Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the difficulties peculiarly inherent in reforming the Chinese economic stuctures. It addresses the political question of who supports and who opposes agricultural reforms. The book explores further dimensions of the after-effects of the Cultural Revolution. There was considerable skepticism that China was ready for Westen democracy. Edward Friedman noted the vast difference between conditions in China today and those from which Western democracies emerged in the seventeenth century. Reformist leaders' consciously-imposed limits on the extent to which market mechanisms can be used constitute further constraint. Successful reforms may themselves create new problems over the sharing of political and economic power. A great imponderable was the role played by "tradition" or "political culture" as a shaper or inhibitor of reform efforts.