As powerful as it was, the Chinese Communist Party has failed to hold together all elements in its society during certain periods of its authoritative reign over the vast country. During the 1980s, the central government lost control over the economy, the political system, and society as a whole, say Barry L. Naughton and Dali L. Yang, who edited this book comprised of their own contributions and those from half a dozen well-known scholars. The 1980s marked the time when the country began entering the market economy, and the transition was difficult. "The Chinese government simply seemed ill equipped to carry out the tasks demanded of it in the new economic environment," the two editors say as a way of introducing the book to readers so they can understand efforts by Chinese leaders to try to hold together the country before it slid into a break-up. The Tiananmen crisis in 1989 plunged the country into disarray during the process of economic restructuring. The use of military forces to put down the student demonstrations in Beijing revealed the raw use of military power over the civilian population. The Tiananmen crisis threatened the power at the center of the government. The Western media jumped to the conclusion that China was disintegrating.

The authors of this book undertake a collective effort to answer some of the questions raised by those who believed that Chinese leaders had lost control of the country.

Zhiyue Bo says that in the 1980s, the Chinese Communist Party weathered a series of crises and succeeded in keeping political power. The Party was also laying out new institutions to meet the demands of a new economic era, but those institutions have remained incomplete. "The strength of the CCP, in turn, has been an important factor contributing to national stability and unity," Bo says as he studied the way the Chinese elite tried to establish new institutions for the country. He says the Chinese political structure is composed of several structures that are partially independent, but interlocking in their hierarchical systems, allowing the power at the center to continue to rule. The CCP remains the most organized body. It remains in power while keeping an eye on the legislature. Jiang Zemin, who came to power after the 14th Congress in 1992, succeeding Deng Xiaoping, made all efforts to restore the authority of the CCP and local Communist parties over the elite management.

In 1995, the Party Central Committee issued instructions for the selection, appointment, and transfer of Party and government leading cadres, which affected more than 400,000 cadres in China. Those cadres ranked at the level of deputy county head or above. Such instructions allowed the CCP to directly control the huge government machinery at national and local levels. Dali L. Yang studies the economic transformation and rebuilding of the Chinese state. He says the Chinese leadership obviously has found the middle road for organizing the country so that it can carry out orders from the central government while allowing local governments to take genuine initiatives for the advancement of society. In doing so, he writes that the central government has shown that it is not working only for its own good but also for the good of the public.

The Asian financial crisis in 1997 and 1998, which hit many of China's neighbors, increased the atmosphere of competitiveness in the market-oriented economy sweeping through China. Beijing urged local governments to speed up the process of economic reform, which unfortunately resulted in more layoffs and unemployment, says Dorothy J. Solinger. She uses data from three cities: Guangzhou, Shenyang, and Wuban from 1995 to 1998 to learn how some places in China succeeded in building their local economies. The issue of population control is studied by Yangzhong Huang and Dali L. Yang.

China today is governed by the so-called fourth generation of leaders. President Hu Jintao and the rest of the new generation will have to invest more in strengthening China's institutions. The hierarchy has been consolidated and professionalized. But the book's editors say the challenge for the new leaders is to open up the hierarchy and provide accountability and legitimacy.