This is the first comprehensive effort to compare the recent political experiences of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the People's Republic of China by tracing their overlapping and diverging paths of regime change.

Two countries where communism failed have lost their ideology and now face religion, sex, and corruption problems.

A long overdue contribution to the study of Cold War history and Chinese foreign policy, Contending with Contradictions provides an incisive interpretation of China's relations with Poland and its irreversible impact on the communist world. Mercy A. Kuo provides a unique contribution to the miniscule corpus of literature on the subject. Her approach is threefold: Kuo offers a comprehensive interpretation of the historical relevance of the PRC's policy towards Soviet Eastern Europe during this era; she sheds new light on the intentions of the Chinese Communist Party; and, finally, her research for the book was based on an archival approach, utilizing post-1989 declassified sources. Because this area of Cold War history has long been understudied--and certainly without the benefit of newly available archival materials--Kuo's study is the first of its kind.

China has become deeply integrated into the world economy. Yet, gradual marketization has facilitated the country’s rise without leading to its wholesale assimilation to global neoliberalism. This book uncovers the fierce contest about economic reforms that shaped China’s path. In the first post-Mao decade, China’s reformers were sharply divided. They agreed that China had to reform its economic system and move toward more marketization—but struggled over how to go about it. Should China destroy the core of the socialist system through shock therapy, or should it use the institutions of the planned economy as market creators? With hindsight, the historical record proves the high stakes behind the question: China embarked on an economic expansion commonly described as unprecedented in scope and pace, whereas Russia’s economy collapsed under shock therapy. Based on extensive research, including interviews with key Chinese and international participants and World Bank officials as well as insights gleaned from unpublished documents, the book charts the debate that ultimately enabled China to follow a path to gradual reindustrialization. Beyond shedding light on the crossroads of the 1980s, it reveals the intellectual foundations of state-market relations in reform-era China through a longue durée lens. Overall, the book delivers an original perspective on China’s economic model and its continuing contestations from within and from without.