No.8 Xintiandi North Part Lane181 Taicang RoadShanghai
The New Rich in China: Why there is no new middle class
David S G Goodman
Economic reform in the People’s Republic of China [PRC] since 1980 has seen the emergence of new categories of wealth and power. Collectively and colloquially these new categories have been referred to as the ‘new rich’. They have also been referred to both inside and outside of the PRC as the new middle class (or middle classes) if for different reasons. While there are good reasons for accepting this designation, the evidence from surveys of new rich entrepreneurs conducted since the early 1990s in different parts of the PRC (Zhejiang, Shanxi, Qinghai, Sichuan, and Hainan) suggest caution. In terms of hierarchies of wealth, status and power the new rich represent not just a significant component of the current ruling class, but perhaps more significantly highlight the dimensions for the long-term future.
David S G Goodman is Professor of Chinese Politics at the University of Sydney, where he is also Director of the Institute of Social Sciences. He was educated at the University of Manchester (Politics and Modern History) PekingUniversity (Economics) and the London School of Oriental and African Studies (Chinese, and Chinese Politics.) His research has concentrated on China’s provincial politics; the history of the Chinese Communist Party; and social and political change in China since 1900, especially at the local level. He is currently undertaking research on the formation of local elites in contemporary China (with Dr Beatriz Carrillo and Dr Minglu Chen); and on German colonial adventurers in China 1870-1937 (with Dr Yixu Lu.) He is also undertaking research on the War of Resistance to Japan in North China (1937-1945). His most recent publications are The New Rich in China: Future rulers, present lives (2008) and (with Bryna Goodman) Twentieth Century Colonialism in China (2010).
David Goodman has worked at the London School of Oriental and African Studies, the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, MurdochUniversity, the University of Technology Sydney, and the University of Sydney. He was the Foundation Director of the ARC’s Asia Research Centre (1991-1993) at MurdochUniversity; and of the Institute of International Studies at the University of Technology, Sydney (1994-2004.) He served as Chair of the Asia Trade Council for the State Government of Western Australia (1991-2); was a member of the Foreign Affairs Council, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Commonwealth of Australia (1998-2000); was a member of the College of Experts of the Australian Research Council (2003-2005); and was Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Technology, Sydney (2004-2008). David Goodman is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, and was the 2001 IDP International Educator of the Year.
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