china's road to modernization

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This article was downloaded by: [Monash University Library] On: 08 December 2014, At: 02:11 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK The Pacific Review Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rpre20 China's road to modernization John Phipps a a Research fellow at the Royal Institute of International Relations , London Published online: 03 Apr 2007. To cite this article: John Phipps (1991) China's road to modernization, The Pacific Review, 4:1, 70-71, DOI: 10.1080/09512749108718902 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09512749108718902 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

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Page 1: China's road to modernization

This article was downloaded by: [Monash University Library]On: 08 December 2014, At: 02:11Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: MortimerHouse, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

The Pacific ReviewPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rpre20

China's road to modernizationJohn Phipps aa Research fellow at the Royal Institute of International Relations , LondonPublished online: 03 Apr 2007.

To cite this article: John Phipps (1991) China's road to modernization, The Pacific Review, 4:1, 70-71, DOI:10.1080/09512749108718902

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09512749108718902

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”)contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensorsmake no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitabilityfor any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinionsand views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy ofthe Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources ofinformation. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands,costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly orindirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial orsystematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution inany form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: China's road to modernization

China's Road to Modernization

John Phipps

One Step Ahead in China: Guangdong under Reform, by Ezra E.Vogel. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, and London,1989. x+510 pp. £23.95. ISBN 0-674-63910-3. The Long Marchto the Fourth of June, by Li Xiao Jun, translated by E. J. Griffiths.Duckworth, London, 1989. xx+185 pp. £14.95. ISBN 0-7156-2332-X. China's Foreign Trade Reforms: Impact on Growth andStability, by John C. Hsu. Cambridge University Press, Cam-bridge, 1990. xii+221 pp. £30.00 ($49.50). ISBN 0-521-37197-X. The Political Economy of China's Special Economic Zones, byGeorge T. Crane. An East Gate Book. M. E. Sharpe, Armonk,NY, and London, 1990. x+205 pp. $39.95. ISBN 0-87332-514-1.Chinese Intellectual Life Post-Mao: Education, Ideology, Litera-ture and the Arts, edited by Birthe Arendrup. Copenhagen papersin East and Southeast Asian Studies, 1:88. Museum TusculanumPress, University of Copenhagen, 1988. 106 pp. ISBN 87-7289-063-0. China: The Land and the People (revised edition), by D. C.Money. Evans Brothers Ltd, London, 1990. xii+179 pp., colourillus., maps. £14.50 hardback, £7.95 paperback. ISBN 0-237-51164-9 and 0-237-51118-5.

In the forty-odd years since Mao Zedong proclaimed thefounding of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese peoplehave been forced on many occasions to adapt to the twists andturns of elite struggles within the communist party leadership.Much of this struggle has revolved around attempts to find aChinese road to modernization. Under the watchful eye of DengXiaoping, China embarked in 1978 on an 'open door' policydesigned to allow this most populous of nations to reap thebenefit of western technology in order to realize the fourmodernizations. A decade of reform culminated in tanks inTiananmen Square and the massacre of Beijing citizens by thepeople's own army. It was a tragedy, and highlights the complexrelationship between economic modernization and politicalreform in a society where new ideas must compete with thelegacy of the old against a political culture which is the antithesisof pluralism. Most people in the West were shocked by theevents of June 1989, but this says much more about ourperceptions of China than it does about the way the Chinesegovernment relates to its own people.

Many analysts interpret the violent suppression of thedemocracy movement as a watershed for communist party rulein China. Using a pseudonym and writing from inside China, LiXiao Jun might have provided the inside information needed tounravel struggles within the party elite. However, he is contentto push the old two-line struggle argument between reformersand conservatives. This approach fails to assess the differencesthat exist between factions in the party leadership. In spite of thecrackdown, all of the politburo remain in favour of reform in theeconomic sphere. Their differences centre over the pace andscale of reform and what role the party should play in it. Liargues that the balance between reformers and conservativeswas disrupted in June 1989. But, in reality, it was the balance offorces within the leadership maintained by Deng since 1978which was thrown into turmoil. The economic problems thatbrought the introduction of the austerity programme in 1988

had already weakened the position of those who favoured morerapid and wider reaching economic reform.

The contradiction remains in China between decentralizingeconomic power in order to stimulate the economy and, at thesame time, maintaining political control at the centre, but thereis general agreement that there can be no going back to thediscredited policies of the Maoist era. A decade of reform hasresulted in the emergence of a new pattern of foreign economicrelations which makes the closure of the 'open door' an unlikelyprospect. The 1980s saw China become increasingly integratedinto both the regional and international economic community.The books by Vogel, Crane and Hsu deal with aspects of thiseconomic integration. By far the most impressive work is EzraVogel's analysis of the effects of a decade of economic reform inGuangdong. The period from 1978-88 saw Hong Kong drawthe Guangdong region into the international system as theprovince emerged as crucial to a foreign trade nexus developedto take full advantage of the Asia/Pacific boom. During this timeChina has doubled its share of world trade, and increased thepercentage of manufactured goods in its exports from less thanhalf to over two-thirds. This has enabled China to rise from 32ndto 14th place in world export markets, and Vogel illustrates thewillingness in Guangdong to create the conditions for foreigndirect investment which has made this change in foreign tradepatterns possible. By 1988, Hong Kong capital was employingmore than 1.5m workers, a figure far in excess of the territory'sown industrial sector (p. 383). Economic growth in Guangdongcompares favourably with that registered by any of the EastAsian NICs, putting it well ahead as China's number oneexporter and absorber of foreign investment.

Crane concerns himself solely with the performance of theSEZs, several of which are in Guangdong. While acknowledgingthat they have helped reintegrate China into the world economy,he is quick to point out their drawbacks. The source of theproblems they face is deeply embedded in the nature of theChinese state and its society. Of course, traditional Chinesepolitical culture draws no distinction between the two. So, whenCrane requests a greater measure of impersonalism andprofessionalism in the bureaucracy, he is pleading for moremodernity in Chinese society. Hsu does not concern himself withsuch matters, but sees price reform as crucial to the continuedsuccess of the Chinese reform process. However, in establishinga new pattern of economic relations and decentralizing decision-making, regions such as Guangdong have been able to assert adegree of independence from the central authorities in Beijing.Guangdong and other coastal regions may thus be becomingpowerful enough to pursue their own pattern of development.The effect this will have on the central authorities in Beijing isunclear, but the fragmentation of China has its historicalprecedents. Mao Zedong ended a period of disunity andwarlordism by establishing the People's Republic, but unity inChina has generally been a shortlived affair. We should be waryof overemphasizing the current degree of order simply becauseChina is a communist party state.

The Chinese fear of confusion and chaos (luan), was a factor

John Phipps is a research fellow at the Royal Institute of International Relations, London.

© Oxford University Press, 1991, The Pacific Review Vol. 4. No. 1 0951-2748/91 $3.00

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uppermost in the minds of the party leadership in June of 1989.The failure of the communist party to institutionalize politicalconflict in China may throw the country into confusion again inthe 1990s. Lauridsen, in a 1988 contribution in the Copenhagenpapers, puts the view that Confucianism has a future role to playin China. An integral part of a third-phase of Confucianismwould be the concept of an ideal society towards which all goodmen must strive. The Confucian notion of replacing 'bad men'with 'good men' was embodied in the highly moral tone of the

demonstrations last year. Certainly, by Confucian or any otherstandard of conduct for that matter, the communist partyleadership in China has lost moral authority. This existing moralvacuum in Chinese society may result in a population whichholds no principles. Ideological campaigns will therefore proveineffective, for the concerns of rural China are all aboutmaintaining personal economic prosperity. Perhaps ultimately,it is on this issue that the fortunes of the communist party andChina's future will rest.

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