China Review 1998, the eighth volume of the series, is an expert survey of China's major sectors of interest that critically summarizes the development of the previous year in core chapters covering politics, the economy and social change. This volume has several in-depth presentations on political and social-economic issues such as the death of the paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, the 15th Party Congress, China's relations with Taiwan, the reform of state-owned enterprises, and foreign economic relations, all major concerns to those interested in the development of the People's Republic. A few additional studies describe rarely featured areas of Chinese society, such as the social security reforms and the ideological crisis.