Document 1
Economic development has played a role in China's efforts to establish its identity and to maintain
its security at different times in its history. Economic development policies have affected China's
relationship with foreigners. This excerpt focuses on economic development in China before Mao
Zedong came to power and during the time Mao was in power.
... Chinese economic and technological systems were backward compared to those of the West.
This sense of vulnerability created the dominating issue of modern Chinese politics, the search for
wealth and power. Left unsolved by previous governments, the problem remained to be addressed
by the People's Republic when it came to power [on October 1, 1949]. To develop without relying on
foreign powers, Mao Zedong and his colleagues devised a system modeled on Stalinism but with a
number of unique features. They collectivized the land and organized the peasants into communes.
The party-state extracted capital from agriculture, used it,to build state-owned industry, and
returned the profits to more industrial investment. This led to rapid industrial growth in the 1950s,
although growth slowed later under the impact of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural
Revolution. In three decades China made itself self-suffi cient in nearly all
resources and
technologies. However, by the end of Mao's life in 1976 China's economy was stagnant [not
advancing], and technology lagged twenty to thirty years behind world standards
and most
Chinese
lived in cramped quarters with poor food and clothing, few comforts, and
no freedoms. Much of
Asia and the world had raced beyond China toward technical and social
modernity....
What’s the enduring issue