The first edition of the Historical Dictionary of the People's Republic of China was published in 1997 and the second edition in 2007. Within a span of ten years, there have been many changes in the social, economic and political fields in China. The changes have been so tremendous that now there is talk of China as a threat, as noted by Woronoff in the Editor's Foreword. Woronoff also noted that until recently, China was not perceived by some to be a major player in the world despite its location, large area and population.
The first edition concentrated on information about the People's Republic of China between 1947 and 1997 and the second edition has been updated and includes information up to 2006. There were 277 pages in the first edition while the second edition, by the same author, has 654 pages. This jump in the number of pages illustrates how much China has evolved in the last ten years.
To reflect China's rising economic, political and social profile, there are many new entries in the Dictionary section of the second edition. Compared with the first edition, the Dictionary section has grown from 241 pages to 596 pages. The Chronology section has been updated to events up to 2006 and the Bibliography section has also been expanded and updated. Part 1 and Part 2 contains lists of print references to reference works and journals, map collections, yearbooks and films, and general works ranging from biographies to society and religion. The select list of internet sources has grown from 13 web sites in the first edition to 55. The list of maps and charts remains the same but the chart for the Government of the People's Republic of China has been updated. Unfortunately, the quality of the map of China is not as good as the 1997 edition although it remains the same. The typeface is small thus making it difficult to read.
The major changes in China are reflected in the Dictionary section. As befits China's rising profile, there are new entries for Industry, Economy, Labor, Trade and Investment, Stock Markets, State‐Owned Enterprises, Banking, Finance and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Dubbed the factory of the world, China is a growing economic force that is spreading its economic wings to other parts of the globe such as Africa and South America in its search for new markets and commodities to supply its growing energy and food needs. As it sheds its old communist practices, it has embraced more market practices that have an impact on its people. The entries for State‐Owned Enterprises and Special Economic Zones clearly show that the idea of guaranteed job security or the iron‐rice bowl has been discarded as China strives to make its state‐owned enterprises more efficient in the face of global competition.
Hong Kong is a new entry in the Dictionary section. In 1997 Hong Kong reverted to Chinese control and is now officially known as Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR). Unfortunately there is no entry for Macao, the other SAR that was formerly under the Portuguese. However, both these Special Administrative Regions are covered in another recent Scarecrow historical dictionary (Chan and Lo, 2006) (RR 2007/355).
In foreign policy, China is increasingly committed to abide by international rules and norms. It has joined international organizations such as the WTO and has played a more visible role in the international arena. Its hunger for energy and commodities to meet its needs has had an impact on its relations with its neighbours and how it conducts its foreign policy. This is demonstrated in the many trade and investment deals with countries in Africa and Latin America. Its foreign policy decisions have become more transparent. To this end, it opened a modern international media centre in 1999 where it holds biweekly press conferences where it fields hard questions from foreign correspondents and provides real answers. China's relations with other important partners such as the US, Taiwan, Japan, Korea (North and South), Cambodia, Vietnam and ASEAN all have separate entries in the Dictionary section but there is no separate entry for the European Union.
While the opening of the media centre demonstrates China's eagerness to promote a more open face to the world, there does not seem to have been much progress in areas such as Censorship and Broadcasting and Television as the entries show. The state still controls censorship of the press and the media tightly. The internet, a new entry in the second edition, has proven to be a very popular medium with the Chinese. The number of users has increased from nearly zero in 1996 to 111 million in 2005. China has become the second biggest internet user in the world after the USA with 135,000 registered web sites and approximately four million blogs in 2005. Unlike traditional media such as newspaper, radio and television, the internet companies are owned by private investors with boards of directors from Western countries and the USA. There are more than 11,000 government web sites that vary in quality. The Chinese government has tried to control the internet by deploying up to 50,000 Internet police monitors who visit politically sensitive web sites and by blocking foreign web sites that range from news, education, government and HIV/AIDS. Major international companies such as Microsoft, Google and Yahoo! have agreed to help the Chinese authorities to censor speech in the Internet. This demonstrates China's economic and political clout and the recognition by foreign companies of China's rising power.
Other entries that have been updated and expanded include the One Child Policy, Environment, Education and HIV/AIDS. More than 30 years have passed since the One Child Policy was introduced in China in 1979. The social consequences of this policy have had a great impact on Chinese society. The impact is felt by families, men of marriageable age, the economy and healthcare for the elderly. The environment plays an increasing role in China with the government trying to make sustainable development and environmental protection one of China's basic national policies. Air pollution continues to blight parts of China including Beijing. Acid rain still falls in 90 per cent of the cities in the Acid Raid Control Zones in the southeast provinces. Water and ocean pollution have affected marine fisheries and rivers. The encroaching desertification is a result of an intensification of industrial development and real estate speculation as more and more farmland has been given way to new land developments. China has taken measures to combat pollution in the country.
The changes that have enveloped China have seen greater changes in the urban areas. There are still many underdeveloped areas of the country. The plight of rural poor who now flock to the cities to find jobs has been expanded and updated under the Floating Population entry. The fate of the Chinese underclass, who are affected by the end of the iron rice bowl, is also discussed in the entry under Labor. The Health Care entry has been updated and there is a separate entry for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the disease that began in Guangdong, Southern China and rapidly spread to Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada. Women is a new entry in the Dictionary, reflecting the importance of women in China. When the Communists came to power in 1949, their goal was to improve the status of women in the country. Women in China have become more independent as their education level increased and the economy expanded. However, as the number of the newly rich has increased older traditional practices, such as the keeping of concubines by wealthy Chinese men, lured young Chinese women to live lives of luxury in “concubine villages”.
Overall, the Dictionary provides a good overview of the history and the recent transformation of the People's Republic of China. Each entry contains references to related topics that appear as main entries in the Dictionary. Reading the entries in the second edition, readers will find out how much China has transformed itself economically, politically and socially. Much effort has gone into updating and creating new information to reflect China's growing importance in the international scene. The second edition of the Historical Dictionary of the People's Republic of China is a welcome addition to any library.
