Contemporary Chinese Politics
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Contemporary Chinese Politics Contemporary Chinese Politics considers how new and diverse sources and methods are changing the study of Chinese politics. Contributors spanning three generations in China studies place their distinct qualitative and quantitative meth- odological approaches in the framework of the discipline and point to challenges or opportunities (or both) of adapting new sources and methods to the study of contemporary China. How can we more effectively use new sources and methods of data collection? How can we better integrate the study of Chinese politics into the discipline of political science, to the betterment of both? How can we more appropriately manage the logistical and ethical problems of doing political research in the challenging Chinese environment? In addressing these questions, this comprehensive methodological survey will be of immense interest to graduate students heading into the fi eld for the fi rst time and experienced scholars looking to keep abreast of the state of the art in the study of Chinese politics. Allen Carlson is an associate professor in Cornell University’s Government Department. He is the author of Unifying China, Integrating with the World: Securing Chinese Sovereignty during the Reform Era (2005) and the coeditor (with J. J. Suh and Peter Katzenstein) of Rethinking Security in East Asia: Power, Identity and Effi ciencies (2004). His articles have appeared in the Journal of Contemporary China and Pacifi c Affairs . Mary E. Gallagher is an associate professor of political science at the University of Michigan and the director of the Center for Chinese Studies. She is also a faculty associate at the Center for Comparative Political Studies at the Institute for Social Research. She is the author of Contagious Capitalism: Globalization and the Politics of Labor in China (2005), and her articles have appeared in World Politics , Law and Society Review , Studies in Comparative International Development , and Asian Survey . Kenneth Lieberthal is a senior Fellow in Foreign Policy and in Global Economy and Development and also is director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution. He has written and edited fi fteen books and monographs, most recently The U.S. Intelligence Community and Foreign Policy: Getting Analysis Right (2009) and (with David Sandalow) Overcoming Obstacles to US-China Cooperation on Climate Change (2009). He is also the author of about seventy periodical articles and chapters in books and has published in the New York Times , Washington Post , Los Angeles Times , Financial Times , South China Morning Post , and numerous other newspapers. Melanie Manion is a professor of political science and public affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her publications include Retirement of Revolutionaries in China (1993) and Corruption by Design (2004). Her articles have appeared in the American Political Science Review ; Comparative Political Studies ; Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization ; and China Quarterly . Contemporary Chinese Politics New Sources, Methods, and Field Strategies Edited by ALLEN CARLSON Cornell University MARY E. GALLAGHER University of Michigan, Ann Arbor KENNETH LIEBERTHAL Brookings Institution MELANIE MANION University of Wisconsin–Madison CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo, Mexico City Cambridge University Press 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, ny 10013-2473, usa www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521155762 © Cambridge University Press 2010 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2010 Printed in the United States of America A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Contemporary Chinese politics : new sources, methods, and fi eld strategies / edited by Allen Carlson ... [et al.]. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-521-19783-0 – isbn 978-0-521-15576-2 (pbk.) 1. China – Politics and government – 2002– 2. China – Politics and government – 2002– Methodology. 3. Political science – Methodology. I. Carlson, Allen, 1968– II. Title. jq1510.c68 2010 320.951–dc22 2010018862 isbn 978-0-521-19783-0 Hardback isbn 978-0-521-15576-2 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Contents Tables and Figures page vii Contributors ix Abbreviations xi Introduction 1 Allen Carlson, Mary E. Gallagher, and Melanie Manion Part I Sources 1 State-Generated Data and Contentious Politics in China 15 Xi Chen 2 Why Archives? 33 Neil J. Diamant 3 The Central Committee, Past and Present: A Method of Quantifying Elite Biographies 51 Victor Shih, Wei Shan, and Mingxing Liu 4 Experimental Methods and Psychological Measures in the Study of Chinese Foreign Policy 69 Peter Hays Gries 5 Internet Resources and the Study of Chinese Foreign Relations: Can Cyberspace Shed New Light on China’s Approach to the World? 88 Allen Carlson and Hong Duan 6 Information Overload? Collecting, Managing, and Analyzing Chinese Media Content 107 Daniela Stockmann Part II Qualitative Methods 7 The Worm’s-Eye View: Using Ethnography to Illuminate Labor Politics and Institutional Change in Contemporary China 129 Calvin Chen v vi Contents 8 More Than an Interview, Less Than Sedaka: Studying Subtle and Hidden Politics with Site-Intensive Methods 145 Benjamin L. Read 9 Cases, Questions, and Comparison in Research on Contemporary Chinese Politics 162 William Hurst Part III Survey Methods 10 A Survey of Survey Research on Chinese Politics: What Have We Learned? 181 Melanie Manion 11 Surveying Prospects for Political Change: Capturing Political and Economic Variation in Empirical Research in China 200 Bruce J. Dickson 12 Using Clustered Spatial Data to Study Diffusion: The Case of Legal Institutions in China 219 Pierre F. Landry 13 Measuring Change and Stability over a Decade in the Beijing Area Study 236 Mingming Shen and Ming Yang, with Melanie Manion 14 Quantitative Research and Issues of Political Sensitivity in Rural China 246 Lily L. Tsai Refl ections on the Evolution of the China Field in Political Science 266 Kenneth Lieberthal Glossary 279 References 283 Index 311 Tables and Figures Tables 3.1 Tracking Chen Yun’s positions in the 1950s page 55 4.1 Structures of national identity: Pattern matrix loadings for principal axis factor analysis with Promax rotation for American and Chinese samples, 2009 79 4.2 Descriptive statistics: Correlations, signifi cance levels, means, standard deviations, and scale alphas and Ns for 2009 Beijing sample (minimum N = 156) 81 6.1 Percentage of 100 samples falling within one and two standard errors of the population mean in two newspapers 115 10.1 Probability sample surveys on Chinese politics resulting in publications analyzing original datasets 186 10.2 Mainland partner institutions for probability sample surveys on Chinese politics 191 11.1 The trade-off between goals of development among offi cials and entrepreneurs 211 11.2 Perceived threats to stability among private entrepreneurs and local offi cials 213 11.3 Distribution of private entrepreneurs in local people’s congresses 214 11.4 Probit regression: Determinants of private entrepreneurs in people’s congresses 216 12.1 Conditions for institutional diffusion 230 12.2 Impact of court adopters on the mean propensity to go to court 231 12.3 Probit estimates of going to court in civil, economic, and administrative cases 233 vii viii Tables and Figures 13.1 Questions asked annually in the Beijing Area Study 239 13.2 Overview of sampling and survey implementation in BAS fi rst decade 243 13.3 Incomplete interviews due to unmet requirements in BAS fi rst decade 244 Figures 3.1 Average age and 25th and 75th percentile age of Central Committee members, 1921–2006 61 3.2 Average birth year and 25th and 75th percentile birth year of Central Committee members, 1921–2006 62 3.3 Percentage of Central Committee members with Long March experience and the number of Long Marchers 63 3.4 Average education level of Central Committee members, 1921–2006 64 3.5 The share of Central Committee members with common experience with Hu Yaobang and Hua Guofeng, 1970–1990 66 4.1 International anxiety as a function of nation, domain, and frame, 2006 samples 74 4.2 International pride as a function of nation and frame, 2006 samples 75 4.3 Final Beijing path model, 2009 sample 82 6.1 Percentage of Xinhua news articles among all articles about the United States published in the People’s Daily , September 2001–July 2002 118 12.1 The ILRC survey of China (2003–2004) 222 12.2 Example of a county map displaying township boundaries and basic infrastructure overlaid to the Google Earth model, with grids coded in KML displaying three TSUs in each sampled township 224 12.3 Example of a spatial sampling unit (half-square minute) drawn in a low-density rural area in western China 225 12.4 Example of spatial sampling units in an urban area 226 12.5 Impact of the combined presence of court adopters in the community and the respondent’s level of trust in the courts on the probability of adopting courts as a dispute resolution venue in a civil case 234 Contributors Allen Carlson is an associate professor in the Government Department at Cornell University. Calvin Chen is an associate professor of politics at Mount Holyoke College. Xi Chen is an associate professor of political science at Louisiana State University. Neil J. Diamant is an associate professor of political science and Asian law and society at Dickinson College.