The Making of a Market Economy in China: Transformation of Government Regulation of Market Development

Abstract: The making of a market economy in China occurred when the domestic legal system was largely underdeveloped. It is the administrative bureaucratic system that has played a leading role in the making of a market economy in China. In recent years, the Chinese Government has strived to establish a market economy based on the rule of law and has undertaken legal measures to rationalise government regulation of market economy development. However, the administrative bureaucratic system headed by the central government remains a strong party leading the market economy construction in China. This article argues that the administrative bureaucratic system and market economy development have evolved into a social institution. To transform the regulation of market economy development towards the rule of law is a social institutional change and is a slow and incremental process, as it is imbedded in the various formal and informal constraints in Chinese society.