Reform and Development in China: After 40 Years (Contemporary China)

This book provides a comprehensive review of China's experience in reform and opening up from political, social, and economic perspectives. It attempts to engage existing scholarly debates in three areas -- first, how the party-state has evolved in the past four decades and whether it remains a Leninist system or has departed from this system; second, how public attitudes, values and behavior have been intertwined with institutional change, and how the state is expanding its welfare coverage to enhance regime legitimacy. Second, how China has attempted to explore new engines for its growth, with consideration towards environmental protection and technological progress.

Chapters in this book are selected from three years of conference presentations co-organized by the Institute of Public Policy (IPP) at the South China University of Technology and UNESCO. Since 2014, IPP and UNESCO have co-hosted a series of annual international conferences and invited leading scholars from China, Europe, and the US to discuss the major challenges to China and the world.