The emergence of China to global economic and political prominence in the last thirty years remains arguably one of the most remarkable examples of national socio-economic transformation of a hitherto poor society. There exists broad consensus in the literature that China’s reform and opening up (gaige yu kaifang) policies which took off in 1978 played a pivotal role in her transformation process. The socio-economic indicators for China over the period attest to the momentous changes that have swept through the world’s most populous country in contemporary times.