China and the Global Economy

1. China and the Global Economy A Brief Analysis

2. A Historical Overview: Beginnings of the Republic of China • Republic of China organized under Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (1912); eventually leads to decentralized national government with superordinate stately power. • Chang Kai-shek, in the late 1920’s, employed the political theory of ‘political tutelage’ to reunify China’s political sphere and furthermore push the nation towards modernization by virtue implementing a single party system and promoting democratic ideals. Chang Kai-shek (1887-1975)

3. Chinese Civil War (1927-1936) • Internal conflict between Nationalist (KMT) and Communist political factions result in disintegration of political unity. The war’s victor, the Communist Party of China (CCP), led by Mao Zendong, developed the People’s Republic of China in 1949—a socialist state ruled under ‘democratic dictatorship’ andsuccessor to the ROC. Mao Zendong (1893-1976)

4. The Great Leap Forward (1950’s and 1960’s) • Amped up Steel Production: Low-income, uneducated peasants lacked the proper instruction to produce high quality steel; in effect, such steel industries collapsed. • Decline in production of goods (including cash crops) • Overall, Mao advocated mass socialization of the industrial sector through socioeconomic reforms. • Effect: Agricultural sector steadily declines; production of grain in rural areas halts.

5. The Reforms of Deng Xiaoping • Fun Fact: Xiaoping was the first Chinese leader to visit the United States in 1979. • Deng formulated cooperative political treaties with Britain and Portugal to strengthen international relations. • Advocates a socialist market economy by means of market planning. • Deng’s reformed regime downplays fundamental elements of Maoism; specifically, Deng sought to liberalize China’s markets and delve into an integrated global economy. Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997)

6. FareedZakaria and the Homogenization of the Global Economy • Zakaria employs and argues the term ‘post-American world’ to reflect on the evident shift in the overarching hierarchy which characterizes the global economy—that is, Zakaria traces both the economic and social causes for the stagnation of the American economic sphere and the resulting ‘rise of the rest.’ • Furthermore, Zakaria identifies China as a predominant competitor to US markets, proposing that “China’s trade-to-GDP ratio is 70 percent, which makes it one of the most open economies in the world,” (92). FareedZakaria Editor of Newsweek International

7. Raphael Kaplinsky Affirms the Negative Impact of Globalization on China • As the industrial sector prospers subsequent to economic liberalization, relative living standards of middle class laborers naturally decreases. • A relevant question arises: To what extent does national GDP dictate the progression of a nation towards a universal standard of progress?

8. Jianfa Shen: The Rural-Urban Population Shift

9. So What? • Increased urbanization causes: • Surplus of cheap laborers in the industrial sector. • Greater competition for acquiring jobs. • Decline of available arable land. • Significant demand for more efficient, large-scale production. • Thus, China must undergo rapid economic growth in order to attenuate its unemployment rate, stabilize the industrial sector, and ultimately sustain its status as an emerging global leader and BRIC nation.

10. Questions?

11. Works Cited Kaplinsky, Raphael. “Is Globalization All It Is Cracked up to Be?” JSTOR. JSTOR. Web. Shen, Jianfa. "China's Future Population and Development Challenges." JSTOR. JSTOR. Web. Spodek, Howard. The World's History, Volume 1 To 1500 (3rd Edition). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2005. Print. Zakaria, Fareed. The Post-American World. New York: W. W. Norton, 2008. Print.