Market Reforms and the Emergence of Civil Society in

A ny inquiry into the em ergence o f "civil society " in post-M ao China is bedevilled both by ambiguity o f the term "civil society " itself and the com plexity o f the historical process it is used to describe. This problem extends far beyond the Chinese case, since the idea o f "civil society " has been em braced by a broad spectrum o f ideological persuasions and used to analyse a wide variety o f countries in what used to be called the First, Second and Third W orlds. In the United Kingdom, for example, theorists o f the right and left have argued for the crucial importance o f "civil society " as a force for protecting social cohesion against the ravages o f market forces or providing the organisational basis for an alternative form o f democratic governance to the traditional bureaucratic state. 1 In Central and Eastern Europe, it was the experience o f political struggle against comm unist regimes which gave "civil society " the enhanced currency it has enjoyed over the past decade and a half, particularly the experience o f Solidarity in Poland.2 In the developing world, many countries have been undergoing program m es o f econom ic liberalisation which has led to discussion about the inter relationships betw een (spreading) markets, (retreating) states and (em erging) civi