This book is part of a series which makes available to English-speaking audiences the work of the individual Chinese economists who were the architects of China's economic reform. The series provides an inside view of China's economic reform, revealing the thinking of the reformers themselves, unlike many other books on China's economic reform which are written by outside observers.

Chen Xiwen (1950-) has made major contributions to economic policy making on agricultural development and the rural economy. Although born in Shanghai he was one of the young people sent down to the countryside in the late 1960s to work in a production and construction corps. He has held a number of government and academic positions, notably director of the Rural Economy Research Department of the State Council and Vice President of the Development Research Centre of the State Council.

The book is published in association with China Development Research Foundation, one of the leading economic and social think tanks in China, where many of the theoretical foundations and policy details of economic reform were formulated.