Reappraising central—local relations in Deng's China

China's track record of economic reforms has been more than impressive. Its turbo-charged development over the last two decades with a real average gross domestic product (GDP) growth per annum of 9.8 percent (1978–97) made China the seventh largest economy in the world and second largest on a purchasing power parity basis. ¹ China's remarkable accomplishments constitute a stark contrast with the serious troubles that Russia has been facing since the collapse of the Soviet Union. As a matter of fact, China has quite successfully dispelled the ungrounded concern that it might disintegrate politically and even territorially. There is no doubt that both drastic and significant changes have occurred in China's central—local relations in the last twenty years, but, overall, they do not appear to have been as centrifugal as we would normally take for granted. Rather, Beijing has certainly been more adept and astute than Moscow in preserving hierarchical authority and utilizing the political mechanisms to enforce its priorities in the complex processes of reform. ²