ABSTRACT
The articles translated in Chapter 2 have been chosen to throw light on the thinking behind the beginnings of the Chinese economic reform in 1978 and its subsequent evolution. This introduction seeks to put these articles in context. The chapter is not a history of the reform or of the economy since 1978, but focuses on the key events and the ideas needed to understand the reforms, staying as closely as possible to texts and Chinese materials to illustrate the argument. 1 The Chronology that follows has been designed to help readers grasp something of both the interdependence and complexity of unfolding events in a reform process that is now over twenty years old.
