On March 22nd 2011, invited by Professor Du Fachun, Institute of Ethnology & Anthropology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS/IEA) , Dr. Anja Lahtinen, University of Helsinki, Finland visited the CASS/IEA and had a talk titled “Provincial Development and Quality of Governance: Qinghai Province in Transition”. This is one of regular meetings of the Anthological Forum, which organized by Dr. Liu Zheng’ai from the CASS/IEA. There are 13 scholars attended this seminar from the CASS/IEA, the Minzu University of China and the Beijing Normal University.
In this invited talk, Dr. Anja Lahtinen mentioned that her presentation based on her Ph.D thesis, "Governance Matters - China’s Developing Western Region with a Focus on Qinghai Province. She said that Qinghai province is one of the slowest developing regions of China. Her research problem is to analyze to what extent provincial development correlates with the quality of governance. The central concept of this research is good governance. This dissertation employs a grounded theory approach while the theoretical framework of this study is built on the “Three World’s” approach of analyzing the three main themes, namely, the environment, economic development, and cultural diversity, and to support the empirical work. Philosophical issues in the humanities and contemporary theories of governance are brought in to provide deeper understanding of governance, and to understand to what extent and how characteristics of good governance (derived from the Western canon) are combined with Chinese tradition. A qualitative research method is chosen to provide a deeper understanding of the contemporary challenges of Qinghai (and China) and to provide some insight into the role and impact of governance on provincial development. It also focuses on the Tibetan ethnic group in order to develop as full an understanding as possible about the province. Dr. Anja Lahtinen pointed out that the challenges faced by Qinghai concern in particular its environment, economic development, and cultural diversity, all of which are closely interrelated. The findings demonstrate that Qinghai Province is not a powerful actor. The question is how is Qinghai’s government best able to govern in a way that is beneficial for the people. This study provides the ingredients for reflection as to how provincial government can govern in a sustainable way, instead of leaning on growth factors with too little consideration about the impact on the environment and the people.
A major finding from Dr. Anja Lahtinen is confirmed that the development or underdevelopment of the regions and provinces depends greatly on how it is governed. The provincial government has the power on the planning, implementation, and monitoring of all the plans and actions that affect the lives of the people. The quality of government depends on capacity of the provincial government and on how it collaborates, communicates and cooperates with all the actors of society.The essence that the grassroots level is heard through the possibility of participation. Concerning recommendations for qinghai as following: 1)Environment: Raise the environmental restrictions and standards.2)Economy: Do not accept any polluting company to invest. 3) Cultural diversity: Make an access to participation and hearing of all groups.4)Provincial government: Increase the capacity, follow the rule of Law, and collaborate with the society > the quality of governance.
Anja Lahtinen holds Ph.D. degree (2011) from the Faculty of Arts, the Department of World Cultures of University of Helsinki. Her thesis "Governance Matters - China’s Developing Western Region with a Focus on Qinghai Province" is published in the series of Publications of the Institute for Asian and African Studies 11. She also holds Master of Business Administration (a full-MBA) from Henley Management College, UK (2000). Now she is a researcher in the Faculty of Arts, Department of World Cultures, University of Helsinki, Finland.
After the seminar, Professor DU Fachun hosted a welcome dinner to Dr. Anja Lahtinen. Currently, Professor Du and his team are doing a research project “Pilot Research on Poverty Reduction and Alpine Rangeland Management in the Sanjiangyuan of Qinghai”, which granted by the Ford Foundation. This two years project (2011-2013)aims at conducting anthropological research on impact of nomads’ sedentarization and resettlement in the Sanjiangyuan(Three Rivers Headwaters in the Southern Qinghai Plateau), participatory assessment on herders’ poverty and alpine rangeland management in Sanjiangyuan, and explore an action plan of anti-poverty of herders and to achieve livestock-grassland balance in nomadic communities in the Sanjiangyuan.