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Deng Xiaoping's Massive Reform Set China on a Sky-rocketing Course

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He was the Napoleon of China. At just four feet eleven inches tall. Deng Xiaoping set China on a sky-rocketing course. When Deng Xiaoping took control of China in 1978 the economy was in "a backwards state", also in the early 1980s more than 80% of China was in poverty, but two decades later after the massive reforms of Deng Xiaoping, the poverty level drastically decreased. This incredible task could have only been done though the outstanding leadership and policies of people like Deng Xiaoping. Deng Xiaoping was a revolutionary and truly paramount leader, who recreated the Chinese economy for rapid modernization; adopted ideas capitalism bringing millions of Chinese citizens out of poverty, and instigating rapid economic growth; and he …show more content…

In 1978 when Deng came into official power China had greatly suffered economically. This was the result of the orthodox socialist and communist policies implemented largely during the Cultural Revolution. China’s economic growth in the 1960s and 1970s was very slow, almost stagnant (World Bank), this lead to the expected result of being left in the dust by many countries in Asia, such as Japan. Also in 1978 the population of China living in a rural situation was at least 76.3% (Reuters) of the total Chinese population, equivalent to around 743,463,800 people living in China. However when Deng took over and put his economic policies in place, which included, but were not limited to: opening China to foreign trade. His other economic policies eased the government control over economics and it resulted in a large boost of economic growth, this economic growth extended even past the time he resigned in the 1990s. For instance the GDP (Gross Domestic Product, a determiner of the quality of life) per capita in 1978 was 154.07 billion U.S dollars (World Bank), just 30 years later the Chinese GDP per capita in 2008 skyrocketed to 3,170 billion U.S dollars (World Bank). This increase from 154.07 billion U.S dollars to 3,170 billion U.S dollars represents an approximate whopping 20.57% increase in its GDP in only 30 years after Deng implemented his reforms and

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