Book excerpt: For some twenty-five years after 1949, China did not exist and the country was only rediscovered in the 1970s. As China looks set to soar in the new millennium, there is an urgency to understand the world's most populous economy with a billion plus people. This book aims to shed light on the country's rapid industrialization and internationalization by looking at questions such as: Can China sustain its accelerated rate of growth? Can labor supply be sustained at a relatively low wage rate? Can inflow of foreign direct investment be sustained at a high rate, given the consequent exposure to inflation? Will China's domestic market absorb its own output as the limit on the ability to export manufactures to overseas markets is reached? Is China's currency undervalued? Given China's foreign exchange reserves, should the country have a freely convertible currency?