ABSTRACT
For urban industry, the main content of the Chinese revolution was state management. After that, reforms to specialize business power networks began very slowly. The Chinese state as a whole has always been too unwieldy to engage in detailed management of all business, or even of all sizeable businesses. The 1992 reformist resurgence made news with Deng Xiaoping's "southern tour," but it was linked to political interests extending far beyond the top leaders of the state. Changes at that time benefited Beijing less than they benefited other parts of China's polity. The purpose of planning was always to maintain relatively stable elite, whether by use of the state to encourage the legitimacy that comes from market growth or to distribute resources directly. The Chinese government's main problem, as the factor crisis loomed and the business cycle became more obvious, was to maintain productive structures in which relatively loyal local leaders had jobs.
