Elements in Global China – serie

Mary Brazelton argues that the territories and peoples associated with China have played vital roles in the emergence of modern international health. In the early twentieth century, repeated epidemic outbreaks in China justified interventions by transnational organizations; these projects shaped strategies for international health. China has also served as a space of creativity and reinvention, in which administrators developed new models of health care during decades of war and revolution, even as traditional practitioners presented alternatives to Western biomedicine. The 1949 establishment of the People's Republic of China introduced a new era of socialist internationalism, as well as new initiatives to establish connections across the non-aligned world using medical diplomacy. After 1978, the post-socialist transition gave rise to new configurations of health governance. The rich and varied history of Chinese involvement in global health offers a means to make sense of present-day crises.

Infrastructure is at the heart of China's presence in global development and is also central to larger debates about Chinese influence. This Element provides a comprehensive account of major Chinese government-financed infrastructure projects in the Global South since 1949. Using new datasets, it demonstrates that Chinese global infrastructure is distinct in terms of its historical tenacity and massive contemporary scope. But this does not imply that contemporary Chinese global infrastructure or the Belt and Road Initiative should be studied in a vacuum. Historical and comparative perspectives show that contemporary projects often emerge based on similar political logics to those that shaped infrastructure investment in earlier periods of Chinese history and other international contexts. The Element then examines how infrastructure projects have created both purposeful and unintended sources of influence by serving as valuable but risky political capital for host country governments as well as the Chinese government. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

This Element traces the history of and recent developments in the unstable relationship between global civil society (GCS) and China. It analyses the normative impacts GCS has had on China - including the Chinese state and domestic civil society - and the possibilities created by Beijing's new 'going out' policies for Chinese civil society groups. It examines the rhetoric and reality of GCS as an emancipatory project and argues that 'universal values' underpinned by principles of human rights and democracy have gained currency in China despite official resistance from the government. It argues that while the Chinese party-state is keen to benefit from GCS engagement, Beijing is also determined to minimize any impact outside groups might have on regime security. The Element concludes with some observations about future research directions and the internationalization of Chinese civil society.

China's engagement in Africa since 2000 consists of a diverse set of institutions, activities, relations, investment flows and other economic statecraft events. These have generated opportunities for economic transformation, reviving the prospects for industrialization and job creation in some African countries following decades of neglect. While the case for industrialization-led structural transformation is strong, the proposed means of pursuing this pathway vary, necessitating bold vision and interventions. Whether through infrastructure funding and building, or direct greenfield investments, China is helping lay the foundations for industrialization in Africa, albeit unevenly and slowly. The vectors and outcomes are, however, variegated, calling for a comparative examination. Therefore, the Element illustrates variations in outcomes and the importance of context when considering the vectors of Africa-China engagements, how they contribute to industrialization prospects, and the central role of policy agency, bargaining and contestation. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

This Element examines China's embrace of green development on the global stage, or 'Chinese global environmentalism.' It traces Chinese global environmentalism's historical evolution and motivations and analyzes its deployment through the governance tools of green ideology, diplomacy, economic statecraft, and international development cooperation. It conceives of Chinese global environmentalism as a wide-ranging economic and political strategy used to unsettle traditional views of China and bolster the legitimacy of Chinese power at home and abroad. This Element argues that Chinese global environmentalism, while not without its fits and starts, is enabling China to make inroads internationally with implications for China's rise and the natural environment that are only beginning to be appreciated. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

This Element shows China has assumed a historical role in shaping a new turn in globalization. It has assertively engaged in the open globalizing process through its Belt and Road Initiative as well as in the clandestine process through its shadow networks. These networks have incorporated millions of common people who are unwitting agents of transnational exchange in a global shadow economy. In contrast to the neoliberal phase, the shadow turn in globalization is driven by a plurality of individual, corporate, and state actors with unique divisions of labour, hierarchies of control and domination, and modes of operation. By virtue of being a nodal centre for shadow operations, China is exerting its shadow power in regrouping global city networks, redefining global value chains, and reconfigurating state borders and power.

Infrastructure is at the heart of China's presence in global development and is also central to larger debates about Chinese influence. This Element provides a comprehensive account of major Chinese government-financed infrastructure projects in the Global South since 1949. Using new datasets, it demonstrates that Chinese global infrastructure is distinct in terms of its historical tenacity and massive contemporary scope. But this does not imply that contemporary Chinese global infrastructure or the Belt and Road Initiative should be studied in a vacuum. Historical and comparative perspectives show that contemporary projects often emerge based on similar political logics to those that shaped infrastructure investment in earlier periods of Chinese history and other international contexts. The Element then examines how infrastructure projects have created both purposeful and unintended sources of influence by serving as valuable but risky political capital for host country governments as well as the Chinese government. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

This Element traces the history of and recent developments in the unstable relationship between global civil society (GCS) and China. It analyses the normative impacts GCS has had on China - including the Chinese state and domestic civil society - and the possibilities created by Beijing's new 'going out' policies for Chinese civil society groups. It examines the rhetoric and reality of GCS as an emancipatory project and argues that 'universal values' underpinned by principles of human rights and democracy have gained currency in China despite official resistance from the government. It argues that while the Chinese party-state is keen to benefit from GCS engagement, Beijing is also determined to minimize any impact outside groups might have on regime security. The Element concludes with some observations about future research directions and the internationalization of Chinese civil society.

This Element examines China's evolving relations with the Bretton Woods institutions (BWIs), specifically the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group from the 1980s through 2025. Using a combination of new qualitative findings and quantitative datasets, the authors observe that China has taken an evolving approach to the BWIs in order to achieve its multiple agendas, acting largely as a 'rule-taker' during its first two decades as a member, but, over time, also becoming a 'rule-shaker' inside the BWIs, and ultimately a new 'rule-maker' outside of the BWIs. The analysis highlights China's exercise of 'two-way countervailing power' with one foot inside the BWIs, and another outside, and pushing for changes in both directions. China's interventions have resulted in BWs reforms and the gradual transformation of the global order, while also generating counter-reactions especially from the United States. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

This Element examines China's evolving relations with the Bretton Woods institutions (BWIs), specifically the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group from the 1980s through 2025. Using a combination of new qualitative findings and quantitative datasets, the authors observe that China has taken an evolving approach to the BWIs in order to achieve its multiple agendas, acting largely as a 'rule-taker' during its first two decades as a member, but, over time, also becoming a 'rule-shaker' inside the BWIs, and ultimately a new 'rule-maker' outside of the BWIs. The analysis highlights China's exercise of 'two-way countervailing power' with one foot inside the BWIs, and another outside, and pushing for changes in both directions. China's interventions have resulted in BWs reforms and the gradual transformation of the global order, while also generating counter-reactions especially from the United States. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

This Element examines China's embrace of green development on the global stage, or 'Chinese global environmentalism.' It traces Chinese global environmentalism's historical evolution and motivations and analyzes its deployment through the governance tools of green ideology, diplomacy, economic statecraft, and international development cooperation. It conceives of Chinese global environmentalism as a wide-ranging economic and political strategy used to unsettle traditional views of China and bolster the legitimacy of Chinese power at home and abroad. This Element argues that Chinese global environmentalism, while not without its fits and starts, is enabling China to make inroads internationally with implications for China's rise and the natural environment that are only beginning to be appreciated. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Taiwan occupies a paradoxical position in the contemporary world: A polity with unresolved sovereignty that has achieved technological centrality, democratic resilience, and a distinct national identity. This Element addresses that condition through contested globalization, arguing that economic integration is contingent on geopolitical architecture and its consequences can alter arrangements. Drawing on William Sewell's concept of eventful temporality, it identifies three postwar geopolitical periods - the Cold War, US-China détente, and strategic competition - and traces how each reconfigured Taiwan's developmental constraints and opportunities. Across political economy, civil society, and national identity, it develops the concepts of Silicon Shield paradox, double helix of civil society, and contested cosmopolitanism to illuminate small-state agency under constraint. Archival research, interviews, and protest network analysis trace cumulative, unintended processes; a three-phase survey design shows expectations about Taiwan's future are more precarious than conventional measures suggest. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Taiwan occupies a paradoxical position in the contemporary world: A polity with unresolved sovereignty that has achieved technological centrality, democratic resilience, and a distinct national identity. This Element addresses that condition through contested globalization, arguing that economic integration is contingent on geopolitical architecture and its consequences can alter arrangements. Drawing on William Sewell's concept of eventful temporality, it identifies three postwar geopolitical periods - the Cold War, US-China détente, and strategic competition - and traces how each reconfigured Taiwan's developmental constraints and opportunities. Across political economy, civil society, and national identity, it develops the concepts of Silicon Shield paradox, double helix of civil society, and contested cosmopolitanism to illuminate small-state agency under constraint. Archival research, interviews, and protest network analysis trace cumulative, unintended processes; a three-phase survey design shows expectations about Taiwan's future are more precarious than conventional measures suggest. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

China's engagement in Africa since 2000 consists of a diverse set of institutions, activities, relations, investment flows and other economic statecraft events. These have generated opportunities for economic transformation, reviving the prospects for industrialization and job creation in some African countries following decades of neglect. While the case for industrialization-led structural transformation is strong, the proposed means of pursuing this pathway vary, necessitating bold vision and interventions. Whether through infrastructure funding and building, or direct greenfield investments, China is helping lay the foundations for industrialization in Africa, albeit unevenly and slowly. The vectors and outcomes are, however, variegated, calling for a comparative examination. Therefore, the Element illustrates variations in outcomes and the importance of context when considering the vectors of Africa-China engagements, how they contribute to industrialization prospects, and the central role of policy agency, bargaining and contestation. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

This Element argues that Chinese global migration is best understood as a barometer of global power transitions: each major wave of emigration registers both a reconfiguration of the international order and China's shifting position within it. It shows how migration patterns reflect transformations in the East Asian international system alongside China's domestic political upheavals. It offers an analysis of three major waves of Chinese global migration, each aligned with a transformation in the international order and a domestic rupture: China's forced integration into the European imperial system, the political ruptures of the mid-twentieth century, and the post-reform opening of the People's Republic of China. It examines the varying roles successive Chinese states have played in regulating and responding to population mobility, the lived experiences of migrants, and how the meaning of 'return' has changed over the past two centuries. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

This Element argues that Chinese global migration is best understood as a barometer of global power transitions: each major wave of emigration registers both a reconfiguration of the international order and China's shifting position within it. It shows how migration patterns reflect transformations in the East Asian international system alongside China's domestic political upheavals. It offers an analysis of three major waves of Chinese global migration, each aligned with a transformation in the international order and a domestic rupture: China's forced integration into the European imperial system, the political ruptures of the mid-twentieth century, and the post-reform opening of the People's Republic of China. It examines the varying roles successive Chinese states have played in regulating and responding to population mobility, the lived experiences of migrants, and how the meaning of 'return' has changed over the past two centuries. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

As the People's Republic of China (PRC) has become an increasingly significant global power, understanding its international behaviour has become a central question for scholars, analysts, and policymakers worldwide. This growing attention has not, however, resulted in anything resembling a consensus. Out of this profusion of competing perspectives, the authors identify four distinct ideal-typical approaches employed to explain the PRC's international behaviour: universalist, exceptionalist, political-institutionalist, and particularist. At their core, the fundamental issues of disagreement between these approaches concern the degree to which they conceptualise the PRC as a unitary and/or distinctive actor. Crucially, these are not fixed attributes; they vary over time and across policy domains. Based on this, they make the case for a contextualised approach that adjusts its analysis to such variation. The authors illustrate their approach by examining PRC behaviour in the South China Sea and in relation to its Belt and Road Initiative. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

As the People's Republic of China (PRC) has become an increasingly significant global power, understanding its international behaviour has become a central question for scholars, analysts, and policymakers worldwide. This growing attention has not, however, resulted in anything resembling a consensus. Out of this profusion of competing perspectives, the authors identify four distinct ideal-typical approaches employed to explain the PRC's international behaviour: universalist, exceptionalist, political-institutionalist, and particularist. At their core, the fundamental issues of disagreement between these approaches concern the degree to which they conceptualise the PRC as a unitary and/or distinctive actor. Crucially, these are not fixed attributes; they vary over time and across policy domains. Based on this, they make the case for a contextualised approach that adjusts its analysis to such variation. The authors illustrate their approach by examining PRC behaviour in the South China Sea and in relation to its Belt and Road Initiative. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

The Occupy Central/Umbrella Movement of 2014 and the anti-extradition protests of 2019 revealed how much Hong Kong's relationship with mainland China has deteriorated since the former British colony returned to Chinese sovereignty in July 1997. With mutual distrust and suspicion at an all-time high, many Hong Kong people have become increasingly hostile toward the Chinese government and the mainland in general, identifying themselves as Hongkongers rather than as Chinese. Yet, as John Carroll shows, for more than 150 years, colonial Hong Kong and China not only coexisted with but benefited each other, even during the anti-imperialist campaigns of the Republican and Communist eras. The porous boundary between Hong Kong and China enabled the two to use each other economically, politically, socially, and culturally. The Hong Kong-China nexus, although firmly embedded in global dynamics of colonialism, Cold War politics, and capitalist expansion, defies many common assumptions about nationalism, colonialism, and decolonization.

This Element presents an overarching analysis of Chinese visions and practices of soft power. Maria Repnikova's analysis introduces the Chinese theorization of the idea of soft power, as well as its practical implementation across global contexts. The key channels or mechanisms of China's soft power examined include Confucius Institutes, international communication, education and training exchanges, and public diplomacy spectacles. The discussion concludes with suggestions for new directions for the field, drawing on the author's research on Chinese soft power in Africa.

Many believe the recent deterioration in US-China relations represents a 'New Cold War' rooted in ideological differences. However, such differences did not prevent the two countries from pursuing economic integration and geopolitical cooperation in the 1990s and 2000s. Ho-fung Hung argues that what underlies the change in US-China relations is the changing relationship between US-China corporations. Following China's slowdown after 2010, state-backed Chinese corporations turned increasingly aggressive when they expanded in both domestic and global markets. This was at the expense of US corporations, who then halted their previously intense lobbying for China in Washington. Simultaneously, China's export of industrial overcapacity has provoked geopolitical competition with the United States. The resulting dynamic, Hung argues, resembles interimperial rivalry among the great powers at the turn of the twentieth century.

In less than half a century (1978-2020), China has transformed itself from a country that barely fed itself to a powerful player in the global food system, characterized by massive food imports, active overseas agricultural engagement, and the global expansion of Chinese agribusiness. This Element offers a nuanced analysis of China's global food strategy and its impacts on food security and the international agri-food order. To feed a population of 1.4 billion, China actively seeks overseas agri-food resources whilst maintaining a high level of domestic food production. This strategy gives China an advantageous position in the global food system, but it also creates contradictions and problems within and beyond the country. This could potentially worsen global food insecurity in the long term.

How did Hong Kong transform itself from a 'shoppers' and capitalists' paradise' into a 'city of protests' at the frontline of a global anti-China backlash? CK Lee situates the post-1997 China-Hong Kong contestation in the broader context of 'global China.' Beijing deploys a bundle of power mechanisms - economic statecraft, patron-clientelism, and symbolic domination - around the world, including Hong Kong. This Chinese power project triggers a variety of countermovements from Asia to Africa, ranging from acquiescence and adaptation to appropriation and resistance. In Hong Kong, reactions against the totality of Chinese power have taken the form of eventful protests, which, over two decades, have broadened into a momentous decolonization struggle. More than an ideological conflict between a liberal capitalist democratizing city and its Communist authoritarian sovereign, the Hong Kong story, stunning and singular in its many peculiarities, offers lessons about China as a global force. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

This Element shows China has assumed a historical role in shaping a new turn in globalization. It has assertively engaged in the open globalizing process through its Belt and Road Initiative as well as in the clandestine process through its shadow networks. These networks have incorporated millions of common people who are unwitting agents of transnational exchange in a global shadow economy. In contrast to the neoliberal phase, the shadow turn in globalization is driven by a plurality of individual, corporate, and state actors with unique divisions of labour, hierarchies of control and domination, and modes of operation. By virtue of being a nodal centre for shadow operations, China is exerting its shadow power in regrouping global city networks, redefining global value chains, and reconfigurating state borders and power.