“Black cat and white cat”, this is how China has changed 25 years after Deng Xiaoping’s death

“Black cat and white cat, the key is to catch mice.” Deng Xiaoping’s speech at the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1962 CCPWith Mao Zedong as chairman, the political philosophy of this pragmatic revolutionary leader is perfectly summed up.

Twenty-five years after his death, his stature is still immeasurable and full of contradictions: he was Mao Zedong’s friend and ally in the civil war, but he knew how to stand by Mao Zedong’s side during the Long March. 1934-35, when the Kuomintang army Chiang Kai-shek He left the guerrillas helpless and made a fatal mistake by regrouping them in the country’s vast interior.

In the 1950s and 1960s, he was almost second in the country with Liu Shaoqi, but both were purged in 1966 during the so-called “Cultural Revolution.” Deng was sent to a provincial re-education center for four years. Lost. When he returned, his pragmatism multiplied: he learned that the cult of leaders could lead to terror, that uncontrolled masses were capable of the worst, and that Maoist communism completely killed the people. Economic Initiative.

For all these reasons, after he recovered Mao Zedong died in 1976Afterwards, Deng Xiaoping launched a power struggle with the department led by Mao Zedong’s hand-picked successor, Hua Guofeng. Little by little he pressed his opponents until he finally took their place: in 1978 he was given the title of supreme leader, though without a derivative executive position; in 1980 he was prime minister and in 1981 general secretary of the Communist Party of China . In this way, he accumulated the same power that Mao Zedong accumulated as the “big helmsman” of the sleeping giant for three decades.

Deng Xiaoping, 77, was worried. His goal was to open the country to the outside world, both politically and economically. It is necessary to find a way to capitalism that does not destroy the socialist state. Form a circle and go.Thanks to his good relationship America (First with Carter, then with Reagan), trade between the two countries grew while he negotiated with Margaret Thatcher the return of the British colony of Hong Kong to China, perhaps his greatest political success. Interestingly, death befell him just months before the power change.

Tiananmen, the turning point

However, Deng Xiaoping’s legacy will forever be overshadowed by the Tiananmen Massacre and subsequent repression. Yes, it opened up China to the outside world.Yes, he “invented” state capitalism Yes, he recaptured Hong Kong for his country…but in those days in June 1989, pragmatism turned inhuman and about a thousand people died. Just five months later, the 85-year-old Deng Xiaoping resigned and appointed his protégé Jiang Zemin as his successor.

Jiang Zemin himself and Hu Jintao Xi JinpingThe general secretary of the CCP for the past three decades has actually only continued the path of Deng Xiaoping.China as we know it now hardly like The one he left behind in 1989, or in 1997, the year he died, has seen the glorious one. How have Asian countries changed in the past 25 years? Let’s analyze some parameters and see how this period has progressed.

population. Despite easing birth limits, China is still able to control its biggest problem: overpopulation.If in 1997 it was by far the most populous country (1.23 billion inhabitants out of India’s 1.001 billion inhabitants), today this distance it has decreased Quite large (1,402 by 1,380, according to 2020 census data), and thinks he can renounce the throne this year.In the past twenty-five years, China has 172 million inhabitants. Come to think of it, over the past 25 years, that’s an increase of 368 million.

When economic measures are formulated, more controlled growth can lead to more profits and avoid famine due to lack of resources. It also gives families more flexibility in establishing their own programs and reducing immigration. If there is something for everyone, young people don’t have to flee the country in search of a better future, they can find it at home.

gross domestic product. Relative to the above, greater individual and family freedom, better organization of national resources, and the consolidation of the path toward capitalism have allowed China’s GDP to rise from $961.6 billion in 1997 to 14.72 billion current. In other words, it has been multiplied by fifteen. Again, comparisons are unavoidable: over the past twenty-five years, coinciding with the Great Famine and Mao Zedong’s wild plans, China’s GDP has grown by only $748 billion.

If in 1972, China’s economy was ten times stronger than it was then America, which is about the same ratio as what we saw in 1997, and today the difference is “almost” $6 trillion, or 30%. According to United Nations estimates, China is the world’s second-largest economic power, three times as many in total as Japan.. According to estimates by the International Monetary Fund, its per capita income has risen from one of the lowest on the planet to slightly above the world average, at $18,931, well above other emerging countries such as brazil or india itself.

Start a business. As of May 5, 2021, there were as many as 248 Chinese companies listed on the NYSE Nasdaq. In 1997 there were six. Three of the top five companies by revenue in 2020 are Chinese, and yes, they are all state-involved.All in all, according to the magazine’s list wealth12 of the top 50 companies by revenue that year were Chinese; two of them were fully privatized (telecommunications giant Huawei and insurance company Ping An).

After comparison, in 1997, wealth It was literally cornered by Japanese and American companies. In fact, to find the first profitable Chinese company that year, you have to go down to No. 164, which is the emergence of the State Bank of China. From the private sector, it is best not to mention. It hardly exists.

Organization of international events. An indisputable sign of a regime’s willingness to open up is its decision to organize events that bring its culture closer to that of other countries.Since 1997, China has organized two Olympic Games (Summer 2008 and winter 2022, both in Beijing) Nanjing organized the 2014 Youth Games and Wuhan, 2019 Military Games, one of the possible sources of the spread of the coronavirus in other parts of the world.

The 2010 Shanghai World Expo, which attracted 73 million visitors, or the 2016 G20 leaders summit in Hangzhou are examples of globalism unimaginable before the 1990s. In 2019, the year before the pandemic, China received approximately 145 million tourists And recorded 155 million trips abroad. In 1997, the country received 57.588 million tourists, and outbound travel was limited to some Southeast Asian countries and the scope authorized by the country.

military force. Deng Xiaoping’s main focus on China’s economic development is obvious…but all without neglecting military investment. In 1997, the Chinese military consisted of about 2.5 million units and was estimated to have about 233 nuclear warheads.By 2021, these numbers have grown to 3,355,000 vehicles (including 1,170,000 reservists) and 350 nuclear warheadsmost of which are used for submarine purposes, enough to threaten the West, especially the United States, always concerned about any imperialist whim on Southeast Asia, especially the claimed island of Taiwan.

China’s current superior position in the world can only be understood by the will and measures of various countries. Deng Xiaoping Throughout the 1980s, they were developed by their successors in the following years. However, it remains a totalitarian regime controlled by a powerful elite with little respect for human rights. Pragmatic, like Deng, even cruel. Mao’s successor was as terrified of dissent as Xi Jinping is today. The teaching is clear: for the order of the empire. If you can make money along the way, welcome.

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