Chinese sociologists have launched a bigger and more inquisitive
attempt than any study in India or a developing nation to probe
how individuals, families and communities are coping with the
world’s fastest modernisation. “The scale, rapidity, speed, and
scope of social changes in China are unprecedented,’’
sociologist Yu Xie at the University of Michigan who has teamed
up with the Peking University in Beijing, told the Hindustan
Times . “The study will be important to China’s political goals,
as emphases gradually shifts from economic aspects to social
issues during China’s development.” This Chinese Family Panel
Study — the world’s second-largest such exercise after a British
study — will also transform social science in China from being
opinion-based to evidence-based, said Yu. Since the launch of
economic reforms over 30 years ago, the Chinese economy has
grown faster than researchers can keep pace recording how the
changes impact personal and political aspirations and
satisfaction with the quality of lif