Country Driving [223]
Rosenthal, Elisabeth. “China Now Facing an AIDS Epidemic, A Top Aide Admits.” The New York Times, August 24, 2001.
Yardley, Jim. “New Estimate in China Finds Fewer AIDS Cases.” The New York Times, January 26, 2006.
Part II
average net income for rural people increased by 11 percent: This and the other figures in this section come from “The Rural Land Question in China,” an excellent introduction to rural issues. This paper also gives a concise history of rural land policies since the Revolution. It was prepared by a number of Chinese and American academics who worked in conjunction with the Rural Development Institute. For background, I also spoke with two of the authors of this report, Zhu Keliang and Ye Jianping.
Zhu Keliang et al. “The Rural Land Question in China: Analysis and Recommendations Based on a Seventeen-Province Survey.” New York University Journal of International Law and Politics 38, no. 4 (Summer 2006): pp. 761–839.
sixty-six million farmers lost their land: This figure is from a recent summary of China’s rural issues, which also includes an analysis of proposed policy changes:
Cheng Li. “Hu Jintao’s Land Reform: Ambition, Ambiguity, and Anxiety.” China Leadership Monitor 27 (Winter 2009).
average rural household consisted of 4.55 people: Figures in this section are from Zhu Keliang et al.: Ibid.
paving 119,000 miles of rural roads: These figures, and the comparison with the previous half century, were given at a government press conference I attended in Beijing: “The Highlights of National Expressway Network Plan,” presented by Zhang Chunxian, Minister of Communications, on January 13, 2005.
in 2003, nearly half a million Beijing residents acquired their driver’s licenses: Total figure was 480,000, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
looked almost exactly like the Chevy Spark: For the controversy regarding the Chery QQ, I spoke with Chery officials and also Timothy P. Stratford, general counsel for General Motors’ China Group.
dropped by 8.8 percent: This figure comes from the People’s Bank of China, and was reported by The New York Times:
Bradsher, Keith. “G.M. to Speed Up Expansion in China.” The New York Times, June 8, 2004.
leaped by 80 percent: This figure is from an interview with Yale Zhang, director of emerging markets vehicle forecasts at CSM Asia.
fewer than one in five used a loan: see Bradsher, Keith: Ibid.
Falun Gong: For background on the rise of Falun Gong, and the crackdown:
Johnson, Ian. Wild Grass: Three Stories of Change in Modern China. New York: Pantheon Books, 2004.
hundreds of believers died in custody: This was the figure generally reported by foreign newspapers during the period when the Wei family began to engage in business. Today, estimates are even higher; Amnesty International says that over two thousand believers have died in custody. For a more recent newspaper report:
Jacobs, Andrew. “China Still Presses Crusade Against Falun Gong.” The New York Times, April 27, 2009.
Part III
“Build New Countryside”: For background on this campaign, see Cheng Li: Ibid.
“Preserving the Progressiveness”: For background on this campaign:
Yardley, Jim. “China Attacks Its Woes With an Old Party Ritual.” The New York Times, March 9, 2006.
One volume was entitled “A Textbook for Urbanizing the Countryside”:
“Tuijin Nongcun Chengshihua Duben” [A Textbook for Urbanizing the Countryside]. Huairou Qu Shizheng Guanli Weiyuanhui [Huairou District Municipal Administration Committee]. July 2005.
cigarettes are even subsidized: This detail and the other facts about smoking in China are from my interview with Yang Gonghuan, deputy director general of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Trouble can start within the Party itself: For background on village elections, and the ways in which dissent sometimes occurs, I spoke with Kevin J. O’Brien, a political scientist