This book forms part of a project conducted at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR) in Beijing over the period from October 2016 to October 2020 on the China model, and it was funded by the China National Natural Science Foundation (NNSF: grant number 41530751). The principal researcher was Weidong Liu, and the project involved fieldwork, surveys, workshops and conferences in China and abroad.

As with any volume of this kind, there was a division of labour, in which Weidong Liu wrote the first two chapters, identifying the core economic, political and cultural characteristics of the China model, and the conclusion, with Michael Dunford. Informed by this perspective, Weidong Liu and Zhigao Liu conducted the research and wrote the chapter on China's special economic spaces, while, in collaboration with Weidong Liu, Zhenshan Yang was responsible for Chapter 3, on spatial governance instruments. Michael Dunford wrote the chapters on regional development and Chinese poverty alleviation.

The authors are grateful to many people for their support with this project. Weidong Liu wishes to extend special thanks to Qiuhui Yao, Wei Xiong, Jingluan Yang, Qidi Ji and Xinyu Yang for their assistance in data collection. Michael Dunford extends his gratitude not just to NNSF but also to the IGSNRR for three one-year visiting fellowships (grant number 2017VP01) during the research on this project. He also thanks Boyang Gao, who provided the results of a poverty survey that informs Chapter 6.

Finally, the authors wish to thank Alison Howson at Agenda for her support and advice throughout the preparation of this volume.