Written by a team of leading China scholars, this book explores the dynamics of state power and legitimation in twenty-first century China, and the implications of changing state-society relations for the future viability of the People's Republic. Key subjects covered include:

Introduction: Popular Protest and State Legitimation in Twenty-First Century China 1. Legitimacy Crisis in China? 2. The New Crowd of the Disposessed: The Shift of the Urban Proletariat from Master to Mendicant 3. Society's Masters' Struggle to Survive: State Workers, Joblessness and Contention in Post-Deng China 4. Comrades and Collectives in Arms: Tax Resistance, Evasion and Avoidance Strategies in Post-Mao China 5. Neither Contained nor Transgressive: Boundary-Spanning Contention in China 6. The China Democracy Party, Intellectuals and the Politics of Protest 7. Who Does the Party Represent? From 'Three Revolutionary Classes' to 'Three Represents' 8. The State of Youth/Youth and the State in Early Twenty-First Century China 9. Popular Nationalism and State Legitimation 10. Seeking Legitimacy Through Art: China's Plunge into the International Cultural Economy 11. What Is China? Who Is Chinese? Han-Minority Relations, Legitimacy and the State 12. State and Society in Transitions From Communism: China in Comparative Perspective