Chapter 13 4. The Chinese model: your uniqueness

The Chinese model is generally a "stable reform model", which has the following unique features: First of all, as a super-large country with a long history of turbulence, China has found a balance in dealing with the relationship between stability, reform and development: on the premise of adhering to stability, it has vigorously promoted reform, opening up and economic development, and has realized the modernization of China. Unprecedented in history, the long-term and large-span continuous development of more than 30 years has laid a good foundation for China to become a real world power.

Second, the guiding principles of China's modernization process are very pragmatic, that is, to focus on meeting the most urgent needs of the people, first of all, eradicating poverty, and have achieved remarkable results in this field.In the past 20 years, the number of people lifted out of poverty in China accounted for 70% of the total number of people lifted out of poverty in the world.Without China's achievements in poverty alleviation, the cause of poverty alleviation in the whole world will be eclipsed.The biggest problem facing the world today is not terrorism as Americans call it, but the eradication of poverty, because more than half of the world's population still lives in a state of extreme poverty, of which 800-900 million people (more than the combined population of developed countries) Still starving.In this regard, China's experience has far-reaching international significance.

Third, seek truth from facts, everything must be tested, constantly sum up and learn from the experience and lessons of oneself and others, and constantly carry out bold and prudent institutional innovations.Reform measures are generally tested in a relatively small area first, and then extended to other places after success.This is not a cure-all solution, but it does greatly reduce the shock that the new measures may bring to society.This has enabled China to avoid the paralysis caused by many developing countries and countries with economies in transition blindly adopting the Western model, and also enabled China to successfully resist the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and the financial crisis that started in the United States in 2008.In fact, the Chinese model is worthy of full affirmation only for resisting the financial crisis. When I visited Indonesia in 2005, local scholars told me that the Asian financial crisis wiped out Indonesia's development achievements of the past 20 years.It is hard to imagine what would happen if China failed to weather the financial crisis.

Fourth, reject "shock therapy" and promote gradual reform: instead of smashing the existing imperfect system and starting a new one, we should use the existing imperfect system to operate as much as possible, and in the process, gradually reform the system itself, transforming it into the service of modernization.This approach is closer to the empiricist tradition in British history.The British believed in the relative stability of a nation's customary cultural customs and value judgments, advocated what Edmund Burke called "reform with reservations," and insisted that a country's political system, if it was to be viable, , it should be gradually derived from one's own tradition, rather than through the pursuit of a pure and pure ideal model.

Fifth, a relatively correct order of priority has been established.China's reform and opening-up generally shows a clear pattern: the sequence of reforms is first easy and then difficult; first rural reform, then urban reform; first coastal and then inland; first economic reform, and then political reform.The advantage of this approach is that the first stage of reform creates the conditions for the second stage of reform.The reform does not seek to be completed in one step, but seeks to be continuous and gradual, prioritized, and finally completed through gradual accumulation.Practice has proved that this is a pragmatic and effective road to success, and it also has enlightenment for China's political reform.

Sixth, with an open attitude, selectively learn all the strengths of others, but let me be the master and never follow blindly. In the book "China Shock" published in 2011, I summarized the Chinese model into eight characteristics, namely, practical rationality, a strong government, stability first, people's livelihood first, gradual reform, sequence differences, mixed economy, and opening up to the outside world. The Chinese model has also spawned many problems, some of which are quite serious, and we must seriously solve them.For example, our government interferes too much, resulting in the underdevelopment of certain markets; our political reforms in some fields are relatively lagging behind, leading to industry monopoly and rent-seeking corruption; our wealth gap, ecological problems, education problems, medical care Questions, etc., have caused widespread dissatisfaction.But as long as we are clear-headed, determined, and brainstorming, we can find solutions to these problems, and even become opportunities for us to develop in an all-round way and reach a higher level in the next step.In fact, turning crises into opportunities has always been an important feature of our reform and opening up, and the achievements made in the past 30 years have also provided a strong material basis and empirical wisdom for solving problems.

Some people think that China's problems can only be solved by relying on the Western democratic system. In fact, this is wishful thinking.Developing countries have not succeeded in adopting the Soviet model, and few have succeeded in adopting the Western model. This is the conclusion I have reached after visiting more than 100 countries.Taking anti-corruption as an example, from the past reports of Transparency International, the most authoritative international organization that studies corruption, and from my own field observations, many developing countries and countries in transition that have adopted Western democratic systems, such as Countries comparable to China, such as India, the Philippines, Thailand, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Argentina, Ukraine, and Russia, are all more corrupt than China, not to mention many so-called democratic countries in Africa that are corrupt to the core.In fact, the reason is not complicated. In economically backward countries, almost all corrupt elements can use the banner of democracy to easily gain real power through election bribery or populism, and find a legal umbrella for their corruption.

In transitional countries like Russia and Ukraine, the drastic political transformation led to the complete paralysis of the government for a period of time, and as a result, corruption was unstoppable.Among the "Four Tigers" in Asia, South Korea and Taiwan have also adopted the Western democratic model after their economic development, but the problem of corruption has continued unabated. The reasons for this are worth pondering.In contrast, Singapore and Hong Kong, which did not adopt the Western democratic model, have become the most successful anti-corruption places in Asia. Their method is to establish a society ruled by law and build an anti-corruption mechanism that makes corrupt elements daunting. Their experience is worthy of serious study and reference.

The problems we have encountered today have also been encountered in European history.During the period of the European Industrial Revolution, the gap between the rich and the poor was huge, social justice was little, and corruption was serious, which was outrageous.But compared with today's China, these countries can easily "resolve" various social conflicts. For example, Britain can send criminals to Australia, the unemployed to Africa, and heretics to the Americas. They can also make their own world In almost all the "rules of the game" in politics and economics, there is no problem if the gap between the rich and the poor is dozens of times larger than in today's China, because tens of millions of black slaves and Chinese "coolies" are legal.Today, China must resolve all kinds of contradictions and problems brought about by the process of industrialization and modernization on its own land.During the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, Britain had a local population of only 10 million, less than today's Shanghai.During the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, France had a population of just over 20 million, while China is now a large country with a population of 1.3 billion. Under such unfavorable conditions, to carry out such a large-scale industrial revolution and social revolution within its own territory Digesting all the problems and not expanding outward, it has brought tangible benefits to most people and most countries, and it has also made China the main locomotive driving world economic growth.It is from this perspective that the significance of China's success and its model is extraordinary.The Chinese insisted on relying on their own wisdom, hard work and even sacrifice to break through their own development path and model, opening up broad prospects for China's modernization.With such spiritual wealth and material accumulation, we can calmly and confidently deal with various challenges.

Although the industrial revolution in history brought about various social problems, most of these problems were eventually resolved, and these problems did not prevent the industrial revolution from becoming one of the greatest revolutions in human history.Before the industrial revolution, the average life expectancy in European countries was less than 30 years old, and then gradually increased until it is now nearly 80 years old.But in retrospect, if these countries could not pass the industrial revolution due to various social problems, they would not be able to reach the status of today's developed countries.China is passing this hurdle now, but it will fall short.Recall that Deng Xiaoping repeatedly said that the reform and opening up would not waver for a hundred years, because he expected that various problems would inevitably arise in the process of China's prosperity and strength, but he believed that we must persevere, overcome these difficulties, and To overcome this hurdle, only in this way can China have a great future.This is a profound historical perspective and international vision. History will prove that Deng Xiaoping's choice is correct, and China's choice is correct.