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| Sam Whittaker |
By Sam Whittaker, Class of 2015
In 1978, roughly two years after the death of Chairman Mao Zedong, the Chinese government came under the control of Deng Xiaoping. Deng, the leader of the right wing of the Communist Party, came out on top of the intraparty power struggle that ensued after the death of the revolutionary and charismatic leader, Mao. The right wing favored free market reforms based on modern western-style economies rather than central planning advocated by Mao and the left wing which sought to continue his economic policies. With the right wing firmly in control of the Party in 1978, Deng Xiaoping announced his “Reform and Openness Plan.” This plan included free market reform of the economy in order to facilitate improvement in Chinese industry, agriculture, science, and technology. The free market plan initiated in 1978 and 1979 continues in China today.
The scholars' stay in Shanghai has caused us to fall in love with this beautiful, ultra-modern city and see the benefits China has reaped as a result of Deng’s 1978 economic reforms. Since 1978, the standard of living, average income, and other economic measures have skyrocketed in China. By scrapping the central planning model in favor of a free market, the Communist Party in China has vastly improved the lives of its people. For at least the past decade, China’s GDP has grown at a rate of 10 percent or higher. This year, China will surpass the United States in terms of raw GDP; this is six years ahead of previous estimates. The reason for this rapid growth is due to huge investment of foreign capital in China thanks to the Communist Party’s opening of China to free market trade in 1978. This investment has provided better jobs and standards of living for the Chinese people, at least in urban centers. The beautiful buildings and skyscrapers of downtown Shanghai, including the Pearl Tower which our group had the pleasure to visit, literally shines in the night as evidence that the reforms of 1978 have built a better China. As the scholars took a riverboat cruise on the Huangpu River in the Shanghai night, I reflected on the beautiful modern city that the free market, Deng Xiaoping, and the Chinese people have built.
Too often in our western society, we are critical of the free market and capitalism. If one visited the Shanghai of 1977 and the Shanghai of today, I would challenge them to argue that the city is not better due to the free market reform of 1978. There are certainly challenges to modernization, and the Chinese government and people face the problems of pollution and a growing income gap today. However, the Shanghai that I have gotten a taste of over the past two weeks is really a beautiful modern society. The Pearl Tower that casts its glow and brightly colored purple and green lights over the downtown landscape serves, at least in my mind, as a monument to free market reform and capitalism in China. It is important to remember that the opening of China to trade has improved the United States economy, providing our people with low-priced goods and allowing American companies such as Boeing to make large profits off the huge Chinese consumer market. Ironically, it seems that the power of China and the Chinese Communist Party stems from the economic growth that resulted after their embrace of modern capitalist principles. As long as the nation stays faithful to these policies, they will continue to grow in power and will become an increasingly important partner (or rival depending on your view) of the United States.
Sam Whittaker, of Paducah, Ky., is a junior McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville. He is studying history and political science.