The adaptability of the Chinese Government- Tahhira Somal

Having recently watched the Ted talk: A tale of two political systems by Eric Li, I decided to do a brief critique on one of his arguments used. The world’s most populous country’s government as argued by Eric Li is adaptable, meritocratic and legitimate. His ted talk advocating for communism in China provides valid arguments for China being the above mentioned adjectives. Considering one of his points used, I believe the Chinese government is very adaptable taking into account it’s history and flexibility. 
China’s government is probably the most flexible government that I have ever heard of in terms of changing policies and methods while maintaining one ideology i.e. communism. Over the last half century the Chinese government has undergone a lot of changes.
    

     
Under Mao’s era (1949-1978) China went through a “trial and error” phase, in 1948 China’s first five-year plan laid emphasis on building a state owned economic sector where importance was given to industrialization (Lafleur 2003,88). Then came the Land Reform and the Collectivization of Agriculture, this was directed towards the large population of peasants, around 300 million gained a third of an acre while 10 million rural households lost their land (Lafleur 2003,89). When the agricultural problems were still not solved such as food production for urban dwellers, fragmentation, intensive poverty etc. the government banned all private purchase of grain, which increased agricultural output (Lafleur 2003, 90). After this Mao introduced the Great Leap Forward in 1958 with the intention increase industrial and agricultural production at the same time (Quigley; Lovina 2014, 89). All the private farming was banned and farming was transformed into one single entity, this policy proved to be a disaster as this method failed and people died of violence and famine (Lafleur 2003,91). 
           

After the Great Leap forward leaped backwards, Mao left the running of the economy in the able hands of Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping (Lafleur 2003, 94). Their economic policies didn’t fit in with Mao’s vision and hence were disapproved. However, in 1976 Mao died and in 1978 Deng Xiaoping settled at the top. He reformed the economy, targeting three main areas: agriculture, foreign trade and investment; and state owned industry (Lafleur 2003, 98). His reforms accelerated China’s growth towards a market economy. 
           

Evaluating the history of China’s reforms only in the field of economics, we see a variety of policies. Mao’s period’s policies such as the collectivization and great leap forward were based on ideologies. Mao believed that the way to regain China’s “fu quiang” (Mukkurram 2009,1) (wealth and power) was to follow ideologies and believe in the peasants. This is reflected by his policies, he wanted the people to share land, give in all their labor’s work for collective use and bring peasants forward. This was a very idealistic and complicated approach.

However, Deng’s outlook was more practical and aimed at only bringing market reformed, whatsoever may be the path. For example, Special Economic Zones were set up to attract foreign trade and foreign investment in China. This initiative boosted interaction between China and the world and also the economy. The transformation from Mao to Deng was like the transformation from ideologist to technocrat, while maintaining communist ideas. China, in the past 50 years has truly had a government that is self-correcting, flexible and adaptable. Thus, I completely agree with Li in saying, China is the “worlds leading expert in political reform”.


Watch video at: Ted Talk: A tale of two political systems