After the Communist Party came to power in 1949, capitalists disappeared from China's political and economic landscape. As the government launched economic reforms, however, a new generation of capitalists emerged as an economic and social group of considerable influence. Keming Yang examines some crucial aspects of this group's political life: their self image, and their political image; associations; treatment of their employees; relationships with government officials. Exploring the implications of China's political development, Yang considers the notion of 'elite corporatism', and why democracy remains so distant in China's political system.

KEMING YANG is Lecturer of Sociology at University of Durham, UK. He is the author of Entrepreneurship in China (2007) and Making Sense of Statistical Methods in Social Research (2010).