China has evolved a booming economy and a high level of citizen trust toward the government since its decades long transition dating from 1978. It is likely that very soon China's economy will become the world's largest. Unlike the transitions of many other formal socialist governments, China rejected at the outset the adoption of a prototypical western market economy and competitive political system. On the contrary, China's transitional process highlights the role played by the party-state in economic and political coordination. China's economic transition has been made more complex because of its very large size which results in uneven development across the country and perhaps also makes it difficult to compare it to other smaller countries starting from similar per capita GDPs. Nevertheless, liberalization and opening up since the late 1970s has made it possible for central and local leaders to learn from their western and regional counterparts while more freely adopting governing philosophies and strategies that have precedent in China's long history of civilization. When looking back at the many glorious but violently shattered dynasties in China's past, a question arises as to whether China is merely at an early stage of another major cycle or whether it is now on a path to prosperity built on a different and sustainable institutional strength? The quality of government in China will be a key ingredient as to how this question is answered. Post- 1978 China offers an intriguing context for examining the many existing discussions on the quality of government. From one perspective, post-1978 development may be the result of a modernizing Chinese state which is getting to be more rational, rule-driven and law-abiding, and more predictable, objective and accountable. For example, there is the establishment of a modern civil service with its focus on scientific management. From another perspective, however, crony capitalism characterizes China's transitional process yet captured in a positive way the state and its bureaucracy in pursuing Pareto-efficient results while avoiding a predatory state. Thus, there could be a logic that connects the state in pre-modern China to that of China's planned economy era which highlights an expansive, interventional and effective state that leads, responds, adapts and prospers. As in other countries, the quality of government in China is influenced both by past traditions and growing rationalization and openness resulting from the 1978 reforms.