Exploring the Chinese Social Model

The people of China and its (widely differing) regions have not all benefited equally from the country’s rapid increase in prosperity, and the speed and timing of increases have varied across time and space. However, China has managed to help those left behind to catch up. These outcomes reflect a specific social model embedded in China’s cultural and political milieu. Exploring the Chinese Social Model presents new analysis and fresh research on how China deals with unequal development and inequality in the context of its surging economic growth.

The book sheds new light on the workings of China’s social model, going beyond binary notions of market and state, and considers the new facets of its socialist market economy. In exploring these questions, the authors consider what is special about China and what the Chinese model is all about.

Weidong Liu is a Professor in Economic Geography and Deputy Director General, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing and Managing Editor of Area Development and Policy.


Michael Dunford is Emeritus Professor of Economic Geography at the University of Sussex and a visiting professor at the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is a former Editor of Regional Studies and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.


Zhigao Liu is an Associate Professor in Economic Geography in the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences.


Zhenshan Yang is Professor in Urban Geography in the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing.