The remarkable transformation of the Chinese economy in terms of its structure and growth has drawn unprecedented attention from academics, policy makers and businessmen alike. In the past four decades, China swiftly transformed from a centrally-planned to a market-oriented economy, with an economic size just behind the US and ahead of Japan. Amid commendations for China's economic success offering valuable reform and growth lessons to other developing countries, underlying challenges have been emerging, which constitute long-term risks in shaking China's sustainable success. These challenges encompass a wide range of sectors and issues such as the rural-urban divide, state monopoly, policy loans in the banking sector, lack of skilled and sophisticated workers, environmental degradation, etc. This book unveils the risks and challenges embedded in China's spectacular economic success and demonstrates that effective handling of these challenges is vital for China to avoid falling into the "middle-income trap". It is elucidated that feasible solutions are available to accommodate these risks and the clue of success lies on the willingness and ability of China's central leaders to implement further reforms. This book is a valuable reference for undergraduate and postgraduate students, academics, and public and business policy makers who are concerned about the current status and future development of the Chinese economy.

The remarkable transformation of the Chinese economy in terms of its structure and growth has drawn unprecedented attention from academics, policy makers and businessmen alike. In the past four decades, China swiftly transformed from a centrally-planned to a market-oriented economy, with an economic size just behind the US and ahead of Japan. Amid commendations for China's economic success offering valuable reform and growth lessons to other developing countries, underlying challenges have been emerging, which constitute long-term risks in shaking China's sustainable success. These challenges encompass a wide range of sectors and issues such as the rural-urban divide, state monopoly, policy loans in the banking sector, lack of skilled and sophisticated workers, environmental degradation, etc. This book unveils the risks and challenges embedded in China's spectacular economic success and demonstrates that effective handling of these challenges is vital for China to avoid falling into the "middle-income trap". It is elucidated that feasible solutions are available to accommodate these risks and the clue of success lies on the willingness and ability of China's central leaders to implement further reforms. This book is a valuable reference for undergraduate and postgraduate students, academics, and public and business policy makers who are concerned about the current status and future development of the Chinese economy.

Motivated by the rapid increase in housing demand and the population of older adults worldwide, this book provides an interdisciplinary and multi-level approach for studying housing and ageing issues and relevant policy analysis in China, and beyond. Specifically, it highlights how the changing social, economic, and political factors at both local and global levels affect the housing or ageing experiences of people. Drawing on findings and theoretical discussions in economics, history, psychology, sociology, social policy, and urban studies, the authors offer interdisciplinary perspectives on a highly topical debate, asking what progress is being made on the formulation and implementation of housing and ageing policies in different societies. The book brings together original qualitative and quantitative research works in European, Asia-Pacific and Chinese contexts. Readers will benefit from the results of a rigorous analysis of data and case studies that reveal factors affecting housing or ageing experiences of people in these regions. The interdisciplinary research also provides valuable insights on further policy analyses and formulation in both local and global contexts. It is of interest to scholars, policy makers and university students in the fields of housing, ageing, and social and public policy.