The China Society Yearbook, Volume 5 continues the ten-year tradition of presenting precise and venerable academic principles by compiling the findings of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ subject research group for the “Analysis and Forecast of the Social Situation”. The focus of the research group centered around three themes for 2009-2010. First, the steps China is taking to lead the country away from the shadow of the financial crisis and begin a new stage of growth. The second focus was how to organize this new growth stage. China's development relies on upgrading the industrial structures, transforming the social and economic structures, and stimulating domestic consumption demand. Finally, the group addressed China’s policy of an overall restructuring that focuses on major societal issues such as employment, division of income, education, health and medical systems, social security, the urban-rural administration system, public institution administration, and the community and social organizational reform. Written by contributors from professional research and survey organizations, universities, and related governmental sections, The China Society Yearbook, Volume 5 provides an excellent resource for those interested in current societal changes in China.

The China Society Yearbook, Volume 5 continues the ten-year tradition of presenting precise and venerable academic principles by compiling the findings of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ subject research group for the “Analysis and Forecast of the Social Situation”.

With the annual publication of the China Environment Yearbook by Friends of Nature, China’s environmental situation is revealed through the eyes of civil society. In this fifth volume, key issues affecting China’s environment in the year 2009 are explored through five main themes: Public Policy, Litigation, Pollution and Health, Consumption, and Ecological Protection.

This volume of the China Legal Development Yearbook marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the PRC. Various aspects of law and regulation that are giving shape to China’s legal system are examined in this volume of the Yearbook. The editors present an informative and comprehensive volume, covering both general topics such as administrative law reform, as well as analysing a number specific areas of interest such as military law and the new food safety regime. 2009 was also a year when the full impact of the global financial crisis (GFC) was felt in China’s economy and society. Some of the chapters in this volume reflect upon aspects of these challenges with chapters on legislative responses to social instability and crime as well as on economic reform.

This fifth English volume of The China Economy Yearbook is based on a symposium held in autumn 2009 titled Analysis and Forecast of China’s Economic Situation, organised by the Analysis and Forecast Project Group for China’s Economic Situation of the Institute of Economics, China Academy of Social Sciences.

Chinese Research Perspectives on the Environment (formerly The China Environment Yearbook), Volume 1, was written and produced by China’s first environmental non-profit organization, Friends of Nature. This edition of the book combines two years of reports on China's environment from the view of civil society. With a special focus on natural and unnatural disasters, the book also covers the themes of pollution and ecological protection, urban environmental issues and livability, sustainable consumption, policy and governance, civil society and public participation, and China and the world in an environmental perspective. In this volume, readers are brought up to date on the main environmental issues and events of 2010 and 2011. Beginning in 2010, debris flows, landslides, and droughts brought about considerable debate on the human factors involved in “natural disasters” and on China’s urban growth mode. The concept of urban livability is discussed within the backdrop of the waste and water crises. Several environmental incidents, including the Bohai Bay oil spill and the chromium slag pollution incident in Qujing, are also explored within the book. Meanwhile, increased public participation and environmental information transparency give reason for hope. Other articles include research and analysis on China’s investments in Africa, its struggling environmental courts, public interest litigation, the controversial Xiaonanhai dam and others on the Mekong River, green supply chains, and the PM2.5 debate.

Thirty Years of Reform and Social Changes in China is translated from the original Chinese to provide a look into how scholars in China have been assessing their country's recent societal and political history. This volume and the others in the SSRC series, provide western scholars with an accessible English language look at the state of current scholarship in China on the interplay of the country's political and economic reforms with the society and daily life of its people.