Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The first, highly symbolic move of the 'reform era' (as the post-1978 period
is known) was the breaking down of the collective farms. Farmers were able to
sell a proportion of their crops on the free market, and urban and rural areas
were also encouraged to establish small local enterprises. As part of this en-
couragement of entrepreneurship, Deng designated four areas on China's
coast as Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
The new freedoms that the urban middle classes enjoyed created the appet-
ite for more. After the death in April 1989 of relative liberal Hu Yaobang, Ti-
an'anmen Sq was the scene of an unprecedented demonstration. At its height,
nearly a million Chinese workers and students, in a rare cross-class alliance,
filled the space in front of the Gate of Heavenly Peace. On the nights of 3 and
4 June the military was enlisted to quell the demonstration, which ended tra-
gically with the deaths of possibly hundreds of civilians.
For some three years, China's politics were almost frozen, but in 1992 Deng
undertook what Chinese political insiders called his 'southern tour', or
nanxun.
By visiting Shenzhen, one of the SEZs, Deng indicated that the economic
policies of reform were not going to be abandoned.
21st-Century China
From 2002, the leadership made efforts to deal with growing regional inequal-
ity and the poverty scarring rural areas. The question of political reform,
however, found itself shelved, partly because economic growth was bringing
prosperity to so many, albeit in uneven fashion. For many, the first decade of
the 21st century was marked by spectacular riches for some - the number of
dollar billionaires doubled in just two years - and escalating property prices.
This period coincided with the greatest migration of workers to the cities the
world has ever seen.
Despite resilient and ambitious planning (the high-speed rail network was
massively expanded, the space programme set itself bold targets, some of the
world's tallest buildings were flung up), the Chinese economy remained funda-
mentally imbalanced. Skewed towards the export industry and high-investment
projects, it needed to build itself more securely on domestic demand to sustain
long-term growth and protect itself from global downturns.
