ABSTRACT
The Chinese political economy is a dynamic entity constituted by multiple developmental trajectories. Recent debates on two seemingly divergent ‘models’ in Chongqing and Guangdong has foregrounded the potential contradictions of this dynamism. Whilst existing research has attempted to evaluate these trajectories as outcomes of elite politics or ideological incommensurability, an overlooked but no less important aspect is the connections between these trajectories, Mao-era regulatory policies and the post-1978 system of reciprocal accountability. Synthesising empirical materials from policy documents, academic commentaries, statistical data and interviews with planners from China, this chapter provides a critical evaluation of these connections. In so doing, it calls into question claims of an internally homogeneous ‘China Model’.
