The 1st issue of the China in Comparative Perspective Book Review has been published

Dear all,

The China in Comparative Perspective Network (CCPN) is the first of its kind in the world. As an 'advanced study on China' the CCPN encourages inter-disciplinary, inter-institutional, trans-national, and comparative approaches, and engages collaborative studies with academic, government, business and public on China in its Asian and global contexts. Its academic activities embrace a taught course, a journal, a laboratory for fostering researchers, a global network on networking, an International collaborative research base, a News and Events section, and a wide variety of Online resources.

CCPN is planning the publication of the Journal of China in Comparative Perspective (JCCP), which will publish original multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research on contemporary China. It will be one of the first journals to publish articles that use the methodological lens of comparative analysis and research. The JCCP aims to bring out the best in academic scholarship, transcending traditional academic boundaries in an innovative manner.

Due to financial difficulties, the first issue of the JCCP was postponed until 2012. In the interim, the journal Bijiao: China in Comparative Perspective Book Review was created to publish reviews of books received by the CCPN. The response to the initial call for reviewers was overwhelming: within a few days, most of the books we proposed had been assigned. This testifies to the high scholarly demand for works that put the current developments in China in comparative perspective with other areas of the world.

Two books we proposed in the call for reviews proved to be particularly popular, as they address two of the hottest topics in public debate about China: democracy (Political Change in China: Comparisons with Taiwan) and the economic boom (Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India are Reshaping their Futures and Ours). In both cases, we decided to ask two authors to review the book in order to bring different opinions and perspectives to the table. We are also publishing here two review essays, the first covering a comparison of two books on civil society in Asia, and the second covering an in-depth review of the book Economic Reform in China and India.

We hope this issue will bring to the fore the richness of the current literature addressing China in a comparative perspective.

Geoffrey Gowlland

Editor

P.s. you can download it from CCPN website:
http://www2.lse.ac.uk/anthropology/research/CCPN/publications/Journals/bookReview/bookReview.aspx

It is also available in its Chinese site: http://www2.lse.ac.uk/anthropology/research/CCPN/ChineseSite/Publications/Journals/bookReviews/bookReview_cn.aspx