Since the Reform and Opening up, Chinas economy has maintained high growth rates, known as the Chinese growth miracle. Over this period, the stability of economic growth has also gradually improved. According to Lin Jianhao and Wang Jinmei (2013), Since 1996, the Chinese economy has been oscillating between relative volatility and relative stability achieving a kind of overall stability. By contrast, consumption rate, the most important measure of the national economic welfare and of the stabilizing effects of steady economic growth, has declined year by year between 1978 and 2016. What does this mean for the role of consumption in Chinas long-term economic growth? Is there an optimal consumption rate, under which the economy can achieve long-term steady growth? What is the optimal consumption rate for China? Is the optimal consumption rate conducive to sustainable economic growth? These are some of the important theoretical and practical questions to be answered in this book.

Zhao Xincheng is a Ph.D. in economics and Associate Research Fellow at Yunnan University Development Research Institute. Zhaos research focuses on macroeconomic operation and economic growth. Zhao has published 27 papers in academic journals and served as lead investigator on over eight prestigous research projects, including National Social Science Foundation Projects, Yunnan Science and Technology Development Planning Projects and Yunnan Philosophy and Social Science Foundation Projects. In 2013, Zhao was selected to enroll in Yunnan Universitys "young and middle-aged backbone teacher training plan". Zhao is also a two-time recipient of the Yunnan Research Excellence Awards in Philosophy and Social Sciences.