Entrepreneurs in Contemporary China explores emerging business practices and related phenomena in contemporary China. It examines new forms of business practices and argues that an emerging strata of private entrepreneurs has entered the economy in recent decades, an under-researched sector of Chinese society. It draws on extensive interviews with business founders and CEOs in present-day China and shows why business-related themes are important to understanding society itself, the forces that underpin social relationships more broadly, and the basis and nature of social change. In capturing the experiences of individuals and their companies amid social and economic challenges, and by uncovering innovative strategies employed by business owners, this book makes a significant contribution to the sociological as well as the business studies literature both through its empirical richness and theoretical innovation regarding considerations of trust, social networks, crisis, gender, and social exchange.

‘Xiaoying Qi's Entrepreneurs in Contemporary China is a masterpiece of original research about how personalized connections, among other mechanisms, matter for the rising wealthy class during China's socioeconomic transformation and political stability. This is a must-read book for students and scholars in social and management sciences.’

Yanjie Bian - Professor of Sociology, University of Minnesota

‘Qi’s excellent book provides a much-needed update of the experiences, strategies, and relationship practices (guanxi) of small-scale entrepreneurs in China given technological changes, shifts in familism, the reworking of gender norms, and old and new sources of crises of capitalism. The lucid writing and rich stories will appeal to both researchers and undergraduates.’

Rachel Murphy - Professor of Chinese Development and Society, University of Oxford