THE PECULIARITY OF ECONOMIC-DEVELOPMENT I N CONTEMPORARY CHINA

According to common sense, economic growth in contemporary China has b een mainly stimulated by contracts with big capitalist firms and trans fers of technology. By closely examining the prodigious development of small and middle-sized, family or village, businesses in two areas in the southeast, another view emerges. How has this development been po ssible ? What political debates has it strirred up ? Given the absence of legal rules about private transactions, what social basis do these businesses rely on? Answers are drawn from recent, in-depth field wor k.