Pub Date : 2015-06-16DOI: 10.22439/CJAS.V33I1.4812
D. Magee
This article examines Chinese state support for two 'new energies'—large hydropower and end-use efficiency—that aims to help meet ambitious national targets for renewable energy and emissions reduction. Large hydropower, while not particularly new, figures prominently in China's renewable energy targets and is considered key to achieving renewable output and carbon reduction goals. National policies promote widespread development of Gigawatt-scale hydropower cascades on China's major rivers, even though the negative impacts are significant and the operating capacities of large dams are often low. On transboundary rivers, China's dam development raises concerns downstream. Increasing the end-use efficiency of electricity represents a more subtle approach that holds great promise for managing demand and potentially curbing new supply. China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has overseen experimentation with utility-scale 'efficiency power plants' that free up inefficiently-used electricity, resulting in greater power availability on the grid. A study by NDRC's Energy Research Institute (ERI) estimated that a high penetration rate of LED lighting by 2020, once China completes its phase-out of incandescent bulbs, would alone save as much electricity annually as the Three Gorges Dam produces. This article demonstrates the potential for an efficiency-led approach to meeting China's electricity needs.
{"title":"Hydropower and End-Use Electrical Efficiency in China: State Support and Potential Contribution to Low-Carbon Development","authors":"D. Magee","doi":"10.22439/CJAS.V33I1.4812","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22439/CJAS.V33I1.4812","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines Chinese state support for two 'new energies'—large hydropower and end-use efficiency—that aims to help meet ambitious national targets for renewable energy and emissions reduction. Large hydropower, while not particularly new, figures prominently in China's renewable energy targets and is considered key to achieving renewable output and carbon reduction goals. National policies promote widespread development of Gigawatt-scale hydropower cascades on China's major rivers, even though the negative impacts are significant and the operating capacities of large dams are often low. On transboundary rivers, China's dam development raises concerns downstream. \u0000Increasing the end-use efficiency of electricity represents a more subtle approach that holds great promise for managing demand and potentially curbing new supply. China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has overseen experimentation with utility-scale 'efficiency power plants' that free up inefficiently-used electricity, resulting in greater power availability on the grid. A study by NDRC's Energy Research Institute (ERI) estimated that a high penetration rate of LED lighting by 2020, once China completes its phase-out of incandescent bulbs, would alone save as much electricity annually as the Three Gorges Dam produces. This article demonstrates the potential for an efficiency-led approach to meeting China's electricity needs.","PeriodicalId":35904,"journal":{"name":"Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68578053","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-06-16DOI: 10.22439/CJAS.V33I1.4813
Chen Gang
This article examines how the Chinese government, at both central and local levels, has supported solar PV equipment manufacturing to increase its share in the global market, despite its innate disadvantages in this industry. Much of China's early expansion of manufacturing sectors can be attributed to its competitive advantages in cheap labour and good infrastructure, as well as the alleged undervaluation of the Chinese currency. However, China's formidable progress in the capital-intensive solar PV industries, where these advantages were no longer functioning effectively, has raised interesting questions about hidden stimulus factors like direct government subsidies, cheap land, technology support and easy credit provided by the government or other state sectors, like state-owned banks and research institutes. China's emergence as the world's largest manufacturer in these nascent industries has global economic repercussions. This research aims to explicate the Chinese business model from the perspective of state capitalism, a quasi-market system that has been integrated into the global economy, but which remains under the command of an authoritarian regime with a central planning mindset that makes innovative use of domestic leverages to subsidize strategic industries and achieve international competitiveness
{"title":"China's Solar PV Manufacturing and Subsidies from the Perspective of State Capitalism","authors":"Chen Gang","doi":"10.22439/CJAS.V33I1.4813","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22439/CJAS.V33I1.4813","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines how the Chinese government, at both central and local levels, has supported solar PV equipment manufacturing to increase its share in the global market, despite its innate disadvantages in this industry. Much of China's early expansion of manufacturing sectors can be attributed to its competitive advantages in cheap labour and good infrastructure, as well as the alleged undervaluation of the Chinese currency. However, China's formidable progress in the capital-intensive solar PV industries, where these advantages were no longer functioning effectively, has raised interesting questions about hidden stimulus factors like direct government subsidies, cheap land, technology support and easy credit provided by the government or other state sectors, like state-owned banks and research institutes. \u0000China's emergence as the world's largest manufacturer in these nascent industries has global economic repercussions. This research aims to explicate the Chinese business model from the perspective of state capitalism, a quasi-market system that has been integrated into the global economy, but which remains under the command of an authoritarian regime with a central planning mindset that makes innovative use of domestic leverages to subsidize strategic industries and achieve international competitiveness","PeriodicalId":35904,"journal":{"name":"Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68578121","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-06-16DOI: 10.22439/CJAS.V33I1.4810
O. Odgaard
China has embarked on a more sustainable path to becoming an industrialized and developed nation. The main drivers are the insecurity of fossil energy supply, widespread pollution, and acute water shortage caused by exploitation of coal in northern China. China is now a leading nation regarding deployment of green energy technologies. But at the same time coal-based power plants seem to be commissioned more extensively than prescribed in the Five-Year Plans. Many local governments favour short term economic growth and employment creation and resent more costly green policies, despite pressure from the central government. In the coming decades, China will be the main contributor to the growing global energy consumption of especially oil, coal and nuclear power; it will also be the main contributor to global growth in CO2 emissions. However, recent policy initiatives launched by the central government aim to bypass the local opposition to greener development by introducing more economic incentives to reduce fossil fuel demand. The outcome of these attempts to weaken federalist governance will be imperative for a more sustainable development of China's energy sector.
{"title":"China's Low Carbon Energy Policy: National Dilemmas and Global Perspectives","authors":"O. Odgaard","doi":"10.22439/CJAS.V33I1.4810","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22439/CJAS.V33I1.4810","url":null,"abstract":"China has embarked on a more sustainable path to becoming an industrialized and developed nation. The main drivers are the insecurity of fossil energy supply, widespread pollution, and acute water shortage caused by exploitation of coal in northern China. China is now a leading nation regarding deployment of green energy technologies. But at the same time coal-based power plants seem to be commissioned more extensively than prescribed in the Five-Year Plans. Many local governments favour short term economic growth and employment creation and resent more costly green policies, despite pressure from the central government. In the coming decades, China will be the main contributor to the growing global energy consumption of especially oil, coal and nuclear power; it will also be the main contributor to global growth in CO2 emissions. However, recent policy initiatives launched by the central government aim to bypass the local opposition to greener development by introducing more economic incentives to reduce fossil fuel demand. The outcome of these attempts to weaken federalist governance will be imperative for a more sustainable development of China's energy sector.","PeriodicalId":35904,"journal":{"name":"Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68577763","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-06-16DOI: 10.22439/CJAS.V33I1.4814
N. Christensen
The Chinese government's decision to push for large-scale build up of renewable energy capacity was followed by a range of industrial policies to support this change of track. Most importantly, various forms of subsidies were launched to support both industries and markets. While important new research has added to our understanding of China's state capitalism by documenting the depth and breadth of subsidies to solar PV manufactures, very little attention has been paid to how subsidies are determined and how companies influence these processes. This article takes a neo-institutional perspective with the aim of understanding the institutional context for the interplay between companies and Party-state, and the norms established through this interaction. It explores two cases, the biomass and solar industry, and shows how subsidies are perceived as being negotiable. Understanding this negotiability of subsidies as an institutionalized norm helps us understand both an important factor shaping China's renewable energy sector and the wider dynamics of state capitalism in China.
{"title":"Subsidization in China's Renewable Energy Sector: Negotiability as the Norm","authors":"N. Christensen","doi":"10.22439/CJAS.V33I1.4814","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22439/CJAS.V33I1.4814","url":null,"abstract":"The Chinese government's decision to push for large-scale build up of renewable energy capacity was followed by a range of industrial policies to support this change of track. Most importantly, various forms of subsidies were launched to support both industries and markets. While important new research has added to our understanding of China's state capitalism by documenting the depth and breadth of subsidies to solar PV manufactures, very little attention has been paid to how subsidies are determined and how companies influence these processes. \u0000This article takes a neo-institutional perspective with the aim of understanding the institutional context for the interplay between companies and Party-state, and the norms established through this interaction. It explores two cases, the biomass and solar industry, and shows how subsidies are perceived as being negotiable. Understanding this negotiability of subsidies as an institutionalized norm helps us understand both an important factor shaping China's renewable energy sector and the wider dynamics of state capitalism in China.","PeriodicalId":35904,"journal":{"name":"Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68578137","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-03-09DOI: 10.22439/CJAS.V32I2.4755
E. Yeoh, L. Lye
{"title":"Introduction: China - State, Public Policy and Society","authors":"E. Yeoh, L. Lye","doi":"10.22439/CJAS.V32I2.4755","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22439/CJAS.V32I2.4755","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35904,"journal":{"name":"Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68577265","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-03-09DOI: 10.22439/CJAS.V32I2.4756
Yu Hong
The Chinese government is adopting a 'going-out' strategy to promote China's high-end rail technology overseas and strengthen its global competitiveness. This article examines China's high-speed rail diplomacy towards the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and uncovers the link between China's ambitious foreign policies towards the ASEAN and both national pride and commercial stakes in promoting high-speed rail in the region. It analyses the rationale behind China's high-speed rail development proposals for the ASEAN in the context of the rise of China and rivalry between China and Japan. China is especially eager to participate in the construction of high-speed railroads with ASEAN members. The high-speed rail link can forge regional economic integration within the ASEAN. For ASEAN member states, China is a key external investor and contractor for their infrastructure development. Nevertheless, China is facing serious challenges to the realization of its proposals.
{"title":"China's Eagerness to Export Its High-speed Rail Expertise to ASEAN Members","authors":"Yu Hong","doi":"10.22439/CJAS.V32I2.4756","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22439/CJAS.V32I2.4756","url":null,"abstract":"The Chinese government is adopting a 'going-out' strategy to promote China's high-end rail technology overseas and strengthen its global competitiveness. This article examines China's high-speed rail diplomacy towards the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and uncovers the link between China's ambitious foreign policies towards the ASEAN and both national pride and commercial stakes in promoting high-speed rail in the region. It analyses the rationale behind China's high-speed rail development proposals for the ASEAN in the context of the rise of China and rivalry between China and Japan. China is especially eager to participate in the construction of high-speed railroads with ASEAN members. The high-speed rail link can forge regional economic integration within the ASEAN. For ASEAN member states, China is a key external investor and contractor for their infrastructure development. Nevertheless, China is facing serious challenges to the realization of its proposals.","PeriodicalId":35904,"journal":{"name":"Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68577324","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-03-09DOI: 10.22439/CJAS.V32I2.4759
E. Yeoh, K. Chu
Education is undoubtedly playing an important role in economic development. The overall illiteracy rate in China has been decreasing since 1980 but there are still some areas such as the western region and rural areas that continue to suffer from a high level of illiteracy due to the lack of capital inflow and government funding. This has indirectly affected economic growth and development in those particular areas. The government has launched various plans and policies to overcome or ameliorate the problems of educational and economic inequality, especially in the western region, and with all these efforts the government has been able to successfully reduce illiteracy and to a certain extent reduce inequality at the regional level. However, due to funding inequalities and shortcomings of government policies, education still faces daunting challenges in contemporary China.
{"title":"Literacy and Education in Contemporary China: Daunting Challenges amidst Rapid Economic Development","authors":"E. Yeoh, K. Chu","doi":"10.22439/CJAS.V32I2.4759","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22439/CJAS.V32I2.4759","url":null,"abstract":"Education is undoubtedly playing an important role in economic development. The overall illiteracy rate in China has been decreasing since 1980 but there are still some areas such as the western region and rural areas that continue to suffer from a high level of illiteracy due to the lack of capital inflow and government funding. This has indirectly affected economic growth and development in those particular areas. The government has launched various plans and policies to overcome or ameliorate the problems of educational and economic inequality, especially in the western region, and with all these efforts the government has been able to successfully reduce illiteracy and to a certain extent reduce inequality at the regional level. However, due to funding inequalities and shortcomings of government policies, education still faces daunting challenges in contemporary China.","PeriodicalId":35904,"journal":{"name":"Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68577079","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-03-09DOI: 10.22439/CJAS.V32I2.4765
Nis Grünberg
{"title":"Matthew Crabbe, Myth-Busting China's Numbers: Understanding and Using China's Statistics","authors":"Nis Grünberg","doi":"10.22439/CJAS.V32I2.4765","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22439/CJAS.V32I2.4765","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35904,"journal":{"name":"Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68577639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-03-09DOI: 10.22439/CJAS.V32I2.4758
L. Beh
This article analyses the left-behind children (LBC/Liu-shou-er-tong) phenomenon resulting from rural-urban mobility, focusing on their well-being and the problems faced. It demonstrates the current development, challenges and direction of social development as a result of this unprecedented phenomenon in Wuxi County, Chongqing. Interviews and semi-structured questionnaires were utilized in this research, which covered town and village schools, and individuals from NGOs as well as government departments. A brief concluding section draws together local government initiatives and programmes, offering a few general and interesting observations on the solutions using five models.
{"title":"China's Left-behind Children (Liu-shou-er-tong): Development and challenges for the Future.","authors":"L. Beh","doi":"10.22439/CJAS.V32I2.4758","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22439/CJAS.V32I2.4758","url":null,"abstract":"This article analyses the left-behind children (LBC/Liu-shou-er-tong) phenomenon resulting from rural-urban mobility, focusing on their well-being and the problems faced. It demonstrates the current development, challenges and direction of social development as a result of this unprecedented phenomenon in Wuxi County, Chongqing. Interviews and semi-structured questionnaires were utilized in this research, which covered town and village schools, and individuals from NGOs as well as government departments. A brief concluding section draws together local government initiatives and programmes, offering a few general and interesting observations on the solutions using five models.","PeriodicalId":35904,"journal":{"name":"Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68576993","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-03-09DOI: 10.22439/CJAS.V32I2.4760
Kjeld Erik Brødsgaard, Nis Grünberg
During the Fourth Plenary Session of the 13th Communist Party of China (CPC) Congress, a new and important reform document was adopted. Announcing reforms mainly in the juridical sector, the 'Decision of the CPC Central Committee Concerning Some Major Questions in Comprehensively Moving Governing the Country According to the Law Forward' is part of the overall reform package kicked off at the Third Plenum last year. This article points out the document's main objectives, and provides a preliminary analysis of the announced reforms. Three main themes are identified. First, the document is part of the overall goal of developing a special Chinese system of 'socialism with Chinese characteristics'. Second, not only institutions but also the minds and work styles of officials are to be reformed. Third, the document strongly affirms the CPC's role as the legal guardian of the reform process, as well as juridical matters.
{"title":"The Fourth Plenum of the CPC Makes an Important Decision on Law Reform in China","authors":"Kjeld Erik Brødsgaard, Nis Grünberg","doi":"10.22439/CJAS.V32I2.4760","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22439/CJAS.V32I2.4760","url":null,"abstract":"During the Fourth Plenary Session of the 13th Communist Party of China (CPC) Congress, a new and important reform document was adopted. Announcing reforms mainly in the juridical sector, the 'Decision of the CPC Central Committee Concerning Some Major Questions in Comprehensively Moving Governing the Country According to the Law Forward' is part of the overall reform package kicked off at the Third Plenum last year. This article points out the document's main objectives, and provides a preliminary analysis of the announced reforms. Three main themes are identified. First, the document is part of the overall goal of developing a special Chinese system of 'socialism with Chinese characteristics'. Second, not only institutions but also the minds and work styles of officials are to be reformed. Third, the document strongly affirms the CPC's role as the legal guardian of the reform process, as well as juridical matters.","PeriodicalId":35904,"journal":{"name":"Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68577673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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