Not your father's China

BEIJING – Let me start by making it very clear that this was supposed to be a rant about how China has managed, being the nifty little go-getter it is, to conduct capitalism under the guise of a communist socialist state.

This, however, is not that intended rant.

What changed? I came to China and realized that it has openly and very publicly been moving toward capitalism since 1978.

Surprised? I literally fell off my chair when I learned this.

This, with the inherent quality of ranting, is going to be a discourse on how the world’s largest communist country, is, in fact, much more capitalist than you might imagine.

The political reforms started in 1978, when Deng Xiaoping, widely considered the most powerful public figure in China from the late 1970s until his death in 1997, pioneered a shift toward privatization.

Since then, China has adopted a gradualist approach to economic reform, instead of abolishing socialism in one swift move. Hallmarks of the program include a market-oriented transition and what my professor described as a “strong opening policy.”

Implemented on a piecemeal basis for the past 30 years, China has emerged from being a non-entity to a major player on the world global market.

It boasts an estimated 10 percent gross domestic product growth rate and contributes 14.5 percent to overall global output, as compared to 22.5 percent by the United States, according to statistics presented by my professor at the Guanghua School of Business.

And the United States had about a 250-year head start in developing its economy.
Many scholars cast doubts on these figures. After all, the data is published by the Chinese Statistics Bureau, which is, like everything else in China, controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

Could these not be fictional numbers that are just fueling the perception that China is successful and thus furthering the communist party’s propaganda? Much like Henry David Thoreau, scholars often bawl, “rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” Scholars have a flair for the dramatics. I have to admit, I was one of them.

The miracle that is China seems too good to be true; everything seems to have worked out way too perfectly to be practical and, well, human.

A 30-minute drive through Beijing will quell your doubts. China is the glowing example of economic reform done right, and done well.

Its GDP figures are evident in the streets of Beijing. The predominant form of transport may be bicycles and crowded buses, but the glittering high-rises the Chinese call work spaces are proof of the booming economy. The shiny new streets are proof of the infrastructure dollars China claims to invest.

The fact that China hasn’t seen a social uprising since Tiananmen 20 years back is proof that the people are either content with the economy or are too busy shopping to bother.

Flippant, yes, but true.

You will not believe the rush in their supermarkets, stores that rival even the biggest malls in America. China seems to have found the fabled “it” factor, and the “it” is capitalism.

You know how the latest “Star Trek” movie has the tagline “not your father’s ‘Star Trek’”? Similarly, the economy present in China today is undeniably not your tried and true version of Marxist-Leninist Socialism.

And if the new “Star Trek” is any indication, China is going to blow our minds. The world’s greatest communist state is, in fact, a glowing example of capitalist victory.
It’s not communism, folks, it’s Communism, Inc.