Marginalisation in China: Perspectives on Transition and Globalisation

Despite fast growth for three decades, millions of people in China still live in poverty due to rising inequality. This volume, focusing on various aspects of marginalization in Chinese society, is a valuable contribution to existing literature and should be an essential reference for studies on China.'Shujie Yao, Professor of Economics and Head of the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham, UK.China's extraordinary economic success has had considerable social costs. This interesting edited volume offers in depth accounts of increasing inequality, rural poverty, reduced access to healthcare, the social exclusion of rural migrants and laid off workers and the impacts of globalisation on marginalised groups in China. It makes an important contribution to Chinese poverty studies.Delia Davin, Emeritus Professor of Chinese Social Studies, University Of LeedsEconomic transition in China has witnessed (re)centralisation of resources from the margin to the core in economic, social and political senses. Providing an insightful overview of China's recent development, this book employs a marginalisation lens to reveal, delineate and better understand the processes, patterns, trends, multiple dimensions and dynamics of the phenomenon, and the consequences and implications for development and well-being in the country.Bringing together a wide range of domestic and international experts and disciplinary perspectives, the book combines empirical research and conceptual analysis. It contributes to the debate over marginalisation and its interactions with globalisation and transition in China, and has significance for various domestic and international policy arenas in respect of tackling marginalisation, poverty and social exclusion effectively while striving for the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals in China and beyond.Contents: Introduction: marginalisation and globalisation in transitional China, Heather Xiaoquan Zhang and Richard Sanders. Part I China in Transition: Inequality, Poverty and Marginalisation: Marginalisation in the Chinese countryside: the question of rural poverty, Richard Sanders, Yang Chen and Yiying Cao; Marginalisation of laid-off state-owned enterprise workers in Wuhan, Jun Tang, Mingzhu Dong and Mark Duda; Marginalisation in the Chinese energy sector: the case of township and village coal mines, Philip Andrews-Speed; Living and working at the margin: migrant workers in China's transitional cities, Li Zhang; Marginalisation and health provision in transitional China, Zhiqiang Feng; Institutional responses to the changing patterns of poverty and marginalisation in China since 1949, Ka Lin. Part II Marginalisation in the Era of Globalisation in China: Globalisation and marginalisation of Chinese overseas contract workers, Bin Wu; The World Trade Organization and Chinese farmers: implications for agricultural crisis and marginalisation, John Q. Tian; China, the World trade Organization and the end of the agreement on textiles and clothing: impacts on the workers, Markus Eberhardt and John Thoburn; Conceptualising the links: migration, health and sustainable livelihoods in China, Heather Xiaoquan Zhang; Spatial and social marginalisation of health in China: the impact of globalisation, Ian G. Cook and Trevor J.B. Dummer; Civil society and marginalisation: grassroots NGOs in Qinghai province, Katherine Morton; Index.About the Author: Heather Xiaoquan Zhang is Lecturer in Chinese Studies in the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Leeds, UK. Bin Wu is Research Associate in the School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University UK. Richard Sanders is Reader in Political Economy at the University of Northampton, UK.