Close to a decade after the collapse of the communist states in Eastern Europe and of the Soviet Union, the communist parties of China and Vietnam are not only surviving but are firmly in the saddle. They can look with some satisfaction to their recent records of economic performance. Both countries have moved decidedly away from the state-planned economies their governments championed a few decades ago. They are now 'market economies'. Yet unlike communist states in Europe, they have made this transition without undergoing major political upheavals. This book is the first in English to provide a comprehensive analysis of the changes that these two remarkable countries have been through in recent years. Each chapter takes up a different aspect of recent developments and compares both countries' experiences. The authors are all leading authorities on the countries.

Most chapters have two authors, pairing a Vietnam specialist with a China specialist. The chapters are genuinely comparative. The chapters find similarities but also several significant differences between the countries. Contrary to what several observers have assumed, Vietnam has not simply been following in China's footsteps.