The Architect of Modern China: Deng Xiaoping
The man responsible for turning China from a secondary power to a global power
China has become a modern global power with its economy expanding to levels no one could predict. This explosion in GDP can mostly be attributed to the country’s freeing up of trade at the end of the 20th century allowing it to trade with the rest of the world. The freeing of markets in China combined with the newfound freedom to trade with the outside world meant that China became a hotspot for manufactory.
Cheap labour and material costs meant that many manufactory jobs which were once done in developed countries such as America, Canada or the European Union were moved to China to maximise profit margins. How did this shift occur and who was responsible for turning China into the global power it is today?
Maoist China
Under Mao, China saw minimal economic growth. Although heavy industry was expanded the central planning system wasn’t able to properly explore China’s plentiful resources, mainly the massive workforce and bountiful natural resources. As such from 1960 to his death in 1976 China’s economy only grew by 100 billion.
Although the economy tripled in this 15 year period its real potential wasn’t harnessed under Mao’s…
