ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the process of commercializing and corporatizing the power industry in China and the organizational history of the power industry amid the political changes of the period. It examines the direct government ownership of the power industry before the early 1990s. The chapter discusses the corporatization process in the power industry. It looks at the creation of the State Power Corporation of China (SPCC) as a state-owned shareholding company and the assessment of public corporations in a transition economy. In 1988, the power industry was once again split from the Ministry of Water Resources and Electric Power (MWREP) and placed under the newly created Ministry of Energy (MOE), together with the electric machinery portion of the Ministry of Machinery Building Industries, the Ministry of Coal and the Ministry of Petroleum. The Chinese government has remained firm about state ownership of the power industry and some other industries which are closely linked with the lifeline of the national economy.
