstantinos Tsimonis
22. Changing Patterns of Chinese Civil Society: Comparing the Hu-Wen and the Xi Jinping Eras Chloé Froissart
23. Can the Internet and Social Media Change the Party? David Bandurski
24. China and the World: From the Chinese Dream to the Chinese World Order Simon Shen
Dr Willy Lam teaches Chinese politics, political economy, and foreign policy at the Center for China Studies, the History Department, and the Master’s Program on Global Political Economy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is a former China writer and editor at the South China Morning Post and CNN. Lam has published seven books including Chinese Politics in the Hu Jintao Era (Routledge, 2006), and Chinese Politics in the Era of Xi Jinping (Routledge, 2015). He is a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, a foreign-policy think tank in Washington DC. His works have been translated into Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
"Up-to-date analyses, encyclopedic in scope, by some of the world's leading authorities."
"The Routledge Handbook of the Chinese Communist Party is an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to understand how China is governed and how its political system has evolved over the past seven decades. Willy Wo-Lap Lam has assembled an unrivalled group of China scholars and produced one of the most illuminating volumes on contemporary China."
"In this edited collection, veteran China specialist Willy Lam has assembled a diverse group of authors who dissect the various elements and instruments in CCP rule. Taken together, they offer a fairly comprehensive examination of the Chinese Communist Party's evolution over time and approaches to different sectors of society. The section on 'how the party works' is particularly valuable. All China watchers will find value in this volume."
"As usual, the deeply perceptive Willy Lam provides what is almost certainly the best guide to the current state of China, the problems with which her leaders must grapple most importantly."