Week 4 Flashcards
In China, one of the main architects of the launch of reforms (at the end of the 1970s and early 1980s) was ___
Chen Yun. He was the key economic planner after the founding of the PRC in the 1950s. He came back at the forefront at the time reforms were launched in the
PRC by Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s, early 1980s.
For Chen Yun, the market was to play only a subsidiary role
- being closely circumscribed by the plan ‘like a bird in a cage’,
- this echoes Sun Yat-sen limited capitalism.
The chinese society in 1949
1949-1957: Founding period
- New institutions
- Cadres: the dominant class
- A new social startification
- Industrialization
Danwei (work unit)
1956 very important year in socialist countries.
Main characteristics of the party rule — timeline
1949-1957: Founding period
Danwei (work unit)
Cadres: the new dominant class (1949-1957: Founding period)
A new social stratification (1949-1957: Founding period)
Industrialization (1949-1957: Founding period)
State “capitalism” (1949-1957: Founding period)
a dominant class exploiting a class to accumulate wealth
Social stratification and relations between classes (1949-1957: Founding period)
- An exploited class which has to contribute to accumulation (peasants)
- A middle class with a limited access to consumption: ascetic lifestyle
Political economy of China (1949-1957: Founding period)
- Highly organized (30 grades)
- Cadres enjoy privileges, prestige and power (corruption), consumption limited
- Power not personnally owned, a world of arbitrary actions
Economic structures: (1949-1957: Founding period)
- To build up a strong nation-state not for private benefits
- Heavy industry and military weapons (including space conquest)
- Entreprises are supposed to create wealth for the state which controls
- everything (no market but grey economy)
- Plan to develop the non-developed regions but limited
1956 very important year in socialist countries.
Chaos: 1958-1961 Great Leap Forward
Political climate (Chaos: 1958-1961 Great Leap Forward)
Economic “policies” (Chaos: 1958-1961 Great Leap Forward)
Consequences (Chaos: 1958-1961 Great Leap Forward)
Consequences II (Chaos: 1958-1961 Great Leap Forward)
An isolated country (China at the end of the 1970s)
An undervelopped and unbalanced economy (China at the end of the 1970s)
A “small-group” society (China at the end of the 1970s)
A dissent society? (China at the end of the 1970s)
The positive legacy of state capitalism (China at the end of the 1970s)
