China is huge and diverse country with a long complex history undergoing enormous changes in a short span of time. Just a bit of context: The people’s revolution took place in 1949 with the declared aim of building socialism. The initial model was patterned after the Soviet Union’s centralized economy – total public ownership and wage leveling and collectivization of agriculture but it was largely a failure and a new path of development was charted beginning in 1978 that went against Marxist orthodoxy. The reforms ushered in the socialist market economy and “opening up” to the global economy. It turned out to be a turning point.
China saw no other way to overcome its overwhelmingly agricultural economy. The reforms allowed China to accumulate capital by introducing a mixed economy and becoming a low-wage manufacturing zone for the capitalist world. This video explores the challenges inherent in this complex undertaking.
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