ABSTRACT
Although the urban economy and the industrial sector have constituted only a small proportion of the total until recently, they are important symbols of China’s success in its drive for modernisation. China today possesses almost all of the types of industrial and manufacturing capacity that are found in developed economies elsewhere but the geographical spread of industries is patchy and the level of development varies considerably. One of the greatest economic challenges faced by China in the twenty-fi rst century is the successful transition from an industrial sector that was almost entirely state-owned to one that is dominated by private or mixed ownership.
