“Model Villages” and “Failed Villages”: The Indicators of Successful Policy Implementation of “Building a New Socialist Countryside”

Dylan Shepherd, George Washington University

Abstract: As China’s reform and opening up continued into the 21st century, the Chinese government became increasingly conscious of the widening development disparities between urban and rural localities. In response, in 2005, the State Council unveiled the “Building of a New Socialist Countryside” (BNSC) as the national framework to address a series of issues plaguing rural communities. Unlike previous centrally-driven efforts to drive rural revitalization, the BNSC was given significantly more funding and flexibility in its implementation by local authorities. Consequently, the BNSC resulted in tangible real-world effects for ordinary Chinese in rural areas. However, the degree and kind of impact differed widely depending on the jurisdiction. This study aims to study the most significant indicators and factors leading to the most productive implementation of the BNSC. It argues that a locality’s actual asset capacity and the quality of its leadership and organization were the most important in influencing the implementation success of the BNSC.

‘Nothing to Do but Sit Down and Die’: Relief Failures During the 1928-30 North China Famine

Clement Marshall, University of Oxford.

Abstract: The devastating 1928-30 North China Famine claimed between 6 and 10 million lives across Henan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. While previous scholarship suggested that the breakdown of traditional relief systems contributed to the catastrophe, this study demonstrates that these mechanisms remained largely functional in 1928. Instead, the unprecedented death toll stemmed from China's weakened political-economic condition and, more critically, from the political priorities of both the Nationalist government and regional authorities. When the Central Plains War erupted in 1929, competing factions prioritized their struggle for national control over famine relief, reflecting the intense revolutionary fervor and nationalist urgency of the era. This case study reveals how political ideology and perceived historical imperatives can override humanitarian concerns, even when relief capabilities exist.

Madame Chiang Kai-shek's 1943 Address to US Congress: Shaping US-Sino Relations during the Second World War

Bronwyn Legg, Tufts University

Abstract: When Madame Chiang passed away at 105 in her Manhattan apartment on October 23, 2003, most living Americans had never heard her name. But 60 years prior, her face appeared on the covers of Life and Time magazines, her speeches drew crowds in the thousands, and even more tuned into the radio when she became both the first Asian person and the first private citizen to address the Congress and only the second woman to do so. During her 1943 speaking tour, Madame Chiang Kai-Shek made use of her standing as a symbol of Chinese modernization in the eyes of Americans to rally support for Chinese efforts against Japan at the time. Although now forgotten, Madame Chiang as a figure tour provides a window into a time when symbiosis between the United States and China seemed possible.

Chained Mothers: Challenges in Addressing Sex Trafficking in China

Wendy Lam, Tufts University

Abstract: During the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, while China celebrated the victory of freestyle skier Eileen Gu, Xuzhou’s Chained Mother incident exposed the darker side of the nation, especially with respect to the issue of sex trafficking. Sex trafficking has long been an issue in China, from before the establishment of the PRC until women’s emancipation campaigns initially alleviated the issue before it returned at the turn of the century. Today, sex trafficking remains highly prevalent in China, and it even seems that it may have recently worsened, given that the US recently downgraded its evaluation of Chinese efforts to combat sex trafficking. This study aims to investigate contributing factors to the situation of sex trafficking in China, from legal barriers to a lack of political will to the potential impact of patriarchal values on skewing sex ratios and contributing to sex trafficking.

"Cao Xueqin-Style Female Worship": Gender Ambiguity in Dream of the Red Chamber — An Analysis of the "Fragrant Herb Beauty" Imagery

Liu Yiwei, University of International Relations

Abstract: Dream of the Red Chamber is constructed around the tragic imagery of "fragrant herb beauties," which embodies a unique form of "female worship" characteristic of the East, referred to here as "Cao Xueqin-style female worship." This phenomenon manifests in three primary aspects: the incompleteness of the female collective, aesthetic constructions rooted in male imagination, and the fragmented nature of women's rights. Within the feudal context and under the pervasive influence of patriarchal ideology, the author’s perspective on women is inherently contradictory. Cao Xueqin’s understanding of femininity is anchored in the ethical system of traditional Chinese culture and is neither class-based nor gender-based. Out of dissatisfaction with reality, Cao sought to deconstruct and subvert the corrupt male-dominated world he described while simultaneously constructing an idealized male society. Using female worship as a pretext, he conveyed male-centered imaginings of women. In this framework, women are often idealized as objects rather than recognized as independent individuals, representing a transference of virtues under the constraints of feudalism.