China today is never out of the news: from human rights controversies and the continued legacy of Tiananmen Square, to global coverage of the Beijing Olympics, and the Chinese 'economic miracle'. It seems a country of contradictions: a peasant society with some of the world's most futuristic cities, heir to an ancient civilization that is still trying to find a modern identity. This Very Short Introduction offers the reader with no previous knowledge of China a variety of ways to understand the world's most populous nation, giving a short, integrated picture of modern Chinese society, culture, economy, politics and art. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

One of the most interesting questions in China studies today is the effect that the opening up of the country economically will have on the individual rights and freedoms of the population. This volume addresses that issue by considering recent changes in the relations of the state and severalgroups in the populationDSrural peasants, manual workers, the military, the intellectual community, and the youth of China. With distinguished contributors, this coherent and comprehensive volume should become an essential reference work for academics and students.

This book aims to provide a context-informed, culture-sensitive picture of the reception of human rights in the early period of Chinese modernization. Following the delineation of the role of human rights in the democratic campaign, the anti-patriarchy movement and the cultural-psychological transformation, it inquires the conceptual grounds for the reception of human rights as well as features of the Sinicized understanding of human rights. It presents how the indigenous humanistic resources and the imported Western ideas jointly resulted in the ready acceptance of human rights, which was remarkably underpinned by a prevalent patriotic motivation. Observing the moral connotation in the Chinese interpretation of human rights, it discloses the impact of the traditional ‘ethical’ vision of the individual that subsumed the ‘right’ perspective, which both harbored the inclination of new forms of oppression of individual freedom, and provided a possible paradigm that synthesizes the good of the individual and of society. This constituted an inquiry of the relationship between Confucianism and human rights, which is still a theme of fierce debate in contemporary discussions.

They offer a balanced forum that seeks common ground, providing needed perspective at a time when the Chinese government, after years of denouncing Confucianism as an aritfact of a feudal past, has made an abrupt reversal to endorse it as a belief system compatible with communist ideology.

Rev. ed. of: Zhongguo min quan zhe xue = The philosophy of civil rights in the context of China. 2004.

The Battle for China’s Spirit is the first comprehensive analysis of its kind, focusing on seven major religious groups in China that together account for over 350 million believers: Chinese Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Tibetan Buddhism, and Falun Gong. The study examines the evolution of the Communist Party’s policies of religious control, how they are applied differently to diverse faith communities, and how citizens are responding to these policies. The study—which draws on hundreds of official documents and interviews with religious leaders, lay believers, and scholars—finds that Chinese government controls over religion have intensified since November 2012, seeping into new areas of daily life. Yet millions of religious believers defy official restrictions or engage in some form of direct protest, at times scoring significant victories. The report explores how these dynamics affect China’s overall social, political, and economic environment, while offering recommendations to both the Chinese government and international actors for how to increase the space for peaceful religious practice in a country where spirituality has been deeply embedded in its culture for millennia.

Examines contemporary perspectives on law through Twining's scholarly work and with a focus on ethical, global and theoretical contexts.