ABSTRACT
Four major features have emerged out of China’s economic reform during the past two decades. The first is encapsulated in the transformation of a centrally planned, Soviet-style system of resource allocation to a decentralised, market-orientated, western-style economy. The second reflects changes in ownership, from a system that was overwhelmingly dominated by state-ownership in industry to a myriad of forms, involving direct government control, joint-stock corporations, cooperatives, private undertakings, and Sino-foreign joint ventures. The third feature embraces the national price system: prices fixed by the state (including those for farm procurement) are now essentially a matter of the past, having been largely replaced by free market prices. The final aspect of China’s economic reform, which is considered separately in Chapter 7, is captured in the strategic opening of the economy to the outside world.
