As this remarkable story begins, the Chinese people were just recovering from the devastating effects of the cultural revolution and the loss of country's revered leader Chairman Mao. Deep pockets of ultra-leftist thinking remained, and reformers determined to help bring the Chinese economy and industry out of its backward state faced the challenge of a lifetime. Against tremendous odds and resistance, a determined team of reformers, led by Deng Xiaoping, guided China out of its decades-long international isolation and economic stagnation.
Westerners witnessing this astonishing national transformation over the past three decades are familiar with the general outlines of the story of China's economic miracle. But few people – even within China – know the story behind the story. Who were the people who actually made this happen? What were the inside decisions and actions that led to China's shift from a planned to a market-oriented economy? By what political and policy processes were the special economic zones, which paved the way to international trade and economic growth, approved and allowed to flourish? Li Lanqing, a senior Chinese official at the forefront of the economic reforms revealed this story for the first time to Chinese readers in 2008, in his acclaimed book Breaking Through. This English edition now offers English readers a rare window onto one of the greatest economic stories of the twentieth century.
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