AP World HistoryPOD #23 – Emerging Asia

Deng Xiaoping

Class Discussion Notes

Bulliet – “Postcolonial Crises and Asian Economic Expansion (China Rejoins the World

Economy)”, p, 881

China After Mao

Chairman Mao died in 1976 The new Chinese Communist leadership

initiated an agenda of economic reforms concentrating on relaxed state control and more individual initiative permitting individuals to accumulate wealth

Four Modernizations

Limited private ownership of business – allowed for individual profits and wealth

Break up of the collective farms and land redistribution – quotas were established but the peasants could keep any crop yield produced in excess of the quota (land was not privately owned by 93% was in the hands of private individuals)

Scientific and technological development – students were sent to the western world to gain scientific and technological education and training

Military modernization – China would establish a world class, modern nuclear military capable of dominating the region and gaining great power status

Foreign Capital & Investment

“China permitted foreign investment for the first time since the communists came to power in 1949. Between 1979 and 2003 foreign direct investment in China grew to $618 billion as McDonald’s, General Motors, Coca-Cola, Airbus and many other foreign companies began doing business. As a result, China became a major industrial exporter and the world’s sixth most important trading nation” (p. 881)

Communist Roots

State owned enterprises were still significant in China employing over 100 million workers

Most foreign-owned companies were limited to special economic zones

Dual Economy – one modern, efficient and connected to international markets (foreign-companies) the other directed by state politicians

Economic Impact of the Four Modernizations

2009 – China had emerged into the 3rd largest economy in the world

Poverty - per capita GDP reached $2,360 in 2009 – a rate lower than that of Mexico

China is a major industrial power is poised to become the #2 world economy (Japan fell from this rank as a result of the economic crisis of 2008)

Political Impact of the Four Modernizations

The economic success of the reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping allowed China to avoid a great deal of the social and political challenges faced by the communist regimes in the Soviet Union and the eastern satellite states who were forced to embrace capitalism and democracy in 1989

Tiananmen Square

“Responding to inflation and to worldwide mass movements in favor of democracy, Chinese students and intellectuals led a series of protests demanding more democracy and an end to corruption. This movement culminated in Tiananmen Square, in the heart of Beijing, where hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered and refused to leave. After weeks of standoff, tanks pushed into the square, killing hundreds and arresting thousands.” (Bulliet, p. 881)

OF COURSE THE CHINESE DICTATORSHIP OFFICIALLY STANDS BY THE STATEMENT THAT NOTHING HAPPENED ON THOSE JUNE 1989 DAYS