ABSTRACT
It is almost half a century since the inception of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Information shortfall could account for narratives by Sinologists in the 1960s and 1970s that entirely misrepresented Maoist China. Historical events, such as the Chinese Communist Revolution, can be thought of as having meaning with reference to some larger temporal structure in which they are components. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Qing (or Manchu) dynasty began to display all the characteristic features of a sunset regime. In effect, modern Chinese history can be understood as a series of ineffectual responses to the challenge of foreign imperialism. Economic development may be defined as the increase in the productive capacity of the economic system as a result of its structural transformation. Industrial production requires large sums of capital for the purchase of plant, equipment, and labor. Effective economic development also requires the cooperation and coordination of individuals who are strangers unrelated to each other.
