The country is officially not need others

Is no reaction. Interviewed on the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Mao, the residents raise eyebrows, smile and counter a brief "and then" However, on September 9, 1976, on foot or by bike, black brassard in the arm, many residents of the capital had converged to Tiananmen Square to the announcement of the death of that which had prevailed over the past twenty-seven years of their lives. Some were crying. In the afternoon, the official radio was called the population to "transform his grief into strength" to continue the work of the great helmsman. On his death bed, he warned: the struggle of the classes would continue, the unit around the central Committee of the Communist Party would be strengthened to respond to any foreign aggression, Taiwan should be "released". More importantly, it was excluded that China aspires to "become a superpower."

This Saturday, except surprise, only a few thousands of nostalgic vying at the entrance of the mausoleum is where the body embalmed for the deceased President. 600 Meters from there, the Beijing Youth will continue to order a Big Mac in the McDonald's located at the foot of the Golden Resources Shopping Mall, the largest shopping centre in the world (1,000 stores, 230 escalators...). It must be said that nearly half of 1.3 billion Chinese was born after the disappearance of the father of the cultural revolution and known that the years of reform. Even the authorities are low profile. If a sage portrait of former leader still adorns the banknotes, his theories and his teachings have left most of the official speeches. Once a year, to make good impression, his name is whispered to the popular National Assembly rostrum. And during new year celebrations, the President or one of its ministers went to pilgrimage in Yanan, the mountain retreat of Shaanxi where Mao had launched his revolution to the assault on the country. It is well enough to reassure veterans who do not recognize in the new China...

Of essential

economic reforms

The death of Mao has not immediately precipitated China in the market economy. It is only late 1978, after two years of floating and wars of power, that Deng Xiaoping is the head of the State, satisfied, since the end of the 1960s, only deep reform can boost a deprived domestic economy and save the country from chaos. If China is not remained "planted in the middle ages", as stated then anti-Communist American journals, it remains very poor despite an estimated average annual growth at 6 since the proclamation, on 1 October 1949, the people's Republic. Primarily rural, the country has failed the modernization of its agriculture sector. The surface of arable land continues to decrease and average per capita food grain production is, in 1977, the volumes of 1955. Closely controlled by the State, which refers only to the Socialist concept of "self-sufficiency" and writes improbable five-year plans, the industrial sector is also affected. Equipment is obsolete. Obsessed by their production statistics, State enterprises working without any consideration for the application. As hundreds of thousands of small family businesses, considered "bourgeois", they have been dissolved during the cultural revolution. With procrastination of State policies, annual production of steel flat, in 1976, to 21 million tonnes, barely 10 higher than in 1960. In the hands of the Central Bank, the financial sector is almost non-existent. No one speaks then neither imports nor exports to China. The country is officially not need others.

An opening

by waves

Lest they turn hostile to his "revisionism" of the party bosses, Deng Xiaoping chose to open up the country by stages. Focusing first on campaigns, the Government launches, as early as 1980, case. After paying their taxes and a portion of their production to the State, farmers are allowed to sell their surplus on local markets. Specializing culture and opting for products intended for consumption, families have improved their performance and their standard of living, even if they have never had the right to become owners of their land, always considered as public.

Reinforced by the success of their reforms in rural areas, the authorities have, on the occasion of the 3rd Plenum of the CCP in 1984, turned their attention to the urban sector and its monolithic State industries. First, the planning was reduced to only products considered to be of vital importance. Drawing the outlines of a "socialist market economy", the Government organized a progressive release of price and restored autonomy to enterprises. Result: the value of industrial production explodes. In the first quarter of 1985, the GDP growth jumps 25, thanks to the boom in demand for consumer goods.

Aware of his need for capital and technology, Beijing resolves, at the same time, open, sector by sector, its borders to foreign goods and investment. Special economic zones are created on the coast to host the first joint ventures. The Kong and Taiwanese flock there to take advantage of cheap labour, of structures of quality and many tax benefits. In the 1990s, the reform is supported despite the crisis of Tiananmen (1989). Special economic zones are multiplying and attract multinationals and SMEs in the world

integer, which however are denied access to certain "strategic" sectors (communications, energy...). If China had, at the death of Mao, for less than 1 of world exports, it in was last year, 7. Become the fourth economic power, it has generated, in 2005, 5.5 of GDP in the world. Denounced thirty years ago by Mao, the private sector produces today more than half of the wealth of the country.

A new aura

on the world stage

Drawing a line under the proletarian internationalism, which would allow it to exist between his two enemies at the time, the United States and the Soviet Union, Beijing has quietly converted, after Mao's death, a foreign policy based on pragmatism. Its new economic strength has transformed China into a global power that now gives voice on all continents. The voracity of growth in energy resources and markets thirst pushed Beijing to draw new alliances in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Is embarrassing for any ideological considerations, country client regimes in Sudan, the Zimbabwe or Burma, through its assistance to developing countries and is becoming an essential interlocutor in the Iranian and North Korean records. The United States and the European Union must count with it in all international forums. Still cautious in the WTO, it should take weight in bilateral trade negotiations. Washington recently to ask him.

An authoritarian system

almost intact

The fifth modernization was not held. Their early years in power, the reformers gathered around Deng Xiaoping rejected the idea of a democratisation of the regime. Accused of stifling innovation and economic development, totalitarianism has been questioned, but the authoritarian regime, he was comforted. All too radical repudiation of Mao options would have undermined the legitimacy of the power of his successors, explain the historians. As early as 1979, membership in the Socialist road and fidelity to Marxism-Leninism were therefore confirmed. And, in 1981, once dissected, the legacy of Mao Zedong is considered generally positive by the central Committee of the PC. The contribution of Mao, is "70 of property" and "30 wrong", summarize Deng Xiaoping. An equation always taught to students, even if the great helmsman occupies more, since this re-entry, than a few lines in their history book.

Now led by his "fourth generation" of leaders, the Communist Party retains the upper hand over all powers (Executive, legislative and judicial). Claiming 70 million members, it still tolerates no opposition. The institutionalization of journalists, or followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement of Tibet and Xinjiang pro-independence leaders of social movements continues in labour camps, prisons, "psychiatric" hospitals Independent trade unions are banned. Timidly criticised by Western capitals, Beijing puts forward its "progress", in particular the Organization of first elections to committees of village in the rural provinces. "We need time", hammer the authorities.

The company is

the large gap

"Miami Vice" out this week on Chinese screens. Despite the sulfurous buddies Chinese actress Gong Li and Colin Farrell, the film passed censorship filter. To be released in few theatres in the country, "Mission impossible 3" had him, had to be reassembled without the scenes giving a "bad" image of Shanghai. The municipality had complained of images showing the linen to Windows and old players of mahjong in underwear. The uncensored version, as the set of foreign or local productions, was in any case, available everywhere, from its worldwide release, pirate DVD to 1 euro. Cut off from the world until the end of the 1970s, the country now lives to the rhythm of Western modes. There are 123 million Internet users. Foreign cars are preferred for local production. Present in the territory since 1997, the American Yum Brands Inc.'s (KFC, Pizza Hut...) to open 400 restaurants this year. The young English-speaking press attached to Shanghai are copies of Louis Vuitton, Prada or Gucci, sometimes original, bags and leave in honeymoon in Europe with a package 7 countries in 10 days. Paris is entitled to four hours.

Far from the frenzy of the coast, the 800 million of inhabitants of rural areas, the centre and West of the country, continue to live, them, as in the 1950s. Electricity arrived but not drinking water. In the fields of Shaanxi and Yunnan, much work line, and irrigation are again back to human. In food, the meat is rare. If, at the national level, the Government says not to count that 23 million of poor (2003 figure) against 260 million in 1978, inequality continues to widen. Rural income is, thus, more than a third of the average urban income, compared to 55 in the 1980s. The progression of revenue announced by Beijing is often due to mandates sent by the son or the party girl in town working on a construction site or in the arrière-salle of a restaurant for 600 Yuan (60 euros) per month. In the villages, the yellowed portrait of a joufflu Mao has not left the wall of the single room. We regret the time of "equality", the work for all and free care..