The process of internationalization in China began decades ago, and has been studied thoroughly by scholars because of the size of the country, its huge population and the entrenched Communist regime that has resisted pressure to open its vast market and switch from an authoritarian, state-controlled economy to an open Western-style market economy.

China has become internationalized even though the degree to which it has opened up is disputed. But judging from available statistics, China's economic growth and foreign trade volumes have remained steady over the years and the country is becoming an economic power. What has happened since the time Deng Xiaoping decided to open China to the outside world in 1978 is explored by Davis Zweig, who brings a vast understanding to the way Chinese authorities deal with Western transnational corporations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), United Nations agencies like the UN Development Program and the UN Children's Fund, international banking institutions and foreign companies that want to do business with Chinese.

The term internationalization applies to China because of its past planned socialist economy and refusal to open its market. Such a situation does not exist in many other Asian countries that have gradually and easily adapted to open market policies and demands. China has expanded its flows of goods, services and people across national boundaries in volumes that have surpassed other countries with already well established in market economies. It has lowered trade barriers, struck down regulatory controls, and most importantly, it has convinced the entrenched bureaucracy to abide by the demands of an open market. Corruption is rampant and fighting among bureaucrats for a piece of the pie are daily scandals reported by the national media.

Zweig explains the internationalization process from the rural to the coastal areas and how Chinese officials take the critical decisions that launched that process, which he says is determined by the power of the global markets, the domestic institutions, government policy and the spirits of local entrepreneurialship.

Despite the strong desire to open up to the outside world and incorporate the massive inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) and funds from overseas development assistance (ODA), Chinese authorities have maintained control over the use of such funds. China has created counterpart agencies to deal successfully with NGOs, UN agencies and foreign corporations. The flows of international aid may have slowed down considerably after the massacre at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989, but they have rebounded in greater proportions. China's accession to the World Trade Organization has, to some degree, sealed that country's internationalization process.

"As the new millennium dawns, foreign forces in the form of ODA play a more aggressive role in China, pushing for the adoption of new global norms," David Zweig writes. "It has been a winding road, but international forces, encouraged by local demand, have pushed China into a more interdependent, more market-oriented global system."