China has emerged as an aspirant economy

It is common for articles in the business and management field that employ China as a sample to still place that research in the stream of transition and/or emerging economies. Such a rendering was accurate 40 years ago as China’s economic reforms began. However, China no longer meets the definitional characteristics of “emerging economies” that of low income, rapid economic growth with institutional instability, and a reliance on low cost production to drive this growth. China is one of a number of upper middle-income countries seeking to move to high-income status that we define as “aspirant economies.” In this article, we discuss why China should be considered as having emerged and now aspiring, rather than emerging. We highlight how scholars still rely on a traditional view of China as an emerging economy despite its economic reality, and where research that examines China as an aspirant economy should move in the future.