China: issues in development

During the past decade or so China has made adjustments in both the theory and practice of socialism while grappling with problems of development. The consequences of these new experiments are still not clear to many and therefore a sense of bafflement persists in assessing their quality and content. The articles in this volume are in the nature of comments by a number of Indian social scientists on aspects of the recent socio-political and economic developments in China. Most of the contributors have visited China in the recent period. The areas covered are demographic trends, foreign policy, economic experiments, rural development plans, the external sector and planning. Important data not easily available elsewhere are presented in support of arguments that are ideologically differentiated. The heterogeneity in impressions is perhaps inevitable given the nature of unfolding events in China. The volume is valuable in that it presents a set of expert views on how China is doing today, the directions she might take in the near future and the problems she might have to encounter in the process.