China In The Nineties

Now updated with a chapter-length afterword by the editors on the end of the Deng era and its aftermath, China in the 1990s provides a comprehensive survey of a nation in transition. An understanding of this complex process requires a multidisciplinary and multidimensional approach, which the editors have achieved by bringing together experts from Britain, the United States, Europe, Australia, and Hong Kong who examine China's economic, political, military, cultural and social achievements and problems. The difficulties China still faces are enormous, some of them of its own making: pollution, urban sprawl, the insecurity of food supplies, the risks of political authoritarianism and the perils of liberalisation. Its population is still growing dramatically and is likely to be 1.5 billion by 2015, three times what it was when the P.R.C. was established in 1949. But since embarking on a reform programme which, at the time seemed experimental and hard to reconcile with official ideology, it has gone from being the 'sick man of Asia' to being one of the world's largest and fastest developing economies in what now looks to be a remarkably effective and well-managed transition.

This book provides a comprehensive overview and some economic analysis of China's economic reform experiences, particularly those since the late 1980s. It covers many institutional details of key aspects of the Chinese economy, including fiscal and monetary management, financial sector development, state-enterprise reform, international trade, foreign investment, decentralization and regional development. It is argued that while China has achieved a spectacular growth record over the past twenty years, and its reform efforts have successfully laid the foundation of a market-based economic management system, the country continues to face major challenges in sustaining its growth performance.

Most students of contemporary China are familiar with the Joint Economic Committee studies on China, which have appeared periodically since 1967. This is the most recent study in the series (released in April, 1991). This volume follows the format of the previous studies, offering a broad sweep of its subject matter. The 50 chapters - contributed by Chinese scholars in government, universities and private research centres - are divided into five major parts. Each section begins with an overview which summarises and comments on the main points in each of the chapters. The volume offers a detailed examination of China's economy, and the political and social factors currently facing the leadership in Beijing.

Most students of contemporary China are familiar with the Joint Economic Committee studies on China, which have appeared periodically since 1967. This is the most recent study in the series (released in April, 1991). This volume follows the format of the previous studies, offering a broad sweep of its subject matter. The 50 chapters - contributed by Chinese scholars in government, universities and private research centres - are divided into five major parts. Each section begins with an overview which summarises and comments on the main points in each of the chapters. The volume offers a detailed examination of China's economy, and the political and social factors currently facing the leadership in Beijing.

In 1989, the crisis which had threatened China during the previous four years erupted into violence on the streets of Beijing and other major cities. This book analyzes the political, ideological, economic, and social roots of that crisis and considers the alternatives now facing the Chinese people.

Xudong Zhang offers a critical analysis of China's 'long 1990s', the tumultuous years between the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and China's entry into the World Trade Organisation in 2001.