Lok Ching To. / Thesis submitted in: June 2002. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 132-134). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter Chapter One --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter Two --- Data & Methodology --- p.24 / Chapter Chapter Three --- Empirical Results --- p.50 / Chapter Chapter Four --- Discussion of Results and Policy Implications --- p.71 / Chapter Chapter Five --- Conclusion --- p.82 / Appendices / Chapter 1. --- Tables 1-59 --- p.85 / Chapter 2. --- Figures 1-27 --- p.105 / References --- p.132

The need to improve the quality of government decision-making and tailor China's management to its more complex economy after Mao's death forced China's Party authorities to implement a number of administrative reforms, and to select administrative leaders from among professionals and specialists based on their competence, education, and age. The crucial outcome of these post-Mao reforms, 1979 to the present, is the major focus of this research. This study examines the role of China's top administrative elites during and after the post-Mao administrative reforms, and determines to what extent the changes and their impact on the policy-making may have brought about better economic policies and development. China's social and political conditions and leadership changes before, during, and after the reform are provided as background information for the analysis of policy making in China. This is followed by an analysis of various contemporary theories of bureaucracy and technocracy in general, and the Weberian Legal-Rational model of modern bureaucracy in particular. Qualitative and quantitative methods coupled with surveys, interviews, biographical and documentary-historical methods, and other primary and secondary data are combined in this empirical study. The primary data on biographical information of administrative elites were drawn from the collected results of questionnaires and interviews with elite members of State Council ministries and commissions, provincial and municipal governments. The secondary data were used to conduct a biographical study of the Maoist and post-Mao top administrative elites--all premiers, vice-premiers, State Council ministers, and all provincial governors and municipal mayors from the founding of the PRC in 1949 up until 1993. Through these analyses, the study found that post-Mao administrative reform has indeed brought about changes in the composition of administrative elites. These post-Mao administrative elites are more professionally competent, better educated, more efficient, and younger. Their economic policies have stimulated more extensive and sustained economic development.

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In China, higher vocational education (HVE) is a specific educational form in terms of its the educational goals, management structure, and close relationship with the economy. During the past quarter century, China has experienced not only a substantial increase in economic progress, but also the influence of globalization on its political, socio-economic, and educational development. This thesis examines how HVE has changed since the emergence of a socialist market economy (SME) in 1992. It interprets the relationship between globalization and HVE in terms of actual changes that have occurred at the Vocational College of Shanghai Jiaotong University (VCSJTU). / The thesis is significant for three reasons. First, it generates useful insights into the process of HVE policy implementation in China since its economic transformation in the early 1990s, and interprets the relationship between globalization, SME, and HVE. The case study also generates insights which can contribute to understanding HVE policy on learning in relation to the context of the economic situation within China and the impact of globalization. Second, the thesis puts special emphasis on analyzing the culture and value changes in VCSJTU since its foundation and explores the deep roots between different values and their implications for people's understanding and appreciation of globalization in the school context. Third, the academic contributions of this case study include theoretical frames of reference on culture, education, and economic globalization. In particular, the study outlines and analyzes (with reflections) the experience gained during the internal economic transformations within China---an analysis which contributes to the international sociology of education, to an understanding of the values within education in relation to the impact of globalization.

Since 1979, China embarked on an economic reform to modernize the country. The reform was so successful that China was able to grow by an impressive rate of 9 percent per anum between 1979 and 1997. The rapid development of the economy leads to a drastic increase in demand for energy. Since China has the largest population in the world, its energy demand is nothing but huge. Each year, for example, China needs to install as much as 10,000 MW of new electricity generation capacity, which equals the curent capacity of Netherlands. This increase in demand for energy, which is likely to continue, wil have implications for global energy markets, the world price of energy and for the global environment as emissions of greenhouse gases grow rapidly. Against this background, there is an urgent need for the country to better manage the energy sector so that the market can function in an orderly manner. To tackle this issue, I single out three important energy problems to study. First, I wil examine the current situation of the energy imbalance in China. Second, I wil forecast how rapid the energy demand wil grow in future so that the deficit between the demand and domestic supply can be identified. Lastly, I wil discuss some methods that can be used to manage the demand. My finding shows that energy-capital and energy-material inputs are complementary, whereas the relationship of energy and labour is insignificant. In addition, the simulation exercises also reveals that a high energy pricing policy might not be effective in mitigating the demand and in encouraging firms to employ labour intensive techniques. Also, rising energy prices may bring spiral inflation and deterioration in the balance of payments and foreign resources. Therefore, government should act cautiously when increasing energy prices.

This thesis will examine the experiences of China's urban private businesspeople over the reform-era (1978--present). I will show that this socioeconomic group has experienced colossal improvements in the political, economic and social environment in which they operate their businesses. In contrast to the early reform years, in the 1990s businesspeople have, in the words of a businesswoman I interviewed, been "given the green light." The business climate is so favourable that successful private economic actors have become an elite and privileged group. However, no analysis of China's private businesspeople is complete without attention to the issue of gender. Persistent gender bias and discrimination against women in Chinese society has a negative impact on the ability of businesswomen to take advantage of the friendly new business environment and its attendant opportunities. / The overall trend toward a basically positive business climate and the gender specific challenges experienced by businesswomen will be examined primarily by presenting personal portraits of four private businesspeople selected out of forty formal interviews conducted by the author in the spring and summer of 1998 in Tianjin city, northeastern China.

Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University of Adelaide Library. / This thesis examines the history and roles of Ethnic Chinese businesses in the China's economic development from 1978 to 2003, with the focus on the Ethnic Teochew Chinese community. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1284178 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of History and Politics, 2007

Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University of Adelaide Library. / This thesis examines the history and roles of Ethnic Chinese businesses in the China's economic development from 1978 to 2003, with the focus on the Ethnic Teochew Chinese community. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1284178 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of History and Politics, 2007

Housing was considered a public good rather than a marketable commodity at the early stage in the development of most socialist countries. Governments in those countries assumed full responsibility for urban housing finance, construction, allocation, management, maintenance and rehabilitation. A policy of low official rents and high subsidies was adopted as the method to ensure that all urban residents would have access to the state built housing stock. Success in solving the housing problem was to be a showpiece for the socialist countries. However, after approximately forty years of development of the socialist housing economy, many urban residents in countries such as China and Hungary still face severe housing problems. The governments in these two countries have initiated a variety of new efforts in recent years in an attempt to improve the living conditions of their urban residents. In spite of this, many urban housing problems persist and some are even becoming worse. In view of this situation, both governments have introduced new housing policies which recognize certain aspects of housing as a commodity within the socialist economy. A major aim of these new policies is to encourage individual financial participation in residential construction. This approach, commonly referred to as the policy of housing commercialization, is considered by government to be a feasible approach to resolving the tenacious urban housing problem and an effective means to significantly improve living conditions for all urban residents. By undertaking a comparative study of China's and Hungary's urban housing policies, housing delivery systems and housing problems, this research endeavours to describe and assess the rationale and other associated factors behind this housing policy transformation in both China and Hungary. In addition, this research examines the lessons of Hungary's housing policy reform and concludes with a set of policy recommendations for China's future urban housing efforts. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

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