The China Circle

As the British relinquish control of Hong Kong, the economic relationship among the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan, and Hong Kong becomes especially significant. Despite political and diplomatic tensions, this relationship has grown phenomenally in recent years and continues to prosper. Known as the “China Circle,” it is an important emerging economic region that cuts across political boundaries.

This book is the first comprehensive study of the underlying economic dynamics that make the China Circle not only possible, but hugely successful. Yun-wing Sung, Barry Naughton, and Kong Yam Tan analyze the macroeconomic issues in each of the political entities that make up the China Circle. Michael Borrus, Chin Chung, Jean François Huchet, and Dieter Ernst focus one of the region’s leading industries, electronics. With rapid changes in technology, firm strategy, and global markets driving its continuous restructuring, the electronics industry offers a detailed view of the factors that are shaping the region as a whole.

To provide a complete economic picture of the China Circle today—and possible future developments—the contributors explore key issues including emerging divisions of labor, developing trade and investment patterns, and the effect of Hong Kong’s return to China in July 1997.

Written in an open and accessible style, the book is especially timely and more in-depth than anything currently available.

Barry Naughton is a professor at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California at San Diego, and is the author of Growing Out of the Plan: Chinese Economic Reform, 1978-1993 (Cambridge, 1995) and coeditor of Reforming Asian Socialism: The Growth of Market Institutions (Michigan, 1996).