The Secret of China’s Success

China is undergoing the fastest development in history – one that has invigorated the country and changed the world. China therefore stands out in the international community.

Many people wonder what the secret of this astonishing development is. But if you were to ask a thousand people what they thought, you would get a thousand and one answers.

The following comprises my answer. I would like to share it with you.

On December 7, 2009, I paid a visit to Aly Hashim, president and editor-in-chief of Al-Gomhuria (The Republic) Newspaper Publishing Group in Cairo. “What’s the secret of China’s progress?” he asked, “how did China maintain such a high annual GDP growth?” Before I could answer he then asked, “What specific mechanism boosts this development, and how specifically is it achieved?”

I tried replying to his questions from different aspects, but he said my answers were “too academic.” I told him that every person and every place in China treasures a strong desire to develop; that they long to improve their life and situation through work, and that the country does not restrain its people from realizing their aspirations. This desire is the motive behind China’s development. Hashim did not ask any more questions, but I was not sure he was satisfied with my answers.

The next day I went to see Dr. Mohamed Naman Galal, former assistant foreign minister and Egyptian ambassador to China. We discussed the same topic. Dr. Naman observed that the Chinese take pleasure in hard work, and that such industriousness is necessary to make progress.

A farmer in Liucheng County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region harvests his crops.

Three years later, the question still lingers on in my mind. I am constantly on the lookout for different opinions on it.

On June 18, 2012, The Guardian online edition published an article by its then Beijing environmental correspondent Jonathan Watts. Having been assigned to Beijing in 2003, he witnessed and experienced China’s dramatic changes over the past decade. Watts attributed the primary driving force of change that made the country an economic powerhouse to population migration and investment in infrastructure construction.

Having considered the points of view of two Egyptians and a Briton, let’s see what a Latin American leader has to say on the subject.

Last July our staff reporter interviewed former president of Peru Alan García Pérez. Mr Pérez was twice elected head of state, and paid eight visits to China. In his opinion, Confucian thought enabled modern China to achieve development at world-record speed. He believes that the correct guidance of the central government created good conditions for free trade, and that China formulated long-term development plans according to reality. What else? He singled out Deng Xiaoping and the collective leadership with him at the helm. In his view, Deng’s greatest contribution was forcing through the opening-up and reform policy that facilitated China’s transition, as well as that of the Communist Party of China.

We can analyze this secret and draw conclusions on it in a broader context.

Economist Zhang Zhuoyuan concludes that the factors behind China’s economic success are: an economy-centered national strategy; the socialist market economy; abundant skilled workers; an expanding domestic market; a buoyant rate of saving and investment; and a good exterior environment, including gaining access to the WTO. But he believes that the opening-up and reform policy is most important.

Ma Jiantang, head of National Bureau of Statistics of China, is of the opinion that urbanization, industrialization, marketization and internationalization constitute the major factors of China’s long-term, steady development.

Chinese Ambassador to Germany Wu Hongbo (now UN under-secretary-general for Economic and Social Affairs) told a German journalist on June 10 that China reached its present state of development due to finding a path appropriate to its specific conditions. People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the CPC, published an article on June 29 attributing the country’s rapid development to the practices upon which the CPC insists: emancipating the mind, pursuing a realistic and pragmatic approach and keeping up with the times.

When talking about China’s development, however, we refer to more than just economic development. China pursues balanced development of its economy, politics, culture, society, and people, with the latter at the core. What does the average Chinese person think is the secret of China’s development, by virtue of their own experience or of what they are presently experiencing? This is the topic we hope to discuss with you, our readers. We have chosen the stories of eight ordinary Chinese people. Let’s take a close look at their lives and careers and see what answers we come up with.