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The Chinese economy has been one of the fastest growing ones in the world throughout the last twenty-five years. This is largely due to the allowance of limited and specified privatization of businesses in the Chinese market sector. When Mao Zedong and the Communist Party took control of China in 1949 private businesses were outlawed and large landowners were forced to surrender their land to the government. Chairman Mao Zedong implemented CPC ideological programs such as the Great Leap Forward which were designed to dismantle the bourgeoisie to instead cause equality among the classes, specifically in regards to economic and social roles. Chairman Mao’s initiatives did cause a kind of equality to emerge in China, but it was not one in which all the inhabitants of China benefited. Contrarily, many of them suffered extreme poverty and greatness was lost in the realms of academia, science, and technology which hindered China’s ability to become a modern nation capable of interacting on the global scale.
Chinese policy changed after Deng Xiaoping took control in 1977 after Mao’s death. Deng Xiaoping succeeded him although he possessed different views than those of Mao’s – especially in regards to economic matters. Deng Xiaoping believed that it was necessary for China to embrace a more free market system so that it could recover economically from some of Mao’s policies under the Great Leap Forward. The Great Leap Forward was meant to promote industry by mandating that most people leave other professions (such as farming) to become industrialists on an equal and communal level. Mao thought it was very important to show the world that China could produce the most steel in the world, but the final product was not one of quality and therefore was essentially useless. Because of his insistence that people devote their efforts to the communal industry that ultimately failed, China faced great economic hardships in addition to possessing a large food disparity due to the focus on industry which caused many farms to be neglected and perish and climate conditions that when combined with the neglect caused a great famine in China in 1961. Deng, contrarily, allowed people to once again own land and businesses which resulted in many of the government’s collective farm and industry programs to be stopped.
Deng Xiaoping also allowed for loans to be given to some state supported businesses. He also encouraged citizens to invest in these companies and to work hard by allowing a system of incentives to be developed for hard work. As a result of embracing slightly capitalistic principles, China was able to begin the reconstruction of its economy. Despite many governmental controls that were still in place on industry and trade, China’s economy began to flourish and Deng began promoting modern industrialization as well. China has continued to stay true to being a socialist state because it still regulates lending, especially to private companies which still often find it difficult to obtain credit or a loan for their ventures. In 2003 President Jiang Zemin did for the first time since the Communist Party took control of China entertain the idea of allowing private entrepreneurs to exist in China.
Despite the many regulations that still exist today in China – primarily for the purpose of maintaining the large number of jobs that state owned companies provide – China has proven to be one of the global leaders for economic growth as it accounted for 1/3 of the total global growth. The Chinese government reported that that its official GDP growth rate was 9.7% in 2003 although other global economists believe it to be potentially as high as 13%. The Chinese government, although pleased to be a global competitor and manufacturer, does not want to completely succumb to capitalistic elements and also does not want to risk the problems that rapid inflation could induce. The Chinese government is currently is continuing to implement the plans discussed in the 15th National Congress of the CPC which is devoted to the strengthening and monitoring of the socialist market economy system.
This is an archive of past discussions about Economy of China. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |