This is a book discussing China’s economic transition and development since the beginning of modern times. The book is chronologically divided into eight connected chapters that collectively provide a comprehensive and coherent discussion of the book’s focus – China’s economic transition and development in modern and contemporary times. However, each one of the eight chapters is sufficiently self-contained and can be read on its own, which potentially enhances the usefulness of the book. Chapter 1 provides an introduction and overview. All the subsequent chapters go into detail with each one of them pertaining to a specific historical time period as the corresponding chapter title properly implies. Chapter 2 focuses on the period of transformational development of the Late Qing Dynasty and the socio-economic situation after the founding of the Republic of China. Chapter 3 is about the Chinese economy in wars and covers the period of the Anti-Japanese War and China’s War of Liberation. Chapter 4 is concerned with the economy under the early governance of the People’s Republic of China while Chapter 5 focuses on the subsequent twists and turns of the socialist economic construction. The longest chapter, Chapter 6 is devoted to the great turning point in the history of China’s socialist construction – the reform and opening up. The last two chapters, Chapters 7 and 8, stride into the 21st Century. Chapter 7 is about the new stage of China’s economy, new development strategies, completion and prospect, and the achievements of the first 12 years into the new century, while Chapter 8 discusses the economic new normal and the socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era.
