It was only in 2002 that the Chinese Communist party got around to deciding that it would no longer discriminate against private entrepreneurs and would instead embrace them, given their contribution to the country’s economic development.

Twelve years later, Jack Ma, the founder of ecommerce giant Alibaba , has engineered the biggest stock offer ever, raising $25bn in the process. The listing led the China Daily to quote Chinese business school professors proclaiming “the end of US dominance in the world technology sector”.

That may or may not be the case, but the rise of the private sector, as chronicled in scholar Nick Lardy’s latest book, From Mao to the Markets, is one of the most encouraging signs in China today – especially internet companies.