Author Description

"Since the introduction of economic reforms in the late 1970s, rural China has undergone a profound and at times devastating transformation from a state-run economy and society to one of private ownership. In Transforming Rural China, Chen shows that this transformation has not necessarily taken the form of free market capitalism, as many believe, but in fact has assumed different forms in different parts of the country. Based on years of extensive research in villages in the Yangtze Delta region and southern Fujian, Chen provides insight into the workings of China's local economy and society - how party officials have become entrepreneurs, building economic success on the backs of workers and peasants, and how and why entrepreneurs have been assimilated into the party. What emerges is a disturbing picture of property rights transformation lying far outside of the aims and control of the central government, and is wrapped in the utter disharmony of particular local institutions."--BOOK JACKET.