Managed Openness: Opening China’s Door

Abstract

Since the late 1970s, marketisation and opening up have acted as twin engines which have brought China dramatic change. It is commonly understood that reform (gaige) refers to a series of socio-economic and political changes: from central planning with Stalinist principles to a socialist market economy or a market economy with Chinese characteristics, and from domination of state ownership to coexistence of state, collective, private and even foreign ownerships. The changes have affected every aspect of Chinese society and covered (if unequally) almost every corner of China: from rural to urban, from coast to inland (Wang M 1998). Opening up has also brought China into the world economic sys..