Did economic growth during the Chinese Economic Reform contribute to human development?

The first 200 words of this essay...

Did economic growth during the Chinese Economic Reform contribute to human development?

Introduction: In 1978, the Chinese Communist party leaders led by Deng Xiao-ping, in order to improve people's well-being, decided to undertake a program of gradual but fundamental reform of the economic system. The Reform transformed planned economy into a market economy capable of generating strong economic growth. However, as Shively suggests, on the issue of people's well-being, it is "not enough to ask whether the people of a state are prospering; rather, we must ask, how well they are living" (Shively, 91). Therefore, looking back on the achievements of this reform, did it really contribute to human development positively in every aspect? In this paper I explore the different aspects of human life before, during and after the Economic Reform to see how economic change brought by the Reform contributed to human development in China. The contributions include the amazing achievements in China's general economic development and people's economic life, education, social welfare and cultural life; at the same time, the Reform also introduced many problems following fast economic growth such as inequality, unemployment, corruption and social instability. In order to make this argument, I examine data