ABSTRACT
Beginning in 1978, a series of gradual reforms sought to end the dominance of central planning as the system of governance for Chinese grain marketing. More efficient markets were created where freely determined prices played a primary role in resource allocation. By the end of 1985, the reform process had established a dual system of governance that placed freely operating markets alongside that of central planning. Further reforms, which aimed to increase market efficiency and to further diminish central planning in the grain sector, took place between 1992-1994. However, sharp increases in the price of grain during 1994 caused some provinces temporarily to rescind a number of the latter reforms. These retrenchment policies may have stalled or reversed efforts to improve the efficiency of Chinese grain markets (Rozelle et al., 1997).
