Bian has produced a text that challenges orthodox conceptions of the nature of the transition from the Nationalist to the Communist regime (as well as transitions, more generally). Bian’s insights into the continuities that link Imperial, Republican, and Communist China are provocative and provide an important catalyst for future research and analysis.

Morris L. Bian’s book offers a rich description and critical analysis of the formation of the Chinese state enterprise system. It should be welcomed by the academic world as a valuable addition to the currently existing literature, not only because it probes into a less studied area, but also because it provides insightful interpretation to a unique socioeconomic system that has profoundly remolded contemporary Chinese political, economic, and social urban life.

The strength of this well-researched book lies in the explanation of how the impact of the Sino–Japanese War and earlier military conflicts within China affected economic outcomes in China… [It] is aimed at business scholars and advanced students interested in China. Historians of Chinese studies will enjoy the book as well. This groundbreaking book is highly recommended.

A major study of wartime China’s economic system. Bian presents an interesting view of the emergence of the danwei (work unit) system in contemporary China that sees its origins not simply in a model borrowed from the Soviet Union after 1949, but one with roots in China’s republican era, particularly the wartime period. He is particularly effective in tracing ideas of the developmental state back to Sun Yatsen. Well researched and tightly organized, this is an important work in our understanding of developments in twentieth-century China.

Bian is one of the leaders of a generation of young scholars who have placed the history of Chinese business enterprise—private and now public—at the heart of historical discussion in the field.