How much of Mao’s China is left today? Explain your answer (10)
Since the death of Mao in 1976, China has changed in many ways beyond recognition, however in some ways it has remained very much the same.
Although Mao’s portraits still hang high in Tiananmen Square, and his embalmed body is still visited by millions of Chinese people a year, very few still hold communism close to their hearts. The huge economic boom and foreign investment has brought many western ways of life into China which Mao would have hated. American food chain McDonalds now has over 400 shops in China after opening the first one in 1992. The fastest growing market in China has been the consumer good market. Items have become cheaper than ever due to mass production methods, and now the Chinese people can see the effects of their hard work, unlike when Mao encouraged them to work on producing raw materials. Beijing has become much westernised and now has long, streets dedicated to expensive clothes and consumer goods shops. The streets are covered in posters for the latest consumer goods, as opposed to ‘work hard’ slogans which Mao would have encouraged. The Chinese economy has become the world’s fastest growing economy and China is now an economic super-power in the world market. After Mao’s death China joined the world trade organisation and now China sells many different resources on the world market. Foreign companies now produce their goods in China because it is cheap, and then sell it around the world, including of course in China. For example German car company Volkswagen sell more cars in China than they do in Germany. People in China are freer than ever, and are no longer restricted to what the Red Guard see as acceptable. Consumer goods have changed the way millions of Chinese people have lived. A third of the world’s smokers are Chinese and car sales have increased 50%. China has also spent billions of USD$ building up their cities and modernising. Architectural works in Beijing over the past 10 years have seen the city transformed into a modern paradise. The government has spent nearly $2bn on a new state of the art airport terminal. Beijing will also host the Olympics in 2008 which has caused a $460m stadium to be erected. With all the modernisations, China now accounts for 25% of the world’s steel consumption. This encouraging and unbelievable image cities such as Beijing have, is not however echoed in central China. It is believed that 18.5% of the Chinese population live on less than $1 a day. Even in large developed cities such as Shanghai, there are an estimated 1.5million people without running water. There are those on top of this who have been hit negatively by working in the factories. The machinery used in some of the factories is so old that a lot of people have had accidents leaving them limbless or seriously hurt, if not killed. Economically, Mao’s ideas and beliefs have been side-lined for a more capitalist system. Strict communism did not result in Chinese industry to boom, and therefore a more capitalist system has now caused China to become an economic super-power.
