Reform and development in rural China

China was the first major socialist country to transform its economic system from central planning and collectivization to reliance on the market and material incentives. China's economic reforms began in the rural economy with the shift from production by communes to family farming. Du Runsheng, the Director of the Rural Development Research Centre (RDRC) of China's State Council for much of the 1980s, was a central figure in rural policy formulation.

This volume consists of nineteen speeches by Du Runsheng on wide-ranging aspects of rural economic reform. Most of the speeches were delivered to groups of government or Party officials to explain the reform policies and to elicit their support. The book includes an introductory chapter describing the history of rural economic policy in the People's Republic of China, notes on the texts of the speeches by Du Runsheng and a glossary of important Marxist and Chinese economic terms.