This book provides a groundbreaking analytical framework to decode the paradoxes at the heart of China's financial system. It investigates why heavy-handed government intervention persisted alongside stellar economic growth, and why the very policies that fueled the "China miracle" are now generating significant financial risks and inefficiencies.

Moving beyond mere description, the analysis adopts a historic perspective to answer four pivotal questions: Why did China maintain repressive financial policies? Why didn't these policies stifle growth? What caused the recent surge in financial risks? And what are the essential next steps for reform? The book uniquely characterizes China's reform path as one of "asymmetric market reform," driven by pragmatism rather than theoretical ideals.

The scope spans from the foundational reforms of the state-owned banks and markets to the latest revolution in digital finance. It demystifies how technologies like mobile payments and Big-Tech lending are promoting inclusion while creating new regulatory challenges. The book is tailored for academics, policymakers, financial professionals, and students seeking a sophisticated understanding of China's financial trajectory.

HUANG Yiping is Peking University Boya Distinguished Professor, Dean of the National School of Development, Dean of the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development and Director of the Institute of Digital Finance, Peking University. He is a member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the People’s Bank of China, a position he also held previously during 2015-2018, a member of the Group of Thirty (G30), a member of the Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing’s Mainland China Advisory Group, a member of the China Finance 40 Forum, a member of the China Economists 50 Forum and Chairman of the Special Committee on Fintech Development and Research of the National Internet Finance Association of China.
His key research interests are macro economy, financial policy and digital finance.

Previously, he was also a policy analyst at the Research Center for Rural Development of the State Council (1987-1990), Senior Lecturer at the Australian National University (1994-2000), General Mills International Visiting Professor of Economics and Finance at the Columbia Business School (1997-1998), Managing Director and Chief Asia Economist for Citigroup (2000-2009), research fellow of the Financial Research Center of the Councilor’s Office of the State Council, the editor-in-chief of China Economic Journal and associate editor of Asian Economic Policy Review.

Prof Huang received his Bachelor of Agricultural Economics from Zhejiang Agricultural University, Master of Economics from Renmin University of China and PhD in Economics from Australian National University.

Xun WANG currently serves as an associate research professor at the National School of Development, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Digital Finance at Peking University and co-editor of China Economic Journal. He served as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Stockholm China Economic Research Institute of Stockholm School of Economics from September 1, 2011 to July 2013. He received a Ph.D in Economics from National School of Development, Peking University at 2011. His research focuses on corporate finance, international finance and Chinese economy. He has published academic papers on Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of International Money and Finance, Oxford Bulletin of Economic & Statistics, Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Asian Economic Papers and China Economic Review.