China’s 60 years of industrial transformation reviewed

JIN Bei1(金碚)
1Director General and Professor at the Institute of Industrial Economics at the CASS
Abstract:
In China, the real industrialization and modernization process started in 1949, when the Chinese people were
emancipated from the yoke of the Kuomintang and the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C) was founded. However, the
road of emancipation has been a bumpy one. In particular, the emancipation of the mind has often been full of twists
and turns. The tremendous liberation of social productive forces originated in the emancipation of the mind, whose
truth has been tested by economic development practices. In the past 60 years China has paid tremendous efforts and costs in pursuit of emancipation, and today it still needs to emancipate the mind anew.
For 60 years, since the formation of P.R. C, the country has kept pursuing the emancipation of the mind while exploring ways of change in institution, strategy and policy. In the first 30 years China attempted to devise an idealistic approach of transition to the socialist planned economic system, which was characterized by continuous revolution and movement. In the second 30 years China explored a realistic approach of transition to the socialist market economic system, which is characterized by incremental reform and opening-up. For six decades industry has remained at the forefront of transformation.
The emancipation of the mind and the realization of change aim to ultimately make China a strong nation with an
affluent people. The purpose of the six-decade struggle in new China is to erase the stigma of “being poor and blank,”
secure a firm and strong foothold in the world, restore China’s status as a world power and let the Chinese people
enjoy the affluence and welfare of a well-off society. The central mission of this national revitalization is to realize
industrialization. Therefore, industrialization has been the central theme of China’s revitalization in the past 60 years.
After 60 years of industrialization, hundreds of millions of Chinese people are now able to enjoy ever-increasing wealth from industrial civilization. However, still a larger proportion of China’s 1.3 billion people are awaiting industrial civilization. In this sense, industrialization is not only the focus of China’s socioeconomic development but also the world’s largest livelihood mission. Industrial development is more of a means of enhancing people’s livelihood than a means of regaining the title as a world power. This will become one of the distinctive characteristics of China’s
industrialization in the new stage.

Key words:
60 years of P.R. China, emancipation, transformation, revitalization

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