HKIA00764U State Policies and Local Responses in Western China

The Western provinces of the People’s Republic of China, although certainly culturally diverse and embedded in specific histories, are subjected to and shaped by the same political reality. With the “Open Up the West” campaign launched in 2000, the central government in Beijing sought to eliminate the development gap between the prosperous coastal areas and the Western provinces. The modernizing efforts of the state in these regions manifest themselves in large scale development projects and state transfers, intended ultimately to maintain and strengthen political stability. In this course we shall explore state policies and local responses in Western China. The course will particularly focus on two groups, the Tibetans and Uyghurs, who we’ll treat not as merely passive recipients or helpless victims of central policies, but as active participants who shape these policies through negotiations, accommodations or resistance.

For students in China Studies, there are additional text reading lessons together with the course Chinese society and politics (Dansk: Kina samfund og politik) with Jørgen Delman, jorgen.delman@hum.ku.dk and Mikkel Bunkenborg msn512@hum.ku.dk .

Complementary Tibetan language and Uyghur language text reading classes can be organised upon request