Chinese Economy

In order to understand the potential of the Chinese economy and Chinese wholesale business, it would be helpful to go through a crash course in the basics of Chinese economic history. China is still considered to be a Communist country, with a one-party state controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. If you go to mainland China, you will still see plenty of pictures of Chairman Mao Zedong and Communist symbolism. But the Chinese economy moved away from traditional, centrally-planned socialism a few decades ago, and for the better.

After the victory of the Communists against the Nationalists in the Chinese civil war in 1949, the People’s Republic of China was founded based on traditional Communist principles of collective ownership, a socialist economic policy tilted strongly toward heavy industrialization, and the collectivization of agriculture. The socialist economy of China, while having success in heavy industry like most other Communist nations, suffered particularly in agriculture and light manufacturing. The “Great Leap Forward” was implemented between 1958-1961, but instead it turned out to be a great failed socialist experiment and did not succeed in putting the Chinese economy back on track. The Great Leap Forward actually worsened the situation.

After the death of Mao Zedong, the Chinese government took a radical economic turn starting in 1979 with the reforms of Deng Xiaoping. Chinese economic reform has been considered by many to be a return to capitalism, and it indeed includes significant economic liberalization and other capitalistic features. But the Chinese government maintains that it is a new form of “socialism with Chinese characteristics”–mainly for ideological reasons and for safeguarding the legitimacy of their monopoly on power in China.

Since the reforms began, the Chinese economy has truly made huge leaps forward in terms of GDP, the well-being of the populace, and the expansion of agriculture, light and heavy industry, and the service sector. Chinese manufacturing is one of the leading manufacturing sectors in the world, providing a tremendous (and growing) amount of Chinese wholesale and retail exports to many different countries and hemispheres.

Tags: centrally planned, chairman mao zedong, chinese economic, chinese economic reform, chinese economy, chinese government, chinese manufacturing, chinese wholesale, collectivization, deng xiaoping, economic liberalization, great leap forward, planned socialism, retail exports, wholesale and retail