Abstract
This chapter addresses the ways in which the Chinese state’s policies in population management deal with inequality in public service provision in urban settings. In seeking to go beyond the appeal to class and space, it makes a number of conceptual connections between equality, freedom, and rule. It also identifies the parties to exchange as being more than simply the undifferentiated state and a similarly undifferentiated society. The three paradigmatic perspectives from the introductory chapter are again put to use with the benefit of such elaborations in the examination of policies which allow internal migrants without local household registration to access publicly funded education for their children. Unexpected variations in policy within the Municipality of Suzhou are discussed in terms of freedom in trading with the state as opposed to freedom from trading with the state in return for public service provision. In spite of state policy and also because of it, inequality in public service provision is shown to be far more complex than previously thought.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
That is, 公共服务均等化 (gōnggòng fúwù jūnděnghuà).
- 2.
That is, 省直管县财政 (shěng zhíguǎn xiàn cáizhèng).
References
Arendt, H. (1963). On revolution. Penguin.
Cartier, C. (2016). A political economy of rank: The territorial administrative hierarchy and leadership mobility in urban China. Journal of Contemporary China, 25(100), 529–546. https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2015.1132771
Cartier, C., & Hu, D. (2020). Suzhou and the city-region: The administrative divisions in historical perspective and rural-urban transition. In B. Tang & P. Cheung (Eds.), Suzhou in transition: Social change and development in contemporary China (pp. 193–213). Routledge.
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, & State Council. (2014). National new-type urbanisation plan (2014–2020). The People’s Press.
Cheung, P. (2021). Location-specific citizenship: State visions of spatial selectivity in the cities of Bei**g and Suzhou. Territory, Politics, Governance. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2021.1982760
District of Wujiang. (2014a). Details of implementation of the new citizenship points-system in Wujiang, Suzhou (Wuzhengban 2014 Number 126). http://www.zgwj.gov.cn/upfile/template/contentpage/zgwj_zwgknew/nry.aspx?ID=36022
District of Wujiang. (2014b). Means of managing the new citizenship points-system in Wujiang, Suzhou (Wuzhengguizi 2014 Number 2).
District of Wujiang. (2016a). Means of managing the new citizenship points-system in Wujiang, Suzhou (Revised) (Wuzhengguizi 2016 Number 1). http://www.zgwj.gov.cn/images/52169152fce6ca3a69923667b8a6f52e/20161110141224493123.doc
District of Wujiang. (2016b). Scoring criteria for the new citizenship points-system in Wujiang, Suzhou (Revised) (Wuzhengban 2016 Number 7). http://www.zgwj.gov.cn/images/ea1700d90abe996ab582a9460491f98a/20161110141422026961.doc
Dong, Y. M., & Goodburn, C. (2020). Residence permits and points systems: New forms of educational and social stratification in Urban China. Journal of Contemporary China, 29(125), 647–666. https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2019.1704997
Es**-Andersen, G. (1990). The three worlds of welfare capitalism. Polity Press.
Goodman, D. S. G. (2014). Class in contemporary China. Wiley.
Herodotus. (1921). Herodotus, with an English translation by A.D. Godley (A. D. Godley, Trans., Vol. II). Heinemann.
Herodotus. (1998). Herodotus: The histories (R. Waterfield, Trans.). Oxford University Press.
Herodotus. (2005). The histories (G. C. Macaulay & D. Lateiner, Trans.). Barnes & Noble Classics.
Hobbes, T. (1675). The history of the Grecian War in Eight Books. London: Charles Harper.
Karatani, K. (2008). Beyond capital-nation-state. Rethinking Marxism, 20(4), 569–595. https://doi.org/10.1080/08935690802299447
Karatani, K. (2010/2014). The structure of world history (M. K. Bourdaghs, Trans.). Duke University Press.
Karatani, K. (2012/2017). Isonomia and the origins of philosophy (J. A. Murphy, Trans.). Duke University Press.
Liu, S., Sun, W., & Barrow, E. (2017). Promises and practices: A case study on compulsory education policy implementation in a large migrant-inflow city in China. Second international handbook of urban education (pp. 133–149). Springer International Publishing.
Ma, L. J. C. (2005). Urban administrative restructuring, changing scale relations and local economic development in China. Political Geography, 24(4), 477–497.
Municipality of Suzhou. (2015a). Means of managing the points-system for the transient population (Sufuguizi 2015 Number 6). http://www.zfxxgk.suzhou.gov.cn/sxqzf/szsrmzf/201512/t20151214_654708.html
Municipality of Suzhou. (2015b). Scoring criteria of the points-system for the transient population (Sufuguizi 2015 Number 7). http://www.zfxxgk.suzhou.gov.cn/sjjg/szszffzbgs/201601/t20160118_668648.html
Municipality of Suzhou. (2020a). Means of managing the points-system for the transient population (Sufuguizi 2020 Number 15). https://www.suzhou.gov.cn/szsrmzf/zfwj/202011/53f6b237c13f4bf1b09df5accd14053d.shtml
Municipality of Suzhou. (2020b). Scoring criteria of the points-system for the transient population (Sufuguizi 2020 Number 16). https://www.suzhou.gov.cn/szsrmzf/zfwj/202011/5f567825d58d48ed8e3353f971bff6c5.shtml
National Development and Reform Commission. (2018). Notice concerning key tasks in the implementation of new-type urbanization in 2018. http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2018-03/13/content_5273637.htm
National People's Congress. (2006). Outline of the eleventh five-year plan of the economy and society of the People's Republic of China. http://www.gov.cn/gongbao/content/2006/content_268766.htm
National People's Congress. (2011). Outline of the twelfth five-year plan of the economy and society of the People's Republic of China. http://www.gov.cn/2011lh/content_1825838.htm
National People's Congress. (2016). Outline of the thirteenth five-year plan of the economy and society of the People's Republic of China. http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2016-03/18/nw.D110000renmrb_20160318_1-01.htm
Province of Jiangsu. (2013). Notice concerning the issuing of the means of managing the residency of the transient population (Suzhengbanfa (2013) Number 179). http://www.jiangsu.gov.cn/jsgov/tj/bgt/201311/W020131119521174530115.doc
Province of Jiangsu. (2019). Opinion on the promotion of permanent settlement of the non-registered population (Suzhengbanfa 2019 Number 90). http://www.js.gov.cn/art/2020/1/7/art_64797_8903162.html
Saich, T. (2008). Providing public goods in transitional China. Palgrave Macmillan.
Shang Yang. (1928). The book of Lord Shang (J. J. Duyvendak, Trans.). Probsthain.
Solinger, D. J. (1993). China’s transients and the state: A form of civil society? Politics and Society, 21(1), 91–122.
Solinger, D. J. (1999). Contesting citizenship in urban China. University of California Press.
Solinger, D. J. (2006). The creation of a new underclass in China and its implications. Environment and Urbanization, 18(1), 177.
State Council. (2012). Notice regarding the issuing of the system of basic public services—Companion to the twelfth five-year plan (Guofa (2012) Number 29). http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2012-07/20/content_2187242.htm
State Council. (2017). Notice regarding the progress of basic public services equalisation—Companion to the thirteenth five-year plan (Guofa (2017) Number 9). http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2017-03/01/content_5172013.htm
Wan, Y., & Vickers, E. (2021). Towards meritocratic apartheid? Points systems and migrant access to China’s Urban Public Schools. China Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305741021000990
Wang, X. (2020). Permits, points, and permanent household registration: Recalibrating Hukou Policy under “top-level design.” Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 49(3), 269–290. https://doi.org/10.1177/1868102619894739
Wang, X., & Rong, X. (2019). Variations in educational inequalities in China and policy implications. In J. Yu & S. Guo (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of local governance in contemporary China (pp. 509–540). Palgrave Macmillan.
Wen, H. Z., **ao, Y., & Zhang, L. (2017). School district, education quality, and housing price: Evidence from a natural experiment in Hangzhou, China. Cities, 66, 72–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2017.03.008
Xu, Y., Song, W. X., & Liu, C. H. (2018). Social-spatial accessibility to urban educational resources under the school district system: A case study of public primary schools in Nan**g, China. Sustainability, 10(7). https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072305
Zhang, C. (2018). Governing neoliberal authoritarian citizenship: Theorizing hukou and the changing mobility regime in China. Citizenship Studies, 22(8), 855–881. https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2018.1531824
Zhou, T. (2014). The institutional shift from “city-leading-counties” to “province-leading counties”. Chinese Cadres Tribune (07), 7–11. https://doi.org/10.14117/j.cnki.cn11-3331/d.2014.07.016
Zhou, X. (2004). The state and the life chances in Urban China. Cambridge University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cheung, P. (2022). Urban Classes. In: Statecraft in Symbols. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3319-6_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3319-6_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-19-3318-9
Online ISBN: 978-981-19-3319-6
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)