The China Paradox

Chapter 10 Conclusion

China’s history is littered with examples of failed attempts to create true change. Typically, the forces of conservatism massively outweighed the impulses for economic modernization. In 1949 China passed up a half-chance to put itself on the path to prosperity. Instead, under Mao, it imported the dysfunctional Soviet system lock, stock, and barrel, and on top of that fostered brutal internal conflict. That lethal cocktail set China back decades.

Since Mao’s demise, China has given birth to the China paradox, which has proved so far to be a winning formula. China’s hybrid developmental model has worked well since the forces of change, of entrepreneurialism, of innovation have enjoyed a productive equilibrium with the ruling ...