Volume XV – Number 1
Shannon R. Brown
Abstract: In 1975, Premier Chou En-lai of China gave a bold speech, vowing to pursue Chinese economic modernization in sectors such as national defense, agriculture, industry, science, and technology so that the national economy could compete with other advanced economies around the world. However, these promises of modernization had been made and unfulfilled ten years prior, in 1975 and earlier yet, in 1957. While China’s economy certainly maintained positive economic growth between 1952 and 1978 with a per capita GNP growth rate of 4% per year, compared to the rest of the world, China’s economic indicators have been middling at best. This article claims that China’s goals for modernization and economic prosperity through the development of key industries such as science and technology are being held back by the state’s use of the Russian model for economic development, characterized by nationalization of production, planned economic activity, and a centralized economic command structure. Furthermore, in order for China’s goals of economic modernization to come to fruition, the country will need to endure significant political unrest as Stalinist institutions collapse and command-based planned economic activity is discontinued.
Keywords: modernization, China, economic development, industry, command economies, Russia, technology, economic growth
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