Page 40 - 2019 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
P. 40
9 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
1.2 Retrospect of China’s Opening and
Economic Reform
Every countr y has its histor y. China, satisfied before individuals can attend to needs higher
however, seems to have crammed a up. This five-stage model can be divided into deficiency
great deal of history into one century, and 2019 is a year needs and growth needs. The first four levels are often
of anniversaries: referred to as deficiency needs (D-needs), and the top
level is known as growth or being needs (B-needs).
40 years of US-China relations and the opening up of Deficiency needs arise due to deprivation and are said
China (January 1) to motivate people when they are unmet. Also, the
70 years of People’s Republic of China (PRC) motivation to fulfill such needs will become stronger the
(October 1) longer the duration they are denied. For example, the
20 years since Macao’s return to China (December 20) longer a person goes without food, the hungrier they will
The pace and scale of China’s economic become. A deficit need will basically go away once it is
transformation have no historical precedent. It’s only met. Then activities habitually become directed towards
right and proper to reflect on the progress made in the meeting the next set of needs that have not yet been
country on the anniversary of so many occasions and satisfied. These then become salient needs. However,
to put that progress into prospective. Since the rise of growth needs continue to be felt and may even become
the PRC 70 years ago, China’s progress has basically stronger once they have been engaged.
followed Maslow ’s hierarchy of needs, a famous
motivational theory in psychology comprising a five- China had to start at the bottom of Maslow’s scale
tier model of human needs and often depicted as levels after World War II. Prior to the initiation of economic
within a pyramid. reforms and trade liberalization, China maintained
policies that kept the economy very poor, stagnant,
Image: Model of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs centrally controlled, vastly inefficient, and relatively
isolated from the global economy. The country had
China’s Hierarchy of Needs basically missed out on the Industrial Revolution of the
1800s that much of the world enjoyed. China was the
From the bottom of the hierarchy upwards, the needs richest nation in the world in the 1600s. The question of
are: physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem why China failed to maintain its technological lead and
and self-actualization. The levels at the bottom must be the exact same time when China started to fall behind
Western Europe remain unresolved, but there was a great
divergence in economic performances between the two
regions in the nineteenth century and the first half of the
twentieth century (Zhu, 105). By 1949, China had been
devastated by the invasion of Japan and twenty years
of civil war. Mao Zedong, having led the Communists
to victory against the Nationalists, proclaims the
founding of the People’s Republic of China. China first
went through three years of economic rehabilitation.
In 1953, the First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social
Development was worked out and implemented. During
this period, China established more than 100 large, labor-
intensive industrial enterprises. Chairman Mao launched
the “Great Leap Forward”, a five-year economic plan, in
40
1.2 Retrospect of China’s Opening and
Economic Reform
Every countr y has its histor y. China, satisfied before individuals can attend to needs higher
however, seems to have crammed a up. This five-stage model can be divided into deficiency
great deal of history into one century, and 2019 is a year needs and growth needs. The first four levels are often
of anniversaries: referred to as deficiency needs (D-needs), and the top
level is known as growth or being needs (B-needs).
40 years of US-China relations and the opening up of Deficiency needs arise due to deprivation and are said
China (January 1) to motivate people when they are unmet. Also, the
70 years of People’s Republic of China (PRC) motivation to fulfill such needs will become stronger the
(October 1) longer the duration they are denied. For example, the
20 years since Macao’s return to China (December 20) longer a person goes without food, the hungrier they will
The pace and scale of China’s economic become. A deficit need will basically go away once it is
transformation have no historical precedent. It’s only met. Then activities habitually become directed towards
right and proper to reflect on the progress made in the meeting the next set of needs that have not yet been
country on the anniversary of so many occasions and satisfied. These then become salient needs. However,
to put that progress into prospective. Since the rise of growth needs continue to be felt and may even become
the PRC 70 years ago, China’s progress has basically stronger once they have been engaged.
followed Maslow ’s hierarchy of needs, a famous
motivational theory in psychology comprising a five- China had to start at the bottom of Maslow’s scale
tier model of human needs and often depicted as levels after World War II. Prior to the initiation of economic
within a pyramid. reforms and trade liberalization, China maintained
policies that kept the economy very poor, stagnant,
Image: Model of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs centrally controlled, vastly inefficient, and relatively
isolated from the global economy. The country had
China’s Hierarchy of Needs basically missed out on the Industrial Revolution of the
1800s that much of the world enjoyed. China was the
From the bottom of the hierarchy upwards, the needs richest nation in the world in the 1600s. The question of
are: physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem why China failed to maintain its technological lead and
and self-actualization. The levels at the bottom must be the exact same time when China started to fall behind
Western Europe remain unresolved, but there was a great
divergence in economic performances between the two
regions in the nineteenth century and the first half of the
twentieth century (Zhu, 105). By 1949, China had been
devastated by the invasion of Japan and twenty years
of civil war. Mao Zedong, having led the Communists
to victory against the Nationalists, proclaims the
founding of the People’s Republic of China. China first
went through three years of economic rehabilitation.
In 1953, the First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social
Development was worked out and implemented. During
this period, China established more than 100 large, labor-
intensive industrial enterprises. Chairman Mao launched
the “Great Leap Forward”, a five-year economic plan, in
40
