China the Next Superpower

Chris Williams

Report # 3

Eng 2020

Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.

- Chinese proverb

Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without one.

-Chinese proverb

Quick History

China may be growing slowly and it may have flaws, but it is still the precious diamond known as the middle kingdom. China with its current trajectory could be the next superpower, if it didn't have the flaws.

In 1945 just after the War of Resistance against Japan, China was boiling with civil war. The country was dividing into different factions. The dominate group known as the CCP crushed the opposition and forced the Republic of China to remove to Taiwan. Then man who said "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun," Mao Zedong proclaimed at Tiananmen Square in Beijing the founding of the People's Republic of China. This was very important because it was the first reuniting after that fall of the last Chinese dynasty. It ushered in an era of reform and modernization.

The first steps toward modernization taken were in social and economic reform. This led to equality of women and language reform of the Chinese dialect. The effort was to have all of china literate. In the area of foreign affairs, the signing of the Treaty of Friendship and Alliance with the Soviet Union was a significant time of diplomatic relations for years. The Soviet Union assisted in China's industrialization program, education and foreign relations. China in its effort to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea clearly showed were it had drawn its political lines.

From 1953-1957 was a transition period, moving from Democratic society to a more Socialist society. This also was the time of planned industrialization, started by meeting of the First National People's Congress. During this time they wanted to have good feelings among all nations. There was a brief period of freedom of expression known as the Hundred Flowers Bloom Period. Mao Zedong published his ideas of the non-antagonistic contradictions in society. He wanted to shift the balance of power back to now communistic country. He was quoted saying, "east wing prevails over west wind."

During the time period of 1958-1966 China had economic troubles. Then added to that, civil problems, including a revolt in Tibet and relations with the Soviets was dieing. By 1966 the Soviet relations was almost all the way gone. Russia had started to trade with western states and third world countries. In May of that same year Mao Zedong was very unhappy with the way thing were going. The complete loss of revolutionary spirit and power struggles left China frustrated. To change this scene Mao launched the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution which went of for about ten years.

This all lead to a Revolution between the two dominate parties. The People's Liberation Army and Revolutionary Committees became important. At the end of the revolution the People's Republic of China had many political successes and the fall of the other parties leaders lead to PRC's dominance. China especially with its entrance to the United Nations and improving relations with the U.S. saw much improvement. This was done with President Nixon's trip to China.

During the year of 1976 ended the lives of the founders including Zhou Enlai on January 8th and Chairman Mao Zedong on September 9th. Hua Guofeng was named by Mao to be his successor. Soon after Deng Xiaoping's return to the government Hua Guofeng stepped down. Deng focused the attention on economic construction. This brought in a time of domestic reform, economic reform and high-yield technological development.

During the 1980's witnessed a period of steady development. General Secretary Hu Yaobang helped in bring up again the mishandled cases during the revolution. This helped lessen people's anger and resentment. Then he launched a campaign against "bourgeois liberalization." With the death of Hu Yaobang in 1989 lead to a many student demonstrations for democracy and against bureaucratic corruption, which lead to mass student protests. This ending with death and then echoed with the national economy at its lowest level ever. The PRC under new leadership of Jiang Zemim picked up the energy needed to polish the flaws out of China. Bringing the total annual production value to

RMB $82054 hundreds million, with everyone's living standard raised, national power raised and international status raised.

Economy

Just over 20 years ago one dollar was enough to allow 80% of the Chinese population to survive. The families that lived in the more rual areas had to save for a year just to buy rubber boots, also the use of ration coupons was not a rare thing either. Putting this into perspective china has grow to the point were they do not need ration coupons and consumer items they dreamed about are now necessities. In 2002 over 50% of rural families owned a color television, while the cell phone epidemic had infected China leading to 230 million accounts making China, Motorola's number one market. Cars and the Internet are used by millions. But the question that always arises is how long can china keep up such growth for?

According to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences at a symposium on China's economic situation in Beijing October 09, 2004 China's economy is expected to grow 9.4 per cent this year and then drop some to 8.9 per cent. Some say that the economy is growing way to fast. The leaders are aware of the dangerous increase and rumors have come that China's central bank may raise interest rates for the first time in nine years. (Economist.com, 2004, Pg 1)

Between 1988 and 1995 China went through the most rapid increase in income inequality of any country tracked by the World Bank. This results in putting a big gap between the high class and low class. Per capita urban incomes were 2.2 times higher than those of rural households in 1990. By 1999 the ratio had risen to 2.6, and just one year later to 2.8. Adding in taxes, education and health cost the actual difference in income is almost 4 times different. One reason the difference is so large is that those in the cities have education oppurtunites in high tech fields giving them the edge. Those in the rural farm lands