Since 1978 China has been undergoing a dual process of:– systemic transformation from a centrally-planned state-command economic model to a market-based open economic model, and– the acceleration of socio-economic development to become a high income economy.This article argues that to accelerate economic growth in the transformational period, China has been following the provisions of the Post-Socialist Developmental (PSDS) model. This model fuses two processes: post-socialist economic transformation (PST) and the establishment of the developmental state (DS). Historically, the DS model is believed to be the systemic, institutional and policy arrangement responsible for spectacular civilizational advancements of East Asian economies in the second half of the twentieth century.In effect China is attempting to imitate its developmentally successful neighbours, in particular, Japan and Korea, despite being significantly different in terms of its capacity and historical-institutional experiences. It does so by introducing economic nationalism as the paramount state ideology, by creating a central economic bureaucracy to guide reforms, by keeping planning as an important state instrument, and, foremost, by maintaining a strong and authoritarian state in charge of development and keeping the society relatively weak, nevertheless engaging it in the process of policy creation. At the same time the PSDS model’s implementation results in the state’s preference for a gradual path of systemic reformulation.Moreover, China’s economic policies resemble the economic policies of Japan and Korea. The industrial policy is focused on targeting certain sectors and industrial production is, to a large extent, aimed at export. The state utilises market distortive instruments in its policy of international economic expansion.Even the current efforts at economic liberalization by the administration of president Xi Jinping are not aimed at dislocating the PSDS principles. In fact, many recent institutional and organizational changes prove that the state’s leadership is willing to continue its PSDSdetermined path. Moreover, external and internal factors contribute to this conviction; hence China’s interventionist state will prevail in the foreseeable future.