The conference that forms the basis for this book was held in Taipei in 1989. With contributions by political figures from both the Kuomintang and the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, as well as leading scholars from Taiwan and the US, this book discusses the critical issues affecting the future of Taiwan. The book discusses Taiwan's economic achievements, its pathbreaking experiments with political reform, its unique patterns of political participation, its example as a fully modernized Chinese cultural community, its importance in the world trading system, and its key role in Pacific Basin international relations. It also discusses how these factors have made Taiwan a focus of interest for students of economic development, comparative politics and international relations.

China’s fast rise in recent decades has surprised and bewildered many. As the world's second largest economy and with one-fifth of the world's population, China's future has tremendous implications for the rest of the world. The world needs a peaceful and responsible China. This requires China to develop a political system with a constitutional reform matching the aspirations of her people and her role in the world. This volume documents China's social, political and cultural transformations in the past one hundred and fifty years, as they are experienced in China by the Chinese. The insights derived from this volume are the result of a deep bi-cultural understanding of both East and West. By sharing these insights, this book hopes to shed light on China’s future possibilities.

Since the start of reform two decades ago, China's economy has experienced spectacular growth. Today China has grown to be the world's seventh largest economy — or the world's second largest after the USA in terms of purchasing power parity. China's society and its political landscape have also been radically changed.This volume serves as a convenient handbook for both scholars and laymen to have a good overview of China's major developments and transformations in the political, economic, legal and social spheres since 1978. Such a review will be useful for appreciating the enormous problems that will challenge China in its next phase of transition.All in all, China has undoubtedly made impressive progress in most areas of reform in the past; but its remaining reform endeavour and future obstacles it has to face can be even more daunting.

This book examines China’s striving for a constitutional order in the 20th century from comparative, historical, and theoretical perspectives. Through a comprehensive study of six major constitutional reforms experienced by China in the last century, Shiping Hua explores pragmatism, instrumentalism, statism, and favoritism as the key features of the Chinese legal culture. Demonstrating that these characteristics have roots in China’s ancient past and coincide with modern communist legal theory, it argues that Chinese legal culture has greatly impacted upon the country’s move to modernize its legal system. By analyzing key constitutional periods in China’s history, this book also evaluates patterns that can be used to better comprehend not only China’s present legal reform but its future legal developments too. As the first book to examine how the Chinese legal culture has affected constitutional reform in the 20th century, Chinese Legal Culture and Constitutional Order will be useful to students and scholars of Asian and constitutional law, as well as Chinese Studies more generally. Winner of the 2019 ACPSS (Association of Chinese Professors of Social Sciences in the United States) Best Scholarly Publication Award for Original Research.