Description
In this book, Teresa Wright analyzes the array of protests that have swept China in the post-Mao period. Exploring popular contention through a range of different groups - from farmers to factory workers, urban homeowners to environmentalists, nationalists to dissidents, ethnic minorities to Hong Kong residents, Wright shows that - with the exception of the latter - popular protest has achieved adequate government responses to the public's most serious grievances.
Yet Wright cautions that this may not last forever. For Chinese citizens that engage in protest often suffer serious emotional and physical costs. As a result, they have developed an unhealthy relationship with the regime. In this context, Xi Jinping's recent efforts to restrict public expression may backfire - leading to an explosive dynamic that may threaten the political stability that China's ruling elites so desire.
About the Author
Teresa Wright is Professor of Political Science at California State University, Long Beach.
Reviews
"In this concise but remarkably wide-ranging book, Teresa Wright shows why the Chinese government represses some protests, accommodates others, and responds with policy change to still others. Her keen insights on the government's varied responses to protest have a lot to say about the practice of Chinese politics and our understanding of it."
-Bruce Dickson, The George Washington University
"Protest is crucial and tells us much about state-society relations in China. Teresa Wright has mastered a large and scattered literature and located the thread that weaves it together. The origins, dynamics and outcomes of protest are all here, explained clearly and gracefully, from the beginnings of the reform era to today."
-Kevin J. O'Brien, University of California, Berkeley
"Comprehensive and thorough."
-Europe-Asia Studies
Book Information
ISBN 9781509503568
Author Teresa Wright
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Polity Press
Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Weight(grams) 363g
Dimensions(mm) 206mm * 145mm * 20mm
