ECN 310 Essay Two China’s Economic Growth: 1966-1976

China’s Economic Growth from 1966-1976
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China’s Economic Growth from 1966-1976
Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the country has undergone extensive changes from an agrarian society to an industrialized powerhouse. In the process, the country has witnessed a sharp increase in wages and productivity, which have allowed China to be top among the largest economies worldwide. While the rate of growth in the country has been impeccable, it is important to analyze the economy over the past decades in an effort to understand how the country’s economic system affected its success. This essay, therefore, seeks to analyze China’s economy during the period between 1966 and 1976. Considered in this essay will be the happenings during the High Tide of the Cultural Revolution, the Maoist Model, and the Gang of Four.
The High Tide of the Cultural Revolution
Mao Zedong, who was a Chinese communist revolutionary and one of the pioneering fathers of the People’s Republic of China, set in motion the Cultural Revolution that began in 1966. The revolution begun on May 16th 1966 when Mao’s idea of a revolution was issued by the central committee of the Chinese Communist Party. The revolution was inspired by the events from the Great Leap Forward, which saw the deaths of more than 45 million civilians from a famine that was precipitated by the collectivization of the industrial and agricultural output (Field, 1986). As a result, Mao was blamed and eventually alienated from the Communist Party. Mao’s reaction was the establishment of the Cultural Revolution.
The Cultural Revolution was considered a political upheaval that failed to produce significant changes in the basic economic model and economic policies in the region. But the effect of the revolution was highly felt across the urban regions since it mainly influenced the modern sector of the economy. The cause of production halts was the political activities of miners and factory workers as well as students (Perkins, 1967). Mao aimed at reasserting control over the country’s political system by encouraging radical youth groups and workers to strike against the communist party. Additionally, the operations in the transportation sector were disrupted by the requisition of trucks and trains to carry the red guards across the region. The red guards comprised of large student groups who sided with Mao to initiate the revolution. Mao facilitated the transportation of these radical students to various regions to take down political enemies. The misuse of these transport systems not only disrupted the sector, but also the factories as well, which lacked supplies and raw materials for production (Field, McGlynn, & Abnett, 1978).
Despite the fact that a large number of people living in rural communities were less affected by the Cultural Revolution, it had severe effects on the overall system of China. The rural communities depended mostly on agriculture, which was stagnated by the revolution, but the agricultural sectors in urban areas were most affected. The revolution resulted in political instability since Mao mainly targeted political elites. Consequ...