Introduction

Napoleon Bonaparte supposedly said, “Let China sleep; when she wakes she will shake the world.” We can’t be certain whether he truly said this and what he meant by it. Nevertheless, China is transforming the world economy these days. Since 1980, China’s economy has grown faster than any other nation. How did this happen so quickly? Let’s take a look at the country’s economic changes in the second half of the 1900s.

China experienced some growth during the time of the Communist leader Mao Zedong. He ruled from 1949 to 1976. China’s economy really grew in the decades after Mao’s death, though. Why? There are many different reasons. First, the state of China became decentralized. This meant power shifted away from a strong centralized government. Second, the economy became more privatized. Others point to various cultural reasons. Looking at the history of China’s economy since WWII might help us make sense of these changes.

China after World War II

In the mid-1900s, China entered a civil war. In the end, the Communist Party of China emerged as the victor. There began a new communist era under leader Mao Zedong. Communism is a form of society where the government owns properties and businesses. China’s leaders made plans to modernize China. They set out to create a series of changes. Mao wanted these changes to uphold communist values, not capitalist ones.

This transition began with changes to rural land, creating agricultural groups, and spending money on businesses in cities. Land and resources were given to people who had less, in order to create more equality. By the mid- 1900s, some of these efforts had improved the quality of life for the average Chinese person. Poverty went down and literacy went up. There were more educational opportunities. Overall, Mao was not satisfied with the speed or equality of the changes. Cities were growing rapidly, while rural areas fell behind.

In the late 1950s, Mao introduced a program called The Great Leap Forward. A major goal was industrializing the countryside. This called for small-scale industry in the countryside and more education.

The Great Leap Forward had some successes. Railroads, bridges, canals, and power stations were improved. But ultimately the plan was a failure. In the rush to industrialize, communist leaders promoted projects that sometimes had greater costs than benefits. Combined with bad weather, these problems resulted in a famine. In the early 1960s, about twenty million people died of hunger.

In the mid-1960s, Mao introduced another program. It was called the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Mao believed that the slow economy was partly because of capitalist values in the Communist Party. Capitalism is an unequal system where people compete for money and wealth. The solution, for Mao, was to change the very culture of the country. In the late 1960s, there was a military social movement made up of mostly young men called the Red Guard. This group was ordered to destroy anything that represented pre-communist China. These “Four Olds” were Old Customs, Old Culture, Old Habits, and Old Ideas. As a result, many things from China’s history were lost.

This hurt religious communities and ethnic minorities. Buddhist, Christian, and Muslim communities came under attack. They were seen as old or foreign. Places of worship and cemeteries were destroyed. Ethnic minorities were abused or killed. This included Mongolians, Uyghurs, Koreans, and Tibetans.

Changing directions

After Mao’s death in the late 1970s, China moved away from his communist views. Deng Xiaoping was China’s leader during the 1980s. China underwent large economic changes at this time. Deng Xiaoping described it as “socialism with Chinese characteristics”.

Like Mao, Deng Xiaoping wanted production to go up. He wanted to make the country more modern and industrial. He did not turn away from the West, though. Deng Xiaoping was more open to working with other countries. This meant that capitalist ideas also increasingly became part of the Chinese economy. Many Mao-era programs were undone.

Deng Xiaoping’s plan was to improve quality of life by the year 2000. His plan was a success. After the Maoist era, China was politically stable, and the economy took off. Poverty went down. The average Chinese person was healthier, with better nutrition, and a higher life expectancy. City centers were energized. Other countries were buying Chinese goods.

China and the global economy

Many of the goods we use today are labeled “Made in China.” This wasn’t always the case. Before the economic changes from the mid-1970s, China sent far fewer products around the world. By the early 2000s, the results of these changes were seen. China had become the world’s largest supplier of clothing, shoes, computer parts, and seafood. By 2010, China was the world’s second largest economy.

Because of this, China increasingly had better relations with Western countries. It also made important connections with other regions, including Africa. Chinese corporations play a huge role in Africa. They spend money on African infrastructure, energy, and banking. Some say these deals have helped both China and Africa. Others say it is a new form of imperialism. Imperialism is when one nation rules another. If a plan fails, the African nation is stuck paying the money back to China.

China has also entered global networks. Since the 1990s, the country has joined a number of world organizations. This includes the World Bank and the World Trade Organization. Over time, China has passed Japan as the leading global producer of goods.

All these changes might seem very good. But with progress comes new challenges. China experiences major problems like overcrowded cities, crime, and damage to the environment. As a result of privatization, inequality has also gone up. Most of the country’s wealth belongs to a small group of people. Making the state and the military smaller cost many people their jobs. Over a hundred million Chinese had to leave their homes in search of work.

How do we understand these changes? It’s clear that opening up the economy played a huge role, for better or worse. It’s fair to say that China took a different path toward industrialization. In the past few decades, East Asia’s share of world production has gone up. American and European shares have gone down. We can make guesses about what this means. The truth is that there are no quick and easy answers. Now China is more important than ever to the world economy. Going forward, it will probably continue to hold massive economic power.