The interesting content of this book is illustrated by its subtitle, although it is very much weighted towards the legal aspect of Chinese development. The book brings out the strong link between business and economic development, and China's legal reforms: “[t]he main theme of the book is that developments in the business sector are very closely intertwined with China's economic and legal reforms – all of which have been undertaken gradually and premised on the over-riding policy command which seeks social and political stability” (p. 2). The point about the over-riding policy objective being stability is, however, not sufficiently developed. This is a missed opportunity as it could have been a major focus of analysis, using the legal system as a key example of that strategy. The book examines the period from 1979 onwards but is not terribly user friendly. Its main point of interest is the “China paradox,” which is the contrast between fast economic growth and an inadequate legal system. Three chapters cover legal reforms, law and markets. There are then separate chapters on state owned enterprises (law as an instrument of economic policy), collectively owned enterprises (hybrid ownership form and the partial reform strategy), private firms (law ex post and as obstacle) and foreign firms (law leading the market). The conclusion covers the evolution of laws and the market.

The co-evolution of law and marketization in China is shown to be uneven in many dimensions – across type of firms, across regions and across subsets of legislation. This is a rich pattern which the author does well to encompass. At times the book becomes far too focused on the minutiae of the legal system, so that economic and business development becomes side-lined. The book includes case studies of industries, firms and the joint development of firms and industries. These are not traditional business school case studies and indeed the only pure case study is that of Lenovo and the personal computing industry (oddly, there is no mention anywhere of the equally interesting case of Huawei). There is also a useful appendix (Appendix 8.1) examining the different types of company registration in China.

All in all, this is an interesting and informative, if sometimes rather dense, coverage of the development of law in respect of business activity in China. The main title “Enterprising China” is misleading as there is very little on entrepreneurship, innovation or management in the book. It would be a good point of reference for those wishing to become acquainted with the somewhat archaic development of the uneven legal system in China and an excellent adjunct to the more business-focused reviews of Chinese development. It is, mercifully, free from exaggeration of either China's dramatic growth or its associated tensions. It will, therefore, be a useful addition to libraries covering Chinese development.