China’s Retail Sector in Context

Abstract

Before presenting findings from the research, this chapter sketches the background and context to the contemporary retail sector and employment relations in China. It begins with an overview of the economic system and retailing in the Maoist period. Attention then turns to the re-emergence of markets in the post Mao era, consumption and consumers in contemporary China and the evolving state policy toward foreign involvement in the retail sector. The chapter concludes with an outline of trends in the retail market since China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001.