01114pab a2200145 454500008004000000100001200040245006700052260000900119300001500128362001000143520073100153650001400884650003600898773003400934180718b1999   xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  aLi Xing  aSocialist foundations of market reform: assessing Chinese past  c1999  ap.3457-465  a4 Dec  aThis article attempts to provide explanations and arguments to posit that Maoist socialism was a great leap forward in terms of its objectives and overall achievements despite heavy human cost as well as miscellaneous policy failures and dislocations. Maoist socialism should be analysed and conceptualised from an international geopolitical perspective in understanding the limitations and constraints on China's development environment, strategies and alternatives. More importantly, it paved a solid foundation indispensable to the rapid ongoing economic advance which is largely due to the linkage with rather than the departure from the strong comparative advantages accumulated during the period of socialism. Reproduced  aSocialism  aEconomic and social development  aEconomic and Political Weekly