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China’s Transformation

The Success Story and the Success Trap

Manoranjan Mohanty author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd

Published:27th Oct '17

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China’s Transformation cover

The book provides insights into the economic and social transformation that China has undergone from 1979 to the present.

Based on the author’s research in China for over three decades, China’s Transformation: The Success Story and the Success Trap shows how its ‘reform and open door’ policy evolved and helped achieve tremendous economic success. However, it also generated serious social and environmental problems. The book presents that the consequences of this success story of growth are so strong that it has been difficult for China to change its main development path to achieve a desirable level of equity and sustainability. The author describes this as the ‘success trap’ that China is currently grappling with.

The author argues that China’s reform path is grounded in the premises of the European Industrial Revolution backed by strong sociopolitical forces at home, indicating that a major change in the development path is unlikely. However, all indications point to a strong and prosperous China as a rising world power in the coming decades, trying to cope with the sociopolitical problems in its own way.

The book shows how its ‘reform and open door’ policy evolved and helped achieve tremendous economic success…it also generated serious and environmental problems. The book presents that the consequences of this success story growth are so strong that it has been difficult for china to change its main development path to achieve a desirable level of equity and sustainability. The Author describe this as the ‘success trap’ that China is currently grappling with.


-- THE PIONEER, 25 March 2018

The book deals with the role of the Communist Party of China and the manner in which it exercises control over all aspects of the Chinese polity, economy and society. The author, Manoranjan Mohanty, is one of India’s leading China scholars. The book is the result of intense field studies of many decades, careful analysis of official data, and interviews with officials and common people.


-- Frontline, 25 May 2018

"(If) you had to pick just one book to read on a desert island (or more realistically, during a Covid lock-down) that would give you an authoritative as well as readable account of China’s rise and current predicament, it is this book."

-- The Book Review, September 2020
"The book under review is an outstanding account of several important dimensions underlying the developmental trajectory of China in the post-Mao era…an essential read for students of contemporary history and political economy." -- Journal of Human Development, Vol. 14 Issue 3, 28 December

ISBN: 9789386602848

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 580g

400 pages