This book offers a detailed, comprehensive, and relatively non-technical overview of how and why the Chinese economy grew after 1978. It argues that the Chinese government played a very positive role in the process. By contrast, foreign trade and foreign investment were less important than usually thought. The book also concludes that China benefited from some of the policies adopted by Mao in the 1960s and 1970s.

A welcome addition to a growing literature, this book highlights the economic and social achievements of the Maoist regime. Using a wealth of new data it shows that while many rural industries were initially inefficient, the workers employed in them acquired skills making the creation of a globally competitive Chinese industrial sector possible.