China Becomes a Capitalistic Nation

Question: How can China continue to be a “communist” nation while implementing Deng Xiaoping’s Four Modernizations? (approximately 2 days)

Objectives:
• Students will review the Marxist principles upon which China’s post-WW II economy was based.
• Students will read, interpret and analyze documents which examine the impact of the change from a “communist” to a “capitalist” economy.
• Students will consider the role of the U.S. and the WTO in China’s modernization.
• Students will debate the pros and cons of the economic change China is currently experiencing.
• Students will begin to understand the complexity of economic change.

Homework – Prior to Lesson:
The teacher should divide the class in groups as he/she sees fit. Student should read the article(s) assigned prior to class.

Suggested Readings:
Readings should address a wide range of topics regarding the impact of the “capitalization of China.” Suggested issues are the WTO, housing, employment, environment, women, minorities, rural vs. urban issues, structural change, and U.S. relations. Here are some examples:

Beech, Hannah. “Chinese Junk.” Time Magazine Online:

Cheng, Allen T. “From Our Correspondent: China is Communist in Name Only.” ASIAWEEK.com June 13, 2001.

Fomey, Matthew. “Workers’ Wasteland.” Time Magazine Online:

Fomey, Matthew. “Women in the Workforce.” Time Magazine Online:

Gough, Neil. “Economic Migrants.” Time Magazine Online:

Rosenthal, Elisabeth. “China Eases Rules Binding People to Birth Regions.” New York Times Oct. 23, 2001.

Solinger, Dorothy J. “WTO entry, Will China’s workers benefit from this ‘win-win’ deal?” China Rights Forum – The Journal of Human Rights in China No. 1, 2002.

DAY 1

Motivation
In “The Communist Manifesto,” Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels promised the following:

“… the exploitation of one individual by another is put an end to, the exploitation of one nation by another will also be put an end to, […] the antagonism between classes within the nation vanishes, the hostility of one nation to another will come to an end.”

Is this ideal possible? Why didn’t this work in China? (Review the failures of the Great Leap Forward and of the Cultural Revolution.)

Lecture/Review
Explain the four modernizations and why they were instituted.

Group Activity
Students will break into groups based upon the assigned readings. Within their groups, they will review the articles read for homework. Students should summarize in writing the impact of “capitalization of China” based upon their reading.

The teacher should type up the students’ findings and share them with the class the next day.

DAY 2

Distribute a summary of the students’ findings from the previous day.

Group Activity
Place the students into different groups. Each group is to come up with three questions regarding the summary distributed to use in class discussion.

Class Discussion
Use the student findings and student questions to address some of the issues China faces today as it implements a capitalistic economic system.

Summary Activity – Homework
Pretend you are a newspaper reporter in China writing for an American newspaper. Write an article in which you describe the economic transition taking place in China. Be sure to provide your reader with background information.