SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL

VOLUME 31 . NUMBER 3 . SEPTEMBER 1977 605 THIRD AVENUE . NEW YORK, N.Y. 10016

The Relevance of China's Development Experience for Other Developing Countries

THE PAPERS PRESENTED at a Council conference on the relevance of China's development experience for the other developing countries 1 provide the beginning of an attempt to integrate the study of China's economic de· velopment experience within the mainstream of Western analyses of economic development throughout the Third World. The papers, of course, are only a beginning: organized within the constraints of a conference format with individual topics assigned to individual authors, they leave many gaps. Nonetheless, they were com mis-

• The author. who organized and chaired the conference described in this article. is professor of economics and a member of the Center for Chinese Studies. University of Michiga~. He is a member of the Subcommittee on Research on the Chinese E~onomy of the Joint Committee on Contemporary China of the Council altd the American Council of Learned Societies. which sponsored ' the conference. In ad­dition to Mr. Dernberger. the participants at this conference were John Bresnan. Ford Foundation; HoUis B. Chenery. World Bank; Audrey Donnithorne. The Australian National University; Alexander Eckstein. University of Michigan; Albert Feuenverker. Unh-ersity of Michigan; John G. Gurley. Stanford University; Teh-wei Hu. Pennsyl­vania State University; Shigeru Ishikawa. Hitotsubashi University; James Kilpatrick. WaShington. D.C.; Nicholas R. Lardy. Yale Uni­versity; Dwight H. Perkins. Han-ard University; Thomas G. Rawski. University of Toronto; Carl Riskin. Queens College. City University of New York; Michael Roemer. Harvard University; Charles 'Robert Roll. Jr .• The Rand Corporation (Santa Monica. California); Peter Schran. University of Illinois; Dudley Seers, University of Sussex; Amartya Sen, London School of Economics; Subramanian Swamy, Member of Parlia­ment, India; Peter C. Timmer, Stanford University; Benjamin 'Vard, UniversilY of California, Berkeley: Thomas E. Weisskopf, Unh'ersity of Michigan: and Kung-chia Yeh, The Rand Corporation (Santa Monica, California): staff, Patrick G. Maddox.

The conference was held on January 31 through February 2, 1976. and was supported by funds made available by the Ford Foundation for the program of the Joint Committee on Contemporary China. The papers prepared for the conference are being edited by its chairman for publication. A concluding chapter to be written by the editor, based

by Robert F. Dernberger ""

sioned in the firm belief that, given the present state of our knowledge, the combined and focused efforts of economic development specialists and scholars who spe­cialize in research on China's economy would lea<!- to a more meaningful contribution than could be produced by a single researcher from within either of these two groups.

Any attempt to understand the relevance of China's experience to the development problems of the other

partly on the material in the preceding chapters, will directly address the question implied in the title of the conference. This article is based on excerpts from the introduction to the forthcoming conference vol­ume: space limitations restrict its content almost entirely to those sections which summarize the content of the papers presented at the conference.

1 The original title of the conference was "The Lessons of China's Development Experience for the Developing Countries." One accom­plishment of the conference was to convince the editor of the need to appreciate the successes, needs, and objeclives of other developing countries, which the bias of his own research interests and the accom­plishments of China's economic development experience had made obscure, before reaching any conclusions as to who should and/or could learn what from whom. Hence, the new title.

CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE

25 The Relerance of China's Development Ex­perience for Other Developing Countries­Robert F. Dernberger

34 The Study of South Asian Conceptual Systems -StanleJ J- Heginbotham

36 Fellowships and Grants

37 New Publications

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developing countries can best begin with the specifica­tion of the development problems shared by those coun­tries, the types of programs they have implemented in the attempt to solve those problems, and the success they have achieved in their solution. The first session of the conference was devoted to two aspects of that attempt to achieve such a specification.

A single indicator of economic development

In his paper on "Economic Development: Objectives and Obstacles," Amartya Sen holds that the most com­monly used indicators for quantifying economic devel­opment in the developing countries-the level and ra~e of growth of per capita GNP-fail to reflect the baSIC objectives of economic development. Furthermore, they have corrupted our view of the economic development process so as to cause us to lose sight of the more. im!'or­tant obstacles to the achievem!!nt of those obJectives. Sen argues that these objectives should be derived from the common interests and aspirations of the people of the Third World. He recognizes that many of the basic objectives he identifies are difficult to quantify, but .he suggests a means of tying together in a single success In­

dicator those related to the size, distribution, and ex­pected duration of per capita income, the prevalence of poverty, and the frequency of disasters.

A single indicator such as that suggested by Sen ob­viously allows for a more meaningful comparison of economic growth among the countries of the Third World, including China, than an "unadjusted" measure of growth in per capita GNP. More important-because it is much more indicative of the true objectives of eco­nomic development-Sen's proposed success indicator makes more evident the obstacles to the achievement of those objectives. These include the traditional obstacles which have been identified in the existing literature on economic development. Sen's proposed success indicator also draws attention to what he believes is the obstacle that is central to the problem of economic development in the Third World: the need for the resolution of con­flicts among the different interest groups within these societies.

Thus, Sen's redefinition of the objectives of economic development so as to make them common to all the developing countries, his suggested means for measur­ing the achievement of those objectives so as to allow for a more meaningful comparison of the results both among countries and within a single country over time, and his identification of the major obstacle to the achievement of those objectives all identify the social

26

and political structure as one of the most important variables in the development process. Furthermore, each of these three modifications in the traditional analysis of this process-objectives, measurement, .and obst~c1~s -improves the prospect for the incorporatIOn of C?ma s development experience into a framework that IS .an­alytically comparable with that of other developmg countries.

The examples of India, Pakistan, and Indonesia Thomas E. Weisskopf's "Patterns of Economic Devel­

opment in India, Pakistan, and Indonesia," turns di­rectly to an examination of the empirical record of the results of development efforts in an attempt to deter­mine the extent to which non-Chinese approaches have been successful in achieving their objectives. Weisskopf also seeks to explain the differences among the results of the development efforts of these three countries. Al­though he does not explicitly compare the rec~rd ~f these countries with that of China, that companson IS implicit in his discussion because of the success indi­cators presented and the record of the particular coun­tries he selects as representative of the non-Chinese ap-proach. .

To explain the difference between the results achIeved by these countries as a whole and by China, W~issko.pf points to the significant differences between theIr. socIal and political structures and the absence of revolutlOnary changes in the non-Chinese Asian countries after World War II. Weisskopf also describes other characteristics which the three non-Chinese Asian countries share. All three-again unlike China-are former colonies that gained their independence following World War II and all have a mixed capitalist economic system with exten­sive rights of private property. Although they have en­countered different problems and achieved different de­grees of success in the development of national integra­tion and parliamentary democracy, they also share co~­mon political institutions. Finally, all three countnes contain considerable ethnic heterogeneity. Given these common characteristics, Weisskopf believes, as did Myrdal in his study of the countries of South Asia,2 that any differences in the results of their development .efforts can be traced to differences in their social, economIC, and political institutions and policies.

Weisskopf selects several different and separate te~ts for measuring the success of the development efforts m these three countries: the growth of total, sectoral, and per capita output; quantitative measures of food con-

2 Gunnar Myrda1. A.sian Drama (New York: Pantheon. 1968).

VOLUME 31, NUMBER 3

sumption and of expenditures for health and educational services; the distribution of income and level of unem­ployment; measures of the extent of self-reliance; and the extent to which these countries have been successful in extending the scope of democratic processes and in­dividual civil liberties. No attempt is made to give weights to these various measures or to combine them into a single index or success indicator, as suggested by Sen. Quantitative measures for the last success indicator, of course, depend on the intuitive and subjective judg­ments of the author, but the empirical evidence for the other indicators does bear out Weisskopf's argument that, for the period as a whole, the results for all three countries are remarkably similar. They are also rather disappointing.

When broken down into two subperiods, however, significant differences become readily discernable. In terms of growth rates, India's record is similar in both the 1950s and the 1960s, but-compared to India's rec­ord-Pakistan has a poorer record in the pre-Ayub Kahn period and better in the Ayub Kahn period. Similarly, Indonesia's record is poorer in the pre-Suharto period, better in the Suharto period. By organizing the evidence according to these periods, Weisskopf again emphasizes differences in social and political environments as pos­sible explanations for differences in the results.

Recognizing the relatively small size of his sample and the possibility of alternative explanations, Weisskopf draws the following conclusions:

(I) Higher growth rates in the nonrevolutionary so­cieties are directly related to "authoritarian" govern­ments which assign a high priority to growth among the various objectives of development. .

(2) Compared with the more "democratic" regimes, these "authoritarian" governments have a greater prefer­ence for liberal, i.e., free-market and internationalist, as against interventionist, economic policies.

(3) These policies lead to higher growth rates because higher growth rates in the nonrevolutionary societies are directly related to capital inflows.

According to Weisskopf, these conclusions are mu­tually interdependent and the concluding arguments in his paper make it clear that his analyses suggest a fourth hypothesis. The growth records of the "authoritarian" nonrevolutionary regimes in his sample are only favor­able when compared to the democratic regimes in the sample; they are poorer than those of China. Further­more, this relatively favorable record applies to growth rates alone; the record of the other success indicators in the "authoritarian" nonrevolutionary regimes is as poor as that of their more "democratic" counterparts. This

SEPTEMBER 1977

leads to a fjfth tentative hypothesis, which questions the long-run viability of "democratic" capitalism inasmuch as it would appear, because of its absence in the countries examined by Weisskopf, that a revolutionary transforma­tion of the social and political structures in these coun­tries is a prerequisite for the realization of many of the social or nonquantitative objectives of economic de­velopment.

Soviet and Chinese models

Weisskopf's arguments emphasize how and why dif­ferences in social and political environments may ex­plain differences in economic performance both among the countries of the non-Communist Third World and between these countries and China. Much more obvious and direct in its effect on the economic results obtained is a country's economic system. Any attempt to explain differences in China's economic performance over the past 25 years, compared with that of the other develop­ing countries, must begin with an account of the eco­nomic institutions and policies which make up China's economic system, i.e., the Chinese model. This is the purpose of "The Chinese Approach to Economic Devel­opment," by Benjamin Ward.

In the 1950s, the Chinese readily admitted the ex­tent to which they were borrowing Soviet economic in­stitutions and administrative procedures and China's economic system was considered to be another example of a Soviet-type economy. Chinese publicity concerning the unique and indigenous innovations being made in their economic system after the 1950s led Western spe­cialists and observers to flesh out the major features of what was considered to be a new or alternative Chinese economic system or model. Ward believes we should reconsider our judgments concerning those develop­ments in China's economic system after the 1950s and he argues, despite some important unique Chinese modi­fications, that China's economic system and development policies continue to exemplify, or are at least close relatives of, a Soviet-type economy. Ward believes this categorization of China's economic system is an appro­priate means for distinguishing and highlighting the major differences between China and most other devel­oping countries.

The term "Soviet-type economy" is used by Ward as an abstraction of the important common features of the economic institutions and policies in at least seven other communist countries. Ward believes there are four fundamental economic, institutional, and policy char­acteristics which are shared by each of these countries

27

and which are the essential conditions for being classi­field as a Soviet-type economy: (1) nationalization of the means of production in industry; (2) the collectiviza­tion of agriculture; (3) the mobilization of the state and population by means of a Leninist party; and (4) a "big push" industrialization effort as a central economic policy objective. China's economic system over the past two decades has continuously met these four qualifica­tions.

To support this conclusion, Ward devotes the major portion of his discussion to an examination of the funda­mental and analytically meaningful differences between Soviet-type economies and the capitalist economies in regard to "big push" growth strategies, autarkic develop­ment policies, egalitarianism, collectivized agriculture, and the use of teleological instruments for obtaining economic growth. Ward presents arguments to show the considerable extent to which China's experience is similar to that of the other Soviet-type economies.

Based largely on what we have learned from our· analy­ses of how the Soviet-type economic system works, Ward concludes his paper with an evaluation of the possibility of transferring China's development experience to the other developing countries and a discussion· of the pos­sible long-run effects of the Soviet-type economic system on China's economic development. The question of the feasibility of a socialist revolution in the nonsocialist countries is set aside for others to investigate and his evaluation of the possibilities for transferring China's development experience to the other developing coun­tries is based on his analysis of the forces favoring such a transfer. Ward believes that the presently developing countries have much larger populations, much higher rates of population growth, and much more severe prob­lems of poverty than the presently developed countries had at a similar stage in their development. This situa­tion causes the developing countries to seek deliberate solutions to their development problems, including the possibility of adopting alternative economic systems. In this regard, the Soviet-type economic system has a dis­tinct comparative advantage over the traditional capi­talist model when its high costs and risks are compared to the control over the development process maintained by the government and the government's ability to adopt appropriate policies to achieve high priority objec­tives and ameliorate the worst social effects of rapid economic growth. Furthermore, the material results achieved in the developing countries thus far would also appear to favor a Soviet-type economy. These arguments, "Vard believes, provide a very strong appeal for the spread of a Soviet-type economic system to the other

28

developing countries. More important, Ward also be­lieves that the Chinese variant of the Soviet-type econ­omy model may be of even greater interest to these other developing countries because the Chinese have modified the model to avoid some of its undesirable and costly shortcomings and to meet their particular needs.

Against these arguments for the comparative advan­tages of the Soviet-type economy in the short-run, de­velopments in the socialist economies over the past decade or so and in China during the past few years lead Ward to question its long-run viability for the at­tainment of both the economic and social goals of so­cialism. On the one hand, the Soviet-type economies have a tendency to remain relatively isolated from the rapid pace of scientific and technological developments in the rest of the world, presenting them in the long­run with a serious constraint on their continued rapid economic growth. On the other hand, economic growth depends on modern technology, regardless of its source, and the workings of the "technological imperatives," according to Ward, appear to be eroding many of the social objectives of the Soviet-type economies.

ReasoDs for the Chinese success

The presentation and evaluation of the empirical estimates of developmen t efforts in China since 1949 is the subject of "The Central Features of China's Eco­nomic Development," by Dwight H. Perkins. Before examining the empirical record, Perkins presents a brief survey of several aspects of China's economic system which differentiate it from the other developing coun­tries. Compared to Ward's discussion, which stresses the similarities between China and the Soviet-type econo­mies, Perkins' emphasizes several of the important adaptations the Chinese have made in the model of the Soviet-type economy to meet China's particular needs and objectives: the extensive limits to the private sector, the Chinese system of planning, and the extent to which the Chinese have been able to use their system of plan­ning relatively effectively and efficiently in controlling production.

As for the available estimates of China's economic performance, Perkins admits that the adoption of dif­ferent assumptions and methodologies in making these estimates has led to considerable disagreements and de­bates. Fortunately, he does not survey the various ale ternative estimates and the methodological debates they have created, choosing instead to use the available data reported by the Chinese themselves which, although limited in quantity, have been shown to be relatively

VOLUME 31, NUMBER 3

reliable.s Perkins uses these data to support his identi­fication and analysis of five major areas in which the Chinese have been significantly more successful than other developing countries in achieving the objectives of economic development: (1) the rate of growth in both total and per capita output; (2) the rate of investment and changes in the sectoral composition of total output; (3) the high rate of resource mobilization; (4) the more equitable distribution of income; and (5) the limitation of dependence on external financing and foreign trade.

Perkins does not believe the important question is whether China, in a statistical sense, did better or worse than the other developing countries. Rather, before we can draw any conclusions about the relevance or trans­ferability of China's development experience to these other countries, it is necessary to know why China did as well as it did. Thus, in the final section of his paper, Perkins presents those factors he believes responsible for China's distinctive and comparatively successful record. None of these factors, it is important to note, is characteristic of the economic system. In other words, the comparative success China has had in using its eco­nomic system to obtain the objectives of economic de­velopment is to be explained not as a consequence of the attributes essential to the Chinese economic system or model itself, but as consequences of special historical, political, and economic features of China's environment which may be very difficult to replicate in the other de­veloping countries.

China's socialist revolution, according to Perkins, is distinguishable from most others because those who hold top-level positions, especially those in the party, have abandoned neither their belief that the base of their support comes from the rural poor nor their ef­forts to insure that the rural poor will benefit from China's economic development and will remain the locus of power at the local level in the countryside. The party's continued representation and concern for the interests of the rural poor, i.e., "putting the poor in command," is a necessary explanation for many of the distinctive features of China's economic develop­ment, such as the relatively successful and smooth transi­tion to collectivized agriculture, rationing, and nation­alized industry and commerce, and its ability to mobilize labor for large-scale projects in rural areas. Many of

8 This conclusion is given very strong support by the papers pre­sented at another conference sponsored by the Subcommittee on Re­search on the Chinese Economy. devoted to an evaluation of the methodological debates involved in alternative estimates of China's economic performance: the research conference on quantitative mea­sures for China's economic output, organized and chaired by Alexander Eckstein and held in Washington, D.C., in 1975.

SEPTEMBER 1977

China's development programs, however, did not in­volve obvious short-run benefits for the poor and, in some cases, even ran counter to their interests. Perkins attributes the success of these latter programs to China's tradition of "effective authoritarianism," a tradition which also helps explain its ability to carry out very large-scale and complex economic programs.

Having carried out a revolution which "put the poor in command" in a country with a rich tradition of "effi­cient authoritarianism" obviously provided the new Chinese leadership with many advantages not found in the other developing countries. However, the size of China's economy and its particular resource endowment, i.e., a large population and a scarce supply of cultivable land, placed serious constraints on its development pol­icy options. According to Perkins, the leadership's nec­essary reactions to these economic constraints were a much more important determinant of China's autarkic development policy than the ideologically determined policy preferences of the leaders themselves.

The topics of the previous four papers are very broad in scope and the discussion of those subjects was, of necessity, restricted to rather broad generalizations and arguments which synthesized the variety of development experiences in the developing countries and in China. The papers presented at the third session of the confer­ence examined in greater detail particular aspects of China's development experience which have been widely acclaimed as indicators of China's unique and comparative success in economic development. Each of the papers in the third session was chosen because the quantification of these success indicators is not readily obtained, either because of the paucity of available data or because these objectives are qualitative, not quanti­tative, in nature.

Income equality

Studies of development in other countries have con­cluded not only that economic growth in these countries failed to eliminate poverty but also that growth has led to a growing inequality in the size distribu­tion of personal incomes, at least until per capita in­come reaches a relatively high level. The evidence for China's contrary record in this respect, however, is based on impressionistic, intuitive judgments, inasmuch as estimates for the size distribution of personal incomes are not available.

In "Regional Growth and Income Distribution: The Chinese Experience," Nicholas R. Lardy admits the

29

impossibility of obtaining direct evidence for the size distribution of personal income. He believes that the indirect evidence available does support Chinese claims for a reduction in the inequality of income dis­tribution. The major portion of his analysis, however, is devoted to showing how the leadership has used the fiscal and planning system to redistribute investment and social service expenditures in favor of the poorer provinces.

Using estimates for provincial per capita net value added in agriculture and industry and calculating pop­ulation weighted coefficients of variation, Lardy shows that regional, i.e., provincial, inequality in China in the 1950s was quite high-even higher than · in other countries often cited as having serious so-called "north­south" problems. Lardy also shows that the extent of regional inequality has been gradually, but steadily, reduced over the past two decades. Inasmuch as there is evidence for a direct correlation between a growing regional inequality and a growing inequality in the size distribution of personal incomes in the other developing countries, Lardy believes that the evidence for a growing regional equality in China can be used as a first approxi­mation of a growing equality in the size distribution of personal incomes.

Furthermore, this more equitable distribution of re­gional income is the direct result of the leadership's ac­tive pursuit of this objective. Lardy's detailed analysis shows that even after the decentralization reforms of 1957, the central government retained considerable control over both the fiscal system and the planning system and he explains how the leadership has used this control to achieve a significant geographical redis­tribution of resources. He also shows how the leadership has used this power to redistribute resources in favor of the poorer provinces and how this reallocation has resulted in a continuous reduction in the regional in­equality of per capita industrial production.

Lardy's arguments also shed light on the question of the transferability of what China has achieved to the other developing countries. Inasmuch as these other countries do not have fiscal systems which facilitate the regional redistribution of investment funds, it would be difficult for them to replicate China's experience. Furthermore, because of the much higher incremental, capital-output ratios in the poorer regions of these coun­tries, as well as in China, Lardy believes they are unlikely to want to follow China's policy of achieving a more equitable distribution of income by means of a redistri­bution of investment because of the high costs, in terms of economic growth, of this policy.

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Technical and managerial skills

Whereas Lardy emphasizes the role of physical capi­tal accumulation and its redistribution as a major ex­planatory variable in China's record of both national and regional economic growth, "Choice of Technology and Technological Innovation in China's Economic De­velopment," by Thomas G. Rawski, puts the emphasis on China's inherited stock of technical skills in 1949 and the development of those skills by means of learn­ing by doing after 1949. Rawski defines technical skills very broadly; much more importance is given to man­agement and administrative skills than to engineering techniques used in production. According to Rawski, both types of skills are acquired by experience, i.e., in learning by doing, rather than through formal educa­tion or from capital investment.

Rich in illustrative examples from Chinese sources which support his arguments, Rawski's paper first pre­sents a chronological review of China's economic de­velopment since 1949 to show the importance and dif­ferent sources of technological skills during different time periods. According to Rawski, an indication of the extent to which the Chinese had developed these skills before 1949, especially in a few large, coastal, urban centers of industrial activity, is the achievement of sig­nificant rates of industrial development and their grow­ing ability both to compete with foreigners in a variety of markets and to adapt to sudden shifts in demand in the pre-1949 period. Despite this inheritance, the indus­trialization program adopted by the Chinese in the 1949-57 period relied on the large-scale, capital-inten­sive Soviet aid projects and on the wholesale borrowing of Soviet planning and operations procedures.

In their operation of these plants, the Chinese de­veloped technical skills by means of learning by doing. Yet, the obvious and well-known problems of Soviet planning and operations procedures and the lack of sufficient new supplies of skilled workers and adminis­trative personnel to operate these plants and overcome these problems resulted in a relatively poor production performance. In part, it was their inability to operate the Soviet aid projects efficiently that led the Chinese to switch their emphasis to a reliance on their own cap­abilities and methods for achieving rapid increases in in­dustrial production in the Great Leap Forward of 1958. Unfortunately, the excessive and unrealistic output tar­gets and the abandonment of rational standards and operating procedures placed too great a demand on the supply of critical technological skills 'that had been ac­cumulated over the preceding years. These factors led,

VOLUME 31, NUMBER 3

in part, to the failure of the Great Leap Forward cam­paign. The agricultural crises and the withdrawal of Soviet technical assistance at the end of the 1950s also contributed to the serious economic collapse which brought a breakdown in planning and operating pro­cedures.

The agricultural crises created the need for sizable imports of foodstuffs, which, with the contraction of China's export capacity, seriously restricted China's imports of producers' goods and technology; a situa­tion which, according to Rawski, forced the Chinese to adopt a self-sufficient industrial development policy and to rely upon the accumulated stock and future develop­ment of their own human technical skills. This post-1960 approach to industrialization included an emphasis on a new set of priorities: the reestablishment of central control over the allocation of resources, the restoration of authority and responsibility in the operation of in­dustrial enterprises to those who had the necessary pro­fessional and technical skills, and the priority given to such goals as innovation and cost and quality control, i.e., an emphasis on qualitative rather than on quantita­tive production targets. Despite the impact of the Cul­tural Revolution in the mid-1960s, Rawski believes these policies have remained essential characteristics of China's industrialization effort ever since. He also be­lieves that the successful record of China's industrial growth after 1960 shows clearly that the accumulated stock and continued development, based on learning by doing, of human technical skills has enabled industry to respond to the serious problems and demands of the 1960s with remarkable flexibility and innovation. Fur­thermore, the indigenous industrial production and technological base that has now been established should provide significant potential for the continued growth and technological development of China's industry in the future.

Following this chronological review, Rawski analyzes each type of industrial enterprise which makes up China's industrial base and whose integration and cooperation will be the source of this continued growth and techno­logical development in industry. The Soviet-aid projects have provided a significant share of the expansion of output in a wide variety of producers' goods and will remain the core of China's modern, large-scale, indus­trial base. Although selected on the basis of rather vaguely defined anticipations of future output needs, these plants did provide for considerable import sub­stitution at significant savings in costs. Given the level and supply of human technical skills, however, large scale and capital intensity have made it difficult for the

SEPTEMBER 1977

Chinese to run these plants efficiently. These plants also lack flexibility and have proven difficult to adapt for the purpose of meeting changes in demands resulting from China's rapid growth and changing priorities.

The medium and small-scale industrial plants in the traditional urban industrial centers received limited investments, imports, and technical assistance during the 1950s, but came into their own in the 1960s by taking the forefront in the solution of the many problems created by changes in demand. Rawski argues that there is no single technology which is the appropriate choice for successful industrial growth.

The small-scale rural industrial plant is one of the most publicized aspects of China's contemporary indus­trial development. Rawski agrees with many other ob­servers that the technology used in these plants repli­cates that used in the now developed countries at an earlier stage in their development. Although these plants are more labor intensive than their technology would seem to require, they employ standard machinery and equipment which is provided by the other industrial sectors in China or is produced by these plants them­selves. The low capital costs and short gestation period of these plants, their utilization of local resources, their limited pressure on the overburdened transportation network, and their ability to solve local supply bottle­necks make their contribution to China's economic development, especially in agriculture, of considerable importance. Compared with this short-run contribution to the supply of industrial products in the countryside, Rawski believes these plants greatest contribution may be their long-run contribution to the supply of human technical skills. These rural, small-scale industries have introduced a process of skill acquisition and innovation based on learning by doing on a very broad scale in rural China-in fact, on a scale unparalleled in any other country in the Third World.

Taking issue with Alexander Gerschenkron's hypoth­esis that the "late comer" nation can accelerate economic development because of its ability to borrow technology already developed by the developed countri~s, Rawski argues that the developing countries must rely on the development of their own human technical skills, not only to absorb and utilize the foreign technology effec­tively, but also to adapt and develop technology to meet their own particular and ever-changing needs. The short-run costs of import substitution and learning by doing involved in China's policy of self-sufficient indus­trial development must therefore be compared with the outward shift in the technical capabilities frontier in China's economy which has been a result of this policy.

lH

The health care delivery system

There have been considerable gains in the achieve­ment of another objective of economic development: the provision of health care services to a large segment of the population. In "Health Care Services in China's Economic Development," Teh-wei Hu provides a de­tailed analysis of the organization of China's health care delivery system and of how these services are distributed and financed. A major feature of this analysis is the many points at which it serves as a correction for the erroneous, but very widespread, image of China'~ health care delivery system held in the West.

China's health care system embodies a remarkable degree of local autonomy, with most of the major tasks for the supply and financing of health care services as­signed to the local unit of which the recipient of these services is a member. Thus, there is a significant diver­sity in health care delivery among the different local units, both in the extent to which these services are available and in the extent to which their costs are borne by the recipient.

The shortage of trained personnel and medical sup­plies, equipment, and facilities and the significantly unequal distribution in favor of the urban areas of what is available, led the Chinese leadership, under tremen­dous pressure from Mao, to initiate several programs in the mid-1960s to reduce these inequalities. Hu cites and briefly examines three of these programs: the reas­signment of urban medical personnel to work in the rural areas, the integration of traditional medicine and doctors with their nontraditional counterparts to in­crease the supply and reduce the cost of health care services, and the creation of medical colleges at most major hospitals and a reduction in the length of the curriculum to increase the supply of professional per­sonnel.

Despite these policies, and given China's large rural population, the number of professional medical per­sonnel per capita is still very low and its distribution still greatly favors the urban population. A redistribu­tion of manpower, although significant, would not be enough to open the gates to health care for the bulk of the rural population. As Hu shows, it was the pro­gram of providing barefoot doctors and public health workers, i.e., paramedics, to work at the local level which accomplished this objective. This was made pos­sible only by placing the financial burden for their training and employment on the local unit and not on the state's unified budget. Not all local units have health stations or barefoot doctors. Nonetheless, Hu's estimate for the total number of barefoot doctors and

32

public health workers would support Chinese claims of having two or three barefoot doctors for each agri­cultural production brigade and one public health worker for each agricultural production team. He cites reports to the effect that 95 per cent of all illnesses in China are common illnesses, capable of being cured by paramedics; reports illustrating how paramedics have contributed to the public health of local units; and reports of declining death rates as indications that these paramedics have undoubtedly been effective in provid­ing public health services. So much so, in fact, that the major causes of death in China are now more com­parable to those in the developed countries than to those in the developing countries.

Although all health personnel are part of the socialist sector, i.e., they are not in private practice, Hu points out that China does not have socialized medicine, if by that is meant health insurance for the entire population. Only about three-fourths of China's rural communes have a cooperative, mostly voluntary, medical insurance program with widely varying fees paid by the individual households. Inasmuch as the costs of the local health care delivery system are borne by the local unit and its mem­bers, the availability of these services is related to the wealth and level of income of the local unit.

As is true in the redistribution of income and in the development of technological capabilities, it is very difficult to estimate or quantify the success of China's efforts to provide health care services to the population. Based on a very small sample of reports in the Chinese press on conditions in a few communes, Hu estimates the rural health care delivery system may have led to a net increase in labor effort in agriculture by as much as five million man years or by two per cent of the total value of agricultural production. Hu believes, how­ever, that the real benefits are on the consumption side: the increased satisfaction of the peasants and the role of the health care system in the redistribution of income in favor of the rural areas.

As was argued in the case of income redistribution, Hu argues that the possibility of transferring China's health care delivery system to the other developing countries is doubtful because of the many important differences in China's economic and political system and the system of incentives which is an integral part of the health care delivery system.

Linkages hetween the economic system and other systems

It would be possible to analyze several other success indicators, but the analyses of these three alone serves

VOLUME 31, NUMBER 3

to make clear the importance of China's contemporary economic and political system, its resource endowment. and its traditional social system in explaining its par­ticular and comparatively successful record of economic growth after 1949.4 To examine further the question of the extent to which the post-1949 economic development experience is imbedded in the Chinese environment, "Characteristics of the Chinese Economic Model Specific to the Chinese Environment," by Albert Feuerwerker, identifies and analyzes the "complementarities" over the past 25 years between various aspects of the Chinese eco­nomic model and underlying factors in the rest of the social system.

Feuerwerker makes clear that his analysis is not de­terministic and that he is not interested in the original sources of these underlying factors. He also does not relate his analysis of these factors, which exert an impact on the Chinese economic model of development, to the question of the possibility of transferring that model to the other developing countries. 'While he agrees that any of these particular linkages between the economy and the rest of the social system may be found to exist in one or more of the other developing countries, i.e. , they are not unique to China, he argues that the inter­relationships among the linkages he identifies and an­alyzes is unique to China's experience-which makes the replication of that experience in the other develop­ing countries problematical at best.

The analysis by Feuerwerker of the various linkages between the economy and the rest of China's social system stresses the extent to which its development experience ' is embedded in the Chinese geographical, historical, cultural, social, and political environment. The specific linkages he examines are the complemen­tarities between the Chinese economic model (i.e., its development policies and strategies), and the natural environment, the political system, the value system, the social system (narrowly defined), and the external world. Providing several illustrations to support his

'A fourth paper. devoted to an analysis of a frequently cited suc­cess indicator of post-1949 China's economic development effort. was " Population Control in China" l>y Charles Robert Roll. Jr. Roll's analysis concentrates on the question of rural-urban migration. Al­though he recognizes the extensive institutional controls and policies the leadership has implemented to control rural-url>an migration. i.e .• the movement of labor is not free. Roll adopts the Todaro model-a model of migration developed to explain rural-urban migration in economies with free markets and free labor mobility-to identify the economic determinants of the pressures for rural-urban migration in China. On the bases of the lack of jobs in the cities. the more equi­table distribution of income. and his own estimates which show that the average income differential between the two sectors is relatively small. Roll argues that the relatively low rate of rural-urban migra­tion in China can be explained by these factors rather than by govern­ment controls.

SEPTEMBER 1977

argument, Feuerwerker concludes that its development policies and strategies have been dictated more by the need to meet the specific realities of China's physical and resource environment (surplus labor and scarce cultivatable land) than by the leadership's ideological preferences.

Given these important and pressing constraints on this model of economic development, Feuerwerker then analyzes the linkages between the model and the politi­cal system, arguing that one essential feature of the Chinese model is the precedence of political values and objectives over narrowly defined economic objectives: "putting politics in command." The Chinese strategy of development involves considerable institutional change, which in turn involves (1) political develop­ment to create a national outlook and replace traditional values and (2) institutional changes to mobilize and util­izeactual and potential economic surpluses. Feuerwerker also argues that this model of economic development­in which political objectives often take precedence and may even be at the expense of short-run increases in economic olltput-was a necessary, rational, and effec­tive strategy. Mao and the Thoughts of Mao obviously played a crucial role in the effort to "put politics in com­mand" of China's economic development. Confucianism has not been destroyed by the Chinese Revolution in the 19th and 20th centuries, i.e., it has not been a funda­mental social revolution, and the deep hold of Confu­cianism on the Chinese people has had to be replaced by a new commitment to Mao and Maoism if the changes in institutions and values, which were an essential part of the Chinese model of development, were to take root.

In its attempt to "put politics in command," es­pecially its attempt to transform the consciousness of the people, the leadership has been able to draw upon traditions in the Chinese value system. Feuerwerker argues that the contemporary Maoist belief in the mal­leability of man is a Marxist import, or is Mao's rein­interpretation of Marx, not a traditional Confucian concept. On the other hand, the state did have the tra­ditional role of shaping the value content of man's consciousness by establishing what is to be taught and learned. Thus, the post-1949 leadership was better able to utilize the educational system for the sole purpose of teaching skills required for development and Maoist values for changing the superstructure.

Unlike that of most other developing societies, China's premodern society had many traits and values conducive to economic growth, especially the social system itself, narrowly defined. The traditional social system had ac­cumulated considerable experience with complex or­ganizations. Furthermore, unlike that in most other

33

developing countries (Myrdal's "'soft" states), the tra­ditional social system was not destroyed by the Chinese Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries and the foreign expansion into Asia brought with it no signifi­cant disruption of the traditional village social struc­ture. Thus, the new leadership was able to replace the traditional elite classes in the local areas and introduce such programs as cooperative agriculture on the basis of the natural social units of the past-units that were highly disciplined and integrated.

The final linkage examined by Feuerwerker is that between the Chinese economy and the external world, a linkage which serves as a constraint on China's eco­nomic development strategy. 'While a social revolution was not an important ingredient in the Chinese Revolu­tion, modern Chinese nationalism was, and anti-impe­rialism is an imperative for any legitimate leader in modern China. Although the Chinese were forced to rely on the transfer of Soviet goods and technical advice in the 1950s, this large-scale presence and face-to-face encounter with foreigners came to an end abruptly in 1960. A policy of isolating the Chinese from these face-to-face encounters with foreigners has been in force ever since. Technology is obtained from abroad, but by importing goods and books, not people. Although the motivation for this policy is to isolate the con­sciousness of the Chinese population from the perni­cious effects of foreigners, it has also reduced the need to admit dependence on the foreigner. Equally impor­tant, however, the experiences of the Chinese during the 1950s made them realize the extent to which many characteristics of foreign models of economic develop­ment were integrated with those foreign environments and, therefore, were not transferable to China.

Conclusions

Three general themes emerged in the papers presented at the conference:

(1) Since 1949, the Chinese have achieved a distinc­tive and comparatively favorable record of economic development;

(2) That record is strongly influenced by and inte­grated with particular characteristics of the Chinese environment; the entire Chinese social system, includ­ing its political system; China's geography and resource endowment; and China's historical evolution; and

(3) Because of this interdependency, the direct trans­fer of China's development experience to the other developing countries is not possible.

The first two conclusions are derived from the explicit discussions of these subjects in the papers presented at the conference; the last conclusion and analysis is a logical deduction presented as a comment or intuitive judgment by the various authors. This topic was not investigated in any detail in any of the papers.5 Accord­ingly, the editor of the conference volume is preparing a concluding chapter which will directly address the question of "the transferability of the Chinese model."

o 5 John G. Gurley examined several aspects of the question in a

very interesting paper, "Is the Chinese Model Diffusible?" Gurley first presented a theory of cultural diffusion and went on to argue that transferability depends on the similarity of modes of production. The remaining sections of Gurley's discussion present a somewhat idealized model of China's post·1949 model of economic development and the possibility of transferring this model , with or without a revolution. He concludes that the transfer of the Chinese model is more likely to happen with a revolution. Gurley has published his paper as the final chapter in his book, China's EconolllY and the Maoist Strategy (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1976).

The Study of South Asian Conceptual Systems

THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON SOUTH ASIA has embarked upon an enterprise that creates unusual opportunities for integrating regional and general social science issues. A recent article in Items 1 describes the beginnings of this venture, noting the committee's focus on a general

• The author. who serves with the Congressional Research Service, Librar)" of Congress. is chairman of the Joint Committee on South Asia. The other members of the committee are Marc Galanter, Eugene F. Irschick. McKim ;\Iarriott, Michelle n. McAlpin, Barbara D. Metcalf, Karl H . Potter, and A. K. Ramanujan; staff, David L. Szanton.

1 David L. Szanton , "South and Southeast Asia : New Concerns of the Council," Items 30:2 Oune 1976), pages 13-17.

34

by Stanley J. Heginbothamf<

intellectual approach involving the exploration of as­pects of South Asian conceptual systems, "i.e., the tools or frames of thought, or the structures of ideas, which define, order, and create meaning in individual and social perceptions in South Asia." These comments update this earlier report and describe some of the specific activities the Joint Committee has undertaken in pursuit of its goals.

One of the critical functions of area studies is to chal­lenge the theoretical formulations of social scientists with data that raise questions about the value, adequacy,

VOLUME 31, NUMBER 3

and precision of those formulations. This can be done­and distressingly often is-from a perspective of intol­erance. It can also be done, however, from an aware­ness of the important contributions that comparatively­informed social science disciplines and vigorous area studies traditions can make to each other when they are in effective contact and maintain a creative balance and tension.

In its deliberations during 1975 and 1976, the com­mittee identified a number of areas in which social science insights, when applied to situations in South Asia, were either insufficiently precise to be of great value or led to faulty approaches and inferences. For example, several members were concerned that, in its reliance on assumptions about profit-maximizing be­havior, much conventional economic analysis fails to give adequate weight to a pervasive and economically rational concern among South Asian agriculturalists for maintaining minimal security. The argument is not that South Asian farmers are other-wordly and disinterested in profit, but rather that they are likely to pursue risk­taking, profit-maximizing behavior only when minimal security is first assured-often through social and poli­tical institutions that function, in effect, as insurance mechanisms. In some sense, such a proviso might apply to Western farmers as well. However, the great fluctua­tions in productivity from year to year, largely the re­sult of highly variable monsoons, and the proximity to bare subsistence levels at which South Asian agricul­turalists must operate, mean that the proviso is far more salient in shaping the behavior of South Asian farmers. Minimal security concerns-assurance that one's family will have adequate food to avoid severe malnutrition or starvation-rarely impinge on farm decision making in the West.

The committee's focus on South Asian perceptions of the world reflects a concern that social scientists, in form­ulating and utilizing analytic categories, logical link­ages, and models, keep in mind that the people of the region often think in very different categories, use very different logical linkages, and assume distinctive models of human behavior. It further reflects the view that these categories, logical linkages, and models ·have significant influences on behavior.

As suggested by the reference to social and political insurance mechanisms above, the committee's interests start with, but go well beyond, conceptual systems. It is in fact concerned with the broad range of condi­tions and circumstances in the subcontinent that con­tribute to the creation and development of distinctive social, economic, political, religious, and cultural in­stitutions.

SEPTEMBER 1977

The effort is to join disciplinary and regional studies insights for an improved understanding of the region, but the individual members of the committee vary greatly in their approaches. Some work with historical records of the 18th and 19th century; others with pri­mary field data, early South Asian religious texts, or art forms such as folk tales. Some members find it most pro­ductive to begin their explorations from the perspective of a specific South Asian concept; others use Western or disciplinary categories to define the scope of their en­quiries. Some focus on conceptions that individuals have and proceed to determine how they mayor may not influence behavior; others concentrate on behavior patterns and consider conceptual systems as possible sources of explanation for that behavior.

Although tied together by a common interest in South Asian conceptual systems, the diverse approaches of the committee members are reflected in the form and sub­stance of the several workshop and seminar projects now under way:

• One project, on political authority, draws on histori­cal data to examine changing concepts, structures, and linkages of authority at the village and regional level.

• Another project will explore means of improving the collection and analysis of South Asian folklore, with the aim of increasing the amount of useful cultural material that can be extracted from such data.

• A project on South Asian concepts of the person, drawing on a variety of source materials, has direct im­plications both for how South Asians experience their own lives and for the nature of interpersonal relations in the region.

• In a related project, the concept of karma, the mechanisms by which it operates, and the situations in which it is employed are being explored in both histori­cal and contemporary South Asia.

• The committee's concern with South Asian re­sponses to risk and uncertainty has led to a project ex­amining the role and interaction of economic and social institutions, e.g., marriage practices, migration patterns, religious institutions, in providing relative security to the region's farm families.

• The range of issues in economic behavior and in­stitutions deserving scholarly attention goes well beyond the project on risk and uncertainty. The committee is therefore exploring the possibility of creating a special subcommittee on the South Asian political economy. A three-day planning meeting in June 1977 brought to­gether historians, economists, anthropologists, and poli­tical scientists from South Asia, the United Kingdom, and the United States to discuss issues for priority at-

35

tention. A consensus emerged to focus primarily on a range of questions surrounding microlevel decision making, and a charter for such a subcommittee is now being drafted.

Through these projects-which will involve work­shops, conferences, the commissioning of bibliographic essays, field research, and the sponsorship of edited volumes-the committee is attempting to encourage scholars to examine important understudied issues in

South Asian society and culture. Simultaneously, aware that there are many important research topics well be­yond the bounds of these issues, the committee is also maintaining its annual grants competition to assure the possibility of support for the widest possible range of proposals and perspectives. By carefully balancing the sponsored projects and the open grants competition the committee hopes to stimulate thoughtful new research at the juncture of disciplinary and regional studies. 0

Fellowships and Grants Listed here are the names, affiliations, and topics of

individuals who were awarded fellowships or grants by two joint Committees during the past few months. This listing completes the roster of recipients that was begun in the March/june 1977 issue of Items) pages 16-23.

The fellowship and grant programs of the Council and of the American Council of Learned Societies are supported by funds received from foundations and other funding agencies. The programs change somewhat every year, and scholars interested either in predoctoral fel­lowships for dissertation research abroad or postdoctoral grants for individual or collaborative research should write to either or both Councils for copies of the bro­chures that describe their 1977-78 fellowship and grants program. (Each Council publishes a brochure describ­ing the programs it administers.) The address of the American Council of Learned Societies is 345 East 46th Street, New York, New York 10017.

GRANTS FOR EAST EUROPEAN STUDIES

The joint Committee on Eastern Europe-sponsored jointly by the Council and the American Council of Learned Societies-has announced the awarding of post­doctoral grants to the following individuals:

Janet Byron, assistant professor of linguistics, Cleveland State University: The use of two standard dialects among the Albanians of Yugoslavia

Linda Degh, professor of folklore, Indiana University: The image of the Old Country: Ethnicity of Hungarian-Ameri­cans

Robert J. Donia, lecturer in Balkan and East European his­tory, University of Michigan: Nationalism in the South Slav lands

John O. Iatrides, professor of political science, Southern Connecticut State College: The United States and Greece, 1945-1955

Kenneth Jowitt, associate professor of political science, Uni­versity of California, Berkeley: Party domination and na­tional integration in Communist regimes

John J. Kulczycki, senior research fellow, Institute on East Central Europe, Columbia University: Polish emigration

36

in Western Germany and France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

Nicholas P. Lovrich, assistant professor of political science, DePauw University: Return to the homeland of Yugo­slav-Americans

David W. Paul, assistant professor of political science, Uni­versity of Washington: Social backgrounds to the devel­opment of Slovak politics, 1890-1914

Richard D. Portes, professor of economics, University of London: The macroeconomics of centrally planned econ­omies

Zdenek Salzmann, professor of anthropology, University of Massachusetts: Czech-speaking villages in the Southeastern Romanian Banat

Alexander Stephan, assistant professor of German, Univer­sity of California, Los Angeles: The impact of the "sci­entific and technical revolution" on GDR literature of the 1960's

David.T. Welsh. professor of Slavic languages and literatures, University of Michigan: The works of Juliusz Slowacki

Zdenko Zlatar. visiting assistant professor of history. Uni­versity of Illinois. Chicago Circle: Origins of Pan-Slavism. 1590-1640 .

Michael Zurowski. member. Institute of Historical Research, University of London : Origins of the Cold War: Britain and the climax of the Polish question

The following persons have been awarded grants for the study of East European languages: Albanian Cynthia Keesan, graduate student, Slavic linguistics, Uni­

versity of Michigan Leonard Newmark, professor of linguistics, University of

California, San Diego Bulga1'ian Mary E. McCormack, graduate student, Slavic languages,

Yale University Czech Michael Beckerman, graduate student, musicology, Colum­

bia University John P. Farrell, associate professor of economics, Oregon

State University r Carl S. Horne, graduate student, history, Indiana University Debra N. Oechsler, graduate student, Slavic languages,

Brown University Macedonian Kenneth Naylor, prof9sor of Slavic linguistics, Ohio State

University

VOLUME 31, NUMBER 3

Modem C"eek Theophilus C. P,rousis, graduate student, history, University

of Minnesota

Steven J. Broyde, assistant professor of Russian, Amherst College: The later poetry of Osip Mandelstam

Edythe C. Haber, visiting assistant professor of Russian, Brandeis University: The narrative prose of Mikhail Bulgakov

Polish Emily R. Klenin, assistant professor of Slavic languages,

Harvard University Elizabeth Henderson, assistant professor of Russian, Boston University: The political art of the Left Front, 1917-1930

Christopher D. Jones, assistant professor of political science, Marquette University: Soviet hegemony in East Europe

Aron J. Katsenelinboigen, visiting lecturer in economics, University of Pennsylvania: Vertical and horizontal mechanisms in the Soviet economy

James N. Roney, graduate student, Slavic languages, Ohio State University

Allen A. Terhaar, graduate student, agricultural economics, University of Wisconsin

Mary E. Theis, graduate student, comparative literature, University of Illinois

Romanian Theodore K. Haldeman, graduate student, Romance lin­

guistics, University of Michigan Serbo-Croatian

Diane P. Koenker, assistant professor of history, Temple University: The role of Moscow's urban working classes in the 1917 Revolution

Frank A. Dubinskas, graduate student, anthropology, Stan­ford University

Arno Liivak, professor of law, Rutgers University: The Estonian Workers Commune, 1917-1919

Michael P. Sacks, assistant professor of sociology, Trinity College: The influence of age, sex and nationality on labor force composition, 1939-1970 GRANTS FOR SOVIET STUDIES

The Joint Committee on Soviet Studies-sponsored jointly by the Council and the American Council of Learned Societies-has announced the awarding of post­doctoral grants to the following individuals:

Peter H. Solomon, Jr., associate professor of political econ­omy, University of Toronto: The politics of Soviet penal policy, 1925-1932

Dina R. Spechler, lecturer in political science, Tel Aviv University: The politics of permitted dissent

New Publications from Council activities and committee projects

~ina's Energy Policies and Resource Development, prepared by Thomas Fin­gar with the assistance of David Bachman. A report of a seminar held at Stanford University, June 2-3, 1976, cosponsored by the Joint Committee on Contemporary China and the Rockefeller Foundation.

This seminar was designed to bring to­gether individuals with different expertise but a common interest in China's energy and development policies and their do­mestic and international implications. The report suggests possible means by which scientists, engineers, social scien­tists, and representatives from government and industry might improve our under­standing of contemporary China.

The participants were Maylin Ditt­more, Lawrence Livermore Laboratories; Thomas Fingar, U.S.-China Relations Program, Stanford University; Richard Garwin. T. J. Watson Research Center, International Business Machines Corpo­ration; Randall Hardy, Federal Energy Administration; Lawrence Lau, Stanford

SEPTEMBER 1977

University, James Leckie, Stanford Uni­versity; John W. Lewis, Stanford Univer· sity; Victor H. Li. Stanford University; H. C. Ling, Hoover Institution; Sullivan Marsden, Stanford University; Necmettin Mungan, University of Calgary; Douglas P. Murray, U.S.-China Relations Pro­gram, Stanford University; James Nickum, San Jose State University; Robert C. North. Stanford University; Norman Pru­vost, Lawrence Livermore Laboratories; Bruce Reynolds. Union College; Vaclav Smil, University of Manitoba; Chauncey Starr, Electric Power Research Institute (Pa~o Alto); Richard P. Suttmeier, Hamil­ton College; Maurice Terman, Office of International Geography, U.S. Geological Survey; K. P. Wang, U.S. Bureau of Mines; Franklin Weinstein, U.S.-Japan Relations Project, Stanford University; Jan·Olaf WiIIums, Saga Petroleum AS 8c Co.; and Kim Woodard, Stanford University.

The report is available from the U.S.­China Relations Program, Building 160, Room 162-J, Stanford University, for $1.00.

j Current Status of East Asian Collections in American Libraries, 1974-75, by Tsuen-Hsuin Tsien. Product of a survey cosponsored by the Task Force on Li­braries and Research Materials of the Committee on Studies of Chinese Civiliza­tion (American Council of Learned Soci· eties), the Joint Committee on Contem· porary China (American Council of Learned Societies and Social Science Re­search Council), and the Committee on East Asian Libraries of the Association for Asian Studies. Published by and avail­able from the Center for Chinese Research Materials, Association of Research Li­braries, 1527 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. June 1976. 67 pages.

./ The City in Late Imperial China, edited by G. William Skinner. Papers from a conference sponsored by the Subcommit­tee on Research on Chinese Society of the Joint Committee on Contemporary China, August-September, 1968. Stanford Un i-

37

versity Press, 1977. 820 pages + xvii (in­cluding 35 maps and 22 plates). $35.00.

The 20 essays in this volume examine urban development in imperial China; the relationships between urban and rural Chinese society; and urban social struc­ture in late imperial China.

Against an historical setting going as far back as the first legendary Chou Dynasty city (1352 B.C.), the authors pro­vide both broad overviews and specific case studies of the evolution of Chinese cities through the end of the last imperial dynasty (1911). The cosmology of the Chinese city; the transformation of Nan­king, 1350-1400; cities and the hierarchy of local systems; the morphology of walled capitals; and the social structure of a 19th century Taiwanese walled city are a few examples of the breadth of this volume of interpretive essays.

In addition to the editor other con­tributors to the volume are: Hugh D. R. Baker, University of London; Sen-Dou Chang. University of Hawaii; Donald R. DeGlopper, Cornell University; Mark El­vin, Oxford University; Stephan Feucht­wang, City University, London; Peter J. Golas, University of Denver; Tilemann Grimm, Universit,. of Tiibingen; Harry J. Lamley, University of Hawaii; F. W. Mote, Princeton University; Kristofer M. Schipper, Ecole Pratique des Haute Etudes; Yoshinobu Shiba, Tokyo Univer­sity; G. William Skinner, Stanford Uni­versity; Sybille Van Der Sprenkel, Uni­versity of Leeds; John R. Watt, Windham College; Arthur F. Wright, Yale Univer­sity.

Japanese Language Studies in the United States. A report of the Subcommittee on Japanese Language Training Study of the Joint Committee on Japanese Studies of the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Socie­ties. New York: Social Science Research Council, 1976. 227 pages.

In 1971, the Joint Committee on Japa­nese Studies appointed a Subcommittee on Japanese Language Training Study to look into the problem of Japanese lan­guage training for specialists: to discover what was most needed and how it might best be supplied. The major task of the subcommittee, with funding from the Ford Foundation, was to identify language training needs as seen from the point of view of the scholarly community, and to suggest more efficient means of meeting

38

j

them on the basis of currently available training resources.

This is the full report of the subcom­mittee, containing a statement of its major findings as well as its recommendations to the field.

Japan in the Muromaehi Age, edited by John Whitney Hall and Toyoda Takeshi, with the assistance of Kanai Madoka and Richard Staubitz. Papers from a confer­ence sponsored by the Joint Committee on Japanese Studies. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1977. xv + 376 pages.

This volume is the product of a bina­tional conference held in the summer of 1973 in Kyoto, Japan, which brought to­gether for the first time Japanese and American specialists on the Muromachi age (1334-1573). The conference was held in the dramatic setting of Sokokuji, the temple most closely identified with the Muromachi shogunate in Kyoto, and elic­ited from a variety of disciplines convinc­ing evidence that the Muromachi period in Japanese history must be significantly reconsidered.

The Muromachi era had previously been looked upon as a time of transition -an interlude between a more important classical era, as epitomized in the Heian period, and a more vigorous early modern age, as exemplified in the Tokugawa pe­riod. Recent work has shown, however, that in the spheres of political organiza­tion and social tradition, as well as in the cultural sphere, the Muromachi age gave rise to new patterns which became impor­tant elements in a distinctly Japanese his­torical tradition. Indeed, many of the dominant traditions of political organiza­tion and religious and artistic expression which were to persist up to the modern era took shape during this time.

The conference's assessment of this pe­riod resulted in a new discovery of con­tinuity and vigor in political and social institutions, a new-found element of pop­ular culture which demanded respect, and a new historical periodization.

In addition to the editors, the contrib­utors to this volume are Akamatsu Toshi­hide, Otani University; George Elison, Indiana University; Kenneth A. Gross­berg, Harvard University; Hayashiya Tatsusaburo, Kyoto University; Ito Teiji, Kogakuin University; Kawai Masaharu, Hiroshima University; Donald Keene, Co­lumbia University; Cornelius J. Kiley,

Villanova University; Kuwayama Konen, University of Tokyo; Miyagawa Mitsuru, osaka Kyoiku University; V. Dixon Mor­ris, University" of Hawaii; Nagahara Keiji, Hitotsubashi University; Paul Novograd, Columbia University; John M. Rosenfield, Harvard University; Barbara Ruch, Uni­versity of Pennsylvania; Robert Sakai, University of Hawaii; Sato Shin'ichi, Uni­versity of Tokyo; Sugiyama Hiroshi, Komozawa University; Tanaka Takeo, University of Tokyo; H. Paul Varley, Co­lumbia University; Stanley Weinstein, Yale University; Kozo Yamamura, Univer­sity of Washington; and Philip Yampol­sky, Columbia University.

Modern Chinese Literature in the May Fourth Era, edited by Merle Goldman. Papers from a conference sponsored by the Joint Committee on Contemporary China, August 1974. Harvard University Press, 1977. 464 pages + xiii. SI5.00.

The 17 essays in this volume examine the cultural movement in China in the early decades of the 20th century which, as Merle Goldman writes, culminated "in a literary flowering that was one of the most creative and brilliant episodes in modern Chinese history." The authors ex­plore the development of a modern litera­ture which grew out of the efforts by Chinese intellectuals to throw off the weight of Confucian tradition and to in­tegrate China into the modern world. This new literature not only absorbed the main trends of Western culture, but often un­consciously related it to the Chinese tra­dition. Through their writings, these in­tellectuals sought modernity and political independence for their country.

In addition to the editor, the contribu­tors to the volume are John Berning­hausen, Middlebury College; Cyril Birch, University of California, Berkeley; Yu­shih Chen, Hunter College, City Uni­versity of New York; Ching-mao Cheng, University of Massachusetts; Milena Dole­zelova-Velingerova, University of To­ronto; Irene Eber, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Michael Egan, University of Toronto; Yi-tsi M. Feuerwerker, Uni­versityof Michigan; Douwe W. Fokkema, Univeristy of Utrecht; Leo Ou-fan Lee, Indiana University; Perry Link, Prince­ton University; Bonnie S. McDougall, Harvard University; Harriet C. Mills, University of Michigan; Paul Pickowia, University of California, San Diego; Ezra F. Vogel, Harvard University; and Ellen Widmer, Harvard University.

VOLUME 31, NUMBER 1I

The Foreilfn POliCT 01 Modern lapan, ed­ited by Robert A. Scalapino. Product of a conference sponsored by the Joint Com­mittee on Japanese Studies. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1977. xix+426 pages.

This volume grew out of a conference on Japanese foreign policy held on Kauai, Hawaii in January 1974. Seventeen schol­ars-almost equally divided between Jap­anese and Americans-met to discuss both the major issues or aspects of foreign pol­icy and the central institutions involved in the policy-making process. Some partici­pants employed the case-study approach in their papers; others wrote as generalists.

The papers in the volume are grouped according to four major themes, including decision making and the foreign-policy process, the role of public and private in­terests in foreign policy, economics and foreign policy, and security issues. There are detailed studies of the Japanese For­eign Ministry, the Diet and foreign policy, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, and the Self-Defense Forces, in addition to case studies of the proposed Japanese exploration of the Tyumen oil fields in Siberia and the role of the busi­ness community in the normalization of relations with the People's Republic of China in 1972. Also included are more general discussions of the style of Japa­nese diplomatic negotiations, Japanese public opinion on foreign policy issues, the changing international economic en­vironment confronting Japan, and the rea· sons for japan's low profile in security matters. The final section of the book at­tempts a general overview, featuring both historical and modern perspectives.

In addition to the editor, the contribu­tors to the volume are Hans H. Baerwald, Michael K. Blaker, Gerald L. Curtis, Haruhiro Fukui, Donald C. Hellmann, Chalmers Johnson, Masataka Kosaka, Makato Momoi, Sadako Ogata, Edwin O. Reischauer, Seizaburo Sato, Gary R. Sax­onhouse, and Akio Watanabe.

Law and Politics in China's Foreign Trade, edited by Victor H. Li. Product of a conference sponsored by the former Subcommittee on Chinese Law, Joint Committee on Contemporary China, Sep­tember IS-17, 1971. Seattle: University of Washington Press, June 1977. 467 pages. $20.00_

The conference on which this volume is based was jointly sponsored by the Joint Committee and Southern Illinois

SEPTEMBER 1977

University; it was held at the Contem­porary China Institute, School of Oriental and Mrican Studies, University of Lon­don. In addition to a number of members of the subcommittee and the Contempo­rary China Institute, about twenty-nine scholars, diplomats, and business exe~u­tives from Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Japan, and the United States attended the five-day session.

Part I deals with the Chinese trade ex­periences of individual countries, includ­ing Japan, West Germany, Denmark, Italy, Russia, the United States, and Hong Kong. Part II describes methods and con­trols of trade. The various topics covered in this part include discussions of mari­time laws and practices; the problem of personal security of businessmen and trade representatives; China's foreign trade apparatus; banking practices; an analysis of state control of trade after Liberation; and a concluding chapter that places "China trade" in historical per­spective with an account of the old Can­ton system of foreign trade. The appen­dixes contain copies of agreements and regulations, contracts, and insurance forms.

Social Influence and Social Change, by Serge Moscovici. London, New York, and San Francisco: Academic Press, 1976. 2S9 pages. Number 10 in the European Mono­graphs in Social Psychology. Based in part on a conference on the social influence of minorities, held near Hanover, New Hampshire, August 14-September I, 1971, sponsored by the former Committee on Transnational Social Psychology.

The psychological model of social in­fluence that is now widely accepted may be characterized as functionalist. Accord­ing to this viewpoint, formal or informal social systems, on the one hand, and the environment, on the other, are considered as given and predetermined with respect to the individual and the group. Social roles, statuses, and psychological resources are defined for each member before any interaction takes place, and behaviors are seen as merely translating and repre­senting these roles, statuses, and psycho­logical resources. The function of be­havior on the part of the individual or group is to ensure adjustment to the sys­tem or the environment. Hence, deviance represents failure to adapt to the system, an interruption of its orderly progress, a

lack of information or resources in rela­tion to the environment.

From this perspective, normality repre­sents a state of adaptation to the system; the process of social influence has as its object the reduction of deviance and the facilitation of a return to normal. The implication is that the actions of those who go along with the norm are func­tional and adaptive for the group, while those who deviate from or go against the norm are seen as dysfunctional and mal­adaptive for the group.

Moscovici challenges this perspective by noting that it has been fashioned and con­sidered from the point of view of the majority, authority, and social control. In its place, he suggests an orientation towards a psychology of social influence that is also a psychology of innovation, of acting on and in relation to the group; a psychology fashioned from the points of view of the minority, the deviant, and social change. In order to achieve this, he outlines a framework or model of social behavior that interprets a disincli­nation to adapt not so much as a form of deviance but as the essential pathway to innovation and social development.

The book is the outgrowth of a Council conference on the social influence of minorities, which met under the auspices of Dartmouth College. The idea of hold­ing the conference had been advanced by the Committee on Transnational Social Psychology; the conference was sup­ported by a grant to the Council from the National Science Foundation. The partici­pants were Jack Brehm, Duke University; Harold H. Kelley, University of Califor­nia, Los Angeles; Charles Kiesler, Ameri­can Psychological Association (Washing­ton, D.C.); Helmuth Lamm, University of Mannheim; John Lanzetta, Dartmouth College; Serge Moscovici, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris); Robert Ziller, University of Florida; and Ricardo Zuniga. Catholic University (Santiago).

Latin America: A Guide to Economic History, 1830-1930, edited by Roberto Cort~s Conde and Stanley J. Stein. A publication sponsored by the Joint Com­mittee on Latin American Studies and the Latin American Council of the Social Sciences (CLASCO). Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977. 685 pages. $S5.00.

Growing out of ten years of intense activity by the Joint Committee and then its Subcommittee on Economic History

S9

(1968-77), this is an extensive bibliog­raphy of the economic history of Latin America in the century that followed the colonial era. After the two-part intro­ductory essay by the editors-Robert Cortes Conde is senior researcher at the Torcuato di Tell a Institute, Buenos Aires, and Stanley J. Stein is professor of history at Princeton University-and an initial general bibliography, there are interpre­tive essays and 4500 annotated entries for the sources and works on six countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru.

The six country essays give attention both to theoretical and historical perspec­tives. The national bibliographies follow­ing each essay include descriptive and quantitative sources, but the stress is on quantitative and often serial materials.

The extensive search for quantitative materials basic to economic history has resulted in the identification of significant new data sources. Each of the national bibliographies includes voluminous infor­mation on the holdings of national, re­gional, and local archives arranged un­der the following subject headings: demo­graphy, manpower, and living conditions; structures and institutions; macroeco­nomic growth and fluctuations; foreign trade and investment; regional economy; agriculture and ranching; industry: fac­tory and artisan; extractive industry; transport, public utilities, and services.

The volume deserves special recogni­tion as a pioneering effort in international collaboration. The section on Argentina was prepared by Tulio Halperin Donghi, University of California, Berkeley; on

Brazil by Nicia Villela Luz, University of Sao Paulo; on Chile by Osvaldo Sunkel and Carmen Cariola, both of the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex; on Colombia by William Paul McGreevey, Smithsonian Institution; on Mexico by Enrique Florescano, National Institute of Anthropology and History (Mexico City); and on Peru by Shane J. Hunt, Boston University, and Pablo Macera, University of San Marcos (Lima). The three North American and seven Latin American contributors have written in their native languages. Thus, three of the interpretive essays are in Spanish (on Argentina, Chile, and Mexico), one-with two authors-is partly in Spanish and partly in English (on Peru), one in Eng. lish (on Colombia), and one in Portuguese (on Brazil).

SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL

605 T H I R D A V E N U E, NEW Y 0 R K, N.Y. 1 00 1 6

Incorporated in the State of Illinois, December 27, 1924, for the purpose of advancing research in the social sciences

Directors, 1977-78; IRMA E. ADELMAN, BRIAN J. L. BERRY, PETER B. DEWS, ROBERT EISNER, JACOB J. FELDMAN, CLIFFORD GEERTZ, PHILIP W. JACKSON,

HAROLD H. KELLEY, FRA!l:KLIN \V. KNIGHT, GERALD H. KRAMER, WILLIAM H. KlI.USKAL, OTTO N. LARSEN, LEON LIPSON, CORA BAGLEY MAlUlETT,

HERBERT MCCLOSKY, MURRAY G. MURPHEY, PAUL H. MUSSE!I:, GUY H. ORCUTT, SAMUEL C. PATTERSON, ALICE S. ROSSI, PEGGY R. SANDAY, ELEANOR

BER!l:ERT SHELDON, ALBERT J. STUNKARD, STEPHEN A . THER!I:STROM

Officers and Staff: ELEANOR BERNERT SHELDON, President; DAVID L. SILU, Executive Associate; RONALD P. ABELES, RONALD AQUA, ALVIA Y. BRANCH,

ROBERT A. GATES, MARTHA A. GEPHART, LoUIS WOLF GOODMAN, ROBERTA BALSTAD MILLER, ROWLAND L. MITCHELL, JR., ROBERT PARKE, PETER B. READ,

DAVID SEIDMAN, DAVID L. SZANTON; MARTHA W. FORMAN, Assistant Treasurer; NANCY L. CARMICHAEL, Librarian

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