COMPARATIVE DEVELOPMENT

EXPERIENCES OF INDIA AND

ITS NEIGHBOURINGS….
DEVELOPMENT OF CHINA…
NAME: AKANKSHYA NAYAK
INTRODUCTION:
In the post cold war world, nations have been primarily trying to
adopt various means which will strengthen their domestic
economies. To this effect, they are also forming various regional
and global economies. To this effect, they are also forming various
regional and global economic groupings such as SAARC, G-20 and
BRICS.
Moreover, various nations are also trying to understand the
developmental processes pursed by their neighboring countries as
it allows them to realize their own strengths and weakness in
comparison to their neighbors. In the process of globalization the
developing countries are facing competition not only from
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developed nations but also from other developing nations. So, an
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understanding of the other economies in our neighboring is

1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:

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CC BY

China's history is rich with art, politics, science, and philosophy. It is home to the oldest of the major world
civilizations.

China was ruled by various dynasties for much of its history. The first dynasty is believed to be the Xia dynasty
which formed somewhere around 2250 BC. The Shang or Yin dynasty gained power around the 14th century BC.
The Han Dynasty, which lasted over 400 years from 206 BC to 220 AD, was one of the most influential in China's
history. Much of the culture today was created during the Han Dynasty. Later famous dynasties, like the Song and
the Tang, continued to refine the culture and bring new innovations to the world including printed money, a
permanent navy, and a complex government that ruled over 100 million people.
 “The Great Wall of China”
 .
The Chinese Civil War broke out between the KMT and the communists. A new leader, Mao
Zedong took over the communists and led the CCP on a famous "Long March" to a distant
area of China. There they regrouped and eventually gained the strength to force Chiang Kai-
shek out of China and to the island of Taiwan. Mao Zedong established the Peoples Republic
of China on October 1, 1949. This new government was strongly allied with the Soviet Union
and modelled its government after Soviet communism.

In 1958, Mao Zedong embarked on a new plan called the Great Leap Forward. Unfortunately,
this plan backfired and China experienced a terrible famine including much starvation and
death. Over the next several decades China would struggle with political reforms and
economic policy, slowly recovering and becoming a major world power again. Today, China is
a major world power and the second largest economy in the world..
[Link]:
Stretching 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometres) from east to west and 3,400 miles (5,500
kilometres) from north to south, China is a large country with widely varying
landscapes. Its territory includes mountains, high plateaus, sandy deserts, and dense
forests.

One-third of China's land area is made up of mountains. The tallest mountain on

Earth, Mount Everest, sits on the border between China and Nepal.

China has thousands of rivers. The Yangtze and the Yellow Rivers are the most
important. At 3,915 miles (6,300 kilometres) long, the Yangtze is the world's third
largest river.
3. PEOPLE & CULTURE :
With a population of 1.4 billion, China has more people
than any other country on Earth. About a third of the
population lives in cities. The rest of the people live in the
country.
Arts and crafts have a long history in China. Thousands of
years ago the Chinese were some of the first people to
use silk, jade, bronze, wood, and paper to make art. The
artistic writing called calligraphy was invented in China.
Much of China's modern beliefs and philosophies are
based on the teachings of a government official who lived
nearly 3,000 years ago. Kongfuzi, also known as
Confucius, taught people the value of such things as
[Link] & ECONOMY:
China is an authoritarian state ruled by a very powerful central
government. A huge workforce and lots of natural resources
have driven economic change. This has forced the communist
government to permit more economic and personal freedoms,
but it has come at a huge cost to the environment’s.

Many experts predict that the 21st century will be the "Chinese
century." Whether or not that proves to be true, there is no
doubt that what happens in China will affect many other
nations.
ECONOMY:
Being one of the oldest civilizations in the
world, China has been the worlds largest
economy. After the establishment of
peoples republic of China under one-party
rule, all the critical sectors of the
economy, enterprises and lands owned
and operated by individuals, were brought
under government control.
[Link] leap forward campaign: in 1958, a programme
named “the great leap forward” campaign was initiated
by Mao to modernise China’s economy.
 The aim of this campaign was to transform agrarian
economy into a modern economy through the process of
rapid industrialisation.
 Under this programme, people were encouraged to set
up industries in their backyards.
 In rural areas, ’communes’ were started. Commune is a
system of collective farming under which people were
made to cultivate farm land in China ,i.e. people
collectively cultivated lands.

 GLF campaign met with many problems. A severe drought caused havoc
in China killing about 30 million people.
m
2. Great proletarian cultural revolution: in 1965, Mao Zedong introduced
the great proletarian cultural revolution (1966-76), under which students
and professionals were sent to work and learn from the countryside.
However, when Russia had conflicts with China, it withdrew its
professionals, who had earlier been sent to China to help in the
industrialialisation process.

3. Reforms Introduced in China: The present day fast industrial growth in

China can be traced back to the reforms introduced in 1978. China
introduced reforms in phases.
• IN THE INTIAL PHASE, reforms were initiated in agriculture, foreign trade
and investment sectors.

In agriculture, commune lands were divided into small plots which were
allocated to the individual households.
 IN THE LATER PHASE, reforms were initiated in the industrial sector.
 Private sector firms and township and village enterprises were allowed
produce goods.
 At this stage, enterprises owned by government, were made to face
competition.

4. Dual Pricing in the reform process: The reform process also involved
dual pricing. This means fixing in two ways:

. Farmers and industrial units were required to buy and sell fixed quantities
of inputs and outputs on the basis of prices fixed by the government.
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. For others transactions, the inputs and outputs were purchased and sold
at market prices.

5. Special economic Zones: In order to attract foreign investors, special

economic zones were set up.
CURRENT SCENARIO OF CHINA’S ECONOMY:
When Xi Jinping came to power a decade ago, China had just overtaken
Japan to become the world’s second largest economy.
It has grown at a phenomenal pace since then. With an average annual
growth rate of 6.7% since 2012, China has seen one of the fastest
sustained expansions for a major economy in history. In 2021, its GDP
hit nearly $18 trillion, constituting 18.4% of the global economy,
according to the World Bank.
China’s rapid technological advances have also made it a strategic
threat to the United States and its allies. It’s steadily pushing American
rivals out of long-held leadership positions in sectors ranging from 5G
technology to artificial intelligence.
Until recently, some economists were predicting that China would become the world’s
biggest economy by 2030, unseating the United States. Now, the situation looks much
less promising.
As Xi prepares for his second decade in power, he faces mounting economic
challenges, including an unhappy middle-class. If he is not able to bring the economy
back on track, China faces slowing innovation and productivity, along with rising social
Economic slowdown and rare dissent
While Xi is one of the most powerful leaders China and its ruling Communist
Party have seen, some experts say that he can’t claim credit for the
country’s astonishing progress.
“Xi’s leadership is not causal for China’s economic rise,” said Sonja Opera, a
professor at Bocconi University in Italy who studies China’s economy. “Xi was
able to capitalize on an ongoing entrepreneurial movement and rapid
development of a private [sector] economy prior leaders had unleashed,”
she added.
Rather, in recent years, Xi’s policies have caused some massive headaches
in China.
A sweeping crackdown by Beijing on the country’s private sector, that began
in late 2020, and its unwavering commitment to a zero-Covid policy, have hit
the economy and job market hard.
“If anything, Xi’s leadership may have dampened some of the country’s
growth dynamic,” Opera said.
More than $1 trillion has been wiped off the market value of Alibaba and
Tencent — the crown jewels of China’s tech industry — over the last two
China's GDP
China's transformation from a poor country focused on subsistence farming to a highly
industrialized economy with a large services sector brought infrastructure development,
urbanization, rising per capita income, and a big shift in the composition of its GDP.
Notably, the World Bank now defines China as "an upper-middle-income country."
While China remains a manufacturing powerhouse, it has a large and fast-growing
service sector befitting its newfound wealth. The services sector accounted for 54.5% of
China's GDP by 2020, up from 44.2% a decade earlier. The once dominant agricultural
sector, in contrast , shrank from 9.3% to 7.7% of the country's GDP over the same span.
The economic reforms of 1978 changed the face of agriculture in China. Previously, four out
of five Chinese worked in agriculture. This changed as property rights encouraged private
farming and fueled the growth of small businesses in rural areas.
Private farming led to big gains in productivity and output. China is a global supplier of rice,
cotton, pork, fish, wheat, tea, potatoes, corn, peanuts, millet, barley, apples, cotton, oilseed,
pork, fish, and more. Government support and low labor costs help keep its agricultural
products competitive despite a fragmented transportation network and a shortage of cold-
storage facilities.
The Industry Sector
The industry sector, which includes manufacturing, construction, mining, and
utilities, accounted for 39.4% of China's GDP in 2021.
The chart below shows the industry sector's share of China’s GDP from 1960
to 2021. The trend is flat until it begins to dip in the 2010s, reflecting the
growth of services. But manufacturing remains a powerful contributor to
China's economy. China is the world leader in industrial output, including
mining and ore processing, processed metals, cement, coal, chemicals, and
fertilizer. It's also a leader in machinery manufacturing, armaments, textiles,
and apparel.
China is also a top manufacturer of consumer products, processed foods, and
telecommunications equipment.
It's a growing supplier of automobiles, trains and related equipment, ships,
aircraft, and space vehicles, including satellites.
mm
The Service Sector
China's service sector has doubled its share of economic output over the last two
decades to account for 53.3% of GDP in 2021. It surpassed the industry sector in
2013.
The service sector includes transportation, storage, and shipping, the wholesale and
retail trades, hotel and catering services, financial services, and real estate, among
others.
Despite its rapid gains, China’s services sector accounts for a much lower share of
GDP than services in the U.S., which amounted to nearly 78% of U.S. GDP in 2018.
The Bottom Line
China's economy has grown rapidly for decades. The central growth trend has
slowed notably in recent years, however, amid a real estate downturn, a regulatory
crackdown on large privately-owned companies, and a policy preference for state-
owned enterprises. The absence of a social safety net has fueled private saving and
discouraged consumer spending. Lockdowns of major metropolitan areas under a
zero-tolerance policy for COVID-19 continued to slow growth in early 2022.
APPRAISAL OF DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES:
Developmental strategies of a country act as a model to others for lessons and guidance for their own
development. In order to learn from economic performance of our neighboring countries, it is necessary to
understand the roots of their success and failures and different phases of their strategies.
Though different countries go through their development phases differently, let us take the initiation of reforms
as a point and India in 1991. Let us briefly assess their achievements and failures in pre and post reform periods.
CHINA:
China did not have any compulsion to introduce reforms as dictated by the world bank and
International Monetary Fund to India and Pakistan. But some adverse situations of the
economy prior to 1978, forced China to go for reforms.
PRE REFORM PERIODS:
. There had been massive extension of basic health services in rural area.
. Developmental of infrastructural facilities in the areas of education and health, land reforms
etc.
. Through the commune system, there was more equitable distribution of food grains.
POST REFORM PERIODS:
• There had been massive extension of basic health services in rural areas.
• Through the commune system, there was more equitable distribution of food grains.
• Despite extensive land reforms, collectivization, the Great Leap Forward and other
initiatives, the per capita grain output in 1978 was the same as it was in the mid 1950’s.
 In 1978, the then government of China was not satisfied with the slow pace of economy
and lack of modernisation under the Maoist vision of economic development had failed. As
a result, a number of reform measures were introduced in 1978.
POST REFORM PERIOD:
The various reform measures led to rapid growth in China.
• Each reform measures was first implemented at a smaller level and then extended on a
massive scale.
• Development of infrastructural facilities in the areas of education and health, land
reforms, long existence of decentralised planning and existence of small enterprises
helped positively in improving the social and income indicators.
• Agricultural reforms brought prosperity to a vast number of poor people. It created
conditions for the subsequent phenomenal growth in rural industries and build up a
strong support base for more reforms.
 DEMOGRAPHIC INDICATORS :
1. Population: China is the most populous country in the world with 1,393 million people.
2. Growth rate of population: through, China is the populated county but its annual growth
rate of population is the lowest.
One child policy: one-child policy, official program initiated in the late 1970s and early ’80s
by the central government of China, the purpose of which was to limit the great majority of family
units in the country to one child each. The rationale for implementing the policy was to reduce the
growth rate of China’s enormous population. It was announced in late 2015 that the program was to
end in early 2016. Consequences of China’s one-child policy:
The one-child policy produced consequences beyond the goal of reducing population growth. Most
notably, the country’s overall sex ratio became skewed toward males—roughly between 3 and 4
percent more males than females. Traditionally, male children (especially firstborn) have been
preferred—particularly in rural areas—as sons inherit the family name and property and are
responsible for the care of elderly parents. When most families were restricted to one child, having a
girl became highly undesirable, resulting in a rise in abortions of female foetuses' (made possible
after ultrasound sex determination became available), increases in the number of female children
who were placed in orphanages or were abandoned, and even infanticide of baby girls. (An offshoot
of the preference for male children was that tens of thousands of Chinese girls were adopted by
families in the United States and other countries.) Over time, the gap widened between the number
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3. Density of the population: China is the third largest country in the
world and the growth rate population is lowest in China as compared to
India and Pakistan. As a result, density of population of China is the
lowest 148 person per [Link].
4. Sex ratio: in China the corresponding figure is 949 females per
thousand males.
5. Fertility rate: since the introduction of the one child policy, the fertility
rate in China has fallen from over 3 births per women in 1980 to
approximately 1.7 births.
[Link]: it is highest in China 59%.
 Conclusion
China:
• In China, the lack of political freedom and its
implications for human rights are major concerns.
• However, in the last four decades, it used the ‘market
system without losing political commitment’ and
succeeded in raising the level of growth along with
alleviation of poverty.
• China has used the market mechanism to create
additional social and economic opportunities.
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