Book Reviews 1217

chapters focusing on the historical evaluation of the economic transformations in

Zouping. Part two is composed of three chapters on bureaucratic adaptation while
part three includes two articles on cadre selection and training. Finally, Oi and
Goldstein provide concluding reflections in part four.
Economic transformation was in fact sweeping to the extent that Zouping, which
was an “average North China county” during the 1980s, ranked 11th among the coun-
try’s best performing medium- and small-size cities and counties in 2011 (p. 63).
China’s – and one of the world’s – largest cotton textile company, Weiqiao Textile
Company Limited, is located in Weiqiao township in Zouping (p. 74). Cotton business
in Zouping’s Mingji township and Duanqiao village has “gone west” by extending
operations to Xinjiang (p. 77), while other Zouping enterprises, supported by a
national fund promoting overseas production, have invested in Africa (p. 82).
However, Kay Shimizu’s discussion on economic governance (chapter three) highlights
the diversified and uneven developmental trajectories among township and villages in
Zouping. Shimizu allows the readers to think beyond conceptualizing even the county-
level unit of analysis in China as a monolithic entity. By contrast, there is a variety of
developmental paths in the Chinese countryside, and the county government plays a
fundamental role in the management of contradictions. Shimizu writes, “Overall,
while some localities have prospered, others have become increasingly dependent on
state subsidies and assistance. More often than not, it is county governments that
have been left with the task of corralling these widely divergent township and village
economies toward prosperity and stability, and Zouping is no exception” (p. 66).
Looking deeper into what seems to be a monolithic success story, Yuen Yuen Ang
in chapter four asserts that “[e]ven as a relatively prosperous locale that is ranked
among China’s top 100 economic performers, Zouping County is not spared from
budgetary pressures” (p. 91). For Ang, what is key for Zouping governance’s adap-
tive capacity is a “combination of top-down directions and bottom-up improvisa-
tion,” which appears most evidently in the realm of self-finance (p. 92). Ang
addresses the discrepancy in terms of budgetary pressures between the education
and health sectors on the one hand, and the construction sector in Zouping on the
other. She finds that budgetary pressures are intense for the former two sectors des-
pite the growing demand for public services. In response, public schools and hospitals
aim for profit and develop a variety of self-financing tools to maximize their revenues.
Altogether Zouping Revisited accomplishes its promise to study change within con-
servation in China’s post-Mao era. Yet, readers might ask why the well-studied gov-
ernmental adaptations have taken place in Zouping, and may wish to learn more
about societal conflicts and contradictions, and perhaps the failures of adaptation,
if any. Still, with its unquestionably rich content, Zouping Revisited is essential read-
ing for students of authoritarian resilience and governance adaptability in China.

SIRMA ALTUN
salt3595@uni.sydney.edu.au

Manipulating Globalization: The Influence of Bureaucrats on Business in China

LING CHEN
Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2018
xviii + 207 pp. $50.00
ISBN 978-1-5036-0479-7 doi:10.1017/S0305741018001509

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 1218 The China Quarterly, 236, December 2018, pp. 1206–1244

Ling Chen has produced a well-researched and highly detailed account of the ways in
which, among other things, China’s local bureaucrats have responded to the incen-
tives placed before them by central policy-makers. I was looking forward to reading
her book, as I am currently engaged in a research project exploring the internation-
alization of one of China’s locally owned multinational enterprises (MNEs), the
Northern Heavy Industry Group from Shenyang, which has become one of the lead-
ing tunnel boring machinery makers in the world – partly as a result of local govern-
ment supports and technological upgrading via acquisition of other highly successful
foreign MNEs in its sector. I was therefore eager to get more insights into how policy-
making is enacted at the local level – why local governments, for example, may
respond differently to the same central diktats. I was also interested in learning
more about how China is attempting to improve its indigenous innovation capabil-
ities, so as to break out of the “middle income trap.”
The analysis and content of Chen’s book certainly proved very useful in these
regards. I found the industry level details and cases particularly relevant and insight-
ful (chapter five), perhaps because of my own personal research interests. But there is
plenty of scope and variety in her book (seven chapters in total, including surveys and
a good deal of quantitative analysis as well, all undertaken to back up her arguments),
which I am sure will be of interest to a wide range of academics. The discussion of
MNE group offshoring in China, for example, (whereby Chinese local officials
looked to attract “dragonhead” MNEs which in turn might bring in the entire foreign
supply chain, i.e. lots of inward FDI, or alternatively foster local supply chains) was
illuminating. This was partly because of the direct quotes and narrative taken from
government officials and business people (for example, an interviewee reflected
upon the problem of the dragonhead policy – that sometimes there was no dragon
body or tail!). In fact, a real strength of this work is the detailed qualitative insights
into policy-making and policy responses which permeate the narrative. These are
taken directly from the officials (and others) involved in the actual processes.
Clearly, Chen has gone to great lengths to undertake this qualitative research.
While some of the arguments (i.e. about the problems associated with the “dragon-
head” policy) may not always be unknown, the first-hand details still reward the
reader with a real feel for how policy-making has unfolded.
In brief, Chen argues that the way in which some provinces fostered inward FDI
has shaped subsequent responses to evolving central policy, which in recent times
has moved away from the (perhaps naïve?) stance that foreign MNEs would spur
domestic innovation, to one in which domestic “indigenous innovation” (i.e. by
domestic Chinese businesses, primarily) should be enhanced. This policy shift has
brought confrontation between different interest groups within the government and
business, and these conflicts are illustrated by different responses at the local level.
Some regions, less dependent on very large foreign MNEs (the systems integrators),
have found it easier to embark upon “indigenous innovation” policies. By contrast,
those which attracted larger MNEs (sitting at the top of their value chains) have
found it less appealing to support indigenous innovation. She argues this may explain
the reasons for disparities in the impacts of indigenous innovation policies between
regions.
The book certainly sheds further light on the nature of Chinese capitalism and,
more generally, the nature of the developmental state. This type of research can really
help us better appreciate Chinese development. Too often I have attended academic
conferences where the discussion falls into the trap of generalizing about China as a
whole – i.e. “China” is doing this or that. There may well be central Chinese policies
and they may be worth knowing about, but what is arguably more interesting and

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 Book Reviews 1219

germane, as Chen shows, is how they are implemented and realised at the ground
level in the melting pot that is – at the end of the day – China.
The book will be of interest to many different academic fields, including business,
management and economics as well of course as political science and Chinese/East
Asian studies. I am sure it would also be popular as a teaching course text, as
although it covers quite a bit of ground it is still an engaging read and offers enough
of the real-life detail and events that generate student interest.

DYLAN SUTHERLAND
dylan.sutherland@durham.ac.uk

China as a Polar Great Power

A N N E - M A R I E B R A DY
Cambridge, UK, and Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center
xix + 273 pp. $29.99
ISBN 978-1-31683200-4 doi:10.1017/S0305741018001510

Anne-Marie Brady’s account of China’s increasing role in polar affairs is also the
story of its emergence as a great power. Nothing illustrates this more clearly than
the vertical map of the world on the cover of her book – instead of displaying the
polar regions at the peripheries, this map drawn by a Chinese scientist shows
China at the centre surrounded by the two poles. According to Brady, the subtext
here is that China is playing an increasingly important role in polar affairs and
that China’s role in these regions supports its broader geopolitical aims. Brady
notes that this map symbolizes the ongoing reconfiguration of Chinese foreign policy
and “is the visual reorientation of China’s new global Realpolitik: pragmatic, assert-
ive of China’s national interests, cooperative where it is possible to be cooperative,
and yet ready to face up to conflict” (p. 5).
Brady’s book is a rich piece of scholarship which will be of great interest to China
scholars, who will be especially grateful for the bilingual glossary of polar terms, as
well as to polar experts seeking to understand China’s evolving role in the Arctic and
Antarctic. This book will also appeal to informed general readers with an interest in
geopolitics as it portrays well the long game that China has been playing in the polar
regions, gradually expanding its footprint through investments in science, technology,
personnel and logistics with the aim of becoming a polar great power as environmen-
tal conditions change and its own capabilities permit.
Brady’s book came out just a few months before China published a white paper on
its Arctic policy on 26 January 2018, available in English translation, though she con-
vincingly argues that the Chinese language materials on the polar regions provide a
more accurate picture of China’s polar policies than those issued for foreign audi-
ences. Indeed, her book provides a useful backstory to the 2018 Arctic white
paper. Brady notes that for domestic consumption Chinese officials portray the
polar regions as the common heritage of mankind in which China has a right to
share. She points out that China’s interests in the polar regions are framed differently
for foreign audiences where China’s scientific and environmental concerns figure
more prominently and geopolitical aims are downplayed.
Brady emphasizes that China’s security, resource and scientific interests in the
Arctic are strategic and designed to support the country’s great power aspirations.

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