BR - Just one child

provincial-level party schools (p. 17), as these too fall under the Organization Department, or the Institutes of Socialism (p. 17), which fall under the CCP United Front Department, or the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and provincial academies (pp. 18, 28, 117–119), although there are horizontal professional linkages. I was also surprised to find little mention of the General Administration on Press and Publishing, given its pervasive power over ‘‘all the news that is fit to print’’ in China. But these empirical errors and omissions are minor, as her overall depiction of the propaganda system is both comprehensive and mostly accurate (as best we know). Particularly valuable is her description of ‘‘external propaganda’’ described in chapter seven, as this has become an important development since the 1990s and China’s discovery of the value of ‘‘soft power’’ and ‘‘public diplomacy.’’ This is a subject area ripe for further research. Also of particular use is her glossary of Chinese terms associated with propaganda work. In researching her book, Brady has tapped into some important and difficult-to-find Chinese materials. After outlining the propaganda bureaucracy, Brady provides a summary overview of the historical evolution of the system. This is adequately done, although cursory. Much more could have been said, for example, about the post-1989 retrenchment of the system. The heart and best parts of Brady’s study lie in her four intermediate chapters on methods of control (chapter five), communications technology (chapter six), and external propaganda work (chapter seven). These fine chapters could have been made even better, however, with some in-depth case studies to illustrate her themes and analysis. Her description of internet controls is among the best available (pp. 125–139), and her list of seven guidelines for ‘‘thought work’’ (pp. 95–104) beautifully capture the principal goals and trends of the propaganda bureaucracy today. Less convincing is her broader assertion that her book ‘‘…create[s] a new theoretical model to describe the CCP’s continued purchase on power’’ (p. 200). The author more asserts this in her concluding chapter than proves it in the text. Nonetheless, I agree fully with her argument that the CCP is reinventing and relegitimating itself – and that its efforts to ‘‘win hearts and minds’’ are at the centre of this effort. She shows well how, ‘‘[s]ince the early-1990s, China’s propaganda leadership has embraced new modern methods of social control and persuasion and have introduced the use of new technology into propaganda work. In doing so, they have made a major contribution toward creating the conditions for ongoing CCP rule in China. Rather than being dead or in decline, the propaganda state is alive and well in China, and looks to continue that way for the near future’’ (p. 201). In sum, Anne-Marie Brady has contributed a much-needed assessment of the often ‘‘invisible hand’’ guiding what Chinese citizens are permitted to know and how they know it. DAVID SHAMBAUGH Just One Child: Science and Policy in Deng’s China S U SAN GR E ENHA LGH Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 2008 xxii + 403 pp. $21.95; £12.95 ISBN 978-0-520253391 doi:10.1017/S0305741008000908 In an ironic twist of fate, this volume’s publication date is in close proximity to the Sichuan earthquake of 2008. Its title will bring to mind the death of so many single children and teachers buried in the collapsed schools. There were no pictures more Book Reviews 693 heart-rending than those of parents lamenting the death of their only child. Published estimates of the number killed have varied: some reports estimate between 10,000 and 15,000 children, many of whom were the single child allowed. The government moved rapidly to address some of the needs of these sorrowing parents, even, it has been reported, promising to permit and pay for reversing the sterilizations of those who had undergone the procedure (a procedure with equivocal success rate). In thinking about this tragic loss, many will wonder why the Chinese policy of the early 1970s which called for delayed marriage, spacing between births and recommended limitation with respect to the number of children was replaced by the draconian ‘‘just one child’’ policy? Susan Greenhalgh, a premier anthropologist with a long and distinguished career in population and family planning, addresses this question with great rigour. As the subtitle suggests, she considers two themes in her analysis. Firstly, she looks carefully at theories of Marxism and science. This portion of the volume engages the reader in considering the ways in which science becomes an apparent vehicle for policy. Though this volume is basically analysing the Chinese post-Mao experience, non- China specialist readers will recognize the potential for adapting the experience in science and policies to other nations with respect to problems such as oil and nuclear regulation. The interaction of science and policy with respect to population is the basis of her analysis here. Greenhalgh then points the reader to the process whereby apparent demographic outcomes eventually lead to the controversial birth-planning policy (single-child family, SCF) adopted by the Chinese Communist Party leaders. Writing this book was a challenging task. A reader need only look at the interview list (names are omitted) to grasp the difficulty of organizing and utilizing data from more than 144 interviews conducted over two decades. The Reference section in this volume is broad in coverage. It includes not only sources for the changing Chinese political scene, domestic struggles and personalities involved, but also for the broader political and science theories which underpin the author’s argument and are crucial to her story. Of special interest in the volume is the central role of the scientist Song Jian, whose experience working onmissile development provided him with skills which were then partially redefined for the analysis of China’s population future. Song set forth a population growth rate over the coming decades that seemed to result in catastrophic consequences forChinesemodernization. The essence ofGreenhalgh’s argument is that Song was able to persuade the Chinese leaders of the extreme gravity of the projected growth data to the extent that they came to endorse the single-child policy. This analysis is set forth in several parts. Tightly written, the book contrasts the matter of science and socialism which led from a relatively soft family plan to the more restrictive SCF policy. Demographic outcomes predicted by Song Jian in a scientific mode were translated into policy. Given the complexity of her argument and the sophistication of her presentation, Greenhalgh adopts a clear organizational format. The initial chapters set forth the anthropological perspective as it applies to the specific policy that is developed later in the volume. This is followed by a discussion of the role of ‘‘Ideology’’ before ‘‘Science.’’ In essence, population matters were shaped by socialism. Steps toward political decisions were preceded by the crucial recognition of China’s need for reform in the post-Mao period. But the field of study that was needed to underpin the necessary reforms had been risky under Mao. Many were reluctant to study demography or to acquire the skills required for analysis. Greenhalgh alerts the reader to an important exception. The military, especially those in missile development, escaped unscathed from Maoist sanctions and their skills remained relevant when demographic projections were needed to plan China’s future. When it became possible and indeed necessary to address the statistical requirements for a population science, it was in the military that scholars 694 The China Quarterly, 195, September 2008, pp. 691–718 were found (of whom Song Jian was the most prominent for the purposes of this review) who would become key personnel. Having set the stage for the last third of the book, Greenhalgh then leads the reader through a fascinating account of the politics that led to the SCF. Step by step she recounts the meetings, conferences, interpersonal relationships and problematic choices that brought the Party and government to consider, endorse and then publicize the new policy. This decision was taken even though many along the way were obviously doubtful of the SCF’s stringent rules. Some of this history has been recorded elsewhere. However, this discussion of the role of Song Jian and his colleagues enables the reader to grasp the intricacies of the political process. The author’s handling of the relationship between demography, statistics and policy in this socialist setting is especially informative. Are there limitations in this volume? The charts were difficult to understand, let alone integrate in the text, and some readersmay findportionsof the early discussionof theory and science elusive, although the clear organization provides an aid. Some readers will wish that the author had carried forward her account. She is certainly well informed on thematter, and the policy itself has beenmodified in recent years. Someof the unspoken fears whispered as the Party leadership moved toward their goal of a SCF have turned out to be well founded. One will have to look elsewhere for that portion of the story. Despite these few reservations this is a magnificent piece of scholarship on a topic of great interest. JOYCE K. KALLGREN Boundaries and Categories: Rising Inequality in Post-Socialist Urban China WANG F ENG Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2008 xvi + 241 pp. $55 ISBN 978-0-8047-5794-2 doi:10.1017/S030574100800091X Income inequality has famously increased during the transition period in both urban and rural China and between these. This book, with its infelicitous title, focuses on urban income. It aims to identify the structural sources of inequality, both new and old, in China’s towns and cities and show how older, pre-reform structures continue to influence inequality.WangFeng refers to the structural units inwhich he is interested as ‘‘categories,’’ meaning such characteristics as ownership of enterprise, location, industrial sector, and the danwei system of work organization. These categories, which in the 1950s became determinants of China’s income distribution, social control and basic economic organization, ‘‘have evolved into more permanent source of economic inequality in post-socialist China’’ (p. 25). Wang focuses especially on the role of local government and on the change in property rights, and shows how the categories stemming from these two sets of institutions underlie much of the increase in overall urban inequality during the transition years. The data for the study come principally from two sources: the urban household surveys of the National Bureau of Statistics and field interviews conducted between 1995 and 2000. For the first, Wang Feng obtained household/individual-level data for about 30 cities in three provinces – Guangdong, Liaoning and Sichuan – over a 15-year period. The three provinces, while not representative of China as a whole, do cover quite disparate aspects of the national experience. The sample frame, adhering to the official definition of ‘‘urban,’’ excludes rural–urban migrants, an important omission whose implications are discussed in an appendix. Book Reviews 695