Is China Really Socialist?

Abstract: This thesis investigates if China is a socialist economy or not. The topic, which has triggered many leading scholars, is highly interesting since institutions are pivotal to understanding a country’s economic performance. Previous studies have neglected the classic socialist literature, giving ambiguous interpretations of what is socialism. This thesis fills that gap through a multicriteria approach. Starting from original documents, letters, and books by Marx and Engels, it establishes three minimal criteria to define socialism. The criteria focus on the control of the means of production, labour standards, and universalism of social insurance. Then, I explore whether China meets these minimal criteria through an archival material analysis based on primary official sources. The result is that China should not be considered a socialist country. This thesis could enrich the academic debate by improving the understanding of socialist institutions and through the investigation of the three criteria in the Chinese context.