Shop top categories that ship internationally
Buy new:
-33% $26.89
Delivery Thursday, December 12
Ships from: Amazon
Sold by: Emer06
$26.89 with 33 percent savings
List Price: $39.99
FREE International Returns
No Import Fees Deposit & $14.18 Shipping to France Details

Shipping & Fee Details

Price $26.89
AmazonGlobal Shipping $14.18
Estimated Import Fees Deposit $0.00
Total $41.07

Delivery Thursday, December 12. Order within 6 hrs 36 mins
Or fastest delivery Tuesday, December 10
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$26.89 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$26.89
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon
Ships from
Amazon
Sold by
Emer06
Sold by
Emer06
Returns
Returnable until Jan 31, 2025
Returnable until Jan 31, 2025
For the 2024 holiday season, eligible items purchased between November 1 and December 31, 2024 can be returned until January 31, 2025.
Read full return policy
Returns
Returnable until Jan 31, 2025
For the 2024 holiday season, eligible items purchased between November 1 and December 31, 2024 can be returned until January 31, 2025.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$14.44
FREE International Returns
Delivery Thursday, December 12. Order within 6 hrs 36 mins
Or fastest delivery Tuesday, December 10
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$26.89 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$26.89
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Added to

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Other sellers on Amazon
New & Used (29) from   $6.51
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Yasheng Huang
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics: Entrepreneurship and the State 1st Edition

by Yasheng Huang (Author)
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 39 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$26.89","priceAmount":26.89,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"26","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"89","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"lnGGE3ztUIVXp8Qxnd21hGoZdHHP2wq94tPZHPz8U60VC8ifbKz2Tl%2F68DvYJ4URQ849TQnOchB6ITBkSC19Io%2FbZ571VQ%2FkQOEoJ0dtcx0jQj3NrH%2BMX2M9GHpVa6EvcnwMJG3TUM70MelOgtMsB6zvJV%2BxyVFl8QecgDAq1%2BIrEnNpm12KyJoUW8uk5JGF","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$14.44","priceAmount":14.44,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"14","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"44","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"lnGGE3ztUIVXp8Qxnd21hGoZdHHP2wq9RQ0LHP6GTV4u2izQHy88WCzZBxrK7a8ZJNwjm5jCGvltIWHfVcRRkpeKyqXT1AIhfcFTMGjSLP4TZWsZsI3dSfe%2Bbomket5yp1KbDsQBVPFkeTJCFhih6wWTnNct9CvOF5X4VoehM2mhAOXigASgd%2BaXE2OEJ%2BVC","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

An Economist Book of the Year, 2008
This book presents a story of two Chinas – an entrepreneurial rural China and a state-controlled urban China. In the 1980s, rural China gained the upper hand, and the result was rapid as well as broad-based growth. In the 1990s, urban China triumphed. In the 1990s, the Chinese state reversed many of its productive rural experiments, with long-lasting damage to the economy and society. A weak financial sector, income disparity, rising illiteracy, productivity slowdowns, and reduced personal income growth are the product of the capitalism with Chinese characteristics of the 1990s and beyond. While GDP grew quickly in both decades, the welfare implications of growth differed substantially. The book uses the emerging Indian miracle to debunk the widespread notion that democracy is automatically anti-growth. The single biggest obstacle to sustainable growth and financial stability in China today is its poor political governance. As the country marks its 30th anniversary of reforms in 2008, China faces some of its toughest economic challenges and substantial vulnerabilities that require fundamental institutional reforms.
Previous slide of product details
  1. ISBN-10
    0521898102
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0521898102
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Publisher
    Cambridge University Press
  5. Publication date
    September 1, 2008
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    6.25 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
  8. Print length
    366 pages
  9. See all details
Next slide of product details
Books%20with%20Buzz
Books with Buzz
Discover the latest buzz-worthy books, from mysteries and romance to humor and nonfiction. Explore more

Frequently bought together

Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics: Entrepreneurship and the State
This item: Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics: Entrepreneurship and the State
$26.89
Get it as soon as Thursday, Dec 12
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by Emer06 and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
+
The Chinese Economy, second edition: Adaptation and Growth (Mit Press)
$56.33
Only 13 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
China's Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know®
$13.80
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price: $00
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
spCSRF_Treatment
Some of these items ship sooner than the others.
Show details Hide details
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The development of the Chinese private sector is a key to the future shape and performance of the Chinese economy. At present, the subject is widely misunderstood. This book does more than any other to clarify the issues and point the way forward.” – Christopher Howe, FBA, School of East Asian Studies, University of Sheffield

“Yasheng Huang is an insightful scholar of China’s political economy. In this important book, he shows how China’s rural economy took off in the 1980s, led by ‘township and village enterprises’ that were essentially private, only to be ignored in the 1990s by state-led development that focused on urban regions such as Shanghai. The ‘Shanghai miracle,’ he argues – and as any businessman who has worked there knows – was not the simple triumph of capitalism, but of a stronger and more intrusive (and effective) state. If one wants to understand the policy origins of China’s growing divide between rich and poor, urban and rural, one need look no further than this book.” – William Kirby, Harvard University

“Sure to generate a lively debate, Professor Huang's study provides a provocative and well-researched challenge to much current thinking on China's economic development. The widely shared gains of the 1980s have not been matched in more recent years. Danger signs include the stagnation in household incomes, growing inequality and illiteracy, and heightened governance problems. Huang argues that China will not be able to continue to grow unless the benefits of growth are widely shared through fundamental political and legal reforms.” – Susan Rose-Ackerman, Yale Law School

“Most books about China's economy and their authors fall into one of two camps: those that are hypercritical and those that are hyperlaudatory. Professor Huang's book is closer to the former than the latter, for example, he characterizes China's economy as ‘...crony capitalism built on systemic corruption and raw political power.’ Yet, his book is different from, as well as better than, others in that genre because it gives ample recognition to contrary views and empirical data supporting them. Consequently, Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics is both immensely informative and enormously provocative.” – Charles Wolf, Jr., Pardee RAND Graduate School

"For years, Western economists are amazed that China's growth is obviously fueled by factor accumulation and yet her capital markets appear to be under developed. Yasheng Huang's book provides some refreshing information and analysis. He shows that in China's vast rural areas, which Western academics often cannot obtain good and detailed information, economic and financial liberalization went much further than credited by outside analysts and that the rigorous development of private entrepreneurship explained much of China's takeoff. His thesis is worthy of attention; this book will enhance our understanding of China's economy and lead us to take a more thorough look at the development process." - Bernard Yeung, University of Singapore Business School

"Original research on China is rare, largely because statistics, though plentiful, are notoriously unreliable. Mr Huang... has unearthed thousands of long-forgotten pages of memoranda and policy documents issued by bank chairmen, businessmen and state officials. In the process he has discovered two Chinas: one, from not so long ago, vibrant, entrepreneurial and rural; the other, today’s China, urban and controlled by the state." - The Economist

"Written before the full force of the crisis became apparent, Yasheng Huang's Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics: Entrepreneurship and the State presciently anticipates the need for a guide to the least understood weaknesses in China's economy.... As a look at China's entrepreneurial economy in the 1980s and 1990s ― and as a counterpoint to the misconception that China is steadily evolving into a more market-oriented economy ― this book is unparalleled." - Mark L. Clifford, Time

"From the liberal right, Yasheng Huang's Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics is a tour de force of empirical inquiry, conceptual clarity and independence of mind. Anyone wanting to know what kind of economy, and what sort of growth, can be found in the PRC should now start here." - Perry Anderson, London Review of Books

"This is the work of a careful and deeply skeptical mind; one that excels in mining difficult to obtain and dodgy economic data and eschews received storylines.... If it is possible to come away from this impressively informed account of China's recent evolution still believing in the country's continued rise, it is well-nigh impossible to come away from exposure to Huang with one's faith in the standard narratives intact." - Howard French, chinabeat.org

"This is a book that clearly stands out from the recent China books, and it might be destined to become one of the big references in the field." - Julen Madariaga, chinayouren.com

"This is among the most important books to appear on contemporary China this decade. Motivated by a socially conscious economic liberalism and guided by a firmly positivist epistemology, Yasheng Huang challenges--and defeats--some of the most sacred myths surrounding Chinese political economy as reinforced by scholars and widely accepted by the general public. The book is essential reading for any political scientist specializing in China, international relations, comparative economic development, or comparative change."
Daniel C. Lynch, University of Southern California, Perspectives on Politics

"Huang's book should be required reading for all those who are interested in the contours of the Chinese political economy and the comparative dimensions of East Asian developmental states."
Jeremy Paltiel, Carleton University, Canadian Journal of Political Science

"The main contribution of the book lies in its meticulous examinations of voluminous government policy directives, statements and banking documents which yield significant insights into the relaxation of control over... China's financial sector in the 1980s and the macro-economic controls brought about by the Jiang Zeming-Zhu Rongji administration during the 1990s. It sheds important light over the internal mechanism of the two waves of China's economic reforms..."
George C.S. Lin, The University of Hong Kong, Pacific Affairs

"[Marshals] an impressive array of survey and documentary evidence … a must-read for China specialists."
The Journal of Asian Studies

Book Description

Explains why China grew differently in the 1980s than in the 1990s and beyond, and what consequences this has today.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press; 1st edition (September 1, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 366 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0521898102
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0521898102
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.4 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 39 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Yasheng Huang

Yasheng Huang

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
39 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

algo41
4.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional scholarship, writing could be better
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2010
Verified Purchase
This book is an exceptional piece of scholarship, with very interesting conclusions. The writing is not always very good with lots of repetition, a poor (and long) introductory summary, and insufficient highlighting of some of the really important data sets (p.116, p.122, p.254): the casual reader might want to focus on those data sets and the accompanying gloss.

At the risk of some oversimplification, Huang finds that the 80's in China were characterized by vigorous growth through private enterprise. In the 90's China became a state run, top down economy, relying on foreign direct investment for the continued growth which was accomplished. Economists have come to emphasize the importance of the security of private property in promoting growth, and while nominally this did not exist in the 80's in law, it mostly did exist in fact. The 90's were a different story, with land grabs and other kinds of expropriations, as well as limits on competition with state controlled enterprises, and a stranglehold on the availability of credit.

One might think that the source of growth was not too important so long as growth was obtained, but this is not true. The "Gini" coefficient which was developed by international economists shows that Chinese society suffered from more inequality in the 90's. Education and health deteriorated, with the number of functionally illiterate actually increasing. Corruption became rampant even as civil service salaries greatly increased and there was less freedom at the village level. Moreover, because urban areas grew at the expense of rural areas, more Chinese workers had to migrate, and living in a squalid worker dormitory, separated from family, leads to a reduction in quality of life not picked up in GDP measurements (Huang does not explicitly make that point, but it is obvious).

Huang sees signs that in the 21st century, China's new leaders have been trying to move the country back in the direction of the eighties. As a stock market investor, I can point out the following: a number of Chinese companies have listed on the NASDAQ while not being allowed to list on the Shanghai stock exchange where share valuations are higher, so they are not able to raise as much capital. At the same time, however, some of these companies have received state assistance of various kinds without state control.

I believe Huang was objective in his research, although he does gloss over the evils that can result from unrestrained private enterprise - think of the industrial revolution in Europe.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Robert Ray
5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable for understanding China
Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2008
Verified Purchase
Professor Huang has written a brilliant critique of China's economic development (and of necessity, debunks much of what others have written about China's economy). He shows that China's development started in the 1980's with government programs focused on the rural economy, with programs designed to encourage rural entrepreneurs. Unfortunately with the Tiananmen Square crackdown, the new government leaders (technocrats from Shanghai) focused on major programs for urban areas, including massive construction projects and encouragement of foreign investment. Rural enterprises (and their required informal and official funding networks) were shut down. Although there was a proliferation of highrise buildings and massive construction projects (Three Gorges Dam, Shanghai's maglev, the Olympics,...) the result was slower income growth (especially in the rural areas), increasing illiteracy (parents could not afford to pay rapidly increasing tuitions), declining health care (hospitals, like schools, also became profit centers for local bureaucrats), expropriation of farmers' land, and much much more corruption, all of which has led to increasing social disorder among peasants who are finding themselves worse off. Party cadres' pay has rapidly increased and there are now far more of them. And productivity growth has declined or has even straight-lined. A return to the policies of the 1980's is clearly in order, but the current leaders, while trying to fix things, are still relying on top down commands and controls, and they have a much larger bureaucracy to keep happy.
Anyone trying to understand China's economic development over the last thirty years must read this. The causes of China's growth are badly misunderstand; too many economists and analysts have been overwhelmed by the vision of Shanghai's massive development without understanding the tremendous cost and waste involved, and the penalties paid by the common people (income for the poorest Shanghaiese has actually been going down).
The book should also be a lesson for Western politicians who think that China's methods of centralized planning and control of industrial policy can be applied in the West. Or maybe our politicians also understand how government control can lead to huge payoffs for politicians (as with Countrywide Credit's payoffs of at least two senators and lots of others politically connected, not to mention the huge salaries paid to Democrat politicians 'working' at Fannie Mae).
Read this book if you have any interest in China or economic development!
29 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
crow
5.0 out of 5 stars Difficult but important reading about china economy and history
Reviewed in Canada on December 5, 2018
Verified Purchase
This is an heavy reading that present an anlysis of economic case : ecolution of entrepreneurship in china. Hard to read, and need some familiarity with economy, but worth reading if seeking knowledge on china and a different take on how it developed.
Report
KarlImmanuel
5.0 out of 5 stars Erforderlich für Sinologen
Reviewed in Germany on September 19, 2015
Verified Purchase
Teil der Pflichtlektüre für Sinologen and Deutschen Unis, z.B. Univ. Göttingen.
Gekauft als "Gebrauch wie Neu". War wirklich wie neu.
Report
William Choi
5.0 out of 5 stars thought provoking but need to approached with caution
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 25, 2015
Verified Purchase
Very intriguing book which offers a contrasting view to the general idea that the government played an essential role in the growth of China.
Instead, he suggests it is actually the enterprising private sector that contributes to the unprecedented rate of growth pre-90s
Just reading the summary could be something one could do if you cannot bear the details and statistics - which is what the main chapters basically are.

However, one needs to consider whether the data that was gathered was evaluated without bias or whether the data was manipulated by the author in order to create this trend.
nevertheless it is very thought provoking for anyone who is vaguely interested in the history of the Chinese economy
Report
Bo Yang
1.0 out of 5 stars Unsaubere Arbeit mit Statistiken, vereinfachende Schlussfolgerungen
Reviewed in Germany on February 14, 2013
Verified Purchase
Yasheng Huang möchte mit seinem Buch den Mainstream der China-Literatur herausfordern und eine neue Interpretation der wirtschaftlichen (Erfolgs-)Geschichte des Landes liefern. Dabei schießt der Autor leider oft über das Ziel hinaus, interpretiert Daten einseitig oder präsentiert nur solche Fakten, die in seine Argumentation passen, während andere ignoriert werden.

1) Umgang mit Daten: Ein zentrales Argument des Buches ist, dass die Dekade der 80er Jahre "unternehmerisch" gewesen sei, während die 90er von einer "staats-orientierten" Wirtschaftspolitik geprägt gewesen sei, die (privat-)unternehmerische Initiative behindert habe. Folglich hätten mehr die Eliten als die breite Masse der Bevölkerung profitiert. Um zu zeigen, dass die 80er "privatwirtschaftlicher" waren als bislang angenommen, argumentiert Huang, dass der ländliche Unternehmenssektor (township and village enterprises, TVEs) viel stärker in privater Hand gewesen sei als allgemein behauptet. Die "Mainstream"-Ansicht lautet, dass TVEs in den 80er und bis Mitte der 90er überwiegend im Kollektiveigentum standen, weshalb ihr enormes Wachstum so erstaunlich sei. Das Problem: Beide Seiten sprechen von unterschiedlichen Dingen. Die herkömmliche Meinung bezieht sich bei den allermeisten Autoren explizit auf industrielle TVEs. Dagegen rechnet Huang alle "Individualgewerbetreibenden" (getihu, also Händler, Ladenbesitzer, sonstige Dienstleister) mit hinzu (S.78ff). Von diesen gibt es natürlich sehr viele, so dass der Anteil in privater Hand befindlicher "TVEs" deutlich steigt. Daran ist nichts verwunderlich, kaum einer der kritisierten Autoren würde dem widersprechen: Sie reden nur von etwas anderem.

Huang hat eine Tendenz, seine eigenen Quellen als Raritäten einzustufen, die von anderen übergangen worden seien. Oft ist das schlicht falsch: Die Weltbankstudie zu TVEs (China's Rural Industry) ist keineswegs "seldom cited" (S. 81), sondern im Gegenteil ein absoluter Klassiker. Dagegen übergeht Huang eine lange Liste an Autoren, die maßgeblich zu diesem Forschungsbereich beigetragen haben. Um nur einige zu nennen, die NICHT in seinem Literaturverzeichnis auftauchen (ohne spezielle Gewichtung oder Anspruch auf Vollständigkeit): Dali Yang, Andrew Walder, Andrew Wedeman, Lin Yi-min, Ray Yep, Chan Chih-you, Barbara Krug, Hans Hendrischke, Bruce Dickson.

Tendenziöse Datenauswertung ist eine Sache. Aber an mindestens einer Stelle hat Huang die Daten schlicht falsch verstanden. Ein wichtiges Argument, weshalb die 90er besonders schlecht für die Landbevölkerung gewesen seien (womit er im Übrigen schon Recht hat), ist Huangs Behauptung: "The illiteracy rate of the adult population increased from 6.72 percent in 2000 to 11.04 percent in 2005, an increase of 64.3 percent" (S. 245). Er betont, wie außergewöhnlich dieses Ergebnis sei: "The abruptness and the scale of the reversal are unprecedented in history anywhere else in the world" (ebd.). Das wäre wohl richtig, wenn es denn stimmen würde. Tatsächlich hat er Daten miteinander verglichen, die auf unterschiedlichen Definitionen von "Analphabetismus" beruhen. Die Daten aus dem Zensus von 2000 verwenden eine engere Definition (wenmang renkou 文盲人口; weniger als 1500 chin. Schriftzeichen bekannt). die Daten aus dem Mikrozensus von 2003 und 2005 verwenden eine breitete Definition (wenmang, ban wenmang renkou 文盲，半文盲人口, "illiterate and semi-illiterate population", d.h. jeder, der nicht lesen kann oder dabei große Schwierigkeiten hat). Huangs Pech ist, dass dies im Chinesischen Statistischen Jahrbuch nicht klar ausgewiesen wird: dort steht in der Tat nur "wenmang renkou". Der Vergleich mit dem Vorjahr (2004) hätte dies aber aufklären können, und man kann argumentieren, dass einem Chinawissenschaftler bei einer Aussage von solcher Tragweite Zweifel kommen müssten. Nur zum Vergleich: Wenn man alle Zensus-Daten der Reformära anschaut, inklusive des letzten, der Huang noch nicht verfügbar war, zeigt sich der deutliche ABWÄRTSTREND des Analphabetismus in China (1982: 22.81%; 1990: 15.88%; 2000: 6.72%; 2010: 4.08%). Unverständlich ist weiterhin, weshalb Huang hier solch einen Wert auf Analphabetismus legt, in Kapitel 5 aber, als er das indische Wachstumsmodell lobt, darüber hinweggeht, wie hoch dort die Analphabetenrate ist (Gesamtbevölkerung ca. 25%, nur Frauen ca. 35%).

An vielen weiteren Stellen müsste man diskutieren, ob die von Huang verwendeten Indikatoren wirklich das messen und belegen, was er damit aussagen und untermauern möchte. So leuchtet es keineswegs ein, dass ein niedriges Einkommen aus Wohnungsvermietung ein guter Gradmesser dafür ist, ob die Shanghaier Privathaushalte an dem Boom des Immobiliensektors teilhatten oder nicht (S. 177/188). Vor der Privatisierung des städtischen Wohnwesens in China in den späten 90er Jahren gab es fast kein Wohnungseigentum. Inzwischen wohnen chinesische Familien überwiegend in Eigenheimen (nationale Eigenheimquote 82%, doppelt so hoch wie in Deutschland). Wenn kaum jemand zur Miete wohnt, müssen auch die Mieteinnahmen der Haushalte nicht hoch sein. Interessanter wäre gewesen, wie stark die Privathaushalte an der Wertsteigerung ihrer Eigenheime verdient haben.

Auch dass Shanghaier Unternehmen weniger Patente halten als z.B. die in Guangdong muss nicht unbedingt gegen sie sprechen (S. 207). Vielmehr liegt es nahe zu vermuten, dass dies mit der Wirtschaftsstruktur zusammenhängt, bei der in Shanghai Handel und Finanzen einen größeren Stellenwert haben, während Guangdong im verarbeitenden Gewerbe stärker ist. Eine Vielzahl solcher Punkte ließe sich noch aufführen.

2) Meine zweite Kritik ist, dass Huang nur solche Fakten präsentiert, die in sein etwas simples Schema passen: 80er "gut" (da "unternehmerisch" und liberal), 90 "schlecht" (da "staats-wirtschaftlich" und konservativ). So schreibt er über Ländliche Kreditgenossenschaften (Rural Credit Cooperatives, RCCs): "The RCCs were first established in 1951 as genuinely private financial institutions. [...] One of the first acts introduced by the reformsit leaders was to move the RCCs back to the management system prevailing in the 1950s" (p. 146). Richtig ist, dass die RCCs niemals (weder in den 50er, noch in den 80er oder 90ern) wirklich von ihren Mitgliedern kontrolliert wurden. Alle Beteuerungen eines "demokratischen Managements" durch die Genossenschaftsmitglieder waren eben nur das, leere Worte. Es gibt schlicht keine entscheidenden Unterschied zwischen den Dekaden, um hier wie Huang von "A Great Reversal" (Kapitel 3) zu sprechen.

Ähnlich verhält es sich mit der Dorfpolitik: Huang präsentiert das Organisationsgesetz über Dorfkomitees (von 1987) als Beweis dafür, dass hier die 80er Jahre liberaler waren als die 90er (S. 162). Dabei wurde dieses Gesetz erst nach der Niederschlagung der Tiananmen-Proteste wirklich umgesetzt. Die wesentlichen Fortschritte in Sachen Dorfwahlen erfolgten erst in den 90ern. Zeugnis davon gibt die Novelle des OrgaG von 1998. Hier wird erstmals verbindlich auf nationaler Ebene festgeschrieben, dass die Stimmabgabe geheim stattzufinden hat und dass es mehr Kandidaten geben muss als Posten zu besetzen sind etc. (ohne solche Mindeststandards sind Wahlen kaum etwas wert). Die Charakterisierung der 90er als Zeit der reinen Stagnation trägt einfach nicht. Selbst wenn Huang in der Tendenz recht haben mag: Sein Ansatz ist zu simplistisch.

In der Summe halte ich Huangs Buch gerade für Einsteiger und China-Neulinge für irreführend: Er präsentiert viel Altbekanntes als Neuigkeiten und ist tendenziös in der Auswahl seiner Fakten. Natürlich hat er recht, dass China sich nicht auf einem linearen Übergangspfad hin zu einer voll ausgeprägten, liberalen Marktwirtschaft befindet. Insofern ist seine Kritik an der "Transitions-Schule" berechtigt. Aber sein Gegenentwurf einer scharfen Kehrtwende kann in dieser Eindeutigkeit ebenfalls nicht überzeugen. Chinas Führung hat nicht vor, eine "reine" Marktwirtschaft zu errichten -- aber das galt für Deng Xiaoping (1980er) ebenso wie für Jiang Zemin/Zhu Rongji (1990er) wie für Hu Jintao/Wen Jiabao (2000er) und ist keine neue Erkenntnis.
Report