China
Skills Support Project – Why isn’t China a fascinating country? In this paper, we shall look at China from different aspects – Economic Growth, the One Child Policy, Culture, Food, and Political System. From all these aspects, we can understand China’s structure thoroughly and distinguish why China isn’t a fascinating country even though it is one of the leading countries in the world.
(1) Economic Growth Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 until late 1970s, China had lived in a Soviet-style centrally planned economy. Following the death of President Mao Zedong in 1976 and the ending of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping carried out a set of economic policies – the ‘Reform and Opening Up’ policy. It made the country moved towards a more market-oriented mixed economy under one-party rule, and turned the country into an economically developed nation. Under the policy, agricultural collectivization was replaced by farmlands privatized, while foreign trade became a major new focus. It also led to the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs). State-owned enterprises (SOEs) were restructured and the ones that were unprofitable were closed straight away, resulting in massive job losses. Now the modern China is mainly characterized as having a market economy based on private property ownership, and is one of the leading examples of state capitalism. It is noted the country still depends much on energy production and heavy industries, but private enterprise has expanded enormously throughout the years with around 30 million private businesses recorded in 2008.
(a) Reform and Opening Up
Under the reform introduced by Deng Xiaoping, collective farming was replaced by a "responsibility system" which freed farmers to choose what crops to grow and to sell any surplus for profit. Deng encouraged foreign trade and investment through joint ventures with other foreign traders. Deng believed that a freer agriculture, trade and industry
(1) Economic Growth Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 until late 1970s, China had lived in a Soviet-style centrally planned economy. Following the death of President Mao Zedong in 1976 and the ending of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping carried out a set of economic policies – the ‘Reform and Opening Up’ policy. It made the country moved towards a more market-oriented mixed economy under one-party rule, and turned the country into an economically developed nation. Under the policy, agricultural collectivization was replaced by farmlands privatized, while foreign trade became a major new focus. It also led to the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs). State-owned enterprises (SOEs) were restructured and the ones that were unprofitable were closed straight away, resulting in massive job losses. Now the modern China is mainly characterized as having a market economy based on private property ownership, and is one of the leading examples of state capitalism. It is noted the country still depends much on energy production and heavy industries, but private enterprise has expanded enormously throughout the years with around 30 million private businesses recorded in 2008.
(a) Reform and Opening Up
Under the reform introduced by Deng Xiaoping, collective farming was replaced by a "responsibility system" which freed farmers to choose what crops to grow and to sell any surplus for profit. Deng encouraged foreign trade and investment through joint ventures with other foreign traders. Deng believed that a freer agriculture, trade and industry