This comprehensive overview of the modern Chinese economy by a noted expert from China offers a quality and breadth of coverage. In this book, the author provides an introduction to China's economy since 1949 and original insights based on his own extensive research. The book sets out to analyze and compare the operational mechanisms of the Chinese economy between the pre- and post-reform periods and through national, regional and local dimensions. Both positive and negative consequences of the Chinese economic transformation have been clarified. A multiregional comparison of the Chinese economy is conducted in terms of natural and human resources, institutional evolution, as well as economic and social performances. At last, some key issues relating to the inherent operational mechanisms of and the dynamic patterns of the Chinese economy are also discussed. Written by a Chinese scholar who himself has also been to some extent an inherent part of the Chinese economic growth, this book discusses the Chinese economy from both national and regional/ local perspectives. To help understand the growth process in economies as sui generis and complex as that of China, this book employs an interdisciplinary methodology. To this end , many intriguing photos and informative figures and tables are included all of which provide an easy way to the understanding of the complicated process of the Chinese economy. The book will be an essential resource for scholars, business people, policymakers, and general audiences throughout the world. It is also suitable for classroom use for undergraduate courses.