Opinion | Why China at 70 needs to listen to the voices of those it silenced
- As it marks seven decades of nationhood, China under Xi Jinping must recall how the lack of a free flow in goods and ideas hurt development in the Mao era
- This is also a good time to remember those such as purged leader Zhao Ziyang, who recognised the need for political and economic reform
On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic of China before a huge crowd in Tiananmen Square. After three years of gruelling civil war with the Nationalists under the command of Chiang Kai-shek, Mao had emerged as the victorious head of the world’s largest communist country. During his tenure as chairman of the Communist Party, until his death in 1976, Mao ruled with an iron fist.
He imitated the Soviet system of central planning, outlawed capitalism and private property, collectivised agriculture, destroyed family life by mandating large-scale communes, and placed the party/state above the people in all aspects of life.
The model of state-led development, which Mao supported, was one that favoured autarky over open markets and international trade, depriving China’s people of the advantages of specialisation according to comparative advantage, and stripping them of the benefits of free trade.
The absence of competitive markets for resources, goods, and ideas severely handicapped China’s development.
While Mao concentrated on increasing the power of the state and suppressing individual freedom, Deng Xiaoping began China’s economic liberalisation movement under “socialism with Chinese characteristics”.