The essays in this volume take the 1990s after the 1989 Tiananmen tragedy as its baseline. They consist of ways of looking at China's developmental path during the two decades before and after the turn of the 21st century. This book traces the choices that three generations of Chinese leaders from Deng Xiaoping to Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, have made to rebuild China and consolidate the reforms introduced in the late 1970s. It also examines how Chinese leaders are trying to restore China's position in the region; how they are re-connecting with the country's history and re-defining the kind of nation it wants, and also how they hope to establish what they consider to be China's rightful place in the international order.

Many observers predicted the collapse of the Chinese Communist Party following the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, and again following the serial collapse of communist regimes behind the Iron Curtain. Their prediction, however, never proved true. Despite minor setbacks, China has experienced explosive economic growth and relative political stability ever since 1989. In The Dictator's Dilemma, eminent China scholar Bruce Dickson provides a comprehensive explanation for regime's continued survival and prosperity. Dickson contends that the popular media narrative of the party's impending implosion ignores some basic facts. The regime's policies may generate resentment and protest, but the CCP still enjoys a surprisingly high level of popular support. Nor is the party is not cut off from the people it governs. It consults with a wide range of specialists, stakeholders, and members of the general public in a selective yet extensive manner. Further, it tolerates and even encourages a growing and diverse civil society, even while restricting access to it. Today, the majority of Chinese people see the regime as increasingly democratic even though it does not allow political competition and its leaders are not accountable to the electorate. In short, while the Chinese people may prefer change, they prefer that it occurs within the existing political framework. In reaching this conclusion, Dickson draws upon original public opinion surveys, interviews, and published materials to explain why there is so much popular support for the regime. This basic stability is a familiar story to China specialists, but not to those whose knowledge of contemporary China is limited to the popular media. The Dictator's Dilemma, an engaging synthesis of how the CCP rules and its future prospects, will enlighten both audiences, and will be essential for anyone interested in understanding China's increasing importance in world politics.

This book focuses on the nature and significance of China’s state enterprises which have undergone substantial changes since China’s economic liberalization in 1978. It argues that much of the criticism is based on mistaken premises, where even the term ‘state-owned enterprises’ is a misnomer given that the emphasis is much less on ownership than on control. Using numerous case studies, this book highlights the extent to which these enterprises have evolved in response to reforms, and provides an in-depth analysis of their role in China’s outward investment strategy in the “Belt and Road” initiative. This role speaks to their growing influence as China expands her global footprint.

The new edition of a comprehensive overview of the modern Chinese economy, revised to reflect the end of the “miracle growth” period. This comprehensive overview of the modern Chinese economy by a noted expert on China's economic development offers a quality and breadth of coverage not found in any other English-language text. In The Chinese Economy, Barry Naughton provides both a broadly focused introduction to China's economy since 1949 and original insights based on his own extensive research. This second edition has been thoroughly revised to reflect a decade of developments in China's economy, notably the end of the period of “miracle growth” and the multiple transitions it now confronts—demographic, technological, macroeconomic, and institutional. Coverage of macroeconomic and financial policy has been significantly expanded. After covering endowments, legacies, economic systems, and general issues of economic structure, labor, and living standards, the book examines specific economic sectors, including agriculture, industry, technology, and foreign trade and investment. It then treats financial, macroeconomic, and environmental issues. The book covers such topics as patterns of growth and development, including population growth and the one-child family policy; the rural and urban economies, including rural industrialization and urban technological development; incoming and outgoing foreign investment; and environmental quality and the sustainability of growth. The book will be an essential resource for students, teachers, scholars, business practitioners, and policymakers. It is suitable for classroom use for undergraduate or graduate courses.

The need for China to find a new, environmentally sustainable development path is accepted widely among Chinese scholars and policy makers. This book makes available for the first time to an English–speaking audience Deng Yingtao's ground-breaking book New Development Model and China’s Future. Published in 1991, the book was far ahead of its time. Deng subjects the development model of the high income countries to rigorous analysis and explores the environmental implications of China following this model. His clear conclusion is that the carrying capacity of the physical environment and nature is limited, that economic and social development should not exceed the carrying capacity of resources, and that China should not adopt the western development path. Based on insights from economics, engineering and human psychology, the book analyses the environmental impact of the current western development model, demonstrates the catastrophic impact this would have in terms of China's own development and in terms of China's relationship with the world, and argues that China's rich intellectual and scientific tradition will allow Chinese people to play a central role in finding the solution to the profound environmental and development challenges the world currently faces.