that Marx was referring to were the big things that affected China throughout Mao’s lifetime. As always
happens, these forces of decline ran their courses and new domestic and world orders began. More
specifically, the external war ended in 1945, which then led to the new world order being created and
foreign forces leaving most of mainland China. Then China had its internal war, which was between the
communists and the capitalists that ended in 1949 and led to a new domestic order, which was communism
under Mao. Put yourself in Mao’s position during the 1900-49 period, and imagine him reading what Marx
wrote and think about his actions during that period and in the post-1949 period. It makes sense why Mao
was a Marxist and pursued his version of Marxist policies and held the established Confucian approach to
harmony in disdain.
As far as ideological inclinations for Chinese people and Chinese leaders more generally, Confucianism,
Marxism, and some strict Legalism were all are part of the mix. Note that all of these emphasize the
importance of knowing one’s role and place in the hierarchy and playing that role in the designated way, so
being that way is deeply rooted. Democracy as we know it doesn’t have any roots in China. Capitalism on
the other hand existed in China (as did revolts against it) and is currently growing, though it grows like a
productive beast that is kept under the government’s control.
I will start by very briefly summarizing what happened between 1949 and now, and then delve into each of the
different phases that took China from then to now.15
The Rise from 1949 until Now
Though a bit of an oversimplification, we can think of China’s evolution from 1949 until now as occurring in three
phases from 1) the Mao phase from 1949 until 1976 to 2) the Deng and Deng’s successors phase from 1978 until
2013 when Xi Jinping came to power, which led to 3) the Xi Jinping phase from 2013 until now. Each phase
moved China along the long-term development arc so that accomplishments were made in each phase that the
subsequent phases built upon. In brief these phases transpired along this arc as follows:
From 1949 until 1976 Mao (with his various ministers, most importantly Zhou Enlai) a) consolidated
power, b) built China’s foundation of institutions, governance, and infrastructure, and c) ruled China
as a communist emperor until he died in 1976. During that period, he ruled China for the workers and
against the capitalists, he kept China in isolation from the rest of the world, and he followed a strict
communist system in which there was government ownership and tight government bureaucratic
controls over everything. Immediately following the deaths of Mao and Zhou Enlai, there was a power
struggle in 1976-78 between the hardliners (i.e., the Gang of Four) and the reformists that Deng
Xiaoping won, which led to the second phase.
Deng (with his various ministers) ran China directly or indirectly until his death in 1997. During that
phase China moved to a more collective leadership model, opened up to the outside world, introduced
and developed capitalist practices, and became much stronger financially and more powerful in other
ways that didn’t appear threatening to the United States and to other countries. During most of Deng’s
tenure the primary enemy of China was Russia, so he viewed building a symbiotic relationship with the
United States as helpful geopolitically. Economically the relationship was symbiotic because the US
bought items that were attractively priced from China and the Chinese lent back to the Americans a lot
of the money they earned to make those purchases. As a result, the US acquired US-dollar-denominated
debt liabilities to the Chinese, and the Chinese acquired dollar-denominated assets owed to them by the
Americans. After Deng’s death his successors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao (and those who led China
with them) continued in the same directions so China continued to quietly become richer and more
powerful in fundamentally sound ways that did not appear threatening to the US. In 2008 the global
financial crisis led to greater tensions over wealth in the United States and other developed countries,
increased resentment at job losses that were going to China, and increased debt-financed growth in all
countries including China. That, and the development of China that began to appear more threatening,
started to change the relationship.
Xi Jinping came to power in 2013 presiding over a richer, more powerful China that was becoming
overly indebted itself (though its debt was internal debt) and increasingly at odds with the United
States. Xi accelerated economic reforms, took on the challenge of trying to contain debt growth while
aggressively reforming the economy, and supported the building of leading technologies and going