The Li Ka Shing Library and the School of Social Sciences invite you to
the launch of two books and a seminar on:

Remaking China from the bottom up:

Local experiments in governance and poverty reduction

	Small works : poverty and economic development in southwestern China John A. Donaldson			China experiments : from local innovations to national reform Ann Florini, Hairong Lai, and Yeling Tan
How can policymakers effectively reduce poverty? Most mainstream economists advocate promoting economic growth, on the grounds that it generally reduces poverty while bringing other economic benefits. However, this dominant hypothesis offers few alternatives for economies that are unable to grow, or in places where economic growth fails to reduce or actually exacerbates poverty. In Small Works, John A. Donaldson draws on his extensive fieldwork in two Chinese provinces—Yunnan and Guizhou—that are exceptions to the purported relationship between economic growth and poverty reduction.			All societies face a key question: how to empower governments to perform essential governmental functions while constraining the arbitrary exercise of power. This balance, always in flux, is particularly fluid in today’s China. This insightful book examines the changing relationship between that state and its society, as demonstrated by numerous experiments in governance at subnational levels, and explores the implications for China’s future political trajectory.