The on-going debate on China's development model presents a fascinating yet very different image of Chinese exceptionalism, an idea that is similar to American exceptionalism. Is China exceptionalism a myth or reality? Will modern China, born of Confucian creeds, be culturally, economically and politically distinct from Western industrialized nations in an age of globalization? Does the Confucian culture make any qualitative difference in China's developmental path and her international behavior in dealing with other nations? Will China be something of a paradox? Will this claim of distinction be a double-edged sword that will eventually hunt China in its future development? To decipher the complex Chinese labyrinth, this coedited book explores the development of a new social democracy, the Chinese vision of human rights and civil society, the asymmetry between economic and political development and the puzzle it presents, and the informal politics and Chinese innovation on governance and problem solving. We will also present a number of studies detailing innovations and systems that are distinctively Chinese, including innovations at local governances, the intriguing relationship between NGOs and the state, the grievance-addressing system (xinfang), and the co-existence of atheists and theists in China. As a multi-disciplinary research project, it attempts to shed some lights on these important questions.
About the Author: Editors: Baogang Guo is Professor of Political Science at Dalton State College, and the past president of the Association of the Association of Chinese Political Studies (ACPS. 2008-2010). He was associate editor of the Journal of Chinese Political Science (2004-2010) and research associate in China Research Center based in Metro Atlanta, GA. His research interests include comparative public policy, political culture and political legitimacy, and Chinese and Asia politics. He is author of China's Quest for Political Legitimacy (Lexington Books, 2010), associate editor of China Today (Greenwood Press, 2005), co-editor of China's Quiet Rise: Peace Through Integration (Lexington Books, 2011), Toward Better Governance in China (Lexington Books, 2010), Dancing with Dragon (Lexington Books, 2010), Thirty Years of China-US Relations (Lexington Books, 2010), Greater China in an Era of Globalization (Lexington Books, 2009), China in Search of a Harmonious Society (Lexington Books, 208), Challenges Facing Chinese Political Development (Lexington Books, 2007), and author of nine book chapters and eleven peer reviewed journal articles. His recent publications appeared on Asian Survey, Journal of Chinese Political Science, Modern China Studies, Journal of Comparative Asian Development, Twenty-first Century, and American Journal of China Studies. He Li is Professor of Political Science at Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts. Li is the author of From Revolution to Reform: A Comparative Study of China and Mexico (University Press of America, 2004) and Sino-Latin American Economic Relations (Praeger, 1991). Li has published dozens of arti-cles in journals such as Journal of Strategic Studies, Problems of Post-Communism, The Historian, Policy Studies Journal, Journal of Chinese Politi-cal Science, Asian Perspective, American Journal of Chinese Studies, Asian Affairs, and chapters in several books. Contributors: Lacey Bradley-Storey, Xinjun Gao, Ziying He, Xiaobo Hu, Michael Kilburn, Vitaly Kozyrev, Huisheng Shou, Congsheng Wu, Jianxing Yu, Siyuan Zhou, Yiran Zhou