China's grand size makes it challenging to conclusively identify broad patterns in the economy and political system. Successes and problems typically co-exist in a way that seemingly defies easy summary. By amassing immense amounts of data, the contributors to Growing Pains present as clear a picture of China as one can expect. Throughout the post-Mao era some analysts have seen the system as suffering from “irresolvable logical contradictions that threaten to derail or stall the entire reform process” (p. xv). But instead of seeing China stuck in a “trapped transition,” a direct reference to Minxin Pei's book of the same title (Harvard University Press, 2006), this volume suggests that the problems faced over the years are more akin to “growing pains.” This reader takes the concept to refer to either problems that originally seemed formidable but were later overcome or new types of problems that emerge as a product of success and then are also addressed with a sufficient degree of success that facilitates continued economic vibrancy and political efficacy.

Central to this volume is the extensive use of large-scale national surveys. Although there is some use of case studies (as in Zhou Xueguang's chapter on village elections), most of the authors employ cross-regional surveys, and they do so to great effect, signifying a maturation of this research approach. The book is organized into three sections. The first measures the extent of reform in the economy, the second in governance, and the last in the provision of public goods and popular views of inequality. Although problems persist, the chapters present significant new empirical information and arguments that challenge the “trapped transition” paradigm. It is hard to escape the conclusion that China has essentially completed the transition out of state socialism, and continuing problems are those associated with a wide assortment of developing countries.

The most substantial successes have come in privatization and the creation of markets. Oi shows that the restructuring of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) deepened to include full-scale privatization, management buyouts, bankruptcies and layoffs. The remaining SOEs have become more efficient and profitable. The chapters on labour and agricultural commodities show a similar trajectory of a substantial pull-back of state intrusion and the development of nationally integrated and efficient markets. Although a source of extensive conflict during much of the Reform era, Michelson provides evidence that tensions from the one-child policy are fading away as China's overall fertility rate declines due to shift of rural inhabitants from agriculture to industry and construction. Hence, he makes the stunning conclusion that further changes in fertility “will reduce state–society friction and conflict regardless of whether or not the family planning policies are retooled or abandoned” (p. 214).

The authors point to several areas in which there has been only moderate success at reform but where the problems are not as severe as often portrayed. Linxiu Zhang and her co-authors find that farmers' land tenure rights have strengthened and there is less government intervention over their choice of crops, but that land markets are still far from fully developed. Wedeman finds that efforts to tackle corruption have achieved substantial success, leaving China at a rough “stalemate” between prosecutors and wayward officials. Although others have provided positive accounts of village elections, Tsai goes further than any other study in showing how widespread competitive elections have become. Village leaders are far more often replaced through the ballot than by their superiors. Still, though, several aspects of local elections are vulnerable to manipulation, particularly when there is not a specific central government mandate against a certain practice, such as proxy voting. Finally, Whyte documents that rising income inequality is not a pressing threat to regime legitimacy. Although there is a segment of the population that blames inequality on special privileges endemic to the system, most Chinese view inequality as the product of differences in individual capabilities and education.

The contributors also identify a category of growing pains that are not only still acute but that are likely to be substantial challenges for the foreseeable future. Chief among these are health care, worker unemployment insurance and pensions, and the environment. In each case, it is not that policies have not been adopted, but that the magnitude of the problems is outpacing government responses. For example, Ortolano points to a number of reforms to strengthen local environmental protection bureaus, but the need to maintain growth and the spread of personal automobiles create substantial obstacles to reducing the absolute levels of pollution.

It is hard to disagree with the specific cases discussed in this volume, yet the overall argument is vulnerable to several challenges. Almost all of the data is from 2000 to 2005. It is tempting to conclude that the book foreshadows more recent progress, but such a conclusion awaits more information. Second, some of the authors make good use of comparative data, for example Wedeman and Whyte's references to perceptions of corruption and inequality elsewhere. But more sustained comparative analysis would offer another useful benchmark to judge China's reforms.

More important is the book's uneven coverage of topics. Five of the eleven chapters are explicitly devoted to rural issues; only one (by Oi) squarely focuses on urban China. One wonders whether the broader conclusions would have been the same had there been chapters on industrial policy, the financial system, legal reform or elite politics. There is likely more progress in these areas than is often recognized, but their absence in the volume raises questions about how broadly the concept of growing pains holds. Moreover, the book's heavy attention on measuring outcomes was not accompanied by an equally in-depth analysis of the reasons for such results. There are occasional references to the wisdom of a gradualist approach, but there is little examination of the regime's governing norms and style or the workings of the Party or government bureaucracy. How much credit should be given to a wise leadership or one group of leaders, a strengthened and streamlined central government, entrepreneurial local officials, bottom-up societal activism, or foreign pressure must be found in other studies.

These limitations, though, add up to relatively minor quibbles. Despite some gaps in their coverage and analysis, the volume sets a high bar for those who may wish to challenge their conclusions. Growing Pains deserves the attention of every scholar interested in contemporary China.