{"id":257181,"date":"2026-07-13T15:21:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T12:21:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1kitap1.com\/en\/contemporary-china-4th-edition-kerry-brown\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T15:21:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T12:21:34","slug":"contemporary-china-4th-edition-kerry-brown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1kitap1.com\/en\/contemporary-china-4th-edition-kerry-brown\/","title":{"rendered":"Contemporary China 4th Edition – Kerry Brown"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This was regarded as one of the earliest signs of the purposefulness of the Xi administration. In 2024, however, the government was attempting once more to slim down the size of the bureaucracy and to divert more funding into science and development. This national structure is reflected in the provinces and the prefectures, with departments for finance, transport and other administrative areas carrying out national policies at the local level, but sometimes sponsoring their own variants in order to reflect local conditions. In that sense, Chinese governance might look like an inflexible bureaucracy, but it has considerable scope within it for change, adaptation and innovation.<\/p>\n

Where the greatest constraints on local government\u2019s actions exist is in terms of who funds specific ideas and how resources are distributed. It should also be noted that throughout history, including in the last few decades, powers have flowed from the centre to provinces, and back to the centre again. The central government is constantly wary of provinces becoming overmighty, however, and fiefdoms for vested interest.<\/p>\n

How is the Chinese administration funded? One of the most striking features of contemporary China is the funding of public services and the ways in which the administration is held to account for the money it spends. Government expenditure as a proportion of GDP in the PRC is 33 per cent in 2022, much lower than the UK, at 43 per cent and Japan at 36 per cent (IMF, 2022). The annual budget of the government centrally came to over 24 trillion renminbi (RMB) (USD 3.3 trillion) in 2022 (CSIS, 2024).<\/p>\n

From this, over 85 per cent is sent back to the provinces to be spent on health care, education, social welfare, fixed investments, pensions and other costs. They are the chief cost centres (Harding, 2024).<\/p>\n

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Contemporary States and Societies This series provides lively and accessible introductions to key countries and regions of the world, conceived and designed to meet the needs of today\u2019s students. The authors are all experts with specialist knowledge of the country or region concerned and have been chosen also for their ability to communicate clearly to a non-specialist readership.<\/p>\n

Each text has been specially commissioned for the series and is structured according to a common format. PUBLISHED CONTEMPORARY AFRICA Matthew Graham CONTEMPORARY BRITAIN (5TH EDITION) John McCormick CONTEMPORARY CHINA (4TH EDITION) Kerry Brown CONTEMPORARY FRANCE Helen Drake CONTEMPORARY INDIA Katharine Adeney and Andrew Wyatt CONTEMPORARY IRELAND Eoin O\u2019Malley CONTEMPORARY JAPAN (3RD EDITION) Duncan McCargo CONTEMPORARY LATIN AMERICA (3RD EDITION) Ronaldo Munck CONTEMPORARY RUSSIA (3RD EDITION) Edwin Bacon CONTEMPORARY SOUTH AFRICA (3RD EDITION) Anthony Butler CONTEMPORARY UNITED STATES (6TH EDITION) Russell Duncan and Joseph Goddard CONTEMPORARY CHINA (4TH EDITION) Kerry Brown 1kitap1.com\/en To my mother, Jacqueline Howe (1945\u20132015) 1kitap1.com\/en 1kitap1.com\/en 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 CONTENTS List of Figures, Tables and Boxes List of Abbreviations Acknowledgements Brief Facts about China Preface to the Fourth Edition Introduction: Why Does China Matter?<\/p>\n

What is China?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.<\/em><\/p>\n

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