China and Ambition: A Formidable Duo
The Economist predicts China’s GDP will eclipse America’s by 2019. Why? Single-minded ambition is pushing China to the top. In illustrating the drive of China as a nation, it’s useful to compare it to its most populous neighbor, India. India proudly bears the title of the world’s largest democracy, something praised by people around the world. However, in life expectancy, a crucial measure of the health of a population, it ranks 163rd. China is 63 places above it. India’s GDP is less than a quarter of China’s it’s literacy rate still trails far behind. So why does China come out on top in the comparison of these two nations? The answer lies in China’s unrelenting ambition to be the most successful, prominent, and wealthy country in the world.
Whereas India ultimately relies on the cumbersome system of popular agreement, as all democracies must, China’s single party state allows its leaders to unilaterally decide the trajectory of the country. It is not easy to keep a nation of over a billion people satisfied with a government that restricts many basic rights that Americans would consider fundamental. However, the party leaders are incredibly ambitious, and these aspirations have lead to massive projects, huge investment, and modernization at a remarkable rate that have, at least for now, kept the people placated.
As an example, consider the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest power-producing facility. Before its construction, there was opposition on all sides to the project, ranging from the over one million people the central government forced to relocate, to the environment groups concerned that the dam would render extinct the Yangtze river dolphins. Given the c...
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...rtheless, many Americans would much prefer to live there, where every citizen gets to elect the politicians who shape their future. Single-minded ambition to be powerful and rich is admirable, and it has worked quite well for China, but unless the Chinese government takes the time to consider the will of the people, they risk making the same fatal mistake as Macbeth: recklessly accumulating power without considering the consequences and the enemies they may make along the way.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/world/asia/chinas-great-uprooting-moving-250-million-into-cities.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://www.yangtzeriver.org/threegorges_dam/why-built-three-gorges-dam.htm
http://cgee.hamline.edu/rivers/Resources/river_profiles/journey/dam.html
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/fuel-inefficient-india-heading-towards-energy-crisis
In Shikha Dalmias “Long Live the American Dream” she goes on to portray the strengths of America compared to China and India (85). It is popularly believed that China and
Ever since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the legitimacy of the revolution of which it was built upon has perennially been in question. For example, in a 1999 issue of the International Herald Tribune, a prestigious scholar claimed that all of China’s tragedies are ‘sustained by a mistaken belief in the correctness of the 1949 revolution’ and that the future progress of China depends on the recognition that the revolution was a failure. However, the CCP government was certainly not perfect and its most significant failures were its political failures such as the Anti-rightist movement and the Cultural Revolution and also economic failures such as the great leap forward. Millions of peoples were falsely accused and persecuted during the political movements of the Mao period as the CCP focused on class struggle instead of economic development during the period and tens of Millions of peoples died due to starvation as there were widespread food shortages during the great leap forward movement.
There are many different ways of looking at and understanding the large and multi faceted country of China. From looking at things like its history, economy, politics, philosophies, and other aspects of the Chinese people, it is difficult to really describe China as one specific thing. Instead of there being one true face of China, it seems there are a variety of different people and faces to represent this diverse country. In some cases, what might be representative of one group of people in China, is completely different for another. Take for example the difference between people that live in rural areas, and people that are living in the city. As seen in the documentary, Young and Restless in China, the poor people in rural areas live very
...) and bring China under uniform thought as well. Thus, in his attempt to accomplish his goals he placed less emphasis on freedom and more on developing a sturdy political backbone. Deng, on the other hand, wanted to thrust China in the global community for economic fortune at the expense of everything Mao had established. In the process, he brought a freedom and wave of democracy to the People's Republic, endowing the Chinese citizens with dreams of wealth and prosperity that were never even considered in the time of Mao. As China, progresses further into the twenty first century, its role seems quite unclear. A return to Post-revolutionary authoritarian communism seems unlikely, as does the institution of a true democracy but perhaps a new form of stability will arise to grant greater liberty to individuals or possibly even another Tiannenmen lurking in the future.
In 1985 one fifth of the worlds population was living under military controlled governments (Harper's Index Book), and it may around half now since China so brutally squashed its citizens' move toward democracy (Harper's Index Book). The reunificat...
China is the largest developing country in today’s world and the rapid growth of the Chinese economy has attracted attention from all over the world. Some people falsely think that China is a country that China is only pursuing their economic reform, but without any democratic changes. On the contrary, China actually has a long history of democratic reforms. China has a different way of democratic reform that different from western-style democracy, which made Westerners think China is a powerful country with limitations in democracy. However, my point of view is that China is not limiting their democratic change, and China is utilizing a distinctive form of democracy.
For the past twenty-five years, China has witnessed an overall increase in its domestic growth (Fischler 148). According to the article, “The Rise of China as a Global Power,” by Dr. Rosita Dellios, China “is the world's fourth largest trading nation, rising from 32nd in 1978 to 10th in 1997.” Similarly, China’s GDP is also second to the United States of America, generating 13 percent of the world’s output (Dellios). Since China’s introduction into the World Trade Organization in December 2001, its average tariff dropped from 41 percent in 1992 to 6 percent in 2001, becoming one of the most open economies in the world (Dellios). China is also the world’s fastest developing economy, obtaining an annual growth of 9.5 percent through foreign direct investment, low labor rates, emerging markets, and growth expansion. (Dellios). Therefore, the 21st century has been titled the “Chinese Century”, as China has become the second-largest international economy in the world (Ji-lin 15).
Worden, Robert L., Andrea Matles Savada, and Ronald E. Dolan. China: A Country Study. Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 1988. Print.
China today – powerful and ever-growing – wasn’t always like this. One major event in history around the mid 1800s that we all seem to have forgotten was the Opium Wars. What really caused the opium war was when China wanted to halt all trade in opium with the British. The geography of China is something like a fence. This isolation made the people of China feel like their country was prestigious and secluded from the rest of the world.
From the 1970s, there has been a wave of liberalization in China, which was introduced by Deng Xiaoping. This is one of the key reasons to the rise of China to be one of the economic giants in the world. In the last 25 years of the century, the Chinese economy has had massive economic growth, which has been 9.5 percent on a yearly basis. This has been of great significance of the country since it quadrupled the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country thus leading to saving of 400 million of their citizens from the threats of poverty. In the late 1970s, China was ranked twentieth in terms of trade volumes in the whole world as well as being predicted to be the world’s top nation concerning trading activities (Kaplan, 53). This further predicted the country to record the highest GDP growth in the whole world.
Zhao, S., (2003), ‘Political Liberalization without Democratization: Pan Wei’s proposal for political reform’ Journal of Contemporary China, 12(35): 333–355.
China's development is praised by the whole world. Its developments are not only in the economic aspect, but as well in its foreign affairs. Compared with other developed countries, China is a relatively young country. It began constructing itself in 1949. After 30 years of growth, company ownership had experienced unprecedented changes. Entirely, non-state-owned companies can now be more involved in sectors that used to be monopolized by state-owned companies.
...st and stand in the world. It is predicted that China will one day be the largest economy growing country in world. They continually growing and rebalancing their world to be the best. The growth of economy will depend on the Chinese government comprehensive economic reforms that more quickly accelerate in China transition to a free market economy. The consumer demand, rather than exporting the main engine of economic growth; boost productivity and innovation; address growing income disparities; and enhance environmental. (Morrison, 2014,para2)
In the race to be the best, China is clearly outperforming the United States. China has strong economic fundamentals¬ such as “a high savings rate, huge labor pool, and powerful work ethic” (Rachman, Gideon. "Think Again: American Decline). Their economy has grown an astonishing 9-10% over the past thirty years; almost double of what it used to be decades ago. China is also the “world’s greatest manufacturer and its greatest market” (Rachman). The continuing growth of China's economy is a source of concern for not only the U.S. but surrounding nations as well. One could argue that the U.S. need not worry about China’s growth because of the spread of globalization and that western ideologies would influence China to turn to democracy. Yet China has still managed to “incorporate censorship and one party rule with continuing economic success” (Rachman) and remains a communist country. Hypothetically, even if China does resort to a democratic state, this does not gua...
The rise in China from a poor, stagnant country to a major economic power within a time span of twenty-eight years is often described by analysts as one of the greatest success stories in these present times. With China receiving an increase in the amount of trade business from many countries around the world, they may soon be a major competitor to surpass the U.S. China became the second largest economy, last year, overtaking Japan which had held that position since 1968 (Gallup). China could become the world’s largest economy in decades.