ABSTRACT
The dramatic takeoff of the Chinese economy during the last two decades of
the twentieth century has had significant impact on mankind in general and
the Chinese people in particular. This is because of the fact that one-fifth of the
earth’s inhabitants live in China and that the majority of them have now
climbed out of poverty. For the same reason, understanding China’s recent
economic success has occupied many authors in the profession. This book
contributes to the growing pool of papers in the literature. The objectives of
this introductory chapter are twofold: (a) to describe briefly the characteristics
of China’s growth in the past two decades; and (b) to introduce an outline of the
chapters.
