988,812 – that was – according to Annual Report on Chinese International Migration – the number of foreigners living in China in 2017. And the number increases by an average 3.9 percent every year.
We – the ‘daring spirits’ who abandoned their homelands and dared to enter the dragon-land – come from all over the world and different walks of life. Yes – we do fall into various categories or types: those created by Chinese government to deal with our overwhelming presence, or witty blogosphere expecting online applaud. No, we are not going to add another list. Or maybe not this time 😉. Instead, we want to explain the reason why we all can be here – blissfully living, working, exploring Chinese territories and chasing our wildest entrepreneurial dreams.
Gordon G.Chang – Forbes contributor– put it this way’ Every society changes, but China's changes faster. The startling transformation (…) with the accession of Deng Xiaoping has been one of the world's great stories’.
改革开放 Gǎigé kāifàng Reform and opening-up
Mao Zedong died in September 1976 and as Chang states ‘ Chinese leaders knew there would have to be reform. The debate in Beijing was how much should be allowed and how fast it should occur’.
In December 1978 Deng Xiaoping - Chinese revolutionary and politician with peasant background but French education and work experience (he spent 7 years in France as his father wanted his son’ To learn knowledge and truth from the West in order to save China’ ) - took over the lead on the political stages.
He outmaneuvered the late chairman's chosen successor - Hua Guofeng and became the paramount figure of the "second generation" of party leadership. Some called him "the architect" of a new brand of thinking that combined socialist ideology with pragmatic market economy whose slogan was "socialism with Chinese characteristics".
Deng opened China to foreign investment and the global market, policies that are credited with developing China into one of the fastest-growing economies in the world for several generations and raising the standard of living of hundreds of millions.
Of course, it did not happen overnight and during Deng’s lifetime there were 3 crucial phases of transformation that built strong foundation for the dragon to rise confidently.
1978 – 1984
Reforms in agriculture and urban industry
1.Deng decollectivized agriculture and emphasized the household-responsibility system. It divided the land of the People's communes into private plots. Under the new policy, peasants were able to exercise formal control of their land as long as they sold a contracted portion of their crops to the government.
2. The breakthrough of urban industry sector was dual – price system. State-owned industries were allowed to sell any production above the plan quota, and commodities were sold at both plan and market prices, allowing citizens to avoid the shortages of the Maoist era. What’s more – individuals or groups received the right to manage state-owned enterprise by contract.
3.Private businesses were allowed to operate for the first time since the Communist takeover, and they gradually began to make up a greater percentage of industrial output.
4. China opened its gates to foreign investment. Deng created a series of special economic zones for foreign investment that were relatively free of the bureaucratic regulations and interventions that hampered economic growth. These regions became engines of growth for the national economy.
5. The first special economic zone (SEZ) was established in Shenzhen in 1980.Wary of a rival power bases in economically powerful Shanghai, Deng chose the extreme south to launch his reforms and economic experiments.
1984 – 1993
1.The most notable development was decentralization of state control, which means that local provincial leaders could experiment with ways to increase economic growth and privatize the state sector.
2. Controls on private businesses and government intervention continued to decrease.
3.Township and village enterprises, firms nominally owned by local governments but effectively private, began to gain market share at the expense of the state sector.
4. Deng reopened the Shanghai Stock Exchange closed by Mao 40 years earlier.
5. Privatizations began to accelerate after 1992, and the private sector grew as a percentage of GDP. China's government slowly expanded recognition of the private economy.
1993 – 2005
1.In the 1990s, Deng forced many of the conservative elders such as Chen Yun into retirement, allowing radical reforms to be carried out.
2.Deng Xiaoping died in 1997, but his handpicked successors, Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji – continued to implement the reforms.
3.The highlights of this phase were:
1) Large-scale privatization - all state enterprises, except a few large monopolies, were liquidated and their assets sold to private investors
2) Reduced tariffs, trade barriers, and regulations
3) Reform of the banking system;
4) Dismantling much of the Mao-era social welfare system
5) Reduced inflation
6) Joining World Trade Organization
7) The domestic private sector first exceeded 50% of GDP in 2005 and has further expanded since
8) In 2005, China was able to surpass Japan as the largest economy in Asia
Gradualism, successful integration into the world economy, high levels of growth and investment, and a trial and error approach to policy have all contributed to China’s growth and success.
In his post ‘China after 30 years of reform’ Gordon C. Chang summarizes “ Deng's great contribution, therefore, is not so much that he planned China's "economic miracle" but that he let it happen. The economy during the last three decades has grown at an average annual rate of 9.8% largely because peasants, workers and frustrated bureaucrats made themselves into entrepreneurs and pushed their country forward.”
