Personal politics in the Chinese danwei under reform

Asian Survey

Volumn 36, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 246-267

  Dittmer, Lowell ^a   Xiaobo, Lu ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

^b Program on US Russia Relations at Columbia s Harriman Institute   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ECONOMIC REFORM; KIN RELATIONS; PERSONAL POLITICS; SOCIAL NETWORKS;

CHINA;

EID: 0030477338     PISSN: 00044687     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/2645691     Document Type: Article

References (52)

1. See Martin King Whyte and William L. Parish, Urban Life in Contemporary China (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984), esp. chapters 1-4; Andrew Walder, Communist Neo-Traditionalism: Work and Authority in Chinese Industry (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986); Jean Oi, State and Peasant in Contemporary China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989); Mayfair Yang, "Between State and Society: The Construction of Corporateness in a Chinese Socialist Factory," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, no. 22 (July 1989), pp. 55; and Corinna-Barbara Francis, "Paradoxes of Power and Dependence in the Chinese Workplace," unpublished dissertation, Political Science Department, Columbia University, 1993.
2. See Martin King Whyte and William L. Parish, Urban Life in Contemporary China (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984), esp. chapters 1-4; Andrew Walder, Communist Neo-Traditionalism: Work and Authority in Chinese Industry (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986); Jean Oi, State and Peasant in Contemporary China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989); Mayfair Yang, "Between State and Society: The Construction of Corporateness in a Chinese Socialist Factory," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, no. 22 (July 1989), pp. 55; and Corinna-Barbara Francis, "Paradoxes of Power and Dependence in the Chinese Workplace," unpublished dissertation, Political Science Department, Columbia University, 1993.
3. See Martin King Whyte and William L. Parish, Urban Life in Contemporary China (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984), esp. chapters 1-4; Andrew Walder, Communist Neo-Traditionalism: Work and Authority in Chinese Industry (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986); Jean Oi, State and Peasant in Contemporary China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989); Mayfair Yang, "Between State and Society: The Construction of Corporateness in a Chinese Socialist Factory," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, no. 22 (July 1989), pp. 55; and Corinna-Barbara Francis, "Paradoxes of Power and Dependence in the Chinese Workplace," unpublished dissertation, Political Science Department, Columbia University, 1993.
4. See Martin King Whyte and William L. Parish, Urban Life in Contemporary China (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984), esp. chapters 1-4; Andrew Walder, Communist Neo-Traditionalism: Work and Authority in Chinese Industry (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986); Jean Oi, State and Peasant in Contemporary China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989); Mayfair Yang, "Between State and Society: The Construction of Corporateness in a Chinese Socialist Factory," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, no. 22 (July 1989), pp. 55; and Corinna-Barbara Francis, "Paradoxes of Power and Dependence in the Chinese Workplace," unpublished dissertation, Political Science Department, Columbia University, 1993.
5. See Martin King Whyte and William L. Parish, Urban Life in Contemporary China (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984), esp. chapters 1-4; Andrew Walder, Communist Neo-Traditionalism: Work and Authority in Chinese Industry (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986); Jean Oi, State and Peasant in Contemporary China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989); Mayfair Yang, "Between State and Society: The Construction of Corporateness in a Chinese Socialist Factory," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, no. 22 (July 1989), pp. 55; and Corinna-Barbara Francis, "Paradoxes of Power and Dependence in the Chinese Workplace," unpublished dissertation, Political Science Department, Columbia University, 1993.
6. See, for example, Ross Munro's series in Toronto Globe and Mail in October 1977, also Fox Butterfield, China: Alive in the Bitter Sea (New York: Times Books, Quadrangle Publications, 1982), and Yuichi Funabashi, Neibu: One Report on China (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun, 1982, in Japanese), and Gail Henderson, "Danwei: The Chinese Work Unit," dissertation, University of Michigan, subsequently published as Gail Henderson and Myron Cohen, The Chinese Hospital: A Socialist Work Unit (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984).
7. See, for example, Ross Munro's series in Toronto Globe and Mail in October 1977, also Fox Butterfield, China: Alive in the Bitter Sea (New York: Times Books, Quadrangle Publications, 1982), and Yuichi Funabashi, Neibu: One Report on China (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun, 1982, in Japanese), and Gail Henderson, "Danwei: The Chinese Work Unit," dissertation, University of Michigan, subsequently published as Gail Henderson and Myron Cohen, The Chinese Hospital: A Socialist Work Unit (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984).
8. See, for example, Ross Munro's series in Toronto Globe and Mail in October 1977, also Fox Butterfield, China: Alive in the Bitter Sea (New York: Times Books, Quadrangle Publications, 1982), and Yuichi Funabashi, Neibu: One Report on China (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun, 1982, in Japanese), and Gail Henderson, "Danwei: The Chinese Work Unit," dissertation, University of Michigan, subsequently published as Gail Henderson and Myron Cohen, The Chinese Hospital: A Socialist Work Unit (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984).
9. See, for example, Ross Munro's series in Toronto Globe and Mail in October 1977, also Fox Butterfield, China: Alive in the Bitter Sea (New York: Times Books, Quadrangle Publications, 1982), and Yuichi Funabashi, Neibu: One Report on China (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun, 1982, in Japanese), and Gail Henderson, "Danwei: The Chinese Work Unit," dissertation, University of Michigan, subsequently published as Gail Henderson and Myron Cohen, The Chinese Hospital: A Socialist Work Unit (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984).
10. See, especially, Francis, "Paradoxes of Power."
11. For concurrent findings, see Francis, "Paradoxes"; Brantly Womack's critique of Walder, "Transfigured Community: New Traditionalism and Work Unit Socialism in China," and Walder's "Reply to Womack," China Quarterly, no. 126 (June 1991), pp. 313-32 and 333-39, respectively.
12. For concurrent findings, see Francis, "Paradoxes"; Brantly Womack's critique of Walder, "Transfigured Community: New Traditionalism and Work Unit Socialism in China," and Walder's "Reply to Womack," China Quarterly, no. 126 (June 1991), pp. 313-32 and 333-39, respectively.
13. For concurrent findings, see Francis, "Paradoxes"; Brantly Womack's critique of Walder, "Transfigured Community: New Traditionalism and Work Unit Socialism in China," and Walder's "Reply to Womack," China Quarterly, no. 126 (June 1991), pp. 313-32 and 333-39, respectively.
14. Interview, Shijiazhuang, December 1993.
15. Interviews, Shanghai, July 1993.
16. Xinhuashe, Neibu Cankao [Internal reference], no. 97 (December 10, 1993).
17. For a detailed analysis, see Lu Xiaobo, Organizational Involution and Official Defiance: A Study of Cadre Corruption in China, 1949-1993, dissertation, Political Science Department, University of California at Berkeley, 1994.
18. Banyuetan (Beijing periodical), no. 8 (August 1994), p. 16, and no. 11 (November 1994), p. 12.
19. Banyuetan (Beijing periodical), no. 8 (August 1994), p. 16, and no. 11 (November 1994), p. 12.
20. The others are enterprise debts and liabilities. (Renmin Ribao, overseas edition, February 1, 1994.)
21. Interview, Shanghai, July 1993.
22. Liaowang [Outlook], November 21, 1994, pp. 10-18.
23. Oral communication from a former Shanghai resident, based on observations made in 1992.
24. Zhongguo chengshi jianzhu nianjian [Yearbook of urban construction in China] (Beijing: Zhongguo jianzhu chubanshe, 1989).
25. Since 1978, the direct state investment in urban housing has decreased dramatically. Work units have become the main investor in housing, and must raise funds themselves to finance residential projects. Housing built with "self-raised funds" by units counted for 60% of the new urban housing in the 1980s; in some cities, the percentage was as high as 80%. Ibid., p. 138.
26. This comment was made by Su Ya, who studied and published a number of works on the SOEs, at a Columbia University seminar in March 1995. Ms. Su pointed out that if the SOEs in Guangzhou were to begin downsizing and/or declaring bankruptcy today, some 200,000 people would be unemployed, 150,000 would be without salaries, and half a million would be receiving only a fraction of their salaries.
27. Tianjin ribao, December 9, 1981.
28. Interview, Pudong (Shanghai suburb), July 1993.
29. Interview, Shanghai, July 1993.
30. Interview, Tianjin, September 1992.
31. Lin Yimin, "Personal connections, the State, and Inter-Organizational Stratification in Post-Mao China," unpublished manuscript, 1992.
32. Interview, Pudong, July 1993.
33. Renmin Ribao, February 7 and 1, 1982.
34. Ibid., February 2, 1986.
35. Xia Xin, "Huibi, weile qinglian" [Avoidance, for the sake of being clean and upright], in Liu Jialin and He Xian, Huibi zhidu jiangxi [An analysis of the law of avoidance] (Beijing: Zhongguo renshi chubanshe, 1990).
36. Cheng Ying, "Qianbaiwan ganbu mianlin dajingjian" (Hundreds of thousands of officials are facing streamlining), Jiushi niandai [The nineties] (Hong Kong), November 1992, pp. 31-33.
37. Yu Shaojun and Dai Guanxong, "Guanyu danwei neibu ganbu qinshujuji zhuangkuang de diaocha" (An investigation on the internal conglomeration of relatives in work units), Lilun xuekan [Journal of theoretical studies], no. 5 (May 1986), pp. 22-26.
38. This investigation was conducted in 1989 by the ganbu division of the Yiyang Prefecture Personnel Bureau, Hunan Province.
39. Yang Guan, "Qiye 'jiazu' xianxiang" (The phenomenon of "familialization" in enterprises), Shehui [Society], no. 4 (April 1991), pp. 42-45.
40. Liu and He, Huibi zhidu.
41. Jin Bang, "Zhide yinqi renmen yanzhong zhuyi de weiti: Hebeisheng bufen shixian jiguan qinshuhua weiti diaocha" (A serious problem worth our attention: An investigation of familialization in some cities and counties of Hebei province), Heibei shelian tongxun [Bulletin of the Hebei Social Science Association], December 1986, pp. 44-46.
42. For example, the authorities in Tongling city, Anhui Province, where 89% of ke rank and 10% of county rank officials had relatives in the same units, announced their decision to implement a system of avoidance in 1988. Liu and He, Huibi zhidu, pp. 206-07.
43. Jiefang junbao, May 4, 1993.
44. Although it was a practice that preceded the Cultural Revolution, dingti only became fully legitimate at this time. With thousands of returned youth from the countryside and thousands more graduating from high schools, the government gave the green light to its implementation in order to reduce the pressure of urban unemployment. Indeed, as early as 1953 "the revised draft of the labor insurance regulations" introduced the idea of occupational inheritance. In the years that followed, many circulars and directives were issued on this matter: it is notable how many restrictions and qualifications the government placed on the practice. The policy seems to have been essentially reactive rather than active in the sense that most of the documents were replies by central authorities to local or ministerial authorities on the matter. This has prompted some scholars to suggest that the regulations represent a codification of practices long established at the grass roots under local sanction. See Michel Korzec, Occupational Inheritance in the People's Republic of China (Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam, Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, no. 57, 1985). The official endorsement of the practice of dingti began with State Council Circular no. 104, issued in June 1978, which stipulated that in state-owned enterprises one child of a retired employee was allowed to "replace" the parent. It lasted until October 1986 when another State Council document invalidated the practice. What concerns us here, however, is not the practice itself but its consequences. As Korzec noted, the actual process of replacing retired workers or cadres was often plagued by irregularities and the use of guanxi.
45. Hong Yung Lee, From Revolutionary Cadres to Party Technocrats in Socialist China (Berkeley: University of California Press. 1991).
46. Zugong tongxin [Bulletin of organizational work], no. 190 (December 17, 1981).
47. Liu and He, Huibi zhidu, pp. 50-51.
48. Ibid., p. 239.
49. In the Chinese context, "localism" refers to both factional collusion on the basis of local ties and the unwarranted pursuit of local political and economic interests. The former is a problem of organization, the latter a problem of policy. We use the term here in the first sense. It is worth noting that while Beijing pursued decentralization in economic management during the Great Leap Forward, it also assailed (organizational) localism in some provinces, such as Guangdong. See Wang Kuang, "Fandui difangzhuyi" (Oppose localism), Xuexi [Study], no. 3 (1958), pp. 9-12.
50. The literature on the informal politics of the CCP elite is rich. A relatively comprehensive bibliography may be found in Lucian Pye, The Dynamics of Chinese Politics (Cambridge, Mass.: Oelgeschlager, Gunn & Hain, 1981), pp. 267-76.
51. Kenneth Lieberthal, Governing China: From Revolution Through Reform (New York: W. W. Norton, 1995), ch. 7.
52. Interview, Pudong, August 1993.