ABSTRACT
To understand fully the economics of coal production and distribution in China it is imperative to review the industry’s changes in organization and policy within the context of the economywide environment of accelerating but cautious progression towards market socialism. The Chinese government was not following any single development strategy, be it theoretical or tested by other countries. It was very much a process, as Deng Xiaoping expressed it, of ‘mokan shitou guo he’ – groping for the stones when crossing the river.1
