During its recent reforms, China's foreign trade has witnessed unusually high growth in comparison with other socialist economies. The pertinent question is this: Has foreign trade served as an engine of growth for China as it has done for other developing countries, including Taiwan and South Korea? This is an important question because both the future relations of China with the rest of the world and the importance of China's foreign trade reforms as an example to other socialist economies depend considerably on the extent to which China has benefited from the reforms.

As an attempt to answer this question, the book provides an overall view of the role of foreign trade in China's economic development before and during the recent reforms, a discussion of the institutional changes involved in the foreign trade reforms, an evaluation of the efficiency of the foreign trade incentive system introduced under foreign trade reforms, a close look into the impact of foreign trade reforms on the growth and commodity composition of foreign trade, a model for the impact of foreign trade growth on shortage and price stability, an empirical analysis of the relation between foreign trade and consumer goods shortage, and some views on the future prospect of the foreign trade reforms, stressing the need for further reforms of the economic system and for a change in the attitude of the political leadership toward the role of foreign trade in China's economic development.