For those looking for actual economic policy history and statistics, I suggest Barry Naughton's excellent "The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth" <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Economy-Transitions-Growth/dp/0262640643" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Economy-Transitions-Growth/dp/...</a><p>It's a textbook, but extremely readable and full of interesting history, as well as modern stats and tables.