The cotton processing industry is a distinct sector of China's rural economy which recently underwent a momentous transition from plan to market. China is the world's largest producer as well as consumer of cotton, and cotton processing links the agricultural production of this important commodity to China's booming textile industry.

Alpermann examines the political economy of the cotton processing industry, analyzes the process of cotton policy making and discusses reform outcomes on a national scale and the central state's response. He then goes on to examine the...