China is transforming itself and the world. This article highlights some of the critical issues facing China, which are discussed in detail by leading scholars in the area in this collection of surveys on the Chinese economy.

This paper provides a literature review on urbanization in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Research findings indicate that the PRC's urbanization is incomplete: its level of urbanization lags behind its industrialization and development status, and while there are too many small cities,...

In the past two decades or so, the field of Chinese economic history has become bigger, more colourful, and more diversified than ever before. This article reviews the new development in scholarship in the filed of Chinese economic history. Apart from the lingering debate on China's performance...

The issue of income inequality in the People's Republic of China (PRC) has attracted world-wide attention, leading to a sizable literature. This paper attempts to provide a nonexhaustive literature review of the PRC's inequality trends and determinants, and suggested government interventions. It...

China's current segmented pension system features regional imbalance, fiscal inefficiency, social inequality and economic unsustainability. It is a result of three-decade evolution guided by vague long-term objectives, constrained by economic and political circumstances and swayed by...

China's rapid economic growth has been fueled by industrialization and urbanization. Given its export focus, this industrialization was spatially concentrated in the coastal eastern cities. Over the last decade, a spatial transformation has taken place leading to a deindustrialization of the...

Innovation has been increasingly recognized as a critical force in national economic growth not only in developed countries, but also in emerging countries such as China and India. This paper provides a critical review of the literature related to China's innovation capability. First, I evaluate...

China has witnessed a rapid demographic transition in recent decades, which has driven changes in labour market outcomes as evidenced by labour shortages and increasing wages for unskilled workers. In this paper, the authors survey the literature on population transition, factors influencing...

The development of the housing market in the People's Republic of China is not only a major component of Chinese economic growth but also has wide-ranging influential impacts on Chinese society. A burgeoning number of papers have examined the housing market in the postreform People's Republic of...

This paper assesses the performance of China's service trade over recent decades by summarizing and presenting data on its size, growth rate, sectoral composition, comparative advantage, and degree of openness. The evidence based on comparative analysis suggests that despite China's high growth...