The Aborted Revolution

China Daily / Reuters

A bright picture: Consumers of 1981, at the dawn of China's economic reform

China is facing the most threatening economic crisis in decades, and its leaders have every reason to be afraid. As factories close, profits plunge and worker protests become more frequent, the country's huge foreign-exchange reserves and three-decade-long record of growth suddenly seem less like a guarantee against turbulence and more like barely adequate insurance.

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. An...

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