Although the definition of industrialization still remained controversial, its general sense refers to the economic growth process in which the economic structure of a country or a region dominated by agriculture converts into one dominated by industry. The term “Industrialization” defined from the New Palgrave Dictionary of Economic is as follows: “first, manufacturing activities and the secondary industry occupy a higher proportion in national income (or regional income) perhaps with the exception of interruptions caused by economic cycles. Next, normally the proportion of working population employed in manufacturing and secondary industry is also on the increase. Meanwhile, with an increase of these two proportions, the per capita income for the whole population also increases with the exception of temporary interruption” [1]. With the coming of the 18th century humanity broke loose from many long-standing constraints. The newly created global economy could effectively solve many problems regarding food supply, mobility, economic output… However, this period is best identified with the Industrial Revolution, which developed all that had been achieved before. [2].

China’s emergence as an economic superpower has astonished the world. Even nearly the 1997 Asian financial crisis, few would have predicted China’s dominance as a regional industrial power, let alone a global super-power. Since modern period, it has become dreams of numerous Chinese people with ideals to realize industrialization in China and turn it into a modern country. In terms of “Chinese dream”, becoming an industrialized country is an essential requirement for rejuvenation and economic development.

With respect to the significant industrialization process in China, there are a great number of research analyzing this aspect, which provides in-depth information about level, characteristics and other factors related to this process. On the basis of these resources, this essay aims to investigate China’ industrialization process from its beginning to the present day.

1. Chinese economy transition.

China’s industrialization process includes two major periods: pre-reform and opening up and post-reform and opening up after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 (PRC). During the first period, industrialization path was under the traditional planned economic system and laid its foundation for the entire industry and formed a relatively complete industrial system. Nevertheless, the dramatic changes didn’t come until the post-reform and opening up when China was on an industrialization path with Chinese characteristics. During this period, basic economic conditions from an agricultural giant transformed to an industrial giant. [3].

The reason of China’s rise as a global economic is not only the oversize of its economy but also the specific characteristic of Chinese thinking when it comes to the field of economic related to the nation’s reform and development.

The country was a semi-feudal, semi-colonized, and impoverished nation in 1949. Furthermore, China’s economy still lagged far behind that of the developed world at the end of the Cultural Revolution (1978). In contrast, by 2010 with 30 years of reform and opening to the outside world, China emerged as the world’s second-largest economy, the biggest global exporter, and possessed the large foreign-exchange reserves. The living standard of the average Chinese improved from simply having enough food and clothing to being well-off by internationally recognized standards. In views of these remarkable achievements, exploring the path of China’s economic development has become a popular global topic. In terms of economic system, the reformed transformed China’s economic foundation, and the country progressed toward a system in which public ownership would retain a dominant position alongside the development of other diverse forms of ownership. In fact, the new economic system represented a move toward a socialist market economy. Regarding economic structure, China was transformed a shift from being a large agricultural nation to a leading industrial country. Its urban-rural structure also changed, bringing China into an intermediate stage of urbanization [4].

In 1978, the per capita GDP was less than US $100, while in 2015, China GDP reached RMB 67,7 trillion with the per capita GDP close to US$ 8000 if calculated with the average exchange rate of the year. [3]. After the bird of PRC, faced with extremely low industrial productivity, arduous effects were first made to resume production. [5].

In conclusion, China’s industrialization basic character include its basic national economic background is closed planned economic system and extremely low per capital national income.

2. Main factors lead to successful industrialization.

Although China have to deal with struggles in early stage of industrialization, there are several factors contributing to the success of this process.

2. Developmental Politics

Chinese political system to a large extent decreases political risks stem from reform mistakes of the ruling party. Chinese basic political system is multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC). Its political system is consensual instead of competitive. Under the leadership of the CPC, the system can build consensus even when there are many various views. Consequently, opinions are expressed although within political tolerance on the one hand. This system allows any reform to happen without worrying about losing power for the ruling party because of any mistake, although the party legitimacy still remains constantly difficult. Additionally, the promotion and training of party cadres and a unified ideology 22 among party officials at different levels not only successfully helped the CPC shift from a revolutionary party to a ruling party, but also ensured a sound implementation of national development strategies in a top-down manner. This system can help ensure consistency between policy making and implementation at various levels (Li 2010). [6]. Training of party members and government officials at various levels was one of the most important reasons for success in implementing industrialization and other economic policies.

2. The Formulation of “Five-year Plans”: A Process of Consensus Building.

China has promulgated five-year plans since 1953, which is considered as a comprehensive guideline for national economic, social development and modernization with Chinese characteristics. Five-Year Plans shows clearly major construction projects, sectoral distribution and the government strategic policy priorities for a long-term period and set targets and directions for national economic development. Planning efficiency depends on the performance review of party cadres. This feature defines China difference from other East Asian developmental states and goes beyond Western mainstream analytical frameworks (Hillman & Melton 2013). [7].

Development framework decided by the central government and in coordination with national and upper-level development policies, local governments at various levels can identify their own development priorities and objectives in their own jurisdictions.

2. Development Competitions at Local Levels

Besides politics and state planning, local governments and the competitions in development among them are also important factors driving China economic growth. The activeness of local governments in pushing forward local economic development was largely affected by administrative and fiscal decentralization.

Additionally, performance appraisal and management system also contributes to this implementation. Administrative and fiscal decentralization granted local governments more power and motivations in developing their local economies, whereas it was strengthened by performance system. This increases pressure on economic growth indicators in reviewing the performance of local governments and the promotion of local government officials enhances the GDP growth rate. Programs such as selection of the strongest 100 counties encourage competition among local governments. In the past three decades, local governments acted like regional companies. Although company mangers (local leaders) continue to promote and change, GDP and revenues maintained a high growth rate. This was characterized by some Chinese scholars as a promotion-tournament governance model and was regarded as a major driver of Chinese economic miracle (Zhang 2007). [8].

3.4. Gradual Reforms

Instead of using the shock therapy tactics of the former Soviet Union countries, China prefer a steady and gradual approach to the economic reforms. Reform was taken in a bottom-up manner and easy-to hard sequence. Additionally, before spreading them to other countries, the Chinese government also piloted many of its reform 26 initiatives in certain locations first. Gradual economic reforms and proceeding from point to surface (models tested regionally and then adopted nationally if successful), though cannot achieve large-scale effects in a short time, ensured that losses from economic reforms were immediate and enabled correction and the successful implementation without major disruption (Ma 2008) [9]. As a result, most African countries have their own development planning, however, they have significant differences from China - the governments and the civil societies often do not share common agendas or initiatives. Furthermore, development priorities can easily fall prey to argument among various parties without forming consensus. Consequently, political elites in African countries will need to agree on a long term commitment to conducting industrialization without worrying who is in power.

Người viết: Trương Thị Trang