ABSTRACT
In the 30 years of reform most Western economists not acquainted with China have repeatedly announced its doom. A return to state planning or the opposite, a collapse of the political regime, Soviet style, was foreseen. Policies and performances have often been gauged against the ideology of the perfect foresight market equilibrium fostered by unbridled individual rationality. Reality, however, has put this flawed perspective into question. Obviously, Chinese reform is not a convergent process toward any normative concept of an optimal economic equilibrium. It is an ongoing co-evolutionary process of economic structures and social institutions.
