My thesis aims to address issues of corporate governance development in China at a time when its economy is undergoing major transitional and structural changes, and, it is arguable, at a time when China's economic transformation is having an impact on the global economy. Mainly through examining the historical determinants and evolution of corporate governance structure in the United Kingdom and China, it seeks to offer meaningful insights on how China can design an effective corporate governance system - which China intends to model on the Anglo- American market-oriented system - to work in China's unique environment. Particularly, the Chinese government wants the benefits of market economies and through structural arrangement in China the State will continue to playa leading role over its national economy. Furthermore, this thesis looks into the global trend of corporate governance convergence and explores the inspirations that China could draw from it, as well as China's potential contribution. Just as scholars and policy-makers now regularly look into China's successful economic reform for ideas and answers, its corporate governance transformation will be a very useful case study for the world. Such a study can provide valuable insights for global corporate governance convergence from two aspects. First, it offers clues on how to engineer a corporate governance system which can balance government regulation and market efficiency, social accountability and economic prosperity for a long term. Second, China wants to develop a market-oriented corporate governance system, modelled on the Anglo-American one to sustain its economy success. However, the government hopes to do this through a unique structure arrangement in its economy with the purpose to retain its control over the national economy. This provides a valuable reference for many developing countries who wants to develop its economy system by combining market economy with restrained government intervention. In short, the thesis focuses on searching for a balance of co-regulation between governmental intervention and market's self-regulation.