John Osburg, Anxious Wealth: Money and Morality Among China’s New Rich,

John Osburg’s work was published at a time when China was engaging in an unprecedented anti-corruption campaign targeting “tigers and flies.” A far cry from the media headlines trumpeting the fall of the latest tiger, Anxious Wealth is an ethnography of the world of the “flies,” and in particular entrepreneurs, in China. Based on a field study he carried out in Chengdu, the author sheds light on the habitus of the entrepreneurs with whom he spent time in the capital of Sichuan. The introducto..

Poroelastic indentation of mechanically confined hydrogel layers

We report on the poroelastic indentation response of hydrogel thin films geometrically confined within contacts with rigid spherical probes of radii in the millimeter range. Poly(PEGMA) (poly(ethylene glycol)) methyl ether methacrylate), poly(DMA) (dimethylacrylamide) and poly(NIPAM) (\textit{N}-isopropylacrylamide) gel films with thickness less than 15 $\mu$m were grafted onto glass substrates using a thiol-ene click chemistry route. Changes in the indentation depth under constant applied load were monitored over time as a function of the film thickness and the radius of curvature of the probe using an interferometric method. In addition, shear properties of the indented films were measured using a lateral contact method. In the case of poly(PEGMA) films, we show that poroelastic indentation behavior is adequately described within the framework of an approximate contact model derived within the limits of confined contact geometries. This model provides simple scaling laws for the characteristic poroelastic time and the equilibrium indentation depth. Conversely, deviations from this model are evidenced for poly(DMA) and poly(NIPAM) films. From lateral contact experiments, these deviations are found to result from strong changes in the shear properties as a result of glass transition (poly(DMA)) or phase separation (poly(NIPAM)) phenomena induced by the drainage of the confined films squeezed between the rigid substrates

Jos Gamble, Shanghai in Transition: Changing Perspectives and Social Contours of a Chinese Metropolis

Here is a new monograph on Shanghai, this publication being distinguished by the originality of its angle of analysis. In order to report the numerous and profound transformations which are drastically changing Shanghai in the era of reforms, Jos Gamble has chosen to give a voice to the lower classes of Shanghai, its laobaoxing, thus aiming, as he states in the preface, to establish “the ethnography of a city”. After a succinct reminder of Shanghai’s history, the author proceeds, in the first..

Wang Simeng, Illusions et souffrances: Les migrants chinois à Paris,

Rares sont les ouvrages académiques que l’on peut dévorer d’une traite comme un roman. Illusions et souffrances : Les migrants chinois à Paris en fait partie. L’auteure, Wang Simeng, est sociologue, chargée de recherche au CNRS et membre du Centre de recherche médecine, sciences, santé mentale, société (CNRS-INSERM-EHESS-Université Paris Descartes). L’une des plus anciennes d’Europe, la diaspora chinoise en France remonte au début du XXe siècle avec l’arrivée de travailleurs chinois lors de l..

Jos Gamble, Shanghai in Transition : Changing Perspectives and Social Contours of a Chinese Metropolis

Voici une nouvelle monographie sur Shanghai, mais cette dernière publication se distingue par l’originalité de son angle d’analyse. En effet, pour faire état des multiples et profondes mutations qui bouleversent Shanghai à l’ère des réformes, Jos Gamble prend le parti de donner la parole au petit peuple shanghaien, à ses laobaoxing, et ce faisant, il vise à dresser, comme il l’annonce dans sa préface, l’ « ethnographie d’une cité » (ethnography of a city). Après avoir rappelé de façon succinc..

Développement économique et transformation du capital humain

Les 27 et 28 octobre 2003, le Centre d’études français sur la Chine contemporaine (CEFC) et l’Académie des sciences sociales de Shanghai (ASSS) organisaient conjointement un colloque intitulé « développement économique et transformation du capital humain » dont nous publions deux contributions. De quelles compétences, la Chine a-t-elle aujourd’hui besoin ? Comment les individus, mais aussi le système de formation, s’adaptent-ils aux nouvelles exigences des entreprises et des administrations ?..

Guo Baogang, China’s Quest for Political Legitimacy: The New Equity-Enhancing Politics

Comment le Parti communiste chinois (PCC) parvient-il à garder les rênes du pouvoir tout en restant pertinent à la tête du pays après plus de 60 ans de règne sans partage ? Comment expliquer le soutien populaire dont il bénéficie – aujourd’hui peut-être même plus que jamais –, dont font état des études empiriques et ce, en dépit de l’accroissement exponentiel du nombre des manifestations – 180 000 en 2010, soit quatre fois plus que dans la décennie passée et deux fois plus qu’en 2006 ? Pour G..

From Senior Official to Top Civil Servant

The months, even more the weeks leading up to the Sixteenth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), in the course of which were to be unveiled the names of the new leadership team, were a period that has very naturally come to be called “Pekinology”. This exercise, useful though it may be, is risky. Because mistakes are never forgiven and because they are nevertheless frequent, the wealth of information required for this type of guesswork is quickly discredited. Andrew Nathan and Bruce..

Wang Simeng, Illusions et souffrances: Les migrants chinois à Paris (Illusions and suffering: Chinese migrants in Paris),

Rare is an academic work that can be devoured in one sitting like a novel. Illusions et souffrances: Les migrants chinois à Paris is one such book. The author, Wang Simeng, is a sociologist in charge of research at CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research) and member of the Centre de recherche médecine, sciences, santé mentale, société (CNRS-INSERM-EHESS-Université Paris Descartes). Among the oldest in Europe, the Chinese diaspora in France traces back to the early twentieth century with..

Jos Gamble, Shanghai in Transition: Changing Perspectives and Social Contours of a Chinese Metropolis

Here is a new monograph on Shanghai, this publication being distinguished by the originality of its angle of analysis. In order to report the numerous and profound transformations which are drastically changing Shanghai in the era of reforms, Jos Gamble has chosen to give a voice to the lower classes of Shanghai, its laobaoxing, thus aiming, as he states in the preface, to establish “the ethnography of a city”. After a succinct reminder of Shanghai’s history, the author proceeds, in the first..