It is against such a wider socio-economic background that the private/"minban" higher education providers have paid for much of the sector expansion, leading to revolutionary changes and imparting a growing "privateness" to China's higher education system. The adoption of pro-competition policy instruments along the lines of privatization, marketization and commodification in transforming the social service delivery, together with the adherence to the neo-liberal ideas of governance, have further intensified social inequality and deepened the crises of regional disparities. This article sets out to examine how China's higher education has been transformed and restructured, and will continue to be so when far more pro-competition and market-oriented reform measures are introduced. More specifically, this article will critically examine how these reforms have intensified the problems of educational inequalities and social justice in China. (Contains 4 tables and 6 notes.)