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Breaking out of the Poverty Trap: Case Studies from the Tibetan Plateau in Yunnan, Qinghai and Gansu . Edited by LUOLIN WANG and LING ZHU . Hackensack, NJ : World Century Publishing , 2013. xvi + 270 pp. $105.00; £69.00. ISBN 978-1-938134-07-4
Book Reviews
This unique edited volume combines a wide range of contributions from a research team of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). Being the translation of an original Chinese publication, it gives us unprecedented insights into the way modern Chinese academia deals with complex and sensitive socio-economic issues. This in itself makes the work an interesting read.
Comprising eleven chapters besides the introduction, the book can be loosely structured into three sections. The first four contributions focus on Tibetan farmer and herder market participation and income generation. The second set addresses a wide range of issues from ecological resettlement, health and education to a unique chapter on the impact of TV broadcasting. The third set looks at aid, welfare (including an insightful study on elderly pensions) and disaster relief. Altogether, the volume touches on several topics that have never been examined in the Tibetan context.
All contributions are united by a focus on poverty dynamics and governmental poverty alleviation, based on fieldwork undertaken in 2006-07 in rural Tibetan regions. In the introduction, the editors highlight the multi-disciplinary and structural-institutional approach of their research...