User:Liy006/Four Modernizations

The four modernizations (四个现代化 or 四化) refer to the strengthening effort in the field of agriculture, industry, technology, and defense in China beginning in the late 70s to the end of the 20th century. The modernizations marked a shift from the class struggle under Mao's era to the creation of a civilized and productive society working toward the modernization of the country. The modernization plan was very ambitious and bold for the development of China as Chinese leaders were eager to narrow the gap between China and major foreign countries. Thus, some fundamental changes have been made in the economic and political system under the focus of modernization programs. Although the modernization plan usually refers to Deng Xiaoping's reformation after Mao's era or the year 1976, the origin of the idea could be traced back to the year of the Great Leap forward during Mao's leadership. After the disastrous result caused by the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, China was experiencing an immense setback in various sectors including the economy, technology, and education. Thus, in April 1976, Deng Xiaoping launched a second attempt at modernization programs based on Zhou Enlai's proposal as he spoke turning China from a poor and backward country into a strong and prosperous socialist country in only twenty years or more. Around the year 2000 A.D, China aimed to be in the front rank of the world in terms of the national economy by achieving the overall modernization in the field of agriculture, industry, national defense, science, and technology.

Mao Zedong's time
From the founding of the nation in the year 1949, Mao was aiming for the socialist transformation of the country in the political and economic fields based on the Soviet model. In the early 50s, Mao began his socialist transition of the country through the means of collective agriculture and nationalized industry. Using Marxism-Leninism as a spiritual pillar, Mao's adaptation and development of the communist theory emphasized the principle of the Chinese revolution, the crystallization of the masses, and the collective effort of the communist party. Compared to Marxism, Mao Zedong's revision of socialism was more practical than dogmatic as he expressed that "seek the truth from facts" was one of the main principles of Mao's thought, which also became a guiding principle for Deng's reforms in the late 70s.

Thus, after the founding of the new nation, Mao soon established the long-term pursuit of the communist party to stand up or become prosperous as s strong socialist and modernized country based on the reality of China. Around the same time, he also formulated a development strategy focusing on several key fields such as agriculture, industry, national defense, and science so that China could become a strong socialist nation in a relatively short historical period. In the year 1954, at the first national people's congress, Mao declared his resolve to build a highly industrial, sophisticated, and modernized country with a high standard of modern culture within a several five years plan. Based on that thought, Zhou Enlai formalized Mao's thought in a government work report that in order to move away from the poverty and backwardness, the country must build strong modernized industry, agriculture, transportation industry, and national defense. This is the first time the concept of four modernization plans was stated by the Chinese communist leader, and it became the foundation for the modernization plan in the near future.

The four modernization plans officially became the overall strategic goal in the development of the country between the years 1964 and 1965. At the third National People's Congress held in December 1964, Zhou Enlai declared the goal of the four-modernization plan based on Mao Zedong's idea to construct the nation into a strong socialist country that possessed modern agriculture, modern industry, modern national defense, and modern science and technology in a relatively short period of time, which will eventually catch up or even surpass the world-class level. Zhou also emphasized a two-step development policy. The first step was to create a relatively independent and holistic industrial and national economic system. The second step was to completely accomplished the modernization in the four sectors, making the Chinese national economy the world's lead economic power.

However, Mao's pollical trendies for big and quick results under the socialist revolution led him to make some extreme pollical decisions like the Great Leap Forward in 1958-1960. The movement was meant to utilize mass mobilization to achieve massive economic growth and production in a short period of time, but the unprofessional ways of production led to a huge economic setback, and several millions of people suffered or even died from poverty or hunger. The massive failure in the Great Leap Forward pushed him to launch the Cultural Revolution as he managed to restore the essence of the socialist revolution through the class struggle against the bourgeois style of rule and ideologies, which ended in a destructive result on China's society, culture, and politics. Thus, Mao's modernization plan mostly remained only on paper because of the catastrophic event that happened on the mainland at the time prevented and delayed the modernization plan.

Deng Xiaoping's time
After the Cultural Revolution and the arrest of the Gang of Four, mainland China was experiencing a sharp decline in the economy as the movement severely damaged the national economy as well as the overall production and investment. Under that background, the four moderation plans were reiterated at the People's National Congress in 1975 for the economic recovery and expansion of production relying on Mao's economic plan. The general ideology was to concentrate on the political authority of the party as it believed the politics should take the central command in all the forms of reformations.

In the year 1978, the Paramount Leader of the Chinese communist party Deng Xiaoping visited various countries such as Japan and U.S. to finalize the modernization plan in mainland China. After the worldwide visits, in 1979 Deng Xiaoping announced the official launch of modernization plan. He stated that our goal was to accomplish the Chinese version of the four modernization plans at the end of the twentieth century, which indicate the beginning of the reformation and the opening-up after Mao's era. The Chinese version of the four modernization was to reach the state of Xiaokang (小康) or the moderately prosperous society at the end of the twentieth century. This was the first time Deng Xiaoping used the world of Xiaokang in the development of Chinese society, which refers to the state of living that people could live comfortably without worrying about their basic needs for living.

Based on Deng's perspective, China should be able to quadruple the production or living standards around the year 2000. Thus, the party aimed to double the Chinese economy every ten years, so that the society could reach its goal of all-around well-being at the end of the century, which makes it possible to reach the world-class level in the next ten years. In general, the Four Modernizations became the basis of economic reforms, which contribute to the dramatic economic growth between the 1980s to 2000. Deng's economic plan for the recovery and the expansion did center around the theme of four fields of modernization, but the overall means and objectives were relatively ambiguous when considering the direction of reforms in different sectors. Thus, the Chinese leader developed very mixed and controversial policies during the next several decades to achieve the goal.

Agriculture development
Agriculture has always been the foundation of China's economy that has been emphasized by many Chinese leaders. Although the government report shows a steady rise in agricultural production between 1952 and 1978, the grain output cease to grow over the past few years. Post-Mao leadership also admitted that it was difficult to feed the urban population and reach an overall level of modernization with the current agricultural system. The major concern of the new leadership was not only to increase the production to feed the urban or other non-agricultural sectors but also to expand the source of exports to generate more income for the nation. Thus, in order to achieve the quest of Four modernization, the development of new policies for agriculture was needed.

Around the year 1981, the production responsibility system was crafted at the national level, which replaced the commune system and state-controlled price and production in the past. The policy created a contract system between families, land, and other facilities to support the collective organization of the production. Although the state still held collective ownership of the land and the products, the individual and household took the full reasonability for the production and cooperation with collective units so that farmers should meet their individual needs. The system can be described briefly in a few categories

Under that system, farmers or household could operate their land under a free-market rules to sell their products under a market price even though they do not formally own the land.In the mid of 1980s, most farms had adopted the production responsibility systems. Not only did the policy raise the agricultural production sharply, but it also granted land to most households, which improve their living standard and achieved a state of self-sufficiency. In addition, mechanization of the agriculture has also been greatly implanted after 1978 to support the production of grains, especially in regions with relatively fewer labors or land. The Chinese government also engaged in a rapid irrigation expansion to increase arable land and production.
 * The specialized contract between the collective team and work-groups with wages based on the production. The collective unit developed the production plan and allocated those tasks to individuals, households, or workgroups based on skills, willingness, or competition. The remuneration was calculated based on the output of the groups or individuals.
 * There are fixed output quotas for each land and household. The quotas were decided based on the land and labor power of the family, and the family took full responsibility for those quotas. Over-quota production can be awarded or retained by the household, and under-quota production would be fined by the central teams. Thus, the households and individuals took full freedom and responsibility for the land and its production

internal development
Some major changes happened in economic and industrial fields under the focus of four modernizations. While focusing on socialist ideology and egalitarianism, Deng incorporated many capitalistic developments in his economic reforms as he was desperate to push the Chinese economy forward. He wanted to bring the market economy that was once been abandoned during Mao's era so that the competition between state-owned firms could bring up the economic growth and innovations, which ended up creating a liberal market with strict centralized control and supervision. Deng also encouraged the local initiatives by diminished central economic power in some regions, which is crucial for China's economy because it allowed the reopening of the Chinese market for foreign trades and investment, making China into the world economy.

The leading sectors in Deng's economic reforms after 1978 were SOEs or State-owned enterprises. The SOEs were operated directly under the central government that output indexes were assigned and resources were distributed based on the plan, but many SOEs started to adapt to a more open market state in which surpluses could be sold for profit or other purposes. Those enterprises provided a stable form of employment known as the "iron rice bowl," and they were also in charge of welfare, security, or other forms of social benefits. Those social benefits were not organized on an evenly matter. In most cases, the urban population was privileged compared with the rural population through the regional permit system. The system intentionally separated the rural and urban populations to black the population flow between different economic regions.

Deng also created more windows for the open market economy similar to the responsibility system in the countryside. The new policies undermined the collective communes to encourage more individual or private enterprises. Township and village enterprises or TVEs started to emerge in the market under the new economic sectors. The private sector became a central area for the free market practice with limited government intervention, individual initiatives, flexible market prices determined by the supply and demand, and competition between goods and services. As a result, thousands of family businesses such as restaurants and teahouses started to emerge all over the country. Those businesses can be successful because China has a great ground labor force and the general income rise in the rural area. In addition, the privately run school with a different set of classes also made its appearance in the business. Despite the less government intervention within those areas, the central power still held direct control and supervision within those areas. Initially, most TVEs only operated on a small scale and in limited regions, but they soon become a crucial source for China's economic reforms with millions of workers involved.

Foreign relations and special economic zones
Deng's other creation was the special economic zones (SEZs). Special economic zones were specific locations designed by the central government for foreign exchanges like exports and foreign direct investment. Those areas offered various benefits for foreign investors such as tax incentives, access to the mainland market, and better infrastructures. Economic zones also enjoyed limited government control where business was allowed to make their own decision about production, investment, market strategies, and infrastructures without central approval. Foreign ownerships were also allowed in the regions, which further encouraged foreign investment and exchanges. In the beginning, there were only four special cities around the coast of southern regions in Guangdong and Fujian provinces, but those cities expanded rapidly under the new policies with the massive foreign investment and flow of consumer goods. Not only did it attract foreign investors, but the areas also become major cities that attracted millions of migrant populations within the nation. Take Shenzhen as an example, which is one of the first special economic zones near Hong Kong, the population of Shenzhen has grown from 30,000 in the year 1979 to more than 1,000,000 at the end of the 20th century. The government opened up dozens more economic zones in the next decades including Hainan and Pudong Shanghai, which became one of the global economic centers in the 21st century.

The main reason to set up SEZs was that China was seeking foreign assistance and economic cooperation for its modernization purposes. The first few SEZs served as Deng's experiment laboratories for international connections like technological transformation, international employment, and global market network. Although those places have relatively poor infrastructures since those places were unvalued before the opening-up policies, those locations were chosen for very strategic reasons. The coastal area of southern China provided good access to the oversea entrepreneurs, and it can be separated the area from the rest of China so that the capitalist activities could be restricted to special regions, acting as a buffer area for the foreign influence. Those locations were also special for their connection between overseas Chinese and places like Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, where the industrial economy was already flourished under the capitalistic system. In general, China's special economic zones were selected for their foreign connection so that they could become a linkage for foreign ideas and technology.

The new joint-ventures system showed a combination between state capitalism and Chinese socialism. The joint venture was a form of economic cooperation between the state corporations and foreign enterprises, which provide a crucial linkage for the foreign exchange. In addition to that, the joint ventures also maintained a certain degree of government control under the open-door policy. The basic ways of cooperation under such a system were that the Chinese party provided land, labor, and facilities while the foreign investor provided capital, resources, and advanced technology. The structure grew rapidly as the Chinese market and labor force became increasingly attractive to foreign investors.

The setting up of special economic zones represented a big shift from the closed-door policy before 1979. Under the new policies, the opening up of coastal cities encouraged economic initiative and technological exchanges, and they became a linkage to the world economy. The comparative advantages of the Chinese internal market and massive labor force attracted more and more foreign investment. As a result, in the mid-90s, China's market was largely opened up for foreign investment, and it has become a major part of the Chinese economy. Despite the massive amount of investment, China's internal market and capital flow were relatively inadequate due to the quick and profitable economic plan.

Science and technology
Science and technology in China were very backward and insufficient under Mao's era with his emphasis on collectivization and mass mobilization. The social instability caused by the Great social revolution totally devasted the scientific activities within the nation. Thus, the new leadership put a heavy emphasis on technologies as they learned technology and the economy must improve for the well-being of the nation. In fact, the attempt to attract foreign technologies was one of the main reasons for the creation of open economic regions. At first, the foreign industry came for the production of consumer goods for its cheap labor. However, from the late 90s, hundred of high-tech companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Intel started to move their development into China for the growing market and inexpensive workers. Many giant companies from all over the world began to build their research center and laboratories so that they could put more effort into the Chinese market. The inflow of high-tech companies also led to the establishment of Huawei as a Chinese international high-tech company that produces products like computers or cellphones.

In addition to foreign influence, Chinese leaders also imposed heavy investment and structural changes for technological improvement. Shortly after the announcement of the Four Modernizations, the National Science Conference was held to declare the prospect that China should "catch up" with the advanced countries and close up the technological gaps between the West and Japan. Under the massive economic development, scientists have been brought back into the scientific community, and the central investment in science and technology grow through the funding and building of infrastructures. The technology market within China also has been developed through the cooperation between enterprises and research laboratories so that the research finding could be turned into market production. Such a system kept growing with the joint effort with the foreign companies. In addition, the central government also increased the mobility of scientists or researchers. Before the reform, Chinese scientists were not allowed to move around between different units due to the political environment. However, as China became more open to international economy and technology, the young scientists were allowed to move between different facilities or even travel abroad based on their skills and knowledge.

National Defense
The Chinese red army, also known as the People's Liberation Army (PLA), was famous for its massive size and its revolutionary origin with the party. Although the PLA had combat experience against the Japanese invasion and nationalist army, the group was still a peasant army in nature with clear weaknesses. The army was very backward in terms of military equipment, technological training, and relatively poor ethnic or cultural level. In addition, the massive number and mixed composition became another problem with the nation's emphasis on economic development. The downgrade in Sino-soviet relations also pushed the Chinese to develop a modern and more capable standard army.

A considerable amount of disarmament was implied within PLA to reduce the number of soldiers. Most soldiers were encouraged to principate in different economic activities such as farming, technologies, or business. The plan reduced the economic burden of the country, and it was also a way to redistribute the human capital so that soldier could utilize their skill for economic production. Meanwhile, the army started to move away from the abundant low-quality equipment to better and more efficient equipment, which also led to a reconstruction of the system. In general, Chinese defense became more technological and systematic based compared with the red army in the past which emphasized the number and people's war.

Social influence
Despite the enormous economic growth, the modernization plan did come with huge social and physical costs. The most obvious problem was the massive social inequality under the new policies. Behind the strong economic performance, China is growing to become a very unequal society with the economic policies that mainly operated and benefited the urban population and party officials. The structural inequality was formed as the central government divided the countries with different economic regions. As a result, China developed from an equal socialist country to a market-oriented country with strict divisions in classes, police, and regions. The inequality between urban and rural income levels would likely continue to grow.

The experience of migrant workers is a good representation of social structural inequality. The economic policies created a huge internal flow of population from rural to urban areas. The rapid process of urbanization did boost economic development, but it also created a problem of poverty, especially among migrants from the countryside. The migrants did not have basic social welfare, security, healthcare, and schooling for their families. Furthermore, the Hukou or residency permit system prevented them from obtaining legal household in the city as the policy ties people to their rural hometown. Thus, most migrant workers lived separate lives and relied on low-income jobs because the central government did not create a decent urban life and security for most workers.

Rural migrants were also vulnerable to harsh exploitation. Industrial was unregulated at the time, so workers were working under extremely low wages and long hours. In addition, the working conditions were dangerous or even toxic in many factories, and most workers were willing to work long hours due to the pressure of living. In fact, a hundred million people were working in a dangerous working environment, which caused severe health risks for those workers. A large amount of them was influenced by some kind of lung disease related to their toxic working environment, especially among places like coal mines.

Climate impact
During the age of reforms, China's carbon emissions have been rising at a steady rate. Based on the statistical data, China's emissions grow roughly 4% per year between the year 1980-2000, and it has become one of the major contributors to the global climate crisis in just 30 years or so.

Most parts of the emissions in China come from the industrial and urban sectors. The massive urbanization had a strong impact on carbon emissions and climate issues. China was famous for its contribution to infrastructures during the age of reform and opening up. Those urban construction projects such as buildings, roads, and highways were high energy-consuming and carbon-intensive activities. The city-style of living was generally releasing more carbon emissions compared to the rural lives. In fact, more than 80% of carbon emissions were contributed by the urban sectors in China.

The growth of industrial sectors and centralized programs also caused serious pollution of the land and ecological disasters. The rapid expansion of unregulated industrialization caused devasted consequences on people and the land. The production of heavy industry like metals or automobiles and the exploitation of natural resources caused the constantly growing pollution, which affected the water, land, and air quality. To make things worse, many communities were directly affected by the polluting industries when factories dumped chemicals and waste on the land, causing a serious public health risk. Furthermore, the centralized infrastructure like dams and highways were causing ecological problems. The change of the landscape contributed to the extinction of wild animals and ecological crises like deforestation or soil erosion. In addition, constructions projects like dams and irrigation systems usually went against the natural flow of water. Not only it would influence the community that depended on those natural resources, the construction might have further influence on the seasonal flow pattern. Thus, the economic development in China is causing serious pollution and ecological downfall in China's mainland and even nearby countries.