Just got out of the talk by Professor Murphree, and I got to say it was enlightening to say the least when discussing the reasoning behind the economic and social structure in China.

He began the discussion by outlying the nature of China’s ultramodern versus ultra traditional systems that can be literally viewed in many of the cities within the state. Chinese economics are locally based which tends to create problems such as duplication of investment and short terminism.

It’s intriguing, because China’s past is filled with innovation and technology (such as gun powder, printing, methods of telling time via the stars and other celestial bodies, to name a few), but the question rises why China didn’t surpass the west in modern science and technology? There are several theories outlined, including Confucianism, Imperial Government, Chinese language (as a barrier), Geography, and most intriguing Peace Theory which claims that because China lived in relative peace until the 19th century, there was little incentive to innovate or produce technology on a massive scale, however Europe since the medieval ages has been consistently under existential threats of various kinds pushing it to modernize at a more rapid pace, eventually overtaking and surpassing the Chinese. Starting in the 19th century there was numerous pushes towards Chinese modernization, initially beginning with ideas that called for upheaval of western influence, maintaining Chinese traditions while utilizing the knowledge and technologies produced by the Western powers. These didn’t work so well, and eventually a clash between two western systems of government emerged, nationalism vs. communism. As we al know communism eventually emerged the victor, and proceeded to remake the identity of the Chinese as a people and a state.

Socialist science and technology (the soviet system) took hold in the 1950-1966, which initiated a comprehensive economic planning, reorganization of universities where education was the only thing allowed, not innovation or the aquiring of new knowledge. Instead, the Chinese Academy of Sciences was developed and controlled by the government. This made it very efficient for the Chinese to develop one thing at a time, (such as nuclear weapons), but caused them to spend literally all of their readiness and procurement budget in producing these short term goals.  In 1966, Mao initiated the cultural revolution, which threw science, knowledge and growth of any kind into an all new low. Scientists were the lowest class of society, students executed professors, universities were closed for a decade. It was complete shit.

Then thank goodness, the Reform era came along under Xiping, which refunded the CAS, brought the scientists and engineers up to the working class which allowed them to work and innovate freely, Reintigration of R and D into universities were established. Foreign collaboration occurred, and a more open market was allowed. This is still tricky though for the Chinese government however in regards to who should control the economy. Should it be the state, or the market? Every now and again it sways one way or the other, the party still controls the government, so whatever the party morphs into in the next decade or so will be very influential in what the Chinese economic system will lol like. The new era (today) is characterized by widespread industrial parked, massive R and D, being second only to the United States, Technology standards are changing and industrial reforms are occurring (although still very central and state owned). Attempts to establish a taxation system that awards innovation of the companies in China.

In Chapter eight, I learned about the reformation of state and local governments in China. Traditionally, China has been viewed as a unitary system, with a strong central government having great involvement even at the local levels. However, in recent years reformation has become increasingly present, driven primarily by academic scholars of law and politics. Currently, a hybrid form of government appears to making a surge forward in China’s modern politics. The unitary system of government in China only pertains to the actual governance/political system, and fails to encompass the complexity involved in the local governments and the economics the government is involved in. In a way, China has developed a sort of democratic/authoritarian hybrid regime where members of the Party can be chosen by fellow members to serve in the government. At the local levels, more representative/democratic forms are more present, and have a minor impact on the people in China. In the end, the State Government in China still is making the decisions with the mindset that it will be the best for the majority of the people (its very utilitarian in a sense). This decision is then passed down to the respective government cadres (who are either members of the CCP or supporters of the CCP), who then work to implement the policy decisions by the government amongst the people in China. It is a top-down system of government that is quite foreign to the Western states (such as the USA, UK or Australia) who implement bottom-up democratic systems of government where the people generally choose what they feel is best for them voiced in the legislature through elected officials. While China has a government that might not be democratic in the western sense, it does utilize a system that is very complex, yet efficient at passing policy and various regulations.