ABSTRACT
The Chinese Economic System Reform Research Institute (SRI) or “tigaisuo” was established in early 1985 and effectively closed by 1990. This chapter discusses the establishment of the institute. It deals with how the idea of research organizations was discussed in the Chinese press in the 1980s and how they were conceptualized as part of the cause of “reform and development.” The chapter also discusses the SRI’s bureaucratic setting and the relationship between Zhao Ziyang and the young reformers, which together make up the institutional framework in which the young reformers operated. It highlights how the bureaucratic and administrative environment presented obstacles to creating a new kind of research institute and how the SRI maneuvered within that environment to carve out a significant degree of independence. Members of the SRI, as well as the Development Research Institute and others, were frequently called upon to discuss their area of expertise.
