History 471

Reactions to “China in the Red” March 13, 2007

I just kinda wanted to react to what we’ve seen in the documentary “China in the Red” so far, but Lauri beat me to it.

Going off what she said, I completely agree that it’s easy to see how widespread unemployment is in Shenyang. We kept seeing everyone they interviewed talking about how much they wanted their kids to get a good education and leave the village/not work in a factory like they had to. I think right now China still lacks the human capital to truly move away from a command economy, but the hope people place in their children may be exactly what China needs to do so in another generation.

I think a combination of factors have come together to make this necessary. The iron rice bowl came at a different time in China’s history where the factories people worked at produced goods that the economy could use. When the documentary started, China was caught between the modernization of 30 years ago and the postmodern digital age of the West. Workers were idle and the factories no longer produced efficient goods the economy actually needed. Economics influences politics, as we saw in the documentary. The 3 year ultimatum will probably drive a lot of factories to close, but it’s a necessary step before a generation of white collar workers can fill in China’s economy.

I could be totally wrong, so we’ll see what happens in the rest of the documentary. Either way, I think it could explain China’s slow but steady progress toward a capitalist infrastructure.