ABSTRACT
Although, from the very beginning of the reform process, marketization has inevitably led to privatization in China, this reality has not been offi cially recognized by the Party-state – at least not ideologically. Some senior offi cials of the Communist Party of China (CPC) have recently renewed their refusal to acknowledge the concept with statements confi rming that ‘the reform will not mean privatization and China must not practice it’ (Renmin Ribao, 13 April 2009). Due to this political conundrum, there has not been a commonly accepted defi nition of privatization in China to this day.3
