The economic rise of China during the past few years has had the greatest influence on my thinking, especially in respect to economics, finance, my personal values and social responsibility.
I was born in Shanghai in the early 1980s when China’s economic reform just began and the nation opened its doors to the outside world. I can still recall the relatively low living standards during my childhood: televisions and vehicles were rare; people seldom dined out; a majority of commuters were on bicycles – there were no subways or highways, even in the biggest city in China. However, since then, the national economy started to bloom, along with the modernization of agriculture, industry, science and technology. From the first underground subway line to the first stock traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, I witnessed tremendous economic advancement while living in Shanghai. Meanwhile, people seemed to get increasingly enthusiastic about making more money, from starting up businesses to trading stocks. Back then, I believed that economic growth only meant a more comfortable life and a more developed society. In high school, I began to pay attention to some economic indicators, such as GDP, as well as the stock market in order to keep up-to-date on the progression of people’s living standards nationwide along with the growth in our wealth.
Since I moved to the U.S. after college, I have been keeping a close watch on my home country through both the Chinese and Western media, such as Xinhua News and Bloomberg. The growth appeared to be even more rapid with close to double digit GDP increases during the past few years. However, while a lot of people were getting wealthier, more and more social problems, such as environmental pol...
... middle of paper ...
...nal values, I became more dedicated to my community. As a tutor at TutorChatLive.org, a non-profit education organization, not only do I work one-on-one with students that need assistance with various subjects, like math and economics, but I also collaborate with other online tutors for solutions to students’ questions. Additionally, I have been serving as a volunteer for Asbury at Drexel to help prepare meals for home-bound persons living with life-threatening illnesses. I felt a deep sense of inner gratitude as I directly witnessed the positive impact of my endeavors on others and my community.
Over the long term, I would like to integrate my thinking into my career and future ventures to encourage greater social consciousness and more ethical endeavors in China. Through these efforts, I am hoping to live my utmost personal value by yielding social impact.
China is often referred to as an emerging superpower because of its booming economy, which was carefully developed by Deng. China became self sufficient in the 80s, and continues to produce a majority of manufactured goods, which occurred because of Deng’s idea to put an end to collectivization. The middle class is steadily growing and millions of Chinese people thrive outside of their home country because Deng emphasized higher education. The Chinese leader found the issues in Mao’s government and fixed them, all while maintaining the ideals of his country and communism. Without the guidance of Deng Xiaoping after Mao’s reign, the country with a population of 1.3 billion may not have found the level of prosperity it enjoys
Sitting close to the edge of being a “developing” and a “developed” country, China is a difficult country to define neatly. It is a country with an ancient and traditional culture trying to position itself higher within the international community. Plus it is also a communist country that has come to embrace its own form of capitalism to fuel its economy. China’s economic boon has been beneficial to many people within the country. But not to all people within China evenly.
In the last few years China is quickly becoming the country that has stolen all of the jobs from the United States. Maybe there is something to be gained from looking at how the Chinese people do things and what they view as important. The Cultural Revolution that took place in China greatly changed how the Chinese do things. Starting in 1966 this revolution ended how “Old China” viewed and did things. Mao Zedong had a different plan for China, one that desired to take away the freedoms that Chinese had experienced in the years before (Nakate 1). After Zedong died the Chinese People were able to get back to what they had been before. “The modern Chinese culture is a blend of Communism, economic changes, and the old traditions of China” (Nakate 1). While I do not agree with Communism, other things that China has been doing for so long seem to be working. Maybe it is just because the people are so oppressed that they do not know any better. History is something that needs to be considered when looking at the culture of the Chinese. “Consider the past and you will know the present” (Samover 82). This Chinese Proverb clearly states that if one would want to know what the present is like then they need to look at the past. In other words a culture is defined by its history. The Chinese people have a market driven economy which has helped them to become one of the superpowers in the world. They have become a major player on the world stage, which is indicated by the fact that China’s GDP is was the third largest in 2007, and I imagine it may have moved up since then (Samover 84). The fact that they have become so powerful, in light of their Communist background, is probably the driving factor in the dislike tha...
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.
Beyond the depths of Communism, and governmental control the modern Chinese consumer has accessibility to earn higher incomes, provide for their families, enjoy leisure and have amenities that were once rare in a country that was once rural land. Now, with technological advancements and modernization of cities the Chinese consumer is able to live a lifestyle of luxury unlike the past, where luxury was once only possessed by those who were rich.
Having thrown open its doors to capitalist investment and expanded at a miraculous rate over the past three decades, China has now surpassed Japan to become the second biggest economy in the world. Since the early 1980s, China's economy has metamorphosed from a centrally planned syst...
“While there is significant variation across regions, within the cities and within the rural areas, the most significant inequality is between the urban and the rural” (Saich, 2011:316).
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.
China’s economy is one very large indicator of its role in globalization. “In 2010 China became the world’s largest exporter” (CIA World Factbook). Without China many places such as the United States of America would be without billions of goods imported from China annually. An influx of companies moving their manufacturing to China has allowed people to flock to cities and find jobs. China’s economy has grown exponentially over the last few decades. In the last three years China’s economy has grown by nearly ten percent every year. Despite this influx of money to China it has also resulted in many drawbacks. For example, China’s environment has been obliterated. China burns more coal than every country in the world combined. Beijing has been so badly polluted that there are actually companies that sell cans of fresh air to people, and gas masks are a common sight. On January 12th 2013 Beijing’s air pollution reached a record setting 775 PPM. To put that into perspective, the scale for measuring pollution is 0-500 PPM. This set an all-time recorded high. In Los Angeles a high ...
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.
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.
Wei-Wei Zhang. (2004). The Implications of the Rise of China. Foresight, Vol. 6 Iss: 4, P. 223 – 226.
...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...
China is one of the main viable candidates as this century’s new world power. Today, it maintains a strong economic stance within the international market, and is expanding at a rapid pace. The United States cannot maintain its position as hegemon for the rest of humanity; just as how ...