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December 26, 2018 9:02 AM   Subscribe

Forty years ago, China introduced major economic reforms - lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and leading to it becoming the second-largest economy in the world. Here's the story of how China changed - in pictures
posted by infini (11 comments total) 22 users marked this as a favorite
 
I'm unable to find it now, but last year I listed to a podcast about the economic and cultural sleight of hand involved in claims related to the ending of "extreme poverty" as defined by the UN. One of the examples given was China's brutal forcing of ethnic minorities who had lived outside of the cash economy, some of them nomadic, out of rural areas and into wage work, often destroying their traditional cultures and radically reducing their quality of life in the process.
posted by ryanshepard at 9:29 AM on December 26, 2018 [8 favorites]


I'd be curious to know the source. Its been terribly easy to dig up stories on China the monster, and much more difficult finding stuff on what it has actually achieved.
posted by infini at 10:13 AM on December 26, 2018


I visited Hong Kong and Shenzhen last December and it is stunning the infrastructure investment underway in both places, but especially in and around Shenzhen, even now, at the end of 40 years of massive infrastructure investment. Roads bridges tunnels business parks subways high speed rail apartment blocks tourist zones.

And yet, even after decades of concrete and prosperity, poverty seemed to crowd up against it all around.
posted by notyou at 10:21 AM on December 26, 2018


Its been terribly easy to dig up stories on China the monster, and much more difficult finding stuff on what it has actually achieved.

First that's a false dichotomy (reporting = either monster or success), second, such a thesis entails political assumptions that are questionable; it's one thing to discuss/present a topic due to an interesting cool article, it's another to use a FPP to frame one's opinion on an issue by deliberately choosing a set of articles that fit a desired narrative.
posted by polymodus at 12:23 PM on December 26, 2018 [3 favorites]


The thing is, a critical - perhaps the most critical - detail in China's huge rise was the post-Deng leadership being flexible, agile, and imaginative in dealing with emerging situations, both in good (special economic zones) and bad (Tiananmen Square) ways; they've played a strategy that aimed for economic freedom without political freedom, and the conventional wisdom was against it succeeding. Success would be both historically unprecedented in the modern era, and borderline miraculous. But succeed they have, thus far.

Now, however, we have President Pooh-bear digging his heels in and making himself, effectively, dictator-for-life (if he can hang onto it). I think it bodes very poorly, because they'd basically need a second miracle to have a hidebound dictator and a cadre of old pals and sycophants remain entrenched in power for decades and still retain the flexibility of vision to keep up with technological, social, and economic change.
posted by tclark at 4:15 PM on December 26, 2018 [6 favorites]


Major economic reform? More like President Ronald Reagan changing tax laws, allowing, even encouraging, companies to move manufacturing out of the country. China was an enormous benefactor of Reagan's laws. I remember thinking at the time that he was screwing over American factory workers to benefit wealthy corporations so they could become even more wealthy.

But part of me was thinking that this would also cause a large transfer of wealth from a richer to a poorer country, and it indeed did help out China just when it needed it the most, and it helped develop a large middle class there (even as the middle class in the US has been decreasing).
posted by eye of newt at 11:14 PM on December 26, 2018


Eye of newt: the US accounts for less than 20% of Chinese exports so it seems unlikely to be this factor alone.
posted by biffa at 1:16 AM on December 27, 2018


Next, I plan to make an FPP on Iran's achievements.
posted by infini at 1:45 AM on December 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


The Financial Times link takes me to a subscribe page even if I use an incognito tab, seems to be paywalled.
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 2:27 AM on December 27, 2018


Bypass Paywalls (Firefox, Chrome)
posted by Bangaioh at 4:40 AM on December 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Eye of newt: the US accounts for less than 20% of Chinese exports so it seems unlikely to be this factor alone.--biffa

The Reagan 'globalization of production' idea spread to Europe too, though the Reagan approach looks like it was specifically targeted to reduce US wages.

I'm not saying that Chinese reforms were not also a major part of its economic expansion (and don't forget the one-child policy, which, for better or worse, did help reduce the high-population demand on the economy).
posted by eye of newt at 12:23 PM on December 27, 2018


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