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40 years of reform and opening up

40 years of reform and opening up
The latest news, analysis and opinion on 40 years of reform and opening up. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
Former US trade representative Charlene Barshefsky blames Beijing’s deviation from market principles and inaction by previous US administrations for helping to lead to the current impasse. Photo: Xinyan Yu
US-China trade war

Exclusive | Ex-US top trade negotiator says China has deviated from its commitments

Inaction by previous US administrations also helped lay the groundwork for the impasse, Barshefsky says.

US-China relations

Opinion | Xi’s China is ignoring the US role in its rise to glory

China’s Communist Party

Opinion | How China dispelled the 3 myths of economic growth

40 years of reform and opening up

Video | SCMP The Interview: Wong Cho-lam

SCMP The Interview: Wong Cho-lam on how China’s reform and opening up affected Hong Kong’s entertainment industry
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40 years of reform and opening up

Video | SCMP The Interview: Liza Wang

Belt and Road Initiative

The View | China’s development model has lessons to teach, but is anyone listening?

Insights into the Chinese development experience may prove useful for developing economies, but many are too wary of its intentions and influence to be receptive. Both Beijing and the West have contributed to the hostility.

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China Briefing

China Briefing | Cheer up, crises like the US trade war reform China’s economy

In 1998, China paved the way to economic lift off with World Trade Organisation talks. In 2008, it beat the Global Financial Crisis. So in 2018, on its 40th anniversary of reform and opening up, it’s at a familiar juncture

It might not seem like it, but there could be something to smile about regarding the US-China trade war. Photo: Xinhua
Singapore

Opinion | Even after 40 years, China can still learn from Singapore

The city state, a key role model for a modernising China, remains far ahead in social development and governance and continues to have lessons to share.

40 years of reform and opening up

This is what Xi says can help save China from ‘terrifying tidal waves’

Communist Party rule is key to weathering ‘unimaginable’ perils and dangers, according to the Chinese president. But his one-and-a-half hour speech sheds little light on future reforms, to the chagrin of those wanting economic liberalisation, and doesn’t mention US trade war or slowing economy.

40 years of reform and opening up

Opinion | Lessons of past point way ahead for Xi Jinping as opening up goes on

In his speech marking 40 years of reform, China’s president outlined a two-front approach to the challenges facing the country and the qualities needed to overcome difficulties.

Lessons of past point way ahead for Xi Jinping as opening up goes on
China society

Opinion | Key lessons from China’s ascent over the past 25 years

The country’s rise was shaped less by a single turning point than by its commitment to long-term planning, meritocracy and global engagement.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
China-Russia relations

Opinion | Despite their strong ties, Russia and China are emotional opposites

Moscow is haunted by a longing for Western approval in contrast to Beijing, which focuses on borrowing what works and changing what doesn’t.

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China’s fourth plenum

Opinion | 15th five-year plan charts a course for China’s modernisation

By building on past successes and shoring up areas of weakness, China can lay firm foundations to achieve socialist modernisation.

United States

Opinion | Why Zohran Mamdani’s New York election win resonates beyond the US

As cities grapple with high living costs, Mamdani’s mayoral campaign reflects the global challenge of reconciling growth with fairness and accountability.

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Zohran Mamdani, then Democratic candidate for New York mayor, performs tai chi while campaigning at a senior centre in Manhattan’s Lower East Side neighborhood on October 31. Photo: Reuters
China economy

Opinion | China is spearheading a new phase of globalisation

Achieving true industrial leadership will depend not just on domestic innovation but on the ability to support hi-tech manufacturing around the world.

Employees work on an electric vehicle assembly line in Chongqing, on May 20. EPA-EFE
Hong Kong economy

Opinion | Hong Kong’s research strength is vital to China’s third wave of reform

Shenzhen’s focus should be on infrastructure like national labs and Hong Kong’s on nurturing foundational research for scientific breakthroughs.

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Being Chinese

Being Chinese | Once a Chinese frog in a well, I’m now living my travel dreams

When China opened up and millions went abroad, it influenced everything from fashion and cuisine to values and perspectives.

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Art

When Brit art world provocateurs Gilbert & George’s visited China

It was the early 1990s, the mainland was opening up, and coming in hot were the two biggest troublemakers in British art. The man who got them there tells all in his new book.

George Passmore and Gilbert Proesch, aka artists Gilbert & George, took their controversial show to China in 1993. Photo: Courtesy of James Birch
China economy

Opinion | Why China will struggle to boost consumption

A system which emphasises stability and control will face challenges in uncovering the DNA of the Chinese consumer.

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China economy

Opinion | What Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy can learn from China’s reformers

Deng Xiaoping and Zhu Rongji’s radical reforms resulted in a leaner government and more dynamic economy: the exact goals of the Musk-Ramaswamy plan.

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China economy

Opinion | China’s move to centralise oversight of financial sector shouldn’t be feared

Stronger party control over the financial sector will allow the building of a more cohesive framework for further orderly decentralisation.

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President Xi Jinping (centre) speaks at the five-yearly central financial work conference in Beijing on October 31, 2023, where the strengthening of centralised and unified leadership over the financial sector was emphasised. Photo: Xinhua
China economy

Opinion | How can China’s reforms succeed when officials act like overbearing parents?

The ‘we-know-best’ mentality prevents market forces from playing a decisive role and affects investor confidence.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Diplomacy

Opinion | Can China build 2-way bridges with Global South partners?

Luban workshops teaching practical skills can shine where Confucius Institutes failed if they truly enable mutual exchanges.

China economy

Opinion | Why China’s GDP growth needs to be read against its social contract

Economic development and sustainability are both part of the contract and one cannot come at the expense of the other.

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China society

Editorial | A modern, powerful China the legacy of Deng Xiaoping, born 120 years ago

Paramount leader launched country on reform path that transformed nation from among the world’s least developed to a global force.

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A bronze statue of Deng Xiaoping in Lianhuashan Park in Shenzhen. Deng championed reforms with a dogged pragmatism and a willingness to be flexible that amazed many, including in the West. Photo: Shutterstock
China economy

Opinion | China’s third plenum shows its reform era has entered a new phase

As China strives to build a “high-level socialist market economy”, expect the central government to build on the reforms of past decades.

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People riding bicycles and electric scooters wait at a traffic light in Beijing, on July 18 as the Communist Party of China’s third plenum draws to a close. Photo: EPA-EFE
China society

Opinion | What China watchers should know about where the country is headed

The reforms outlined in the third plenum sets the groundwork for deepening efforts such as poverty alleviation to sustainable development.

China economy

Opinion | The era of the entrepreneurial Chinese local government is over

Local governments, so crucial to China’s economic take-off, have arguably become the biggest drag on the economy and must now be reined in.

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China economy

Opinion | Beware the upshot of China’s graduates flocking to the public sector

The increase of politics and law majors could trigger a private-sector brain drain, jeopardising China’s science and technology ambitions.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Illustration: Craig Stephens
China economy

Opinion | As Chinese graduates opt for public posts, what of the private sector?

The increase of politics and law majors could trigger a private-sector brain drain, jeopardising China’s science and technology ambitions.

China’s third plenum

As calls for Chinese rural land reform get louder, will Beijing remain cautious?

Major market reform has bypassed rural land ownership, but experts say not to expect any big moves at the third plenum.

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China economy

Opinion | Why Nongfu Spring’s online attackers are no Chinese patriots

Claims of Nongfu Spring being pro-Japanese are risible and attacks on the drinks company and its founder Zhong Shanshan only damage the country and its economy. The company should be celebrated, not pilloried.

A Nongfu Spring store in Shanghai on March 13, 2024. Chinese beverage giant Nongfu Spring is the latest major brand to come under fire from the mainland’s online army of nationalist citizens, underscoring challenges for domestic firms navigating an increasingly patriotic environment. Photo: Bloomberg
China's economic recovery

China’s economic reforms cannot become a ‘wasted opportunity’, state media warns

‘Inaction and slackness’ at local levels of government are seen as potential threats to Beijing’s revitalisation vision ahead of the Communist Party’s delayed third plenum gathering.

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China is trying to turn its economic fortunes around with reform efforts. Photo: Reuters
China is trying to turn its economic fortunes around with reform efforts. Photo: Reuters
China economy

My Take | China must stop chipping away at Deng Xiaoping’s economic legacy

Twenty-seven years have passed since the death of China’s reformist leader Deng Xiaoping, but it seems that today there are different interpretations of his legacy – a worrying and disappointing development.

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China economy

The View | How Zhu Rongji’s bold approach can inspire China’s economic reform

Pledges of reform from a decade ago have been unfulfilled or unevenly implemented, leaving China’s economy struggling to reach its full potential. Leaders should look to the legacy of Zhu Rongji, who embraced bold but unpopular reforms to improve people’s well-being.

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China's economic recovery

China’s growth rests on realising decade-old reform goals, economist says

Prominent pro-market researcher Chi Fulin says China has fallen short of various targets, including capital account convertibility, set in 2013.

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Economic growth is still central to solving China’s problems, a prominent economist says. Photo: Bloomberg