The rise of China is ever-present in debates on globalisation and ongoing power shifts. In a time of rising international tensions, understanding the interdependencies between China's course and the world economy is ever more important. Often, the economic reforms under Deng Xiaoping after 1978 are emphasised. They initiated dramatic changes in China's economy and contributed to its ascent as a world power. In contrast, less attention has been given to the context in which these reforms were implemented. Philippe Lionnet analyses important adjustments in China's agricultural, industrial and foreign trade policies in the course of the 1970s as well as their origins. He shows how policy experiments and their limits shaped the path of the socialist state.

Philippe Lionnet, born in 1986, did his doctorate in history at the University of Bern after completing master's degrees at the Universities of Basel (MA) and Zurich (LLM) and study visits e.g. to Pittsburgh/USA, Beijing, and London. He currently works as a foreign economic policy advisor for the Swiss Federal Administration.