BRILL PERSPECTIVES ON GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT AND TECHNOLOGY 13 (2014) 444-464 brill.com/pgdt The Chinese Model of Development: Characteristics, Interpretations, Implications Alvin Y. So Division of Social Science Hong Kong University of Science and Technology soalvin@ust.hk Abstract Influenced by promising economic indicators, the mass media and policy circles have begun to use the term “China Model” to celebrate China’s fast-speed development. However, researchers are still not clear what exactly the China Model is. This paper provides a critical examination of the China Model of development. This paper starts with a discussion of what are the major characteristics of the China Model and why the developing countries are attracted to them. Then this paper argues that research ers should not take the China Model for granted because its ingredients are highly contested. Finally, this paper discusses what implication the China Model has for developing countries. Keywords China - development - market socialism - Third World At the turn of the 21st century, the mass media liked reporting the news about China’s remarkable development (China Daily 2009; Wines 2010; Washington Post 2009): • China had become the largest producer of many key industrial and agricul- tural products by 2007, including rolled steel (566 million tons), coal (2.5 billion tons), chemical fertilizers (58 tons) and personal computers (121 mil- lion, or 30 percent of the world’s output); © KON1NKLIJKE BRILL NV, LEIDEN, 2014 | DOI 10.1163/15691497-12341311