Concise History of China

Essay: China

Towards two contrasting orientations: Maritimity and Continentality

During most of China's history, China's orientation has been continental. It was only in the nineteenth century that the concept Maritimity started to play a significant role in China's economy and policy. After all the political and the cultural heart of China had always been in the Interior North China. It was this region that gave birth to China's bureaucratic system, the official Chinese language (Mandarin), the closed culture and its egocentric personality. Therefore it is no coincidence that Beijing became the nation's capital.

But from the 19th century onwards, as a result of concessions granted to foreign powers (e.g. Japan, Great Britain, US, Russia and France), China's continental view started shifting to a maritime view. Consequently coastal port cities and Interior River ports (gateways to the inland) such as Shanghai, Hong Kong and Nanjing were developed into industrial centers. Unfortunately these foreign investments came along with the presence of foreign armed forces in China, it took until World War II before these foreign concessions and treaties were abolished.

During the Maoist Era (1949-76) China's orientation shifted again inwards. This dramatic shift was due to two reasons. First of all the Communists felt that the foreign (Western) presence had degraded China. Secondly the Soviet Union and some of its satellites (e.g. North Vietnam) had become major allies. As a result of these events huge farm communes were established in Northern China (China wanted to become self-reliant in food) and heavy industry was developed in former Manchuria with Soviet help and knowledge. Nevertheless the military presence of the USSR, which had remained in China since the end of WWII and the de-Stalinization policy of the USSR eventually led to the Sino-Soviet break in 1960.

After Mao's death, Mao's successors still suffering of Mao's "Great Leap Forward" and the Cultural Revolution, decided to reopen the country for foreign (Western) investment.

The decision to establish special economic zones reflected that China began moving to a more market-oriented economic system instead of the closed Communist system. Furthermore since 1993 more than 6000 state companies were reorganized as shareholding companies and from 1999 onwards the Chinese discovered the World Wide Web. Chinese search engines started booming and were later on acquired by foreign internet companies (e.g. Google, Yahoo). Moreover the growth rate of e-commerce became among the highest in the World. Again these events also marked a renewed focus on Maritimity.

The Continental North and the Maritime South: a sharp contrast

The Interior, which stretches out from the southeast to the southwest, mainly focuses on agriculture because of the presence of water and arable land. But further development of the region is not expected because of difficulties to connect effectively to the Chinese Ecumene. Above all it should be noted that more than 100 million farmers impoverished after the Chinese government decided to disband the agricultural collectives, most of them moved to more prosperous regions to become a source of cheap labor.

While the Interior focuses on farming, the North and the Northeast are nowadays characterized by outdated heavy industry and underperforming state-run enterprises. As a result of massive cut-backs in the old heavy industries, unemployment has risen spectacular. These industrial