Professor Eckstein's book is a study of China's efforts in the last twenty-five years to achieve rapid modernization of its economy within a socialist framework. Eckstein begins with an examination of economic development in pre-Communist China, specifically focusing on the resources and liabilities inherited by the new regime in 1949 and their effects on development policies. He then analyzes the economic objectives of the Communist leadership - narrowing income disparities, maintaining full employment without inflation, and achieving rapid industrialization - and argues that the implementation of these goals required a potent ideology capable of providing a strong faith and motivational force for the mass mobilization of resources. In discussing the methods used by the government to achieve its aims, Eckstein makes a thorough evaluation of China's general framework for economic planning, particularly in regard to the distribution and pricing of farm products and the allocation of resources in the industrial sector. The author also evaluates the radical institutional changes in property relations and in economic organization in the People's Republic of China.
Although the goal of modernization has remained constant, the Chinese leadership has been divided, Eckstein demonstrates, on the point of whether China should industrialize following the Soviet "revisionist" path or whether it should adhere strictly to socialist puritanism, egalitarianism, and totalitarian populism. This conflict over economic development policies has been a major factor in the power struggles in China. Eckstein explores the many ramifications this debate has had on Chinese society. He also considers the impact of foreign trade on China's economic development, with particular attention to the evolution of China's trading policies and the commodity composition of its foreign trade today.
In concluding, Professor Eckstein provides a critical examination of China as a development model. He discusses those aspects of the Chinese model that may be applicable to other underdeveloped or Third World nations, particularly China's attempt to achieve its goals through self-reliance, minimizing its dependence on other developed countries.