International academic and popular interest in the economic development of Chinese societies has recently been given a powerful impetus by a concatenation of events. The first is the adoption of open-door and more market-oriented policies by the People's Republic of China after three decades of command economy, political turmoils, and self-imposed isolation. The second is the phenomenal success of the market economies of Hong Kong, 'Singapore and Taiwan. The third is renewed scholarly interest in the Confucian ethic as a possible driving force behind the Asian NICs (newly industrializing countries), in much the same way as the Protestant ethic had contributed to the industrialization of Western Europe and North America (see Fei 1986).