According to the author of the 1993 tome "The Rise of China" William Overholt, China would reform faster than Russia and Eastern Europe. In today's interview on Reform and Japan vs China from Knowledge@Wharton he states that "...Japan provides an example of how not to bring about reform. China provides an example of how you can reform vigorously and still keep your economy growing..."

Other quotables..

"...China has also led in opening up its economy; trade is 44% of GDP while it is only 15% of Japan’s GDP. China has been less nationalistic and more open to foreign direct investment. In the 1990s Japan received $39 billion in foreign investment; China received $309 billion..."

"...in China, yes, the state enterprises are extremely inefficient, the banks are still in worse shape than Japan’s, and the people are still quite poor. But when you combine the entrepreneurial non-state economy with attempts to reform state enterprises, you get rapid growth and progress towards a market economy...."

"...Japan’s economy is at war with itself. The country has a trillion dollars of capital tied up in dead companies and another trillion tied up in moribund companies. The government tells the banks not to allow these enterprises to go bankrupt, which means that capital is not available to modern successful entrepreneurial companies. So the whole capital allocation system, the banking system, is essentially dead..."

In answer to a question on China's strongest economies he mentions consumer products - "...Basically it’s the labor intensive industries where China has the competitive advantage and the highest degree of foreign investment and foreign management. Nobody can compete with them in clothing, bicycles, toys, even appliances. China could pretty much clothe the whole human race, at good prices. Haier now produces half of the number of appliances that GE produces..."

He also mentions corporate governance as one of China's key problems, and behind Japan... "...The ‘personalism’ of both China’s corporate governance and its government governance is one of China’s greatest weaknesses. Your taxes depend on whether the tax bureau chief likes you. Judges interpret the law very personally and often can’t enforce their judgments. The government holds a majority share in most listed companies and therefore a lot more attention is paid to political whims than to shareholder interests..."

It's a useful article for those seeking to understand the differences between the world's star emerging economy, and one of the world's most developed economies. It is not inconceivable that the first decades in this millenium will center around a tussle between Japan and China as Asia's or maybe even the world's most influential economy...