Krit Chanwong

World Studies 10: Period 5

September 23rd 2015
TO WHAT EXTENT HAS POST-1980 INDUSTRIAL GROWTH IN CHINA
IMPROVED PEOPLES QUALITY OF LIFE?
Chinas development since the 1980s has been phenomenal. However, if one
were to observe the trends of the 1950s, the status quo China would be an overoptimistic dream. In 1927, the Chinese Civil War pitted the Chinese KMT (led by
Chiang Kai-Shek) against the Chinese Communists (led by Mao Zedong). In 1949,
Chinas Civil War ended with the retreat of the Nationalist forces to Taiwan. This led
to total communist control of modern day China. In 1958, Mao enacted the Great
Leap Forward, a program of forced collectivization. This program was to lead to a
great famine that killed 18 million people. After the failure of the Great Leap
Forward, Mao enacted the Cultural Revolution, which in effect solidified his place
in the textbooks of the Peoples Republic. This led to a halt in economic activity and
killed around 5 million people. In 1978, after the death of Mao, the Communist Party
became more pragmatic. Under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, the Communist
Party reformed China by encouraging private enterprises and foreign investment. This
led to a period of extraordinary rates of GDP growth. But what was its true effect on
the peoples quality of life? Quality of life is a hard term to define. However, in this
essay it should be defined as the overall social and natural condition that a people may
live in. Albeit the process of industrialization has led to huge economic growth,
the fact that many of Chinas natural environments has been severely damaged
and the fact that many of Chinas working class are employed in unsatisfactory
conditions shows that, on balance, Industrialization in China has been
detrimental.
Chinas natural environment has suffered much from the process of
Industrialization. An affected field is Chinas once extravagant rivers. The Food and
Water Watch reports that 80% of Chinas rivers is so polluted that it no longer
supports aquatic life. The same organization also reports that 90% of Chinas
underground water is contaminated. (Water Facts) The human affect of this is large.
Rivers form a nation, and its wealth. The extravagance of a countrys major
waterways could also be used for tourism. But from a human based perspective, this
means that potential creatures that could be used for human benefits are now going
extinct. This has direct effect on the peoples quality of life. It was reported that as of
2014, 300 million citizens of the PRC live without clean water. Annually, the PRC
loses 60,000 of its citizens to water related illnesses. (Tao and Xin) The significance
of this cannot be understated. Everyday, normal Chinese citizens have to face the
mere fact that they cannot drink safe drinking water. Moreover, because of this lack of
care, everyday Chinese citizens are now dying in there tens of thousands because of
the governments inadequacy. However, Chinas natural environment is not the only
thing that has suffered. China experiences around 1.6 million pollution-related deaths
annually. The majority of these deaths are a direct result of respiratory cancer. As of
2014, 92% of Chinas citizens (particularly those who live near industrial plants) can
expect a 42% likelihood of experiencing respiratory cancer, especially due to the
dangerous amounts of dangerous gases in the air. (Lin and Gu) This is very

significant. Because of a corporates interest in money, many Chinese lives are being
destroyed. And to speak of hasty generalization, this statistic does not represent a
sampling, but it represents the majority of the Chinese population. Hence, the
destructive gases, which the industrial growth in China released, have caused the
degradation of aquatic-life, of the Chinese irrigation system, and of the Chinese air
quality.
Chinas bad factory working conditions, as well as huge rates of income
inequality, has also been another detrimental result of Industrialization. Income
disparity is an issue in all countries. However, in a Communist system like China,
such income inequality is ironic. Income of Chinas elite (the top 10) has increased by
25 times in 2002-2007, whilst in the same time period, the income of Chinas poor
(the lowest 10) has increased by only 19 times. (Chinese Statistical Yearbook) This is
particularly ironic, due to the fact that one of the essential principles of the Socialist
system is class equality. This may be forgiven, however, if Chinas factory working
conditions are satisfactory. This is not the case. A study released in 2010 shows that of
the sampling size of 46 factories within the industrial areas of China, 87.5% of these
factories have unacceptable working standards. Furthermore, 29% of these factories
surveyed employ the usage of child labor. (Survey of Chinese Workers) Marx would
have been disappointed if he saw that this country grew under the leadership of his
principles. For the Socialist system (and Communism in China) rose as a revolt
against class inequality that was present within the Qing and KMT rule. If one were to
survey into the conditions of these factories, one would see that it is almost a
concentration camp. Workers in a Foxconn factory in China report that they are often
forced to work more than the 36 hour overtime limit. Housing conditions are also
cramped, as 24 people have to live in one family-sized room. Low pay is also
combined with this. For identical work, Chinese workers are paid 15 times less than
American workers. (Chamberlain) This signifies that Chinas industrial growth, albeit
fascinating, has often been limited by the human conditions that it is present in. The
shares of the growth have often gone to Chinas elite classes, and the poor still live in
despicable conditions.
This does not mean that Chinas economic growth was in anyway totally bad.
Chinas economic growth, by any standard, has been phenomenal after the
process of industrialization. Albeit the human side of the growth has suffered, on a
national level, Chinas newfound economic growth looks to give it a more optimistic
future. During the Communist rule of Mao (1953-1968), it is estimated that the whole
economy grew by only 6.7% in total. However, after the pragmatist Deng came into
control, Chinas GDP (with a few outliers) often grew by 10-15% annually.
(Morrison) This massive economic growth means that within 30 years, China went
from being a mere basket-case economy to a world superpower. This also meant that
the world could no longer ignore China. In 1978, directly before the Industrial Growth
spurt started, China held 0.7% of the worlds export market. However, in 2015, this
figure has grown to 15%. (Angang) In 1999, Chinas state owned industrial companies
only had revenue of $525 million. However, a 30-times increased due to
industrialization led to profits of around $1.3 billion per year. Agricultural production
has also increased, from $1.3 billion in 1978 to over $96 billion in 2013. (China
Statistical Yearbook) This is impressive. However, we must note that, as seen in the

previous paragraph, that the shares received by this profit benefitted the Chinese elite
more than the poor. Nevertheless, it is soon estimated that China would become, in
2015, the worlds largest producer of high-tech supplies and the worlds largest
provider of human resources in science and technology. (Angang) This growth has
been phenomenal-within thirty years; China has gone from a largely rural society to a
growing modern economy. This means that Chinas new generation can now buy
much more higher quality produce than ever before, and this also means that the
world can now no longer ignore the Celestial nation.
On balance, Chinas industrialization has presented great amounts of pains and
sorrows on the Chinese people. This often trumps the economic progress that the
process has brought upon the nation. Chinas once extravagant rivers are now being
polluted, leading to massive aquatic life and human life losses. Pollution and smog
has also killed many of Chinas citizens. This is made worst by the backbreaking
working conditions, which the majority of the Chinese population experiences. The
economic progress bought by China is important, but the shares of this growth have
mainly gone to the rich, not the poor. Albeit it may be sufficiently argued that, in the
long term, Chinas industrialization will eventually pay-off, such speculation is often
useless. Hence, one can conclude that Chinas industrialization has negatively affected
the quality of life of everyday Chinese citizens.
WORK CITED:
Tao and Xin. Public Health: A Sustainable Plan for Chinas Drinking Water
Nature.com. Nature Publishing Group. 30 July 2014. 21 Sept 2015
Lin W. and X. Gu, Gaseous Pollutant in Chinese Urban Area during the
Heating Period, 2007-08 Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussion Web. 21
Sept 2015
Wayne Morrison, Chinas Economic Rise: History, Trends and Challenges
CRS, 11 Sept. 2015 Web. 21 Sept. 2015
Chinese Government Chinese Statistical Yearbook Chinese Statistic Press
N.p n.d Web 21. Sept 2015
Hu Angang China and the World: Assesments and Prospects of the PostCrisis Era Web. 21 Sept 2015
Survey of Chinese Workers: Working Conditions in 2010 Chinese Labor
Watch 22 Sept 2015
Chamberlian, Gethin Apple Factories Accues of Exploting Workers. N.p n.d
Web. 22 Sept 2015