The rise of China is no doubt one of the most important events in world economic history since the Industrial Revolution. Mainstream economics, especially the institutional theory of economic development based on a dichotomy of extractive vs. inclusive political institutions, is highly inadequate in explaining China's rise. This book argues that only a radical reinterpretation of the history of the Industrial Revolution and the rise of the West (as incorrectly portrayed by the institutional theory) can fully explain China's growth miracle and why the determined rise of China is unstoppable despite its current 'backward' financial system and political institutions. Conversely, China's spectacular and rapid transformation from an impoverished agrarian society to a formidable industrial superpower sheds considerable light on the fundamental shortcomings of the institutional theory and mainstream 'blackboard' economic models, and provides more-accurate reevaluations of historical episodes such as Africa's enduring poverty trap despite radical political and economic reforms, Latin America's lost decades and frequent debt crises, 19th century Europe's great escape from the Malthusian trap, and the Industrial Revolution itself.

This book reviews China’s industrialization from the perspective of inclusiveness, and discusses the challenges arising from its industrialization process and how the Chinese people view and seek to overcome these challenges. By examining China’s industrialization in the context of the global economy, it reveals how China should be further integrated into and contribute to the great endeavor of worldwide industrialization and human development in the new era of economic globalization, allowing it to become a responsible stakeholder through its national rejuvenation for the benefit of the entire world.

This is a study of the development and acquisition of technology by a group of small- and medium-sized rural industries in Sichuan province, China. The enterprises are mainly collective ones, but they are compared with other ownership groups, such as private and state enterprises. Rural industries have received special attention in the development economics literature for two reasons: they are part of industrialization, which constitutes the backbone of the development process, as well as part of the rural economy to which most of the populations of developing countries belong and where many are unable to make a living in agriculture any more. China has attracted attention for its radical rural collectivization policies in the first three decades after the communists came to power, as well as for its more market orientation thereafter and its relatively high growth rates, in particular of its rural industries. Technological change is increasingly being recognized in the economic literature as a pivotal factor of growth and development at the macro level, and of success of enterprises at the micro level. This study analyses technological development and acquisition in small-and medium-scale enterprises in a developing context, in a large Chinese interior province quite similar to many developing countries.

As the greatest coal-producing and consuming nation in the world, China would seem an unlikely haven for wind power. Yet the country now boasts a world-class industry that promises to make low-carbon technology more affordable and available to all. Conducting an empirical study of China's remarkable transition and the possibility of replicating their model elsewhere, Joanna I. Lewis adds greater depth to a theoretical understanding of China's technological innovation systems and its current and future role in a globalized economy. Lewis focuses on China's specific methods of international technology transfer, its forms of international cooperation and competition, and its implementation of effective policies promoting the development of a home-grown industry. Just a decade ago, China maintained only a handful of operating wind turbines—all imported from Europe and the United States. Today, the country is the largest wind power market in the world, with turbines made almost exclusively in its own factories. Following this shift reveals how China's political leaders have responded to domestic energy challenges and how they may confront encroaching climate change. The nation's escalation of its wind power use also demonstrates China's ability to leapfrog to cleaner energy technologies—an option equally viable for other developing countries hoping to bypass gradual industrialization and the "technological lock-in" of hydrocarbon-intensive energy infrastructure. Though setbacks are possible, China could one day come to dominate global wind turbine sales, becoming a hub of technological innovation and a major instigator of low-carbon economic change.