This book explains the causes, process, and results of group disputes in urban communities (the empirical experiences from Shanghai) in China. It explores the means and characteristics of as well as the differences in conflict resolution in various forms of state–society relations, particularly the ways of dealing with and resolving disputes concerning mass incidents involving government interests in China’s current social transformation period. It also analyzes how people’s mediation organizations interact with the local government when managing and defusing collective disputes. Combining the relevant theories and five conflict resolution measurement models created by Blake and Mouton (1964), this book explains the current interaction model and cooperation mechanism between the state and social organizations in China. To do so, it examines the role of the Lin Le People’s Mediation Workroom in dealing with community collective disputes and the respective action strategies and constraints. The book argues that the current state–social relations in China are not centered on society or the state, but on “state-led social pluralism.”

The trajectory and logic of urban development in post-Mao China have been shaped and defined by the contention between domestic and global capital, central and local state and social actors of different class status and endowment. This urban transformation process of historic proportion entails new rules for distribution and negotiation, novel perceptions of citizenship, as well as room for unprecedented spontaneity and creativity. Based on original research by leading experts, this book offers an updated and nuanced analysis of the new logic of urban governance and its implications.

Women Migrant Workers in China's Economic Reform studies unmarried women migrant workers in China. As international migrants in China's richest province, they work in silk, one of China's oldest and most symbolically-charged industries. Through extensive interviews and a wide-ranging interpretation of the secondary literature, this book brings an interdisciplinary approach to its study of power and identity. Gender, class, and local identities matter in the factories and streets of a one-industry town, and municipal and factory leaders seek to rework these over-shifting forces to build a low-cost, reliable labour force. The women in question seek to rework these disadvantages by the same forces, have other aspirations!