Word: danwei
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Dates: during 1983-1983
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...epicenter of the paradox lies in the everlasting clash of constraint (unlimited government control) with freedom (unlimited license to people). China's leadership knows that China cannot go forward without huge grants of initiative to its people. But the clash begins at the very bottom, in the danwei, the lowest-level building block of the party's control, which denies every grace of liberty to its members...
...cannot understand China without understanding the danwei...
Everyone in China must belong to a factory, neighborhood, peasant or office danwei. The danwei controls your life. You introduce yourself on the telephone by identifying the danwei to which you belong. The neighborhood danwei assigns you to a job; then you belong to the factory danwei, which decides when you can have a baby and how large an apartment you live in. It can also transfer you to a danwei in a distant province and your wife to another. And so, up the line, to absolute control...