To say that China is a nation in transition is both a statement of the obvious and also a massive understatement. In the last 30 years, this country of 1.4 billion people has experienced annual economic growth of 10% or more, which has brought it to the forefront of the world’s trading nations. It has seen great shifts of population – over half its citizens now live in cities compared with just one-fifth before the reform process began – and huge changes to its social and legal structures. It has industrialized and modernized faster than any society has ever attempted before.

China now looks forward to an era of consolidating that position and of evolving all of its political, legal, social and environmental structures to carry progress forward to 2020 and beyond.

In eight chapters, the authors of this book describe how the Communist Party of China (CPC) led by General Secretary Xi Jinping intends to guide the country on its continuing path to greater prosperity. The chapters explore: China’s economy and the steps needed to make it fit for the years ahead; the ongoing processes of reform and opening up; the rule of law in the specific context of Chinese society; and evolution of China’s political systems. There are chapters on the subject of the people’s livelihood, and on ecological matters; and on the shape of its industry, the adoption of new technologies, and recognition of a coming shift in the balance of manufacturing and service sectors

The book highlights the fact that China’s progress to date has not been in any way accidental, but has been the outcome of planned process, dating back to the late 1970s and the beginning of reform and opening up. Recognising that continued double-digit growth will not be sustainable going forward, the CPC has formulated plans to shape and adjust the systems needed to govern China in the new conditions; goals such as doubling the size of the economy from 2000 to 2020 remain in place as do other themes that run throughout the text; for example, furthering socialism with Chinese characteristics, and achieving prosperity for all of the Chinese population. The book concludes that the overall forces of reform apply equally to the CPC itself, and considers how the party must always exercise strict self-governance to fit it for the task of governing China as it approaches the 100th anniversary of the founding of the party in 2021.