Battle for China's Past : Mao and the Cultural Revolution

THE BATTLE OF CHINA’ S HISTORY
stronger. For many, China is unstable and is weaker when facing the
global capitalist onslaught.
In the context of these issues there are three questions that need to
be asked about the post-Mao reforms. The first is to what extent material
improvement in the post-Mao reform years should be attributed to
the Mao era. The second question is who benefits most from the post-
Mao economic development. The third question is what approach and
what kind of development is good for the quality of human life in
China, and whether this kind of development can be sustained.
Who planted the seeds of the post-Mao era?
One indication of positive development is that millions of Chinese
have been lifted out of absolute poverty in the past three decades. It is
an undisputable fact that even the rural people at the bottom of the
Chinese society, rural people like those who have been described in my
book Gao Village (Gao 1999a), are better fed and clothed since the 1980s.
It is an undisputable fact that even basic daily necessities such as a bar
of soap were rationed during the Mao era. So why is there abundance
in the reforms years as opposed to scarcity under Mao? The answer to
this question is related to the first question raised above, that is, to
what extent did the Mao era contribute to subsequent economic developments?
This question has already been addressed in various forms
in previous chapters.
Who benefits most from the post-Mao reform?
Regarding the second question new evidence suggests that ‘China’s
poorest [have become] worse off after the boom’ (McGregor 2006).
According to a recent estimate based on official Chinese data and
analysed by the UN:
From 2001 to 2003, as China’s economy expanded nearly 10 per
cent a year, average income for the poorest 10 per cent of the
country’s households fell 2.5 per cent. Those roughly 130
million Chinese earn $1 a day or less, the World Bank’s global
benchmark for poverty.
(Batson and Oster 2006)
What development can be sustained and better for the quality of
life?
In relation to the third question raised above, it is worth considering
whose economic development it is and for what purposes. China focuses
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