ABSTRACT
Urban economic reform in China has not yet led to the emergence of what is popularly labeled "civil society" among the business class. Similarities in the shifts in balance between state and societal business forces in China provide insights into the relation of the one to the other. Actions against private-sector activity have taken place since its appearance in the cities after 1980; indeed, such obstruction reflects long-standing ambivalence toward private enterprise present in China after the birth of the People's Republic of China. At the end of 1989 the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce announced its revival of 150 business guilds operating as "nonofficial bodies." Indeed, of the top ten computer companies in China in terms of 1987 sales, only Stone was minyou-minban; all of the others were offshoots of the Ministry of Electronics, either wholly so or through joint ventures with "people," even though they all are classified as minban.
