Did Capitalism Save Communist China?
How did one of the world’s poorest countries– China– end up being, in thirty years, one of the world’s wealthiest? China scholar Helen Raleigh breaks it down.
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Script:.
How did one of the world’s poorest countries– China– become, in thirty years, one of the world’s richest? There’s a one-word answer. Commercialism.
Here’s how it occurred.
In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (aka the CCP), defeated the Nationalist celebration in a brutal civil war. The leader of the CCP, Mao Zedong, assured the Chinese people that he would produce a new China, a socialist paradise where the humane state would take care of every citizen’s requirements from shelter to education to employment. The state would own all property on behalf of the individuals.
To transform China into this heaven-on-earth, Mao introduced radical socialist reforms: markets were nationalized, personal businesses were removed, and land was seized. Rather than turning China into a heaven on earth, these policies turned China into a hell-on-earth. Healthcare was inexpensive however there was a persistent shortage of medical professionals, hospitals, and contemporary medication. Because the government offered each individual a job, no one was unemployed. However if you didn’t like the job you were designated, well, that was simply regrettable. Your government-assigned job was tied to your food provision. No work, no food.
Speaking of food, it wasn’t long after Mao took power that extensive food shortages started occurring. My own parents had to get up at 3 o’clock in the morning to stand in long lines outside of a supermarket to get a pound of sugar or several ounces of cooking oil. Typically, they got nothing.
Every year was worse than the last. Between 1958 and 1962, China experienced the worst starvation in human history. An estimated 45 million Chinese starved to death, victims of their own government’s murderous stupidity. Amongst the lives lost were my uncle, my grandaunt and her household of five, and my father’s maternal granny.
At the time of Mao’s death in 1976, more than 90% of the Chinese population lived below the poverty line, making less than $2 a day. The only equality socialism had actually accomplished was an equal distribution of misery.
Mao’s follower, Deng Xiaoping, acknowledged that this couldn’t go on much longer. The only way to conserve the CCP’s one-party guideline was to get the economy going.
Thankfully for him, a little group of farmers did. In 1978 these farmers, 18 of them in the village of Xiaogang, made a secret handle their village leader. After fulfilling the government quotas, they would be enabled to keep any surplus for themselves and sell what they didn’t need.
Such a relocation was dangerous due to the fact that it was a rejection of the CCP’s socialist policies. However the result was wonderful. The very first year after this deal went into result, the 18 farmers produced more grain than the entire town had actually produced in the previous 10 years combined!
When Deng heard of it, rather than punishing the farmers, he had the good sense to recognize that these simple peasants had shown him how to revive China’s economy. He opened up China to the outdoors world, welcoming foreign financial investments, and most importantly, loosening the government’s grip on the Chinese people.
The results were nothing less than impressive. The freer the Chinese economy became, the wealthier the Chinese people became. In the area of three decades, 800 million Chinese individuals emerged out of hardship. Chinese cities now match and go beyond the greatest cities of the West, high-rise building for high-rise building.
The CCP likes to pat itself on the back for China’s economic wonder. Nevertheless, the genuine credit ought to go to free-market capitalism and 18 brave farmers who risked their lives to give it a shot.
For the total script see https://www.prageru.com/video/did-capitalism-save-communist-china.
source
How did one of the world’s poorest nations– China– become, in thirty years, one of the world’s richest? How did one of the world’s poorest countries– China– become, in thirty years, one of the world’s wealthiest? The leader of the CCP, Mao Zedong, guaranteed the Chinese individuals that he would produce a brand-new China, a socialist paradise where the benevolent state would take care of every person’s requirements from shelter to education to employment. Rather than turning China into a heaven on earth, these policies turned China into a hell-on-earth. He opened up China to the outside world, inviting foreign financial investments, and most significantly, loosening up the federal government’s grip on the Chinese people.
