Centre and Provinces: China 1978–1993

Abstract
This project was first conceived in spring 1989, before the traumatic events in Beijing unfolded to a tragic climax. The original thinking was to contribute towards the identification of factors which underlie the ‘cyclical’ pattern of national integration and disintegration throughout Chinese history, and thereby to explore the possibilities of qualitative change in political processes. The main body of the book, which is based on my doctoral thesis at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, has, however, a narrower focus and a humbler objective. It examines how two apparently atypical provincial-level governments, Guangdong and Shanghai, have sought to achieve their objectives in investment expansion and economic development since 1978 within the constraints of the central government. The findings of this examination have, however, indicated that the central—provincial interface may be the locus where qualitative changes in political processes will first occur in China.

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