The Fiftieth Anniversary
China is the oldest continuing civilisation in the world and on October 1 1999, it celebrated 50 years as the People's Republic of China.
With the largest population in the world, and an economy which will supersede the USA in size sometime in the next century, we thought it would be interesting to reflect on China's progress in the last 50 years.
In 1949 when the Communists defeated the KMT (Nationalists) the country was bankrupt. It had been devastated by the Japanese occupation (1931-45) and the Communist-Nationalist Civil War over the previous 30 years. Following hyperinflation in the 1940s, for example in Shanghai prices rose 70 times in nine months from May 1949 to February 1950, the government issued a People's Currency and banned foreign exchange; strenuous efforts were made to achieve price and wage stabilisation - the stability of currency was restored within months with price controls in place and the budget balanced. The end of the twentieth century, by contrast, sees China experiencing deflation and the government introducing a tax on savings to try and encourage spending.
While early in the 1950s China's capitalists were pulverised and the private sector, including foreign businesses, taken over, the end of the 90s sees capitalism rampant (with socialist characteristics) and Deng's dictum 'to get rich is glorious' being pursued enthusiastically as entrepreneurs gain control of the economy. In 1998, foreign invested enterprises numbered almost 20,000 with about US$50 billion in foreign direct investment, although that number reduced to about 11,000 and US$25 billion respectively in the first three quarters of 1999.
The first modern census undertaken by a Chinese government revealed a population of 582 million in 1952; of course we know that China's population in 1999 is approaching 1.3 billion.
In the New Marriage Law of May 1950 women were given full equality with men in rights of marriage, divorce, and property ownership; peasants were free to choose their spouses; the extended family and clan system and filial piety were reversed after thousands of years of tradition. This culminated in many children denouncing their parents in various campaigns during the 1950s, and, of course, in the Cultural Revolution.
The Agrarian Reform Law of June 1950 designated five categories in the population:
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Landlords-those who possessed large land properties and did no manual work themselves;
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Rich peasants who owned land and worked it themselves while also hiring farm hands and renting part of the land to poor peasants;
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Middle peasants-owned land and worked it themselves without 'exploiting' others;
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Poor peasants-either owned a little land or farm implements and had to sell part of their land to survive, or rent land from others; and
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Hired hands-those who owned no land and worked on others' land, or borrowed money.
The reform called for the abolition of 'land ownership of feudal exploitation' and the confiscation of landowners' holdings and farm implements for redistribution to landless peasants.
Out of a total of 240 million acres of arable land, by the end of 1952 the agrarian revolution was complete: 120 million acres had been redistributed to 300 million peasants; in the most populous areas they received 1 mu (1/6 acre) while in remote locations up to 7 mu.
The land reform campaign was accompanied by a movement against landlords and mob violence, combined with a new campaign against counterrevolutionaries. Millions of people were killed from 1949 to 1952.
Shortly afterwards, the collectivisation process started, and by the end of 1956 some 96% of all peasant households were official members of cooperatives.
In 1999, 177 million of China's working population work at private or partly private companies, compared with 122 million in state-owned industries, and there are about 400 million peasant farmers. Estimates of the number of registered privately owned businesses vary from one to six million.
In 1949, the country was divided into 21 provinces, five autonomous regions, 2 municipalities: Beijing and Shanghai, and people were organised into work units. Today, while the number of provinces and autonomous regions is unchanged, 4 cities and 2 Special Administrative Regions: Hong Kong, and Macao (from 20 December 1999) have been created.
In 1949, floods had affected about 40% of arable land and industrial and food production had plummeted to 56% and 75% of pre-war peaks respectively. In 1999 China's production of grain, meat, cotton, canola and fruit was first in the world; with tea, beans, and sugar cane third; and steel, coal, cement, chemical fertilisers and televisions first, as well!
In 1953, based on the Soviet model, China embarked on its first five-year plan; its ninth five-year plan concludes in 2000.
For some staggering statistics comparing China in 1949 with the present, see our article China Then and Now: Some Statistics
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