While I am not a specialist in Chinese Economic History, I do teach a
course in Asian Economic History that takes up China. It seems to me that
this has been an active research field with lots of worthwhile books and
active scholars.  Indeed I am a bit reticent to even address the question
because of concerns for slighting important books and scholars. How should
one respond to a query on this list for recommendations on books regarding
the History of Economics and specific researchers in this area?  With
these caveats, the following books come to mind as entrees into the field
and means of starting to identify researchers:

Mark Elvin, _Pattern of the Chinese Past_

Lloyd Eastman, _Family, Fields, and Ancestors_

Kenneth Pomeranz, _The Great Divergence_

 For post-1949 Chinese Economic History there is Barry Naughton, _The
Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth_ (MIT Press, 2007).

For reasons stated above, I will not try to provide a list of specific
researchers.
But let me note that the current chief  economist at the World Bank
(effective June 2, 2008) is Justin Yifu Lin; Lin has published a number of
influential articles dealing with episodes in post-1949 Chinese Economic
History.

David Mitch