The Reluctant Dragon

A comprehensive and detailed account of China’s foreign economic policy from 1949 through the late 1970s

Chinese foreign economic policy before 1978 has been considered isolationist and centered on Maoist self-reliance. This title describes the contradictory strategies used by Mao Zedong and other leaders to assert China's absolute self-sufficiency while also striving to modernize the economy and achieve maximum prosperity as rapidly as possible.

Chinese foreign economic policy before 1978 has been considered isolationist and centered on Maoist self-reliance. In this revisionist analysis, the author argues that the dramatic economic reforms initiated by China’s leaders in 1978 were in fact revisions and expansions of policies from the Maoist period.