How can a country that developed the most advanced socialist society in the history of the world change directions so quickly and so completely? In From Victory to Defeat Pao-yu Ching dissects this question, providing economic analysis of what it means to actually “build socialism” with all of the necessary contradictions and obstacles that must be overcome. Addressing seven commonly asked questions, Pao-yu Ching gives accesible explanations to the complicated issues China faced in its socialist transition and the material basis for its capitalist reversal.