Chinese leaders have an unenviable problem--how to sustain its explosive economic rise. They have a dragon by the tail as they try to manage economic growth as it shows signs of sputtering, writes Tom Watkins.

The upcoming Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, slated for November 9-12, has become a hot topic in the media. It is expected that future reforms will mainly focus on four aspects, writes Ding Yifan.

The pessimistic outlook on China’s Third Plenum fails to capture the leadership’s momentum, sense of urgency, and collective understanding of the need to embark on big, bold and broad reforms to gain public support before it’s too late, write Cheng Li and Ryan McElveen.

The Third Plenum of the 18th Party Congress is likely to entail significant financial reform, the Party appears unready to contemplate a more liberal course or a fundamental change in the nature of its governance, writes Douglas Paal.

The launch of the Shanghai free trade zone portends much greater growth in the restructuring of China's financial system as a whole, writes Hu Shuli, editor-in-chief of Caixin Media.

The Shanghai Free Trade Zone is another strategic move in China’s latest round of boosting opening with further reform, writes Zhang Monan.

Zhang Monan writes that China’s new round of reform will bring dividends generated by activated domestic consumption, institutional reform and a new round of globalization.

Considering the lack of progress toward implementing financial reforms, many analysts question whether China’s leaders have the economy under control. As China’s leaders prepare for their annual summer meeting, Yao Yang urges the adoption of a bold plan for structural reform.

Scholars have compared the American Dream and Chinese Dream, even encouraging China to avoid following in the footsteps of the American Dream. However, with all the nuances to the American Dream, China can learn from it and apply it to realize its own Chinese Dream.

Are we one of the blind men when we try to explain China? We see only part of it but claim that to be the truth about China. The field of China studies needs revisions to meet challenges to understanding such a large and fast-changing country, especially in the following three aspects: reliance on trans-Atlantic thought to analyze China; failure to update with changes; and lack of integration.