by Wendy Liu
For Those Whose Concept of China Has Frozen in the 1970s and for Anyone
Who Would Like to Know About Today's China.
15. Being Rich Is Glorious
Economically, Chinese citizens are better off, living in a larger economy today than any time in China's history. The reforms of over twenty years
have paid off in many ways. Listen to the Chief Economist of the World
Bank, "China's success over the past two decades has been spectacular.
Since its reforms began in 1978, China has been the fastest growing economy
in the world, probably in world history. China's per capita income has
quadrupled over that period. "The rapid growth in China has helped lift
200 million Chinese out of poverty since 1978" That was a few years
ago. A recent report in The Economist reads more exciting. It pointed
out that in the two decades since China opened up, "its economy has grown
more than fivefold, incomes have quadrupled, and 270 million Chinese has
been lifted out of absolute poverty" and called the case "the most stunning
economic event of the past century."
Officially, China's per capita income is estimated to be between $800 and $950 . The real per capital income
measured in purchasing power parity (PPP) which considers the fact that prices of many goods and services in China not traded are much lower, is close to $4,228.
Using the same standards, the size of China's economy becomes second only
to that of the United States! If China can sustain its rate of
growth, which has been at an average of 9.7 % from 1979-99 , China's
economy is projected to become the world's largest by 2020 in absolute
terms and its people achieving parity with U.S. living standards by the
middle of the twenty-first century! If China would stick to its WTO
commitments, with its membership expected this year, and also conform to
global norms more quickly, a Morgan Stanley economist predicted, it would
pass the $10 trillion mark, the size of America's economy today, by 2015!
Not only has the income of Chinese citizens and the size of the China's
economy increased tremendously, the newest and more eye-catching phenomenon
is, however, that of China's new millionaires. "To get rich is glorious,"
Deng Xiaoping said back in 1978. Now there is a whole new
generation of glorious Chinese. The top individual of the Forbes 50 wealthiest
Chinese in 2000 had a total asset of $1.9 billion, while the 50th
individual had $42 million, both got richer than the year before. And 30
on the 2000 list were new names.
China was once a socialistic country that divided up landlords' property
among peasants, nationalized private industries and commerce, cut off any
non-public economy as capitalist tail, promoted common wealth for all and
practiced egalitarianism, how socialist can China now be when it has
reversed itself through the economic reforms over the past two decades and
has, in the process, created a new emerging class, a class of millionaires?
(To be
continued...)
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