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China: An International Journal (CIJ), indexed and abstracted in SSCI, JCR and CC/Social and Behavioral Sciences of Thomson Reuters

The East Asian Institute (EAI) is pleased to announce that, effective from December 2010, China: An International Journal (CIJ) will be indexed and abstracted in the renowned and authoritative interdisciplinary citation indexes of Thomson Reuters:

Social Sciences Citation Index^®;

Journal Citation Reports/Social Sciences Edition; and

Current Contents^®/Social and Behavioral Sciences.

The earliest issue of CIJ available for access in Thomson Reuters database is volume 7, issue 1, published in March 2009.

EAI Weekly Talking Point

Tuesday, 21 February 2012

Xi Jinping's Visit to the United States and Ireland

Widely tipped to become China's next leader, Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States was "choreographed" as a rite of passage or a "getting-to-know-you" trip on the global stage. Under the international spotlight, Xi seemed confident, calm and down-to-earth, and showed the humane side of his personality.

As Xi will likely succeed incumbent President Hu Jintao as general-secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at the end of this year, and president and head of the military soon after in 2013, the visit was therefore perceived to help shape Xi's image as a political personality.

Tuesday, 7 February 2012

Social Unrest and Ethnic Tension in Chengdu, Wukan and Tibet

The social unrest in Chengdu and Wukan take on very different dynamics from the tension in Tibet. The social protests in Chengdu (of Sichuan Province) and the land disputes in Wukan village were considered as localised incidents, which come under the purview of the local and provincial governments. However, any hint of tension in the restive minority regions of Tibet and Xinjiang strikes a raw nerve in the central government, which has to resort to national strategy to handle the ethnic issues with great sensitivity.

in focus

Intellectual Property Rights in China: Consumer Culture and the Well-known Mark Protection

Friday, 16 December 2011 In 2009, China turned the table around after Beijing's No. 1 Intermediate People's Court ordered Microsoft to stop selling Windows with Zhongyi Chinese fonts without permission. Microsoft had infringed a Chinese company's intellectual property rights (IPR). Close to two decades ago in 1991, Microsoft sued Shenzhen University for manufacturing fake Microsoft hologram labels, an act of trademark infringement. This episode reflects that China is quick in incorporating intellectual property rights regimes into its economy. The importance of IPR in China has increasingly become a "national strategy".

Labour Reallocation, Productivity Growth and Dualism in China

Tuesday, 6 December 2011 Dualism has long been a distinguished feature of many developing economies. Following China's opening up, growth in the rural agricultural sector had decreased from 1980 to 2008. Before the mid-1990s, labour reallocation was concentrated on rural non-agriculture sectors. Coastal China enjoys more output growth contributed by labour reallocation from agriculture to rural non-agriculture and urban sectors after the mid-1990s. This structural change's effect on output growth was stronger in the 1980s and the 1990s than that of the 2000s.

LATEST China AnalysEs

CHINA'S WESTERN DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY: TEN YEARS ON

YU Hong, 20 April 2012

Since the late 1990s, Chinese leaders have been increasingly concerned with the huge gap between the wealthy eastern and poor western regions, and the deteriorating developmental trend. In response, Beijing adopted the "Great Western Development" (GWD) strategy in 1999, which is the key initiative adopted by Beijing to tackle the country's widening regional disparity. The main policies of the GWD strategy include providing preferential treatments (e.g. bank loans) and facilitating huge fiscal transfers to western China. The government has also invested heavily on western transportation improvement. However, Beijing's efforts since 1999 to achieve more balanced regional development have yet to bear much fruit. Beijing is still in search of an effective solution to the issue of regional inequality.

CHINA EMBARKS ON AMBITIOUS MEGACITY PLANS IN GUANGDONG

YU Hong, 20 April 2012

Wang Yang, Party Secretary of Guangdong, has plans to integrate cities within the province since his assumption of office. The possibility of a megacity has its basis in the existence of close historical relations and cultural links between the two cities. The industrial complementarity of the Guangzhou-Foshan area has also laid the foundation for the development of an integrated regional market. Moves to integrate Guangzhou and Foshan have already taken place especially in the two cities' transportation system. The integration is likely to benefit the residents and bring down living costs. It will also help boost inter-city business and leisure interchange. However, close cooperation to cross administrative and bureaucratic barriers will be needed for the success of a fully integrated megacity.

THE HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE ELECTION AND ITS AFTERMATH

YEW Chiew Ping & KWONG Kin-ming, 13 April 2012

Leung Chun-ying beat his key rival Henry Tang Ying-yen and emerged winner in Hong Kong's fourth Chief Executive (CE) Election on 25 March 2012. Through heavy lobbying for Leung, Beijing had succeeded in preventing a hung vote and a re-ballot. But the way Leung came to power, garnering just 57.8% of the votes among the 1,193 electorate and with a popular support of 35%, compounds his governing difficulties in Hong Kong's unfavourable socio-political climate. Beijing may have more reservations about implementing direct election in 2017 after witnessing how this small circle election veered off course. Leung is unlikely to make policy breakthroughs, nor is he likely to end the governing conundrum that has plagued Donald Tsang's administration.

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