This book chronicles the dramatic events that have taken place since China opened up to the world in 1978 and adopted a policy of economic reform. It records how economic policies were drafted between 1978 and 1991, brought into law, initiated and then implemented. It vividly relates the history of reform from the beginning of the rural household contract responsibility system to the expansion of enterprise autonomy in cities and the gradual liberalization of prices of goods and services. The book covers the founding of Deng Xiaoping's reform theory and the establishment of a socialist market economic system.About the Author: Li Tieying is a former Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China. For more than 20 years he served as the minister in charge of the State Commission for Economic Restructuring, and he participated in the implementation of China's economic reforms during that time.