a morning at the Center for Chinese Studies Library made me pretty convinced that it's probably impossible for me to get hold of any statistics on unrests and things of that nature from official statistical yearbooks... and i prob have to switch topics.... there seems to be data however on rural and urban stuff and i foresee myself doing something on rising income inequality in China instead... prob focusing on the hukou system that dates all the way back to the decade after the founding of the People's Republic in 1949. sigh. but that's still pretty vague and i'm starting to read up on a totally new topic. luckily it seems pretty interesting, and more econ-ish, less poli-sciencish. i now officially have 1 month to the deadline for turning in my 20-30 pg thesis prospectus... and given that everyone has abandoned me (my fault!) and that i prob irritated half the profs i tried to get help from for being so vague..... i'm really left on my own =( but somehow, my new topic seems more tangible than the one i was stuck with the past couple of months or so... so hopefully that's a good sign? and hopefully a sense of impending doom and failure would pressure me to be super disciplined =P