Reflections on China’s Reform and Opening-up – 35 Years on
By HELMUT MATT
THE topic of China’s policy of reform and opening-up is invariably associated with Deng Xiaoping, the famous politician and great state leader who initiated China’s transformation from a rigid planned economy to a free economic system. Deng Xiaoping is not only considered to be the father of China’s reform and opening-up, but also credited with implementing reforms that laid the foundation for the breathtaking economic success that we can see in China today.
It is hard to imagine how, within only three decades, the People’s Republic of China managed to transform from an, in most aspects, underdeveloped Third World country to one of the world’s leading economic powers. By 2008, the 30th anniversary of reform and opening-up, China had outstripped Germany in terms of economic power. And in the field of high technology, it had become one of the world’s leading countries. The innovative power of Chinese engineers is truly impressive.
For me, one of the best examples of the great overhauls resulting from Deng’s reforms is the rise of Haier, headquartered in Qingdao. Once an unprofitable state-owned enterprise dependent on government subsidies to stay afloat, Haier became one of the world’s leading electronics companies. Haier’s product range varies from kitchen appliances to highly integrated semiconductors. In 2008, I had the chance to visit this enterprise on one of my numerous trips to China. I remember being impressed by the futuristic architecture of Haier’s headquarters and the beautiful park surrounding it at the company site.
Without Deng’s policy of reform and opening-up, it is likely that the liberalization of politics and society would not have taken place. Nowadays, China is a truly open-minded country, and during several visits here over the past years, I found that in conversations with locals nothing was off limits – there was nothing that my Chinese interlocutors wouldn’t talk about. In the beginning, I even felt a little surprised by their eagerness in debating and their willingness to have open discussions. Furthermore, the topics were by no means vanities; we discussed complex issues such as Taiwan, China’s relationship with Japan, and the situation in Tibet and Xinjiang. I learned a lot in these discussions and found that the key is to face Chinese dialogue partners with an open attitude and the readiness to really listen to what they say.
Inevitably, in the course of China’s opening-up, many new thoughts and ideas made their way into the country. Today, China itself is more and more interested in presenting its art, culture and language to the rest of the world. Confucius Institutes all around the globe, numerous student exchange programs, friendship associations and twin cities – the variety of mutual exchanges between China and the world is huge and more and more difficult to keep track of. Thanks to these exchanges, more people are getting in direct contact, meeting in person, sharing ideas and learning from each other.
At the cultural level, China has bloomed and achieved a diversity that was unimaginable several years ago: The scope of the music sector alone ranges from Peking Opera to experimental theater, from traditional folk music, and Chinese and European classical music to techno and rap. And the field of performing arts and literature is similarly colorful.
In 2009, China was guest of honor at the Frankfurt Book Fair and it was at this event that I had the chance to present my novel, The Magic of the White Snake and with it, make a small contribution to the broad spectrum of books about China.
China of course faces problems in the course of development. One of them is the economic and social gap between regions. The eastern provinces are better off, and the western parts are generally underdeveloped.
Some Western media accuse China of neglecting its western provinces for the benefit of its east. This cannot be further from the truth. On the contrary, for many years, the Chinese government has granted tax benefits to the underdeveloped western regions to give them the chance to catch up with richer provinces of the east. For instance, China executed the value added tax reform in the three northeastern provinces before enforcing it nationwide in order to balance regional revenues and promote economical growth in underdeveloped regions.
In a similar way, the Chinese government has taken a slew of measures to close the economic divide between cities and rural areas. For instance, the state subsidizes farmers’ purchasing of modern agricultural machines and high-quality seeds, and has increased funding for the educational system in rural areas.
Without the economic boom in the east, sustained state assistance to the less developed regions would not be possible. Only a handful of countries in the world have made similar efforts to level out the discrepancies in regional development and to balance social injustice.
