Chinas Economic Modernization And Structural Changes

This book provides a timely update on the ongoing transformation of the Chinese economy. As the world's second largest economy, China marked the 40th anniversary of economic reform and opening-up in 2018. In this book, top scholars on Chinese economic studies review China's remarkable economic achievement in the past four decades and analyse the challenges facing economic development in the country.The book focusses on structural changes of China's economy, which are essential to steer the country towards sustainable development. It studies the long-term factors affecting the Chinese economy such as education and innovation, and emerging sources of economic growth, such as e-commerce. Other important aspects of the Chinese economy explored in this book include the economic role of the Chinese government, fiscal reforms, capital account liberalisation, housing policies, competition policy and anti-monopoly law, China's export, trends of regional development and reforms of state-owned enterprises.This rich collection of policy-oriented economic studies is also a tribute to Professor John Wong, former research director of the East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore, who passed away in June 2018. For over three decades, Professor Wong had followed and provided insightful analyses on China's economic development.

'This book is a remarkable tour de force. Joseph Chai offers a fine synthesis of thinking about the nature and origins of China's long-run economic growth and structural change. Through the meticulous use of an impressive range of sources, he explores some of the most challenging puzzles of China's economic history, such as its failure to match the modern industrial revolutions of Western Europe, or, closer to home, to rival Japan's economic transformation in the final decades of the nineteenth century. His definition of history is broad and his narrative extends down to the present day, thereby illuminating continuities and discontinuities across not only the historical divides of 1840 and 1911, but also those of 1949 and 1979. But despite its ambitious scope, Chai's analysis is authoritative, nuanced and full of detail. It will surely become necessary reading not only within the academic community of China scholars and students, but also among that even larger audience of readers seeking to understand the "rise of China".' Robert Ash, University of London, UK 'For most people interested in the contemporary Chinese economy, the story begins with Deng Xiaoping's policy of Opening and Reform in 1978. This is especially true of students from China, where modern history is still taught in a simple, politically determined framework. This situation urgently needs remedying and Joseph Chai's new book is a valuable step in this direction. Chai surveys China's economic growth from the earliest times to the present day explaining the key turning points and the intellectual puzzles that arise in this long evolution. This book will be of interest to the general reader and will be valuable as a textbook for students studying any aspect of China's current development and prospects.' Christopher Howe, University of London, UK 'Joseph Chai places the recent phase of China's spectacular economic growth in its historical context in his well-researched, interesting and accessible overview of the economic history of China. Because no similar up-to-date book is available in English, English readers will find this book particularly welcome. Valuable attributes of his exposition include analyses of various economic puzzles (for example, why did China, which was once the world's economic leader, falter, suffer economic retardation, fall behind Europe and begin its economic resurgence later than Japan?) and his thoughtful considerations of the prospects for China's future economic growth. This book is highly recommended.' Clem Tisdell, The University of Queensland, Australia As a country's current development is path dependent, the rise of China and its strategic implications can only be understood in a historical context. Hence, the key to understanding contemporary China is the understanding of its past. So far there has been an absence of a comprehensive text dealing with Chinese economic history in the English language. An Economic History of Modern China fills this important gap, focusing on modern Chinese economic growth and comprehensively surveying the patterns of China's growth experience over the past 200 years, from the Opium wars to the present day. Key events are traced back to their foundations in history to explain their impact on China's modern economic growth.

How has the government of the PRC transformed traditional economic institutions into a socialist, central-planning system? What has been the impact of this transformation on China's economic growth? What is the essence of the Chinese development model and how successfully has it functioned during the past three decades? What are the prospects for t

This book examines the economic, cultural and structural factors affecting China's economic growth, and expounds why China's economy has been so successful in the past, and the challenges that lie ahead for the country amidst the changing world, new challenges and uncertainties. The authors lay out their thoughts persuasively and powerfully, advocating changes that should be implemented in order to achieve a successful economic transformation of China's economy. Through an exchange of ideas among the four Chinese authors, each of whom hail from different backgrounds, practical solutions are presented in the book.

Under Deng Xiaoping's dynamic leadership, the People's Republic of China has embarked on a highly significant and ambitious modernization drive resulting in various political, economic, and social changes. It is to the nature and extent of the reform program that the book addresses itself. There is general consensus among the authors that important changes are taking place in Deng's China that affect various segments of the society. Most authors seem to believe that although beset with problems and difficulties, current reforms and changes are likely to be continued and expanded in the years ahead. Contents: include: The Modernization of China: 19th and 20th Century Comparisons and Contrasts; Does the CCP have a "Line"?; Reform, Succession, and the Resurgence of China's Old Guard; China's Future Leaders: The Third-Echelon Cadres; Students, Intellectuals, and Political Reform in Mainland China; Habits of the Heart: Intellectual Assumptions Reflected by Chinese Reformers fr Tuo to Fang Lizhi; China's Economic Reform at the Crossroads; The Limits of Economic Change: Lessons from Mainland China; Changing Status of Women in the PRC; New Trends in Marriage and Family in Mainland China: Impacts from the Four Modernizations Campaign; Military Modernization and Defense Policy in the People's Republic of China; Deng Xiaoping and Modernization of the Chinese Military; Change and Continuity in Contemporary PRC Foreign Policy: Implications for the United States; and Recent Legal Issues Between the United States and the People's Republic of China. Co-published with the Miller Center for Public Affairs.

The year 2018 marks 40 years of reform and development in China (1978–2018). This commemorative book assembles some of the world’s most prominent scholars on the Chinese economy to reflect on what has been achieved as a result of the economic reform programs, and to draw out the key lessons that have been learned by the model of growth and development in China over the preceding four decades. This book explores what has happened in the transformation of the Chinese economy in the past 40 years for China itself, as well as for the rest of the world, and discusses the implications of what will happen next in the context of China’s new reform agenda. Focusing on the long-term development strategy amid various old and new challenges that face the economy, this book sets the scene for what the world can expect in China’s fifth decade of reform and development. A key feature of this book is its comprehensive coverage of the key issues involved in China’s economic reform and development. Included are discussions of China’s 40 years of reform and development in a global perspective; the political economy of economic transformation; the progress of marketisation and changes in market-compatible institutions; the reform program for state-owned enterprises; the financial sector and fiscal system reform, and its foreign exchange system reform; the progress and challenges in economic rebalancing; and the continuing process of China’s global integration. This book further documents and analyses the development experiences including China’s large scale of migration and urbanisation, the demographic structural changes, the private sector development, income distribution, land reform and regional development, agricultural development, and energy and climate change policies.

Prior to the initiation of economic reforms and trade liberalization 36 years ago, China maintained policies that kept the economy very poor, stagnant, centrally-controlled, vastly inefficient, and relatively isolated from the global economy. Since opening up to foreign trade and investment and implementing free market reforms in 1979, China has been among the world's fastest-growing economies, with real annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth averaging nearly 10% through 2016. In recent years, China has emerged as a major global economic power. It is now the world's largest economy (on a purchasing power parity basis), manufacturer, merchandise trader, and holder of foreign exchange reserves.The global economic crisis that began in 2008 greatly affected China's economy. China's exports, imports, and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows declined, GDP growth slowed, and millions of Chinese workers reportedly lost their jobs. The Chinese government responded by implementing a $586 billion economic stimulus package and loosening monetary policies to increase bank lending. Such policies enabled China to effectively weather the effects of the sharp global fall in demand for Chinese products, but may have contributed to overcapacity in several industries and increased debt by Chinese firms and local government. China's economy has slowed in recent years. Real GDP growth has slowed in each of the past six years, dropping from 10.6% in 2010 to 6.7% in 2016, and is projected to slow to 5.7% by 2022.The Chinese government has attempted to steer the economy to a "new normal" of slower, but more stable and sustainable, economic growth. Yet, concerns have deepened in recent years over the health of the Chinese economy. On August 11, 2015, the Chinese government announced that the daily reference rate of the renminbi (RMB) would become more "market-oriented." Over the next three days, the RMB depreciated against the dollar and led to charges that China's goal was to boost exports to help stimulate the economy (which some suspect is in worse shape than indicated by official Chinese economic statistics). Concerns over the state of the Chinese economy appear to have often contributed to volatility in global stock indexes in recent years.The ability of China to maintain a rapidly growing economy in the long run will likely depend largely on the ability of the Chinese government to implement comprehensive economic reforms that more quickly hasten China's transition to a free market economy; rebalance the Chinese economy by making consumer demand, rather than exporting and fixed investment, the main engine of economic growth; boost productivity and innovation; address growing income disparities; and enhance environmental protection. The Chinese government has acknowledged that its current economic growth model needs to be altered and has announced several initiatives to address various economic challenges. In November 2013, the Communist Party of China held the Third Plenum of its 18th Party Congress, which outlined a number of broad policy reforms to boost competition and economic efficiency. For example, the communique stated that the market would now play a "decisive" role in allocating resources in the economy. At the same time, however, the communique emphasized the continued important role of the state sector in China's economy. In addition, many foreign firms have complained that the business climate in China has worsened in recent years. Thus, it remains unclear how committed the Chinese government is to implementing new comprehensive economic reforms.China's economic rise has significant implications for the United States and hence is of major interest to Congress. This report provides background on China's economic rise; describes its current economic structure; identifies the challenges China faces to maintain economic growth; and discusses the challenges, opportunities, and implications of China's economic rise.

This book focuses on the key issues around Chinese reform in the past 40 years, including economic structure upgrading, finance reform, enterprise ecology, village modernization, ecological development, income structure, global governance, BRI, and governance model. It collects the most important concerns and reveals the deep logic behind the reform. By reading this book, it helps readers to grasp the engine of China’s continuous growth toward modernization in the four decades.