China’s Industrialization, 1949 – Present

China’s impressive economic growth and development under economic reform and open-door policy after 1979 has the foundation of the 30 years of pre-reform industrialization which had transformed the traditional dual economy. A closer look at the Chinese reform and its outcomes would see the continuation of many pre-reform institutions and policies up to the present day, creating an innovative hybridization of economic practices from multiple sources. This process of continuous innovation is named in China as socialism with Chinese characteristics. To continue its path for national resurgence (or the ‘Chinese dream’ vis-à-vis the ‘American dream’) China is at the crucial historical conjuncture to design and implement new development strategy and paradigms against the success and failure experiences of other countries. It has graduated from catch-up industrialization to post catch-up industrialization. In the new era, it is facing greater uncertainties from technological and political challenges. A new round of hybridization in institutions and strategy would be in demand.