Ideology Matters: China from Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping

China’s notable successes as well as the problems it has encountered, have resulted from policy debates and choices made by the Communist Party of China from the time of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, to the less charismatic leaders Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao and his successor Xi Jinping. The CPC’s distinct style is to put the policy perspectives in fresh theoretical terms. These essays scrutinise the ideological statements to help understand China’s reform strategy and the policy shifts. One needs to know the contours of Maoism and its critical assessment by Deng Xiaoping to understand the reforms that he launched and the meaning of ‘socialist market economy’ and the state-guided market process that has produced the high rate of growth in China.