This book explores the forces that impelled China, the world's largest
socialist state, to make massive changes in its domestic and
international stance during the long 1970s. Fourteen distinguished
scholars investigate the special, perhaps crucial part that the
territory of Hong Kong played in encouraging and midwifing China's
relationship with the non-Communist world. The Long 1970s were the years
when China moved dramatically and decisively toward much closer
relations with the non-Communist world. In the late 1970s, China also
embarked on major economic reforms, designed to win it great power
status by the early twenty-first centuries. The volume addresses the
long-term implications of China's choices for the outcome of the Cold
War and in steering the global international outlook toward free-market
capitalism. Decisions made in the 1970s are key to understanding the
nature and policies of the Chinese state today and the worldview of
current Chinese leaders.