Modernization In China

As paramount leader of the People’s Republic of China, Deng Xiaoping’s achievements and downfalls would have a score of 70 percent right and 30 percent wrong. As a pragmatic leader, Deng created a legacy of modernizing China’s economy by introducing the policies of the Four Modernizations and the open door policy. The establishment of the free market led to China’s notable economic growth. As Deng laid the foundations through his economic liberation policy, this created large scale economic development seen in current day China while being the second largest economy in the world today. This however created extreme levels of disparities in income levels which ultimately lowered the standard of living. Modernization in China was not to be seen

This policy opened its doors to countries throughout the world by welcoming foreign trade, purchasing foreign technology and allowing Chinese students to study abroad (Dreyer 117). Opening up China to foreign investment in the global market pushed forward private competition, economic decentralization and competiveness in the FDI (161) that set the foundation for a fast growing economy. However, as Deng saw continuous growth in population, this meant an increase in productivity would have needed to been divided among the whole population so a strict and unpopular birth policy of limiting women to having one child was enforced (117). In addition, the removal of the Maoist characterization of intellectuals as “the stinking ninth category” was embraced and ended the persecution of intellectuals

With the open door policy, Deng made it acceptable for some to become wealthier while others remained in poverty for the overall benefit of the country. This however led to income inequalities between cities and rural regions (Dreyer 121). Those who prospered under this

system became the envy of those who didn’t and jealousy, known as the red-eye disease, formed as the worship of money grew (5). Peasants from rural communities fled to the cities in search of higher paying jobs leaving many rural communities with only elders and young children as seen in the film The Last Train which could potentially expose China to future food shortages. Along with this was the Tiananmen Square protest that was caused due to corruption and unequal distribution in wealth where inflation lowered people’s standard of living. Although Deng’s polices were inefficient with distributing wealth equally, created prosperity in select regions done at the expense of income and status inequality, his most significant legacies, the Four Modernization's and the open door policy, set the foundation for economic liberalization and prosperity. With Deng’s pragmatic rule and economic reforms, China gained the creation of a strong, ambitious economic program for ongoing development for decades to