In China's future social development, there is likely to be an interest in 'society building' with interactions between top-down and bottom-up approaches, along with a deepened levelof social reform and the construction of a harmonious or 'symbiotic society'. This representsone of China's social development models, and is reflected in the Communist Party of China(CPC) and state policy. The term 'society building' was proposed by Chinese thinkers nearly a century ago and was used by Chinese sociologists to study Chinese society since the 1930s. In the 21st century, 'society building' has been used as an interdisciplinary concept by Chinese social scientists. The main concern of China for its future social development is to enhance its people's wellbeing and encourage them to build Chinese society in innovative and creative ways.This volume showcases the latest research of non-Chinese scholars relating to this indigenousconcept and to China's social development in a global context. It tackles the followingtopics: the assessment of the social impact of infrastructure projects; China's reforms and itschanging political system; whether or not the Singapore model is suitable for China to follow;soft power through education; and boundaries, cosmopolitanisms and spaces in Chineseand international cities. The book will be of interest to academics, professionals, practitioners,university students and the general public seeking a comprehensive understanding of China.Society Building: A China Model of Social Development is the second volume in the Understanding China and the World series, edited by the late Chinese sociologist ZHENG Hangsheng (1936-2014) and British-Chinese scholar Xiangqun Chang. Both the title of the volume and book series deliberately reflect a new perspective on China, putting China in the context of globalization and inspiring comparative studies that enable non-Chinese to understand China and the world.About the book series and backgroundThis book was first published in 2014 by Cambridge Scholars Publishing (CSP). Five new pieces have been added to this new edition and many changes in other 3 pieces. It is published by the UK-based Global China Press (GCP) and New World Press (NWP). GCP is the first publisher specializing in dual language publications that focus on Chinese perspectives of the world and human knowledge and non-Chinese perspectives of China in a global context. NWP was founded in 1951 and is a member of the China International Publishing Group (CIPG). It publishes multilingual books on social sciences, literature, management and other disciplines that serve to introduce China to the world. As early as the 1980s, NWP published the China Study series in English, covering China's economy, politics, ethnicity, population, history, sociology and anthropology, and including Fei Xiaotong's Toward a People's Anthropology (1981), Chinese Village Close-Up (1982) and Small Towns in China (1986). NWP is republishing the China Study series jointly with GCP, supplemented by new titles.
