China's Rise and Subsequent Shifts in Global Power and Wealth (Episode 2)

By Eliana Svilik

06/15/21

Prior to the establishment of the current ruling party in China - the Chinese Communist Party, China was primarily an agricultural society that had not undergone industrialization, at least not to the extent Europe had throughout and following the Industrial Revolution.

Civil unrest and general social unhappiness in the early 20th century led to the removal of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. The Qing Dynasty had previously ruled for nearly three centuries. The people soon declared China to officially be the Republic of China in 1912 which created a power vacuum. What followed was roughly three decades of on-and-off civil war within China between the Nationalist Party and the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP eventually won in the late 1940s, when the Nationalist Party retreated to the island of Taiwan and declared their own state, the Republic of China. In 1949, the People’s Republic of China was established with Mao Zedong as Chairman. Mao had risen through the ranks of the CCP’s Red Army during the civil war.

Over the next decades and into the modern day, there would be contention over whether Taiwan is part of China or an entirely separate entity. Taiwan maintains that it is a sovereign state, and it does have its own government, but few countries ( including the United States) officially recognize its sovereignty. Beijing claims Taiwan as part of the PRC.

Mao was one of the most influential political figures of the 20th century. His policies and plans transformed China and Chinese society. After taking office, Mao focused on industrializing and transitioning China to communism. In 1953, his First Five Year Plan launched. It doubled industrial output and created an annual growth rate of 16%. It also led to major improvements in urban infrastructure, though a concentration of government spending in cities came at a cost to rural areas, where 84% of the population lived. In addition, due to the focus on “heavy industries” such as coal, steel, and petrochemicals, food production dropped while the population increased, leading to problems in the following years. The First Five Year Plan also began the shift from private to state-owned property.

After the First Five Year Plan concluded, Mao introduced an even more ambitious plan named the “Great Leap Forward.” This plan would bring devastation to China, largely because of ignorance to the strain felt by rural communities. It also symbolized a separation from the Soviet Union, which had previously worked with CCP, providing advice and economic support. Beginning in 1958, the Great Leap Forward demanded more industrialization and came with unreasonable goals, such as to surpass British industrial output by 1972. As a reminder, Britain had begun industrialization in the 1700s. Increasing industrial output became the most important objective, and this led to an enormous decrease in food production. The quality of life decreased as Mao’s ambitious vision became the most important concern across China. By the end of the 1950s, China was overwhelmed by a widespread famine that killed tens of millions of people from 1959-1961. Following the brutal Great Famine, the Great Leap Forward - particularly its goals - was largely abandoned.

The 1960’s came with their own difficulties, however, in the form of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution, which officially began in 1966, was Mao’s last ditch attempt after many powerful officials in the CCP turned on him following the Great Leap Forward. He mobilized Chinese youth to revolutionize and purge China of old traditions and principles. The Red Guards, the CCP’s youth organization, gained power. Mao used them to wage a revolution on Chinese society. Professionals were labelled “reactionaries” and jailed or executed. Mao closed schools across China and asked the Red Guard to investigate its own CCP officials for any trace of anti-revolutionary or traditional sentiment. The Red Guard quickly became violent, destructive, and out of control, causing Mao to expel much of the nation’s youth to military-style intensive labor farms in the countryside. They became known as the “lost generation.”

Mao maintained his power until his death in September of 1976. Many of his ideals and policies continued in a faded form until his demise.

In the years following Mao’s death, China focused on recovery. CCP leadership elected to focus on the “Four Modernizations:” industry, science and technology, defense, and agriculture. Sentiment in the upper echelons of the CCP was decidedly anti-Mao. Due to the belief that money from the West could aid in domestic recovery, China became much more open to international trade and the country slowly became a larger player in the global economy. Chinese leadership enacted policies such as the creation of special economic zones along the coast, with the intention of making China attractive to foreign investment. Predictably, foreign investment skyrocketed, leading to the expansion of the cities themselves and enormous economic growth, which continued well into the next decades. Internally, China began to eradicate collective farming around the same time that prices for farmed products increased, resulting in a boom in the farming sector that benefitted many of China’s people that lived in the countryside. As it recovered, China focused on specialization and privatization, though that road has been somewhat bumpy. Perhaps most notably, civic unrest in 1989 led to protests such as those in Tiananmen Square, where clashes with the military called in to enforce order were especially deadly. However, these general trends continue to the present day, with China’s government pursuing a distinctive mix of communism and capitalism - the economy is composed of private companies influenced by the government, state-owned enterprises, and foreign corporations.

In 2013, China’s current president and former vice president, Xi Jinping, took office. President Xi has kept a tight grip on China, often infringing on civil rights. He has also taken steps to decrease the freedom Hong Kong enjoys from the control President Xi has over the rest of mainland China. Hong Kong is an important hub of global economic activity and has adopted the “One State, Two Systems'' form of government since 1997, when Britain ceded control to China. Hong Kong has its own system of government, though Beijing has enormous power and influence on Hong Kong politics. The region never became a true democracy, leading to multiple protests over the past decade, which have only worsened the situation and led to the creation of the restrictive National Security Law.

Overall, Beijing enforces strict laws to prevent people from opposing the government in mainland China. These laws extend to cyberspace as well, and China has (what is nicknamed) the Great Firewall, which is used to monitor and regulate all digital media, content, and websites that people in China can access. Despite his less than optimal human rights record (which was recently further marred by revelations of China’s brutal treatment of its Uighyr Muslim population), China has only continued to expand its economic and political might under President Xi. According to the International Monetary Fund’s 2020 World Outlook report, China has overtaken the U.S. and now has the world’s largest economy based on Purchasing Power Parity. The U.S. still leads in gross domestic product, though China is quickly catching up. New projections show it will overtake the U.S. sooner than expected due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on both countries. By 2028, China should be the world leader with regards to GDP.