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Paperback: The Cultural Legacy of German Colonial Rule

This edited volume explores social, economic, political, and cultural practices generated by African, Asian, and Oceanic individuals and groups within the context and aftermath of German colonialism. The volume contributes to current debates on transnational and intercultural processes while highlighting the ways in which the colonial period is embedded in larger processes of globalization.

Citizens’ Electric Vehicle Purchase Intentions in China: An Analysis of Micro-level and Macro-level Factors

Article by Sabrina Habich-Sobiegalla and Genia Kostka.
Given the pressure to adopt more sustainable transportation modes, a number of governments have adopted policies to increase the use of electric vehicles (EVs). Yet, there are few national surveys of citizens' intentions to purchase EVs. Using a nationwide survey with 1080 respondents in China, this article examines the determinants of Chinese citizens' intentions to purchase EVs. The survey results suggest that if Chinese citizens have a wide social network and if they know someone who already owns an EV, their intention to purchase an EV is very high. Other micro-level factors, such as age and education, have significant effects, but their magnitudes are lower. Macro-level factors such as air pollution and EV charging infrastructure don't drive intentions to purchase EVs. Drawing on these results, the article offers recommendations for businesses and policymakers who seek to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and to increase the adoption of sustainable transport solutions.

Making China Modern: From the Great Qing to Xi Jinping

The new book Making China Modern: From the Great Qing to Xi Jinping by Klaus Mühlhahn is now available.

Are China and Japan rivals in Latin America? A rivalry perception analysis

New article published in The Pacific Review by Katja Levy and Caroline Rose. The article investigates whether the People’s Republic of China and Japan perceive each other as rivals in Latin America and what impact such a perception might have on their foreign policy decision-making.

“Revitalising” China’s countryside – old wine in new bottles?

New article published in Rural 21 by Elena Meyer-Clement.
China’s political leadership has set out to “revitalise” the countryside and turn it into a pleasant place with “beautiful villages”. Only a decade ago, the leadership at the time had attempted something similar in the form of the large-scale “Building a New Socialist Countryside” programme. But China’s official vision of a rural modernisation based on fewer peasants and more industrialised agriculture has not changed. The question therefore remains whether rural regions and, above all, the rural population, are really going to benefit from the new policy.

Electric vehicle purchase intentions in China, Russia and Brazil

New article published in Journal of Cleaner Production by Sabrina Habich-Sobiegalla, Genia Kostka and Niklas Anzinger. Based on a cross-national dataset with 2806 respondents from China, Brazil, and Russia, this research analyzed variations and determinants of purchase intentions for EVs in China, Russia, and Brazil. The survey results indicate that purchase intentions for electric vehicles (EVs) among Chinese citizens is higher than amongst Brazilian and Russian citizens. The purchasing intention of citizens in all three countries is especially high for people who have a wide social network, and if they already know somebody with an EV. Other macro-level factors, including pollution and charging infrastructure, only impact on purchasing intention in Brazil, while government policy initiatives for EVs seem to have limited effects in all three countries. Micro-level factors, such as age and education, do not have any statistically significant effect in Russia and Brazil, and only a weak effect in China.

What makes for good and bad neighbours? An emerging research agenda in the study of Chinese environmental politics

New article published in Environmental Politics by Genia Kostka and Sarah Eaton (Göttingen Uni) on local-local relations in China. In this article, the authors analyze factors that give rise to interjurisdictional conflict such as pollution spillovers. Through a combination of empirical and theoretical reflections, a research agenda to better understand these issues is outlined. This publication comes out of their new DFG-funded project on "Interjurisdictional Competition and Cooperation in China".

How Do Central Control Mechanisms Impact Local Water Governance in China? The Case of Yunnan Province

Sabrina Habich-Sobiegalla published an article in The China Quarterly which examines the institutional arrangements that guide water governance strategies employed by local cadres in Yunnan province, showing how central control mechanisms in the Chinese administrative
system undermine effective water governance at the local level. Findings obtained from field research in two counties in Yunnan with different levels of economic development and water resource access show that current institutional arrangements – including those regulating local cadre performance and the procedures to apply for project funding from higher-level governments – hinder the efficient use of infrastructure investment. Instead, provincial and prefectural water bureau officials use their authority to channel funding to those regions with an already positive track record of project applications.

Central–Local Relations and Environmental Governance in China

Genia Kostka and Jonas Nahm (SAIS) co-edited a new special section in The China Quarterly. In the context of the current phase of political recentralization in China, this special section revisits central–local relations and their relevance in environmental governance in China. If local incentives are indeed to blame for China’s poor record on environmental regulation, does increased central control improve governance outcomes? By “bringing the centre back in”, the contributions to this collection examine both where such recentralization has in fact occurred and whether such recentralization efforts have indeed improved environmental governance patterns in China. As such, this special section seeks to advance theorizing about the circumstances under which different central–local relations lead to improved environmental governance. Building on rich empirical data across a spectrum of environmental policy issues and industrial sectors, the articles draw a more complex picture of China’s environmental governance patterns during the current phase of recentralization.

Die Volksrepublik China

Geschichtswissenschaftliches Lehrbuch zur Volksrepublik China von Klaus Mühlhahn.

Seit 1949 durchlief China weitreichende soziale, ökonomische, politische und kulturelle Veränderungen, die das Land tiefgreifend verändert haben. Mit präzedenzloser Geschwindigkeit hat sich eine zunehmend moderne Gesellschaft herausgebildet. Der ausführlichen Darstellung liegt ein breiter historischer Ansatz zugrunde, der die Entwicklungen in Politik und Gesellschaft gleichermaßen berücksichtigt. Im Mittelpunkt stehen die Grundlagen, Formen und Konsequenzen der gesellschaftlichen Entwicklung in China. Zugleich wird die Geschichte der VR China systematisch im globalen Kontext verortet und die Bezüge und konkreten Verbindungen mit anderen Regionen thematisiert. Das Werk stellt die drei Phasen der Geschichte der Volksrepublik im Überblick dar, führt detailliert ein in die Forschungsdebatten zur Innen- und Außenpolitik sowie zur Entwicklung von Kultur, Gesellschaft, Wirtschaft und enthält eine ausführliche Bibliographie zu diesen Themenkomplexe.

Central Protectionism in China: The “Central SOE Problem” in Environmental Governance

by Sarah Eaton and Genia Kostka

This article examines the so-called “central State Owned Enterprise (SOE) problem” in China's environmental governance system, namely central SOEs' defiance of environmental regulation. We present evidence showing that, in the last decade, central SOEs have been the source of a large number of serious pollution incidents and have often failed to comply with environmental guidelines and regulations. Central SOEs in the electricity generation and oil and gas industries are particularly culpable, with six firms alone accounting for 62 per cent of all 2,370 reported violations (2004–2016). We argue that a combination of “central protectionism” of state-owned national champions and insufficient regulatory capacity in the environmental bureaucracy have provided state firms under central management with both incentives and opportunities to shirk on environmental regulations. Yet, while the institutions of central protectionism are deeply rooted, countervailing forces within the complex Chinese state are also gaining momentum. In spite of the considerable regulatory challenges, officials in the environment bureaucracy display increasing resolve and ingenuity in trying to strengthen their enforcement capacity.

Geschichte und Gesellschaft des modernen China

Kritik – Empirie – Theorie / Festschrift für Mechthild Leutner
Katja Levy (Hrsg.)
Welche Themen und Fragestellungen bewegen internationale Chinaforscherinnen und -forscher heute? Mit welchen Methoden und in welchem disziplinären Umfeld arbeiten sie? Dieser Sammelband enthält aktuelle Beiträge zur Chinaforschung in Europa, China und den USA. Renommierte Vertreterinnen und Vertreter des Faches stellen ihre Forschungsergebnisse auf den Gebieten Sinologie (inklusive Geschichte des Faches und chinesische Sprache), Gender, China und die Welt sowie Politik, Recht und Gesellschaft vor. Es zeigt sich, dass die aktuelle Forschung über China ein interdisziplinäres Fach geworden ist und Erkenntnisse zu den großen Fragen bereithält, die weit über die Grenzen des Reichs der Mitte hinausgehen.

The evolution of Chinese film policy: how to adapt an instrument for hegemonic rule to commercialisation

By: Elena Meyer-Clement.
Since the 1990s, the Chinese political leadership has gradually embraced the commercialisation of the film sector and has turned the liberalisation of entertainment content production into a strategy for generating legitimacy. This article traces the evolution of Chinese film policy from its Communist origins to the present day, and reveals that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), at the same time, has never desisted from using film production to establish hegemony in a Gramscian sense, and that these efforts have even been intensified over the last decade. The second part of the article scrutinises how the CCP’s mechanisms of control and ideological guidance have been adapted to commercialisation and, based on personal interviews with Beijing film producers in 2006 and 2007, investigates the extent to which the intensified efforts of adaptation since 2003 have been able to persuade the private sector of film production to participate in maintaining CCP hegemony.

The Cultural Legacy of German Colonial Rule

This volume edited by Klaus Mühlhahn explores social, economic, political, and cultural practices generated by African, Asian, and Oceanic individuals and groups within the context and aftermath of German colonialism. The volume contributes to current debates on transnational and intercultural processes while highlighting the ways in which the colonial period is embedded in larger processes of globalization.

The Shadow of China over Taiwan’s Democracy

Introduction to Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 1/2017 by Sabrina Habich-Sobiegalla and Stefan Fleischauer: Assessing the Administration of President Ma Ying-jeou

Routledge Handbook of Environmental Policy in China

During the last few decades, China has accomplished unprecedented economic growth and has emerged as the second largest economy in the world. This ‘economic miracle’ has led hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, but has also come at a high cost. Environmental degradation and the impact of environmental pollution on health are nowadays issues of the greatest concern for the Chinese public and the government.

The Routledge Handbook of Environmental Policy in China focuses on the environmental challenges of China’s rapidly growing economy and provides a comprehensive overview of the policies developed to address the environmental crisis. Leading international scholars and practitioners examine China’s environmental governance efforts from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Energy Policy Special Issue: Chinese Investments in Europe’s Energy Sector: Risks and Opportunities?

In this special issue, co-edited by Bjoern Conrad (MERICS) and Genia Kostka, experts from nine countries analyze recent trends in Chinese investment in Europe’s energy sectors. These investments have increased in size, targeted a wider number of countries and entered multiple energy sectors, in particular fossil, renewable energies and energy infrastructure. The papers highlight that China's new role as a global investor offers substantial economic benefits and political partnership. Yet, the papers also point to growing concerns among policymakers and business managers in Europe, ranging from worries about unfair competition and economic risks to concerns about national security. The special issue concludes with policy recommendations for the European Union and its member states.

Special Issue on China in Latin America – who are the actors?

In: Journal of Chinese Political Science (No. 20, Issue 3), September 2015, Hrsg: Katja Levy | The international conference „China in Latin America – Who are the actors ?“ took place on 24th and 25th October 2014 at Free University, Berlin. Organizers and panelists sought to investigate current developments in China-Latin America relations against the backdrop of international power shifts from an actor-centered perspective. The following issue presents selected results.


Rethinking Business History in Modern China

In: Cross-Currents E-Journal (No. 16), September 2015 |

The research articles in the September 2015 issue—guest edited by Wen-hsin Yeh (University of California, Berkeley), Klaus Mühlhahn (Freie Universität Berlin), and Hajo Frölich (Freie Universität Berlin)—explore the theme “Rethinking Business History in Modern China.” The five articles by scholars from Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, and the United States look at how business linked China and the world from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, and how Chinese and foreign companies interacted with one another, as well as with political power, long before today. [...]

Die Aufsätze gingen aus Beiträgen des Forschungs-Workshops "Rethinking Business History in Modern China" der Freien Universität Berlin am 12. - 14. Juni 2014 hervor. Cross-Currents Beiträge sind online im Volltext abrufbar.

Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the PRC Constitution

In: Berliner China-Hefte - Chinese History and Society
Bd. 45, 2015, 180 S. |
The PRC Constitution came into force in 1982, only a few years after the Cultural Revolution and the launching of the reforms. Since then, however, the PRC has changed significantly. Does this Constitution, though amended four times, still match the needs of China's society today? Where is Chinese constitutionalism heading? Are there any plans to improve and further institutionalize the implementation of the Constitution? How do Chinese legal experts discuss the future of their Constitution? This issue features papers presented during a conference on the Chinese Constitution in 2012 and more.

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