China's policymakers are hoping for a rocker 2020 amid an uncertain economic environment

After four decades of market-oriented development, China has moved away from its Mao-era command economy. Yet central policy, a legacy of Stalinist economics, continues to play a critical role in the state-capitalist structure dominated by the Communist Party.

China has quarterly, five-and10-year policy schemes that are used to assess state success in addition to forward-looking economic plans. China's policymakers are hoping for....