In China Studies there is clearly an established tradition that sees the publication of edited collections reviewing the trajectory of the People's Republic of China [PRC] at every decade after its establishment in 1949. There have been several logics at work here. One was the rest of the world's—and especially the English-speaking world's—need for information about and insights into the development of a new and, for at least the first thirty years, a relatively closed regime. In part this need for information and desire to review every decade was the result of Cold War configurations. Another logic has been the extent of rapid and sometimes dramatic change in the PRC over the six decades, though as Andrew Walder points out in his contribution to The People's Republic at 60 (p. 148), one of the more remarkable developments during the last two decades has been the institutionalization of politics. The legality...

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