David L. Prychitko David L. Prychitko is a candidate for the Ph.D. in economics at George Mason University. Today's China is vastly different from the China of 10 years ago.
Voluntary exchange plays a greater role in the allocation of goods and services.
The rhetorical scaffolding of communist central planning has been giving way to private contracting and the entrepreneurial spirit. In short, the Chinese are rediscovering the market. Since the death of Mao Zedong in September 1976 and the subsequent repudiation of the Gang of Four, China's economy has undergone a sweeping revision. About 80 percent of China's retail stores, restaurants, and service shops are now privately owned. Private plot use and contract- ing arrangements and a greater division of labor have permeated China's agricultural sector.