Introduction

By focusing on political and economic institutions and their legacies, this chapter explains why and how the developmental state strategy was adopted and adapted in China. Political institutions, specifically the central state, the National People's Congress (NPC), the Provincial People's Congresses (PPCs), and centrallocal relations are treated within the context of the development strategy and marketization. The Chinese legislative development is a Fabian strategy, with a conservative pace at the beginning leading to a cumulative achievement in the long term. In the early 1980s, Chinese officials were still clean relative to the officials in the other Third World countries. Today, China has become one of the most corrupt societies judged by international business. To maximize the responsibility and minimize the immorality of the government, the Western countries have developed a democratic culture arising from three pillar institutions. The dual Chinese developmental state is now facing an enemy created by its own successful economic development.