China's Reforms: Past, Present, and Future

The transition of countries with centrally planned economies to a market orientation, which affects about one-third of the world's population, has been an unavoidable reality in recent years. The world and U.S. have a large scale stake in the former Eastern Bloc countries and China whether they will continue to politically stable and their economy stays prosperous or not. This is why the reforms undertake in these countries have attracted the attentions of many scholars. In this note, I will mainly focus on China’s reform and institutional transition. This paper first views and evaluates the achievements of China’s liberation and marketization reforms and institutional transition. Then it gives a rationale for China’s partial and gradual reforms. Difficulties and problems to be solved in China’s transition are also discussed.