An overview of recent research on modern Chinese economic history

Abstract

China formally adopted the policy of reform and opening up to the outside world in 1978. Since then, both economic practice and economic theory in China have undergone profound changes, and the academic study of modern Chinese economic history has been encouraged to expand its research horizons under the rubric of “liberating the mind and seeking truth in the facts”. A number of important monographs and essays have been produced and the study of modern Chinese economic history has entered a flourishing period. Current research focuses on two major topics: China's New Democratic economy and the planned economy during the period 1949–78; and, China's socialist market economy from 1978–2006. The study of these two areas shows numerous interconnections, points of comparison and causal links. The many and important lessons to be drawn from these studies both exhibit Chinese characteristics and have universal implications.

Keywords:

• China
• modern economic history
• summary of academic literature

Notes

1. Zhao Xuejun, “Luelun ershi shiji wushi niandai zhongguo de shangye xinyong” [A Brief Review of Commercial Credit in China in the 1950s], Dangdai zhongguoshi yanjiu [Comtemporary China History Studies], no. 3 (2006), 60–67.

2. Zhongguo jingji zhouqi yanjiu baogao [Report of Research on Economic Cycles in China], ed. Liu Shucheng (Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe, 2006).

3. Guo Kesha, “Jiaru WTO qian woguo gongye fazhan zhanlue de yanbian” [Evolution of China's Industrial Development Strategy before its Accession to the WTO], Dangdai zhongguoshi yanjiu, no. 3 (2004), 24–34.

4. Wu Li, “Cong guanying gongshangye dao guoyou qiye gaige – zhongguo guojia ziben yanbian de lishi fenxi” [From Government‐run Industry and Commerce to Reform of State‐owned Enterprises – An Historical Analysis of the Evolution of State Capital in China], in Zhongguo shehui jingjishi luncong [Collected Essays on China's Social and Economic History], ed. Fang Xing (Beijing: Zhongguo shehuikexue chubanshe, 2006), 118–36.

5. Han Jun, “Zhongguo: you chengxiang fenge zouxiang chengxiang xietiao fazhan” [China: From Rural‐urban Separation to Coordinated Rural‐urban Development], Zhongguo jingji shibao [China Economic Times], March 19, 2004 (website: http://www.jjxww.com).

6. Zhao Renwei, Li Shi and Ding Sai, “Zhongguo jumin caichan fenbu yanjiu” [A Study of the Property Distribution of Chinese Residents], Zhongguo jingji shibao, April 25, 2005.

7. Cheng Liansheng, Zhongguo fan shiye zhengce yanjiu (1950–2000) [A Study of the Anti‐unemployment Policies of China (1950–2000)] (Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe, 2002).

8. Wen Rui and You Haihua, Laodongli de liudong yu nongcun shehui jingji bianqian [Labour Flow and the Social and Economic Changes in Rural Areas] (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 2001).

9. Hu Angang, “Zhongguo: zouxiang quyu xietiao fazhan” [China Heading Towards Coordinated Regional Development], Zhongguo jingji shibao, March 22, 2004, 8.

10. Gong Wen, “Guojia ji kaifaqu ershi nian fazhan qishilu” [Twenty Years of the National‐level Development Areas], Renmin ribao [People's Daily], December 11, 2004, 1.

11. Dong Zhikai, “Cong ershi shiji houbanye dongbei jijian touzi de tezheng kan lao gongye jidi zhenxing” [Characteristics of Capital Construction Investment in the Second Half of the 20th Century and the Revitalization of the Old Industrial Base in Northeast China]; Fu Yi, “Ershi shiji wuliushi niandai zhongyang dui dongbei gongye jidi de jinglue yu jianshe” [The CCP Central Committee's Strategic Decision and Construction of the Northeastern Industrial Base in the 1950s and 1960s], Zhonggong dangshi yanjiu [Journal of Chinese Communist Party History Studies], no. 5 (2004), 50–57, 58–64.