Chinese Economic Reform :: essays papers

Chinese Economic Reform Two old age after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, it became apparent to many of Chinas leaders that frugal reform was necessary. During his tenure as Chinas premier, Mao had encouraged kindly movements such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, which had had as their base ideologies such as serving the people and maintaining the class struggle. By 1978 Chinese leaders were searching for a solution to serious sparing problems produced by Hua Guofeng, the man who had succeeded Mao Zedong as Chinese communistic political companionship (CCP) leader after Maos death (Shirk 35). Hua had demonstrated a desire to continue the ideologically based movements of Mao. Unfortunately, these movements had left China in a state where agriculture was stagnant, industrial production was low, and the peoples living standards had non change magnitude in twenty years (Nathan, Andrew J. Chinas Crisis pg. 200). This last area was oddly troubling. While the gross output value of industry and agriculture increased by 810 percent and national income grew by 420 percent between 1952 and 1980 fair(a) individual income increased by only 100 percent (Ma Hong quoted in Shirk, Susan L. The Political Logic of Economic Reform in China. Berkeley pg. 28). However, attempts at economic reform in China were introduced not only due to roughly kind of generosity on the part of the Chinese Communist Party to increase the populaces living standards. It had become clear to members of the CCP that economic reform would encounter a political purpose as well since the party felt, correctly it would seem that it had suffered a loss of support. As Susan L. Shirk describes the situation in The Political Logic of Economic Reform in China, restoring the CCPs prestige postulate improving economic performance and raising living standards. The traumatic bang of the Cultural Revolution had eroded popular trust in the lesson and political moral excellenc e of the CCP. The partys leaders decided to shift the base of party legitimacy from virtue to competence, and to do that they had to demonstrate that they could deliver the goods. This movement from virtue to competence seemed to mark a serious departure from orthodox Chinese political theory. Confucius himself had posited in the fifth century BCE that those individuals who best demonstrated what he referred to as moral force should lead the nation.