Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T19:51:23.725Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Forestry Reform and the Transformation of State Capacity in Fin-de-Siècle China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2009

Get access

Abstract

How to best maintain public goods under conditions of chronic resource shortage and insufficient state administrative capacity is a challenge for nearly all developing states. This article concentrates on a range of attempted reforms in China's forestry sector in the 1990s. It first evaluates the dynamics of long-standing “leakiness” in forestry conservation initiatives. After a set of major floods in 1998, major uncertainties remained as to how to effectively implement conservation initiatives, given systemic underfunding and patchy administrative supervision from higher levels. The article then argues that higher (central and provincial) levels of the state have employed measures substantially unchanged since late imperial times: (1) the partial rationalization and extension of formal bureaucratic systems of direct control, and (2) the manipulation of moral incentives through exhortation and appeals to a complex trope of “cadre quality,” concluding that subjective notions of moral “character” in local leadership can combine with objective economic and infrastructural factors to either support or undercut central state initiatives.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

List of References

Bendix, Reinhard. 1959. From Max Weber: An Intellectual Portrait. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Bernstein, Thomas. 1999. “Farmer Discontent and Regime Responses.” In The Paradox of China's Post-Mao Reforms, ed. Goldman, Merle and MacFarquhar, Roderick, 197219. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Chi, Augustine Muam. 1999. “Co-Management of Forests in Cameroon: The Compatibility of Government Policies with Indigenous Practices.” PhD diss., University of Twente.Google Scholar
China Forestry Yearbook (CFY). For Zhongguo Linye Nianjian 1997, 1998, 1999–2000. Beijing: Zhongguo Linye Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Dauvergne, Peter. 1997. Shadows in the Forest: Japan and the Politics of Timber in Southeast Asia. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Doornbos, Martin, Saith, Ashwani, and White, Ben, eds. 2000. Special Issue on Forests, Nature, People, and Power. Development and Change 31 (1).Google Scholar
Duckett, Jane. 2004. “State, Collectivism and Worker Privilege: A Study of Urban Health Insurance Reform.” China Quarterly, no. 177:155–73.Google Scholar
Guangxi Nianjian [Guangxi Yearbook]. 2002. Nanning: Guangxi Zizhiqu Renmin Zhengfu.Google Scholar
Harkness, James. 1998. “Forestry and the Conservation of Biodiversity in China.” China Quarterly, no. 156:911–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ho, Peter. 2001. “Who Owns China's Land: Property Rights and Deliberate Institutional Ambiguity.” China Quarterly, no. 166:394421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hyde, William F., Belcher, Brian, and Xu, Jintao. 2003. China's Forests: Global Lessons from Market Reforms. Washington, D.C.: Resources for the Future.Google Scholar
Jackson, Sukhan, Sleigh, Adrian, Peng, Li, and Liu, Si-li. 2005. “Health Finance in Rural Henan: Low Premium Insurance Compared to Out of Pocket System.” China Quarterly, no. 181:137–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jahiel, Abigail. 1997. “The Contradictory Impact of Reform on Environmental Protection in China.” China Quarterly, no. 149:81103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jiang, Zehui. 2007. “Current Situation and Future Development: The Forest Products Industry in China.” Forest Products Journal, July–August. http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/168359931.html [accessed July 29, 2009].Google Scholar
Jing Jialiang, . 1998. “… zai Quansheng Senlin Ziyuan Linzheng Guanli he Jiandu Gongzuo Huiyi de Jianghua.” [Speech to the Provincial Forestry Bureau Conference on Forest Resources, Forest Management and Supervision], Linye Kancha Sheji 106 (2).Google Scholar
Kipnis, Andrew. 2006. “Suzhi: A Keyword Approach.” China Quarterly, no. 186:295313.Google Scholar
Lampton, David M. 1992. “A Plum for a Peach: Bargaining, Interest, and Bureaucratic Politics in China.” In Bureaucracy, Politics, and Decision Making in Post-Mao China, ed. Lieberthal, Kenneth G. and Lampton, David M., 3358. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Lee, Grace O. M., and Malcolm, Warner. 2003. “The Shanghai Re-employment Model: From Local Experiment to Nation-wide Labour Market Policy.” China Quarterly, no. 177:174–89.Google Scholar
Li Changjian, . 1998. “Nuli Kaichuang Senlin Ziyuan Diaocha he Jiandu Gongzuo Xin Jumian” [Consciously set forth a new look in the investigation and administrative oversight of forest natural resources]. Senlin Ziyuan Guanli [Forest Resources Management], no. 4–5.Google Scholar
Li Mingfeng, . 1999. “Guangxi Linye Shuifei de Wenti ji Duice” [Problems and countermeasures of Guangxi's forest taxes and fees]. Linye Jingji [Forestry economics], no. 1.Google Scholar
Lieberthal, Kenneth G. 1992. “Introduction: The ‘Fragmented Authoritarianism’ Model and Its Limitations.” In Bureaucracy, Politics, and Decision Making in Post-Mao China, ed. Lieberthal, Kenneth G. and Lampton, David M., 130. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Linye Bu Zhengce Fagui he Tizhi Gaige Si [Ministry of Forestry Policy, Laws/Regulations and Systemic Reform Division]. 1995. Linye Gaige Shiyan Qu Shixian Lilun Moshi Fangfa [Forest reform experimental areas: Implementation, theory, models, methods]. Beijing: Linye Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Liu, Jinlong, and Landell-Mills, Natasha. 2003. “Taxes and Fees in the Southern Collective Region.” In China's Forests: Global Lessons from Market Reforms, ed. Hyde, William F., Belcher, Brian, and Xu, Jintao, 4558. Washington, D.C.: Resources for the Future.Google Scholar
Liu, Yuanli. 2004. “Development of the Rural Health Insurance System in China.” Health Policy and Planning 19 (3): 159–65.Google Scholar
Lü Xiaobo, . 2000. Cadres and Corruption: The Organizational Involution of the Chinese Communist Party. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Murphy, Rachel. 2004. “Turning Peasants into Modern Chinese Citizens: ‘Population Quality’ Discourse, Demographic Transition and Primary Education.” China Quarterly, no. 177:120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Brien, Kevin, and Li, Lianjiang. 1999. “Selective Policy Implementation in Rural China.” Comparative Politics 31 (2): 167–86.Google Scholar
Peluso, Nancy Lee. 1992. Rich Forests, Poor People: Resource Control and Resistance in Java. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peluso, Nancy Lee, Turner, Matt, and Fortmann, Louise. n.d. “Community Forestry Note No. 12: Introducing Community Forestry: An Annotated Bibliography.” http://www.fao.org/docrep/t3500e/t3500e02.htm#1.3 [accessed July 29, 2009].Google Scholar
Poffenberger, Mark, ed. 1990. Keepers of the Forest: Land Management Alternatives in Southeast Asia. West Hartford, Conn.: Kumarian Press.Google Scholar
Rozelle, Scott, Benziger, Vince, and Huang, Jikun. 2003. “Forest Exploitation and Protection in Reform China: Assessing the Impact of Policy, Tenure, and Economic Growth.” In China's Forests: Global Lessons from Market Reform, ed. Hyde, William F., Belcher, Brian, and Xu, Jintao, 109–34. Washington, D.C.: Resources for the Future.Google Scholar
Shambaugh, David. 2000. “The Chinese State in the Post-Mao Era.” In The Modern Chinese State, ed. Shambaugh, David, 161–87. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Shi, Kunshan, Li, Zhiyong, Lin, Fenming, and Zheng, Rui. 1997. “Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study, China's Country Report on Forestry.” Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Working Paper no. AFPSOS/WP/14. http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/W7707E/w7707e00.htm [accessed April 3, 2007].Google Scholar
Shue, Vivienne, and Wong, Christine, eds. 2007. Paying for Progress in China: Public Finance, Human Welfare and Changing Patterns of Inequality. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Smil, Vaclav. 1993. China's Environmental Crisis: An Inquiry into the Limits of National Development. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
State Environmental Protection Administration of China. 2000. “Report on the State of the Environment in China 2000.” http://english.mep.gov.cn/SOE/soechina2000/index.htm [accessed July 29, 2009].Google Scholar
Wong, Christine, ed. 1997. Financing Local Government in the People's Republic of China New York: Oxford University Press for the Asian Development Bank.Google Scholar
Wong, Christine. 1998. “Fiscal Dualism in China: Gradualist Reform and the Growth of Off-Budget Finance.” In Taxation in Modern China, ed. Donald, Brean, 187208. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2000. The World Bank Forest Strategy: Striking the Right Balance. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.Google Scholar
Yep, Ray. 2004. “Can ‘Tax-for-Fee’ Reform Reduce Rural Tension in China: The Process, Progress, and Limitations.” China Quarterly, no. 177:4270.Google Scholar
Honming, Zhang, and Ling, Wang. 1998. “Sichuan Shengtai Gongyi Lin Jianshe Quyi” [Tendencies in the establishment of ecological public forests in Sichuan]. Sichuan Linkan Sheji, no. 4.Google Scholar
Zhang, Yaoqi. 2000. “Costs of Plans vs. Costs of Markets: Reforms in China's State-Owned Forestry Management.” Development Policy Review 18 (3): 285306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhongguo Guoqing Congshu; Yulin Juan, Jingji Shehui Diaocha [China National Day encyclopedia; Yulin, economic and social investigation]. 1993. Beijing: Zhongguo Dabaike Chuanshu Chubanshe.Google Scholar

Interviews

Special inspector J, National Forestry Bureau, stationed in Heilongjiang, Harbin, July 5, 1999.Google Scholar
Special Inspector W, Daxing Anling Forestry Corporation Headquarters, Jiagedaqi, July 8, 1999.Google Scholar
Special Inspector B, Xilinji Forestry Bureau, Daxing Anling, July 10, 1999.Google Scholar
Special Inspector M, Hailin Forestry Bureau, Mudanjiang Heilongjiang, July 13, 1999.Google Scholar
Special inspector S, Dongjing Cheng Forestry Corporation, July 15, 1999.Google Scholar
Officials C and S, Heilongjiang Forestry Investigation and Planning Institute, July 1, 1999.Google Scholar
Official J, Heilongjiang Forestry Corporation, July 5, 1999.Google Scholar
Official W, Enterprise Operations Department, Daxing Anling Forestry Corporation, July 8, 1999.Google Scholar
Director S, Santai County Forestry Bureau, Sichuan, December 23, 1999.Google Scholar
Official Y and Division Head L, Sichuan Forestry Bureau, Chengdu, December 24, 1999.Google Scholar
Official L, Afforestation Section, Chengdu Municipal Forestry Bureau, December 16, 1999.Google Scholar
Senior Engineer X and Vice Bureau Chief Y, Mianyang Forestry Bureau, Sichuan, December 21, 1999.Google Scholar
Senior Engineer Z, Sichuan Investigation and Planning Institute, Chengdu, December 15, 1999.Google Scholar
Officials P and Q, Nanning Municipal Forestry Bureau, July 21, 1999.Google Scholar
Officials P and H, Guangxi Autonomous Region Forestry Bureau, July 20, 1999.Google Scholar
Special inspector J, National Forestry Bureau, stationed in Heilongjiang, Harbin, July 5, 1999.Google Scholar
Special Inspector W, Daxing Anling Forestry Corporation Headquarters, Jiagedaqi, July 8, 1999.Google Scholar
Special Inspector B, Xilinji Forestry Bureau, Daxing Anling, July 10, 1999.Google Scholar
Special Inspector M, Hailin Forestry Bureau, Mudanjiang Heilongjiang, July 13, 1999.Google Scholar
Special inspector S, Dongjing Cheng Forestry Corporation, July 15, 1999.Google Scholar
Officials C and S, Heilongjiang Forestry Investigation and Planning Institute, July 1, 1999.Google Scholar
Official J, Heilongjiang Forestry Corporation, July 5, 1999.Google Scholar
Official W, Enterprise Operations Department, Daxing Anling Forestry Corporation, July 8, 1999.Google Scholar
Director S, Santai County Forestry Bureau, Sichuan, December 23, 1999.Google Scholar
Official Y and Division Head L, Sichuan Forestry Bureau, Chengdu, December 24, 1999.Google Scholar
Official L, Afforestation Section, Chengdu Municipal Forestry Bureau, December 16, 1999.Google Scholar
Senior Engineer X and Vice Bureau Chief Y, Mianyang Forestry Bureau, Sichuan, December 21, 1999.Google Scholar
Senior Engineer Z, Sichuan Investigation and Planning Institute, Chengdu, December 15, 1999.Google Scholar
Officials P and Q, Nanning Municipal Forestry Bureau, July 21, 1999.Google Scholar
Officials P and H, Guangxi Autonomous Region Forestry Bureau, July 20, 1999.Google Scholar

Roundtable Discussions

Guangxi University Forestry Institute, July 20, 1999.Google Scholar
Guangxi Forest Science Research Institute, July 22, 1999.Google Scholar
Le'an Township Forestry and Agriculture Section, Santai County, Sichuan, December 23, 1999.Google Scholar