Issue 3, 2024 

Socialism in China

▍Overseas

08 Who is Aiming at TikTok  Lin Yiwu

President Biden has signed a bill passed by Congress to force a sale of the TikTok in the US or ban it. Different forces are behind such ban or forced sale for different intentions. This essay explores the motives of the China hawks in the US Congress and Silicon Valley who are introducing the said bill. It then discusses the arguments for supporting or opposing such a measure, based on which I try to provide some feasible advice for Chinese companies that would like to mitigate the similar geopolitical risks faced by TikTok at the minimum cost.

▍Cover Story: Socialism in China

Some Thoughts on the Complexity of Socialism and Reform  Li Tuo

Why China Chose Socialism—Reflections on “Sheng Min Socialism” Sun Ge

▍Focus

50 Strategic Industrial Diffusion: China’s Bottom-Line Thinking in Participating the Restructuring of Global Industrial Chains Yan Peng

Will China Lose Its Status as the World’s Factory?—New Trends in International Industrial Transfer and China’s Policy Options Su Qingyi, Gui Zihao

This paper argues that the current wave of industrial shifts is distinguished by the influence of major power rivalry. The implications for production capacity distribution and product pricing lead to two conclusions: First, the era of single-nation factories, exemplified by China, will end, giving way to a “China+N” multi-factory layout. Second, the era of cheap labor-intensive industries will conclude. ASEAN is poised to replace China as the global supplier of final goods, while China will take on Japan and South Korea’s role in providing intermediate goods to ASEAN. For China, the path forward requires adapting to these changes by leveraging industrial transfers for structural upgrading and navigating the challenges posed by major power competition.

▍Observation·Culture

Why “Bullets” Still Flying?—The “Illegal Rise”  of Online Cultural Production Shen Weiwei

Distinguishing itself from traditional industrial cultural production, internet cultural production, as exemplified by “Rang Xue” derivative works, exhibits two key characteristics: firstly, peer production; and secondly, collective political and cultural expression. While its rise in China can be ostensibly attributed to the democratization of internet technologies, a deeper underlying reason lies in the weak protection status of copyright law. This paradoxical situation has inadvertently facilitated the flourishing of internet cultural production, enabling “Rang Xue” derivative works that heavily rely on existing works to not only become possible but also, in fact, emerge as an alternative vanguard of collective political and cultural expression.

▍Special Issue：Facing Food Security

Escaping the “Globalization Trap”: China’s Food Security Strategy and Restructuring of the Global Food System Zhan Shaohua, Wang Qinghua 

This article explains why China’s agri-food system escaped the “globalization trap” after it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, which forced the populous country’s small-farmer agriculture to face global competition. Contrary to the pessimistic projection of the “globalization trap” theory, China has emerged as a powerful player in the world’s agriculture and food sectors. We outline six components of China’s food security strategy formulated in the past two decades and explain how China’s rise has facilitated the restructuring of the global food system, particularly the South-South food relations. The article concludes with a discussion of internal and external challenges that will constrain China’s long-term food security.  

Why Chinese Agriculture Must Embrace and Implement an Ecological Transformation Ding Ling, Xu Zhun

Food Insecurity: How Developing Countries Lost the Initiative in Food  Jiao Yuping

▍The Wealth of Nations

Embracing the Post-Industrial Society  Lu Ming

The Evolution of China’s New Energy Vehicle Industry Governance Model  Ma Ying, Zhen Zhihong

In the new energy vehicles era, the market structure of global automobile has been redefined by new technologies. China’s automobile industry has evolved from a technology follower to a frontrunner, with industrial policies playing a crucial role in this transformation. The formulation of industrial policy is a process of social interaction, necessitating an analytical framework that emphasizes proactive stakeholder engagement. The growth of China’s new energy vehicle industry is a dynamic process of industrial governance. The governance model has undergone transitions through three phases: vertical integration, a coopetition-competition model, and ultimately full competition. Throughout these phases, a blend of non-market governance methods based on administrative contracting and market-oriented governance methods based on competition has been effectively utilized.

▍Global South

Global South in the Eyes of the Portuguese-Speaking World  Wang Yuan

This article explores the multilayered reception of the volatile concept of the Global South within Portuguese-speaking countries. New scholarly paradigms like Epistemology of the South, Amerindian Perspectivism and Brown Atlantic, together with social practices like Participatory Budget, Tropical Agriculture and Cultural Diplomacy, exemplify the unique contributions from an ever-more-active global Portuguese-speaking community that is redefining itself as well as its relationship with the rest of the world. Global South continues to be an elusive concept, but it is precisely its openness to interpretation that makes it invaluable in understanding the past and envisioning our shared future.

▍Academic Review

Further Transforming the Way We Learn—Starting from Russell’s Learning-Based Narrative of Civilization  Tong Shijun